Catastrophe in the Firesnake

by Rayner Ye

  Yasmin yanked her long black hair back into a ponytail. “A hundred of them were mobsters. Think of all the slaves you freed.”

  “I’ll never forgive myself for all the innocents killed. A hundred party-goers and eighty slaves.”

  “If it makes you feel any better...” YuFang looked down at the table, “I purposely killed as many innocents to save myself.”

  Aedre narrowed her eyes. She must’ve disliked YuFang as much as Akachi did. “I’d never do that.”

  “Despite my paralysis, something good’s happened.”

  “What’s that?” Yasmin’s eyes rounded as she leaned forward.

  “I can go home to Nerthus and be with my dad and sister again. The government’s buying me a ticket home.”

  Yasmin clapped and smiled. “That’s great news. Why are they doing that?”

  “They think mining in their volcano may have caused my paralysis.”

  YuFang’s face twisted. “You mined in a volcano?”

  “I don’t have time to explain.” She looked at YuFang. “I’m gonna teach you how to travel by river and rain so you can do good to repay your wrongdoings, and so you can find out who the people of your dreams are.”

  Akachi’s eyes widened. “No! Don’t tell him!”

  She looked at Yasmin. “If you travel by river and rain, you can find your mum in the lunar slave camp. Glass City?”

  Yasmin straightened and nodded.

  “Don’t do what I did, though. Record footage and send it to the Human Trafficking Department at the Mayleedian Interstellar Police Station. I’ll have to tell you about that too.”

  Akachi’s heartbeat slowed, and he smiled. This girl, Aedre, had a kind heart.

  Yasmin and YuFang nodded, both eager to have the power she had. Thank the Goddess Pak’Thor wasn’t listening to this conversation.

  Aedre placed her hands on the table and leaned in closer. “The first thing you do is give your intention to go where you want.” She looked at YuFang. “You can give your intention to be with the person you dreamed about.”

  Warmth flooded Akachi. He clenched and released his hands. If he had the power, he could intend to see his sister. He’d never have to search MSS records again, and he’d finally know if she was alive or dead. Then he could take early retirement and be the father he wanted to be.

  Aedre glanced at Akachi, then did a double-take and stared with wide eyes. She pointed at him. “A mosquito drone!”

  A sour taste came into Akachi’s mouth. He waved his palms. “No, no, no.”

  She vanished into thin air.

  Apek tried to swat Akachi’s drone with an electric racket, but luckily it escaped to the ceiling. Aedre reappeared and pushed a note into Yasmin’s hand, then disappeared again.

  “What does it say?” YuFang asked.

  Yasmin looked up at the drone and frowned. “Come and see. She thinks that mosquito is a drone.”

  YuFang snarled as he scooted towards Yasmin. “Best not be one of Bamdar’s.”

  Apek joined them, and they read the note together, then Apek took the piece of paper and ate it.

  “Huh?” Yasmin said.

  “You can remember that, can’t you?”

  She nodded.

  YuFang frowned at Akachi’s drone. “What are we gonna do about that?”

  “If the police are onto us, they’ll get us,” Apek said. “You told us about your time with the drones. There’s no point running.”

  “You’re right,” YuFang said. “But while that thing’s around, we can’t give the secret away either.”

  ***

  Three hours after Aedre disappeared from the temple, Akachi’s flight touched down in Giok. In the pouring rain, he took a cab north to Monkey Forest. When the cab arrived, he pointed. “Stop in the parking lot outside the entrance.”

  “I can take you the other way to Kos if you want,” the driver said. “It’s not safe to walk through the forest in the dark. What’s the address?”

  “It’s okay. I’m meeting someone here.”

  The driver nodded. Akachi got out and slammed the door. The rain pelted down, too loud to hear the river. Aurashield around him and headlight shining from within, he ran up a jungle path. The smell of wet vegetation was a pleasant change from the pollution and sewage of Rajka.

  He had to find Aedre. Who knew what Thor would do to get information from her. Like Akachi, the mad scientist knew she travelled from Haunted River in the rain.

  A faint glow appeared a distance away. He shut off his headlight and put on night vision goggles. A warm red and orange image shone through the trees. It was a female lying on her back. He crept up the path and followed the river to reach her. What was she doing to travel? Rain, river, aurashield. He tiptoed over the stepping stones to take a closer look. An amethyst lay in her upturned palm.

  He could try now. Aedre need not know about him.

  A loud flapping diverted his attention. His night-vision goggles displayed red birds and bats filling the air and taking flight to the south. Monkeys screeched and jumped from tree to tree, and the river’s surface rippled. Then came the loudest explosion he’d ever heard.

  He gulped down a breath. His leg muscles tightened as he got ready to run, but Aedre laid in an aura of serenity. He’d have to save her.

  He shook her awake, and she gasped.

  “Aedre. I’ve been following you with my drone—”

  She glared at him and closed her eyes. A large man appeared on the riverbank and aimed his laser gun at Akachi.

  Akachi’s heart skipped a beat. He held out his palms. “I mean you no harm. The volcano’s erupted—”

  The man with the laser gun transformed into Aedre and gazed at the sky, while her real form remained on the rock. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Someone on your side.”

  “Who?”

  “A humanitarian.”

  Rocks and dirt fell with the rain, and the earth rumbled.

  “I can’t trust you.”

  “Let me help. What can I do?”

  “You gather the villagers. Take them to the pyramid. Somare will lead the way.”

  “Take them to the pyramid? Praying to Sahas won’t help.”

  “It’s a long story. The pyramid will lead us to safety.”

  “If you keep meditating here, you’ll die.”

  “I have to find the key.”

  Heart thudding, Akachi frowned. He should trust her. If she could vanish, re-appear, and change her form, perhaps a key to the pyramid was the answer. He couldn’t waste time analysing the situation. He nodded and sprinted up the river bank and down another path towards the village. More grit and stones fell like meteorites.

  In the drizzle and flying rock, a man ran towards him.

  Akachi held out his arms.

  “Hey!” The young man panted and tried to pass.

  “Aedre needs to find a key.”

  “You know?”

  “She’s my friend. Said Somare needs to lead the villagers to the pyramid.”

  The young man squeezed his eyes shut and blubbered. “My Ba’s Somare. He left two hours ago to drive to his labour camp on the north coast.”

  “Labour camp?” Inarmuzzan labour camps were terrible places. His father couldn’t be a good man. “How far’s his camp from the volcano?”

  “Twenty miles.”

  “How far’s the volcano from here?”

  “Two hundred.”

  If rock could fall two hundred miles away, that would’ve been one hell of an explosion.

  The man wiped the rain from his face with a trembling hand. “I wanna tell Aedre to go there and find him!”

  Akachi nodded. “I’ll let her know. Gather the villagers and take them to the pyramid. We’ll look for your father. When we have him and the key, we’ll join you.”

  “Aedre can’t walk.”

  “I’ll carry her.”

  The man sprinted off as dust and fumes filled the air.

  Chapter 12*Maharaan
ee and Roobish

  Eight of Mahaaraanee’s guards marched into her amethyst throne room. The two guards in the middle of the procession pulled a cart holding a bundle of furs with Kala nestled inside.

  Mahaaraanee stopped pacing and held her chin high. “Where did you find her?”

  “Collapsed in the heathlands, south of Mount Alimazi,” one of the guards answered.

  She cut her eyes at Kala, approached the cart, and smacked her granddaughter hard on the cheek. “Wake up, you stupid child!”

  Kala’s eyes fluttered open, no spirit inside. Something was amiss.

  She scrutinised Kala, and her voice became shrill. “What’s happened?”

  Kala’s expression remained as slack as the rest of her body. “Kaal died. From high in a tree, I watched Father bury him. I knew we’d be next, so I came home.”

  Mahaaraanee’s heart twisted as her eyes grew wet and vision blurred. She stumbled backwards and dropped to her knees. Then she sobbed onto the floor.

  Kala climbed out of the cart and sat beside her. After a long time of wailing in one another’s arms, Maharaanee sent for her other two sons, who joined them on the floor.

  “Sit on my throne, Kala,” Mahaaraanee said.

  Kala did as told, then spoke to them about everything that transpired since Roobish’s appearance at the pyramid. She admitted their treason and explained the perils of their journey—the crocodiles, the monkeys, and why she left Roobish in the tree to fend for herself. She described how she’d watched her father bury her twin, but kept her treetop presence secret because she wanted to return to Mahaaraanee.

  Mahaaraanee pushed herself up, and her sons helped her to stand. She stumbled to the throne and kissed Kala on the forehead. “I forgive you, and I forgive Mahaar. I want him home.” She faced her sons and clasped her hands in front of her heart. “If Roobish won’t give us the key, someone else will. With the key, we will turn back time, and Kaal will live again.”

  Kala nodded. “We could search Plan8 by river and rain. Father has Roobish’s aurashield remote.”

  “Continue the search. I want my son home safely.”

  ***

  Roobish lay freezing on the glacier in the pitch black. The ice side of Artheus was as deadly as the fireside. The only safe habitats for humans on Artheus were the mountain tops in the zone of constant twilight—warmth and perfect oxygen concentrations. Here, the oxygen levels were too high.

  Her heart pumped fast as she drifted in and out of consciousness. “I’m fading. It won’t rain or snow before I die.”

  Mahaar rubbed his flat grey face. “Tell me how to travel by river and rain so that I can find Kala.”

  “Glacier and snow, you mean. I hope it’s possible with water in a crystallised state.”

  “If it doesn’t work, I’ll die with you. The only river flowing directly from the pyramid is on the east side of the mountain, and I have no energy to get there.”

  Roobish remained curled in a ball, head tucked into her furs. The freezing wind howled down the glacier, reaching its icy fingers into her core. She’d abandoned the warmth of the aurashield to prolong its battery life. The oxygen would kill her before the cold did, anyway. When she died, Mahaar could use the aurashield. “Wear Kaal’s amethyst pendant and take my aurashield remote. When it rains or snows, switch on the aurashield’s rain protection.” She shuddered. Her breath became irregular.

  “How?”

  “Press the red gem three times.”

  “Then what?”

  “Relax on your back...” Her speech faltered as dizziness overtook her. “Inhale for six seconds, hold your breath for three, and exhale for six seconds, then hold your breath for three again with empty lungs. Continue this breath cycle throughout your journey, and if you forget, go back to the breath.”

  “Six in, three hold, six out and three hold.”

  “Yes.”

  “How do I travel to places?”

  She fought to stay conscious when, suddenly, a warmth came from nowhere. Death would be pleasant. “Say what you want in your mind.”

  Her next breath didn’t come, and her heart thudded one last time.

  Light opened in the sky. Mum’s silhouette drifted down, encased in a multicoloured aura.

  Euphoria rushed through Roobish as she reached up and floated towards her. The skin of her hand became young. She paused, suspended, and touched her cheek and eye. The pentacle scar diminished to the bumpy line she’d been left with after Mum’s death. Her body felt limber like the Aedre who did her daily union, the Aedre who’d never travelled in time.

  The light surrounding Mum lit up the darkness, exposing the ground below—Roobish’s dead body on the glacier, and Mahaar hunched over it.

  Roobish wrinkled her brow. How would he survive? It was so cold.

  Mum beckoned for her to take her hand. “He’ll be fine.”

  “Do I have to leave now? I didn’t want to die until I found the Satsang their key. I betrayed them.”

  “You could never have found the Satsang a key. It wasn’t written in the stars.”

  “If I had betrayed the crow woman, I could have.”

  “A life of mourning me. Don’t you want to be with your old Mum again?”

  Aedre’s chest opened with love. The fibres of light from her spiritual heart pulled her towards Mum’s. She levitated the final distance to embrace her in the light.

  Mum whispered, “Death is a door. Don’t be scared. I’ll show you the way.”

  “I’ll come. But let’s find Aedre first and say goodbye.”

  ***

  Maharaanee knelt by her scrying lake in the rain, her mouth gaping open. Why was Aedre paralysed and giving away her secrets to these strangers? Maharaanee narrowed her eyes and sealed her lips into a straight line. Aedre should be looking for a key, not visiting this Feili temple. These people didn’t matter. She’d promised that man she’d find him a key. Deceitful through and through, like Roobish. Roobish of old and Roobish of new.

  Someone appeared by Mahaaraanee’s side. She could smell his filth. “Mahaar!”

  “Mother. Save me.”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m travelling by ice and snow using Roobish’s aurashield. I’m on the Alimazi glacier, ten miles up before it feeds the River Ranyer.”

  Her muscles tightened in readiness, and she stood. “I’ll send guards and a carriage of food, drink and furs. Kala is safe in my palace.”

  “I know. I sought her first.”

  She nodded. “Good. I forgive you both.” She sniffed and lowered her gaze. “She told me about Kaal.”

  His posture sagged.

  She reached out to touch him. “Is Roobish coming too?”

  He nodded and vanished.

  ***

  Mahaaraanee strolled through the red and black heathlands in the valley around her palace. The red dwarf hung low in the swirling purple and red sky, casting Mahaaraanee’s shadow long and thin. Black bees hummed as they drew nectar, and swallows darted to catch insects.

  The expedition had left a week ago and still not returned. Within that time, Mahaaraanee and her advisors had formulated a plan. The torturer would draw information on everything Roobish knew about the keys. They’d write a timeline to fill in, against lists of solar systems, planets, moons, countries and Satsang pyramids. With the information, they’d predict where the keys currently were and send Mahaaraanee’s best guards by river and rain to bring them back. They only needed one key, Plan8 had eight.

  A traveller only needed one key to sacrifice his memory and reset time to when Roobish still lived in Glass City. The traveller would send a message to tell Mahaaraanee to go easy on Roobish so Mahaar and the twins would never hide her in the lowlands, and Kaal would never die.

  Low voices drifted on the warm breeze, and she squinted towards the cloud of dust ballooning under the red sun. Twelve guards walked in a line, pulling a cart behind.

  Adrenaline revived her, and she tramped back to the palace. Once home, s
he ordered the kitchen staff to prepare a feast and the servants to draw fourteen hot baths. Roobish had to be comfortable, well-fed, and healthy before her torture. The false sense of security and forgiveness might shock her into telling the truth.

  At the feast, the wine flowed freely, and her guards soon relaxed and filled their stomachs with marinated meat, baked roots, and fermented vegetables.

  Mahaar was last to join the table. Clean, shaven, and thin, he sat by her side and ate little.

  “Is Roobish still bathing?” she asked.

  The room fell silent, all eyes on her.

  Mahaar gazed at his lap, then looked her in the eye. “Roobish is dead, Mother.”

  Her vision flashed, and she squeezed Mahaar’s arm to the point of bruising. “Did she die peacefully?”

  “In the end, she did. She left with a smile.”

  She jabbed a finger at his face. “Kaal died because of her trickery.”

  “No, Mother. Kaal died because of your desire for vengeance.”

  ***

  In the black grasslands, they laid Roobish on a funeral pyre and burned her. Billows of smoke wafted in the wind, and flames spiralled and licked the twilight. Only Mahaar and Kala cried.

  The next day they carried her ashes to Mount Alimazi and tossed the dust into the wind. The amethyst pyramid loomed overhead.

  Mahaaraanee stood at the entrance of the pyramid and looked around at the attentive crowd. “Roobish befriended us and promised to free our species from extinction. All the Satsang loved her for her innocent desire to help. But a monster followed her into the past and made slaves of Eeporyovian hybrids. My scrying lake showed me that in the future, the same monster, Bamdar, would also make slaves of us. Roobish sacrificed her memory to undo her mistake, but she failed—”

  “Uncle Bok failed, you mean!” Mahaar planted his legs wide apart. There was a tightness in his expression.

  His brothers frowned as their gazes shifted from Mother to him.

  Mahaaraanee’s cheeks burned. She crumpled under their stares. “Uncle Bok escorted Roobish to the Firesnake for her protection. He insisted. He loved her like a sister. He sold her to Glass City slavers so she could hide there. Then, he tried to kill Bamdar by river and rain.”