by Megg Jensen
"Come on, Tor!" Leila called from ahead.
He hadn't realized he'd fallen behind. Taking long strides, Torsten jogged until he caught up with the small group.
The city began to change with every step. The buildings became rundown. Cockeyed signs hung on rusted arms. The street was broken and pebbled. An unpleasant smell wafted through the air, a combination of unwashed body and rotten food.
Andessa inhaled deeply. "Ah, home."
"You're from the Commons?" Mellok asked, his nose wrinkled.
"Yeah. It's the best. No one tells you what to do. You live life on your terms. People from the fancier part of town are too afraid to step into the Commons. But, trust me, this is where the real action happens. People here aren't afraid to be themselves. Unlike back there where everyone is trying to be the same."
Unlike the bustling clean part of the city, the Commons was deadly silent. "Is it always like this?" Torsten asked Andessa.
She nodded. "Yeah. We mostly live life at night. When the stars are out, and we can remember where we came from. This planet isn't our home. It's just a temporary stopping point," Andessa said.
"Our people have been stuck on Phoenix for two hundred years," Mellok said. "We aren't going anywhere. Our tech doesn't even allow us to fly much farther than the second moon. We have just enough tech to get our asses up there to fight off the dragzhi. If we could stop them, maybe we would know exactly how far our ships could go.
Torsten pointed ahead. "I see the church steeple. The ruins aren't far away. Andessa, have you ever been there before?"
"Yeah. When I was a kid, we would sneak off and play there. I don't remember seeing any tunnels, but I think it's definitely worth checking." Andessa abruptly took off to the right, stopping in front of a doorway with a crescent moon carved in the wood. She rested a hand on it, and Torsten could have sworn he heard her sniffle.
"Was that your home?" Torsten asked. He had considered going off course and finding his childhood home, too. He hadn't only because he was afraid of what he would find there. Had his childhood been erased, taken over by another family? Or would it bring back more memories of the night his parents were murdered? He wasn't ready to face either.
"Yeah," Andessa said. "It feels strange to be on the other side of this door in daylight." Andessa stepped away, letting her hand drop. "Sorry, let's keep moving. We don't want to be here when the sun sets. People in the Commons aren't accepting of strangers, especially ones wearing military suits."
The group continued their trek once more, not stopping again until they left the outskirts of the Commons. In the distance, a sandy cloud blew through the desert. Each of them pulled a scarf out of their packs. As Torsten tied his scarf around his face, covering everything but his eyes, he could barely make out the church shimmering like a mirage.
Chapter Ten
The wooden double doors were twice as tall as they were. Torsten and Mellok grasped the handles. Mellok nodded, and they both tugged at the same time. With an annoyed groan, the door slowly swung open. Andessa and Leila slipped inside, Torsten after them, and Mellok bringing up the rear. The door slammed shut behind them, plunging the four into total darkness.
Andessa turned on a flashlight, casting an eerie glow on the church.
Torsten pulled off his scarf and shook it. Sand sprayed through the air.
Leila shrieked. “Tor!” She ripped off her scarf, purposely waving it away from the others.
"You're covered in sand, just like the rest of us. A little more won't kill you." Torsten laughed. His sister was so vain. If she could only see what she looked like. Sand speckled her blond hair and stuck to her forehead.
"Wow," Andessa said, wandering around the vast church. "This place is more beautiful than I remember."
The beam from her flashlight traveled up the marble walls to the stained glass windows. There were six on each side of the church, illustrations frozen in colorful glass and welded together with rudimentary tech.
"That's the crash." Leila pointed at the first window where Andessa's flashlight lingered.
A spaceship carrying hundreds of souls was wedged into the sand of Phoenix. People stood outside the ship, their arms around each other. Others looked up to the sky, their arms reaching out as if they were waiting for someone, or something, to scoop them back up where they belonged.
"Our ancestors' crash landing on Phoenix was the birth of the Menelewen Dored," Mellok said. "Look at us now. Searching for some mystical object that could win the war."
Andessa's beam moved to the next glass window. This one detailed the agony of their people when they realized no one was coming to rescue them. They were trapped on Phoenix. Some of the people walked away from the ship. Others harvested tech. Still others were on their knees, their arms still reaching to space.
In the next window, survivors from the crash dug into the ground, finding a long-buried tablet. It was then his ancestors learned about the Menelewen Dored. Their translators took years to crack the strange words carved into the stone, but once they did, some turned their gaze underground, searching for the mysterious Menelewen Dored on the tablet. Maybe the gods could help them return home.
Torsten’s gaze followed the story in the windows. Those who were ready to move on erected buildings, grew crops, and tried to rebuild their tech with the materials found on Phoenix. Though it had been hundreds of years, they still hadn't mastered long-distance space travel. They could get into space, but the tech their ancestors used to travel far away had been lost to them. Still, they hadn't given up, attempting to get farther and farther away from Phoenix. Until they attracted the attention of the dragzhi.
War became the survivors’ focus. They were just as trapped as they'd always been, only now they were fighting for their lives. How could they do anything else, when the dragzhi had spent the last hundred years attempting to exterminate all of the humans on Phoenix?
Torsten sighed, packing away all of his knowledge for the moment. He wasn't here to deal with gods. He’d been kicked out of the tower to find the Key. What a joke. Anyone who believed in it was fooling themselves.
The dragzhi were infinitely more powerful than the humans. It wasn't looking good for anyone.
Torsten's thoughts flashed to the girl in the street, the one with the pink hair, her body clad in leather, who had prayed to the gods and driven the dragzhi away. Or it was just convenient timing? If the gods of the Menelewen Dored truly protected the people, why hadn't the dragzhi withdrawn many years ago?
"Hey, I think I found something," Andessa yelled from across the church.
Torsten ran, his boots echoing in the vast, empty room. Leila and Mellok weren't far behind. "What is it?" Torsten asked.
"A doorway. And behind it is a staircase." Andessa shined her light into the opening.
"This is fantastic!" Mellok clapped Andessa's shoulder. "I could kiss you!"
"Hey." Leila scowled.
"No, thanks." Andessa's eyes wandered lazily over to Leila. "If you want to kiss me, I wouldn't be against it."
Leila's blush was visible even in the dim light.
"She's mine." Mellok wrapped an arm around Leila's shoulder.
"Yours? I belong to no one. Besides, a few moments ago, you were offering to kiss Andessa." Leila stepped free of his embrace. "Maybe I should be the one to do it." She leaned over, pecking Andessa square on the lips.
"Now that's over, let's check out this passageway." Torsten grabbed the flashlight out of Andessa's shaking hand and led the way. He continued down the rough-hewn steps, his boots careful to gain purchase on each riser. Pebbles and sand lay across them, as if they had not been disturbed for years. It was clear no one had come down this way in a very long time, nor had anyone come up.
Torsten squinted, looking for the bottom of the staircase. He'd already counted thirty steps. How many more could there be? A faint musty smell wafted up, tickling his nose. His eyes squeezed shut, and he sneezed.
Torsten slipped on the step. Losin
g his balance, he fell onto his butt and skipped down, grunting with each step. Throwing out his free arm, Torsten scrabbled for purchase on the wall. His legs pushed down, attempting to stop his slide, but the stairs were too slippery.
"Tor!" Leila called out from far above him.
Torsten clenched his jaw, trying to ignore the pain shooting into every part of his body. Dirt swirled in his face, and he sneezed again, much louder this time, his back wracked with spasms. He cursed, his fingers scraping against the wall, leaving streaks of blood in their wake.
Torsten's feet slammed into a solid surface. His knees bent, and his body collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the staircase. He could hear the others coming down. He wanted to warn them to be careful, but his chest hurt too much to even consider it. He'd just have to trust they'd seen what happened to him and were taking care on their way down. The last thing he wanted was for one of them to slip and land on his already aching body.
"Tor, are you okay?" Leila arrived first at the bottom. She rubbed his back. "Where does it hurt? Can you stand?"
Torsten held in a groan. He stretched his legs out, attempting to stand. Pain shot through his ankle, and he cursed again. Balancing against the wall with one scraped and bloody hand, Torsten stood upright. He shook out the painful ankle, attempting to put weight on it once more. His vision narrowed. The pain was too intense. Torsten favored his left leg, balancing carefully.
Mellok ran his hands over the solid wall in front of them. "We're at a dead end. They obviously closed this passageway ages ago. We have to go back up. Find another way underground."
"Can you climb back up?" Andessa asked Torsten. She took the flashlight back from him and shined it up the stairway. They couldn't even see the top from where they stood.
"I don't know." The pain was so intense he feared he'd pass out before he made it to the top. "Maybe two of you should go back. Find something to stabilize my ankle." Torsten leaned against the wall, slowly lowering himself to the ground. Sitting on the pebbles and sand was far more comfortable than trying to stand on one leg.
"I want to stay with you." Leila crouched next to her brother.
"I'm not going with her." Mellok gestured toward Andessa.
"Then Leila and I will go." Andessa smiled, looking over at Torsten's sister.
"No." Mellok crossed his arms over his chest. "Leila can come with me."
"What? Don't you trust us?" Andessa winked at Leila.
Torsten would have laughed at Mellok if he hadn't been in so much pain. "Since you three can't seem to work this out, I think you should all go. It won't take long, and none of you has to worry about who is kissing whom."
"Are you sure?" Leila asked. She looked back at their two companions.
Just what he needed on this mission—a love triangle.
"Go." Torsten rested his back against the wall. "There's nothing down here that can hurt me."
Leila pecked the top of Torsten's head. "We'll be back soon." Leila started up the stairs with Mellok and Andessa behind her.
Torsten sighed, laying his head against the cool wall. He closed his eyes for a moment, not intending to sleep, just hoping to regain some of the energy he'd expended in the fall. Torsten leaned forward, his hands feeling the sides of his leather boot. It bulged as his injured ankle strained against the laces. He lifted the foot onto the second step above him, hoping the elevation would relieve some of the swelling.
He looked up the stairs, realizing too late he'd been left alone in the dark as the light from Andessa's flashlight receded. He wasn't afraid of the dark, but it was disconcerting being all alone in a strange place with an injured ankle.
A small grinding noise snatched his attention away from his ankle.
"Let me help you," a voice said.
Torsten gazed up at the girl he’d seen praying in Hadar. She grabbed his shoulders and tugged, pulling Torsten toward the wall.
Chapter Eleven
Rell’s shoulders ached as she dragged the lanky guy through the opening in the wall. It only added to the exhaustion from running through the tunnels, following Torsten and the other defenders. She’d snuck back underground after she’d watch them leave her part of town and followed their progress through the spy holes her people installed to guard against invasion.
"Who are you?" He struggled in her grasp.
"Be quiet, and trust me. I'm going to help you." She looked down at the guy. He was probably around her age. So he was a man, just as she was a woman. Yet he seemed so young, as if he'd never faced hardship. A military brat, he'd likely been preparing to fight in battle against the dragzhi for his whole life. Well, Rell had trained, too. She was strong.
Rell couldn't believe this was who she had to stop. An overgrown boy who couldn't even make it down a flight of stairs without falling and twisting his ankle. She held in her irritation. Perhaps the council was only starting her out small. Testing her to see if she could succeed on a simple mission.
"I'm Torsten." He twisted his head to the side, looking at her. Recognition gleamed in his eyes.
So he did know who she was. He'd seen her praying on the street earlier in the day.
"We met already," he said.
"No, we didn't." She refused to become friendly with her enemy. "We saw each other. That's all."
"Well, it's nice to formally meet you…"
“Rell.”
“Rell.” Her name sounded strange rolling off his tongue. As if he were tasting her name, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. She'd prefer him not to. All she needed to do was fix him up so he could get back up the stairs and out of her tunnels.
Rell heaved once more, settling Torsten against the wall. "Stay here for a moment. I'm going to get med supplies. You'll be back up those stairs in no time."
Torsten nodded, but she could see he was determined to stay. Even with an injured ankle. Well, he wouldn't get far.
"Why don't you stay with me?" Torsten asked.
Rell paused. She hadn't expected that. "Why?"
"My friends are coming back soon. They are going to get something to help me. It would be great if you kept me company." Torsten patted the ground next to him.
Rell shrugged. If there were more coming, she would wait and get rid of all of them at once. "Okay." She slid down to the floor, her knees bent. She held in a wince. The leather clothes Renata had given her weren't nearly as comfortable as the robes she'd worn her whole life. At least the leather would be easier to clean.
"Tell me what happened up there. Earlier today. How did you do it?" Torsten held Rell's gaze.
"What?" she asked, playing dumb, giving herself the time to think about a proper response. Her religion was filled with mysteries most would never be privy to. She'd climbed the ranks, worked hard for every reveal. She wouldn't just hand over precious knowledge to this young man.
Torsten laughed, his smile breaking his grim countenance. "Up there. When you were on your knees. It was as if you were praying."
Rell shrugged. "I was scared. I've never seen a dragzhi ship before. I didn't know what else to do."
"Any other day, you would have been arrested. No one is allowed to practice that rubbish in the open. Only..." Torsten paused, looking around at the dank tunnel. "Only those who live underground and worship the Menelewen Dored would dare. Are you...?"
Now it was Rell's turn to laugh, or try to. She hoped it was convincing. "No. It was pure terror. A fluke. I didn't really believe it would help."
"And yet it did." Torsten's voice was low, almost a whisper.
"I think it was just luck." Rell knew her prayer was more powerful than all of the grounders’ weapons. It pained her to lie, to deny her faith. She needed to, though, if she were to keep Torsten from delving too far into the tunnels.
"I'm not sure the other grounders will see it that way." Torsten shifted, sitting up straighter. He rubbed his stubbly jaw. "I mean, they saw the dragzhi attack. Then they saw you pray. Then the dragzhi disappeared. What else are they supposed
to think? My presence there probably didn't help."
"Because you're the one looking for the Key." Rell saw no point in pretending she didn't know who he was. The whole city would know about the defenders sent from the tower to find the Key. "It doesn't exist, you know."
"Trust me, I know." Torsten's shoulders sank. "There's more to our mission than finding the Key. In fact, I'm not even looking for the Key."
Now it was Rell's turn to be surprised. If he wasn't looking for the Key, why did the vidscreen say he was? And, more importantly, why had she been sent to stop him? "What are you doing here?" It was the first genuine thing she'd said to him.
Before Torsten could answer, a shout came from the stairway.
"Tor?" A strong, muscular girl with blond hair emerged from the entrance. She carried a white robe, similar to the one Rell had worn her whole life. Except this one was covered in a thin blanket of sand, and the moth-eaten fabric was dotted with holes. A tall young man with blond hair emerged behind her, two pieces of broken wood in his hands. “We found this stuff in the church. It should work.”
Another female followed him, her bored eyes coming to life as she took in the tunnel. "Whoa," she said. "How did you get in here? And with her? She’s the one who prayed away the dragzhi."
The blond ran to Torsten, sinking to the ground next to him. "Are you okay? What happened?" She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and glared at Rell.
"I'm fine. This is Rell. She brought me in here, where there's light, and, more importantly, away from the damned staircase." Torsten looked at Rell. "This is my sister, Leila. The other two are Mellok and Andessa."
Rell smiled at them. Mellok simply nodded his head, Andessa ignored her, and Leila gazed at her, curious.
"I like your hair," Leila said, finally. "I wish I could do the same with mine. When I'm out of the military, I plan to dye it blue. What do you think?"
