The Keeper (The Endless Chronicles Book 1)

by Nikki Mccormack

  That surprised Deynas a little. Maybe the situation wasn’t hopeless.

  Settek eyed his weapon. “You prefer the staff?”

  Deynas nodded.

  While Deynas set his sword belt aside and turned off the flyer, tucking the red key into a pocket, one of the other crossbreeds handed Settek a staff handle. He armed it with a flick of his wrist and they moved out away from the flyers. The other six crossbreeds formed a circle around them. Misa hung back, cowering next to the red flyer, her eyes moist and wide with fear.

  Settek spun his staff with a flourish and dropped into fighting stance. Deynas touched the small bulge of the god’s blood pendant as he moved into position, hesitating only a second before he lunged at his adversary. The crossbreed deflected his attack and came back with a swift counterstrike. He was strong and dangerously fast, but Deynas knew the staff as well as he knew his own flesh. He preferred to discourage the crossbreed without drawing blood if he could.

  Settek wore no shirt, flaunting his exquisite musculature to the world, but also exposing a set of four symmetrical healing slashes on his side. They made a good target, a weak point where a strike would have more impact and perhaps cause enough pain to give him second thoughts.

  They exchanged a series of attacks, each getting a feel for the other’s style and skill. Then Deynas blocked a high strike and spun the other end of the staff around low, bringing it up in time to catch Settek a hard blow to the healing side with the rounded part of the weapon.

  Settek grunted, staggering. He caught himself on one knee and sprang back up. A tiny glimmer of blood emerged from the healing wound that took the brunt of the strike and his eyes flared with rage, his flame-colored mane darkening a shade.

  Settek looked past Deynas and gave an almost imperceptible nod. Deynas spun, catching the blade of another crossbreed’s sword as it swept down behind him. The rest had pulled their weapons and were moving in on him now. There was no mercy in their eyes. He started to back away and remembered Settek behind him. Apparently, the young crossbreed wasn’t going to chance losing the flyer a second time.

  Three of them charged him at once.

  “Deynas!”

  He turned toward Misa’s voice. She’d come around behind and jumped at one the crossbreeds, a dagger in hand. It sunk deep into his side. The crossbreed roared in pain, drawing the attention of his companions away from Deynas for a second. The crossbreed spun, wrenching the dagger still buried in his side from her grip, and swung his sword around in a low, upward arc. Misa’s shirt and the flesh beneath opened, her blood spraying out bright red in the path of the blade. Her eyes locked on Deynas as she flew back. Time froze there for several seconds the way it had when she fell from the flyer, then she hit the ground and was still.

  Rage and shock raced through Deynas, red closing in around the edges of his vision. He lunged at the one who had struck Misa, bringing his staff around in a powerful swing that separated the crossbreed’s head from his shoulders. The body stayed standing for a moment, as if confused as to its fate, then fell. Deynas was already turning. He jabbed the bladed end into the chest of another who stood staring dumbstruck at his decapitated companion.

  When he turned to go for the next one, they were already fleeing, rushing for their flyers. He caught one with a deep slash across his back, cutting through his spine. The crossbreed fell onto the wing of his flyer, howling in agony as he slid to the ground. The remaining four were speeding away, Settek in the lead.

  Deynas stared after them for a second, blood dripping from both ends of the staff. Then he remembered what had started the bloodshed and rushed to Misa. He dropped the staff and knelt beside her. Her chest had been laid open by the crossbreed’s blade. Her clothes were drenched with blood. Her eyes stared empty at the grime-coated lights of Undercity hanging high above them.

  What have I done? He shook his head. “No.”

  The word seemed to come from miles away. So quiet. He pulled her up, holding her against him. Her blood soaked through his shirt, wet and warm, the thick metallic scent filling his nose.

  This couldn’t happen. “No!”

  The anguish was too great for words, too great for tears. He cried out a third time only it came out as a hoarse unintelligible wail. He curled over her, squeezing his eyes shut against agony that tore through him in excruciating waves, and rocked her body. The child Argus had died to save was now dead because of him. He had failed Misa. He had failed Argus.

  There was no answer to this, no solution. Neither weapons nor words could change this. Tears came then, pouring forth in a flood. He knelt in the street, rocking her against him until the tears finally ran dry, leaving him raw and empty. Somewhere in there, the crossbreed whose spine he’d severed had fallen silent.

  Someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “Deynas.”

  Kaira?

  “Deynas. You can’t stay here.” Her voice cracked.

  He didn’t move.

  Someone’s feet came into view at the edge of his vision. “Try again.”

  Naago?

  The man who had turned him away. The deserter who traded him the red flyer that brought this despair. He laid Misa on the ground. Her blood weighed down his shirt. His hand closed on the staff and he surged up toward the voice, bringing the blade around with murderous intent. The blade stopped inches away from Naago’s shoulder, caught in the hand of a cloaked figure who materialized out of nothing next to them.

  For a second, Deynas could only stare, then he let go of the staff and sank to one knee. Kaira and the many strangers who had gathered near the scene also knelt. Some of them began to murmur the Keeper’s chant.

  His mind raced. Why was the Keeper there? He couldn’t bear it if she meant to keep the umahk-ra of the crossbreeds he had slain. They deserved to be forgotten. Why would she keep them? What could be so rare or special about any of them?

  She knelt in front of him and rested her right hand on Misa’s pale cheek. There were strange black vines or roots twined over the hand, tapering down past her fingernails.

  “I’m sorry.” She kept her voice low enough he didn’t think anyone else would be able to hear her. Were her words meant for him then or for the girl she touched? “Her umahk-ra is gone. I cannot keep her. I am sorry, Deynas-ra.”

  He felt as if someone had a fist around his heart and was squeezing. That voice was so familiar. Was this some cruel trick of his mind? Didn’t he hurt enough already?

  The Keeper stood then and took a step back. He tried to look up into her dark hood, casting aside the fear that it would bring death to do so. What did he care if death came for him now? But the black depths revealed nothing. Then she vanished, denying his searching gaze.

  Naago picked up the staff and stood, retracting the ends. He flicked the safety and held it out to Deynas.

  Deynas ignored the offered weapon, staring down at Misa. Why would the Keeper even consider keeping the spirit of an Endless girl? Why had she known his name? Why had she sounded so much like Argus?

  His gut twisted and the world spun around him, bringing a wave of nausea.

  Kaira spoke, her shaking voice grounding him. “You have to get him out of here, Naago. The enforcers are slow to respond in the Undercity, but they will come. Those three are from wealthy families in New City. Their deaths will not be taken lightly.”

  “Go back to the hotel. I’ll take care of this.” Naago continued to hold the staff handle out to him. “Come. I can get you out of the city. Help me strap her onto your flyer.”

  Deynas took the staff handle, secured it at his belt and lifted Misa, following the deserter’s directions.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Naago took them out through one of the illegal portals and they sped away from the city as fast as the lesser of the two flyers would go. The Keeper remained unseen, leaning back against him while he drove. She didn’t want Deynas to see her, though she couldn’t stop watching him. The dead girl had been someone important to the Endle
ss woman whose body she wore and so was he. The woman’s mind and spirit were more restless than ever since they found him and the girl in the street, to the point that her distress was becoming indistinguishable from the Keeper’s own emotions.

  She should have gone back to the Halls of the Blooded instead of leaving the city. The umahk-ra of the Endless woman was far too strong. It was straining against the barriers that kept the woman and the Keeper apart. Although she tried to tell herself it was simple curiosity that made her go along, she knew it was the Endless woman’s growing fondness for Naago and her deeper attachment to Deynas and the dead girl that drove her to stay with them.

  In the light of the rising sun, she watched Deynas as he stared ahead, his face devoid of expression, his eyes behind the clear goggles brimming with guilt and hatred. Her chest ached when she closed her eyes and saw the tortured black and grey storm that was his umahk-ra. He was in so much pain. Pain she couldn’t fix. Pain she shouldn’t want to fix. She did though, or the Endless woman did, it was becoming hard to tell the difference.

  “Why did he try to kill you?”

  Naago slowed the flyer, dropping back a little, perhaps so Deynas wouldn’t notice him talking to himself. “He needs someone to blame I imagine. And I did give him the flyer that led to that confrontation. Damn fool should never have taken it into the city.”

  “Did you warn him of that?”

  She could feel his muscles tense against her back.

  “Are you defending him now?”

  “No. I was only asking a question.”

  “He was a fool to come looking for me. I told him I couldn’t help him.”

  “Wouldn’t, you mean.” The flyer jerked. Was she making him angry? Odd how people got so irritated when the truth was placed in front of them. In that, the blood of The Undying didn’t make the Endless any different from the rest of humanity. “What would you have done if you were him? He believes you can help him and he is right. The only one who disagrees is you because you have come to think so little of yourself.”

  The flyer jerked more violently this time and one wing dug into the sand, almost ripping the controls out of Naago’s hands. He braked them hard enough that she slammed forward into the harness, its straps bruising her skin. Deynas noticed their absence after a few seconds. He slowed and turned in a wide arc to come back to them. In the short time it took him to reach them, Naago had already detached her harness and his own and was stalking away from the flyer.

  She followed him, although she got the sense he didn’t necessarily want her to. He turned on her suddenly and she stopped, stepping back from the fury in his eyes.

  “What the hell do you know about me? You’re not even fucking human! You’re just some stinking parasite!”

  Deynas pulled up and stared at Naago as if the man had gone mad. For the elder Endless man’s sake, she showed herself and Deynas started. His gaze locked on her then and his stare grew intense, as if far more interested in trying to see through the cloak than in their argument.

  “Perhaps it takes something other than a human to understand one,” she replied, choosing to ignore his insult.

  “Don’t give me that shit. You don’t know what you are. You’re in no position to tell me who I am.”

  She stared at him. A menacing blackness rose within her, familiar because it was the Keeper’s wrath, but unfamiliar in that she could not recall any other time when it had come up so strong. It rippled through the black roots like a bolt of lightning ready to be unleashed. Beneath that, she could feel the Endless woman’s ire. She embraced the latter because she wasn’t sure what that blackness might be capable of.

  “You wanted me here and I came. I should be back in the Halls of the Blooded now. Not skimming across the desert with two Endless warriors and a dead girl.” A vicious twisting in her chest reminded her that the dead girl mattered and wasn’t to be spoken of so lightly.

  Naago sneered. “Yes. I forgot. You have someone to kill.”

  She almost pulled her hood down so he could see the fury in her face, but not with Deynas there. Instead, she turned from him and started walking back toward the city. She could disappear and truly end the confrontation, but she still wasn’t so eager to leave them even now.

  Naago stood his ground, refusing to come after her though she could feel the driving desire to do so in tendrils of his spirit that reached after her. Deynas did follow her after a moment, moving the red flyer up a few feet in front of her and releasing his harness with quick, practiced hands. He hopped down, leaving the quiet craft hovering, and knelt before her, forcing her to stop or go around. She stopped, knowing that she should have gone around.

  You needn’t kneel before me. I am no god. She held back the words. It had apparently been a mistake to say that to Naago. Deynas might be no different.

  “Keeper. Your presence honors us. I don’t know why you’re here and I know it isn’t right to make requests of you, but I would ask you to continue with us.” He bowed his head lower and his voice dropped to little more than a whisper. “Help me see Misa to her rest. Please.”

  So much fear in him. He was afraid to return to his tribe. Afraid to endure the sorrow of bringing the girl to them and afraid of what punishment he might face. More than anything, he was afraid to do it alone. The Keeper could feel his fear, could see it in his spirit if she closed her eyes, but it was the Endless woman who understood it.

  “Deynas-ra.”

  He drew in a sharp breath when she spoke his name. The Endless woman’s voice. He must recognize it. She started to reach out to him and caught herself, pulling her hand back to her side.

  No. I cannot go with him. This would all end the moment she returned to the Halls of the Blooded. The uncertainty would be gone and all of the discovery would come to an end, dying with this incarnation. “I will accompany you for as long as I am able, but for now I think I would prefer to ride in the passenger stand on your craft.”

  He nodded and stood, going to the red flyer to bring up the second stand. Once he had it locked into place, he paused there and rested a hand on the blanket he’d taken out of his hatch to wrap the dead girl. Sorrow tore at his spirit, grief strong enough that she could feel it as a physical ache passing into her through the black roots upon her skin. Naago’s anger and now something else, jealousy perhaps, loomed dark behind her. His focus on her thrust his emotions at her with such force that she was beginning to feel crushed between the two of them.

  She placed her normal hand on Deynas’s shoulder. The woman’s spirit flared within her like a struck match and she jerked her hand back. “Let us move on.”

  Deynas nodded and returned to his place at the front of the flyer. She buckled in to the stand behind him. Naago, already up and buckled in on the other craft, throttled away. Deynas followed him.

  They flew through the day and into the night, neither man willing to admit the need for rest. Eventually, the need for fuel forced them into a traveler’s haven and they secured a group cabin with a locked shed for the red flyer so that Misa’s body couldn’t be disturbed. They were within a few hours of the village, but exhaustion and hunger demanded attention now.

  They ate a small meal in brooding silence and both men sank into sleep, emotional trauma and fatigue chasing them to the solace of dreams. The Keeper couldn’t join them. The restless presence of the Endless woman kept her awake. After pacing around the cabin for a time, she found herself sitting on the edge of Deynas’s bed, watching him sleep. She drew back her hood and sat studying his face, trying to understand the feelings the Endless woman had for him. Even in sleep, worry lines etched his brow and his handsome features remained drawn with grief.

  A glint of metal drew her eye to the chain that hung around his neck, mostly hidden by the collar of his shirt. Ever so gently, she took it between two fingers and drew it out. A teardrop shaped stone hung upon it, gleaming black and heavy in her palm. Great power resided in that small stone, she could feel it resonating with the black roo
ts on her skin as if its nature were somehow similar. She closed her eyes, gazing upon the gleam of that black stone, like a silver beacon hovering protectively over the tormented umahk-ra of the man who wore it.

  “Argus.”

  The Endless woman’s spirit flared within her, brighter than it had when she touched him before, and the Keeper opened her eyes, looking down into his startled blue ones. So much hurt, hope, and longing in his voice, in his eyes. She stood, dropping the stone, and stepped back. He started to sit up, reaching out for her. She retreated into the unseen sanctuary of the cloak’s power, becoming invisible to both of them.

  •

  Deynas sat and stared at the empty place where she had been. His heart was racing and his thoughts were in so much disarray that he couldn’t grasp one long enough to make sense of it. Naago was also awake now, sitting cross-legged on the bed, watching him. How long had the other man been awake? Had he seen her disappear? Had he seen her sitting beside him while he slept?

  “Where did she go?”

  “Either she was called to keep a spirit, you frightened her into leaving, or she is still here, but wishes not to be seen by us.”

  Deynas closed his eyes, grimacing. His head hurt trying to understand what had just happened. The Keeper, a being who had walked the world longer than legend could recall, had been sitting there beside him. Only she wore the face of the woman he loved just as she had spoken with her voice earlier. The hair and eyes had been a strange color, deep black with an odd silver sheen, but it had been her face.

  He shook his head, trying to clear the confusion. “Frightened her?” What could he have said to frighten such a being?

  “The name you called her, that was someone you knew?”

  “Argus-ra,” Deynas murmured. His entire being ached now with the longing to see her. “She died helping others flee the city after the takeover, but I saw her face just now. The Keeper…” It had to have been a trick of the light or an image of her pulled from some dream he’d been having. Perhaps the fragment of her umahk-ra inside him made it seem so real. Or was he going crazy?