by L. Penelope
Ulani tugged at her hand and Ella realized she hadn’t been paying attention and had inadvertently led them toward a street corner where three Elsiran women held a silent protest. No, it was actually two women and one mannequin clad in Sisterhood robes with scraps of cloth tied over its eyes and mouth.
The Sisterhood had been in upheaval since the revelation that the Goddess had hidden the True Father’s escape. It hadn’t even been common knowledge that the two were related, much less siblings, much less twins. Many didn’t believe it, calling the reports lies, but there were plenty who did and were disgusted by the news. Temple attendance had plummeted and more and more Sisters were taking part in these silent protests.
One of their vows upon joining the order included a prohibition on speaking against the group, and so they made their displeasure known silently. Just that morning, Ella had read in the newspaper that the High Priestess was still urging patience, stating that the Goddess would return and explain Her actions and in the meantime, all believers needed to band together in prayer during this time of need. But how long were they expected to wait?
Ulani was particularly sensitive to criticism of the Goddess, and so Ella veered them away, crossing the street, closed to traffic for the market, to avoid the women. Except on this corner a small group of young men had gathered, and silence was in no way required of them.
“Free Zann Biddel! Free Zann Biddel!” The shouts were largely drowned out by the noise of the crowds doing their shopping. But it wasn’t their words so much as the props they held that made Ella grow tense.
Instead of picket signs with slogans painted on them, these men carried the symbols of Elsira—carved wooden fishes as long as their forearms and tree branches representing the tree and the fish of the nation’s seal. And if those branches and heavy wooden carvings looked an awful lot like weapons, well … she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.
Most shoppers gave both groups of protesters a wide berth, which made the already crowded streets even more so. And this was the last night market of the year—the temperature had dropped over the past few days—winter was here.
Raven yipped, feeling either Ulani’s tension or her own and Ella turned away.
“Miss Ella!” a voice called out. She grinned to find one of her customers hurrying toward her.
“Berta!” she exclaimed, wrapping the woman in a hug when she reached her. “How are you? How’s the baby?”
“Wearing me out, as usual. A bit colicky, I’m sad to say, but it’s to be expected. The others all were, too.” The round-faced woman was several years older than Ella and had recently had her third child. “And who is this?” she asked, beaming down at Ulani.
“Benn and I have adopted, this is Ulani and her sister there is Tana.”
Berta smiled. “So precious, and quite a change for you, isn’t it?”
“You have no idea.” Ella knew that becoming a mother would bring trials and tribulations, but living in an underground cave for a week while an ancient shaman taught her daughter to use her death magic had not once figured into her plans. Of course, she didn’t mention any of that to Berta.
“And this vote, how will it affect your family?” Berta’s question had been heavy on Ella’s mind ever since the vote was announced.
“I wish I knew. I can’t even vote, not until my citizenship comes through, but Benn cast his today—for unification, of course.”
Berta nodded. “It won’t affect us too much as foreigners, but I do hope the thing passes. Every day going back home to Fremia looks more and more appealing.” She shook her head.
Ella understood. She hadn’t thought of returning to her native country of Yaly as a real possibility, but Benn had brought it up the night before. If the vote passed and life for their blended family became difficult in Elsira, they had to keep all options on the table.
“Well, the polls just closed a few minutes ago,” she said. “We’ll get the results by morning and will be able to figure things out then.”
“Mama, can I have a candy?” Ulani asked, tugging at the hand she held.
“I’d better get on,” Berta said. “Best of luck to you and your family.”
“You as well,” Ella said and the woman rushed away. “Now, what kind of candy has caught your eye, little one?”
Ulani grinned and pointed to where a group of children had gathered next to a stall selling an assortment of treats. The girls’ friend Iddo was there with two handfuls of candy that he was trying not to let fall, and that she was almost entirely certain he hadn’t paid for. Ella rushed forward, either to scold or assist him, she hadn’t decided yet, when a high-pitched wail penetrated the noise of the crowd.
Almost as if they’d rehearsed it, everyone in the market froze. And then the already busy streets turned to chaos.
A loudspeaker bolted atop a streetlight crackled to life. “This is not a drill. Head quickly and calmly to the nearest emergency shelter. I repeat, this is not a drill. Head quickly and calmly to the nearest emergency shelter.”
The message repeated itself and people around her took off at a run. One of the children asked around a mouthful of candy, “What’s happening?”
“It’s the attack alarm!” Ella shouted over the din. “Follow me!”
Iddo grabbed a younger boy’s hand and the group of kids followed Ella and Ulani down the street, struggling not to be trampled upon. Raven managed to keep up, moving at a quick trot; at first they lost Benn and Tana in the press—but then they were there, Benn holding his older daughter in his arms as he fought his way through panicking people.
The neighborhood shelter was in the basement of a local theater. Ella picked up Ulani and quickened her pace, mindful of the others behind her. They reached the theater’s side door, which stood ajar. Ella wrenched it all the way open and started down the steps. Children filed in beside her and she set Ulani down. She didn’t see Benn or Tana and realized they were still outside on the sidewalk.
“Stay here,” she told Ulani, whose wide eyes were fearful. Ella raced up the steps.
“I can’t go down there,” Tana was saying. “I need to help.” Benn pursed his lips.
“There are only three of us,” Tana continued. “I can’t hide down there, I need to fight the wraiths.”
The war on Benn’s face was heart-wrenching. He was a soldier, he’d signed up to put himself in danger and was in a unique position to understand Tana’s plight. But just the thought of their eleven-year-old daughter in a battle of any kind still made Ella weak.
“They can’t harm her,” she whispered.
“And even if they could, I—” Tana’s voice wavered. She held her father’s hand. “I control death.”
All around them people ran for cover, terrified of the imminent attack. A few came to the shelter, mostly non-Elsirans though. Ella noted them as they hurried down the steps to the promised safety.
Benn still hadn’t spoken, he and Tana were locked in a silent argument. Ella placed her hand on his broad back. She was worried, too, but she’d seen what Nethersong could do. Benn hadn’t.
“I’ll come with you,” he said, finally.
Tana shook her head. “Please stay here so I don’t have to worry about you,” she pleaded. “Ulani will protect everyone down there.”
Benn’s face was set, and Ella was afraid that he wasn’t going to be reasonable about this. Then again, was it reasonable to let a child face down an army of angry spirits led by a five-hundred-year-old king?
“I’ve got her,” a voice called out, running up to them. Kyara was there, breathless. “I promise, nothing will happen to her.”
She spoke in Lagrimari and Ella translated. Benn’s brow was still furrowed, but at the sight of Kyara he finally nodded. “All right. All right.”
Tana wrapped him in a fierce hug, which he returned. The girl pulled away and hugged Ella, whispering in Lagrimari, “Make sure he’s okay.”
Ella stepped back and nodded, not even feeling the pang that usually
hit her when Tana’s preference for Benn over her became clear. The two had shared a bond from the beginning that went both ways.
“We have to go,” Kyara said, taking Tana’s hand. The Nethersingers raced off into the rapidly emptying street together. Ella tried to guide her husband down the stairs. But he refused to move until Tana had disappeared around a corner.
Tears streamed down his face as she was finally able to lead him into the shelter—one that should have been much more full of people. “She will be all right,” Ella whispered.
They shut the doors behind them and linked hands, with Ulani at the head of the chain, using her power to protect the rest. Screams and crashes sounded outside and Ella shook, praying to all the saints for strength and protection. And that her daughter was right and death couldn’t touch her.
* * *
Wraiths poured from the opening in the sky. Though it was nighttime, their inky darkness was even blacker than the night. Kyara and Tana had stopped in a tiny patch of grass located at the intersections of two wide streets, just a couple of blocks from the rapidly emptying market.
Kyara dropped into her other sight and instructed Tana to do the same. They stood hand in hand as the darkness above them became flooded with the fluid forms of wraiths. The portal they emerged from shone bright with Nethersong; it led to the World After and an infinite number of spirits waiting there. A shiver rippled through Kyara as she considered the potential of the threat they faced.
In her pocket, the death stone’s icy fire practically burned through the fabric of her trousers. Though the Breath Father’s words had hit hard and she never intended to use it, she still kept it on her person at all times, knowing she needed to ensure the powerful caldera did not fall into the wrong hands. The current crisis was more than enough to handle without adding to it with a disaster of that magnitude.
“All right,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady for Tana’s sake. “This is as good a place as any to make a stand. Stay in your other sight, we should have enough range to handle a large section of Portside from here.”
Splitting up may have been wiser, but she couldn’t very well leave the girl on her own. The spirits raining down seemed to be focused on this neighborhood, so this is where they’d work to defend and she had no idea where Mooriah was. Tana squeezed Kyara’s hand in response.
Spirits weren’t stymied by walls or any material barriers; they shot through buildings with ease and some even went underground, seeking out the folks hiding in basements. Tana’s family, huddled in one of the emergency shelters, came to mind. The Singers who’d agreed to help had been told to stay close to their assigned locations—hopefully they were doing their jobs, she and Tana must do theirs as well.
Trying to be as methodical as possible, Kyara searched the area around her in sections, ejecting the spirits from the hosts they’d taken over. One after another she forced them out, the knowledge that they would just seek out another living body scraping at her.
Many of the wraiths seemed to be converging in one location. “Do you see that, there?” she asked Tana. “About ten blocks down.”
“Yes, why are so many of them focused on that building? What is it?”
“I don’t know. But we should go see.”
They raced down the now-empty street as rumbles and crashes of devastation clamored around them. The wraiths appeared to be focused on causing as much destruction as possible. They were using their superior strength to punch holes in walls, shatter glass, and overturn vehicles. But as Kyara and Tana ran, the wraiths they encountered and dispelled were focused on the power lines.
The two Nethersingers drew closer to the building that so many of the dead had congregated around. She couldn’t read the Elsiran words written in bold, block letters, but the logo on the sign displayed a pipe and a drop of water. This must be some sort of water facility. She settled back into her other sight and got to work expelling spirits from bodies.
The Elsiran capital was completely wired for electricity and every place she’d been in the country had running water. It looked like the True Father was targeting his army’s attack on the utilities. Elsirans long used to the luxuries would find life difficult indeed if he succeeded.
Though she and Tana were doing their best, they were only making a dent in the number of wraiths running up to the building and tearing it apart with their bare hands. The heavy doors leading inside had not yet been breached, but it was only a matter of minutes.
More than one spirit tried to target them, but the Nethersingers were easily able to deflect the shades with their power. Tana was beginning to wobble on her feet though, the exertion getting to her. Kyara shot out a hand to steady her as more wraiths flowed from the portal. Unsure how much longer Tana could keep this up, Kyara began to get worried.
The sound of a vehicle roared behind them. She chanced a glance backward to find a large truck pull to a stop. A dozen Raunian men and women piled out armed with batons. Each also bore large packs on their backs. They leaped into the battle, knocking out wraiths with the batons—nonlethal weapons, Kyara noted, though the hosts would feel the effects of the blows when and if they returned.
Roshon’s fiancée, Ani, was among them. The young woman gleefully rained pain down upon the heads of the wraiths—even one-handed she was fearsome. She yelled a string of words at Kyara, who shook her head, not understanding.
Then Ani pulled out something from her pack. It was a square of dark fabric, cut in a long rectangle as tall as she was, and made of something like mud cloth or waxed canvas. Ani yelled again and Tana translated. “The wraiths can’t get through the cloth. Force the spirits out and her people will cover the bodies.”
The fabric must be coated in whatever that substance was that gave the Raunians their immunity. In Kyara’s other sight, the sheets of fabric were invisible—pockets of emptiness amidst so much death energy.
“All right,” she responded. “Why don’t I push the spirits out and you tell the Raunians which bodies to cover?”
Tana nodded her agreement and began speaking in halting Elsiran to Ani. The next few minutes blurred as Kyara drove out the spirits, while the Raunians continued fighting hand-to-hand as well as gathering spirit-free bodies together to cover and protect. An Earthsinger would be needed to revive them and heal their injuries. She caught glimpses of bloodied hands and some limbs twisted into painful positions before the dark cloth covered them from sight.
Even with the aid of the Raunians, the wraiths had breached the outer door and walls of the station and were rushing in, no doubt causing all manner of destruction.
Streetlights and the lights inside of nearby buildings winked out—either the power lines or the electricity generator must have also been damaged. The strategy was a good one and would leave the city paralyzed for days or weeks to come.
Tana was holding up, but just barely, looking drunk on her feet as she pointed out body after body to the Raunians, and continued to expel some spirits. Kyara felt little better. She’d never thought her Song could be drained like an Earthsinger’s could be, though every minute she felt on the edge of burnout. Depletion wasn’t a real risk as there was plenty of death energy around in a city—and sadly, some of the former wraith hosts were among that number. Many had already died, and an Earthsinger would be needed sooner rather than later before the others succumbed to their wounds.
Once she realized that the freed hosts were still at risk of death, Kyara began to pull Nether from them. This boosted her Song, but did not help her flailing energy. Her focus was fractured between jettisoning spirits from bodies and pulling Nethersong from the dying to keep them on the cusp of life until help could come. She was afraid she was going to unravel if this lasted much longer.
Pulled taut, nerves frayed, and senses bleary, gasps from those around her dragged her attention away from the carnage. She shuttered her other sight and followed the gazes of the others, tilting her head back to watch the night sky—now illuminated by a figure p
ractically glowing from within.
Her first thought was that Fenix had returned, but then her gaze focused and she made out Oola, hovering not far from the portal. The flow of wraiths had stopped, thank the seeds, and the Goddess Awoken peered into the tear in their world.
From this distance, Kyara couldn’t make out the woman’s expression, but She tilted Her head back and forth as if examining the portal. Then, as if responding to a silent signal, the spirits began to flee their hosts on their own, racing back to the portal, passing Oola in a whoosh of thick, black smoke.
Still staring up, Kyara felt the energy drain from her. Her Nethersong was not depleted, but her human body was. She collapsed in a heap, and the last thing she remembered was the glowing woman lit against a dark sky.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Charity given for personal gain is a
nightmare striking in the middle of the day.
A waking horror best left to be met
again in sleep.
—THE HARMONY OF BEING
Your body deflates as you close the viewing portal showing the streets of Rosira. Behind you, Nikora and Cayro breathe loudly, panting like possums, leaving hot breath on your neck. You have half a mind to silence them forever. Daydreams of tearing the life away from their flaccid bags of flesh bring a smile to your face. After the triumph witnessed through the portal, you fear your face may split.
“Why did you stop the attack?” Nikora demands.
You turn toward her. Having her at your back in the first place was foolish. “Strategy.”
She narrows her eyes and grins slyly. “Are you certain you were not stymied by the arrival of your sister?”
Your lips snap shut, annoyance clawing at you. She is just grasping at straws, she has no idea of what she speaks. “My sister is of no concern. It is better to leave them fumbling and badly damaged. I have proven that a larger attack will yield consequences. Our final strike will give us what we want.”
