Shimmerdark

by Sarah Mensinga

  “Then what am I supposed to do?” I ask quietly-yet-frantically.

  The shiny horselet nudges my leg again as if I should already know.

  But I can’t think of any other options, and once I’ve laced my boots, I whisper, “You’d better hide again.”

  Glowy Pony gives me a sad look.

  “And… well…” I kneel and stroke his head, “goodbye.” Losing my cagic will probably sever my connection to him. Forcing back tears because I don’t want to meet the other Conduits with a red nose and puffy eyes, I return to the clerk’s desk and Drae Devorla.

  “Leave that here.” She nods at the bundle of clothes in my arms. As I put it on the clerk’s desk, she pulls a small box out of her pocket. “Now I’m going to give you an injection.”

  “You said I wouldn’t be drugged.” I take a quick step away from her. I don’t want to feel intense pain, but I also don’t want to lose control of this situation—at least not any more than I already have.

  “Don’t worry.” Drae Devorla opens the box, revealing a needle attached to a glass vial. “This won’t put you to sleep. As I mentioned, you must willingly release your power, and to do that, you need to be awake.” Needle in hand, she reaches for me. “This will simply calm you… and make the process easier for all of us.”

  I still don’t hold out my arm. “Do I have a choice?”

  Drae Devorla tightens her jaw. “Not really, no.”

  So I give in because that’s what this is all about—giving in. I wince as the needle punctures my skin, and then I hiss through my teeth as the stinging, burning liquid spreads up into my elbow and shoulder.

  It reaches my mind as we enter the cagic lift, and it doesn’t calm me. Instead, I feel like I’m being crushed beneath a pillow. The air’s thick and unyielding, and my thoughts keep sidling away mischievously.

  When Drae Devorla hauls the lift’s metal doors to the right, I take several wobbling steps into what I realize is the top floor of the Foundry. I came here often when I was young and Drae Devorla was replacing many of the oversized storage tanks that fill the room. Compressors thump rhythmically, and the air is even hotter.

  Ahead of me, the other Cityland Conduits move from a conversational cluster into a more formal semi-circle. There are nine citylands but only eight Conduits. Priffa doesn’t have one. That used to mystify me, but now I wonder if they simply downlevel every cagically gifted infant. I know they buy their energy from neighboring lands.

  The Conduits watch me closely, their expressions ranging from judgmental to pitying. I recognize a few of them; there’s the Thrall of Matreornan, with her chiseled, proud face, and beside her is the plump and pretty Vazor of Ganorine. She always has shimmerlight glowing in her silvery hair. Then there’s the Mighty Sharn of Highland Tilber; the Conduit who breeds animals, including Osren’s horselets. She and Drae Devorla have always been rivals, which still seems strange to me. They are the only Conduits who seem to value knowledge and innovation over wealth and power. As for the Conduit on the far side of the group, he’s the only male Shimmercaster and therefore must be the Nelbar of Midnith. He has extremely large muscles that he seems to be showing off in his sleeveless, finely tailored tago.

  All the Conduits have brought portable cagic reservoirs that are just as ornate as their outfits, and the most impressive reservoir belongs to the Vazor of Ganorine. It’s covered in enamel flowers and has a large glass tank full of curving gold coils. None of the Conduits have their apprentices with them, and I suppose their Shimmercasters-in-waiting were left behind to care for their citylands.

  Just as I’m about to ask where Kary is, I see him, and realms, what’s wrong with him? He’s lying unconscious beneath the giant Dark Month clock, whose inner workings are also housed on this level of the Foundry. He’s surely been drugged, and even though he’s motionless, Matron Isme stands over him, awkwardly holding a shockgun. I’m surprised that she’s guarding him rather than a Shieldbearer, but maybe I shouldn’t be. I suppose the Conduits don’t want the average soldier knowing how brutal downleveling really is.

  I hoped I’d be able to say goodbye to Kary. Yet Drae Devorla must have thought I’d try to rescue him, and it would definitely be difficult to free an unconscious person. Not that I’m in any state to be heroic, though. The medicine’s still moving sluggishly through my veins, and I can hardly put one foot in front of the other.

  Drae Devorla guides me across the room, and the Conduits step aside, revealing a steel table behind them. It’s just like the one Auldora was lying on, and it’s positioned rather dramatically in the center of the spiraling floor tiles and directly beneath the chamber’s dangling, globe-shaped lights.

  The cagic compressors continue to thump away, making a shugga shugga sound, and my heart beats along with them.

  Soon, so soon, this will be over.

  “Honored Conduits of the Connected Lands,” Drae Devorla says. “Before we begin, I remind you to abide by the International Energy Accord. Once you’ve collected fifty thousand summiunits of cagic, release the girl, and I’ll complete her downleveling.”

  I’m perspiring heavily now, and the floor seems to waver as Conduits begin connecting themselves to their reservoirs with cuffs and wired halos. It’s a complicated process and many of them must remove several layers of clothing before they can properly attach all their collection equipment. I thought those wires would be attached to me, but I suppose this is what Drae Devorla meant when she said they’d be downleveling me by hand. As for her, she’s tethering herself to one of the twelve Foundry tanks that loom over us like massive, shining pillars.

  I’m not ready for this.

  Yet how can I delay it? Is there a way to keep my cagic for even a moment longer?

  “May I say goodbye to Kary?” I blurt, surprising myself. “I might not survive.”

  Drae Devorla flushes as if my request is embarrassing.

  “Please,” I say, struggling with the s sound because of the sedative. Perhaps I can wake him up, although I’m not sure how it will help.

  Drae Devorla looks as if she’s about to say no, but then the Vazor of Ganorine gives me a pitying smile and says in her accented voice, “Let the girl bid farewell to her dear boy. Why not?”

  So I stagger across the room alone because all the Conduits are now attached to their reservoirs. I trip twice, which is especially mortifying in my skimpy outfit, and then I kneel beside Kary like we’re in one of the fanciful stories Clicks used to tell—stories where princes and princesses would wake each other with kisses.

  And maybe I can wake him with a kiss, or rather, with a cagic spark concealed in one.

  I lean down, sadly aware that our second kiss will be even less ideal than our first, but I still place my mouth on his and summon shimmerdark to my lips. Hopefully the snapping pain of it will wake him. I wait to feel the energy crackle against his unreceptive skin. Instead, though, I feel nothing. Did he just absorb the cagic?

  I blink, confused.

  “Hurry up, girl,” says the Nelbar.

  I don’t pull away from Kary as wild thoughts tumble through my medicated mind. Can Kary soak up cagic? It must have something to do with his childhood downleveling.

  I send another spark into him, and again I get the sense that the energy is simply flowing through his skin and settling into his muscles.

  Perhaps I can store cagic in Kary and then reclaim it later. If so, maybe my downleveling can be undone.

  So many maybes. But right now, anything is worth a try.

  I deepen my kiss, sending even more energy into Kary. His heart beats faster beneath my splayed fingers. He twitches. His eyes flutter.

  “It’s time, Xylia,” Drae Devorla calls.

  I ignore her, and I wish I could transfer cagic into Kary more quickly. They’d surely see it glowing around the edges of my mouth, though.

  “Xylia!” Drae Devorla says impatiently. “That’s quite enough.”

  “I love you, you know,” I whisper to Kary, tear
ing up because it’s true. I should have told him while we were hiding in the insulae.

  Then I limp back to the Conduits, my boots clacking on the tiles, and I climb onto the steel table. I stretch out on the uncomfortable surface—so cold against my bare legs—fighting the urge to cry. At least I tried to save my cagic, and what I’m doing now, I’m doing to save my friend.

  “Now remember,” Drae Devorla tells me, “relax and don’t resist. The more easily cagic flows out of you, the less painful the procedure will be… and the less damaging.”

  I shudder and nod.

  All the Conduits then place their hands on my arms and legs, and oh, I hate the feel of so many unfamiliar fingers. It’s like how my family was always giving me unwanted hugs, but of course, this is much worse. I wonder how intense the pain will be. Will I faint? Will I die? And if I die, what will death be like? Maybe I’ll travel to the Hidden Realms. Maybe nothing will happen at all.

  “Are you ready, Xylia?” Drae Devorla asks softly.

  I’ll never be ready, so I don’t answer.

  She puts her hands on my forehead anyway and says, “on the count of three,” to the others. “Remember, channel her energy slowly. I don’t care if this takes hours. I want her to survive. One…”

  I take a deep breath.

  “Two…”

  I want to look at Kary one last time—I’m doing this to save him—but Drae Devorla’s grip on my head is too tight.

  “Three.”

  I'm suddenly plunged into searing, overwhelming agony. It’s as if one of those tall pressurized tanks is slowly rolling over me, crushing me. I wail, and it’s an ugly sound that seems to scrape its way out of me. The pain is unthinkable, horrible, paralyzing.

  “Stop fighting, Xylia!” Drae Devorla says, and she sounds so far away. “It will hurt less!”

  Am I fighting? I’m not trying to. I’m just suffering. The pressure pulling on my insides intensifies, and it’s almost as if the Conduits are prying my bones out. I scream even louder. How can I bear this?

  I can’t.

  Oh mercy, I want my mind to break. I don’t want to feel anything anymore.

  The procedure has only begun, though, and Drae Devorla said it might take hours. And what if she doesn’t keep her promise? What if she gives Kary to the Matreornans? What if she punishes Clicks and Fedorie for helping me? What if my sacrifice is meaningless?

  I need relief—a break. I have to stop the pain, even if it’s only briefly.

  A thought stomps and kicks through my mind: Glowy Pony. The Conduits don’t have cagic guides. If they see him, maybe they’ll be distracted—maybe they’ll stop torturing me.

  My muscles throb and even the ones controlling my mouth are barely responding, but I manage to whisper, “Glowy. Show yourself. Please!”

  He must appear because I hear murmurs of surprise. The Conduits’ hands drop away from me, and merciful, merciful light, the pain fades.

  “What is that?” someone asks, maybe the Thrall of Matreornan.

  “It’s some sort of cagic creature,” another Conduit replies, I think the one from Capeldell.

  “It’s obviously a cagic guide,” says the Nelbar of Midnith.

  And then there’s a rush of voices, and I lose track of who’s speaking.

  “But there are no guides anymore.”

  “The girl called for it. Can she do that?”

  “Maybe we should delay this—study her, study it.”

  “No, she’s too dangerous.”

  Then a different voice, a wonderfully familiar voice cuts through all the others. “Let Xylia go.”

  Kary!

  I weakly turn my head, and my eyes first focus on Glowy Pony’s prancing, dark shape, then the massive clock gears, and finally, on Kary. He’s standing now and holding Matron Isme’s shockgun, which he’s also pointing at her. “Let her go!” he shouts again.

  Isme nurses what looks like an injured arm.

  So I did wake Kary, and when he regained consciousness, Matron Isme was probably watching my downleveling so he was able to surprise her, overpower her, and take the shockgun.

  Realms, I’m glad I kissed him.

  “I’ll shoot,” Kary warns, unfortunately sounding groggy. He’s surely trying to shake off whatever drug the Conduits used on him. I’m sure his threat is empty, for he’s not the type to hurt anyone. But the Conduits don’t know that.

  “I’ll take care of this,” the Nelbar of Midnith says as he creates a sharp diamond of shimmerdark.

  “No!” I cry.

  Drae Devorla shouts “No!” too. “No fighting. There’s too much energy in these reservoirs. We can’t risk an explosion.” She begins unbuckling me and says to the others, “Help me.”

  The Vazor starts freeing my left leg while the Conduit from Capeldell loosens my right.

  Yet the Thrall of Matreornan mutters, “This is not a good idea.”

  As soon as my arms and legs are loose, I climb down from the table, feeling even weaker than before. At least I still have my cagic, though. A feeble yet reassuring spark crackles in my chest.

  I can barely make it across the room; I have to crawl part of the way. Glowy Pony trots anxiously at my side.

  “You realize there’s still no way out of this, Xylia,” Drae Devorla calls. “The Foundry is surrounded by Shieldbearers, and the city’s sealed for the Dark Month. Even if you leave, we’ll find you and make you come back.”

  Reaching Kary, I collapse at his feet. “Stand up,” he whispers. “We need your powers to escape.”

  I try. I do try, but my body isn’t listening. I was just partially downleveled. I need to recover.

  Worse, Drae Devorla’s right. Kary’s courage changes nothing. No matter how far we run, the Conduits will chase after us, and there are so many people that Drae Devorla could threaten to make me do what she wants.

  Kary reaches down with his scarred stump. I grip his forearm, and although he’s unsteady, he’s strong enough to pull me upright.

  Yet, while he’s distracted, Matron Isme lunges for the shockgun. They struggle briefly, the weapon flashes, and she drops to the floor.

  “No,” Kary cries, and I’m sure he didn’t want to hurt her.

  The Nelbar of Midnith responds to the sudden violence by lobbing a shimmerdark orb the size of a chariot at us. We duck, Drae Devorla cries out, and the cagic wrecking ball obliterates the Dark Month clock. Heavy gears drop, smashing the tiles, while giant, glass shards fly outward. Then I hear shouts of pain and panic from the Shieldbearers below.

  “Stop!” Drae Devorla roars, fighting to detach the many tethers connecting her to the storage tank, but the Nelbar doesn’t listen. He sends a lethal panel of searing, red-rimmed shimmerdark at us.

  Maybe I can block it with a shimmerdark shield.

  But something else happens.

  Something deeply strange.

  A beam of shimmerdark bursts out of Kary’s chest, wild and strong, just like my explosive attack on Golly. His energy rushes to meet the Nelbar’s shimmerdark, and when the two collide, they shatter. Shards, this time of cagic, spray outward. Some knock more glass out of the broken clock. Some spatter the walls, chipping bricks. Yet one slices through the Thrall of Matreornan’s chest, and she falls dead, and another punches a hole in one of the towering reservoir tanks.

  After that, everything seems to happen very fast.

  “No!” Drae Devorla shrieks. “No, no, no!”

  Copious amounts of compressed cagic sprays out of the tank’s gash. Bolts pop. Cables snap free.

  The reservoir is going to explode—the same way that canister did when I killed the wolievs. We have seconds. Less than seconds.

  “Out! We have to get out!” I cry to Kary, who’s staring around the hall, stunned.

  Thankfully, his practical nature overpowers his frantic surprise. Scooping me up, he leaps through the broken Dark Month clock and out into cold, foggy nothingness.

  I have one last glimpse of the doomed Conduits, strugg
ling in their straps and buckles, one last look at the Great Drae’s expression of regret, resignation, and despair. Then there’s a blinding burst of heat and light, and the air fills with purple and blue sparks.

  I shape a shimmerdark disc just in time to slow our fall, but I’m too rattled to have much control over it. We slam against the roadway and both grunt in pain. I’m vaguely aware of Shieldbearers rushing past, glass crunching, and of chunks of brick wall and reservoir tank thudding down, often embedding themselves deeply in the road. People nearby yell and scream as more explosions burst above, creating devastating, fiery flowers that bloom for only seconds. I stare in disbelief as the top two floors of the Kaverlee Foundry vanish in an angry blaze of cagic.

  Drae Devorla, the Mighty Sharn, the Midnith of Nelbar. All the Conduits are dead—gone.

  Kary shakes my arm, and I realize he’s been calling my name, trying to get my attention. “I’m like you. Why am I like you?”

  “I don’t… I’m sorry.” I can’t make sense of Kary’s transformation right now—the city’s dark. There are no streetlamps, no window lights, no cagic signs over shops, no star net.

  The terrible reality of what's just happened strikes me like another exploding reservoir. With the Foundry destroyed, the city has no power. The cagic barriers protecting us have shut off.

  “Nocturnes,” I say to Kary. “They’ll get in.”

  26

  The Expansion District

  Istand up, feeling stunned, and because I’m still wearing next to nothing, extremely cold. Shimmerlight sparks drift down around me like glowing snow, sizzling and vanishing on the damp ground. More explosions rumble deep within the Foundry, which must mean the tanks on the lower floors are erupting. And the city is still dark—so dark.

  Kary gets to his feet too, and as Glowy Pony canters ahead of us, we stagger away from the collapsing building.

  How awful: by trying to save myself, I’ve put the entire city in danger. “I have to get to the Expansion District,” I say. It only has projected energy barriers, and they’re surely no longer working. The rest of the city is at least surrounded by solid walls, but if nocturnes enter the Expansion District, they'll soon be everywhere.