A World of Secrets (The Firewall Trilogy)

by James Maxwell

  A dozen skalen warriors surrounded the narrow mouth of the smallest cave. Nearly all carried javelins as they braved the pummeling winds to face the dark opening in front of them. A skalen in front, tall for her race, wore fine clothing and a fan-like necklace of glossy silver metal. Her nostrils flared as she hissed something to her companions and flashed her teeth.

  The leader pointed at the opening and shouted again. With no sight of Taimin or Lars, Selena wanted to find out what was inside. She flew down toward the cave so she could hear what the skalen leader was saying.

  She struck a wall.

  The sensation of being repelled was stronger than anything she had felt before. She bounced off the invisible wall and tumbled over and over before she regained control. Wondering what had just happened, she tried again, this time more slowly.

  As she neared the cave, she began to experience resistance. She flew away and tried to come in again from a different angle, but once more struck a barrier she couldn’t see. She could move wherever she wanted, provided she didn’t approach the cave that the skalen were facing.

  Then she realized what it was she was experiencing. There must be aurelium inside the cave.

  She wondered what to do. The two giants would reach the three peaks long before she could get there with Vance and Ruth. Yet she had no choice but to turn back.

  Knowing every moment counted, she pulled on her lifeline. The world blurred around her as she traveled toward her body. She spied the square boulder, and there was Vance, standing and shielding his eyes as he called Ruth’s name into the sandstorm.

  She saw a young woman—herself—on the ground with her coal-black hair draped over her face. Only a short time had passed since she had left.

  She returned to her body and her eyes refocused. With no time to lose, she shot to her feet and gripped Vance’s shoulders.

  “Vance. I found Ruth. Come on.”

  “You found her?” He looked confused, and then realization dawned in his eyes. “Where is she?”

  “She’s fine,” Selena said. “You’ll see her soon.” She grabbed his hand. “But we have to hurry.”

  28

  The temperature plummeted the moment Taimin stepped through the tear in the gray wall. It was already cool within the caves, but this was altogether different. Bumps rose on his skin. He gritted his teeth. For the first time in his life, he was truly cold.

  He still held his drawn sword, and cautiously scanned for threats. He found himself in a wide corridor with smooth walls and floor. Rubble had blocked off the passage to his right; the tremor from the past had even brought down part of the ceiling. There was only one direction he could take.

  Reminding himself that Lars was guarding the cave from the skalen outside, he began to follow the corridor as swiftly as he could manage.

  He looked around in fear and wonder. He didn’t know what the gray walls were made of, but they were uncannily perfect. Aurelium floated in the air. The glowing organism danced in groups like constellations, and as he continued, the unmistakable signs of the life form became increasingly prevalent. Patches of green clung to the walls like moss. Aurelium coated the ceiling and even the floor, forcing him to step warily over it. This was nothing like what he had seen in the skalen mine.

  There was so much of it.

  Up ahead, some aurelium detached itself from one wall and floated across the corridor to attach itself to the other side. Whatever the walls were made from, it wasn’t metal, or they would have been eaten like the rings placed near the fissure.

  As Taimin followed the passage, he tapped his sword against the wall. The returning sound was dull, rather than sharp. Definitely not metallic. Then he realized with horror that some aurelium had attached itself to his blade. He shook the sword and quickly wiped it on his tunic until all of the green particles were gone.

  Taimin couldn’t believe he was inside the machine that once swallowed Selena. He was filled with urgency; he didn’t have much time to find a way to destroy or disable it. But at the same time, he was in awe of this utterly strange, alien place. His breath misted in the chill air. He shivered and rubbed at the raised hair on his forearms. His footsteps made little sound on the hard floor, but another noise, an irregular hum, came from all directions. The sound made his skin crawl; it felt as if the air itself was vibrating. It might have been his imagination, but as the hum became a rumble he thought the corridor was shaking, in multiple tiny increments. He heard a distant hiss and then the rumble faded back to a hum, but never went away altogether.

  He waved his sword again to dislodge the aurelium clinging to it. As he watched the tiny specks swirl in the wake of his movement, he realized his pulse was racing. He reminded himself about the things he had learned from the skalen in the mine. It was cold enough that he didn’t need to worry about the aurelium detonating, but that didn’t mean he wanted his blade eaten away. At the same time, he was wary enough to keep his sword out.

  Something was changing up ahead.

  The corridor he was following looked like it would go on forever as it curved almost imperceptibly. Yet he now saw another corridor, far larger, opening up on his right. This next passage plunged in a direction that he was certain would tunnel toward the middle of the desert.

  Taimin reached the new corridor. As he stopped and stared, his heart pounded so loudly he could barely hear the background hum.

  He was staring into another endless corridor, stretching into eternity before it vanished in the distance, making it impossible to see the end. Patches of aurelium obscured the walls and ceiling. Bright green particles darted about. This was far, far more aurelium than Taimin had seen in the outer corridor. Everything in his vision was either green and glowing, or dull and gray.

  He glanced back the way he had come. He could no longer see the tear in the wall that led to the world he had left behind. This place couldn’t be real. Surely he was dreaming. Who could build such a machine, or artifact, or whatever this was?

  Lars was holding off the skalen—or so Taimin hoped. Milton had given his life so that Taimin could be here, now, inside the machine they had all been searching for. Five companions had left Zorn and traveled across the wasteland. They had faced dangers together. Relationships had been tested. Taimin owed it to everyone who had come with him to see his quest to its end.

  He entered the wide corridor. If he was inside the body of a strange beast, perhaps he would find what he was looking for at its heart.

  Now the green glow was strong enough to strain his eyes. He continued cautiously, and as he headed deeper into the corridor he saw a series of angular symbols on the wall up ahead. Rather than green, the symbols were white, and somehow emitted light so that they stood out against their surroundings. Each symbol comprised sharp, sweeping lines crossed together. Clearly they were intended to communicate something, although Taimin had no idea what it could be.

  Then he remembered. He had seen a similar marking before.

  He was taken back to the dried-up riverbed with steep-walled sides. A tall, horned monster stood over him, evidently wondering why Taimin’s leg had crumpled underneath him. The giant had a prominent, angular symbol on the breast of his striking costume.

  Taimin knew then that it was true. Selena had been right. They had encountered the long-vanished race of builders.

  But who were they?

  A loud hiss from farther down the corridor returned him to the present. He had to keep moving. Lars would be able to buy him some time, but he was outnumbered and wouldn’t be able to hold off the skalen forever.

  Taimin continued along the endless passage. In the distance, aurelium covered the walls and ceiling so thoroughly that all he could see was solid green light.

  He fought his growing fear. All he knew was that he was in a place both fascinating and terrifying. A loud rumble came to a crescendo, then another shrieking hiss made his pulse quicken.

  He gripped his sword tightly as he headed into the unknown.

  “Th
e first to enter will be the first to die!” Lars called out.

  Lars waited just inside the narrow entrance to the cave and held his axe at the ready. He tried to picture the skalen outside. Intuition told him they were summoning their nerve to attack. They may be skilled with javelins, but Lars knew that a skalen was no match for a human in close combat. And nothing was closer than the place he had chosen to make his stand.

  As he leaned into the rock, he was surprised to feel a gentle vibration. The reverberation grew stronger, then reached a climax. A strident hiss came from the direction of the cavern’s rear, making his head jerk around. He wondered what Taimin was seeing.

  “Listen, human,” a skalen called. Lars recognized Kash’s sibilant voice. “All it will take is one miscalculation and the aurelium could ignite.”

  Lars frowned. Taimin had described what he had seen. He hadn’t thought about the danger.

  “You need to leave.” Kash’s tone became urgent. “Be gone from this place, and never come back. If you leave now, you can go in peace.”

  “Don’t you want to know what it is?” Lars demanded.

  Kash sounded exasperated. “We know what it is. It is a machine that produces aurelium.”

  Lars shook his head, though no one could see him. “You fools,” he called back. “Have you ever thought that maybe it doesn’t produce aurelium? Something keeps it rumbling and blowing fire. Maybe aurelium is what it consumes.”

  There was a pause, before Kash called back. “To what end?”

  Lars stepped out so that the skalen could see his axe. He kept half his body obscured, mindful of the javelins pointed his way.

  Out in the open, Kash and her dozen warriors stood buffeted by the wind. The haze thickened as a strong gust swept grit into the basin. For a moment the group of skalen almost disappeared from view, before Lars saw a flash of Kash’s face along with two warriors beside her. If the skalen weren’t so desperate, Lars had no doubt that they would be hiding safely in their residence.

  Lars shouted to be heard above the sandstorm. “I told you. We think we know what the machine is—!” He faltered, trailing off.

  A tall figure emerged from the cloud of dust, to the right of the skalen grouped nearby. The giant’s head was triangular and bore two curling horns. His face was set in an expression of menace.

  Lars’s blood ran cold as he immediately recognized the towering creature and the long spear with the vicious blade at the end.

  “Humans . . .” the giant growled as he glared at the skalen.

  Then the giant saw Lars. He roared, lifted his spear, and began to take long strides.

  Lars ducked inside the cave. He stood frozen with his back pressed against the wall. He knew he had to do something. He had never let fear paralyze him before.

  But at the same time, he couldn’t escape the feeling that death had come for him and there would be no escape. The giant had shown himself at the riverbed and then left abruptly, like a vaguely recalled nightmare. Now he was back. Lars had been chosen.

  A few heartbeats passed. Lars shook himself. He turned and glanced toward the direction Taimin had taken. Perhaps he should follow . . .

  The giant ducked his head to enter the cave.

  With a rock wall at his back, there was nowhere for Lars to go. As the giant spied him and lunged, Lars tried to lift his axe but the monster was fast. The giant’s hand took him by the neck. The axe clattered to the ground.

  As the giant’s grip closed ever more tightly, his red eyes narrowed.

  “Where . . . ?” The rasping sound whistled as it passed through the giant’s rows of yellow teeth. “Where . . . Taimin?”

  Lars could barely breathe, let alone speak. He shook his head. The movement was little more than a twitch.

  “Where . . . ?” The giant’s head moved, and the tip of a crimson horn scraped against Lars’s cheek.

  The grasping fingers squeezed to choke off Lars’s air supply. Stars sparked in front of his eyes. The edges of his vision darkened. The darkness encroached, until only a circle remained visible, centered on the fiery eyes gazing into his soul. Lars’s chest convulsed. He tried to draw air down his throat but heaved in vain. He knew he was about to die.

  The monster relaxed his grip. “Where . . . ?” he rasped again.

  Lars gasped. He summoned his strength. This would be the last thing he did. Taimin had entered the machine, which was vast enough to span a desert. Lars opened his mouth and bellowed, “Taimin! Run!”

  The giant whirled to throw him with force.

  The world flashed by. Lars smashed into the hard rock wall. All he knew was that his back and skull took most of the impact. He was surprised he couldn’t feel any pain.

  He lay crumpled on the ground. His head felt broken. His vision wavered.

  He was dimly aware of the second giant, the female, entering the cave. The two rumbled to each other in their strange language. The bigger giant strode in the direction Taimin had taken while his companion trailed behind him.

  Lars’s eyes slowly closed.

  Ingren glanced back at the crumpled human but Ungar moved on, heedless of the carnage he left behind him as he pursued the fulfillment of his quest. Ungar ducked under an overhang, then the tunnel opened into a wide cavern, and he and Ingren were both able to straighten.

  Ingren stopped.

  This wasn’t supposed to be what happened.

  She had wondered why the humans had an interest in the desert. It was an odd choice of destination. She knew what was here, of course, so close to the firewall’s edge, in a place where few members of the five races would settle. But it was supposed to be sealed.

  She saw the broken boulders near the vertical fissure. She took in the green glow pouring from somewhere deep inside, and the specks of aurelium swirling in the air. The humans had found what was supposed to remain hidden. They had discovered a way in.

  Ahead of Ingren, Ungar was already stepping over the rubble. He placed a hand on the edge of the glowing opening to pull his large body through.

  “Ungar, this is wrong,” Ingren said. “I advise you to stop. Immediately. We should not be entering.”

  Ungar came to a halt. He paused in the opening, his body silhouetted by green light. He turned his head.

  “You say we should not be entering, but a human is already inside. It is right that I hunt him down. You must follow, bondmate. Now come. This quest is nearly at an end.”

  29

  Selena’s heart raced as she reached the three peaks. She knew that the two menacing creatures hunting them would have already arrived.

  When she glanced over her shoulder to check on Vance and Ruth, she was surprised to find the golden sun was low, making it late afternoon. She could again see the strip of red on the horizon, indicating the firewall. As the sandstorm came to an end, the haze of dust cleared to reveal the color blue.

  Remembering the scene she had farcasted, she took the shortest route to the long, low escarpment. The three peaks towered over the area. The surrounding basin slowly became visible. She had no idea what she would find below.

  Her father had said farewell. He would have contacted her again if he was still alive. She was forced to ignore the squeezing in her chest. Taimin and Lars might be in grave danger.

  Selena didn’t understand why the giant with the curling horns had left the first time, but he was back. He had said he wanted Taimin to die, but then he had let him live. She had a terrible foreboding that he was here to finish what he had started.

  Taimin was a strong warrior. He had been trained by Abigail, a woman whose reputation as a fighter was legendary in Zorn. Abigail had fought in the arena and won her freedom, years before Taimin was born.

  Even with his injury, Taimin had survived his own battles in the arena. But this was an opponent he couldn’t defeat.

  Taimin was only a short distance into the wide, glowing corridor. All of a sudden, he stopped and cocked his head. The shout was faint, but desperate, and cut through th
e hum that came from all directions.

  “Taimin! Run!”

  His breath caught as he heard Lars’s voice. He glanced back the way he had come. The skalen must have entered the cave. Milton had killed Zaitan, the most vicious of them. Would the others take Lars prisoner? Or would they want vengeance?

  Thoughts whirled through his mind. He wanted to turn back, but he knew his chance wouldn’t come again. He pictured the red sky and blackened ground at the firewall. He saw the bodies of his parents as they turned to ash. He remembered standing on a dune and watching a vent release a burst of searing heat.

  Somehow, this strange machine powered the wall of fire that separated the wasteland from the lush vistas on the other side. If the firewall remained in place, the population of Zorn would perish. Even if a new source of water was found, the city would find itself under assault again and again. The wasteland’s denizens would live forever in conflict, like animals fighting over a waterhole, unaware of the lake nearby. Without the firewall, everyone could build better lives.

  He had to push on.

  Aware that enemies were approaching, he moved with haste. Larger patches of aurelium clung to the walls. The gray floor rumbled beneath his feet. Another hiss sounded like it came from somewhere farther down the corridor.

  He glanced at the wall and started. He had become used to the angular symbols, but now realized he was looking at a bright white image of a spoked wheel. A red light blinked on one of the wheel’s spokes.

  Taimin wondered what it was, until he realized: the image must be telling him where he was in relation to the rest of the machine. It was so immense that he had barely made any progress.

  He had to find its center.

  But as he contemplated the image, his heart sank. He would never get there before the skalen found him, not at the rate he was traveling.

  He then noticed something else.