Chapter 17

BLACKWOOD’S WAY OUT

Where are we? Inside the dekatite? Through the center of Mirrix? Holland’s words on the submarine came back to Blackwood now. She’d never shrouded on land before – but with the overlaid maps on the windscreens, how many drivers ever saw what she did now? The patterns in the partially-obscured stars overhead were unrecognizable. No Richard’s Maple, no Sir Tristan’s Funeral Cot, nor the footsteps of Xeil walking him home. The moons… four of them. Four. A large one overhead, a smaller one at eye level, and two very small ones opposite one another at the horizon. One of them seemed to brush that strange band of light.

With Andrew flanking her on the right, Blackwood jogged as quickly as she dared over the rough terrain. The land reminded her of the rockier parts of Belzen to the south. But though it was often this windy in Belzen, it had never been this cold. A couple mountains nearby were clearly volcanoes, lit up red in the distance and leaking smoke. Small wonder it was so ashy and hazy here.

Even with the kaullix fur-lined hood of the military parka pulled around her face, the cold bit into her cheeks and stung her eyes. The parkas had no doubt been stored for this climate on the chance the truck got stuck, as theirs had. There had probably been spare bullets once upon a time, as well as guns, but during wartime, everything had been given to those who needed it. The parkas had been left only because they never needed them in Belzen. But parkas or not, Blackwood knew for a fact that no soldiers had ever staggered free from shrouding without a vehicle to protect them.

She intended to be the first.

Andrew had barely spoken a word since they’d disembarked. The strange creatures called from every side, their guttural cries echoing through the rocks and distant crags, but none were visible. Blackwood did her best to keep a sweeping vigil as she ran, though her eye caught on that wide band of light behind them every time her head turned. She carried the bag of notes again, and its weight slowed her. She’d thought about leaving it, especially since Andrew had all the information in his head, but she knew she couldn’t depend on him. Even if she could keep him beside her, there were no guarantees about what he chose to share.

Andrew was lagging. Blackwood allowed her already slow pace to falter, so he could catch up. “Faster, Andrew.”

“I’m sorry,” he huffed. By his tone, he wasn’t sorry at all. “It’s my foot.”

“What’s wrong with your foot?”

“Nothing. Just a cut.”

Blackwood rolled her eyes. “From what I saw on the chart,” she told him without stopping, “the dekatite source should be in those ridges. You can make it.”

“We don’t seem any closer than when we left.”

“Sure we do.” Why did she never get stuck in these situations with proper soldiers? Even Holland and his head injury would be better than this.

“Do you always travel through the same world?” he asked.

Jogging at a pace barely faster than a walk now, Blackwood eyed him sideways. Was he actually initiating a conversation? Non-sarcastically, at that?

“I would assume so,” she said.

“What is it? Another planet? Another dimension?”

“Don’t know. No one does.”

“And nobody commented on how unbelievably dangerous this is?”

I did, she thought. But aloud, she only said, “It’s necessary. We can travel across Mirrix in mere moments. We use shrouding as a passage, right through… through this place. A half-mile here could equal a few hundred on our own world. Or more. All you need is a dekatite surface big enough to enter. And then another big enough to come out. Anywhere in the world.”

“And of course you’re using it for war. Instead of for trading or something.”

“That was originally its purpose,” said Blackwood. “But then Dhavnakir happened.” If it hadn’t, our parents would still be alive. She almost said it out loud, but Andrew and those notes and his weird thoughts about religion… No. Better not risk setting him off again.

“So you’re saying we might come out in Qosmya or Narbona? Or Cardinia?” Andrew said.

“Well, we’ve only gone to the waters outside Jasterus,” said Blackwood. “But then again, I’ve only ever traveled by sea. I suppose anything’s possible. I got a basic course in how the thing works, but didn’t get the navigation training. Not many underwater dekatite veins, after all.”

“So there must be oceans in this realm. Right?”

The way Andrew saw that right off jarred her. She’d never thought about it. Never thought of it as a whole other world at all – just this black, cold, dangerous abyss that surrounded them for the precious few moments it took to get back to their own reality. She remembered her snapped answer to Holland’s question on the sub: we’re dead, if you don’t focus. Even now, she was singlemindedly aimed at that dekatite vein, with little thought besides their own survival. Andrew was… too smart for his own good. It would do well to remember that.

“Gaba! Gaba-ruta!”

Blackwood’s head whipped around. The dread that had lain barely covered in her heart blossomed into full terror as a flying creature bore down on them. It was only a little larger than a person, with leathery skin, limbs resembling arms – though far too many – and a face that seemed more sharp teeth than it did eyes or nose. Blackwood grabbed Andrew’s arm and shoved him behind her, then wrapped both hands around the shorter strap of the heavy duffel. The beast came right at her, never slowing, and when it was a little over an arm’s reach away, Blackwood swung the bag with all her strength. The bag caught the creature squarely in one ribbed wing and the side of its face. The force of the collision sent a jolt of pain through Blackwood’s right shoulder, and she was thrown back by its weight. She landed on her back, and wasted no time rolling back to a crouch. The creature had landed just in front of them, looking none the worse for her attack. It stalked forward on six limbs, its long teeth bared and slitted eyes fixed on Andrew, who was on his feet hurling rocks at it.

“Caeg-alay,” it whispered. The strange words carried easily through the cold wind.

“What do you want?” Blackwood said loudly.

It clicked its teeth, and its whole mouth spread wider. The stones Andrew threw bounced from its skin without so much as annoying it. Blackwood grabbed the bag again, the only weapon she had. The creature’s head darted toward her, and without warning, it sprang. Blackwood got the bag in front of her just in time. The beast slashed razor-sharp teeth into the cloth, and within seconds, had ripped it apart in her hands. Papers cascaded to the ground, spilling over her feet, lashing away in the wind, great handfuls of them already shredded to ribbons. Blackwood clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. She’d seen first-hand what the canines of shrouding creatures did to human flesh. She dropped the tattered remnants of the duffel and took several hasty steps back, removing the arphanium pipe she’d grabbed from her pocket.

“Andrew!” she said, without looking away from the monster.

“The – the research,” Andrew stammered. “Mother and Father’s–”

“Here!” She shoved the pipe back toward him. “I’m gonna run back the way we came. You head straight for those hills, and look for the dekatite. Just hold that and push through.”

“Wait! You–”

“Take it!” she snapped. “That’s an order!”

The creature was coming forward again, its claws ripping through the layers of paper drifting over the ground. Its body moved almost sideways, like a wary feline or a skittering scorp.

“Caeg,” it hissed. “Agay-a-caeg.”

“Zap it,” Andrew said.

“What?”

“With your lightning. Do it.”

Blackwood took a deep breath. “Take the pipe.”

Andrew took the piece of arphanium from her hand. One strike, Blackwood thought. I can do this. She channeled her energy through that ever-present tingling in her left arm and sent it straight forward like a bolt. The lightning hit the monster dead on, blinding her momentarily with the brightness of its flash. Thunder crashed, sudden and startling. The monster reeled backward with a horrible screech. The stench of burnt meat was unmistakable, yet somehow more foreign than anything she’d smelled before.

“Sh- Sh- Sh- Sha- Sha–” it stuttered furiously. It pushed itself back, and somehow got those powerful wings beneath the wind again. Then it was flying away, crookedly, obviously wounded. One of those wings was visibly smoldering. It sent a loud shriek back at them, this one with no discernible words.

Blackwood stared after it. She was still upright, with no nausea, no dizziness. Her brow furrowed, and she glanced back at Andrew.

“It didn’t weaken me,” she said. Because I got the mark in this world?

Andrew only met her eyes for a moment before turning his attention back to the papers fluttering across the land in the wind, scattering in every direction.

Blackwood shook her head. “With those monsters hunting us, it’d be suicide to try to save them, Andrew.”

Andrew turned away. He took one step, then another, before dropping to his knees. He reached out and grabbed a clump of paper that had caught against a rock. The arphanium pipe she’d handed him fell to the ground with a thump.

“Andrew! We can’t stop!”

He spread the pages out beneath his hands. She could see his fingers trembling even from where she stood. Gritting her teeth, she knelt at his side and swept up the arphanium. She put a hand on his shoulder.

“Shon Aha is the Dhavnak god of lightning,” said Andrew. His hands moved the papers restlessly as he spoke, his eyes never leaving them. “God of the Main Sun too, obviously, but lightning as well.”

Blackwood’s shoulders tightened. “What are you getting at?”

“Maybe… maybe he was the one who marked you,” Andrew said in a rush.

Oh no. This again. She slid the arphanium back into her pocket, then took Andrew’s elbow to help him up. He jerked it away.

“Andrew, we have to go,” she said.

“I knew you wouldn’t listen!”

“This isn’t the best time! We can discuss it later.”

“Our parents were studying Dhavnak gods, Mila! And now you can magically use lightning like–”

“No, they were studying shrouding,” she erupted. “Whatever else you think you read–”

“I know what I read!” he yelled. “Stop treating me like I’m stupid! I know how to read, I know the things that used to happen in this place during their experiments, and I heard that flying thing try to speak Shon Aha’s name after you used that lightning. It’s not a coincidence!”

It took Blackwood a moment to realize what he was talking about. “‘Sha’ doesn’t mean it was trying to say Shon Aha. That’s a big assumption.”

“Well, where do you think your powers came from, if you’re so smart?”

“I am not talking about this.” She stood, a flush of anger heating her face. She didn’t want to discuss Dhavnak gods, and she really didn’t want to discuss sharing some sort of magic powers with one. Did he really believe these things? What had he read to lead him in that direction? What kind of things had Cu Zanthus been telling him? Now that those notes were lost to her, how would she ever know? Maybe a psychologist. Not only to help figure out the truth, but to help him, for Xeil’s sake. I don’t know what to do…

“Mila!”

She looked back down at Andrew. He was staring up at the sky now, his mouth open. She followed his gaze.

The landscape spread out before her, still smoky, still windy, still barren… but there was a faint glimmer just ahead and to the right now. A sun was rising. One end of the strange band disappeared into the hazy orange dusting the horizon just behind a distant volcano. With the faint hint of daylight, the striped band of light had faded from silver to white, but it was still strikingly bright; like the moons, it wouldn’t be banished with the full light of the suns.

“Only one sun?” she asked. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

“No! The… the light band. It’s like Neutania!”

“Neutania?”

He shot her a look of scorn. “Didn’t you ever study astronomy? Read a textbook once or twice?”

“Astronomy? Of – of course.” She looked back up, sweeping her gaze across that arc again. She adjusted her perspective, and… for just a second… the stripes weren’t above her, but around her. “Neutania. The one with the rings.”

“Obviously.”

She stared for several moments, stunned. She wanted to deny it. But she couldn’t.

“What does it mean, Mila?”

“I don’t know, Andrew. I wish I did. I don’t…” I don’t like any of this, she almost said, but stopped herself at the last moment. As the commanding officer, she couldn’t cast doubt on her authority. He had to believe she was in total control. Even if he knew deep down she wasn’t, as long as she pretended, he’d follow her. She’d seen it time and time again.

“We have to go,” she said. “Now.”

He got up without arguing this time, several of those papers still clutched in his hand.

“Do you need me to carry you?” she said. “’Cause of your foot?”

“No. I’m fine.”

She took off at a jog again, feeling the pressure of their situation more than ever. She didn’t like those rings at all, if that’s what they were. And Holland… What were they doing to him? He had a mark, too; would Cu Zanthus try to force him to use it, after what he’d seen Blackwood do? Clearly, they hadn’t been able to shroud – unless they’d come out in some completely different place, or passed them as she’d slept. Maybe the monsters had killed them already. None of it was good. None of it.

Andrew was falling behind again. Blackwood circled back and hoisted him over her shoulder, despite his vehement protests. He was shivering violently. Either because of that or because of his difficulty keeping up, he didn’t struggle long. Blackwood picked up her pace again. Rattling cries from the rocky hills haunted her as she ran. She tried to find comfort in the thought of their Goddess, and their parents’ souls within her body. But she felt distant from home, distant from Mirrix, distant from belief. It was Andrew’s fault. She’d never been shaken before. When this was all over… when they could sit and talk… then what? Since when have I ever been able to have an honest conversation with him?

The dekatite ridge she’d been aiming for came into view eventually, its sparkling face glimmering faintly through the smoke, lit by the rising sun. Blackwood shifted Andrew’s weight and pulled the arphanium pipe from her pocket. She braced herself to run straight into it. She might smash her face bloody if there was some trick she didn’t know, but it was the best idea she had. Please, please let it work.

She was about ten steps away when something came streaking toward her from the ring side of the planet. She didn’t have time to reach the rock, didn’t have time to so much as turn and face the thing, before it struck her with the force of a speeding mobi. Blackwood barely registered her body being thrown. But she felt the impact of hitting the ground and spinning end over end in a series of excruciating bangs and jabs. Somewhere, Andrew screamed. Not beside her. She’d lost him. Gasping, she pushed herself up, pain stabbing from every side. The creature looked like a giant insect, long and sinuous, with hundreds and hundreds of multi-jointed legs. Licks of fire danced over its head, in varying shades of orange and blue. Enormous black pupils peered from the tight red flesh beneath, barely stretched into the semblance of a human face. One of its long spindly legs held Andrew pinned to the rocky ground. The end of the leg branched into several pieces to spread over his torso like grotesque fingers. Galvanized energy danced over its entire body – like lightning.

“Let him go!” Blackwood cried.

It whipped that huge head toward her and spoke, more clearly than anything they’d heard yet. “Tor-dom-an-kross-ana-tal.”

“Let him go,” she said again. “Then we’ll talk.”

It let out some sort of maniacal laughter, though nothing in those sharp teeth she glimpsed seemed to be mirthful. Rather than let Andrew go, it moved another leg toward him and wrapped its flexible digits around his head. Blackwood clenched her left hand into a fist and threw the energy from her mark toward the monster as if she were hurling a ball. Lightning lanced down from three separate places in the sky, including right behind her, branching and spreading its voltage across the entire length of the beast. Thunder boomed in its wake, a crack so loud it felt like a rifle going off beside her ear. The creature reared up away from Andrew, its body twisting into impossible curls as it swung its head from side to side.

Blackwood bolted forward. She shouldered Andrew’s weight again and raced for the dekatite slope. Out of the corner of her eye, the monster swayed, like it was ready to topple. Its massive body still danced with lightning. A blinding flash of light blindsided her, and the next thing she knew, lightning was pouring down from overhead, striking the land in every direction. Far behind them, a huge wall of sound crashed forth, encompassing them, as if from a massive explosion. The truck, she thought. The self-destruct sequence triggering when it was hit. Or maybe it was one of the volcanoes erupting. Maybe both. Fear spiked in her, so sudden it almost overwhelmed her. But she got a hand in her pocket, pulled out that pipe, and dove at the sparkling gray and black dekatite ridge.

“Is-min-shana-hathi-midrib,” the creature roared behind her.

Blackness enveloped her. Seconds later, she tumbled with Andrew to a jagged surface. The piece of arphanium flew out of her fingers as she tried to catch herself. She fell hard to the ground, sharp rocks biting into her knees and elbows. Andrew yelled as he rolled from her arms and came to an abrupt stop against a craggy boulder. The cold wind was gone, and without it, the air was noticeably warmer. Blackwood drew in a shuddering breath.

Andrew pushed himself to sitting, staring at her with naked terror. “You heard it. Right?”

“Yes, it has some sort of language,” she said. “Are you OK?”

“It said Shon Aha. It said it!”

She turned what she’d heard over in her mind. Is min shana… shana ha thi… She frowned and shook her head. “You’re reading too much into it.”

“I’m not. I’m not!” He was so agitated, she was afraid he’d explode. “What about its head? What about that lightning? What about that volcano erupting right as we left? It was like what you did, but a hundred times more powerful!”

“I don’t have Shon Aha’s powers,” she burst out, “and that wasn’t Shon Aha! It’s a stupid idea. Drop it!”

“It’s not stupid, Mila–”

“Be quiet. Just shut up for a second! I have to figure out where we are.”

She pushed herself onto her elbows, feeling every part of her body scream out in protest. She realized suddenly that the smell of the ocean surrounded them, mingled with the stench of sulfur. And when she looked up, she saw it: the sea, spreading out far, far below. They were on a cliff. In fact, the drop was a scant fifteen steps or so in front of her. Her stomach dropped. If they’d come out just a little farther forward…

But they hadn’t. A narrow escape, indeed. Jagged black rocks. This was no small dekatite mine or vein. The entire ground was of dekatite. Combined with the smell of sulfur, spit forth by hot springs and other volcanic fissures, there was only one place this could be.

Blackwood scooted right to the edge of the sheer cliff. She looked down on the northern end of Kheppra Isle – somewhere she’d visited a few times after attaining officer status, especially as a chief sea officer on the shrouding flagship. Her eyes fell on the back end of a submarine, poking from the submarine pen. After serving on her for two and a half years, Desert Crab’s shape was unmistakable. What was she doing here? Then her gaze encompassed the docks around the submarine pen, the men in black Dhavnak uniforms…

She backed away quickly, gritting her teeth.

Andrew watched her sullenly, but his tongue flicked over his lips, betraying the fear lurking beneath. “What? What is it?

“The Belzene Naval Base has a research station here,” she said. “Top secret.”

They’d spent the whole summer shrouding and keeping the Dhavnaks from sending ships in through the Qosmya Canal, while Dhavnakir’s allies in Narbona hammered away at Qosmya on the other side of the world, keeping them from coming to Belzen’s aid. No one had expected Kheppra Isle to be attacked; their enemies didn’t know the connection with dekatite, after all. How long had they been here? How long had they known?

Slowly, she turned her gaze on Andrew. “Just how long has Cu Zanthus been staying with you?”

Andrew visibly swallowed. “Why?”

“The Dhavvies have captured Kheppra Isle.”

“And you think that’s my fault?”

“I hate to say it. But yes.”