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

by S. G. Basu

  “I hope you’re not going to try to stop us,” Karhann said. “You see, there isn’t much point in you fighting all three of us.”

  Maia gripped Bellator tightly by the hilt and pulled it out. She had to keep fighting to protect the entrance until the communicators worked again so she could call for help.

  “The midget dares to challenge us,” Loriine sneered.

  There was a raspy sound of weapons being drawn and cautious footfalls as her opponents stepped closer.

  “Are we allowed to fight three to one?” Yoome spoke, forever the voice of hope.

  No one replied. Maia tried hard to recall that code of honorable combat, and then figured that it did not matter anyway. For even if she did remember, this bunch was not going to listen to her when they chose to ignore Yoome’s question. She backed up against the half-closed gate, Bellator firmly clutched in her hands. As she stepped away from the glare of the headlights, she could see them more clearly. Loriine stood to the left holding a whip sword, its tip skimming the stone floor. Karhann stood next to Loriine holding a basket-hilt broadsword. On the right stood Yoome, both hands clasping a long, tapered pole that was studded all over with small spikes.

  The first blow came from Loriine, surprising Maia a little. The whip sword lashed out like a dragon’s tongue and danced dangerously close to her left arm. She made a quick mental note of the length and stretch of the whip as she jumped. Karhann charged from the other side. Maia’s arms hurt as she parried his blow, barely managing to push him back a few steps. The boy, she realized, was much stronger than she was. There was no time to breathe before Loriine’s sword came lashing at her once again and flicked at her face. Maia fell sideways to avoid it. She tried to think of a strategy as fast as she could. There was not a chance in this world that she could fight a lengthy battle with these two. It had to be short, it had to be precise, and she had to eliminate one attacker at a time. The opportunity presented itself within the next moment. The tip of Loriine’s sword grazed her right arm, making her wince in pain as it tore through her thick combat jacket. Maia moved sideways and entwined the retreating piece of metal around Bellator’s blade. She yanked Bellator swiftly to the right, and as the tangled whip sword followed Bellator’s motion, Loriine lost her footing and went crashing down to the floor. Karhann stopped for the briefest moment as he waited for Loriine to regain her stance. Yoome had not moved; she simply stood there, watching the fight.

  “We’re back.” Dani’s jubilant voice on the communicator was the sweetest thing Maia had ever heard.

  “We found the bay. Opening it now,” Kusha declared.

  “Wonderful,” Miir said. “And have we closed the gate yet?”

  Before Maia could reply, Loriine cackled. Karhann joined her with a gleeful laugh.

  “We’ll close the door for you, Miir. Rest at the bay while you can before Amanii kicks you out of there.”

  “Shut up, Karhann. You’re not in yet, and you’ll never get past me,” Maia shouted.

  “We’re on our way back, Maia,” Kusha yelled. “Just don’t give in.”

  Karhann and Loriine charged furiously, closing in on Maia from both sides. The sound of clanging swords filled the tiny chamber as Maia warded off blows and dodged and stepped around. Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal. Strikes rained down on Maia, and she gasped for air while fending off the assaults. She tried to create some space to be able to think and plan, to hold them off until someone came to help. Despite all her efforts, Maia was soon cornered. With her back against the cold stone wall and sweat streaming down her face, she waited as Karhann signaled Loriine to move away. He was coming in for the final blow, Maia realized, and she panted to fill her lungs with air. The rock with the lever below it lay between her feet and the gate, the partially opened grille beckoning her to the safety inside.

  As she looked at the stone and the gate and back at the stone again, a plan began to take shape in her mind. Karhann edged closer. Maia’s mind raced. She had to make this work; she could not let the efforts of all her friends go to waste. She had let them down too many times in the last few months, but not anymore and not this time. She would defend the gate at any cost and give it everything it took. Her palms were sweaty, so she gripped Bellator as tightly as she could with both hands. Then she took a few assertive steps toward Karhann, making room between her and the wall, and waited for the strike.

  She blocked off Karhann’s swipe, Bellator wedged firmly between her body and the sharp edge of his sword. Her hands shook as he pushed the crossed swords closer to her neck, but she managed to hold. Falling back, she balanced herself on her left leg and swiftly twisted Bellator away. Karhann faltered and took a step back to recover from the sudden move, leaving the right side of his body unprotected for a moment.

  Maia had waited for just that chance. She braced her back against the wall behind her, and with all the force she could gather, she lunged forward and kicked him squarely on his shoulder. The boy reeled backward at the strike, bumping into Loriine, and together they fell to the floor in a tangled heap. Not wasting a single moment, Yoome stepped forward.

  Maia sheathed Bellator and dove toward the rock that still sat on the lever keeping the gate half open, palm scraping against the weight of the rough stone as she pushed it away. With a jarring noise that bellowed throughout the cave, the grille started to move down. A fierce blow narrowly missed her shoulder as Maia rolled frantically in the direction of the rapidly narrowing gap between the jagged bottom of the grate and the stone floor.

  Maia heard the ominous hiss of Yoome’s staff cutting through the air, raining blows around her. She pushed herself to roll, twisting her body, and pulling herself inside and away from the falling grille. The gate was at the verge of closing shut. Maia curled her feet, pulling them inside; her right arm was next. I am almost safe.

  Then the world turned black. Yoome’s staff crashed just below her right elbow. For a few excruciating moments, all Maia could hear was a wordless scream that rose from deep within her gut and spread through the dark cave in a slow, throbbing flood. In the moment of perfect clarity that followed that agonizing rush of pain, she dragged her shaking arm inside as the gate thudded shut.

  It was a while before Maia made a sound again, only a pitiful whimper escaping her throat, pain shooting through her body in unbearable waves. A few more moments passed before she could look at her limp arm and at Yoome who glared at her from beyond the closed gate.

  “Maia?” Dani whispered on the communicator. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m nearly there, Maia,” Nafi’s reassuring voice floated in.

  Everything seemed distant, almost unreal.

  Karhann had joined Yoome beyond the gate, his eyes flashing and burning with rage. Loriine still sat where she had fallen, her sulking face dark with anger. They seemed unable to move, clearly not ready to accept their loss. They had been close, Maia had to admit, agonizingly close to winning the challenge before they lost it all.

  “The gate is shut, Karhann,” Maia whispered, her breaths labored and short. “You lose.”

  The wild cheers on the communicator deafened Maia for a moment before the bright light of a Cylopede swung up through the staircase and filled the chamber. Nafi jumped down from her Pede and kneeled next to Maia, surveying the damage.

  “Knew I should have stayed,” Nafi said as she helped Maia up into her Cylopede.

  Maia leaned back on the side of the Pede as Nafi carefully turned the craft around. On the other side of the grille, Karhann stood watching. Further behind him, Yoome and Loriine were busy backing off their Pedes.

  Nafi fixed an angry stare on Karhann. “What are you looking at?” she yelled. “You lost. It’s over. Go away.”

  Maia barely had any recollection of their journey through the narrow, winding staircase, through darkened halls and pitch-black passageways illuminated by the lone headlights of Nafi’s Cylopede. As they zoomed through the shadowy alleyways of the temple-fortress, she wondered
how Nafi managed to remember her way through the maze. Figments of conversations on the communicator flitted past like a patchwork of dreams.

  “Seems like a broken forearm . . . no wait . . . maybe it’s her wrist.”

  “I will keep a splint ready.”

  “Is she all right otherwise?”

  “She’s a fighter; she’ll be fine.”

  Maia forced her eyes open when Nafi zipped into a huge bay, dimly lit by the rays of the sun filtering in through the enormous skylights above. Shadow stood at a corner of the cove, patched up and restored, Maia presumed, flanked by four eagerly waiting figures.

  As soon as Nafi stopped her Pede, Dani rushed forward and helped Maia disembark.

  “Oh, Maia,” Dani hugged her fiercely. “We were so worried about you.”

  “You made it,” Kusha grinned as Nafi sat Maia down against a pillar.

  “Punched out Karhann and Loriine and dodged Yoome,” Ren whooped.

  Maia laughed, softly at first before she chortled giddily, forgetting the pain in the happiness of being with her friends again.

  “All right, make some room now. We need to take care of that arm,” Miir said, kneeling next to Maia. He held a metallic arm cast complete from the shoulder to the fingers. It was hinged on one side and fell open like armor, its hollow cushioned insides covered with a maze of circuits and wires.

  “This will sting a little, but just briefly,” Miir said as Maia squinted suspiciously at the strange contraption. “Your pain will be gone when you put it on. Trust me.”

  Dani and Ren helped put Maia’s limp and bloodied arm inside the cast before Miir zipped it shut. A sharp stinging pain, like a million needles jabbing into her arm, made Maia gasp before a soothing warm wave of relief swept through. She smiled as the pain completely vanished. Before long, she was back on her feet discussing with the team about the final task of finding the relic. Miir stood at a distance, observing. Brief tremors shook the ground every now and then, startling in their intensity.

  The countless rooms that ringed the bay were stacked with rows of artifacts, and the team divided up as they carefully scanned every shelf and every display. After a thorough combing that took an exhausting while, the Bale Labyrinth was nowhere to be found. And, as expected, the Saucer of Agentoph turned out to be a gigantic, immovable mechanism that filled an entire room. Just as Maia and Nafi had understood from the Book of Treasures, it was not something that could be transported back to the XDA.

  “We’re not thinking right,” Kusha said as the five stood listlessly at the bay after the long, fruitless search.

  A deep rumble spread slowly under their feet. The tremors were getting more closely spaced than before, Maia noted.

  “This place seems so alive,” Dani commented. “It’s like the ground is saying something.”

  And once again a vague notion swept through Maia’s mind. Someone had explained it before; if only she could remember what it was, she could solve the riddle. They were missing a clue from the rhyme, something she knew they were reading wrong, but she did not know what. Everyone turned to stare at her as she groaned.

  “Oh, it’s just this hazy feeling I have, just cannot pin it down.”

  And then it hit her.

  “I know!” Maia shouted, slapping her forehead. “We’ve been focusing on the wrong word . . . one that lives among the ruins. It means that the relic is alive . . . maybe a person? Remember what Lady Dae told us? About the Tierremorphes?”

  “Aha! The living relics,” Dani shrieked. “It is a Tierremorphe.”

  “Boy, that was tricky,” Ren shook his head, “as if getting in here isn’t enough effort already. And to think I had just joined to have some fun.”

  “Maia, remember what we read the other day?” Nafi squealed. “The Seliban Temple, due to its design and unique location, is a known extrasensory enhancer. So, if they live on the surface, one of the few habitable areas on Xif where the natural forces are the strongest, they would be right here. Yes, I knew it. I knew we could win this.”

  “And if the relic is indeed a person, they surely won’t be in these storage bays,” Kusha added thoughtfully. “But I know exactly where we could find one. It has to be the Third house of the Seliban sun. The four houses of the sun were the four rooms that were designed to maximize the flow of the natural elements through them. Of those, the First house was the strongest in the Selib System and the designated place for rejuvenation of the soul. When we take into account the difference in the star alignments, the ebb and flow patterns of energy make the Third house the strongest in our system.”

  “And where is the Third house?” Dani asked as Kusha kneeled on the ground and spread out the map of the temple, tracing their location.

  “Here,” Kusha jabbed his finger on the map. “Right on top of the shuttle bay . . . that way.” He pointed toward a flight of stairs that climbed upward from the corner where Shadow stood.

  The group filed up the stairs. It opened into a wide portico lined with ornate windows on both sides that must have once offered sweeping vistas of the landscape. Now however, Maia noted with sadness, all one could see was the ragged surface of the cavern that held the building captive. A huge open door, with magnificent carvings around its frame, stood at the other end of the balcony, beyond which lay the Third house of the Seliban sun. The room was resplendent—the golden yellow walls lined with intricate artwork, a plethora of jewels and shimmering metals encrusted each panel, telling the stories of a long-forgotten civilization. The rays of sunlight streaming in through a series of openings on the ceiling converged on a raised podium at the center of the room. A lone figure sat on the illuminated platform in the lotus pose. As the group inched closer, her eyes opened and she smiled.

  “Mahswa Tabrin?” Maia immediately recognized the friendly face. It was the lady whom Principal Pomewege had brought for a visit after Maia had destroyed the L’miere crystal. “You’re a Tierremorphe?”

  “Yes, Maia, I am. And these must be your brave friends.” The gentle rise and fall of her voice soothed and healed. “Glad to see you all. I was starting to think I had missed my flight.”

  40: Rewards

  Miir took the safer and longer route over the Curtains of Vostl on the way back. This flight was livelier, and all worries had long passed. Maia and her teammates chatted, Miir was quiet at the helm, and Mahswa Tabrin sat with her eyes closed, meditating. The lady did not move until Shadow pulled in front of the hangar and some tug-bots secured the Raptor and slowly pulled it inside.

  “This is where our journey ends for the day. It was an honor to be escorted by fearless youngsters like you,” Mahswa Tabrin said and bowed her head just a little. Everyone bowed back in response, fascinated by the modesty of the venerable Tierremorphe.

  “Mahswa Tabrin, may I ask you a question, if you don’t mind?” Nafi started warily and continued as the lady smiled in encouragement. “Why do they call the Tierremorphes—”

  “Relics?” Mahswa Tabrin completed the question for her. “That’s simple. Since my generation, no Xifarian child has exhibited true Terraforming capabilities. Even among the few of us who live, there is the issue of shortening lifespans.”

  “But why?” Nafi asked again.

  “No one knows for sure, Nafi.” Mahswa’s eyes darkened a little. “Some think the lack of communion with nature is affecting our life. That might also be the reason why our abilities are slowly being repressed. To counter that, we try to spend as much time as possible out on the surface. However, it is hard to stay up there because of the volatility.”

  “Can’t you visit our planet instead?” Dani queried.

  “That, my dear, has been a topic of debate for a long time, but it has not been tried.”

  “And why not?” Maia asked.

  “It is too risky,” Miir interjected. “We do not know what effect an alien planet will have on us, let alone the sensitive impulses of Tierremorphes. We simply cannot risk losing them in an experiment.”

 
“Alien?” Maia gaped in disbelief. “You’ve been here for thirty years and you still consider our planet alien?”

  “But you’re going to lose them anyway,” Kusha exclaimed. “What’s the harm in trying?”

  “We have research programs in place,” Miir countered. He seemed to grow more impatient as he spoke, his voice rising, his brows furrowing deeper. “We will find a solution to the problem, a solution that does not involve taking our most precious assets to a place we hardly know. And even in a hundred years or more, a host planet will never be our own.”

  “I don’t understand why you have to be so hard-headed about it,” Maia burst out, her insides squirming at his stubbornness. “I hope that you find a solution soon enough before you lose everyone. If it were up to me, I would risk anything to make a smidgeon of progress.”

  “Thankfully it is not up to you, and just because you managed to win this challenge, do not think it is now your place to question our policies,” Miir shot back. The harshness of his tone made Maia flinch.

  “There is no need for despair . . . yet. I am sure we will find a way to fix our problems,” Mahswa Tabrin’s voice was a salve of comfort in the face of discord. “Before we disembark, I have a small gift for you. This reward was to be given at my discretion, and after meeting you all, I believe you deserve it.”

  She held out her hand, and on her open palm sat a dark blue-black stone. Specks of minerals dotted the rock like stars in the night sky.

  “This rock, a firestone from the Draegen-Mor, is a very rare piece of mineral treasured for its neurogenic properties. It can enhance the competencies of your minds. It can be used as instant communicators, over and beyond the ranges used by our artificially manufactured ones,” Mahswa explained. “We still do not fully understand the nature of this stone because it is too rare for experimentation. But this I definitely know—it will tie you together, stronger than ever before, bind you in a circle of trust or what we call a Craedonnen. Now, who wants to go first?”

  Kusha sprung forward.