Beyond the Sapphire Gate: Epic Fantasy-Some Magic Should Remain Untouched (The Flow of Power Book 1) (11 page)

BLACK CURTAIN

Tepid water ringed outward when Jade dislodged floating clumps of phosphorescent green that clung to larger growths of fungi. Soaked to the thighs, her legs weighed her down, requiring greater and greater effort to raise them. Each step she took disturbed the water’s slow cours
e
—
though calling the brackish liquid “water” did stretch her imagination. She tried not to think about what they’d slogged through after disposing the guards’ bodies. Thank the One she’d worn her black lace boots to Crystalyn’s work instead of the flats she usually wore. At least the boots provided a small measure of protection against whatever debris exited through the tunnels, though liquid still leaked inside. Whatever constituted the liquid, she didn’t want to think about. Was there no end to these tunnels? “I can’t go much further. We’ve been splashing through this mess for so long,” Jade finally said, her voice echoing into the dark for a longer distance than she cared for.

Swinging the torch they’d taken from the gate guards’ wall sconce, Camoe swung it in a half-circle, back and forth. Ahead, the tunnel widened into a small cavern, two dark openings lurked at the edge of the torch’s light, opposite the main drainage. “I am certain we have walked the night through, but we have yet to come across an area dry enough to rest. We are in dire need of such a place. We cannot slosh through this filth for much longer without risking an illness, but I am uncertain of the way forward.” Lowering the torch, his shoulders slumped.

Slogging beside the druid, Jade pried the smoldering torch from his unresisting fingers. She wrapped the last apron strip she carried soaked in the oily substance back at the gate, now so long ago. The torch flared with new life. Jade was reluctant to ask how many strips the druid had left. What would they do when they ran out? They couldn’t wander around in the dark it was too dangerous. Underneath Burl’s apron, when she’d removed it for strips, they’d found a soiled rope looped around the makeshift pants he wore, but Camoe had been reluctant to use it unless they had no other alternative, thinking it might come in handy, though they might not have any choice soon. As soiled as it was with kitchen grease, it should burn for some time. Raising the flame high, she sloshed forward to pause in the center of the small cavern. Both curved openings were similar in structure, revealing little but pitch blackness, though the right one
seemed
better for some unknown reason.

“I say we follow the right side.”

Camoe straightened. He looked at the left tunnel first, then to the right. “It appears both directions are heading up at a gentle slope. Probably ventilation shafts or access chutes for large debris removal, but why there are two when one is enough, is beyond comprehension.” Squaring his shoulders, he took the torch from her hand, turning his back on the left route. Dragging his feet through shallower water, he waded inside the tunnel mouth. His splashes ceased, and she heard him stamping his feet on dry-packed earth. “Come on. One’s as good—” Though it was amplified threefold, Camoe’s soft voice cut off with stark abruptness.

A curtain of blackness, darker than the tunnel, draped over her. Settling in like a collapsed tent, it encompassed her with an overpowering presence that weighed on her with the pungent, suffocating smell of mold long since forgotten. The torchlight’s defiant existence vanished. A presence intruded upon her mind. Something dark loomed, immense, intelligent, and powerful. Alien and aware, it crept forward, exuding a suffocating sense of indomitable willpower that packed the space around her. Arrogant with the knowledge of its supreme power, the alien intelligence compressed upon her mind, forcing its will upon her self-awareness of who she was, of what she knew of herself. Instinctively, Jade recoiled to a corner. Gathering her will, she installed a protective barrier of resistance around herself, formulating it into a dome.

The compression gained intensity, pressing on her bubble of resistance with stunning power, exuding a great malevolence. The onslaught pounded against her barrier mercilessly, with the single-mindedness of supremacy comfortable with its complete mastery of all it had ever encountered, having no concept of any single being ever thwarting it in its long memory.

Yet thwart it she was. Her resistance remained firm. There wasn’t a single spot weakening anywhere, even though the assault doubled in intensity, again. How long she’d be able to maintain resistance she did not know. For now, she felt confident she could keep it at bay.

The bombardment ended as fast as it began. Jade sensed the alien evil methodically spreading putrescent feelers around her bubble, searching for a hint of thinness, some infinitesimal flaw, however small. Discovering nothing, its frustration reverberated through her awareness as the feelers shifted to the base of her dome, and grew still.

They were at a stalemate. But she was in a horrible predicament. Trapped in a tiny corner of her mind, eventually her body would need sustenance. Prevented by the foul thing inhabiting her from acquiring water, she would die. She had to do
something
.

A piercing white light stabbed through the center of the inhuman presence.

The malevolence stiffened.

A small, white screen opened inside the darkness. Swiftly, countless three-dimensional colored rectangles stacked around the screen, a cloudy, three-dimensional image formed inside her mind. In the image, Crystalyn sat on a rustic bed next to a large, ancient woman wearing a yellow dress. A white, three-leafed pattern stood prominent across the front. Both gazed at an enormous woman wearing a headband inset with glowing white stones. The large woman sat cross-legged on the floor facing Crystalyn at the head of a vague triangular image rising from floor to ceiling.

Joy raced through Jade. Crystalyn was trying to find her.

Fury vibrated through the tendrils outside her barrier. Several detached from her shield. One large tendril split from the dark mass to strike at the image center.

The image winked out.

Crystalyn!

Furious arrogance rippled throughout her dome. The tendrils clamped on her dome and lifted, feelers snaked underneath, squeezing from the inside and out. The barrier buckled, collapsing. Suddenly she felt a much greater over mind attached to the intelligence by an ancient, maternal link. The over mind was not yet fully awake, but it was
aware
. Its offspring reached for her, the dark tendrils writhing.

Terrified, Jade hastily installed a wall of resistance, this time severing the sense of the over mind. Gathering her will, she pushed the wall forward. Confused, the offspring fell back from her wall in leaps as the bubble dissolved. Gaining momentum, Jade shoved harder, stopping only when she sensed the edge of her mind.

Screeching with defiance, the intelligence now resisted, snapping at the edge of her awareness.

Determined, Jade brought the full weight of that determination bearing down upon it.

Reverberating deafeningly through the cold recesses of her mind, the malevolence shrieked once with a long, drawn-out wail of fury. Then pure, sweet silence settled in. Jade could no longer sense it anywhere. A different blackness encompassed her mind then. One she welcomed.

DARK IMAGE

Crystalyn shook Lore Rayna, anxiety added force to her arms.

The scream severed in mid-shriek. Startled, Crystalyn let go. Lore Rayna rocked backward, then slumped forward, her head bouncing against her drawn up knees. She toppled to the side.

An inhuman wail pierced the room. The dark image shrank into the orbs.

Sliding from the bed, the Lore Mother thudded to the floor beside her pupil. How was she to know which one was hurt worse?

The bedroom door crashed into the wall with a thunderous bang. Cudgel charged inside, an iron-tipped club as thick as a man’s arm gripped in one hand. Spotting the comatose women lying on the floor, rage twisted his features.

Crystalyn rose to her feet.

Cudgel leaped, landing in front of her.

“Cudgel good, I—” Cudgel’s big hands clamped around her biceps and lifted her off the floor. Suddenly she sailed across the room as if she weighed less than one of her stuffed animals. She managed to throw her hands out just before her body hit the wall. Even so, her arms folded. Striking her head into the wall, she dropped to the floor. Her legs slipped out from under her and she landed on her side in a heap. Pain ripped through her head and hip.

“Blast you, Dark User! What did you do to them?” Cudgel shouted. Dropping to his knees beside Lore Rayna, he placed two thick fingers against her neck. “She’s alive, but unconscious,” he snarled, his brown eyes glinting with the promise of violence. “If she fails to wake, today will be your last. Tell me what you’ve done to them!”

Crystalyn couldn’t reply. Her side throbbed in time to the burgeoning pain inside her head. Biting back a moan, she waited for it to reside. After a time, she struggled to sit, checking for broken bones. Other than the painful twinges in her hip, she seemed intact.

Planting her back to the wall, Crystalyn stood, keeping an eye on the big warrior as he squatted beside the Lore Mother. Bringing out the black knockdown symbol she’d used on Atoi, she let it hover in the air before her. Combining it with the two other aggression symbols from the black-lettered book she recreated her enhanced symbol. Circular in design, the pattern that formed inside the circle had three-sided squares running upward from the center and then down from the top, repeating when it met a horizontal centerline. Underneath the broad line, the pattern stayed the same, but switched to a horizontal direction. It was the same one she’d destroyed the crates with, nearly crushing her lungs as it flattened her in the alley. She hadn’t dared use it on Atoi for fear of killing her. With Cudgel, she was afraid the original knockdown wouldn’t be enough. If it killed him, he’d made his choice when he’d laid hands on her.

Cradling her head, the Lore Mother abruptly sat up.

Relief shone in Cudgel’s brown eyes.

The Lore Mother moaned.

Cudgel glanced at Crystalyn. His eyes narrowed as he regarded her symbol. Leveling his thick club, he pointed with it. “So, I was correct. You’re as filthy dark as a pit of adders. Not even trying to hide it, now eh?”

Turning, the Lore Mother’s hands dropped to her side. “How extraordinary...”

Furious, Crystalyn glared at Cudgel. Killing again was not her first choice, but she would if the man ventured close. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, not even a brute like you. But know this, I won’t allow you to put your hands on me again. Do you
hear
me?”

Atoi poked her head through the shattered doorway. “What happened here?”

Silence reigned.

Crystalyn met Cudgel’s darkening glare with resolve. She meant what she said. No one would touch her without permission again.

Sounding oddly supernatural, Atoi’s hollow laughter pealed throughout the room, ringing with a wickedness that belied her youth as it somehow insinuated violence and pleasure in the same tone. A shudder of revulsion gave Crystalyn a shiver, but the girl looked her normal, unsmiling self. “It was not long before your Using popped up again. I’m glad it’s not pointed at me this time.” Strolling across the room to stand beside her, Atoi brought her dagger out. “I told you not to trust them. Did you kill the leaf woman? Which one shall I slay?”

“Enough!” the Lore Mother bellowed. The effect diminished slightly by her wince, as her hands went to her head. “No one’s going to kill anyone. All of you put your weapons and magic away!” Swaying, the Lore Mother frowned, rubbing her head.

Ignoring the pain from her shoulder and hip, Crystalyn kept her symbol in place. The brute with the big stick would have to disarm first.

Arms rigid, Cudgel held the pole like a great sword, one steel-tipped end forward. His dark eyes smoldered.

Crystalyn wanted to sigh, but held it inside. As much as she hated to, she’d have to make the first move toward peace. It was the way of it.

Allowing the symbol to dissipate, she kept the pattern fresh in her mind, just in case. Her hip gave a twinge with pain, but she refused to rub it. Showing signs of weakness to the man would only make him bolder. She couldn’t help but wince, though, as her head pounded anew like a blacksmith just out of sight, working an anvil.

Cudgel rested the weapon’s tip on a boot, suspicion twisting his features a different, but still ugly, way. He wasn’t going to accept her offer. Fine. She owed him, anyway. Perhaps she could goad him into taking one-step closer. He’d have to move around Lore Rayna, putting him in line with the window. One step, and her symbol would take him from there. What floor were they on?

Cudgel took a step closer.

No goad required. She began to form the symbol.

The Lore Mother’s hands went to her hips. “Cudgel, sheathe your weapon and stop acting the fool!” Several heartbeats passed. Finally, he stabbed his weapon into the sheath on his back. “Good boy. Now, go fix the door before someone uninvited strolls in. This girl did nothing to harm us. I swear, sometimes your warrior instincts muddle your ability to reason beyond comprehension.” Turning her back on him, she stooped over Lore Rayna. After a moment, the old woman drew a sharp breath. “Crystalyn, you were able to heal yourself, is that not right? Rayna’s hurt beyond my capability to mend. Will you help her?”

Crystalyn hobbled beside the Lore Mother, giving Cudgel a wide berth. The man may have sheathed his weapon, but he’d made no move for the door. “I can try. I’m not sure if the symbol I used on myself will work on anyone else, though.”

The Lore Mother’s voice sounded strained. “Please, make the attempt. Lore Rayna’s our only healer, though I fear her injury is beyond her own skill.”

“What do you mean?”

“Will you see to my student? We can discuss it at length, soon.”

Crystalyn pictured the white and silver, spider-webbed pentagram pattern, majestic in its simplicity. Combining it again with the one she’d read under the heading
Dilutions
in the white-lettered book, the symbol reformed. Intricate silver and gold lines, winding back and forth, filled the symbol, a hedge maze with no beginning or end. Now glowing faintly silver and gold in color, she positioned the symbol horizontally above Lore Rayna’s comatose form.

“No! We can’t trust her, good Mother!” Cudgel pleaded, going to Lore Rayna’s opposite side. “She has to be a Dark User masquerading as Light. You saw the black symbol hovering in the air!”

“Hush, my son,” the Lore Mother hissed. “You do not have to trust her. Trust me.”

Cudgel grunted, but remained silent.

Crystalyn’s concentration wavered from the exchange, even though she tried to close her mind to it, the symbol thinned to transparency. Gathering her will the symbol brightened, taking on its surreal shades of white, gold, and silver. The symbol sank into the big woman’s skin, glowing briefly before vanishing.

Crystalyn’s perspective of her body mass changed. Attuned to the symbol, she was startled when it took her deep into Lore Rayna’s nerve pathways. Suddenly, there were many new neural connections different from her own, all linked to a body as powerful as anything she could have conceived. Wary of the immenseness of it, she nearly severed the link. Nevertheless, she was here. She wouldn’t give up without trying. Lore Rayna needed help.

Willing the symbol to climb toward the brain and increase in speed, Crystalyn searched Lore Rayna’s neural pathways for anything abnormal. Picking up speed, her gold and silver symbol zoomed faster than she thought possible, rocketing down dozens upon dozens of fibers, hunting for anything unhealthy. One branch led into another, or sent her zooming back to the trunk. Methodically, she sped down pathway after pathway, however small, only to find nothing wrong. Not a trace anywhere, every nerve appeared healthy and functional. Confused, she slowed, as a thought took hold. From her present position, she had access to Lore Rayna’s spinal network leading to her brain. She could take control of Lore Rayna’s motor functions to see if her ailment would manifest as she moved. At least then, she’d know if the link from the woman’s mind to her body was still intact. Perhaps she could even see through Lore Rayna’s strange, milky eyes.

But was it worth the cost? She could only drive one body at a time. Splitting her consciousness between two bodies would be complicated, not to mention dangerous. There was the very real danger of damaging Lore Rayna worse than she was, by forcing a seemingly innocent movement upon the big woman’s body that Lore Rayna couldn’t handle where a smaller person would be able to perform it easily.

Yet Lore Rayna must be injured somewhere. Perhaps another person’s wounds were beyond her abilities to heal after all. Why was she traipsing about Lore Rayna’s insides as if she was strolling around the Farm—?

At the edge of her awareness, something dark flitted along a main neural branch.

Willing her symbol to go faster and faster, she chased the dark abnormality until her awareness of the region blurred. Still she approached no closer than a vague feeling of something wrong just ahead. Slowing, she drifted to a stop. Perhaps she’d imagined it, or possibly, it was a reflection of her intrusion. Perhaps, but she doubted it. There was
something.

Had she been going about the whole thing the wrong way? The wound may not be physical.

Casting about, she realized gray matter surrounded her; she’d stopped inside the big woman’s brain.
Perfect
. Stretching her symbol, Crystalyn added a link from it to the gray matter while maintaining her tenuous hold.

Gibbering terror flooded her mind.

Crystalyn recoiled. Some of the terror was her intrusion. Lore Rayna
must
sense her presence on a subconscious level, if nothing else.
Blast it.
She must use delicacy. Adding a feeling of warmth and overall well-being, she restored the link.

This time, Lore Rayna’s presence swarmed to her symbol. Ambitions, determination, spunk, enrapture, steadfastness, bitterness, and a multitude of other sensations flowed through. An almost overpowering empathy for growing things made up the end, gusting into Crystalyn’s mind with abandon. Gust after gust, the empathy windstorm assaulted her, pulling at her self-awareness, ripping at her sense of herself. Crystalyn held on.

At the back of a final gust, she felt a foulness slipping away. Inflating her symbol, she shot it after the shadow on the off chance she might use it as a net. The symbol folded around the foulness, dissolving much of the mass before unraveling, severing her link.

Thrown back into own cognizance, Crystalyn reeled, fighting to adjust her internal awareness of a body much smaller in scale. Dizziness assaulted her, bringing on a debilitating weakness she couldn’t attribute to a toss across the room.

Wiry arms wrapped around her shoulders as she began to slip away. She struggled through the sensation. After a tim
e
—
how long she couldn’t sa
y
—
the dizziness subsided.

Crystalyn relished the feel of her own body. Even Lore Rayna’s neural pathways had seemed large. The woman’s empathy for living, growing things was much bigger than any other she’d known. Crystalyn smiled with a newfound respect as she gazed at the big woman. Her convictions were remarkable.

Lore Rayna’s eyelids fluttered open. Luminous eyes stared up at Crystalyn. A beatific smile lit her face.

“Thank Onan!” Cudgel shouted, moving to Lore Rayna’s side, nearly bowling Atoi over. Atoi bounded onto the foot of the bed with ease, her knife nowhere in sight. Moving with a gentleness belying his blocky stature, Cudgel helped Lore Rayna sit up.

Disengaging from the Lore Mother’s arms, Crystalyn sat on the bed, away from Atoi. She felt weak and nauseous, her migraine flared. Closing her eyes, she leaned back on the down pillow, willing the pain to dissipate to no avail.

“Before anyone asks, I do not know what occurred,” the Lore Mother’s soft raspy voice drifted down to her from above. “We shall discuss it on the way.”

Crystalyn’s eyes snapped open. She winced. “Are you going somewhere?”

“We all are, dear. You and Atoi are coming too.”

Atoi bounded off the bed. “What makes you think we would go anywhere with you?”

Crystalyn bit back a cry. Did the girl have to bounce the bed? “What are you planning?” she managed to ask the Lore Mother.

“We shall all go to Surbo. I worry the Circle of Light are the only ones who can penetrate the dark veil surrounding your sister, though I am not certain even they shall be successful. I have never encountered anything as strong in all my years contacting. By the way, that was quick thinking on your part to disrupt the focal point, Crystalyn. I could not have done it. I was committed to keeping the conduit open. Had I stopped, the creature would have overcome Lore Rayna instantly, overriding her mind with its foulness. As it was, I believe we had seconds, or less, before we both would have been beyond help.”