Balmythra

by Linda Palmer

Chapter Thirty-Two

  A Stranger's Warning

  The ground beneath my feet began to tremble. At first I thought it was just my reaction to the nexus, which had rocked my world more than once. But a quick glance around, revealed the Sairons felt it, too, and were surprised. We all exchanged worried glances even as the vibration became a definite shift of earth and stone. In seconds, the walls and floors of the cavern shook violently.

  Screams and cries of terror filled the air as Sairons were tossed to the ground all around me. I somehow kept my balance in the chaos and actually dodged a boulder that split in two and crashed within inches of me. A shard grazed my right temple; pain shot through my head.

  "Psifly now!" I heard Cadrow's ringing command just as something burst in my consciousness like a supernova, sending waves of energy into the Void. Someone grabbed my hand as the mountain groaned and gave way, collapsing all around us.

  My body landed somewhere several yards from the cavern entrance. I put my free hand to my throbbing temple and touched blood. I felt brain dead—as if I'd never, ever be able to think again.

  Cadrow, still clutching my hand, pulled me up. It was dark now, and a soft glow emanated from him and the other elder Sairons present. The pulsating flames of my ring also helped me see what had happened. I realized that my ears were ringing and the ground still rolled. Slowly I grasped the situation. "My parents!" I pulled my hand from Cadrow's to run toward the mountain.

  He grabbed at me, just missing. "You can't help them."

  I saw why: there was no cave...just a pile of boulders as big as buildings. Though Cadrow's warning hadn't stopped me, the rubble of shifting rocks did. I stumbled, only to be caught by strong arms that set me upright.

  "Let me go, Cadrow." I had to find my parents, even if they were now buried under tons of rock.

  "Alleana."

  Jor!

  Pivoting, I made sure my ears hadn't lied and then threw myself at him. My monkey hug nearly grounded us both, as did the aftershocks of the cavern's collapse. Stepping forward to keep his balance, Jor hugged me back so hard I could barely breathe. I thought I felt his lips graze my cheek, but couldn't be sure of anything just then.

  "We really need to leave."

  I pulled back slightly so that our eyes met. "But how did you get out?"

  "You did it." He smiled as he set me on my feet.

  A thousand questions exploded in my mind even as I searched his face. He looked so tired. Was he okay? And where were my parents and all the others who'd been in the crevasse?

  "Your nexus jolted me awake a second before a bolt of energy blasted us. I felt your presence." Jor considered the remains of Memnoptar. "And I heard Cadrow yelling. A second later, I landed right over there."

  "Oh, Jor." I swallowed hard to keep from bursting into tears. It was my fault he'd gone through that. Thank goodness, he was free again. As for my parents.... "Do you know where my mother and father are? Did they get out, too?"

  "Nexus, Alleana."

  Of course. Even after everything, I still had trouble remembering that I now had gifts. I really struggled to quiet my mind and establish the connection, but once I managed that, a warmth infused it. I sensed my father’s presence, but I couldn't locate my mother. "Where's my mom?"

  "Guardian, you must come." Cadrow motioned for us to join him. Jor took my hand and we went to where the others now gathered. I saw people of every culture sitting and lying all over on the ground. Sairons and Ionians walked among them doing what needed to be done. I wondered briefly why Tirafalen didn't hover nearby.

  Cadrow beamed when he spied Jor. "Welcome back." He turned to me. "Your father is safe now."

  "And my mother?"

  "She's unconscious. We've psiflown those most seriously injured to Saironalis. Tirafalen is treating them there."

  "She's alive...." Vast relief flooded through me, and I sagged weakly against Jor, who gave me a quick side hug.

  "Oh, yes. You and your people successfully transported everyone from the Void. Your Ionian nexus is truly amazing, Guardian. We must talk about it soon, but for now I should supervise Barnos and Mandaus, who are constructing a temporary shelter."

  I'd been hoping for more. "We can’t just psifly them all back to Saironalis?"

  "Not just yet. It's very late, and we're exhausted. Besides, I think Tirafalen has enough to do caring for the more urgent cases."

  That made sense. "What happened to Memnoptar, Cadrow? Did the nexus cause this?"

  "I'm not sure, but I have an idea based on something I saw in your friend’s mind when I probed it."

  "You mean Matt?"

  "Yes. There was an opening between Nodyra and Balmythra…?"

  "That's right."

  "Ah." He rubbed his beard as he thought. "I sense a Xephyr Stream running through that opening, which explains why one seems to be stuck in place. As you know, they normally shift."

  I nodded. "We wondered about that."

  "Something has contaminated it," Cadrow said. "Something in Nodyra, I'm sorry to say."

  "Yeah." I again visualized what I'd seen through the opening in the wall of the cavern: the Wexton Nuclear Plant. Though that sounded like a sci-fi cliché, I had to wonder if the subatomic particles picked up by the Stream really had affected Balmythra in the worst of ways and compromised the integrity of the mountain.

  "I suspect that's what has happened." Cadrow answered as if I'd spoken aloud.

  Oops. I kept forgetting my thoughts were leaking all over the place.

  "But I can tell you're exhausted, so we'll talk more later." With that, Cadrow nodded respectfully and left us. Several seconds of silence followed, leaving me feeling awkward and shy.

  Jor broke the silence first. "Our Sairon connection is pretty static compared to your nexus."

  Knowing that was just small talk, I took the lead. "I’m so, so sorry for what I did."

  Jor quickly shook his head. "It wasn't you. I saw what happened, remember? The Umbrae did it."

  "You know about them, then?"

  "Yeah. Everything became crystal clear when I fell into the Void, well, before the blackness swallowed me whole."

  Love welled up in me. I could have been six again and so grateful for his attention that I impulsively hugged him once more, my cheek pressed to his thudding heart.

  "Leah! Finally. Are you all right?" Matt joined us, his gaze flicking from me to Jor and back again.

  "Believe it or not, I am. And so is Jor, thank goodness."

  "Glad to see you're okay, man." Matt slapped Jor's shoulder and gave us both a decidedly strained smile.

  Belatedly, I realized we were still hugging. I moved back, cheeks on fire, and cleared my throat to say something, anything. My mind went blank, of course.

  Thank goodness Kenny walked up. "Was that an earthquake?"

  "No. The very core of the mountain was compromised, resulting in this calamity."

  At the sound of that somber reply, we turned to see the radiant image of an older man in a long white robe hovering a few feet above the ground in the darkness.

  "Adlibbing angels!" Matt's soft alliteration earned him an elbow jab from me. Our visitor appeared not to notice.

  "Greetings. I am Taurelle. It is imperative that those of you who are summoned join me in the cavern of Rezyra in two days' time. The existence of Balmythra depends upon it." With that mysteriously terse announcement, he vanished.

  Kenny broke our stunned silence. "What the heck?" He rounded on Jor. "Do Sairons do that a lot?"

  "No. We walk on the ground just like everyone else."

  "But—"

  I slashed my hand across my throat to cut off Kenny's questions. "Can we psifly to Saironalis and talk about this there? I'm dying to see my parents." I'd been without them eleven years, after all.

  Matt took one good look at me and nodded. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

  The psifly took seconds. I left everyone and ran straight into the healing temple. Rocc, who'd appa
rently felt my arrival, stepped into the main hall from a side room. Grinning, he motioned for me to hurry. I didn't need his urging to hurtle myself down the hall and through the door. My dad jumped to his feet and lifted me off mine as he gave me a hard hug. I cried; he cried; Rocc cried, too. So I could barely see my mom when I went to her pillow bed and dropped to my knees on the tile floor nearby. I took her hand, but she didn't stir.

  The sight of her closed eyes and pale skin really scared me. I looked over my shoulder at Dad. "Is she going to be okay?"

  "Tirafalen thinks so, though she says your mother seems to be in some kind of trance. Perhaps her mind has shut itself down to rest and heal."

  "Wish mine would do that," I told him.