The Witch; Stronghold; Underworld

by Ky Tyrand

  Both Mother and Je’nna assured her that their team of soldiers would bring Sirona back, and she would be able to help Sir Grue’gan through the surgery.

  But by the afternoon of the second day, Ki’ara could tell something was not right. They were acting a little unusual – dodging questions about when CST-1 would be back.

  To make matters worse, she hadn’t seen Mark since before she’d arrived here. The pair were connected somehow, and Ki’ara was used to seeing him every time she slept. According to her Visions, Mark would play an important role in saving Avalon. But she had no idea how. The fact that she could no longer communicate with him was terribly unsettling.

  Especially now.

  There was something about this place that was preventing Mark from coming through to her. And it was evident that Mother had no intention of letting her leave. The question was – for how long?

  Ki’ara wanted to talk to Grue’gan about it, but the man was in no condition to have her concerns dumped on him. During her last visit, he actually looked worse. He was weak. For a man as tough and proud as Sir Grue’gan to be showing as much discomfort as he was, she knew he had to be in agony.

  She couldn’t stand to see her Guardian like this.

  Ki’ara had had enough.

  When she got back to her chamber, she cornered Je’nna, who was always nearby. It was obvious that Mother had ordered the other girl to keep a close eye on her.

  “So, what’s going on?” Ki’ara demanded. “Why hasn’t your team returned yet?”

  Je’nna looked up from the device on her wrist and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. It was the first time she’d given any indication that things seemed amiss. “They took a Rover. It shouldn’t have taken them this long.”

  “How long should it have taken?”

  “They should have been back last night,” exhaled Je’nna. “At the latest.”

  “Last night?!?” Ki’ara’s heart dropped. She waved her finger at Je’nna’s wrist, “Have you been able to reach them on your communicator thingy?”

  Je’nna looked down at the tech on her wrist – a replacement for the one she’d lost during her mission to retrieve Ki’ara. “No,” she said. “Not since yesterday morning.”

  “What the heck, Je’nna?” Ki’ara was on her feet. “Where could they be?”

  “I don’t know,” Je’nna shrugged. “There isn’t a lot between here and there. A little village called Valley’s End to the north. Sirona lives in the hills just past that.”

  Ki’ara noticed that Je’nna was looking back down at her wrist. She was tapping her heel on the floor. It reminded Ki’ara of her Guardian’s intuition when things were about to get ugly. People like Sir Grue’gan and Je’nna didn’t fidget. They were too busy being aware of everything around them to be bored. On the rare occasion that they did get antsy, something was always very wrong.

  “It’s just that,” Je’nna went on before Ki’ara could interrogate her, “Mother sees Sirona as this great Healer. And she is. At least I think she is. But she’s much more than that.” Her eyes made their way up from her communicator to the Princess. “She’s powerful, Ki’ara. I’ve seen it. She’s not just a Healer, she’s a Witch. She can do things…”

  “We have to help them, Je’nna. We have to go after your friends.” We have to bring Sirona back…

  “We don’t have to do anything,” said Je’nna. “If something’s happened to our best team out there, do you really thing Mother’s going to let you go after them? Not likely.”

  “So I am a prisoner.”

  “Mother has your best interest at heart.”

  “I can help them, Je’nna. We can help them together.”

  Je’nna let out a breath. “I’ll go talk to Mother and find out what she wants to do. You wait here.”

  The door closed behind her.

  Ki’ara had secretly hoped that Je’nna wouldn’t ask for Mother’s permission. She knew that the other girl was right – there was no way she would be allowed to go after them. To go after Sirona. Four of her best people were missing – while trying to help Ki’ara’s Guardian, no less.

  While Ki’ara tried to imagine what Mother’s next move would be, she found herself moving closer to the door. The one thing that she was almost certain of was that Je’nna would do whatever Mother told her.

  Ki’ara couldn’t risk it.

  She tried to open the door, but nothing happened.

  “She locked me in…?”

  9

  “Come in,” said Mother.

  The door slid open, and the one person she feared seeing sauntered in.

  “Have you heard anything?” asked Je’nna.

  Mother shook her head. “No.”

  “I’m ready to go,” said Je’nna.

  Mother didn’t respond. Didn’t meet her eyes.

  “Ki’ara wants to come, too.”

  “No,” the woman said without hesitation.

  “She could help me, Mother. She’s stronger than you think. The Keeper…”

  “I know,” said the woman, finally matching Je’nna’s stare. “But the answer is no. We can’t lose her, Je’nna. We can’t lose either of you.”

  What does that mean? Je’nna’s eyebrows narrowed. “What’s going on? You’ve been acting…”

  “Don’t!” Mother held up her hand, silencing the girl. “We’ll send Teams 2, 3, and 4. I need you keeping an eye on the Princess.”

  There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, before Je’nna argued, “With all due respect, Mother, sending in more troops against Sirona is not the answer. You need a scout. You need stealth…”

  “The answer is NO, Je’nna!”

  “This is not like you, Mother!” Je’nna hissed. “Whatever’s going on with you, getting our people back is more important!”

  With that, Je’nna turned and stormed out of Mother’s chamber.

  All morning she had been contemplating asking Ki’ara to help her go after her friends. She knew that the Princess would have jumped at the opportunity. But she didn’t dare defy Mother.

  Now she was too mad to care.

  Je’nna made up her mind to take Ki’ara, and go get Darius and his team back, regardless of the cost.

  But when she rounded the corner to Ki’ara’s chamber, a strange smell tickled her lungs. She instinctively drew one of her blasters and hustled to the door…

  “What the Hell?”

  The door had been cut apart – the metal and composite components seared clean through – leaving an opening the size of a … Ki’ara.

  10

  The black-haired girl with the long ponytail moved quickly through the corridors, avoiding eye contact with the dozens of people she passed along the way. Her crimson red garb blended with theirs, and became more accurate with every uniform she saw. By the time she reached the center of the complex, her outfit matched perfectly.

  But what didn’t match was her body. These people all had muscles. Not huge and bulky; they were lean and well defined, like Je’nna. Ki’ara had been getting stronger every day, but didn’t know if she’d ever look like them. As silly as it made her feel, Ki’ara let her Mu’turi augment her musculature in hopes of blending in. The mysterious particles that flowed through her body not only formed her clothes, but also allowed her to change her appearance – the color of her hair, eyes, and skin – and alter certain details. Though she couldn’t shrink any of her features, she could add to them. She had already made her nose and jaw bigger, and with a simple thought, she padded areas of her muscles in hopes of blending in.

  Ki’ara had no idea how many people lived here. All of the faces looked new to her. The question was – would a new face stand out to them? It wouldn’t be long before Je’nna, or someone else, discovered what she’d done and raised an alarm. After all, the condition in which she’d left her door was far from discrete.

  She’d made it through the corridors without anyone questioning her, though the girl didn’t know if s
he’d raised suspicion. All that was left was the off-limits area. Since she’d arrived, Ki’ara had not been allowed near the Abnukadin. She assumed that it was for fear of her leaving, but she hadn’t seen anyone actually using the ancient device.

  The only people who frequented the room were the young guards that walked the area at all hours. They seemed to patrol a fairly large area, and there weren’t any locked doors or formal security barring entry. Ki’ara had hoped to be able to sneak in when the guards were elsewhere. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be an option.

  She was still in the corridor outside of the Abnukadin room, when she saw one of them approaching. He was looking to the side, and hadn’t spotted her yet. Ki’ara knew that she had to hide, but there was no way she would be able to make it to the intersection in time. There were alcoves lining both sides of the corridor. She ducked into the nearest one.

  Footsteps tapped up the silver tiles toward her.

  The recess wasn’t deep, and would provide no concealment once the man got close enough. She only had one shot at this.

  Ki’ara took a deep breath. Tried to relax. Envisioned the tiles of the walls. The shadows of the alcove.

  The footsteps grew louder as the man approached. She could hear his breath. She held hers.

  He came into view.

  She recognized him. He was in the Abnukadin circle when she had arrived. And yesterday, he had been the one that informed her she couldn’t go back in.

  He was right beside her, glancing about as he dutifully kept watch. But he hadn’t laid eyes on her yet, despite being close enough to reach out and touch her.

  Directly in front of Ki’ara, the man stopped and checked his communicator.

  Her absence had been discovered.

  11

  Tiny compared to most in Sanctuary, Je’nna could have been a giant for the speed with which everyone dove out of her way as she sprinted through the corridors. Some even dropped items they were carrying in order to throw themselves against the crystal walls, or shallow alcoves, in order to keep from getting hurt. Or worse – anger the girl and face her wrath.

  Je’nna leapt over their dropped items, slid around corners, and shouted at anyone who didn’t see her coming. She had to stop Ki’ara before it was too late.

  The man tapped a button on his wrist before looking up and moving off. No urgency.

  False alarm.

  Before he was even out of site, Ki’ara was on the move. She adjusted the soles of her boots – softened them so that she could silently creep across the floor.

  No longer crimson, her entire body was now the same silvery color as the tiles of the alcove. Not just her bodysuit – hair, skin, even eyes, teeth, and nails matched the metallic gray. A hexagonal grid of darker lines traced across the front of her body, which would have matched the pattern of tight grooves where the tiles of the alcove interlocked.

  She was a chameleon.

  But the camouflage did her no good against the crystal encrusted main walls. The silver dissipated, and her natural skin color returned, along with the brown and gold striped hair that she was known for. With a simple thought, the band that held her long locks up into a ponytail released, and her hair dropped to her waist, pouring over her gray combat suit. She removed her two small Niksuru handles from where she had morphed them into her boots – the only place she could think to hide them in the snug Sanctuarian uniform disguise. She placed them on the tops of her wrists and let her Mu’turi strap them firmly in place.

  By the time she reached the Abnukadin, Ki’ara was ready for action.

  She touched the nearest stone, and immediately felt the power of the Abnukadin course through her. But the sensations she received were not what she was expecting. By all accounts, this stone circle was just like the one she’d used to Travel here; except, perhaps, larger and much newer looking.

  But she could sense that there was more to it than that.

  The energy here was far greater than in the one that kept her hidden from the Keeper’s minions. Mystified by what she was sensing, a realization finally set in that left Ki’ara awestruck with the enormity of the powerful structure: This circle of stones was not the entire Abnukadin. It was only a small part of it. A tiny circle within a much larger one.

  Sanctuary – the entire complex – was a giant Abnukadin.

  The circle of rectangular stone columns that surrounded Ki’ara was only a fraction of it. A control panel, perhaps.

  That explains why it remains hidden, the girl thought to herself. But perhaps not the only reason.

  What Ki’ara had discovered when she brought Sir Grue’gan and Je’nna here was that – through some trick of physics – Sanctuary was not in a fixed location. It was in several places, all at once.

  And yet, as Ki’ara touched the stone, she could feel that there was a uniform pattern to the structure, just like there was to this small central circle. There were several exits around the perimeter of the complex, and the girl could tell that only one of them would lead her in the direction she sought. The others wouldn’t just take her out of Sanctuary, they actually opened in a completely different part of Avalon!

  Ki’ara had no idea that such technology, or magic, or whatever this was, even existed.

  It would be easy enough to get lost in this place, and go out the wrong door to find yourself halfway around the world!

  But that didn’t matter to her right now.

  Her path would be simpler.

  Though she wasn’t familiar with Valley’s End, or any landmarks within it that she might recognize, Ki’ara could tell which Abnukadin was nearest to the North – the correct North. With all of the images and maps of other places dancing through her head, the girl had to be careful and focus on that one…

  The code of symbols that would take her there began popping into her head, along with where to find them amidst the thousands of markings covering every part of the stones. When she had the sequence memorized, Ki’ara let go of the stone and ran for the glyphs.

  She sprinted from column to column, pressing symbols at top speed. But before she could get the instructions punched in, Ki’ara heard a shout near the entrance. She looked up to see Je’nna’s pink pigtails bouncing into the room.

  The girl had a pistol in hand, directed at Ki’ara.

  Crap! I won’t get another chance at this…

  The Princess bolted for the next symbol. She heard Je’nna shout again, but couldn’t make out what the girl said.

  Ki’ara refused to be trapped here. Not with Grue’gan needing help. Not without Mark.

  She dove.

  Her fingertips barely depressed the symbol as she felt a numbing jolt hit her thigh, spinning her in circles and sending her sprawling across the floor.

  When she stopped sliding and opened her eyes, Ki’ara realized that the tiles were gone, and she was lying face first in the mud.

  12

  Black hair.

  It always seemed like a good choice. As far from the brown and gold stripes as she could go without it being colorful enough to draw attention.

  Dark skin and eyes. Definitely.

  She wished she had a jacket. Or a cloak. Something bulky to hide the fact that she was a girl.

  All she had was what she could create with her Mu’turi. It was possible to add a certain amount of thickness to her clothing, but Ki’ara hadn’t mastered drawing it very far off her body. Therefore, no matter what outfit she chose, it wouldn’t be bulky or loose-fitting.

  Since there was no hiding the fact that she was a girl, Ki’ara could at least disguise herself with some simple, perhaps somewhat tattered, clothes.

  Never having been alone in a place like this before, she was terribly nervous and wondered if she should have begged Je’nna to come with her. But it was too late for that, now. She suspected that Je’nna would guess where she went. But, even in a Rover, it would take a fair amount of time for her to catch up.

  And when she did, Je’nna was going to be mad.
There was no question that the girl would pull the trigger on at least one of her guns. The only uncertainty was how much power she would use.

  Ki’ara tried not to think about it, and concentrate on the task at hand.

  Like it or not, she was on her own. But the girl knew that she had to do this. For Grue’gan.

  Ki’ara refused to allow her premonition to come true.

  With a deep breath, she tipped her chin up and marched forward.

  But the moment she stepped foot through the doors, Ki’ara knew that she had made a terrible mistake.

  13

  The Inn was teaming with Tho’ran’s soldiers.

  There were at least a half-dozen Royal Guardsmen taking up two tables near the door. They were eating, laughing, and having a good time. But when the girl walked in, they stopped what they were doing, and all eyes fell on her.

  Through the silence, Ki’ara tried to remain calm. Like her arriving there was no big deal. But it was hard not to tremble. Even with her powerful Niksuru, there were too many for her to fight. Someone would surely get killed if she was recognized. Most likely, her.

  The girl forced her legs forward, farther into the crowded room.

  She couldn’t stop now.

  Ki’ara’s only chance was to continue with her ruse, despite wanting to turn and run. Perhaps she stood a chance if she bolted for the door … made it into the jungle…

  Every step took her deeper into the room, putting more and more soldiers between herself and the door.

  Ki’ara began seeing faces that she recognized – soldiers from Stronghold.

  Oh no.

  Her father’s men.

  Correction: men that had betrayed her father.

  Ki’ara took a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure as fear was replaced by anger. Hatred. She wanted to throttle them all.