He replaced the knife in its home and motioned for Tasker to leave the room. When the door opened and Tasker got up, Bella saw chains of cold iron around his legs and hands, with just enough chain between his hands and feet to allow him room to walk and work. Outside the door, two more henchmen escorted Tasker out of sight. Bella crept back from the edge of the vent, moving silently. She couldn’t afford for the assassin to know she was still alive. She had three hours, at most, before the world above came to a crashing halt. Billions of mortal lives now hung in the balance. Her shoulders were small to hold such a weight, but from deep inside she dug up a strength equal to that of Atlas and scurried away to find where the others were held captive.
22: The Sacrifice
Bella stopped at the next room and looked in. The room was filled with supplies, among which she noticed spare weapons as well as Jacob’s shield. She would need to find her way back into this room once the others were free.
In the next room Bella found what she was looking for. She spotted Jacob and Jane chained to opposite walls. The iron links were not particularly thick, but they were more than capable of holding the two in place. Bella saw the single door into the room was closed tightly.
The next room held Coronia all by herself, and she seemed in pain. It was as if the iron manacles were burning her skin, as well as possibly affecting the potion holding her transformation in place. To Bella’s relief, she also spotted something in the room she could use to free Coronia and the others.
Bella slid through the grate and fluttered down to Coronia’s shoulder.
She jumped when she felt the weight on her shoulder but when she saw the fairy, a sigh of relief swept through her. “Bella!” Coronia whispered.
“Hi,” Bella squeaked. She hugged the former mermaid happily and felt relief flow through her as well. “Shall we see if we can get these cuffs off you?” She untangled her arms from Coronia’s thick hair and flitted down to where the cuffs were leaving horrible red marks on her skin.
“How are you going to get these off me?” Coronia asked. “I think the iron is affecting the transformation. It feels like it’s losing its power.” If she was not free of the iron soon, the changes in her would lose their power, and she would be forced to find water.
“With this,” Bella said with a smile. She held up the coral clip Coronia had been using to keep her hair in place. With a grunt, she pulled hard at the edge of the hair clip and pulled part of it loose. “I watched this once.” Bella commented. She dropped down to Coronia’s lap and settled next to her wrist. “Can’t be that hard, right?”
Coronia listened for the slightest sound that would warn them one of their captors was coming. She felt the fairy moving around and the slight nudges as her tiny hands bumped against her.
“It looked easier than this,” Bella muttered. She had a limited amount of time to work, and the locks were stubborn. She felt the locking mechanism inside, and as she put her eye up to it she could almost see it. On a whim she dropped a bit of fairy light into the lock and suddenly all was clear. She saw the exact spot she needed to move in order to open the lock. A moment later, the iron chains lay on the ground.
“Amazing, Bella,” Coronia gasped. She rubbed her wrists where the irons had left nasty-looking red welts on her skin and breathed a sigh of relief.
“We have to keep moving,” Bella said. She fluttered to the door and motioned for Coronia to follow. The door was not locked, and Coronia opened it very slowly and held it open just enough for Bella to glance out into the hall.
“I don’t see anyone,” Bella whispered. Together they stepped into the passage and hurried to the next room, where Jane and Jacob were chained.
“You won’t get anything from us,” Bella heard Jane start to say, but her voice cut off when she saw who it was. Relief flooded her face, and she looked at the fairy with a wide grin. Hope leapt up in her eyes and replaced the defeat that had taken root.
“How did you get free?” Jacob asked in a low tone. He twisted and tried to keep his eyes on the door. The last thing they needed now was someone walking into the room and interrupting them. Bella hurried to where Jacob was chained to the wall and dropped a bit of fairy light into his irons. Within a minute his chains were on the floor, and Jacob joined Coronia at the door watching for trouble. He, too, rubbed his arms, trying to restore feeling to the limbs. They hadn’t been locked up for more than an hour or two, he estimated, but his hands still felt slightly numb.
“Tasker’s going to give in to him,” Bella said. “He doesn’t want to, but he’s doing it to save your lives. They’re going to bring the Divide down. The assassin is betraying the Temple.”
The words came rapid fire so that Jane had a hard time following. When it sank in and she realized just what the fairy was saying, fear lanced through her. Tasker had explained to her what would happen if the Divide was brought down, the waves of destruction that would happen as the two worlds collided. The moment the chains came free of her hands she leapt up and swept Bella up into her arms. They had to move quickly.
“How do we stop them?” Jane asked. She joined the others at the door and glanced out. The passage remained clear, but that could change at any moment.
“The next room has spare weapons in it and Jacob’s shield is there, too,” Bella said. “Tasker told the evil man it’d take him a couple hours to change the machine. We have very little time left.” She pointed out the door and they all scurried into the hall. They ran to the next door, but this one was locked and it took Bella a couple of tries to open it.
“This one is a lot harder,” Bella grumbled when the lock failed to open right away. The tiny bit of fairy magic she placed in the lock began to dim, and she paused to strengthen it. Finally the lock clicked and the door swung open, revealing a storeroom with all of the assassin’s supplies in it. A single musket leaned against the wall near Eriunia’s bow. Two quivers of arrows stood near the bow, and several bladed weapons rested on top of two wooden crates. The rest of the room was filled with sacks of food and coils of rope, along with the basic travel supplies any traveler would make sure to have on hand. Unfortunately, Jacob’s sword was nowhere to be seen, and he groaned.
“I wonder where they hid the rest of my stuff,” Jacob said under his breath. He hurriedly searched the entire room but the sword was truly gone. Instead he grabbed an iron sword and hefted it. The weapon was sharp and well-made but nowhere near the quality of his sword. His shield was leaning against the wall and he slipped his left arm through the straps. At least he had the protection of the dragon-scale shield. Jane took the musket and primed it, while Coronia picked up the bow and slung the quivers over her shoulder.
“Ever shoot one of those before?” Jane asked as she looked over at the former mermaid.
“No,” Coronia admitted. “But they don’t know that.” She smiled grimly.
The four of them cautiously left the room, making their way down the hallway to the spiral staircase that would lead to the chamber where Eriunia was being held.
“I left two of the soldiers sleeping in that room,” Bella snickered along the way, pointing at another door. “I put them so far under that a troll could fart in that room, and they would sleep through the thunder.”
Jacob held his sword ready as they climbed the stairs and stepped up to the door that would lead them to Eriunia. Without warning the door swung in, and a shocked face stared at them. The soldier stumbled to a halt. Jane and Jacob glared at him. Jacob was the first to react, and he threw caution to the wind. He dropped his shoulder and slammed it into the other man’s stomach. Next, his shield came up and slammed into the man’s face, driving any bit of conscious thought from him. Last, he heaved as hard as he could and sent the man flying backwards.
“What in the world?” a second soldier shouted as the man flew backwards, slamming his head into a massive pipe feeding into the device. J
ane rushed forward and leveled her musket at the second man. As he turned, she pulled the trigger and hoped Jacob had managed to roll out of the way. The blast picked up the soldier and sent him flying. Jane paused to raise her eyebrows and look at the musket. Apparently the assassins had found a way to increase the power of the weapon. The ball of energy that had struck the man was double that of a normal musket.
A shout of surprise echoed across the massive chamber, and Jane heard the whine of musket fire. She ducked back into the hallway and shielded her body with the wall. The glowing balls of crackling energy splashed around the doorframe, but the stone was thick and strong, and the blast failed to reach them. Jacob rolled through the door and scrambled around the edge as another round of blasts splattered off the stones.
“What now?” Jacob shouted.
“Bella, any idea how many are out there?” Jane called. She looked around and suddenly realized the fairy was nowhere to be found.
Bella had squirmed into a vent and dashed along it until she reached the grate overlooking the room. As she scanned the area she spotted the three soldiers shooting at her friends. The head assassin was nowhere to be seen. Eriunia was huddled as close to the edge of her cage as she possibly could get without touching the dark shafts of power.
The others were trapped, pinned down at the door, and Bella knew she could help somehow. After several more volleys of fire, she realized what she needed to do. High on the ceiling was a cone-shaped section of piping emitting the power that kept Eriunia trapped. If she could turn that off, she could free the elf. Bella pushed through the grate and spread her wings.
“Gotcha,” Averill shouted. He reached up and grabbed the fairy.
Bella cried out in terror as the assassin’s fingers closed around her, and she flailed about until her hand came free of his grip. She beat her wings wildly, but nothing happened. As he pulled her down toward where he was standing, balanced on top of a nearby pipe, she pulled out the piece of coral she had used to open the locks. Furiously, she raised it high in the air. The assassin’s eyes went wide. Then she jammed the sliver into his hand as far as she could. Averill shouted out in surprise and pain, and Bella felt his grip loosen enough that she was able to pull free and get away.
“Nice try, you jerk,” Bella tried to shout, but it came out as a squeak. Beating her wings as hard as she could, she flew up to the darkness emitter and fluttered around it. At first she could not see any way to make it stop, but then she spotted a valve further out along the pipe. She flew to the pipe as fast as could. Below her, Averill shouted at one of the soldiers. Bella looked down and saw a ball of energy hurtling her way. Ignoring the impending attack, she grabbed the valve and twisted it as hard as she could. The blast struck her as she was halfway through closing the valve. As her consciousness faded, she felt the valve twist one last time. Her arm was hooked inside the handle, and the weight of her body falling against her arm turned it the last bit.
“Bella!” Eriunia shouted. Fury welled up inside her as the cage fell away and she leapt free of it. A soldier stood nearby, and she covered the distance to him in one leap. The man’s head bounced off the floor three times before Eriunia let go and swept up his weapon. In one swift motion, she turned the repeater and depressed the trigger, dropping the last of Averill’s men.
There was a snarl of rage as Averill slammed into her and knocked the repeater away. Much to his surprise, Eriunia rolled back to her feet and turned to face him.
“Elf!” Averill spat out.
“Assassin!” Eriunia roared back at him.
“Time to die,” Averill shouted. He drew the sword he had taken from Jacob and raised it toward her.
“Eriunia!” Jacob shouted. He threw the sword he was carrying as hard as he could. It sailed end over end across the fifty yards that separated them. To his surprise, his throw was perfect. The handle of the sword slapped into her hand just in time to deflect Averill’s first strike.
“Not today,” Eriunia said. Her voice was quiet now and deadly. She didn’t give the assassin time to recover from the shock of suddenly facing an armed and very angry opponent. The blade moved almost with a mind of its own as Eriunia pressed the attack. Her sword beat a constant pounding against his as she chased him across the pipes and cables running into the device. Every way he turned, she was there, an avenging angel with the faces of those who had died in her mind.
Jacob turned to Jane and motioned to the epic battle taking place in front of them. The combatants were both masters of the blade. Jacob and Jane could do nothing to help Eriunia. Instead, they ran in search of Tasker. The center of the Antikytheran Device contained hundreds of dials, levers, and gauges and a massive globe of the world. This had to be the control area and Jacob, Jane, and Coronia ran there. Slumped on the floor, unconscious, lay Tasker.
“Tasker!” Jane shouted. She ran to him and slid her arms under his head. A massive bruise on his forehead showed where Averill had knocked him out before turning to battle Eriunia. Jane heard Tasker groan as she called his name, but she was unable to wake him.
“He’s not waking up,” Jane shouted to Jacob. “What do we do?” All around them alarms were going off and lights were blinking wildly.
“Slap his face,” Jacob suggested. He picked up the musket Jane had dropped and turned to where the battle between Eriunia and Averill still raged. “I have to go help Eriunia.”
“Go,” Jane said. “We can handle this.” She raised her hand and looked at Tasker. “Sorry about this,” she said. She slapped him across the face as hard as she could. This time she was rewarded with a loud groan, and Tasker’s eyes fluttered open.
“Wake up, Tasker,” Jane shouted. The alarms going off seemed to be getting louder, and warning lights flashing all around her were tansitioning from yellow to orange to red. So many red lights flashing. Something was definitely wrong.
Tasker finally opened his eyes and struggled to sit up. “What happened?” he finally managed to groan. His head was spinning but as his senses returned, the warnings going off around him made his heart race. The great device built into the earth around them was struggling to keep the Divide in place. If things were not set right in minutes, there would once again be one world.
“What did you do?” Tasker asked, suddenly fully awake. He bolted to his feet and leapt over to where a bank of dials and gauges were spinning out of control, setting off the alarms all around them. His eyes raced across the machinery in front of him and he knew immediately what the assassin had done. “He set the device to overload!” Tasker said with a groan. He grabbed one of the levers that would help relieve the buildup of power, but it wouldn’t move. He knew of only one way to stop what the assassin had done—he would have to reset the device from the main power chamber. Doing that while it was still running would kill whoever attempted it.
“Can you make it stop?” Jane shouted. The alarms were getting more insistent and the lights flashed more wildly. She had no idea what to do and looked at the dwarf for guidance.
Across the chamber, Eriunia’s and Averill’s swords came together one last time. This time, Eriunia twisted the assassin’s sword with a flick of her wrist. With her other hand, she flicked out a handful of dust she had gathered from the floor the last time he had managed to knock her down. She knew he would see the dust coming and probably avoid it, but she was counting on that. His eyes closed involuntarily for the slightest of moments, and she took the moment to throw her body to the side. As she moved, she struck out hard with her sword. She felt the blade bite and heard Averill groan. When she turned and looked back, she saw him slump to the floor, then drop to his hands and knees, the strength leaving his arms as his life slipped away from him.
“Beaten by an elf,” Averill muttered. “Won’t save you.” He managed to turn his head to the side and laugh at her. “I jammed the machine and set it to overload. The Divide’s coming down. Let me se
e your precious friends survive what I’ve unleashed.” With those last words, he slumped to the ground and the light faded from his eyes.
“Tasker!” Eriunia shouted.
“I think we have a problem,” Jacob said. He had arrived just as Eriunia finished the battle. When he looked back toward the Device, he could see Jane waving her arms at him and pointing across the chamber. Jacob scooped up his sword from the fallen assassin, and he and Eriunia ran to where Jane was standing next to a bank of levers.
“Where’s Tasker?” Jacob asked.
“He told me to wait here and pull this lever when these two gauges are equal,” Jane replied. She nodded over to where Tasker was standing about fifty feet away, in front of a small door that led into a chamber where pulses of power flowed through almost constantly.
“What’s he doing?” Jacob asked. He saw Tasker working the controls of the door. They all stared in horror as the dwarf grasped the door and turned to look at them. His face was sad. It was the face of someone getting ready to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Jane had a sinking feeling that the lever she was standing by did nothing, that Tasker had set her to this spot knowing that otherwise, she would try to stop him.
“I’m sorry it has to be this way, but the only way to stop the buildup is to reset the flow of power from inside the main chamber,” Tasker shouted to them. Despite the noise, the others heard him easily. “Thank you for coming for me. Eriunia, please watch over them. Jane, you’re the heart and conscience of this rebellion. Keep everyone else grounded and on the right path. Jacob, protect them and keep them safe. Bella, without your bravery, we all would have failed.”
He looked to where Bella was waking from the blast that nearly killed her, up on a pipe that had blocked her fall. She came fluttering down toward Tasker, but he slapped a button on the side of the door and quickly stepped inside. Before any of them could act, he locked the door from the inside and opened a second door. The flows of power struck him and though at first it just tingled, he knew that wouldn’t last. The device was building up power deep in the ground that needed to be released. He grabbed the reset lever that would flip the valve deep underneath him fully open again, pushing against it with all his might. Tasker felt the surge of power. As the energy was released, he knew his own life was fading quickly. He had mere minutes before the energy took him, so he stumbled back to the first door, where there was a window where the others could see him. He spotted Jane’s tear-stained face looking in at him, her lips moving. She was shouting his name and pounding on the window. Jacob was next to her with his arms around her trying to comfort her, but tears were coming out of his eyes, as well.
The Map Maker's Choice Page 20
