by S. G. Basu
MAIA
and the
Secrets of Zagran
By
S. G. Basu
H.G.R.
You make the chicanes out-of-this-world fun
*****
Text copyright © 2013 by S. G. Basu
Cover art by Lily-Fu
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This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author's imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
US Copyright number: TXu001921963
Check out the other books in this series:
The Lightbound Saga Book 1: Maia and the Xifarian Conspiracy
Other works by the author:
Elementals: Episode 1-Anomaly
Elementals: Episode 2-Aftermath
Elementals: Episode 3-Deception
Elementals: Episode 4-Covenant
Elementals: Episode 5-Exposure
Population Morpheus
Chapter1
Chapter2
Chapter3
Chapter4
Chapter5
Chapter6
Chapter7
Chapter8
Chapter9
Chapter10
Chapter11
Chapter12
Chapter13
Chapter14
Chapter15
Chapter16
Chapter17
Chapter18
Chapter19
Chapter20
Chapter21
Chapter22
Chapter23
Chapter24
Chapter25
Chapter26
Chapter27
Chapter28
Chapter29
Chapter30
Chapter31
Chapter32
Chapter33
Chapter34
Chapter35
Chapter36
Chapter37
Chapter38
Chapter39
Chapter40
Chapter41
Chapter42
Chapter43
Chapter44
Chapter45
Chapter46
Chapter47
Chapter48
Chapter49
Chapter50
Chapter51
Chapter52
Chapter53
Chapter54
Chapter55
Chapter56
Chapter57
Chapter58
1: The Chancellor’s Woes
The Xifarian chancellor was an illustrious man. His friends admired him, his critics respected him, and the public treated him with utmost veneration. He had a reputation of being honorable and straightforward, and his life was a study in honesty and determination. Not many things frightened him; not many things worried him either. Born the sixth son of a poor miner, he had worked his way up to the highest seat of the Xifarian power structure by hard work and diligence. As chancellor, he had ruled with quiet dignity for fourteen long and peaceful years. There was scarcely a voice of discontent among the population. In short, he had done well.
“This is going to be a problem,” the chancellor snarled, barely managing to keep his voice low. He shot a quick glance around to see if anyone had heard him. He knew he had to keep his composure; he could not show his agitation or they would think he was losing control.
He hurried along the thickly carpeted hallways of the Chancery, down the staircase that led away from the official section, and into the living quarters. Passing the double-arched doorway that led to the private suites, the chancellor turned and dashed into the first room on the left.
Someone was already inside—a tall man who stood with his back to the door, looking out the ornate windows at the dark grounds outside. He did not turn around to greet the chancellor; he did not even move. But he spoke almost immediately.
“You are late.” His voice was sharp and unforgiving. “We cannot afford to lose time. Not anymore.”
“My apologies.” The chancellor bowed hastily.
“You do know why I am here,” the man spoke again. His voice had softened a little.
“I presume it is time for the announcement to be made, sire,” the chancellor replied, running a nervous hand to wipe the copious perspiration that shone on his shaved head. “And that old man has to be—”
“I am not worried about those,” the man cut him off brusquely.
“What else, sire?” the chancellor muttered.
The man whirled around. “The girl, Chancellor . . . the girl.”
“Oh yes, yes, of course,” the chancellor nodded vigorously, his gaze skimming the floor.
The man hissed as he strode toward the door. “Find out about her, as quickly as you can.”
He reached the threshold and stopped abruptly.
“And if I were you, I would keep a close eye on that son of yours.” His words cut through the air like a knife. “Miir got away this time, but one more mistake and there will be no saving him or . . . you.”
As the man twisted the handle and yanked the door open, the impressive array of jeweled rings on his fingers blazed like fire.
2: A Midsummer’s Day
Through the darkness and the fog, Maia fell. Faster and faster, lower and lower, she plummeted into the bottomless pit until her heart went numb, until she had stopped feeling the rush. It was a murky blur of senses when she hit the surface. The water, surprisingly warm and soft as it engulfed her, spilled over the top of her head, swirling around her face and her neck, suffocating her.
Maia screamed.
She bolted upright in her bed like an uncoiled spring. The heaviness dropped away from her head forming a dappled white, black, and amber shape of Dusty the cat. Struggling with the lingering feeling of weight that crept along the fringes of her heart, Maia realized it had been a nightmare. There had been too many of them lately.
Over a week had passed since thirteen-year-old Maia had returned home to Appian after a successful run at the Alliance Initiative on Xif. Her team, Core 21, had topped the first phase. They were one of the twenty teams selected for the second phase in the undersea city of Zagran, the Jjordic capital. Maia had intended to enjoy every moment of this brief break between the phases, and she mostly did. Except for the nights. Every night was a battle against the inevitable, and every day started in a haze of outlandish dreams from the night before. There were scores of them, but one kept coming back—the one with the fires. Time after time, Maia woke up screaming inside as the raging inferno engulfed her.
These nightmares were triggered by the simplest of things. One night it was the curtains that billowed as an early morning storm swept through. In her dreams, Maia found herself pursued by a man in a flowing white cloak across the desolate streets of some dead, abandoned city. This morning it was Dusty, the spirit of the untamed wild packaged into the petite frame of a calico cat. He was barely a month old when Dada
had brought him home for Maia. While Maia had taken to the little creature instantly, Dusty never seemed happy to be confined within the walls of the house. Soon, Maia realized that Dusty was not the kind of pet every other child possessed. He came and went at will, never staying for more than a few weeks at a time. There was no wavering in his affection toward Maia during his whirlwind tours of the house though.
Dusty had now settled peacefully on Maia’s lap, his loud and content purrs making her smile. It was good to be home, Maia thought, as she eased back against the pillows and gazed out the window. She reached for the ends of her pigtails and twirled them around her fingers, as she often did when immersed in thought. Her hazel-green eyes, partially covered by wayward locks of dark hair, scanned the cheery clouds swimming across a bright, sunny sky. But before she could savor the beauty of the day, the memories barged in.
Sophie! The message!
Emptiness swirled inside, and a chill coursed through. Shuddering, Maia slid under the covers, seeking some warmth in its confines. There was no comfort to be found. Grudgingly, she let her thoughts roam.
Up until six months ago, Maia thought her mother, Sophie, had betrayed the cause of the Tansian people at the standoff with the Xifarians leading up to the Exchange. Maia had taught herself to shun the memory of her mother, whom she thought of as a traitor to the people of Tansi and her family.
When Maia returned home after the first phase of the Initiative, Dada had passed on a message Sophie had left for Maia. Everything Maia had thought about her mother turned out to be false. It was true that Sophie had taken the Xifarians’ side during the Exchange. But that was just a ploy to gain the Xifarians' confidence so she could thwart their scheme of destroying Tansi’s sun. And Sophie had succeeded. She had ruined the Xifarians’ plans.
Maia’s fingers reached for the broken pendant her mother had left for her, that now hung over her heart. She traced its contours, feeling the smoothness of the filigreed metal. In her message, Sophie had worried about the Xifarians’ wrath on her child. A familiar iciness stirred again at the base of Maia’s spine at the thought.
Stop it!
Maia chided herself. She sat up, fingers still clutching at her mother’s pendant. The facts were painfully clear; it didn’t matter how hard she tried to hide, the Xifarians would find her if they wanted. She had nowhere to run. There was only one option—she had to forget about Sophie and her message. Thinking about it did not help. At all. It only made Maia nervous and weak.
I can’t live in fear all the time. I won’t!
Maia let go of the pendant and breathed in with all her might. A part of her wanted to take the ornament off and put it away in the farthest corner of a bureau drawer. That would surely let her forget more easily. But, even though she had mulled it over a zillion times now, she could not . . . it was one of the very few things her mother had left behind, and Maia could not let go.
I have to keep training my mind instead. I can. I have to.
Excited voices drifting in through the windows drew her attention away from the dismal thoughts.
“You’ll have to leave quietly, Herecule,” a woman said in a matter-of-fact tone. “If you don’t like it, then you’re to put off your trip. Maia needs to catch up on her sleep.”
So typical of the hyper-anxious Emmy, Maia mused. She concentrated on catching more of the conversation, wondering what trip the housekeeper was trying to hide from her.
“But, Emmaline,” Herc pleaded, almost piteously. “She wouldn’t wanna miss a trip to Shiloh. Yeh know she loves going there—it’s her fav’rite place in the world.”
Shiloh! Of course!
Maia whispered a quick thanks to Herecule, the groundskeeper, for disputing Emmy’s stand. Shiloh, the biggest city in the vicinity, was her favorite haunt, and the monthly trips to Shiloh had always been her only chance at freedom from Emmy’s constant vigilance.
Maia had to admit, even without Sophie’s message there was plenty to fret about. Every household in the land cities of Tansi worried when their children approached the dreaded age of thirteen. It was all because of the ruthless Xifarians, a race of intergalactic travelers that had arrived at the Tansian system in their planet-spaceship Xif. Unless enrolled into a center for higher learning by then, the Xifarians had the right to draft a child into their mining colonies on the frozen moon of Ti from which no one ever returned. Such had been the agreement signed at the Exchange fifteen years ago between the people of Tansi and the Xifarians.
“If it were up to her, she would go to Shiloh every day, and you would happily permit it.” Emmy, the housekeeper, was not one to give in so easily. “I forbid you to mention anything about this while she’s around, do you understand? It’s not safe for her to ramble around Shiloh.”
Maia’s chuckled a little, thinking how her last trip to Shiloh had changed it all. She had always wanted to go to ThulaSu, the last standing Solianese university from before the Collapse. She would have been there now, if her life had not turned upside down six months ago. Right before her induction into ThulaSu, Maia had been spotted by Xifarian scouts while flying a glider above Shiloh. She had been forced into accepting the Xifarians' invitation to join the Alliance Initiative, a peace summit between the three nations—the Solianese, the Jjord, and the Xif.
The Initiative was advertised to promote peace and understanding between the nations, where young participants would spend time in each other’s territories to learn from each other and compete in teams for a grand prize. For the first of the three planned phases of the Initiative, Maia had journeyed to the Xifarian cities inside the planet-spaceship of Xif. And she had had quite an adventure. Only Emmy did not seem to appreciate them, at all. Ever since the housekeeper had heard of Maia’s stories, she had gone into a frenzy of finding ways to keep “the child” safe.
“Thank goodness I had enough sense to simplify matters for Emmy and Herc,” Maia said, sighing. Dusty purred wisely in response, his green eyes peering through slits.
Maia had been chosen to lead a team during the Xifarian phase of the Alliance Initiative. Her team, Core 21, included Kusha, a Solianese boy, and Dani, a Jjord girl, both fourteen. Maia’s other teammates were Nafi, an eleven-year-old girl from the Solianese Third Continent, and Ren, a Xifarian boy of twelve. Two grueling challenges later, Core 21 had emerged victorious.
Maia had told her grandfather of all her adventures on Xif, but she had requested him to not tell Emmy or Herc everything. Dada had kindly obliged, they carefully made it sound as if none of the dangers Maia faced on Xif were directed specifically at her. Only Maia and her Dada knew the real truth. At the very end of the Xifarian phase, Maia and Ren had been attacked by Yoome, a fellow contestant at the Initiative. Yoome had tried to use an Extractor on Maia, but their Xifarian mentor, Miir, had come to the rescue.
Yoome was later discovered to be an assassin of the R'armimon, a shadowy nation with a vendetta against the Xifarians. Yoome had planned to assassinate the Xifarian chancellor while he was visiting Maia and her teammates. The attempt failed, but the chancellor suspected Maia to have aided the attack with the help of the Resistance, a band of rebels on Tansi. He threatened retaliation against Maia and the Resistance, and in no unclear terms.
It’s such a big mess now.
With a shake of her head, Maia shooed the worrisome memories away. She was intent on enjoying her vacation from the rigorous training schedules at the Initiative.
And that’s why Emmy can’t know.
Emmy was prone to fussing, so much so that Maia often wondered if Emmy actually considered it a hobby. The woman fretted and frowned, continuously expecting villainous hordes to arrive and whisk Maia away.
Herc, on the other hand, did not think Maia was in any danger at all. Maybe he was a bit too naive or maybe he wanted to take the worry off Maia’s mind. Herc had always been that way—the farmhand and Maia’s martial arts teacher was more of a friend and confidante than anything else.
“Now I know what you feel
like being stuck inside the house, Dusty,” Maia whispered as she lifted the cat off her lap and set him on the floor. She dressed quickly and grabbed her sword Bellator before running out of her room and down the stairs to meet Herc.
Hurtling down the staircase, Maia came to a screeching halt after barely managing to dodge Dada who was walking up the stairs.
“Where are you off to?” Dada asked in a teasing voice.
“I have to catch Herc before he leaves for Shiloh,” Maia replied, casting a frantic look at the porch door. “Can I go, Dada? Please?”
Dada hesitated. His eyes darkened, and his face became rigid.
I can’t let his fear get to me. Focus!
“Please? It’s been so long since I was there.”
“Where’s Emmaline?” Dada asked, still not consenting.
“Emmy is outside with Herc, doing everything she can to keep me home.”
“Maia, she worries about you,” Dada said, his tone carried a mild sting of reproach. “She can only protect you while you’re here. Soon you’ll be off to some strange place again.”
Maia studied his face, trying to decide whether this was a ploy to hold her up. It was impossible for Dada to stop being anxious about her safety, Maia understood that, but she needed her escape.
“She raised you, Maia. And your mother before you,” Dada said, sighing. “We lost her so soon. Too soon. That’s why—“
Sophie, Dada’s only daughter, had passed away when Maia was an infant. Thirteen years had gone by, yet the household mourned her every day.
“I’ll be fine, Dada,” she tried to reassure him. “Herc will be with me in Shiloh. And when I’m away for the Initiative, I’ll have a lot of friends with me. There’s hardly anything to worry about as long as I’m with them. Besides, I enjoy seeing new places and learning new things. I really do.”
Maia truly liked the incredible cities inside Xif, the sunken Seliban temple on its surface, and all the fantastic subjects she had studied during her stay there. Now, she was looking forward to visiting the undersea colonies of the Jjord. When she had left for Xif six months ago, she had been upset and scared, but things had changed a lot since then. She had changed.
