by Cait Ashwood
“Okay.” The word left his lips, scarcely above a whisper. She didn’t move.
He cleared his throat. “Okay.”
She stared up at him, her eyes wide with the whites showing.
“It’s not right, and I shouldn’t be the one, but... I’ll do it.” Damn him, but he was going to do it.
Zaddicus watched with disappointment as his son moved toward Audrey’s daughter, hesitant at first but quickly growing bolder. A weak mother provides weak offspring. He remembered her name, had researched her and chosen her specifically for the strength of her blood. Now it was apparent that he should have tested her for strength of character as well because his son obviously had none.
The boy was useless to him. He thought too much and worried about right and wrong far more than Zad had ever taught him to. He even felt guilt about deflowering a willing woman. This was not a killer, this was not the ruthless leader he needed. This was not even a son. It was a useless waste of flesh, and the Dweller’s food situation was proving more dire than he’d thought. Useless wastes of flesh consumed food and Zad couldn’t afford to feed something that was a waste of time and resources. As moans filled the cavern, he came to the only logical conclusion: his son must die.
But maybe the fool can be of more use to me in his death than he was in his life? His mind raced forward, searching out scenarios and discarding ones that didn’t serve his purposes. There was a gap in the chain of command now, and someone was going to have to take Stryker’s place. There were a few fighters that were good enough, but he needed someone with a mind for strategy. He hadn’t been scanning the lower ranks because he’d been confident his son could be whipped into shape. Any replacement would have to prove his worth before earning the position.
An idea occurred to him, an idea that had the corners of his mouth tugging into a mirthful grin. Perhaps they could prove their worth to him by putting his useless son to rest? The idea was so delicious he nearly laughed out loud. He kicked his mount into motion, using an exit high on the roof of the cavern to make his escape. As soon as he was clear of the room, he could contain himself no longer. He threw his head back and laughed at the irony of it all, for he was sure that the one man able to kill his son was also the least likely to find the motivation to do so. He would rid himself of two problems at once, weapon master and student. If someone managed to take them both out, he’d even throw Vex in as a bride to sweeten the pot.
Oh, but this was going to be a show to remember.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Today’s the day. Stryker had promised her they’d arrive at Paxia. He called it the Dweller city, whatever that meant. She’d never known there were other subterranean cities aside from Zaddicus’ construct. Squished into a saddle and pressed against Stryker, she knew this would be the last day she had any semblance of freedom.
I was right, though. He was kind to me, I think. She’d certainly walked in on rougher affairs in the Tower. None of them happened, officially, just teenagers being their typical selves, but from what she knew of it, he’d been kind. She was unbearably sore, though. Riding a lizard was not at all like the horses she was so accustomed to. They had extra flaps of skin along their sides that made you hold your knees up higher at this horribly awkward level. The ache was deep in her hips, and she knew she wouldn’t walk right upon dismounting.
“That’s it up ahead.” He’d been uncharacteristically quiet since that night in the cavern and spoke softly even now.
She peered around him but didn’t see what he was pointing out at first. Finally, she saw it, an area of the darkness around her that wasn’t quite as dark. It wasn’t torchlight she was seeing, though. It didn’t have that warm tone that fire had. Instead, it looked almost like-- “Daylight? All the way down here?” If anything, they’d gone deeper underground than Zaddicus’ compound, if she was any judge of the lizard’s orientation.
“It’s a hollowed-out caldera.” He glanced behind him and she shook her head. She didn’t know what that meant. “It used to be a volcano, so the top is open to the sky.”
“Oh.” Hope blossomed in her chest, faint, but fierce. If the top was open, then all she’d have to do to escape was kidnap one of these lizards. She’d already figured out how their complex saddles were put on, and she was sure she could replicate it on her own. Of course, she’d have to get free, figure out where the lizards were kept, and overcome about a million other obstacles, but there was a chance. Once she was out on the surface, she could find her way.
With every swinging set of steps the lizard took, that spark of hope diminished. Nothing kind waited for her in that city, and Stryker had lost much of his bravado. She wasn’t sure why. Before, he’d warned her that he might not be able to keep her safe, he’d tried to dissuade her, protect her. Now he seemed defeated, like he’d given up on something. There were no warnings for her this time because they both knew what awaited her. His silence scared her more than anything.
The city, when she could finally see it, was not at all what she’d been expecting. After miles of seemingly empty tunnels, there, in the cradle of this caldera, stood a walled city. Men patrolled the battlements and a the rise in the center of the city was surrounded by a ring of soldiers. She couldn’t see much more from here, but she had this one chance to see how the city was laid out. Any single detail could save her life later and she was determined not to miss a thing.
Two men manned the portcullis to allow them entry. Who locks up their city during the day? Stryker’s seat changed, his back stiffer once inside the city. He was tense, but she had no idea why. She’d humored the idea that he cared for her for a day or so after their tryst, but if that were ever the case, he wouldn’t be bringing her here. That was one stark reality she had no argument to combat. He shouldn’t have anything to fear. He was a loyal soldier following orders. He shouldn’t care about what was going to happen to her.
The homes near the walls were run down and in a state of disrepair. Most everything here was cut from stone, a rough mortar holding everything together. Many of the houses near the outskirts had big cracks in the walls, and some were missing bricks altogether. They had windows of a sort, though in truth they were simply holes without bricks in them. The people here didn’t seem to be familiar with glass.
They used stone a lot on the surface, but they did have access to other materials. They had clay for pottery, and whatever wood fell naturally. They had reeds for basket weaving, dried grasses for wreaths, an entire myriad of substances. Here, there was only stone. There were no decorations on the homes, no signs of color unless one found a vein of rock with some mineral stretched through it. There were no pigments to be crushed up for the paints her brother loved, and the only color aside from the gray of stone to decorate the city was the rusty red of iron.
The few people she saw wore clothing in varying shades of gray as well. The entire city, and the people within it, were monochromatic. They were all pale, and their eyes were larger than the people on the surface. Even their hair was in pale shades. There were no rich browns or sunny blonds here, and certainly no one with her shade of red hair. People stared at her as she rode by, muttering under their breath.
A commotion up ahead caused Stryker to rein in his mount and turn it sideways. He drew his steel immediately, holding the reins in the other hand. Lily was treated to the sight of another man riding toward them at some speed, mounted on a gray and green lizard. He stopped about ten feet away and dipped his head at Stryker.
“Message from Zaddicus, sir. She’s to be taken directly to the Grove for testing.”
“She’s been on the road for three days, and without a bath for nearly two weeks,” Stryker countered, voice deep.
“Master’s orders, sir.” The man bobbed his head again and wheeled his mount around, all but stampeding the beast through the streets. People fled his path and cursed him as he passed.
Stryker heaved a sigh and shook his head.
She felt the need to comfort him, somehow.
“You tried.” She appreciated the thought, but if a bath was the worst of her worries, she’d count her lucky stars. I wonder if I’ll ever see stars again. She swayed forward as the lizard started moving again, though Stryker kept him at a much more appropriate pace for negotiating foot traffic.
A few people called out at him, heckling him, but he ignored them. He kept his blade bare across his knees, and that seemed to be enough of a threat to keep the harassment verbal.
I’m going to the Grove for testing. Well, that may be the luckiest thing to happen to me all day. She was useless in a Grove, or at least assumed she would be. She’d never had any luck with individual plants, so she failed to see how a Grove would be any different. If Zaddicus was still working a breeding program, he surely wouldn’t want to breed her weakness into his lines. If I’m lucky, he might just kill me and be done with it. It was a strange sort of feeling, viewing her potential death as a release from torment. She suspected that something was very wrong with her, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it. She was just a puppet, dancing about whichever way her strings were pulled.
They were heading toward the rise she’d spied from outside the walls, the one ringed by soldiers. They looked so grim, standing there in their armor with their halberds at the ready. Every one had a sword strapped to their belt, their faces hidden by helmets. The anonymity made them seem more intimidating than if they’d had faces to show her. If she survived this, she’d have to recommend helmets to her father. The Seekers already cut an imposing figure, but put them in scary helmets and they’d never see a lick of trouble again.
“We’ll take her from here, sir,” one of the guards barked out.
I don’t see a Grove. In fact, all she saw was some odd-colored mounds and a rather spindly birch.
Stryker leaned forward and, in an effort to keep them balanced, she leaned back. He pushed out of the stirrups and landed in a crouch on the saddle before jumping down to the ground. He turned to her and extended a hand. Under normal circumstances she never needed help dismounting, but these beasts were not the horses she loved. She put her palm in his and slowly swung her leg over and slid down the side of the beast. It twisted its head around on its long neck and flicked its tongue at her ankles. It was a creepy feeling, and she shuddered.
“Until my father gives further orders, I want it known that she was given into your care in whole, sound condition.” Stryker stared at the man that had spoken, who slowly lifted the visor of his helmet. The face beneath was stony and had a fair bit of stubble around the chin, but Stryker reacted to the man’s presence in a way Lily couldn’t interpret.
“And so shall she remain, until the Master commands otherwise.” The man dropped his visor.
Stryker withdrew as if struck, staring at the man for a long moment before swinging back into his saddle.
He’s not even going to say goodbye. With everything she was about to face, that shouldn’t be the thing troubling her, but it was, and she hated herself for it.
He took the reins in his hand and paused, his eyes stormy. “It’s your name, not what you are.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond, kicking his mount into a run and leaving her behind in a cloud of dust.
With wooden feet, she turned to face the soldier.
He nodded at another man, who stepped aside to allow her to breach the ring. “I’ll escort you, Lily of the Surfacers.”
She couldn’t bring herself to thank him, but she followed as he led her up the rise. It was covered in giant mushrooms, all planted in a pattern ringing the birch. Is this their Grove? But it’s so strange. The daylight filtering down through the roof of the caldera was weak at best and definitely wouldn’t supply the energy needs of a tree.
The soldier slowed as they approached the top of the hill. He leaned toward her, though he remained facing forward. “I cannot guarantee that I can protect you, but the name Sabre will bring me to you.”
Lily straightened her back. “There’s no need to pretend you won’t follow your Master’s orders. Save us both the heartache of your deception.” She snapped the words at him, her nerves frayed. She couldn’t trust anyone here, not even Stryker. It was best she remembered that.
The man paused, peering at her through the slit in his helm. “I came for the young master, not the father.” He turned at the sound of footsteps and took a step away from her.
“Emily, I present you with Lily of the Surfacer Order. Her abilities are to be tested, per your Master’s orders.”
The voice answering him was sharp and shrill. “He is no master of mine.”
Sabre’s hand dropped to the hilt of his sword and the woman sighed.
“It will be done.”
Sabre inclined his head and began his march back to rejoin the ring of his fellows.
Lily rested her attention on the woman before her, the woman whose report would likely determine her fate.
“Look at you. Barely old enough to have left your mother’s skirts and you find yourself in a place like this.” The woman shook her head. “Oh, the men will have fun with you, I imagine.”
Lily couldn’t help the shiver that ran down her spine. Knowing it was one thing. Having it said aloud was another.
“Well, let’s get on with it.” She gestured impatiently at the rows of mushrooms.
“What do you want me to do?” Lily’s education hadn’t covered much in the way of fungi, aside from identifying edible and poisonous strains. Still, these weren’t like any mushrooms she’d seen on the surface.
“Haven’t you ever been in a Grove before, girl?” The words were harsh and demeaning, no trace of kindness coming from the older woman.
“No. I was never good enough to go in the Groves. My sister has all of that talent.” The admission stung, but she still clung to hope. She wouldn’t have to act helpless, she quite literally was.
“Well. At least those idiots managed to make Groves on the surface. Despicable wasteland, everything withering away under the burning rays of the sun. It’s blasphemy.”
What is she talking about?
“That woman Vex polluted one of the mushrooms in anticipation of your arrival. Heal it.” Emily stood with her hands on her hips, one foot tapping impatiently on the moss-covered stone.
Right. She paced her way over to the mushrooms and gave them a good visual inspection. It wasn’t too difficult to find the afflicted mushroom. Fungi enjoyed moist environments and withered easily. There was one where the fronds beneath the cap were dry and brittle. This had to be the one. It took her some time to enter her trance. It normally took her a while anyway, but it was even worse now that she was out of practice. Finally, she saw her first bit of color in this place. Unsurprisingly, the mushrooms glowed much brighter than the poor birch in the center. She forced her sight to switch over to the taint, and the mushroom before her wasn’t just carrying trace amounts, but was consumed by the substance. There was no way she could even make a dent in it, and her heart sank.
“It’s your name, not what you are.” The words were eerily similar to the question he’d asked when she’d told him her name, but he’d switched it around. Was he warning me? Trying to tell me I needed to fail?
That wasn’t going to be a problem. All she’d done up until now was observe, but now she had to figure out how to interact with the thing. She’d watched the half-breeds kill off mushrooms dozens of times, but mushrooms were never a crop they’d intentionally encouraged. Aside from liking dark, dank environments and their propensity toward growing out of death and decay, she really didn’t know much about them. For all she knew, anything she tried would end up hurting the poor thing further.
Oh wait, we’re supposed to connect with the father tree before working with the Grove itself, right? But does that even count here? I mean, there’s only the one tree. Feeling like a bumbling idiot, she reached out tentatively toward the father tree.
Pain, blinding and with the heat of a bonfire, raced over her. It poured through her blood, pounded throug
h her veins, and scorched her very heart. She screamed, then found herself incapable of drawing another breath. The tree was the source of her pain, but she couldn’t sever the connection. Whatever it was doing to her, whatever its limited strength, she could not break away. As the fire ate away at her, she had one last thought: Help me!
Chapter Thirty
Audrey observed the women at work in the Tower’s courtyard. Finding volunteers had been tricky, but they’d eventually come up with enough people to pair with the half-breeds. I never thought to see the day when I’d invite such evil into this place. The truth was, their enemy used the taint as a weapon, and if they hoped to have a level playing field, the Order could afford to do no less.
Knowing she was soon handing the Order off to Brana had reinvigorated Audrey. While they were no closer to recovering Lily, she couldn’t afford to dump a mess in her youngest daughter’s lap. It stirred her to action, and while the calls were hard ones to make, Audrey was making them. Better me than her.
Tops would never have allowed this sort of experimentation, much less actual practice with the taint. The half-breeds taking over the Order, or even the Seekers, had been one of his greatest fears. Thankfully, Ace commanded the Seekers now. He had several men stationed around the training yard, all observing the mixed bloods below. While it was important for the women to train, it was equally important for the men to understand how they were likely to be manipulated. Audrey, Gwyn, and Brana were on-hand to clean up any accidents. Sometimes the girls panicked, and when an arm lost blood flow and she couldn’t figure out how to release it, they were there to banish the taint. There had thankfully only been one such incident, but they were the safety net for the volunteers.
Besides acting as a safety net, Brana was also training today. While Audrey and Gwyn were confident in their ability to shield patrols of Seekers under their command, Brana was untested. It’s a shame that subjecting Jasper to this is the best way to get her to perform, but war isn’t pretty, and doesn’t give time for leisurely learning. The boy was willing, so the practice continued.
