Abyss

by Bethany Adams

  Silence fell. Then Anna’s voice lilted across the quiet. “Water won’t cure it.”

  Vek’s attention swiveled to the half human in surprise. Her other blood had gotten stronger, augmented by the surge of energy that had swept through an hour or so before. Her features had taken on a sharper fae cast, and her aura hummed with the power of rapids and the depths of oceans. If she was anything to go by, there was going to be a problem. The magical races hadn’t exactly been shy about sleeping around, so scores of humans could soon have latent fae blood surging to the forefront.

  Caolte was correct—a great deal was going to change.

  “We need to find a more experienced healer. One with more power.” Maddy gave Naomh an apologetic glance. “No offense.”

  The Sidhe lord ran his fingers through his hair, his expression troubled. “None taken. You are correct to seek expert aid. My gift for healing is small.”

  Vek’s shoulders slumped for a moment, but he forced himself to straighten as he peered at his nephew. He’d failed Fen enough over the years. That trend would not continue. “First, we’ll see what happens when the others return. If they fixed the rift, they might yet heal Fen.”

  Of course, the geniuses had broken open the wall shielding the extra energy from Earth. They could’ve found another solution for the poison if he’d sealed it instead. Probably. There was no telling what damage that final wave had done across Earth. It had taken down the electricity here, and Maddy’s cellphone had no signal, so they were cut off from outside news.

  That release hadn’t been the only consequence, either. Vek felt like he was standing in a cave, the water slowly rising from an unseen source. The life-dealer and the dragon must have channeled the bulk of the power into the natural energy field. Now the power his people had worked so hard to seal away would return to Earth, whether they were ready or not.

  Here’s hoping we don’t all drown in it.

  “It’s time to disconnect, skizik.”

  Aris floated. With each moment, the magic had become more a part of him. Did he breathe still? His body seemed a distant concept, one of billions of heartbeats forming a symphony inside of him. He could stay here and join with infinite life.

  “Skizik.”

  Something pushed at his mind. Kezari. “What?”

  “Disconnect, or we will remain here forever.”

  Lightness filled him at the thought. He could exist here in this place, free from pain. Explore this nexus of life. Such purity here. Who but the gods had ever experienced it in its fullness? Even connected now, Aris’s comprehension was small. But if he had endless time to wander, perhaps he could attain such understanding.

  Forever.

  We will remain here forever.

  Kezari’s words replayed in his head, a discordant note amidst the hymn of life. We. We will remain. Linked as they were, he’d doom Kezari, too. She’d done so much to shield him. She’d saved him. He could not reward her with a living death.

  And his family waited.

  The song of the rift became a dirge. Infinite loneliness. There was no life without his family. What had he been thinking? Selia and Iren were worth foregoing this power. They were everything.

  With a lurch, he struggled back toward his body. He wiggled his fingers, and the sword almost dropped from his right hand. He still held it? He circled his wrists and shrugged his shoulders. A deep ache tickled in the back of his mind and then bloomed to full life as he became aware of his body, stiff and sore from the force of the power he’d wielded. He groaned, but he let himself return.

  Then something wrapped around his wrist and tugged.

  He stumbled down the stairs, his legs so weak that he would have crumpled if not for Loki’s hold. No mistaking the man for anything but a god now. His flaming hair stood on end and his eyes blazed as he gripped Aris’s shoulders to keep him from falling.

  “You were not supposed to want to stay.”

  Aris wavered in the god’s hold. “I didn’t want to. Not really.”

  One red eyebrow rose. “Could’ve fooled me, elf.”

  “I might have gotten a bit…lost.”

  How could he explain what it was like to merge with such power? How he’d abandoned himself, and his will, without even realizing? But there was a serious gleam in the god’s eyes that suggested that he knew. Of course, he must. Heat crept up Aris’s neck at the memory of Loki standing with his hand in the rift. Yes, he knew.

  Aris gave a short nod. “Thank you for your aid.”

  “I do hope you won’t get used to it,” Loki answered, though a grin lightened the words. “Time for me to go. Enjoy the gift.”

  Between one blink and the next, the god was gone, taking his powerful energy with him. Aris’s legs crumpled immediately, too weak to hold his weight. He’d been serious about not getting used to his help, it seemed.

  Footsteps pounded against the stone. “Aris?”

  “I’m fine, Selia,” he answered. He leaned against one of the steps as he glanced around. “Only tired. The others?”

  Eri stepped into his line of sight, pale and serious but otherwise unharmed. “The god shielded me.”

  He peered around the frame of the new portal as Selia and Iren reached him. Kezari’s side, and thankfully, her belly moved with breath. Even so, he sought her through their connection. “Were you injured?”

  “No.” Her mental voice was slow, almost a whisper, but she didn’t sound distressed. “I only need rest.”

  Good. That left Kai.

  Aris peered into the shadows beside the portal where the other man had been. At first, he didn’t see him, but after a moment, Aris made out the elf’s crumpled form. Miaran. His fingers tightened around the sword hilt, drawing in power from the rift-forged blade, and he stumbled to his feet. He should have monitored their link better instead of lingering in the portal. If the other man was injured, it would be Aris’s fault.

  He forced himself to move, but the distance between them felt eternal. Fortunately, Selia caught sight of Kai and darted across the space far faster than Aris could currently manage. She bent over him, and her power hummed on the air as she scanned the fallen elf.

  “He’s alive,” she said. “But in shock, I think.”

  Aris staggered, his hand shooting out for purchase. His palm found the side of a natural stone column, and he leaned against it to catch his breath. They needed to get Kai back to Moranaia, but there was no way Aris could carry him. If he didn’t rest, he’d have to be hauled out of here, too.

  “How are we going to get him to the healer?” he asked.

  Selia stretched out a hand, and Kai rose silently from the cave floor. Iren rushed forward and helped his mother straighten the elf until he rested on his back in midair. Then she guided his prone form across the space, walking just behind him. Aris’s brows lifted. Although her face was lined with exhaustion and sweat glistened on her skin, she didn’t falter.

  “It’s going to be tough to get back without our guide, isn’t it?” Iren followed his mother, a frown of concern focused on Kai. “And the old exit is gone.”

  The old exit. Aris scrubbed a hand across his face and studied the cavern. Hazily, he recalled working with Kezari to reform the mountain, but he’d been too concerned about the others to care what it looked like when he’d first emerged. The tunnel where they’d entered was gone. Instead, a staircase rose from the spot to spiral up the cavern wall.

  Far above, alcoves branched into tunnels, and those led to a variety of rooms. A fortress, Kezari had said. Entranced by the Earth’s power, he hadn’t given it much thought as he’d filled those rooms with the beginnings of life. But if this portal worked as he believed, the fortified outpost would be a necessity. In a few years, it would be as elaborate as any underhill home.

  “I think the rift goes directly to Moranaia,” Aris said. “No Veil necessary.”

  Iren wrinkled his nose. “You were inside it, but you don’t know for sure?”

  “It is difficult
for a fish to analyze the water or a bird to study the air,” Aris tried to explain. “For a while, I simply…was. I lost sight of what the others were doing.”

  A surge of light sprang from the portal, and Aris straightened in alarm. Testing the energy, he found much more available than before. Earth was absorbing all they’d poured in and dispersing it until there was almost as much magic available as on Moranaia. He pulled it in greedily as several elves marched out of the gate.

  They surrounded the small platform at the top of the stairs, ringing Eri in their midst, and Aris heaved himself forward in alarm. Then he examined the uniforms they wore. Dark leather, a grayish-brown shade worn only by the loreln, personal bodyguards to the royal family. They’d barely come to a halt before Prince Ralan himself strode through.

  “Moranai Aldiaberen i Erinalia Moreln nai Moranaia,” Ralan snapped at his daughter, and Aris couldn’t help but wince on her behalf. The full title was never good. “I can’t believe… This was not supposed to happen for…”

  Eri wrapped her arms around her father’s waist and burrowed against his side. “It was time.”

  “Our home isn’t close to finished yet, and now there’s a portal entrance sitting out in the open.” Although his voice rang with exasperation, Ralan’s fingers tangled carefully in Eri’s hair. “How could it possibly be the right time? I’m lucky that we installed the local gate to Braelyn, or it would have taken a couple of marks to reach you.”

  “If I hadn’t come here when I did…”

  Ralan bent down and lifted Eri into his arms. “You may explain your actions in your room.”

  “I know, Onaial,” she whispered.

  “Let’s go.” Ralan’s gaze flicked from Selia to Aris and back over to Kai. “All of you. Kezari will rest here and direct the guards I send through. Aris and Selia, you will need to go help Fen as best you can, but with the current state of Earth, I don’t recommend transporting yourselves to the original portal. You’re too unfamiliar with this world. If you come with me back to Braelyn, Delbin and Inona can guide you through.”

  Although the calmly spoken words were clearly an order, Aris hesitated. Leave Kezari on Earth while he traveled to Moranaia? Before he could protest, the dragon gave him a mental nudge. “It will be a while before I can shift, skizik. I will be fine here. Go.”

  Aris swallowed his protest. This solution made the most sense, and he had promised the Unseelie prince that he would try to help Fen. If Ralan had Seen the need for him to do so, then it must be important. Aris pulled in more energy and willed himself to walk forward. There would be no time to rest before their next task, so he might as well get used to being exhausted.

  He clapped his hand on Iren’s shoulder as he caught up. “You’ll be staying in your room.”

  “I guessed as much.” Iren rubbed at his eyes, the deep circles beneath standing out on his fair skin. “I think…I think I’m fine with that.”

  As they neared the stairs to the portal, Aris caught sight of Perim’s body, abandoned near the wall of the cave. He gestured in her direction. “My captor has been brought to justice. I trust you’ll see her buried?”

  Ralan’s nostrils flared. “I’ll be certain of it.”

  Burial might not have been an insult to her people, but it was to his. Spirit and ash would not be released to ride the winds and merge with nature, though the worms would certainly be thankful for the feast. Provided they consumed her waste of flesh.

  He turned his back on Perim, focusing on Selia as she directed Kai’s still form to the waiting loreln. As soon as two of the guards took hold of Kai, the others filed through the portal ahead of Ralan and Eri. Then the prince and his daughter followed.

  After the loreln and Kai were gone, Selia advanced. Aris squeezed Iren’s shoulder and nudged him toward the portal. Then after one last word to Kezari, he strode through without looking back.

  Chapter 30

  There was only a slight wrench as Selia followed the guards through the portal. She could have been crossing between estates less than a day away from one another, not passing across fathomless space. But she barely had time to marvel. As soon as she stepped through, cold rain soaked through her clothes and the light of morning had her squinting after the dimness of the cavern. It had been several marks before dawn when they’d left. Had so much time passed in that cave?

  It had felt like next to nothing, yet eternal.

  Selia glanced around the building site as she waited for Iren and Aris to follow her through. Only a few days had passed since construction had begun on the palace, so there was little to see. Underbrush had been cleared away and a few trees culled to make room. It appeared that Ralan had decided to use similar architecture to Braelyn, wrapping the structure around the largest of the trees, and there was already a framework at the base of one trunk.

  There’d been a great deal of speculation about this new palace. Now, Selia had some idea why Ralan had ordered its creation. She spun around to face the stone arch situated in the center of the clearing as Iren emerged. It was all for this. Lyr might be in charge of diplomacy between Moranaia and the dimensions connected to Earth, but a direct gate that bypassed the Veil? All manner of problems could arise that would require quick decisions from the king, and the heir to the throne had more leeway to act in his stead.

  Like setting up a colony on another planet. No small thing, that.

  Aris finally shuffled through, the exhaustion on his face mirroring the heavy weight of her own body. He took her hand when he reached her side, and together they headed toward the smaller arch on the other side of the clearing. Ralan and the others had already passed through to Braelyn, although six of the loreln stood in clear view, guarding the area. Gods knew how many more perched in the trees.

  She and Aris followed Iren through the gate and straight into chaos. The entryway of Lyr’s estate was packed with people, enough that a couple of the guards stood beneath the arch next to the sacred tree. Arlyn, Lyr, and Meli gathered around Kai in the center of the room, while Ralan and Eri conferred with Cora next to the steps to the upper rooms. Several sonal and loreln waited at attention at regular intervals in case of danger.

  Lial’s voice cut across the noise as he tried to push through. “Out of the way.”

  Selia tugged Aris to get his attention and pointed toward Eradisel. He nodded, and together, they herded Iren to the side until they stood beside the trunk of the sacred tree. By the stairs, Ralan handed Eri to Cora and motioned for the loreln to follow him back into the portal to the new palace. Lyr commanded most of the sonal out of the room, leaving only two beside the gate.

  “Stop crowding,” Lial said as he shoved himself between Arlyn and Lyr.

  Arlyn lowered herself to her knees beside Kai’s head. “He’s alive. Something they did when creating the portal must have drained him. I felt him slip into unconsciousness from here.”

  Lial nodded. “Probably shock. Get him upstairs, and I’ll heal him. Why did you put him in the middle of the floor?”

  “We weren’t certain how far we should move him,” Lyr said.

  With a quick spell, Lial levitated Kai and strode toward the stairs. “Come along, Arlyn. And anyone else who feels the need to trail me like a woebegone child over a simple case of burnout.”

  Despite the healer’s taunting words, Lyr, Meli, and Arlyn followed close behind him. “Might as well since I can’t question Ralan about what’s going on. What little I heard is insanity enough,” Lyr said. At the base of the stairs, Lyr glanced back toward Selia. “Come with us, Iren. I’ll ensure you remain in your room while your parents meet Delbin and Inona at the gate. And I will take that invisibility cloak.”

  “Yes, Myern.” Iren jogged over to Lyr almost eagerly, and Selia smiled at the hint of relief in her son’s voice. He was brave, but he was still just a boy. One who had seen more than enough adventure. “I’ll do what I’m told. I promise.”

  They’d all have to take advantage of that while they could.

>   Selia and Aris slumped against one another for a moment as their son disappeared up the stairs. Suddenly, they were alone, save for the two guards stationed by the now-empty arch that held the local transportation gate. Even Cora had slipped out with Eri. Now silence held sway, and Selia was loathe to break it.

  How was she ever going to rebuild enough energy to cross back to Earth and save Fen? Not that she had a choice. She was exhausted, her clothes torn and dirty. Gods knew what kind of mess her hair was—she didn’t even want to touch it for fear of the tangles. But they’d promised to help the young blood elf, so help they would.

  With a regretful sigh, she straightened. Aris swayed on his feet before he caught himself, and when he lifted his arms slightly for balance, the sword he held caught her eye. “Aren’t you going to sheathe that?”

  He scanned the blade almost absently. “There’s no scabbard. I don’t know where to put it.”

  “What about the one on your belt?” she asked, lifting a brow.

  “On my…” His gaze slipped to his belt, and after a moment, he chuckled. “Well. Looks like Loki had one more bit of aid after all.”

  Selia studied the leather, bending down a bit to better see the engraving. A perfect replica of the rift as they’d first seen it was surrounded by a line of symbols she couldn’t read. She trailed her fingers across the surface and shivered at the spark of contained power. She’d love to probe the spells embedded within, but there was no way she was messing with a god-created object without a great deal of preparation.

  Shrugging, Aris twisted away enough to sheathe his sword. The life energy radiating from the blade disappeared, and with a panicked expression, he pulled it free once more. The energy around it returned to Selia’s inner sight, and she smiled.

  “That’s a handy enchantment for when you don’t want to announce the sword’s power,” she said.

  “Yes, if a bit disconcerting.” He sheathed the blade once more and took her hand. “Ready to go?”