“You were expecting a beauty queen?”
“Well…no, but that’s just fugly.”
“Get used to looking at it, cuz you’re carrying it next,” Fate promised. “Come on, let’s do this.” Holding the gruesome head as far from her body as she could, Fate led the way, navigating through the debris littering the ground with the sun disc floating just above her on dim to avoid alerting the scavenger with a dayglow searchlight.
As they moved along the already huge tunnel, the radius grew larger. Fate swallowed down the fear building inside. The more iron the scavenger ate, the bigger it was getting. She tried to convince herself that size didn’t matter. All she needed to do was get the scavenger to look at the Gorgon and the rest would be gravy.
If that was the case though, why did she have this awful nagging feeling that things were about to get a whole lot worse?
“I see something up ahead,” Jessie whispered.
Resisting the urge to send the sun disc further ahead and shine it bright, Fate squinted into the dark. “All I can see is black.”
“You don’t see that blue glow?”
“I’m not special enough to have a Dragon Eye, remember?”
Jessie elbowed her playfully. “It’s because you’re too special.”
“For someone who’s about to be made special too, you’re awfully calm about it all.”
“That’s the Dragon Eye. Feeling super human does wonders for your self-confidence.”
“Since I’m still struggling with mine, maybe you should tell me what you’re seeing exactly. Does it look like that blue mist we saw around the scavenger?”
“Nope, it’s brighter and more greenish in color.”
Fate slowed down. “Aquamarine?”
“Bull’s-eye on the color.”
Tension snaked through Fate’s core. Why was that so bothering? Something played at the back of her brain. An elusive memory or detail she failed to mark as important. Her pulse raced out of control as it all came back: Her brief astral visit to the center of the Keep when she’d been wearing Hermes’s helmet. The shrine and the blue-skinned Kaliena sitting on her throne. The formula the strange robot had fed Kaliena and the resulting glowing aquamarine liquid that had flowed from her six hands.
“This is bad,” Fate whispered.
“Aquamarine’s not exactly my favorite color either. A bit too beachy for my liking, but–” Jessie stopped and stared at Fate. “What’s the deal with that color? I know it’s not some new pet peeve, so spill.”
Fate didn’t know where to begin. Kaliena’s history wasn’t exactly a short story, but it was one Jessie at least needed the cliff notes on. “Do you remember Farouk mentioned he was getting readings of lifeforms within the core when you first got here?”
“Not really. I was a little on the shocked side right after coming through that wormhole.”
“Right, well when I went through my final initiation, I had to wear this helmet that showed me the history of the guardians and the Keep. While I was wearing it, I kind of veered off and did a little exploring.”
“Of course you did.”
Fate frowned at her. “Judgy much?”
“What? I’m just saying you’ve always been…curious.”
“Anyway, I went down into the core, where I found this creepy science guy robot thingy. He had these spider robots mining the Keep for a bunch of blue gemstones. He had buckets of them, which he ground into fine powder. Then he ran the gemstone powder through his mad scientist lab and cooked them up into a sparkly blue-green liquid, which he took to a shrine.”
“You do realize this sounds like you were tripping on something, don’t you?”
“Like I’d ever do that.” Fate rolled her eyes, though Jessie missed it because of the goggles. “I didn’t even smoke those stupid clove cigarettes you experimented with.”
“I know. You’re so boring.”
“I’ll take boring over puking my guts out.”
Jessie waved her off. “Continue explaining your trip.”
“There was this woman sitting on a throne in the shrine, like she was some sort of deity. At first I thought she was a statue. Her eyes were closed and she was so still. Kind of frozen in time. And she wasn’t entirely human either. She had blue skin and six arms.”
“See, you were high.”
“Would you stop with that? This is serious. The sciency robot fed her that stuff he whipped up in the lab and her hands–all six of them–started glowing aquamarine. The energy in her hands turned to liquid and spilled down over her throne into these troughs that made this weird pattern in the floor light up all the way to the walls, which started moving these gigantic gears. It was obvious she’s directly connected to the Keep. I’m not sure if she’s running it, or if she’s infecting it, but either way, I’m pretty sure it’s not good for us.”
“Why? You said she was asleep. She’s probably just part of the Keep’s ecosystem.”
“No, she’s not part of the Keep in that way. Farouk showed me who the builders were and she wasn’t part of the original design. Wodrid had the shrine made for her and he helped integrate her deep inside the Keep’s core, like life support, to keep her from dying.”
“Whoa, hold on. Wodrid? How’d he enter the picture?”
“A few hundred years ago, he found the lock that opens the gateway to the Keep. She got cranky with him for trespassing and made him her prisoner. But after awhile they got all Stockholmy with each other and fell in love.”
Jessie nodded. “Okay, that whole conversation you and Farouk had about Wodrid earlier is making a lot more sense now. So we’re about to meet Wodrid’s old lover?”
“Yup, and I’m dreading it. When I was wearing the helmet, she sensed my presence and woke. She was not happy with me being there and she let me know in no uncertain terms.”
Jessie turned toward the long tunnel. “Is she a threat?”
Fate shifted the heavy Gorgon head to her other hand. Her cybernetically enhanced armor made it easier to hold her grip on the horn, but the lopsided weight was awkward. “I’m not sure. She’s dependent on the magic being generated by the Keep to stay alive, so unless Wodrid shows up with the Rod and Orb to revive her, my guess is she can’t do much to hurt us.”
“If that’s true, why does she make you so nervous?”
Fate bit down on her bottom lip as she thought about it. “I suppose because I saw how powerful she was when she first became a god. I watched her spread herself across the universe. She was like, “Hey, I’m totally omnipresent”. My words, not hers, but you know what I mean. She was scary powerful. She could create and destroy with a thought. Anyway, Kaliena’s been asleep this whole time, just waiting for Wodrid to deliver what she needs so she can return to her former god status.” Fate shook her head with worry. “It’s not just me who’s scared. I saw real terror in Farouk when I told him she was awake.”
“Why weren’t the rest of us told? Does Brune know about this?”
“No, Farouk wanted to keep it between the two of us…I guess because we had so much to deal with already. He didn’t want everyone distracted from what needed to be done first.”
“I suppose that was best,” Jessie agreed. She reached for the Gorgon’s head. “Here, give me that. Not that I want to touch that thing, but the Dragon Eye gives me extra super strength.”
Fate gladly handed it over.
“Hey, do I have to stop wearing the Dragon Eye after I’m made your proxy?”
“I don’t see why you should have to. You’ve already proven immunity to any side effects.”
“Good. I wasn’t looking forward to being ordinary again.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Fate grumbled. She missed her super powers more every day.
“Maybe you should put the sun disc away since it looks like we might be closing in. I can get us through the dark without it,” Jessie suggested.
Fate called back the sun disc, slotted it onto her utility belt while Jessie led the way,
guiding them past fallen debris only she could see.
After moving quietly through the tunnel in utter darkness for at least ten minutes, Fate finally began to see the aquamarine glow Jessie had detected earlier on. They slowed and edged toward the opening, peering into the vast chamber. They didn’t dare speak for fear of being discovered.
The entire space was lit from floor to ceiling. Kaliena sat on her shrine, still as stone, and by all appearances, asleep to the world as the luminous liquid poured from her many hands. Fate glanced around for Kaliena’s robot and any sign of the scavenger, but the chamber looked empty.
They approached the shrine, careful not to step on the indentations holding the liquid flowing throughout the pattern covering the floor. There was no way to know what kind of effect the glowing fluid might have on them.
Jessie set the Gorgon head down and stepped close to the shrine. “You weren’t tripping after all. She really does exist.”
“Shhh! Keep your voice down,” Fate whispered. “I don’t want her waking up.”
“She’s so smurfy with that blue skin,” Jessie mused.
“Trust me, she’s nowhere near as harmless.”
“And all those arms. Think how much more you could get done in the run of a day. Takes multitasking to a whole new level.”
“I’m more concerned with what’s pouring into the Keep. This is way more than I saw the other day.”
“What should we do about it?”
Fate stared at the walls, where the giant gears rotated, moving the liquid to unseen parts of the Keep. Nothing amongst the wealth of information she’d been given about the Keep explained what this liquid was. She unsnapped the holster of her disintegrator gun. “I say we destroy the shrine. Dissolve it down to nothing so Kaliena has no more life support.”
Jessie looked at Fate, surprise registering on her face, despite the goggles covering her eyes. “That’s so cold. I never knew you could be such a hard ass.”
Fate gulped. “You really think that’s cold of me?”
“Well, she is dying and basically defenseless.”
“Kaliena’s a threat,” Fate insisted. “She may not look it right now, but believe me, if she gets to feeling better, she won’t be inviting us over for a nice cup of tea. She’ll give us the evil eye and turn us inside out.”
“Hmm, I guess when you put it that way.” Jessie took her gun out. “I can get on board with this one.”
Fate nodded, though she felt differently as she aimed her gun. Kaliena’s smooth, peaceful expression wasn’t exactly bringing out the killer in her.
A sudden squeal of grinding metal sounded throughout the chamber. Fate whirled round as huge chunks of the wall broke away and descended upon them. Jessie dove to the left, avoiding the thunderous crash of mangled steel between them as Fate lunged in the opposite direction.
Struggling to figure out what was happening, Fate looked up and up and up until she realized the walls hadn’t actually caved in. The scavenger had reshaped itself, blending against the ceiling and walls of the chamber, fooling them into thinking the space was empty. The blue vapors emanating from the scavenger had mingled with the luminescent glow covering the walls, the color barely discernable, unless she’d been looking for it.
Fate shot the leg closest to her. An explosion of red gas engulfed a small part of the massive appendage, turning it to crumbling rust. Jessie aimed higher, shooting one cartridge into it after the next as she ran around the back. Within seconds, parts of the foot and shin disintegrated. The leg buckled, toppling the titan to its knees. The impact made Fate’s teeth rattle in her skull.
Fate aimed for the hips, shooting again and again. Clouds of rust showered from the smoldering holes, collapsing the scavenger at the waist. The giant tumbled forward. Fate dodged to the right, avoiding the hammer of its jagged fist. She skidded to a stop. The scavenger fixed it gleaming eyes on her. She was directly in its line of sight. There was no better time to use the Gorgon’s head. But she was too far away from it. “Jessie, get to the head!”
Jessie appeared on the other side. “Got it!”
The words were no sooner out, when the scavenger swiped at Jessie, knocking her through the air. She slammed against the floor, losing her goggles and headgear in the violent fall. Struggling to rise, Jessie scrambled to reach the Dragon Eye. Fate fired the last of her cartridges into the scavenger’s supporting arm in the hopes of distracting it.
Hunks of the arm fell away. The scavenger’s head ground against the floor. It floundered with its other arm and tried to rise. Fate reloaded and blasted another round of cartridges into the back of its head. The oxidation went to work, eating through layer upon layer of metal, leaving a massive hole in its cranium. Shrieks filled the cavernous chamber as the scavenger twitched and flailed.
Fate ran around the top of the scavenger, searching for where Jessie had dropped the Gorgon’s head.
Jessie emerged from the cloud of gas, coughing and pointing. “Over there.” She raced toward her Dragon Eye and plucked it from one of the troughs. She shook the blue-green liquid off the gear and placed it back on her head before Fate could warn against it.
Fate stuffed her concerns, grabbed the Gorgon by the horn and turned. The scavenger’s eerie ice blue stare tracked her movements. She held the Gorgon up to the nearest eye.
The second the scavenger looked at the Gorgon, the head came to life and shook in Fate’s hand with a horrifying shriek. She looked at the head. An unholy light blazed from the Gorgon’s glare.
The blue flame in the scavenger’s eyes died. The sheen of metal turned to granite, spreading swiftly over the tangled heap until it became nothing more than a mountain of stone.
“Yes, and that’s how we do it, people!” Jessie jumped around, doing a football player victory dance.
“Yeah,” Fate agreed, though nervously. “So you’re feeling okay? You’re Dragon Eye’s still working after being dunked in Kaliena’s mystery juice?”
“Pfff, it’s working fine. But I did breathe in about a gallon of rust back there. That can’t be healthy.”
Smiling with relief, Fate turned with Jessie to leave. Her smile froze on her face. Something was noticeably different with the shrine.
Kaliena was gone.
40
A Masterful Illusion
FINN YANKED THE GOGGLES over his eyes and called out to Sithias but his voice was lost in the howling wind. Sheets of sand lashed against him, stinging his skin. Pulling his robe tightly around his body, he closed his eyes and turned his awareness inward to calm himself.
It was time to fight fire with fire. In this case, wind with wind.
Finn invoked Air in the Elder race language, engaging the energies of the runes embedded in his skin. The internal fire he needed to fuel his voice ignited. Heat erupted from deep inside, shooting through his chest and out his throat. Power flowed through him as he roared his command over Air.
The wind answered his call, so strong it knocked him off his feet. The furious hurricane rushed over him, crashing against the storm. Finn rolled onto his front, curling in on himself to protect his face as the opposing winds thrashed and fought to beat back the other.
Suddenly, all was calm, save for the sounds of the angry winds and swirling sands. He lifted his head and looked around. He was in the eye of the storm, enclosed by a circular wall of roiling sand that climbed to the heavens without end.
Finn stood, on guard and unsure of what was happening. The wind he’d summoned should’ve dissipated the storm. Had the winds merged? Had he created some sort of super storm?
The ground heaved beneath his feet. Finn took to the air and hovered above the bulging sand. His muscles coiled tight as he watched and waited.
The swelling earth exploded below him, blasting sand into the air as an enormous monster formed of gnarled roots snaked from the depths.
Terror washed over Finn, flooding his heart until it slammed against his ribcage.
Mugloth had returned.
> He shot straight up, higher and higher, his mind reeling with disbelief. How could this be? He’d killed Mugloth. This couldn’t be happening.
Yet it was. A monstrous arm lashed out, snatching Finn from the sky, dragging him down, down, until he was face to face with the darkness he’d fought so hard to break free of.
A voice wormed its way into his mind, calling him by his Druidic name. “Emrys, did you really think you could destroy me?”
Mugloth’s sinister voice shocked Finn to his very core. Fear paralyzed him.
“When you merged with the oak, our souls united. I’m part of you now.”
“No,” Finn moaned.
“It’s time to shed this mortal coil and join me in the deep, dark earth. You will live in me, as immortal as the Earth, Sea, Sun and Air. We will be their champions. We will spread our roots throughout the world and devour all undeserving, weak mortals.”
Finn struggled within Mugloth’s grip. The roots coiled tight around him, squeezing until he could barely breathe.
“Why fight the inevitable? You were born for this. It’s in your nature to punish those with evil in their hearts.”
Finn’s thoughts went straight to the Lhiannan Shee and his resentment for the weakness she’d so easily unearthed within him.
“There. You see it too.”
Darkness swelled inside Finn. He’d forgotten the thrill of this wild, dark power merging with the energy of the Elder races runes inked in his skin.
“Yes, surrender to the power. Embrace your true nature. Forget about the girl. She should have died that day. The fact that she lives has made you small and weak.”
The memory of Fate lying within the black sludge of the great oak’s hollowed trunk flashed back, brilliant and painfully vivid. Mugloth had dragged her down into the earth, where he’d tortured and drained her of blood. Finn died inside all over again, unable to erase from his mind the crooked angles of her legs, the cruel puncture wounds and the deathly pallor of her face.
Allowing his hatred to overtake him, Finn stepped fully into the role of the punisher Mugloth wanted for him. The dark power inside hissed and sparked past his lips as he invoked the element of Earth. Rune energy crackled and surged inside his chest as the spell-rich words streamed from his mouth in waves of heat.
Fate's Keep (Fate's Journey Book 2) Page 30
