Rion

by Susan Kearney

  “I order you to find Rion.” She didn’t expect the machine to follow her orders, but she had to try something to find Rion and get out of this hellhole.

  “Rion is on the grid, one thousand two hundred and fifty-three meters south, southwest.”

  “Fine. I’ll climb in. Then you take me to Rion. Do not stop. Do not communicate with anyone else but me.”

  “Climb inside climb inside climb inside.”

  She had to be out of her mind. But she climbed into the floater. It was smooth and shiny. There was no seat, but there was enough room that she didn’t have to crouch. Once inside, she spied holes in the ceiling where sound came through a speaker.

  The door clanged shut behind her. She was now in complete darkness. Inside the bowels of a floater. Trapped. No doubt the people on the ground were sure she’d been eaten—just as they’d predicted.

  But so far, no teeth were gnashing on her flesh, no digestive juice was dissolving her skin. With the floater’s liftoff, her pulse accelerated.

  The machine whisked upward and sideways, flying away in a smooth arc. She prayed the damaged eyes wouldn’t cause them to crash.

  Think positive. A window would have been nice, air-conditioning better. Most of all, she craved water. She didn’t know a throat could be so dry that it hurt to breathe.

  “How long until we get there?” Marisa asked.

  The floater didn’t reply, but she could feel them losing altitude. The orb stopped. Nothing happened.

  Now what?

  “Open the door,” Marisa ordered.

  She heard a hiss. Then the door opened.

  Marisa looked outside. Her eyes took a few moments to adjust to daylight. The scene outside looked exactly like the one she’d left. Tired and filthy people dressed in stained rags. The same pit.

  But then the crowd edged back as a man shouldered his way through the throng. At first her gaze moved on, but something familiar about the man’s movement caused her gaze to dart back to him. “Rion?”

  “Marisa?” He was covered in sand, his clothing full of mud, his eyes blacker than she’d ever seen. But until she touched him, until she breathed in his scent, she wouldn’t believe he was really there. That he was real.

  “Wait here,” she ordered the floater, then leaped from the tin can and sprinted straight toward Rion. He ran toward her, too. And when they met, he swept her up and embraced her.

  “I thought I’d never see you again.” His lips crashed down on hers. His arms held her tight. She wound her arms around his neck and pressed herself against his chest.

  God. She’d missed him. She’d missed his strength, she’d missed his company, she’d missed his strong arms.

  She kept running her hands over his shoulders, down his broad back, needing to touch him to reassure herself he was really here with her. And when she pulled back from their kiss, she could see the relief in his eyes.

  She grinned, her first grin since she’d wakened without him. “I can’t believe I found you.”

  “Are you all right?” He set her back on her feet.

  “I’m better now.” She took his hand and led him over to the floater. She stepped inside, then beckoned for him to join her. “Get in.”

  Without hesitation, he stepped inside. They barely fit, but she was so glad to see him she wouldn’t have cared if it took a can opener to separate them. She wrapped her arms around Rion and reveled once again in the solid feel of him. “I’ve figured out how to make the floaters give us a ride.”

  “How?”

  “The tin can isn’t too smart—”

  “Tin can?”

  “The floater. After I knocked out all its eyes, it began taking orders from me.”

  “How did you take out its eyes?”

  “I kicked it. When it turned to look at me with a new eye, I kicked it again.” She grinned wider. “I must have interrupted its normal processor or communicator. Anyway, the floater obeyed my order to take me to you.”

  “Why didn’t you ask it to take you to freedom?”

  “I couldn’t leave you behind.” In fact, she hadn’t thought of anything but finding him.

  “Will it take us out of here?” Rion asked.

  “I don’t know.” While the machine couldn’t possibly hold more than two of them, she felt compelled to ask, “Where are Lex and his men?”

  “I haven’t seen them. I don’t know how you found me.” Rion looked at her with amazement and pride.

  “The tin can found you. It might be able to find the others, but we can’t carry anyone else on this trip. There’s no room.” She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him tight against her. “Close the door.”

  The door shut. Rion squeezed against her, his every muscle tense. As much as she appreciated how good he felt pressed against her, she murmured, “Relax. We won’t be able to see a thing until the door opens again.”

  “Now what?”

  “I order you to take us outside the perimeter to the tunnel.”

  Nothing happened.

  “Follow my order,” she tried again.

  Again, nothing happened. “Why aren’t you following my orders?”

  It was hot, stuffy, the air growing staler with every breath. She leaned into Rion. “Sorry about this. My orders worked last time.”

  “Try rephrasing.”

  “I order you to get us out of here. Now, please.” Again, nothing happened. “His circuits must be really fried.”

  “Or maybe this is a trap.”

  “I’m sorry,” Marisa whispered. “I didn’t know we were going to suffocate in here. I thought we could get away.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  Yes, it was. Rion wouldn’t have gotten in the floater if she hadn’t brought it here. He wouldn’t have gotten inside if she hadn’t asked him to.

  They were going to die. And it was all her fault.

  Violence is the last resort of the inept.

  —HIGH PRIESTESS OF AVALON

  24

  Damn. Damn. Damn.” With every curse, Marisa kicked the machine or slapped it with her fist. “Do something.”

  Rion wasn’t sure if she was yelling at him or the floater. “You want me to kick it, too?” Before she answered, he slugged the floater with his fist.

  The tin can hummed in response. He held his breath. “I think we’re moving.”

  “Way to go.” Marisa sounded like she was smiling. “Take us to the tunnel. Don’t stop.”

  “No stop no stop no stop no stop.”

  “I hope its navigation works better than the voice system.” Rion told himself not to get his hopes up. They could run out of air before the sphere landed. Or other floaters could shoot them down. Or they might end up in Unari headquarters.

  Rion waited, his arms around Marisa, wishing his back wasn’t to the door. He couldn’t do a good job protecting her when he was facing the wrong direction. Yet turning around wasn’t possible. Not till the door opened. If it opened. The floater could keep them trapped inside… forever.

  Finally, he sensed the floater’s descent. It stopped. The door didn’t open.

  “Open door,” Marisa ordered.

  The door opened and he turned around, squinting against the daylight, hands raised, ready to take on whoever might be there. But they were alone. At the tunnel. He stepped outside.

  “It worked.” Marisa exited the floater, breathed deeply, and tried to tug him toward the entrance.

  But he couldn’t go. He couldn’t abandon his men. “I have to go back for Lex, Darian, and Mendle.”

  Marisa spun around, hands on her hips. “That’s a bad idea.” She ticked off her reasons on her fingers. “One. That floater has loose wires and may not work again. Two. Even if you find them, you may get caught. Three. Since you’re the best chance this world has of freeing everyone from the Unari, your life is too valuable to risk.”

  “I’m not leaving my men behind.”

  Rion glanced at the floater and thought of a compromise. “I�
�ll get Lex. Then he can go after Mendle and Darian.”

  “What makes you think that tin can is up to another trip? Or that the Unari won’t sense something’s wrong and take it in for service or termination? How long do you think you have before they figure out we’ve escaped?”

  “They may never figure it out.” Rion spoke calmly, but he couldn’t be certain.

  Dirty, tired, she stood between him and the floater and tried to push him toward the tunnel. “Everyone inside that pit is one of your people. You can’t save them all. And if we can keep our knowledge of how to manipulate the tin cans a secret, we can use that in the final push. You get caught—they’ll know what we know. They’ll take precautions. We’ll lose any advantage we’ve gained.”

  “You’re right.” But he wasn’t running away and leaving his men.

  Marisa frowned, her expression blank. “You’re still going back, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right.” She took a step back, then another. “Let me show you—” She stepped back into the sphere. “Close door.”

  He did a double take at the closing door.

  Rion lunged, grasped the slick edges. “Marisa,” he growled out.

  The door began to close. He strained to keep it open.

  “You’re not going.” He wedged his foot into the opening. He was not letting her return to that hellhole.

  “I can do this.” Marisa pressed her back to the floater, thrust her foot against his chest, and shoved him back.

  He lost his precarious foothold, scrambled, and managed to cling by his fingertips to the door’s rubber seal. “Not by yourself, you can’t.” Sweating with effort, he grasped the edge, struggled for a better grip. His muscles burned, but he refused to let go.

  But the door began to close. “Marisa!”

  The floater tipped. His feet swung wildly over the ground. His fingers slipped. He slid.

  “No.” He was not going to let her risk her life for him.

  The door slammed shut.

  He fell to the ground. The floater soared into the sky. She was gone.

  He stared at the floater until it became a silver pinpoint in the blue sky. The gut-wrenching fear that hollowed out his stomach was like nothing he’d ever known before. She might not come back. He might not ever see her again.

  Resting his hands on his knees, he leaned over to drag breath into his lungs, to dispel the fear that gripped him. What the hell was wrong with him?

  The thought of her not coming back…

  He dragged in another breath. She had to come back.

  Dressed in rags, she carried herself like a queen, her tears of torment, the tears of all mankind.

  —LADY OF THE LAKE

  25

  After the floater opened, Marisa looked out into the middle of chaos. Dragons flew everywhere, working, pulling, pounding the giant stones into place with their tails.

  If the tin can had stopped in the right place, then the Unari had found a way to make Lex dragonshape.

  They’d enslaved him.

  Lex didn’t yet have broken scales. He also didn’t have the massive scars from accidents or Unari whip burns like the rest of the dragonshapers.

  But while he looked stronger than the other dragonshapers, from his ponderous movements and the droop of his head, she knew he suffered great pain. All the dragons did.

  And no way would he fit into the floater in dragon form. Hadn’t Lex told her the Unari kept the dragons so weak they couldn’t transform back? A lack of platinum would account for the weakened state of them all.

  She didn’t want to fail again. But what should she do? Staying hidden behind the floater, she watched and searched for an opportunity.

  The dragons paid no attention to her. She saw no Unari. Lex was placing the huge stones on top of one another. He hadn’t looked her way. Didn’t seem to know she was there.

  Dragons could understand simple human words. Should she talk to him?

  Fear of discovery kept her immobile, but nothing changed. No Unari appeared. The dragons kept working, flying, pounding and shoving the giant stones into place. At first she couldn’t understand why the weight of the walls didn’t cause the stones to fall inward. Then she saw crossbraces and antigravs and advanced engineering that kept the structure strong. Once finished, the site would be a fortress. Practically impenetrable.

  Frustrated by the heat, the dust, the lack of water, and most of all by her own indecision, she slid from behind the floater. She walked right up to Lex before he seemed to notice her. Even after he had to have seen her, he kept working. “Lex. You must humanshape.”

  The dragon moaned.

  “Humanshape and I’ll get you out of here.”

  Lex staggered, almost dropping one of the huge stones. At the last second, he slammed it into a precarious position on the wall. The stone teetered. Her stomach tensed as she glanced down to the dragons working five levels below. If this stone fell, many would die.

  Lex strained, digging in his massive claws, releasing a strained whistle from his nostrils. The rock steadied.

  Had he heard her? Had her words distracted him? Or had he tried to do as she’d asked, but the pain had kicked up another level until he lost concentration? She wasn’t certain how the pain controlled the dragons, but she knew that it hurt more when they resisted orders.

  Deep in pain, Lex might not not have even heard her words.

  If Marisa wanted to get through to him, she’d have to go to a deeper level of consciousness—mind to mind. But once she established a telepathic link, his pain would hit her, too. If she so much as gasped or screamed, she could give herself away. Even worse, if she fainted, as she’d done earlier, she’d be helpless to hide or protect herself.

  She gritted her teeth, braced for pain, and focused on Lex. On one message.

  Humanshape.

  As she fought to form and send the mental message, she opened a direct link to Lex. Pain slammed her like a hundred stinging bees. Like a thousand stab wounds. Like she’d swallowed glass and the sharp edges rubbed acid into her nerves.

  Despite her determination to hold on, the link snapped. The terrible agony ended, but the painful backlash took several long moments to fully subside.

  God. Tears brimmed in her eyes, and her vision blurred. How did they stand it? There were no words for that kind of torment. Just a few seconds of torture had dropped her to her knees.

  Worse, she didn’t know if she’d gotten the message to Lex. Groggy, fuzzy-headed, and close to heat stroke, she summoned the strength to try again. A shadow fell over her, blocking out the sun.

  Adrenaline failed to kick in. She’d used up her reserve. She’d pushed to the limit, and now she couldn’t even focus her vision. Was it the Unari? A dragon? A man? She blinked away the tears, and with sheer willpower alone, she lifted her head.

  “Lex.” Thank God. He was human again.

  “Another hour,” he gasped and helped her to her feet, “and I wouldn’t have had it in me to break free.”

  “Let’s go. Rion… waiting for us.” Weak from dehydration and residual pain, they helped each other to the floater, and, bless him, he didn’t hesitate to step inside the machine. He didn’t ask questions. He simply followed her lead.

  “Back to the tunnel,” she ordered.

  So dizzy she couldn’t see straight, she longed to lie down, close her eyes. Rest.

  If they hadn’t been packed in tight, she would have collapsed. Her mind was fading. With her last breath she whispered, “When we land, order the floater to open the door.”

  RION SEARCHED THE sky for the tenth time in the last ten minutes. Where was Marisa?

  When he finally spied a black dot, he stared so hard that his eyes ached. As the dot grew larger, his hopes rose.

  Finally, the floater descended into the clearing, and he had to remind himself to breathe. It was the same floater. The one without eyes. But was Marisa inside? By the Goddess, had she saved Lex?

  The door op
ened with a clang, and Marisa fell out. Lex staggered out, too, just as Rion caught Marisa and scooped her into his arms. Eyes closed, her cheeks flushed an unnatural pink, her body caked with dirt, sand, and dust, she felt light. Hot. Her skin was burning.

  He had to bring down her body temperature fast. Before her brain fried.

  Rion carried Marisa to where he’d set up the hose. He laid her down in the sand, turned on the spigot, and sprayed cool water over her. But was it too late?

  He sat beside Marisa, supporting her with one arm. He used the thumb of his free hand to disperse and spray water straight up, so it could rain down over her.

  Lex wobbled toward Marisa and Rion. The man was white. Shaking. That he didn’t dive under the water with them revealed his self-control. His concern was for Marisa. “Is she still breathing?”

  “Yes. Come under the water with us.” Rion gestured Lex to his side, then gathered Marisa into his arms. “There’s plenty of water. But drink slowly, or—”

  “I understand.” Lex tilted back his head, sipped at the water, and began to rinse off the grime, careful to keep the dirty splashes off Marisa.

  Rion smoothed Marisa’s hair from her face. “Come on, Marisa. Wake up.”

  “She saved me.” Lex’s voice was hoarse, choked with emotion. “I don’t how she did it, but her mental signal broke through my pain. It was just enough for me to—”

  “What?” Rion jerked his attention to Lex. “She didn’t find you in human form?”

  Lex shook his head, confusion in his eyes. “I figured that’s why you sent her. Because of that mental talent of hers. The Unari threatened to kill ten people if I didn’t dragonshape… And then they made me work on the wall. Thanks to Marisa, I broke free—just barely.”

  “I didn’t send her. I was going back for you, but she tricked me and took my place.”

  “She took it upon herself to go?” Lex’s jaw dropped. “But this isn’t her battle. She’s not even from Honor.”