Chaos and Retribution Box Set, page 87
part #1 of Chaos and Retribution Series
“This is acceptable to us. Though we have no love for Ya’Shi, if he says you are necessary to fight the Abyss, then it must be so. It explains why he did this thing which we could find no reason for. We will make no more attempts to take you until the Devourers have been defeated. You have our word on this.”
“Mama?” Aislin asked, looking up at Netra.
“We’re going to talk about this more,” Netra said. “A whole lot more.”
“I know.” Aislin squeezed her hand. To the Lementh’koy she said, “You should go now.”
“We will.” The leader gestured at the barriers between the trees. “Those will fall apart in a short while.”
The Lementh’koy climbed into the trees and disappeared. Aislin and Netra were alone once again.
“What happened to you, Mama?” Aislin asked. “You scared me.”
“I scared me too,” Netra said, a bleak look on her face. “What happened is I let the hunger out.”
“What’s that?”
“During the war I…did things I’m not proud of. I learned I could take LifeSong from animals and even people and use it to make myself stronger.”
“Why, Mama?”
Netra scrubbed at her face. “I thought I had to if I was going to fight Melekath. At first that’s why I did it anyway. But after a while I did it because I liked how it made me feel, and I couldn’t seem to stop.” She gave Aislin a sad smile. “You saved me today, you know that? If I’d kept…going, I don’t know when or if I would have stopped. I don’t know what I would turn into.”
“I’m glad you stopped.”
“It was when you said you loved me. That’s what did it. You’ve never said that before.”
“Oh.” Now Aislin felt uncomfortable. She’d kind of forgotten that she said that.
“I came back from the edge because of you.”
Aislin shifted uneasily. “We don’t have to keep talking about this.”
“No,” Netra said. “We don’t.”
Chapter Eight
“So can I go down to the sea tomorrow?” Aislin asked. It was nighttime and she and her mother were getting ready for bed. They’d met with Rome and Quyloc and told them what happened. The soldiers who’d been guarding them had been sent back to their barracks. Aislin was hoping this meant that things were going to return to normal now. And normal meant getting to go to the sea again.
“Well…” her mother said hesitantly.
“Come on!” Aislin said indignantly. “They’re not going to come after me again.”
“We don’t know that—”
“Yes, we do. They promised.”
“How do we know they’ll keep that promise?”
“Maybe you don’t, but I do.”
“And how do you know that?” Netra asked.
“I don’t know, I just do. When the Lementh make a promise, they keep it.”
“Is that why you told them you’d go with them once the danger is past?”
Aislin bit her lip, thinking. “I think so. It’s confusing. I feel like I know them, like I’ve known them for a long time. And I want them to be okay, like I want you or other people I care about to be okay. It feels important to me.”
“You think it’s because some of Golgath is in you?” Netra asked.
Aislin shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Whether he is or not, it’s not your responsibility to care for those people.”
“Are you sure? Isn’t that why I have these powers?” Aislin asked. “Maybe I’m supposed to take care of them.”
Her mother got an odd look on her face when Aislin said that. It was a look Aislin didn’t understand at all.
All at once the room seemed to grow darker. Aislin looked at the lantern, thinking maybe it was running out of oil, but it was still burning with its same, normal flame.
“Did it just get darker in here?” Netra asked.
“I think so,” Aislin replied. “Maybe—”
Her words cut off as a shadow appeared suddenly right beside her. It was like a rip had opened in the air, a hole that led to a place where light never shone.
Aislin took a step back. Her mother called a warning and started toward her…
A hand reached out of the shadow and clamped onto Aislin’s wrist.
Aislin was jerked forward, into the shadow, and plunged into utter darkness.
╬ ╬ ╬
Seconds passed. Or maybe it was hours. Aislin couldn’t tell. She felt a grip as cold as ice on her wrist, holding onto her as she was pulled through black nothingness at terrifying speed.
But all at once the darkness lifted, the hand let go, and she fell out of the shadow and into a room lit with a reddish glow. She stumbled and fell onto stony ground, scraping her knee.
She came to her feet and turned around. She was in the cavern. Nearby was the vault made of black, glossy stone, reddish light spilling from the open doors. Stepping out of the shadow was a tall man with white skin and a face that looked like it had been carved from stone. His eyes were cold and inhuman. Things moved under his skin, like eels, the skin rippling as they passed.
There was a shout and Aislin turned to see two armored men standing at the mouth of the newly-widened tunnel that led to the cavern.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” one of them said as they drew their weapons and approached Aislin’s kidnapper, spreading out to flank him.
“I don’t have time for you,” he snarled. He gestured at them. “Ilsith, get them!”
The shadow shot toward the guards. Indistinct, shadowy limbs sprouted from it as it went, at their ends the suggestion of bladed edges limned in an unnatural, purple light.
The blades flashed twice, and the guards fell, their throats cut open.
Aislin stared in horror at their dead bodies. Her captor turned toward her.
“Who are you?” she asked, backing away from him.
“Even if I told you, my name wouldn’t mean anything to you,” he said. “It would to your mother, to Rome and Quyloc, but not to you.”
“You’re one of the Devourers, aren’t you?”
A grim, humorless smile appeared on his face. “No. But you could say that we have an agreement. I get them the pieces of the key, and they give me—” He waved his hand around. “Everything else.” He took a step toward her.
“What are those things under your skin?”
“You want to know what they are? Look.” He leaned over her and opened his mouth. She saw movement in the dim recesses of his throat and a black, eyeless thing, its gaping maw filled with teeth, slithered toward her. Aislin backed away, but she only went two steps before she felt the cavern wall at her back and could go no further.
He closed his mouth and straightened. “They are called ingerlings. You mother and the alien, the one who calls himself Shorn, they did this to me. They put these things inside me. But they made a terrible mistake. The ingerlings didn’t kill me like they thought they would. Instead they made me stronger.”
He took a quick step and grabbed the front of her dress in his fist. “Enough talking. Retrieve the artifact for me. Make it quick and you can be home in bed in a few minutes and this will all be only a memory.”
“No. You can’t have it. The Devourers can’t have it.”
To her surprise he did not seem angered by her refusal. Instead he said, “I had a feeling you would say that. I’ve been watching you for a while, long enough to know that you are a willful child. I was hoping you would be reasonable, but if I’ve learned anything about humans, it’s that most of the time you aren’t. Still, you will get the artifact for me.”
Aislin shook her head stubbornly. “I won’t.”
“But you will. It’s all a matter of leverage. Which I have. You really shouldn’t have gone and gotten so attached to so many people. You were better off before you let them confuse you. At heart you’re more like me than you are like them.”
“I’m not confused,” Aislin told him defiantly.
“Once you take on human emotions you become confused. They go together. There’s nothing you can do about it,” he told her. “Who do you want to die first? Your mother or your little friend, Liv?”
“What?” Aislin asked, suddenly afraid.
“Who do you want to die first?”
“Nobody!”
“But you already refused to get me the artifact. What else should I do?”
“Go away.”
“See what I mean? Completely unreasonable. Pick who you want to die first, or I will. All I have to do is say the name and in a couple of minutes Ilsith will return with her head. Or you could stop fighting me and get the artifact. It’s your choice. Either way, I will have it.”
“You’ll never get it,” Aislin said…
And she reached for the sea.
It answered her call immediately. Crashing sounds echoed down the tunnel as it surged up the stairs. Already Aislin was forming creatures within it, creatures she would use to tear the cold-eyed thing before her into pieces.
“I expected you to do that,” he said. He went to the mouth of the tunnel and placed his hands on either side of it. His hands began to glow red. The stone walls melted, slumping like hot wax. Soon the tunnel was sealed. He turned back to her.
“How did you do that?” Aislin asked.
“It’s stone,” he said. “The sea answers to you, the stone answers to me.” He smiled coldly. From the tunnel came the sound of water crashing against the stone. “Try as hard as you like,” he said. “It will do no good. The sea will never break through. At least not in time to help you.”
Aislin cupped her hands around her mouth and sent out a call that echoed around the small cavern. He tilted his head to the side and regarded her.
“What is it you called, I wonder? Perhaps your squid friend? But that will do you no good, you know. The shliken is far too large to make it up the stairs.”
“You’ll see,” Aislin said grimly. “You’ll be sorry.”
“I don’t think so. What I am is angry. You have stalled long enough, child. Now I’m going to send Ilsith to kill your mother.” He raised his hand.
“Don’t!” Aislin cried. “I’ll get it for you!”
She turned and walked slowly toward the open doors of the vault, her thoughts racing. She shouldn’t do this. Even if he killed everyone she loved, it would be better than what would happen if he gave the artifact to the Devourers. But the thought of Mama dying was unbearable.
She entered the vault. There was the artifact sitting on the pedestal, glowing brightly. The cold-eyed thing pretending to be a man had moved to where he could see her, and he called out then.
“Bring it to me and this will all be over. You can keep your mother and the rest of them safe.”
The artifact looked like she remembered, red as a ruby, but without the facets of a gem. About the size of her hand, one side was curved in a semi-circle, the other side jagged, as if it had been broken from a larger piece.
A moment later she realized that it had been. He had mentioned the pieces of the key. This then, was only part of the key. That made her feel a little bit better. Even if she gave him this piece, he would still not have the whole thing. He could still be stopped, maybe by one of the other children Ya’Shi had told her about.
She looked over her shoulder. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Of course you can.”
“The last time I touched it, it knocked me down. It hurt.”
“But it didn’t kill you, that’s what counts. On the other hand, if you don’t bring it to me right now, I will kill your mother. Think about that.”
Aislin turned back to the artifact. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “But I can’t let him kill Mama.”
Hesitantly, she touched the artifact with one finger. It glowed brighter, and she jerked back as a shock went through her, painful but not unbearable. This time it didn’t knock her across the room anyway.
Taking a deep breath, she picked it up. It was cool and surprisingly heavy. She wondered what it did. What was it the key to?
“Now bring it to me,” he said.
With slow steps and a heavy heart, she made her way across the vault. There’d been no answer to her call. She was going to have to give the artifact to him. She thought about closing the door and staying in here.
“Why didn’t you come in and get it yourself?” she asked.
“Something to do with these,” he said, pointing to one of the eel-like things moving under his skin. “Anything with chaos power in it can’t get near the vaults. The masters’ doing, I expect. Quit stalling and bring it to me.”
She left the vault and stepped back into the cavern. There was no going back now. She crossed the cavern to where the cold-eyed thing that was not a man waited. His eyes, fixed greedily on the artifact, reflected its red glow.
She held out the artifact and he reached for it—
But right then she felt something approaching fast and knew her call had been answered after all.
She pulled the artifact back before he could touch it. His face twisted with rage. “Don’t challenge me now!” he hissed. “I’ll have Ilsith cut you into a hundred pieces before you hit the floor.” He lunged for her.
The stone covering the tunnel exploded inwards. Shards of rock flew everywhere. He spun, disbelief on his face when he saw the huge figure enter the room. “You?!” he exclaimed.
It was Gaz.
He reached out to the shadow creature. “Ils—”
But before he could finish the name, the zhoulin crossed the few paces between them. Gaz hit him with a mighty, two-handed blow. There was a cracking noise, and he was thrown across the cavern, slamming up against the rock wall with bone-shattering force.
He slumped to the floor. Before he could rise, Gaz was on him again. She picked him up in one huge hand and bit his face. He screamed as her teeth shredded the flesh. One cheek and half of his jaw were ripped away. There was no blood, only a handful of red sparks.
“Ilsith!” he screamed, the name coming out garbled and barely distinguishable.
As Gaz bent to bite him again, the shadowy form of Ilsith wrapped around him. The shadow swirled and faded, and Gaz’s jaws closed on nothing.
Chapter Nine: Karliss
“Hey, what are you doing over here? Don’t you know there’s a party going on?” Batu asked.
Karliss looked up to see Batu and Hulagu standing over him. He’d been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard them approach. Batu had a mug in his hand and was weaving slightly.
“I know,” Karliss said. “I only wanted to sit down for a moment.” Which wasn’t exactly true.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Batu said. He lost his balance while trying to sit down, and Hulagu had to catch him. Once safely on the ground, Batu tilted his head back to take a drink from the mug, but it was empty. He peered into its depths suspiciously, then turned it upside down to verify that it really was empty.
“What happened to my achai?” he said, referring to the fermented yak’s milk that the Sertithians drank.
“You drank it already,” Hulagu said. “We had this conversation, remember?”
Batu pondered this. “Did we? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Batu made an effort to get to his feet. “Maybe I should go get some more, then.”
Hulagu grabbed his arm and held him down. “I think you’ve had enough, don’t you?”
“I don’t know,” Batu said seriously. “This is the first time I ever drank achai.” There was a whole barrel of the alcoholic drink on one of the tables near the fire. As blooded warriors now, Batu and Hulagu were allowed to drink achai. Hulagu drank only a little of it, but Batu had finished two mugs already. It was getting late and Batu wasn’t the only one who was having difficulties. A number of warriors had already slumped over and were snoring on the ground.
“I think just a little bit more,” Batu said. He tried to get up again, but Hulagu kept hold of his arm, and he got nowhere. “I can’t get up with you doing that,” he complained.
“I know.” Hulagu didn’t let go of his arm.
“Can I have a drink of your achai?”
“You could,” Hulagu replied, “but I don’t have any more.”
“Why not? Aren’t you going to celebrate our great victory?”
“I am celebrating. I had two whole swallows of achai. It was horrible.”
“It is horrible,” Batu said, nodding. “It’s spoiled yak’s milk. But if you keep drinking it, after a while it gets better.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Hulagu looked up at a warrior who was staggering toward them. The man was on the verge of falling down. “We’re sitting here,” he called out. “Don’t step on us.” The man mumbled something and weaved his way past them.
Batu gave up trying to stand. Even if he hadn’t been drinking, he wouldn’t have been able to get free of Hulagu’s grip. Hulagu was strong, with broad shoulders and big hands, and though he was only fourteen, he was already bigger than many of the adults.
Batu turned to Karliss and blinked owlishly at him. “Why so quiet?” he asked loudly. “Don’t you…don’t you want to celebrate our glorious victory over Kasai?” It was only that afternoon that they’d defeated the invading force the Guardian Kasai sent against them. While the warriors fought off a band of huge bestial men riding monstrous wolf-things, a man riding a giant raven, with flames burning in his eye sockets, had attacked the camp. Karliss barely managed to defeat the man, but only with the aid of Batu and Hulagu, who were nearly killed during the fight.
Karliss sighed. “I don’t feel very much like celebrating.” He’d tried to stick it out, to pretend he was enjoying himself, but finally he couldn’t keep up the charade anymore, and he walked away from the jubilant camp to sit alone and try to sort through how he felt.
“But…we defeated the man with the burning eyes,” Batu said, frowning as he tried to make sense of Karliss’ strange behavior. He jabbed the air with an imaginary spear. “Took care of him good.” He jabbed a couple more times.
