by Brandon Barr
“Will you tell me what you said?”
Aven thought for a moment.
“I just told her that her hand felt all wrinkly, like Mother’s.”
Arentiss gasped and yanked her hand away, and for the first time, Aven saw real emotion on her face and realized he’d hurt her.
“That was a joke,” said Aven. “I’m sorry.”
Her furrowed brows eased slightly. “You were teasing me? You didn’t say that?”
Aven shook his head.
She grabbed his hand again forcefully. “That was strange. I haven’t been that upset in a long time. Usually, I’m good at catching witticism. Rueik throws them at me all the time.”
“Do you hold Rueik’s hand?”
“Zoecara would not like it, so I refrain. And Hark is married, so that would be disrespectful.” She stopped. “You have a beautiful body and a handsome face. Your words, therefore, have much power to spike an emotional high in me. Or conversely, to create emotional lows that would appear on a psych graph as a deep valley. Thus my hurt.”
“I’ll be more sensitive,” said Aven.
“I would appreciate it if you were. My endorphin levels are much lower now.”
BRIDGE
Chapter Twelve
KARIENCE
Karience always relished a trip to Bridge. She and Winter had gone through the portal to Karience’s home world of Night 2, and then were taken by a Bridgeworlder to where they were now, passing through the first security quadrant, which consisted of a long walkway surrounded by empty space. Not a tree or rock one could hide behind, only a throng of people coming from the portal. Or going to it.
Bridge world was a unique and beautiful place, for there was almost no atmosphere, and one felt united with the blackness of space and bright shining stars overhead. The story of Bridge was long and tragic, but the Bridgeworlders had used ingenious creativity and scientific expertise to survive one of their two suns going supernova, a catastrophe that no other known civilization had lived through. The livable portions of the planet were enclosed in an insulating organic material their scientists had designed, transparent to the eye, but stronger than most alloys. The only atmosphere was at ground level, no higher than a two-story building, pumped in by machines deep underneath the planet’s crust. And it was there, in the belly of Bridge, far under the surface, that most of its residents lived.
“And this Maker, Leaf, has not returned?” said Karience, continuing to dig deeper into Winter’s experiences as an Oracle.
“No, not like that first time. But Leaf told me he would always be with me, closer than my next breath.”
Karience had heard of Oracles, but they were always on distant worlds and easily forgotten. She hadn’t even considered how such a person could be of interest to the Guardians. And now, because of Winter, she had discovered there was a high priority placed on acquiring Oracles, and that an entire subset of the Guardians, known as Consecrators, existed for the purpose of…what? Studying them? She found herself slightly anxious.
Having met Winter, Karience couldn’t help but feel concerned. She had no idea what a Consecrator’s objectives were. Or how they viewed the Oracles. And, as she probed Winter with questions and heard Winter’s story, Karience found herself growing intrigued with the Makers, and who or what they were.
But she also found herself growing more and more protective of the girl. The fact that the Consecrators had not been forthcoming about why they wanted Winter did not sit well with Karience. She wanted answers. She wanted assurances that no harm would come to the girl.
“Have you had any more visions since arriving at our facility?”
“No,” said Winter, and placed her hand in her hair. The strange blue butterfly crawled onto her finger and spread its wings. “Whisper hasn’t sent me anything. That is the name I’ve given the spirit that lives in this creature.”
“There’s a spirit inside the butterfly?”
“Yes…at least, I think so. Leaf didn’t exactly say there was.”
Karience was not accustomed to the mystical. She observed the butterfly and had difficulty imagining it being anything more than an insect.
Winter seemed to be soaking in the strange surroundings. Since they had jumped through the portal at Loam and gone to Night 2, and now Bridge, Karience could see Winter was beginning to grasp the seriousness with which each world took up its defenses. Karience had explained to her that most of the security measures taken consisted of leaving large amounts of empty space around the portals where, if Beast armies were to pour through, they could be eradicated by nuclear means.
Winter placed the butterfly back in its vial, then tucked it back under her shirt. “What do the Consecrators want with me?”
“I want to know as badly as you do. They’ve told me nothing.” Even the Magnus Empyrean had not told her why, but Karience left that unsaid. Above the eighty Magnus Empyreans who each oversaw hundreds of worlds, there were the ten Arbiters, and above them were the three Sentinels. Karience couldn’t help but wonder which of these had looked over Winter’s beetle feed. When they met Voyanta, the Consecrator, she hoped to find a loose tongue on the woman.
They were nearing the final gate. A large line waited to be scanned through into the City of All Peoples. There was a powerful hum overhead as a starship glided low above Bridge’s surface. Winter’s orange-flecked eyes darted upward, and Karience watched the expression on her face. It was like a child’s, viewing some mundane sight with the awe and wonder of a first time. Above, several hundred warships were docked, each ready to be called into duty.
When Bridge’s star went supernova, it created a portal in space five hundred times the size of the planet. Forty-one other massive portals had been discovered throughout the Silver Hand Galaxy, each created by a star’s spectacular death. More were regularly discovered. These star-sized portals worked differently than the world portals. Each led to a consistent point within the galaxy that ships could reliably jump to. Some scientists posited that there was some form of quantum connectivity between the portal formed by the supernova and the jump point, but no one knew for sure.
Regardless, these giant portals allowed for instant travel of the Guardian’s forces to regions throughout the galaxy. If a Beast world attacked a region near enough one of these star portals, an armada of ships could be dispatched. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough of these portals, so often there was no way to jump a fleet close enough to help a world under attack. Based on where they attacked, it seemed that the Beasts were taking advantage of those holes.
Winter’s eyes moved from the ships above to Karience’s face. There was concern shadowing her nymph-like features, and the crook of her bent nose looked especially prominent in the dull light of the five moons. A sixth moon was on the cusp of the horizon, directly over the city they were about to enter.
“What do the Guardians think of the Makers?” asked Winter.
Karience pondered the question a moment. “There are a range of sentiments, but I know of no one that sees them as you do. Most do not regard them as present in any way. They are beings that have left this universe. Perhaps for another universe that turned out better.”
“Is that how you feel?”
“Before I met you, yes. But I had not thought much about the topic. You have made me more curious. The possibility that the Makers are still involved in our universe intrigues me. I find your experiences fascinating. I had always assumed that the Oracles were like the portals, a remnant of the Makers’ power that continued on, untended.”
Winter nodded, her hand at her chest, fingering the vial beneath her shirt as they neared the front of the line of people. Up ahead, dozens of soldiers stood before the city wall, screening each person, checking fingers, eyes, and blood. They would have the necessary information about Winter to allow her entrance, since her information had been processed long before.
“How does one become a Missionary?” asked Winter, as they walked into the city.
&
nbsp; “Recruitment from within the order. It is the least sought-after position within the Guardians. One out of three jumps ends with the Missionaries stepping through the portal but never returning. And there are some horrific stories. I’ve heard of Missionaries coming back with their extremities removed. Arms. Legs. Eyes. Or sometimes their skin has been stripped away before being thrown back through the portal.”
Winter recoiled. “I did not know…” Her voice trailed off. “I will never look at any of the Missionaries the same.”
“You can see why the acquisition of one more Missionary at our enclave has been difficult. We have one full team, but Rueik and Arentiss are still waiting for a third member.”
“Is it possible that I might become a Missionary?”
Karience looked at her in surprise. “After what I just told you, you want to be a Missionary?”
“I feel drawn to the role.”
“If you are serious, I could talk to the Magnus Empyrean. I don’t see any reason why an Emissary couldn’t move into the role of Missionary. Of course, there would come a point where you’d have to leave your brother behind while on your mission.”
Winter nodded. “I don’t know why or how, but I feel like Aven and I are destined to be pulled apart.”
Destined. Such a strange way of seeing one’s fate. Not random, not lucky or unlucky, but moved by some greater purpose. This girl truly felt her life was being driven by the will of the gods. Such a strange notion.
At the front of the line, they passed under a large scanning array. A soldier asked them their reason for being there, and Karience told him they were coming to meet a Consecrator named Voyanta. A screen was handed to her that contained the Consecrators’ location, as well as an automated map of the city.
Passing through the gate, Karience led Winter through rows and rows of lift tubes jutting from the ground like stalagmites, only they were made of human-formed crystals. Most of the crystal lift tubes glowed yellow as people entered them in order to be taken below ground.
“They’re beautiful,” said Winter. “Do they take us underneath the city?”
“They take us to the city,” said Karience. “What you see above ground is only a fraction of the whole.”
They found on the third row a bluish lift tube that was unoccupied. The door slid away and as she and Winter stepped through. The color morphed to a yellow hue. Karience set her screen on a port pedestal, and the lift door shut.
“That device will read the information on our screen, and take us to the port closest to our destination.” The hum of the crystal lift was calming, and the movement was not rough, like the less-sophisticated lift on Loam. One could tell a lot about the people of a world by their construction, thought Karience. Those on Bridge were a patient community. These lifts had taken several hundred years to complete.
“Do you have any reservations about meeting the Consecrator?” Karience asked, staring at the pleasant crystalline light pulsing from the wall in front of them. Winter’s silence seemed to indicate she did have reservations. Karience turned toward her and gently put a hand on her shoulder. Winter’s face was stern, her lips spread slightly apart, eyes staring forward.
“You look concerned,” said Karience. “Are you all right?”
Winter didn’t respond. Her silence was beginning to disturb Karience more deeply than it ought. Winter was still a mystery to her. She was an Oracle, and her stories of the visions both fascinated and frightened her. It was then Karience noticed Winter’s hand clutching the vial under her shirt.
Karience couldn’t keep the concern out of her voice when she spoke. “Are you having a vision?”
Winter’s head turned slowly to face her. “Someone is hunting us.”
A chill ran up Karience’s neck, the hairs standing on end. “What are you talking about?”
Winter slowly shook her head, her focus seemingly lost in another world.
Karience tried to remain calm. “Who is hunting us?”
The girl gave no response.
Karience stared at her. Winter’s mouth moved, as if speaking words, but not loud enough for Karience to hear. Perhaps she was praying. Karience tried to calm herself with controlled breaths. Was this really happening? Visions weren’t really possible, were they? She tried to hang onto this thought even as Winter’s terrifying words echoed in her mind.
Someone is hunting us.
She wanted to believe the young woman before her was delusional. Psychotic. But she couldn’t quite convince herself. On top of that, the Guardians wanted her because they believed she was god-touched. It was hard to completely deny that.
The quiet hum of the lift stopped.
“Are they out there right now?” asked Karience, staring at the lift door. “Are they? Answer me!”
Karience tensed as the lift door began to open. She pressed herself against the back wall. The yellow crystalline glow that had been so beautiful now pulsed crimson red, signaling for them to exit. Karience locked her eyes on the darkened opening. The vein pounding in her neck felt ready to burst.
“Follow me,” said Winter, moving toward the open door.
Karience obeyed, grabbing the screen off the port before following her. Outside the lift, they found themselves in a large, dimly-lit cavern.
Winter beckoned her forward. “I see something. Come.”
A droning electrical hum came from a moving platform that ran the length of the cavern, one side of it orange, the other green. Karience saw the shadowed outline of a person speed by on the orange side, then disappear into a tunnel in the far wall of the cavern.
“What did you see?” asked Karience, moving close to Winter.
The girl didn’t answer. Again her hand gripped the vial around her neck, eyes staring blindly forward.
Karience looked around. She didn’t see anyone. The mover was empty in both directions. There were dark openings on the sides of the cavern, dim lights illuminating some of them, the others dark. There was no movement in any of the openings.
Karience glanced at the screen in her hand for directions. It indicated that they should take the green moving platform. She looked up, scanning the cavern again. That was when her eyes caught the faintest gray shadow of a figure, barely visible in a dim opening.
Immediately, the figure stepped out, as if sensing being seen, and began walking toward them.
“Quick,” Karience said as the figure moved closer. “Onto the mover.”
“No.” Winter tugged at her arm. “Here.”
Karience hesitated only a moment before following her toward an opening in the wall. She was an Oracle, right? Hopefully the Makers were protecting her, telling her how to escape their pursuer. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Winter, passing through the opening into a darkened tunnel. “There’s a room in here. A man who can help us.”
Karience took a light stick off a hook at the mouth of the tunnel and shook it. The stick glowed with a warm light, and she held it out before them. She glanced over her shoulder. She couldn’t see the person who was following them, but she knew he was there, behind them, in the dark.
Ahead loomed the blackness of the tunnel. That was one thing Karience hated about Bridge. The vast, dark tunnels that lay between your starting point and where you wanted to go, with only handheld lights to guide you.
But on Bridge, the tunnels were unavoidable.
Chapter Thirteen
WINTER
Winter saw the room clearly in her mind. A hollowed-out hole in the rock where three men were talking. She knew that once she found the room, two of the men would try to kill her. She had to find that room. Because there was a weapon inside that Karience knew how to use. And a man that would help them.
Winter looked back, but saw only the darkness of the tunnel swallowing everything. The light Karience held didn’t travel far.
The dark outline of a room passed on the right. They kept moving forward. Another passed on the left. The room
she was looking for had a light in it, but Winter realized she had no idea where the room was. All she had was an image of it. She had nothing to go on but faith that she was still moving in the right direction.
“Hold on,” said Karience, coming to a halt. “I don’t think he’s still back there.”
Winter stopped too, though she felt a deep urge to keep moving. The echo of their footsteps faded, and then there was complete silence. Karience cupped her hands around the light stick, plunging them into darkness, except for a faint, reddish-orange glow coming through Karience's fingers.
A sudden sound cut through the darkness: the scuffing of feet coming toward them. Winter reached out for Karience and grasped her arm.
“We’ve got to go!” said Winter, her words echoing loudly off the walls.
Karience opened her hands. In the light, they saw a man with matted hair and an unshaven face. He had something on his head, covering his eyes. Whatever it was, Winter knew from the VOKK that it gave him sight in the darkness.
Without a word, she and Karience took off running. Between their loud breathing and the echoes of their footsteps, it was impossible to gauge how close the man was. Winter wanted to look over her shoulder to see where he was, but she dared not.
Another dark entryway passed on their left, then up ahead, they saw a soft glow emanating from an opening on the right.
“There!” shouted Winter, cutting in front of Karience and running for the opening. “Inside!”
Winter burst into the room. There were three men seated at a table. Their heads turned toward her, surprised at her sudden appearance. She skirted the table, heading for the far corner, where the weapon she’d seen in her vision was lying on top of a wooden crate. She grabbed it and spun around.
“Karience!” she shouted, throwing the weapon to her. One of the men tried to intercept the object, but missed. Karience caught it awkwardly, just as their pursuer entered the room. He ripped off the device covering his eyes and lunged at her.
