by S Kaeth
“Destruction will be limited while carrying her,” Elisabei said.
Reinan’s eyes were hard, his voice thick. “We Boom what we can while we get out.”
Elisabei nodded, casting a glance at his unconscious burden. If they survived this… Well, the first thing was to survive this.
A tiny form sped toward them from behind the throne. A child. He beat on Reinan’s leg with his little fists. “Leave my mahkae alone! Leave my mahkae!”
“Oh, poor child!” Masa gasped. “That’s her son.”
The door loomed, empty for now. They had to leave right away, before guards came in force. They had what they came for and more.
She trapped Eian’s fists in her hands, kneeling to look him in the eye. “Now, look here, little boy. We’re getting you and your mahkae out of here, but you must be silent. Do you understand?”
He paused, tears filling his eyes, and then nodded, sniffing and wiping his nose with the back of his hand. Elisabei took his other hand. What atrocities had this boy witnessed? Well, at least that was over now. They had to get him out of the palace.
They retreated, trying to avoid jostling Reinan’s burden so as not to provoke another moan of pain that might give them away. The little boy was remarkably silent. As they moved down the hallway away from the throne room, Elisabei lit a scrap of fabric with her fire stones, then threw the vial it was attached to. Her aim was sure, and it landed near one of the packets they had placed before. The explosion knocked the boy off his feet, sending up a cloud of dust.
Hauling the boy up, they sped on their way. A few paces farther on, Elisabei threw another lit vial down a side corridor, and Masa threw a third. By the fourth explosion, they could hear the shouts of guards trying to organize themselves. Elisabei smiled grimly. The corridors off their path were all trapped with Boom, and as they ran onward, Masa and Elisabei turned the guards’ paths to rubble.
They burst out of the palace, Masa clutching her squalling baby tight in one arm, and the little boy clinging to Elisabei’s hand. Elisabei cast a quick look back, smiling grimly at the destruction.
They wove through the chaotic streets. Screaming Angels were pressed to the dome everywhere. Twice they saw the bronze skin and large wings of death itself actively inside the City. Huddled clusters of people trapped in alleys or houses shouted. People hurtled through the streets, searching for safety. Their panic joined the shrieks of the enraged Angels before inevitably turning to howls of agony. Elisabei’s heart pounded in her ears. Over all the horrific noise, how many had even heard the explosions from the palace? Even if their attack had been heard, no one would care—not when the Angels were tearing through houses and ripping people apart. Nowhere was safe.
Even so, they turned toward their house. Kaemada and Masa needed to be tended, their wounds bound. They needed to decide their next move, and if Olorah survived her assault, she’d send a messenger to their house. Two streets onward, a flash of bronze skin blocked them. They threw themselves into an alley. Elisabei pressed Eian close to the side of a house with her, giving Masa and Reinan a side-long look. If the Angels were singing their typical hunting song, they would already be Angels-food. Tonight, though, the stakes were even higher. Based on the sounds around them, if the Angels found them, they would kill them.
Masa’s breaths came in rapid, shallow gasps. Reinan had his stern thinking face on, Kaemada limp in his arms. Only Eian seemed unaffected. She narrowed her eyes at him. He looked around, a far-off gaze to his eyes, not a hint of fear on his face.
“I wasn’t expecting you for coming for me,” Masa whispered.
“All you did need was a fighting chance, Masa. That’s all you ever did need.” Reinan smiled down at his sister.
The boy spoke. “To the door.”
Elisabei scowled. Didn’t he understand how much trouble they were in? “We can’t get there. The Angels are everywhere. Even if they weren’t, no one can leave the City.”
Eian shook his head. “To the door. It’s safe there.”
“We will take you home with us, figure out our next move.”
“The Angels will leave when we get there. They’re just mad now.” The boy stared east toward the mountain.
Sympathy quavered in Masa’s voice. “He’s touched, poor child.”
Elisabei sighed. “We can’t hide here forever. We must keep moving.”
They waited a little longer, every muscle tensed, ears straining. When the Angels’ screaming quieted to the west, they edged in that direction, racing across intersections to the precarious cover beyond. They slunk forward past two alleys until the shrieks and cries forced them north and then east again. Elisabei winced. They were moving toward the palace once more. Beyond lay the impenetrable mountains. They turned north to avoid a mob of people and almost immediately heard Angels bearing down on them until they ran east again.
“Elisabei! Reinan!” A hoarse whisper sounded to the north, and they dashed across another alley, at every moment expecting the Angels to catch them. In the shadows waited Olorah and a host of others, some familiar and others, strangers.
“We’re being herded,” Elisabei groaned, setting Eian on his feet and rubbing her aching arms.
Eian remained facing east. “They will leave when we get to the door. They will not be angry anymore.”
Ignoring him, Elisabei narrowed her eyes at the strangers with Olorah. “Who are they?”
She removed needle and thread from her bag and hastily began stitching up the woman in her husband’s arms. No use failing to multi-task, especially since they were blocked from home. They would strategize in the street, since they had no other options.
“Palace psions. We found them unconscious.”
“They’re no dead,” rumbled Reinan.
Olorah shook her head. “We broke in, saw guards breaking down doors, killing psions, bodies everywhere. We found a wing with psions still alive, just unconscious. Toah’s potions brought them around, but as you can see, they’re still stumbling. Freed some captives, too. All in all, our biggest success in… ever, that I can remember.”
“Why did you no kill them?” Reinan repeated, narrowing his eyes.
“I was defenseless many winters,” Olorah said, her voice like ice. “The psions were captives of the king, just like we were. Now we have them, and we know who they are. They think if they link together, the telekinetics might be able for pushing through the wall, especially with the help of your Boom. Think of it, Reinan! Freedom!”
“And if no?” Reinan asked.
Olorah shrugged. “Running away from the death of the king? Mighty suspicious, I think. Dragging them through the streets was hard work—we lost some good people.”
Masa tilted her head toward Kaemada. “After they captured her, during the chaos, I heard some guards shouting about a psion in the throne room.”
Elisabei’s eyes widened, though her hands kept busy bandaging the larger wounds. She? A psion?
Olorah leaned forward, her words quiet but intense. “We’re leaving at dawn, as soon as the Angels leave. We’ll punch through the north wall by the gate. All we need is a place for hiding until then.”
“We keep trying for getting home, but the Angels are always there,” Elisabei said.
Masa nodded. “We split up. Perhaps we can break through this herding.”
“The Angels are out there—it’s a death trap!” Elisabei objected.
Masa smiled. “So will the City be when the guards come to revenge. Meet you at the northern wall near the gates at dawn.”
Reinan frowned. “Masa, be careful.”
Head high, baby cradled in her arms, Masa’s defiance radiated from her like starlight. “Thanks to rescuing me, brother. I see another fighting chance, and I intend for taking it.”
Elisabei drew her cloak back over Kaemada’s body, veiling her like a corpse. With a tight smile at Olorah, Elisabei nodded, gathering her courage.
A nod from Reinan. “We go.”
Olorah’s ex
pression was tight. “The wall at dawn.”
“The wall at dawn.”
Elisabei peeked around the corner, ducking back for a moment and signaling to the others it was clear. The Angels’ shrieking rose and fell around them, and the cries of victims sounded not far off. One more deep breath and the group scattered. Elisabei sprinted beside her husband, and it quickly became just the four of them. Eian’s hand clutched Elisabei’s, and Kaemada lay silent under the shroud.
Two streets down and they had to change directions, then five more streets and they had to turn again, nearly trapping themselves in a dead-end. Once more, they were inexorably driven east to the wall, and every time they attempted to break free, the net of screaming Angels tightened around them. There were no guards, but then, why would there be? The guards would be happy to wait for their revenge until after the Angels were gone. They tried to pass by a group of Angels-food, but the normally mindless creatures reacted, pinning them against the wall of a house. Fingers snatched at her clothes as she fought and dodged her way free.
Elisabei shuddered as they drew closer and closer to the grey rocks. They needed an escape, but it seemed the only option left was to see if they could find the place where the Kamalti dumped those they caught. At least there, the Angels couldn’t catch them. The spooky little boy might have a point.
They turned another corner. A crowd of Angels-food shambled in their direction, only a few houses away. They were pinning them in.
“Here!” shouted Reinan over the swell of Angels’ screeching.
Elisabei scrambled toward him, away from the Angels-food, whose shambling picked up pace as the screeching around them swelled. Gritting her teeth and panting hard, they dashed into an alleyway. As they did so, she recognized it—the alley everyone in the City loathed. The alley she’d woken up in, wondering how she’d gotten there so many winters ago. The Kamalti had declared her guilty of trespassing, and then she had woken up here.
Reinan pointed to the end of the alley, where the rocks were cracked open like a strange sort of door. If they could get through, it might provide some cover from the encroaching Angels and Angels-food.
Still, a great foreboding came over her.
“We will need to block the door behind us, assuming we can get it open.” Elisabei’s voice was strained.
The boy released her hand. He strode forward with a wide sweep of his little arms. “Beholuun Osundo!”
The doors shifted, then glided aside. Elisabei stared at Eian as he hopped through, seeming almost eager. “The door is open and someone is home!”
Reinan grimaced as he followed Eian in, carrying Kaemada. Elisabei tripped over something as she crossed the threshold in the dim light. The door crashed shut behind them.
Darkness surrounded them with eerie silence. Elisabei took a lantern from her pack and lit it. As the light flashed, Reinan gave her a look, one of his looks that spoke volumes without him ever saying a word. They’d overcome so much together, and now the king was dead. What was a spooky tunnel next to that? She forced a smile, feeling ever-so-slightly better as Reinan walked beside her, a hulking shelter against the dark. Eian strode forward as if he were home, pulling her onward. The tunnel floor sloped upward. Elisabei’s breath came faster as fear pressed on her mind, primal and irrational.
Abruptly, Eian let go of her hand and ran forward. “Hello!”
The shadows swirled as four creatures came toward them. They were grotesque, with impossibly pale faces and skin so translucent they could see the blood moving through their veins. Their knobby skulls were bare of hair, their eyes were too large, and they had no noses. Reinan stepped back into a defensive stance. Staring, Elisabei’s stomach clenched. She’d been so shocked the first time she’d seen Kamalti. This time, she saw details she didn’t remember from winters ago. These seemed much paler even than she remembered. Some had lumps on their skin, some shuffled along as if their limbs didn’t quite move properly, and some had open sores. All were dressed in rags.
One spoke, his voice merry but rough, as if long unused. “That is alright. You are as ugly to us as we are to you.”
Kaemada moaned something, her voice breathy with pain and fatigue. Her eyelids fluttered.
The one who had spoken frowned. “No, no, no, we do not speak to you. Not to you who have the Gift. Only to those wretches lacking the Gift.”
The creatures stretched out their hands. The gesture seemed ominous, and Elisabei stepped back. Kaemada bucked in Reinan’s arms, cried out in pain, and then fell still once more.
“Stop, stop!” Eian screamed.
Elisabei shouted too, the words flowing before her mind caught up. “What are you doing?”
“You are not supposed to be here,” sang another, stepping forward.
“You’re—AH!” Reinan fell to his knees, dropping Kaemada, who rolled onto the stony floor.
Elisabei started forward, and the creatures turned on her. Pain crashed into her like a landslide. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think.
“Pain, pain, pain, fear, ahh!” Eian babbled, wringing his hands.
“You would attack a child?” Elisabei’s only terrified thought was to shame them.
“We do not hurt him. He is too special to risk damaging,” spoke one of the Kamalti.
“A precious vessel,” said another.
“He has come again,” said a third.
“Do you know in whose presence you travel?” asked a fourth, pointing at her.
Elisabei did not know, and soon she knew nothing at all as she sank into oblivion.
JAETAN
Chapter Twenty
Chapels and holy places are protected under Law, for what is a citizen without the guidance of religion? Priests must diligently attend to their duty in guiding the City and its beliefs so that all may thrive. Any person seeking to destroy, dismantle, damage, or steal from a chapel or holy man merits the highest punishment.
-legal proposal circulated among the Justices of Codr
Taunos peered out the colored glass window at the crowd growing outside. He grimaced. It seemed every time he checked, it had grown. Restless energy demanded he move, and he paced back to Ra’ael and Takiyah, glancing over the others as he went. The woman who had been lighting candles had already left, and now the man who had been meditating rose, exiting the building. Tension filled his shoulders as the doors opened, and the sounds of the mob grew louder. But the doors swung shut again and the priest latched them, shutting out the noise of the crowd. They’d stayed away from the doors, but no one had tried to enter the church. Still, all that kept the Scouts from entering seemed to be their sense of decency. They were trapped.
He perched on the edge of the bench. His stomach growled, but there was nothing to eat. Scrubbing his hand over his bald head, he stood again, going back to the window once more. The ever-changing mass of angry Kamalti outside surrounded the little building. The lights dimmed as the night cycle began, but that didn’t seem to bother the mob.
This wasn’t the first time he’d been in a tight spot. Galod had put him in seemingly impossible situations all the time.
Climb to the top of that tree and bring me a feather from the raptor’s nest without getting scratched up.
How many eggs are in the tserwora den? Nevermind that they’re venomous, temperamental, and extremely territorial.
He’d been turning him into a legend. The Elders were the same, constantly expecting miracles. And he had delivered again and again.
But now, his people were in danger, especially if Answer made good on her threat. It was easier to balance the danger when he was far from them—less chance of a mistake finding its way across the worlds to harm them. Now, with the loss of his sister, how could he risk her friends? When they’d first been captured, he’d expected only to be confined for a time. It would be boring and humiliating, but a safer bet than fighting their way out, and they could probably negotiate for a lesser sentence with time. After all, they’d only been trespassing. He hadn’
t realized…
They had tortured Takiyah, maimed her, branded her like an animal.
He passed his hands over his face. Ra’ael sat with her arm around Takiyah, their heads bowed close together. Terror crawled up his spine at the thought of losing them as well. If he returned home without them, Galod would be furious. Rightfully so. And the Elders, they would rant about the law and threaten him with banishment, but of course, they’d let him come home. They always did. He was too valuable for them to lose. If he could keep Takiyah and Ra’ael alive and get them out, the Elders would threaten and posture, but still, they’d welcome them home. And he had to warn his people just in case Answer drummed her Kamalti fellows into war. By the looks of the crowd outside, that wouldn’t be too difficult.
He gritted his teeth, clenched one fist in the other hand, and paced along the wall again.
“What happens if the priest leaves?” Takiyah asked quietly.
“There’s nothing stopping them from coming in and forcibly taking us right now,” Taunos said, eyes on the priest.
“Fear not, my children. I will stay to light your way through the long night.” Ever calm, the priest smiled at them, lighting lanterns along the wall.
“Why?” Taunos narrowed his eyes at the priest, moving aside as the robed Kamalti passed him.
“He’s an honorable man,” Ra’ael said. “Dode often comes to worship here, and the priest has never shown antagonism toward me.”
“Fear, hatred, and violence are not the way of Kellendine,” the priest said, lighting another lantern. “Order and composure are achieved through control of the self, not in giving way to base emotions.”
“Taunos, stop pacing. My nerves are tighter than the drums I dance on without you adding to it!” Ra’ael snapped as he turned to walk along the wall again.
He sighed, bringing himself to a halt with great effort.
The priest smiled at him. “Fear clouds the mind, my son.”
“I’m not your son.” Taunos clenched his fists. He shouldn’t be snapping at the poor man. He should be talking to him, getting him on their side. His soul ached, strained like a branch bent to the snapping point.
