Allies & Enemies

by Cheryl S Mackey

  “Have you been there? To the Unknown City? Are you one of them?” Emaranthe asked. No fear or revulsion reflected in her unusual gaze, only curiosity. The same curiosity that had long badgered Jadeth as well. The years of solitude weren’t all they were cracked up to be.

  “Not yet,” Jadeth admitted, dropping her gaze. “I too have denied my place in our world, but I feel the pull of the Sun. I’ve long ignored its call.”

  “Come with us, Jadeth,” Ivo said. “We would be honored if you joined us.”

  Sapphire eyes met and locked with clear, earnest green and held for a long, breathless moment. A small, gloved hand wound into hers and held on. Jadeth gasped.

  “Come with us to The Unknown City; learn to become The Unknown Sun with us. Join our family.”

  Family…

  The Present

  Family.

  Jadeth closed her eyes to shut out the nightmares which followed that memory. Her hammer had been stained red by many years of revenge. It washed green more often now; and each injury she healed helped cleanse her stained soul a little bit more. However, it did not help her sleep or push aside the memories of those brutal, early years at The Unknown City, and the inevitable changes within all them. Ivo had shouldered so much responsibility, taken so much upon himself, that he was hardened like steel. Jaeger was grim, sarcastic, and less apt to trust, and Emaranthe…her earnest, happy, young face…was dominated by those wide, golden eyes, worldly and weary, hollow and sad. The teenage giggles had faded into haunted silences and bowed shoulders under the weight of her fate.

  Jadeth sighed and rolled over, covering her ears. She needed the oblivion only sleep would bring.

  “I’ll keep watch; you guys, sleep,” Jaeger said. Ivo opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut and sent his brother a questioning look. Keen blue eyes dropped to the small woman huddled in his brother’s arms.

  “She needs you more than I need sleep. You can take the second watch if you want,” Jaeger said. He raised an eyebrow and stood, then vanished into the darkness beyond the ring of firelight.

  Ivo frowned and glanced down at the woman in his arms. Her eyes were closed, her full lips slightly parted, her breathing deep and even. Even asleep, she was so beautiful.

  Jaeger paced around the puddle of light, keeping to the shadows as he moved in deliberate silence. The low, even breathing of his brother, the Elf, and the women told him they had finally fallen asleep.

  His thoughts strayed to Mirena and Anya, and he stumbled. He would have sagged to his knees, but for the innate training from The Unknown City kicking in. He resumed prowling, his eyes studying the darkness for danger, and shoved the regret from his thoughts. They were gone, and he had a job to do. He had people he could save, unlike his wife and young daughter.

  Toward midnight, he woke Ivo and waited as his brother eased the still sleeping woman from his arms and placed her gently on the ground. With a small sigh, Emaranthe curled into a ball, but remained asleep. Ivo trailed battle scarred fingers through her tangled blonde waves for a moment. Ghostly fingers of fire mimicked his motions as the golden strands sifted between his fingers. He backed away.

  Jaeger stretched out on the ground, his lanky frame half in and half out of the low burning firelight. His frosty gaze strayed to Emaranthe as she rolled over and huddled tighter within herself against the cold air. Her golden hair shimmered and the ghostly flames stilled and vanished as if they’d never been there. Shaking his head, he forced his eyes to close and not see his Mirena’s face.

  Ivo prowled the ring of firelight. He would protect her, all of them, even if it meant his own death. The inky landscape was a mirage of black with blacker shapes, and the air was far too still, as if the world was holding its breath and waiting in dread. Uneasy, he studied the darkened plateau, all too aware that the lives of those he loved, as well as innocent Mortals, may hinge on a scrap of paper no one has seen.

  Chapter Seven

  Dawn spread fingers of rosy light across the sky, touching where Ivo stood in solitude, his gaze steady on the camp before them. Emaranthe's tiny fire had long died; but even in the chill of the desert night, the weary friends had slept exhausted. He woke up the others. Jaeger and Gabaran quickly readied while the women re-braided their hair.

  Ivo studied the path that continued from the elevator and rose up to curve around a narrow ledge with a sheer drop-off, before widening out into the flattened top of the plateau. To his left the path wound down and around until it reached the stone causeway. White pennants blazoned with the image of an upside down gold crown flipped in the stiff wind atop each tent.

  “So what’s the plan?” Jaeger asked. He tugged the helm over his eyes and studied the landscape. “The air is heavy. I don’t like it.”

  “We haven’t been discovered,” Jadeth flipped a scarlet braid over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at the distant tents. “Which is suspicious considering we were not overly quiet during battle. There are at least twenty tents; the largest is also the farthest away. That may be where Lureg has the map.”

  “Let’s move closer and see what we’re up against,” Ivo said. He led them up the path along the cliff face where it narrowed before widening and cresting the plateau.

  “I don’t trust the quiet,” Gabaran muttered. He halted beside the Warrior. “Something’s amiss.”

  “I agree. Our battle, though far below, was hardly quiet. Any fool could have heard us and called for reinforcements. Something happened,” Jaeger said. He frowned at the path behind them, where it vanished around the curve of the cliff wall. Beyond and far below the desert floor stretched in all directions until it reached the jagged ravine. “But what?”

  Ivo frowned. He didn’t have to guess why. He knew. “They were expecting us.”

  Emaranthe’s head snapped up, her gaze finding and seeking Jadeth’s. Ashen faced, their Healer stood speechless.

  “Dehil, he was… he…” Jadeth choked on the words that wouldn’t work themselves out of her tight throat.

  “I doubt it,” Gabaran sighed. He halted her shocked words with a biting glare. “His gaze held no treachery. His concern of our missing allies was real.”

  “How do you know?” she asked. Tears burned the corners of her eyes. “He tricked you, stole your belongings.”

  “Because the last thing a male wants to do is lie to the woman he loves on the eve of his death.”

  A stunned silence stretched long and pained between them.

  “He’s right,” Jaeger added, breaking the silence with strong words. “He wasn’t lying to us, nor you, Jadeth.”

  “Something happened here,” Emaranthe whispered. She turned in a full circle and studied the tents and the expanse of the desert encircling the plateau. “But what?”

  “He must have known something had gone wrong,” Gabaran said. He stepped to the edge of the cliff that dropped straight down, well over 1200 feet. “So he had a back-up plan, perhaps.”

  “What in the name of The Four kind of back-up plan is dying?” Jadeth spat at the old Elf. She swung her hammer. For a split second, everyone tensed. Instead of bashing its broad head into Gabaran’s thick skull, she sent it into the shadows where it vanished. “I don’t think that was planned. Gods, what kind of sick and twisted game was he playing?”

  “He had to have a plan, one that called for that contingency,” Gabaran added. He ignored the brittle glare burning holes in his back. “Not a game. He was serious.”

  He leaned over the cliff and peered down. Several hundred yards to the east, the rickety elevator swayed in the stuffy morning breeze. The scent of dust and water made his nose itchy. A gust of wind shook the elevator and swayed it away from its mooring, giving him a brief glimpse of the ground far beneath it. Half expecting to see the pulverized body of his friend, Gabaran stiffened and looked, a grimace curling his lips.

  Instead of a body, something flat and off gray stood out against the red rock. Covered in fine dust, its use escaped the Mortal Elf. Wordlessl
y, he gestured to Jaeger, who moved cautiously to peer over the edge.

  Jaeger instantly backed away, swearing beneath his breath all manner of words that insulted the Elf spy’s heritage. A furious swing of an iron boot kicked a pile of dirt over the edge. It clouded the air, the sound muffling the more colorful words that followed when he removed his helm.

  “That son of a…” Jaeger swore and stalked away, only to pace back. For half a minute, Gabaran wondered, in stark amusement, if the Warrior was going to throw the helm down after the dirt as well.

  Eyebrows high, and an amused smirk baring his sharp teeth, the old Elf asked, “Now that you’re done with a tantrum worthy of any five year old, please explain.”

  Jaeger dragged a gauntleted hand over his eyes, smearing grime and sweat into his pale hair. Fine lines etched the tanned skin at the corners of his pale eyes where they crinkled as he squinted into the glare of the early morning suns.

  “Jaeger?” Jadeth asked. She led Ivo and Emaranthe to his side, puzzled by his frustrated display. “What’s wrong?”

  He looked away from her and grimaced. “A Solarium. It’s like a small portal. We’ve seen them before during our travels long ago. Someone once explained that The Four created hidden portals that did not necessarily lead to The Unknown City.”

  “What?” Jadeth shouted. She rushed forward and almost dodged the wall that was Gabaran and Jaeger’s bodies. They each snagged an arm before she could accidently launch off the cliff to test their theory about a Solarium, a small portal, being imbedded within the desert floor at the base of the plateau. She leaned out as far as they would let her. The stifling wind, hot and dry, tossed strands of dark red hair over her face. She blinked to untangle the wisps of hair and saw.

  Her knees buckled and she sagged into their supporting arms with a low moan.

  “He’s alive.”

  “Could be,” Ivo said. “But how?”

  “Would he have known of its existence?” Jaeger asked. “How would he have pulled it off?”

  “He’s a spy. I’m willing to bet he knows more than we think,” Gabaran answered. “As for how…now that, I would like to know as well.”

  “But why act like he’s going to his death? What was the point of that?” Emaranthe asked. Her question rang like a death knell.

  “Because he needed to reach our allies and not compromise our quest,” Ivo said. “If he were to reach our allies in time we would have backup. He left to do what he does best, and left us to do what we do best.”

  “Why would they have not come earlier like he said then?” Jadeth asked. “I don’t understand.”

  “Maybe,” Gabaran added. “That’s what he wanted to find out too.”

  “It changes nothing,” Jaeger sighed. “He is gone, and our quest is at hand.”

  “Do we dare hope for allies?” Emaranthe asked the group at large.

  No one answered.

  ***

  “I don’t like this,” Jaeger whispered. He trailed behind the women, constantly glancing behind and between tents, but nothing stirred other than the snapping of cloth in the desert wind. He narrowed his gaze on the largest tent as they approached. “There is no one here. It stinks of a trap the more we move deeper within.”

  Ivo scanned the plateau. His heart pounded in his ears enough to muffle his brother’s terse words. It was a trap, that much was given. What wasn’t given was how.

  “The fires have burned to ashes,” Emaranthe said. “And footprints no fewer than four days.”

  She ducked beneath the nearest tent flap to rejoin the party. A fitful gust of wind slapped it against the stretched linen tent walls and all gazes shot to Ivo.

  He bit back a growl and reined in his thoughts before they spilled further into his powers. Years of corralling his unwanted gift had given him impressive control. The fact that it slipped revealed the seriousness of the situation.

  “What now?” Jadeth asked. She halted.

  “We do our job. We don’t have time to—”

  A rumble punctuated Ivo’s words and drowned them out. Pebbles vibrated on the rough red stone ground and tents swayed.

  Everyone froze, legs braced against the rolling that rocked the plateau.

  “Now what?” Jaeger threw his hands up. He tore his helm off. Frost edged his blue eyes as he turned on the spot in search of the source of the odd sound and quaking ground.

  “There! Look to the east!” Jadeth pointed to the horizon where a black thunderhead gathered over the distant ravine. It roiled and spread, moving fast as it billowed and blanketed the sky. Shadows stretched before it, blackening the landscape as if eating the light.

  “That cloud is awfully familiar, Ivo,” Jaeger said. He frowned as sparks of light flared and died within the ominous storm. Thunder cracked and the ground bucked. The stench of burning air stung their noses.

  “It’s not the same,” Jadeth shouted over it. “It’s not Shadows, but something else this time.”

  “How do you know?” Jaeger asked. His mouth twisted when the taste of sulfur stung his tongue. “It looks the same to me.”

  “A Stormwarden,” Jadeth traded grim looks with Emaranthe.

  “That’s only a myth, Jadeth,” Emaranthe gasped, her lips white and thin. “There hasn’t been one—”

  “What is a Stormwarden?” Gabaran asked. He glanced at his companions’ grim faces and then the approaching storm.

  “It’s the name of one who controls weather. Any and all weather,” Jadeth explained. “A Stormwarden was thought to be so rare as to be a myth. Imagine the havoc one could wield with such power.”

  Gabaran frowned. “I don’t want to.”

  “Even worse,” Emaranthe added. “There are no known Stormwardens within the ranks of The Unknown Sun now. There was one once, but he or she vanished long ago.”

  “Enemies?” Ivo growled, cutting off her terse words. “Or an ally in hiding?”

  “I can guess which one, brother. We make a beeline for the main tent,” Jaeger barked out as a peal of thunder cracked overhead. The black clouds surged closer, eating the blue sky as it spread. “Run!”

  Emaranthe heard Jaeger’s voice, knew what the words were, but they had become muffled, lost in the sudden noise within her mind. She watched the coming darkness, dread spreading goose bumps of panic on her skin. Every inch of her body screamed with an inborn terror, rooting her feet to the ground. Motionless, numb to everything but the onslaught of fear, she struggled to breath, to think. Panting, unable to look away, unable to move, she jerked in shock when an image burned across the horizon, superimposed over the tempest.

  She whimpered, flinched. The image burned into her mind made no sense.

  No, it made sense.

  No, it didn’t.

  Flames writhed in skeletal hands.

  Eyes burned black.

  Lightning scorched the sky, filling it with the rank stench of death.

  She slapped shaking hands over her eyes and sank to her knees to escape the memories.

  Hide. Need to hide. He will find me!

  Rocks bit into her skin through the robe and trousers. She shook her head. Strands of hair slapped her cheeks. The image stayed put; she couldn’t escape it. Her own voice whispered grimly in her ears.

  Something else was moving with the storm as well. I could feel it in the wind—a warmth, a fire, a hunger…

  “No,” Emaranthe whimpered. Her voice cracked. Somewhere outside the darkness of her mind, other voices yelled. She heard her name. Not her name.

  I am called Emaranthe…

  No, you’re not…

  She cried out, “I am nobody!”

  Thunder cracked, drowning out her words. Hands gripped her upper arms and shook. Hard.

  “Emaranthe!”

  Her hands fell away at the force. Light and sight intruded. She blinked, bringing Ivo’s face into focus. Green eyes, the corners etched with lines, scanned her face in the rapidly fading light.

  “Ivo?”

 
“What happened? You collapsed, then hid your eyes and screamed,” he croaked. His throat stung as if an invisible hand had clamped around it and choked, stealing the breath from his lungs and shoving his heart into it. The sight of the tiny Mage captured by such terror had unnerved them all, and it had nearly broken Ivo. Again.

  Large fingers smoothed her hair from her ashen face. They stilled when she blinked at him in vacant terror. Her eyes were brown. Not gold. Not full of fire and fury. Brown.

  His heart twisted, stealing his breath once more, but he waited for her to see and hear him and not the demons fighting for space in her mind. They all bore demons. He, Jadeth, and Jaeger knew theirs well. Emaranthe’s memories, all of them, stolen in the process of becoming Immortal, were by far the scariest of them all.

  Because no one, not even she, knew what they were.

  “We can’t stay out here, come,” Ivo whispered. She didn’t acknowledge his words, his movement, when he gathered her into his arms. Glassy brown eyes stared at the black clouds in wide-eyed horror as if unable to look away. “Emaranthe, close your eyes.”

  “It’s the same one.”

  Ivo staggered, nearly dumping her to the ground. “What’s the same?”

  Huge, brown eyes, devoid of fire and full of ghosts looked him in the eyes at last.

  “The same storm that killed me. I’d know it anywhere. I remember it,” she croaked. She shivered and Ivo’s arms tightened. To shield her, protect her, warm her… all of those and more.

  Emaranthe swallowed and continued. “It’s the same smell. The same feel in the air, the… anger. Hatred. Lust. Greed. Power. Evil.”

  Ivo broke into a run, one glance at the others sending them bolting ahead to the dubious safety of an abandoned enemy stronghold. A bitter wind raked sharp claws against their exposed skin, turning shivers into shudders. The hair on the nape of his neck spiked as he hid his shiver with each leaping step.

  Lightning forked directly above, throwing jagged shadows on tent walls in a world gone suddenly far too dark. Heart pounding with each slam of his iron boot on the ground, Ivo too smelled it.