Everything slowed. Maggie didn’t want to look behind her again. He’d take her if she did. Still, something compelled her to turn. She fought it, but her defenses were crumbling.
“Maggie.”
Only ten feet above, David fell onto his knees, his arms stretching down toward her. Only air stood between them, yet David knelt as though an invisible brick wall kept him from coming down the slope to her, and he bent at the waist, reaching over it.
A picture came into her head. A memory, perhaps. She and Marcus, standing together and facing one another. They stood two feet apart, hands joined between them. Marcus’s wide smile and sparkling hazel eyes radiated joy. The walls around them sparkled. Like diamonds.
“It’s your free will. He’s trying to take it. Don’t. Let him. Take it.”
The echo of Clay’s words snapped Maggie out of her trance. Squaring her shoulders, she fought her way to her feet, feeling as though she pushed through drying cement. Clawing her way up the hill, she threw herself into David’s arms.
Gasp.
Marcus clapped his hand to his ears as a male voice cried out. The scream came from everywhere and nowhere. The others did the same.
The gray cylinder shattered like glass.
Maggie opened her eyes and sat up.
Marcus and others ran forward to where she and Doc sat.
Nat managed to get to his feet.
Doc, holding the orb in both hands, began to tremble. Where the orb met his skin, smoke rose. Doc held onto it nonetheless.
Marcus felt something and turned. The Cimerian had not given up yet.
*******
B leapt off his throne and to his feet as his hands began to burn. Though he’d trained himself to be impervious to the pain, the burns still appeared, and the pain energy registered on the outskirts of his consciousness.
His Council stood around him. They’d brought him the reports of the Separatists—led by his brother, Johann—attacking the orb. B hadn’t been sure they would try for the orb. He’d prepared just in case.
As of this moment, things were going much better than expected.
“The Witness holds the orb!” B shouted. “It must be now while the connection is in use. Bring the woman.”
They moved swiftly to obey. B’s hands continued to smoke while he waited. He watched the skin of his palms redden and bubble with fascination. Stubborn Johann, refusing to let go out of some sense of duty or determination. He couldn’t imagine it would be his undoing.
Gothriel brought her to B. She didn’t look so different than he remembered. Same clear, intelligent eyes. Eyes that saw across time. Same dark hair, pearl-colored skin and lithe movements. No wonder he’d wanted her so badly back then. Any man would. But not anymore. B had moved beyond such things now.
“After all these long years, you will serve me, woman. If not in the way I used to imagine.”
Adaiah’s face remained smooth, though worry entered her eyes.
B fell heavily onto his throne. The pain of the burns leeched his strength away. This must be done quickly. Stretching out his hands, he motioned for Adaiah to be brought closer.
“I’ve known for a long time what I needed to do. But without you, how could I?”
Gothriel pushed her closer and B clasped her forearm.
“You gave me a gift by showing up in that lighthouse.”
“It was not you who received the gift,” she said softly. “It is not Johann’s doom that is at hand.”
He chuckled darkly. “Keep telling yourself that, my dear.”
He reached through her and touched his brothers’ minds.
*******
Maggie woke beside Doc on the ground. He looked older than she’d ever seen him. The rest of the team stood around her, all looking shell shocked. Maggie struggled to remember what happened.
Doc held the orb. Marcus, looking exhausted, knelt on Maggie’s right, while Jonah knelt on her left. Joan knelt beside Doc with Nat on his other side, and Lila at her back, looking terrified.
How much time had passed? Maggie didn’t think more than a few minutes.
Smoke and the smell of burning flesh came from Doc’s hands.
Nat took hold of Doc’s wrists and shook them violently. “Let go, Johann. It’s burning you! Drop it in the grass.”
Doc didn’t drop it. Suddenly, his mouth fell open and he winced as though in great pain. Maggie didn’t think the reaction had anything to do with the orb, because Nat did the exact same thing at the exact same time. He grabbed both sides of his head with his hands.
“What is…happening?” he called through gritted teeth.
“No,” Doc yelled. “No! Nat, he’s burning away the binding. Adaiah!”
“He’ll surely kill us now,” Nat growled. “And her.”
Maggie stumbled forward, surprised at how weak her muscles were. She wrenched the orb from Doc and he and Nat collapsed onto the ground.
Maggie got to her feet, still holding the pulsating orb, whirled to see Karl still fighting Arachnimen. There had been four at first. Now he fought six, with two more on the ground where he’d put them.
“David,” she yelled, her throat feeling hoarse. “Help Karl with the Arachnimen. He’s our way out of h—”
Something slammed into Maggie’s back. She didn’t register flying through the air until she hit the ground. She’d simply seen ground and sky, ground and sky in fast sequence. After landing on her belly with a dull thud, it took all her strength to roll onto her back with a groan.
She stared straight up into the eyes of the Cimerian. She’d landed at his feet. No doubt, as he’d intended. Voices called her name from far away. Marcus’s voice. Offensive energy hit the Cimerian in the chest. She didn’t know who’d thrown it, but it had little impact, merely knocking him backward half a step. The Cimerian’s sewn-up eyes peered down at Maggie, then toward where the rest of the group still stood.
Something about him felt…dissatisfied. He reached down and plucked the orb from Maggie’s hands. She didn’t have the strength to so much as tighten her fingers around it.
He turned his head toward where the rest of the team stood and hurled ribbons of red energy in that direction. Then he was gone. Not the shimmering air of Traveling. He simply wasn’t there anymore. As though he’d stepped behind an invisible pillar of air. And he’d taken the orb.
*******
David fell to his knees beside Marcus with a thud. Marcus looked over at his brother. A deep slash reached from David’s shoulder down across his abdomen and he groaned in pain, trying to cover it with his hands, though it was far too long. Blood oozed between his fingers. At least he was breathing. And conscious. Marcus felt grateful for that, at least.
“Karl, get us out of here,” Marcus gasped. All the collective goons lay dead. David killed the ones Karl did battle with before attacking the Cimerian. The thing’s counter attack had made David bleed. Through the bond, Marcus sensed his brother’s pain, and how little of his strength remained. David might still be conscious, but Marcus doubted he would be for long.
The Cimerian had disappeared. Nearly everyone nursed an injury. They’d failed. Nothing left to do now except go back to Interchron. “Start with David, Nat and Doc. I’m going to Maggie. Come get her next.”
“Not me,” Nat wrestled himself into a sitting position. “I’ll stay and protect everyone until Karl can get us all home. I still have some strength. I’m the only one who does.”
Marcus glanced at David, and knew Nat was right. He was much weaker than normal but retained more strength than any of the others.
“What about you?” Karl asked.
Marcus shook his head. “I’m going to Maggie.” Jonah had already run to her. It would take Marcus far longer. As he dragged himself toward where she lay on the field fifty feet away, Joan’s voice reached his ears.
“Lila and I will help him. When you come back, come to that spot and collect the rest of us.”
“Okay,” Karl’s deep voice answe
red. He put a hand on both Doc and David, and the three of them disappeared.
“Lila, help Nat,” Joan said. She shouldered her way under Marcus’s arm and helped him toward Maggie. It felt like days before they reached her. She lay on her back on the ground, face pale and eyes haunted. Jonah knelt by her side, holding her hand and telling her to breathe.
“Maggie,” Marcus fell onto his knees beside Jonah.
“He got it, Marcus,” her voice sounded weak and breathy. “He got the orb.” Maggie never sounded like that. Fear sunk its fingers into Marcus’s belly.
“Shh.” He put a hand on her forehead. “Don’t worry about that now. We’ll figure it out.” He had no idea how and ignored the surprised look Joan gave him. Lila and Nat came to stand beside Maggie as well, Nat leaning heavily on Lila and looking nearly as weak as she did.
Abruptly, Tristan appeared at Maggie’s head. Where did he come from?
“Where the hell were you?” Lila demanded.
Tristan’s face instantly hardened. “Not all of us can Travel,” he said darkly. “Your precious Executioner left me behind.”
Lila glared at him suspiciously. “Where’s Tenessa?”
“How the hell should I know?” he snapped. “Your Traveler let her escape. I imagine she’s long gone.”
Marcus couldn’t make himself care about Tristan or Tenessa right now. Only Maggie. Where was Karl? Shouldn’t he be back by now?
“Uh…guys?”
The nervous words came from Jonah. Marcus looked up to find him peering across the field to where Karl fought the Arachnimen scouts minutes before. One of them, though stone dead, struggled haltingly to his feet.
“Are these Arachnimen supposed to come back from the dead?” Jonah asked.
The Arachniman’s dark, greasy hair had been cut short at the nape, but hung long at the sides, like most of his kind. He turned slowly to gaze at them. From across the field, Marcus saw the yellow light in his eyes.
“That’s no Arachiman,” Nat said quietly. “That’s my brother.”
It wasn’t the first time B took control of one of his collective goons from afar. When he did it before, Doc had always been present.
Fear clutched Marcus’s chest. All of them were far too weak to take on B. One thing they knew for certain about B: he wanted to kill Maggie. The Arachniman with glowing yellow eyes trod over the grass toward them jerkily, as though the muscles in his legs refused to cooperate.
Marcus leaned forward and gathered Maggie into his arms. It took every ounce of his strength to haul her to her feet. With Jonah’s help, he held her up, pushing her backward across the field. She clutched him weakly, her face peaked.
“Back up, Everyone. Don’t let him get too close to us.”
“Do you think that will save you?” a guttural voice snarled from across the field.
They turned as one to look at the Arachniman.
“Do you think I can’t kill you from a hundred miles away if I wanted?”
Marcus didn’t doubt he could. He’d have killed to every member of Interchron already if they weren’t hidden in the mountain, and their brains Concealed. He couldn’t kill what he couldn’t find. Yet here they all stood, too weak to fight, one hundred feet away from him.
Nat moved a few feet out in front of the group as the Arachniman continued to close the distance between them. He gathered offensive energy to throw at B.
Marcus felt weak with a nervousness he couldn’t shake. Nat didn’t have the strength to fight B.
Where was Karl? What was taking him so long?
The distance between them closed to fifty feet before Nat hurled his first neurological attack at B. Marcus’s heart sank further. Nat nearly equaled Maggie and David’s strength for offensive energy. Yet, this attack proved weak. Weaker than even Marcus would have predicted.
B’s mind, through the Arachniman, easily conjured up a shield and the energy glanced off him without doing any damage.
B gathered energy of his own. Marcus couldn’t make it out—born from some ability he didn’t have, no doubt—but it felt sinister. Something cold and foreboding shivered down Marcus’s spine. He turned to Maggie, his back to B, and wrapped his arms around her. Too weak to protect her neurologically, all he had left was his body. He doubted it would be enough.
“No,” Maggie whispered weakly, watching Nat and B over Marcus’s shoulder. “Marcus…that energy. Nat…he needs help.”
Jonah stepped up protectively on one side of them, fear in his face. Marcus felt Joan’s presence on his other side. Lila stood out in front of them, watching Nat.
The Arachniman’s guttural voice reached Marcus’s ear again. “Murder on the mountainside, Brother.”
Marcus vaguely registered Jonah stepping forward to grab Lila’s arm and yank her back toward him before the energy hit. It didn’t hit Marcus, though. From what he could tell, it didn’t hit anyone directly around him either.
He turned in time to see Nat hit the ground.
Even as Doc’s brother fell heavily into the green grass, the air shimmered around them. Karl appeared in front of Marcus, looking exhausted and mildly confused.
Karl turned and took in Nat on the ground and the yellow-eyed Arachniman in the distance. He turned wide, understanding eyes on Marcus briefly before lunging forward to grab Nat’s arm. He dragged the grizzled man back toward Marcus with one hand while holding his other arm out behind him, toward Marcus.
Marcus, arm firmly around Maggie’s waist to tow her with him, lunged forward to take hold of Karl’s arm. He didn’t have to tell the others to do the same. In an instant, the air shimmered around them.
Seconds later, they landed with a thud on the slopes of Interchron, where Doc and David still waited for them. Others from Interchron also stood around. Summoned to help, no doubt.
Tears poured down Doc’s cheeks, and the instant they landed, he rose to go to Nat. His legs wobbled precariously, and Dana, one of the Seekers, moved to help him.
Maggie sagged against Marcus. He lowered her toward the ground, praying he wouldn’t drop her. Jonah stepped up and took Maggie from him, scooping her into his arms. “I’ve got her,” he said quietly.
Marcus nodded and two men he recognized came forward to help him into the mountain.
*******
Tenessa peered down toward the meadow where Karl and the others had disappeared. The Arachniman’s body slumped to the ground, the light gone from his eyes. Tenessa sensed she was the only living being, apart from plant and animal life, in the meadow.
Surely the Union would send someone back for her at any moment. She’d made certain to let them know she was present, and still loyal.
Yet nothing happened. Minutes passed with only the cold wind for company. Something unpleasant twinged in Tenessa’s stomach. Fear. She pushed it away. A human emotion. Not logical. The Union would return.
As the minutes stretched, though, the fear spread. Thoughts of the Separatist made their way into her consciousness. Had he forgotten her so completely? Or simply assumed the Union would collect her? Yes, that must be it. He’d have assumed she’d rejoined her true family.
She didn’t know why the idea of him not thinking about her disturbed her so much. Another illogical, human thought. Once the Union came to collect her, the Separatist and her experiences with him would be forgotten in an instant.
She felt the presence arrive behind her and turned to greet her fellow Unionist. A woman she didn’t recognize stood thirty feet away. A Unionist Traveler, come to collect her. Tenessa sensed the Union’s tendrils flowing through the woman. They felt reassuringly familiar.
Tenessa wanted to communicate telepathically, but couldn’t.
“Greetings, Sister,” she said, loudly enough for the woman to hear. “You’ll have to reattach us to the Union. Then we can speak more effectively.”
The woman cocked her head to one side. “We cannot reattach an entity to the Union who has forged an illicit bond with a Separatist.”
Tenessa nodded. She’d foreseen this complication. “We understand. Take us to whoever can help us with this. We can un-forge the bond, or perhaps use it to locate the Separatists. Our knowledge of them will prove most useful to the Union’s purposes.”
The woman stared at her for several seconds, silent and expressionless. Something about the woman’s stare made Tenessa’s stomach twinge again.
“Do you truly not understand?” the woman finally asked. “The Union has rules for a reason. The Separatists have infected you. You, in turn, might infect others. The Union could let you live as an individual and aid us other ways, but you would remain outside of everything. Most who do so go mad. Better to spare you.
The woman called forth a net of black energy. Tenessa recognized it immediately. Every juncture of the netting held long spikes. It would be placed over her brain, the spikes interrupting the firing of the axons, killing her instantly.
Tenessa staggered backward in shock. How could they kill her when her mind housed such valuable information about the Separatists?
She stepped back again as the woman stepped toward her, and felt something behind her. A presence.
Strong, dark-skinned arms wrapped around her from behind, crisscrossing over her torso and pulling her up against a warm chest. The air around her shimmered.
Then she stood on the slopes of Interchron, with the Separatist breathing into her shoulder.
Chapter 25: The Tears of a Sibling
Half an hour later, still feeling like someone had drummed on her head with a metal hammer, Maggie huddled with the group around Nat's bed in medical. She did her best to ignore the pain. Her discomfort was far from the most important thing right now.
Tenessa stood back against one wall, while Tristan leaned against another. Clay lay on a double bed in the adjoining room, Kara sitting by his side as always. Maggie glanced at Clay as she entered medical, just to be sure he still slept there. What on earth had Maggie seen? Had Clay been a dream? A vision? A flashback?
Dark Matter (Interchron Book 3) Page 34
