Maia and the Xifarian Conspiracy (The Lightbound Saga Book 1)

by S. G. Basu

  “Yes!” Nafi’s excited screech made Maia forget about Miir and she looked out of the window instead.

  Shadow had started to pull ahead. When Nafi screamed again, Maia joined in, and soon everyone was cheering Shadow on. The silver Raptor persisted, but Shadow kept gaining until it was in the lead.

  Maia felt lightness in her heart. If they made it to the canyon ahead of this group, they could very well reach the temple-fortress first. There was suddenly a chance—a chance that they could win.

  A flash of white and a glitter of wings at the mouth of the canyon sunk her hopes right away. Someone had already reached the canyon. It looked like the Ghiamera.

  “We are too late, the Ghiamera just entered Faith’s End,” Miir had noticed it as well.

  “So what? Can’t we try to pass those guys while we are in the canyon?” Ren asked.

  “No, the Ghiamera creates too much turbulence around it. It would be dangerous to even follow it closely.”

  “What about after we get out of the canyon? We can catch up then.”

  “That stretch isn’t long enough to make up for this lag,” Dani explained.

  “What?” Nafi shrieked. “We lose?”

  An agonizing hush fell. As the burden of certain failure started to make Maia’s heart grow leaden, a plan that was almost as reckless as it was bold formed in her mind.

  “What if we . . .” Maia hesitated, but just briefly. “What if we fly through the Draegen instead?”

  Everyone turned to stare at her, and for a moment Maia felt utterly foolish that she had made the suggestion. It would be much too dangerous crossing a sea of liquid fire, through a maze of incessant eruptions of molten rock, ashes, and mud. Maia’s nervous glance fell on Miir last, and she froze for a moment.

  Could that be a flicker of approval? Admiration even?

  “We absolutely can,” Miir said emphatically. “Dani, do you still have those coordinates with you?” he continued as she nodded. “Good, chart the course now.”

  The Raptor turned northwest in an instant and dashed for the blood-red horizon. Soon, the screen of smoke drifting out from the Draegen and the orange-red patches of fire were all they could see.

  “Ren, all set?” Miir asked a few moments later. ”Once we reach the Draegen, I will maneuver Shadow with the tertiary thrusters. You hold the primary thrusters steady to keep us on our cruising path.”

  “We’re nearing the active zone,” Dani announced right after.

  “I am switching to manual flight mode now,” said Miir.

  Next to Maia, Nafi breathed sharply. Desperate to feel safer, Maia clutched the hand rests of her seat. In the very next moment she gasped as a large ball of fire streaked across the window, missing the nose of the Raptor by what seemed like a miniscule amount.

  “Take over the primary thrusters, Ren,” Miir yelled as the Raptor careened toward the ground. A volley of stones passed an area where the Raptor had been moments before.

  Maia craned her neck to look out the side windows and caught a glimpse of the bubbling field of molten rock below. Blackened and smoking heads of gigantic conical mountains rose out of the scarred ground, spewing bloodied stones and fire with unbridled venom. As they passed above a deceptively smaller head, a shower of gray mud shot out of the dark spout and headed toward the left wing of the Raptor.

  “Mud!” Maia screamed. “Left wing!”

  There was a moment of perfect silence as everyone held their breath. Shadow veered sharply to the right. Maia winced as the seat restraints dug into her shoulders. An ominous whoosh came from beyond the belly of the craft signifying the passing of the threat. After what seemed like a never-ending cycle of dives, yells, pitches, yaws, screams, rolls, and spirals, the aircraft floated steadily. The thickest of the smoke screens rose like a solid wall in front of them.

  “Dani, find our position,” Miir said. “I think we are a bit off course. I need new coordinates to the destination.”

  “Look out!” Ren yelled.

  Maia stared, forgetting to breathe. Emerging fast from beyond the pall of smoke was the dark craggy slope of an enormous volcano. It stood like a wall to intercept Shadow in a stony embrace.

  “Hang tight, everyone.” Miir could not have sounded any calmer. Shadow flung itself back as sharply as an uncoiling spring and started to climb almost vertically, parallel to the slope of the behemoth beyond, rising higher and higher until it shot out above the smoky gloom into the grayish sky above.

  A collective sigh of relief filled the air as the craft straightened itself in the safety of clearer skies. Maia closed her eyes to appreciate their still being alive, thankful that Miir was such a skillful pilot. Suddenly, she thought of her mother, again. Had Sophie been a good flyer? Had she been out here in the dangerous fields of the Draegen?

  “That was the Draegen-Mor, the sleeping patriarch of the Draegen

  fields,” Dani informed, her voice pulling Maia out of her thoughts. “We should be very close to the temple-fortress.”

  No sooner than Dani had stopped speaking, the Raptor lurched violently to the right following an ear-piercing screech and a heart-numbing thud that came from somewhere near the left side of the Raptor’s belly. Shadow steadied again, and within moments they descended swiftly toward the surface in the hopes of finding the sunken temple-fortress. Except for the shallow, nervous breathing of the occupants and the steady click-clack of Miir’s deft fingers dancing across the control panel, no sound could be heard.

  “Must have been a stray projectile,” Miir said after a while. “Everything looks normal according to the body scan. I will check again after we land.”

  The Raptor moved on but worries lingered.

  “We have arrived. And it looks like we are the first ones here,” Miir announced finally.

  Maia, Kusha, and Nafi sprang to their feet. It was time to launch the Pedes.

  “Nothing but black rocks,” Dani said, peeking at the ground below.

  “The entrance won’t be visible, not from up here,” Kusha replied, rushing to secure himself in a Cylopede. “I just hope that we have enough time to find it.”

  The Raptor hovered steadily above the rugged, austere terrain, and the door of the hold slowly opened. As far as Maia could see, the ground lay fuming. Hillocks, small and large, dotted the charred surface, their gray facades dull, lifeless, and unwelcoming. The full and unobstructed view of the bleak landscape outside did nothing to lift Maia’s spirits as she prepared for launch. At the open threshold, Kusha completed a final check on his Pede. On his signal, Miir unfastened the slider hook that held the Pedes in place, and Kusha glided out into space, followed closely by Nafi.

  Maia launched last. The wind made the Cylopede teeter a little as she dived out of the Raptor. A boulder dropped inside her stomach, churning her insides, making her heart skip a few beats. She grabbed the handles tightly with clammy hands, holding her breath, hoping that the sinking feeling would go away. She had to get over it quickly; there was not much time to lose.

  The swift fall through the super thin atmosphere was far more disquieting than in the practice fields or hangars, and Maia was grateful to Ren for modifying the Pedes to give them extra buoyancy. The specialized Cylopedes were also completely covered in transparent shields for safety and comfort. Balancing her Pede to hover in midair, Maia started the thrusters and the sounding equipment. The Raptor, which had lingered briefly overhead after dropping them, took off in the direction of the Draegen-Mor. Kusha’s voice came through the communicator that hung around her neck.

  “We’re all set. That’s the Origesa-8 to our right. I’ll check out the north of that hillock ahead, and Nafi you take the east, Maia the west.”

  The hillock, whose flat southern edge stared the trio in the face, was the biggest in the vicinity of the sizable Origesa-8. It was an obvious hideaway for the temple, Maia thought, smiling at Kusha’s quick thinking. The mound looked like a smoked-out beehive, its dark puckered sides spotted by a hundred caves that led
into the sleeping giant to the east. Maia wondered if one of those was the entrance to the temple. Kusha yelled before Maia could start her sounding tests.

  “This is it,” he sounded excited. “I can detect an enormous hollow structure below.”

  “We pull to the west then?” Maia asked.

  “Yes,” Kusha replied, “the path of the light, the gate facing the rising sun.”

  The western side of the hillock was similar to any other side. Each of the burrows that jutted out could be a possible entryway, so the trio started scanning them one at a time. Moments trickled past, with no success in finding the gate of the Seliban Temple. They had just about completed checking a third of the openings when Kusha’s excited howl drifted through the communicator.

  “Kusha, stop shouting,” Nafi yelled irately. Maia could not have agreed more; the sudden hollering had nearly made her lose footing.

  “H-hear me out, guys,” Kusha stammered, breathless with excitement. “We’ve been checking the western side because our sun rises in the west.”

  “Yes, that’s the idea,” Maia replied.

  “But that’s wrong,” Kusha shouted again. “Don’t you see?”

  “Say why, Kusha,” Maia yelled.

  “I know why.” It was Nafi who shrieked this time. “This temple was built by the Selibs, in the Selib System and—”

  “Their planet spun from south to north,” Maia finished. It all made perfect sense now.

  “So it’s the north and not the west. Kusha, you’re the best,” Nafi shouted before wheeling her Cylopede away toward the northern side.

  “You know what?” Maia said as soon as the three Pedes reached the other side. “Let’s start from the top. Since the land has been sinking over the years, I bet they would have only kept the highest entrances open and sealed off the rest.”

  Her assumption paid off almost immediately when she found a shallower reading at one of the topmost openings. After Nafi and Kusha confirmed her findings, they decided to venture inside. Just before they filed into the gaping mouth of the cave, a glitter in the sky caught Maia’s eye. Up amid the gray, a little distance from the temple, was the unmistakable shape of the Ghiamera, its silver body shining in the sun.

  “We have company,” whispered Maia. “It’s the Ghiamera. Again. Wonder which Core it belongs to.”

  “Core 7,” Miir’s voice buzzed on the communicator.

  “Karhann and company,” Nafi was quick to add.

  “Yes, and I suggest you get inside the cave before they see you. That Ghiamera has special sensing scopes to see farther than virtually any spacecraft in existence.” The urgency in Miir’s voice was unmistakable.

  The trio scrambled into the darkness of the cave and rushed forward into the burnt-out tunnel. With the threat of Core 7 besting them again, the dash to find the door was truly pressing. The bright lights from their Cylopedes illuminated the dark, jagged walls of the endless tunnel, which twisted and turned, growing narrower as they hurtled deeper inside. At one point, the cave became so constricted that the Pedes could barely squeeze through. Right behind that gnarled orifice was the carved gate of the Seliban Temple.

  The pungent air, a strange mix of burnt sulfur and a moisture-laden ground, assaulted Maia’s senses as soon as she opened the outer sheath of the Cylopede. Then she felt the heat, harsh and stifling, the sudden change prickling her skin and raising goose bumps. Shaken, but calming down quickly as she remembered that the interior of the temple, as well as the gates, were maintained within limits of breathability, Maia dismounted with caution, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. The gate that stood towering over her was not spectacular. It was squat and thick, and a simple grille of heavy metal bars guarded its entry. The engravings that adorned the chamber, however, were truly astounding, and it drew Maia close with a strange pull. She was vaguely aware of Kusha and Nafi getting off their Pedes. She heard them search for the switch to open the gate and argue intermittently while she stood transfixed in front of the walls, looking at the carvings.

  The largest of them depicted a tattooed man on a platform, an orb cradled in his arms. Behind the platform, a thronging mass of people with similar markings on their bodies stood with their hands outstretched, as if to stop the man with the orb. On the other end of the platform was another man; the dress he wore was strikingly similar to the Xifarian Gambrill except for the resplendent collar that rose like a halo around his head. His right arm was extended toward the man with the orb, his lips were smiling, but his eyes shone with a quiet anger. Maia could not explain the overwhelming feeling of sadness that engulfed her. Her steps felt heavy, and her heart ached for something she could not comprehend.

  At the ear-piercing sound of metal grating on rock, Maia tore her eyes away from the engraving. The gate had been opened, and Kusha and Nafi steered their Pedes inside the small room beyond the gate. Maia followed, guiding her Pede in, and parking it against the shadowy far side where a flight of stairs led inside.

  “We’re in,” Nafi announced, grinning widely.

  “Congratulations,” Miir’s voice boomed in the small room, and it sounded joyful and proud. Maia could hear Dani and Ren cheering in the background.

  “Now you need to close that gate, and then open the shuttle bay so we can land. Something is wrong with Shadow; it must have been that hit during the crossing. I need to patch it up as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kusha replied and rushed to push a small lever on the floor inside. As he pressed the square knob, it sunk in. The gate, however, did not move the tiniest bit.

  “What’s wrong now?” Nafi cried.

  “I don’t know. This lever looks exactly like the one outside, the one we used to open the gate,” Kusha replied.

  Maia peeked out, looking for the lever outside, but found nothing. “I don’t see anything outside, Kusha,” she said, perplexed.

  “It’s under a block of rock,” Nafi shot back an impatient reply. Kusha and Nafi continued to twist, pull, poke, punch, and kick the knob inside, with no results whatsoever.

  “And why is it under a rock?”

  “If you had paid a little more attention instead of browsing the local art gallery, you would understand.” Nafi was at her caustic best.

  “If you remove the weight, the grille starts falling on its own,” Kusha explained. “We placed that rock on top to keep it open.”

  “Why don’t we push that rock off now that we are inside?”

  “It’s very heavy, that’s why,” Kusha explained. “Can’t budge it from here with a sword or a stick.”

  Maia stood for a while, staring at the rock before she had another idea. “One of us could push it off and then run past the falling gate.”

  “It drops far too quickly,” Nafi replied in a spent voice. “You would have to be super fast getting in or you risk getting impaled.”

  “I can do it,” Maia declared. Over and over again she had been negligent, Maia thought. She had failed to be the leader they had expected her to be. And now she had just had enough of Nafi’s jibes. She wanted to show Nafi that she could do it. And most of all, she needed to show herself that. Maia raised her voice a notch. “You locate the shuttle bay. I’ll join you soon.”

  Nafi and Kusha looked at each other before Nafi spoke.

  “I’ll stay with you while he looks for the bay.”

  “No. I know what I’m dealing with here. Even with our maps, Kusha has no idea of what lies ahead. He might come across a blockade and need an extra pair of hands. And you need to navigate your way to the bay—two heads will help.”

  Nafi did not seem to agree and looked away. Kusha appeared confused.

  “Let’s not argue about this. Just go. Miir needs to land Shadow, and we need to give him as much time as we can spare,” Maia said, her voice was as calm as it was firm. “Besides, I have the communicator. I’ll call you back if I need help.”

  Kusha and Nafi looked at each other again, and when Kusha nodded, Nafi grudgingly got to her fe
et. Moments later, they boarded their Pedes and sped down the staircase into the darkness below. Maia turned around and stepped outside the gate, taking a good look at the rock that covered the sunken knob on the stone floor. She kneeled over and ran a nervous hand over the cold, pitted rock.

  39: The Relic

  Maia studied the speed of the falling gate by lifting the rock a few times, panting a little each time under its weight. As soon as she released the knob, the grille careened down; the greater the pressure, the wider it remained open. It was only a matter of estimating how fast she would have to run to get inside once the weight on the lever was removed.

  “Maia.” It was Dani on the communicator. “How’s it going?”

  “Fine,” Maia replied. “This looks easy enough. I wonder if they found the shuttle bay.”

  “We’re trying,” Nafi informed.

  “Guys,” Dani spoke again, “Miir needs to run some diagnostics on Shadow. So we’ll have to shut down some peripheral equipment, including the communicators. It’ll be just for a tiny while though. We’ll be back soon.”

  Maia felt the first tremor right after the communicator fell silent. It rose from deep below the surface and coursed up her body. It shook and rattled the weight on the knob, and a part of it slipped off the lever. The gate slid down behind her, stopping halfway to the bottom. Maia groaned at the thought of hefting the heavy rock again. The tremors continued, and she decided to wait for it to die down completely before daring to outrun the door. Almost immediately, she realized the graveness of her mistake. Three Cylopedes burst into the cave, blinding her with their blazing white lights. A trio of figures alighted from the crafts.

  “We finally caught up with you,” Karhann roared.

  “And look . . .” There was no mistaking Loriine’s lazy, pampered voice. “The gate is still open for taking.”

  The third person did not speak, but Maia knew it was Yoome. The quiet girl had helped them once, but if anyone could help Maia now, it would have to be herself.