There remained a few riftspawn lingering in the air, their bright colours drawing his eye against so much grey, one street light flickering from red to purple to blue. Drumming his fingers on the sill, Janus considered his options. He probably wasn’t strong enough to lift Kardak and carry him out. Reckless to the point of stupidity he might have been but he had a good idea of his own limitations. There was only so far determination could take him.
Leaving the room to the sound of Hika’s protests, he jogged up the stairs to where Guide Hogar still sat on his bench, head resting back against the wall. An eye cracked open as Janus approached, genial smile spreading across his face. Janus didn’t like it. He hadn’t done anything to earn such a smile.
“Got anything with wheels?”
The man frowned. “Wheels? I do not understand.”
“Need something to carry him.” Janus mimicked the motion of pushing something in front of him. “To get him to the surgeon.”
“Ah.” The guide hummed, eyes swivelling from side to side as he thought. “I might have something.” His knees cracked as he rose and he laughed. “I forget I am no young thing anymore. Oh, to be your age again, hm?”
Janus followed him onto the landing and then through to another room, gloomy from the boarded up window. Faint strips of light squeezed their way through the cracks, illuminating swirling dust motes that doubled in number as they entered, the smell of damp and mould tickling his nose. Boxes and crates were stacked against the walls, their contents spilling out from sagging cardboard and splintered wood. Between the endless piles of books, candelabras, the folding chairs, and what appeared to be a dismantled piano, Hogar rummaged around to produce a delivery cart. The wooden box was complete with two handles for pulling behind and although the wheels squeaked when dragged along, they seemed to be in working condition.
“Might this do, do you think?”
Janus shrugged. “Have to.”
Wrestling it down to the middle floor, he found the handling on it was poor, the cart trying to fight him every step of the way. But as much as he wanted to kick it into submission, he couldn’t afford to lose a wheel from the decrepit piece of equipment. So he reined in his temper and trundled it along to Kardak’s room.
The cry of the wheels announced his presence before he entered, Hika already staring at the door when he arrived. “What in the Locker is that?”
“Room service. Help me pick him up.”
She looked from him to Kardak and back again. “You’ve got to be joking.”
“Don’t really joke. No sense of humour.”
Her eyes narrowed at him but he ignored her, sweeping the covers off Kardak so that he could slip his arm beneath him and haul him up. The man groaned in his ear, murmuring something so incoherent he had no hope of understanding what he was saying. With a grunt, he placed his other hand beneath what was left of the man’s legs, now gone up to the knee. His eyes swept over the pink, swollen flesh of the stumps impassively, only noting what was necessary for the journey ahead.
“Where’s the nearest surgeon?”
Hika blinked, gaping at him as he tucked the sheet back over the man flopped across the delivery cart. He snapped his fingers at her and she refocused with a gasp, scrambling. “It’s, um, it’s – we should take him to the hospital. On the corner of Zoryth Street, down by the river.”
“Don’t know where that is.”
“I’ll need to show you.”
Janus eyed her ashen face and shaking hands. “Dangerous outside. Don’t know what we’ll find.”
She sucked in a deep breath and her expression settled. “It’s okay. It’s okay, I’ll be fine. Two heads are better than one.”
Janus did not have time to ensure she was certain. “Let’s go.”
On his way out, he caught Hogar at the top of the stairs, his mouth gaping open when he took in the view of Janus and Hika, Kardak bundled into the trolley. It took him a whole minute to process before he stumbled down the stairs. “It is not safe outside. You risk yourselves by leaving.”
“We must get him to a surgeon at once,” said Hika.
To emphasise her words Kardak coughed and mumbled, twisting beneath the sheet draped over him. His skin was unnaturally red, dripping with sweat. A hand poked out from beneath his blanket, grasping blindly at Hika’s hand, but his fingers missed and it flopped over the side of the delivery cart, groans tumbling from his lips.
Hogar looked grave. Mumbling a quick prayer beneath his breath, he swiped a thumb over Kardak’s forehead. “Rill ja korshi. Rillan laishi.”
“Dawn rise. Dusk fall,” echoed Hika.
“Stay safe,” said the old guide, eyes crinkling with worry. “Outside these walls you will no longer have the protection of our blessing.”
Janus held up his revolver. “We all have our blessings, Guide.”
Hika tittered. “Thank you, Guide.” They clasped hands with their right, tapping temples with their left. Then she was pulling back and taking the stairs down into the belly of the church, towards the mouth of the unknown beyond.
It took some effort to bump the wheeled cart down each stair, Kardak bouncing inside. The dangling arm flopped back and forth but Janus’ hands were occupied with controlling the descent, unable to do anything as Kardak’s entire body tilted towards the side, threatening to spill out. Nudging the cart to the other side, he almost tripped himself as Kardak’s weight shifted, tumbling to the left. Swearing, he flung them both down the last few steps, landing with a thud on the stone floor below. Between the church pews and the candle flame the sound echoed out into the cavernous space above.
At the door Hika stood, gazing out into the white light of a sky like curdled milk, washing out the brown of her skin and leaving her like a phantom, lingering within in the confines of the church as if locked into its walls. She turned at the squeal of the wheels, lips pursed tight. Tucking her kobi tighter around her tall, bulky frame, she shivered and turned back to the view outside. To the collapsed buildings and dissolved streets. One lamp had been half buried in stone, the light now deformed and bulging. It flickered intermittently like a warning beacon: those who dared leave sanctuary, beware.
“What if the hospital is also…?”
Janus shoved the cart down the series of steps to the wonky road below. “Can’t think like that. Move forward or stop moving altogether. There is no backwards.”
Her footsteps rang out behind him. “Sometimes you sound like those guides when you talk.”
He huffed a laugh but it was a hollow, bitter sound. Pushing the cart further into the street, he gazed around him, at the buildings half swallowed by the road, still glistening with the orange liquid encrusted in a translucent layer atop the warped cobbles beneath. When he kicked at it with his heel it did not crack, solid enough for the vibration to jar up his knee. It was uncanny, looking around. Half of the street had collapsed in on itself, forcing them to cut up an alley to get to the next street, which they found to be in a similar state of ruin. Tiles were embedded into the orange layer, alongside an abandoned laisok carriage, and several lampposts twisted around one another.
“What is happening?” gasped Hika, pointing.
Janus gazed up at several roofs floating in mid air, ripped from the carcasses of the buildings below. Through the sky a line of riftspawn swam away from them, pink and blue and purple when they crashed together. There was not a soul to be seen on the streets and Janus could only hope it was a good sign, that people had remained in the safety of some untouched shelter. The alternative was a much darker reality, and probably much more likely, but he dared not voice these thoughts to Hika, whose face crumpled more and more the further they walked.
“Janus, my sisters… We were closest to the rift.” She bit her lip to stop it trembling.
He paused for a breather, squeezing her shoulder. “They’re most likely to know what to do. Neyvik is smart.”
She exhaled in a rush, posture sagging. “You’re right. Yes. You’re – wha
t are you doing?”
A dark shape appeared above them, forming into the shape of a creature vaguely shark-like, with endless circles of teeth inside a swirling vortex mouth. Janus’ gun was out and Hika was swept behind him before she could finish asking him what was happening. “Stay down!” he shouted, dropping as the riftspawn swooped down upon them, mouth open as if to swallow them down.
Hiding behind the cart, he peeked over but he couldn’t see the creature. Beside him Hika gripped tight onto the edge, her knuckles turning white beneath the skin, but she remained steadfast with her eyes darting all around. He felt her tense and she pointed. “There!”
The riftspawn dived down, faster than before. But this time Janus was prepared, gun up and aimed upon its shimmering form. With a resounding boom, the bullet hit it centre on, dark smoke swirling up from the hole in its body. It released such a high pitched shriek it hurt, the two of them pressing their hands over their ears. The riftspawn’s form wobbled, parameters shifting. Then in a cloud of midnight smoke, it dissolved.
Hika breathed a sigh of relief, rising shakily to her feet. She was still staring at the clearing smoke, hair dancing in the wind. By now her hair had fallen from where it had been wrapped in a braid around her head, tufts sticking out from what had once been meticulously knotted.
“I fear what the world is becoming.”
Janus pulled himself up with the cart, staring into an opaque sky. The clouds covered all, hiding the truth of their reality from view. A thick fog was descending across the horizon, until only the most immediate objects were visible, almost as if the buildings had been swallowed up by the mist rather than the ground. If he had ever been asked to depict what he imagined the otherworld to be like, he would have said something like this. Pure desolation.
“Things change. Only truth there is.” She turned to look at him. “Can only do what we can with the aftermath.”
Hika smiled a watery smile. “There you go with the guide talk again.”
He waved a hand at her and she laughed.
A groan interrupted the moment, drawing their attention towards a suffering Kardak. He would not last much longer without medical attention. If there was any medical attention to be had. Janus did not even know if he could be saved at this point but he had to at least try. For every friend he had failed to save, for every time he had turned his back, he would no longer stand by and watch anyone else die if it was something he could prevent.
“I think we will need to go over the top,” said Hika, peering down the street before the fog could fill it completely. “The way to the hospital is blocked.”
Janus nodded. “Need to help me lift this.”
Hika’s complexion paled but she moved to the front to help him haul the wheels up over a sunken roof, Janus grunting as he thrust the cart onto the loose tiles. Squares of slate crashed as he stepped up, arms straining with the effort of trying to push it up the slope of the roof without allowing Kardak to tumble over the edge. Turning, he held out a hand to Hika, balancing precariously as he yanked her up onto the roof with them. Reaching the crest of the roof, he could see a little further beyond, glimpsing the cloudy reflection of the river and the rubble of several streets beyond, smoke and dust rising up into the air.
By the time they plotted a course through the city towards the hospital, Kardak was wheezing and spluttering, struggling to breathe. Janus shoved him onto his side in the hopes of alleviating some of his strain, he and Hika sharing a glance before breaking into a run towards the building she had pointed out towards the end of the road. Like the rest of the street, it appeared to be mostly intact, mercifully not destroyed by the strange events of past few days.
Not having the hands to spare, Janus kicked the door open and shoved the cart inside, only to draw the attention of so many pairs of eyes he stopped short. Hika crashed into his back, slipped around him to get a look, and gasped. For there had to be hundreds there, piled into the reception area, across the smattering of chairs, tucked into corners and spare cots, the rest scattered across the floor. He could barely make a path to push Kardak through so many bodies, all looking worse than the last. Passing men with arms turned to long tentacle appendages, woman with snakes for hair, and children with a face full of eyeballs, Janus turned his eye away and focused on flagging down a harried looking nurse who looked ready to mow him down for getting in her way.
“Our friend needs a surgeon.”
She eyed him, gaze moving him to the surrounding room. “You and everyone else, Wei.” Then she shoved past him, scurrying off into another room. From the door he could hear screams and howls of pain.
Hika was frozen, staring around her like she had stumbled into another world. And she had, it seemed. Nothing about this was as it should be. Even she, as familiar with riftspawn as a rift maiden could be, apparently could not fathom the result of their failure to guard the doors that kept the worlds separate.
Janus rubbed at tired eyes and thought about days gone past. He had always known this was a possibility. It had been in the cards, after all. Fingers reaching for the card in his pocket, he felt the relief of its shiny surface beneath the pads of his forefinger and thumb, trying not to fall head first into his pool of memories. But it was difficult, with the sight of so much death and suffering around him, not to tumble down. To remember what horrors had been inflicted upon those who had invited them in.
“How do we possibly fix this?” murmured Hika, her hand shaking around the rim of Kardak’s cart.
Janus gripped the handle tight.
“We don’t.”
*
“Are you ready yet?”
Vallnor glanced up at Fyera as she strode into the bathing room, his hand trailing through the candlelit water and creating rings of rippling fire across the surface. The sweet scent of jasmine wafted from the rising steam, oils poured into the bath to soak into his skin so that he smelled ripe for the plucking at this cursed gathering of his sister’s. Resting his head back against the tiles, he peered up into her harried face, a sheen of sweat beading on her brow over the layer of her face paint. With each flick of his hand the candles around the bath winked in and out, creating a strobe effect across her face.
“Stop messing around.” She snuffed out all but a few, dotting around the edge of the water. “This is important, Vallnor. Or have you forgotten?”
His eyes fell to his reflection on the water, distorted by the sloshing waves from his movements. They were not the same eyes he had always owned, too muddy to be the right shade of green, and the nose was too long, too elongated. His hair, skin, his jaw. Everything had changed. And yet memories still lingered, bound to each piece of him. He remembered the nasty fall that caused the scar on his brow and the brawl with boys much bigger than he over his meagre spoils from an old man that had twisted his nose ever so slightly out of shape. There was a story behind this face but the tale did not belong to Vallnor.
“Vallnor?”
It’s Viktor, he nearly snapped, but he reeled himself in on time. The heat was sapping his strength and he flopped back against the tiles in his weariness, brushing his hair out of his face. It was growing too long but Fyera had insisted it was more regal this way.
“I will be out soon. Perhaps you might want to replace me in here, dear sister. You are starting to look a little flushed.”
Her eyes widened. “I am not! Am I?” She patted at her rosy cheeks and scowled. “It’s because I’m chasing after you. And here you are, lazing about like a cat in the sun.”
Vallnor flicked water at her and she shrieked, hands coming up to shield her face. When she brought them down, water dripped from her cheeks, soaking her robe. He laughed, the sound echoing in the steamy room, and her expression melted, tension slipping off her shoulders. Shaking her head, she kicked at the edge of the pool, spraying him in the face. Spluttering, he ducked his head under and brushed his hair back, blinking the water from his eyes.
“Are you prepared for tonight?”
Fyer
a froze, blinking at him. “Am I ready? You’re seriously asking me that right now?”
“I mean are you prepared for who you have invited into our home? We’re not exactly the most popular around here. Remember how we died the last time.”
She shuddered and looked away for a moment. “It does not matter what they think. We are going to change their minds.” Her eyes had a distant, faraway look. “We will show them how wrong they were to think they could cross us. We will show them what it means to be a Siklo.”
The resolve in her eyes only heightened the anxiety pulling at his gut. Why did he no longer feel the same, when he had clawed his way back to consciousness for this express purpose? Why was Vallnor, the prince of flame reborn, doubting his existence at the most pivotal moment? It was not acceptable. Vallnor Siklo did not wobble and he did not waver. Vallnor Siklo took what was owed him and offered no mercy. The sooner he remembered that, the better this all would be.
“I will leave you to get dressed. Do hurry up, or I will begin without you.”
Vallnor barely heard her leave, too consumed by the swirling eddies of his thoughts. His fingers trailed the water, mimicking the way they felt. Really, this was just a test for him, to prove that he truly was the prince. That he was ready to take back what had been stolen from his family, all those years before. He did not get to this position by doing nothing and he wasn’t about to start now. If things had to get more difficult before they got easier, then he would fight it out to see their glorious return to power.
Appeased by the thought, Vallnor rose from the pool and left to get changed in his own chambers. As he pulled on the specially made kobi Fyera had commissioned, he felt the fabric’s weight against damp skin and straightened his spine against it, letting the silk flow around this new body of his. Gazing in the mirror, he heard the gravelly rumble of his father’s voice, commanding him to keep his chin up lest he embarrassed them. His eyes narrowed, jaw clenching. Sometimes the memories were as clear as the day they had happened and sometimes they were nothing but distant echoes, pebbles dropped into shallow ponds to distort the reflection.
The Rising Tide Page 21
