Elei's Chronicles (Books 1-3) (72 page)

He suppressed a shiver. “Like what?”

“You know what I mean. This violent. You seemed quiet before. Unassuming.” When he looked up at her, startled, she looked away. “Well, at least not so aggressive.”

“When? When you put a gun to my head at the hospital, or when I put a gun on yours later?” He winced, clamped his mouth shut. He’d meant to agree with her, not... not this.

But she only nodded, as if it confirmed what she thought — and didn’t it? She moved to stand behind Hera.

He hung his head, trying to focus on the unfamiliar controls, wondering not for the first time what he really was like when Rex or
telmion
didn’t have the upper hand. If he’d like what he found.

“These,” Hera said, “look promising.” She was stroking a cluster of buttons that looked like a spider’s eyes.

“And what are they for?”

“Buoyancy,” Sacmis said, “most probably. Ballast control, to stay underwater. Ah, here is air filtering.”

He ran his fingers over a few switches, similar to those of an aircar. “And this should be,” he flicked it on, “the start up button.”

The engine rumbled to life.

Hera flicked him a wide-eyed glance. “Good,” was all she said, and she leaned over to switch on the thrusters. “But what about the gates? How are we getting out?”

Shit
. “A remote. There has to be a remote button.” Or else the panel was outside somewhere, and it was too late.

“The helicopters in Bone Tower had a lever hidden near the panel,” Hera said, “to open the hangar ceiling. It could be a similar thing.”

Sacmis was already moving, checking two lockers chock full of manuals, and then under the seats and along the sides of the panel. A snick sounded.

A huge metal door slid aside, opening into another chamber. Exchanging an uneasy look with Hera, Elei pushed back his shoulders and let out a long breath. He grabbed the acceleration lever, nodded to Hera to release the brakes, and they lurched forward.

Gods, but the vehicle glided as if on oil. Did it run on dakron? He cast a worried glance at what seemed to be the fuel dial. It looked full. If that was what it was. Which he didn’t really know.
Pissing hells
.

They rolled into a much smaller hall, a claustrophobic box with neon green bars shedding light on the opaque walls. A set of double, heavy metal doors faced them. Carved designs decorated their surface. Elei could make out fishtails and ships. Probably some divine battle.

Underwater. In the five hells. Where they were.

He swallowed around a knot of fear. “Now what?”

He’d barely said it when the doors behind them closed, and the carved ones in front opened, and the sea rushed in.

His hands scrambled at the arm rests. The water poured from openings all around, rising, covering the windows. Hera was muttering the names of gods, and Sacmis held her arm like a lifeline. Alendra stumbled into the cockpit, her face ashen.

“Is this it?” she said. “Are we out?”

“Not yet.” Elei forced himself to breathe.

The doors were open all the way now. The chamber was full of water.

“When?” Alendra came to stand by his shoulder.

He glanced at Hera who nodded at him, and pushed the acceleration lever once more. “Now.”

Silvery bubbles ran up their sides as they slid through the door and eased out into the sea. Darkness swallowed them and panic rose again in his chest.

“Where in the hells are the headlights?” Elei fumbled at the panel, accidentally switching on the heater. “Dammit.”

“Calm down,” Hera said.

The headlights turned on, flooding the water before them and washing everyone’s faces in white. He slumped back in his chair.

“Set course to Dakru.” Sacmis leaned over Hera, staring into the dark sea. Lightning movement outside, an opalescent cloud twisting and turning, sweeping by; shoals of squid. A jellyfish, expanding like a glowing mushroom cap, floated at Elei’s left, its four long tentacles trailing below. Small, luminous fish drifted by.

“It’s the abyss,” Hera murmured.

He barely heard her. The wall —
or cliff?
— along which they had been driving, soared in a sheer face that seemed to go up forever into the deep blue. Down, too. Flat, white fish floated off their vertical roosts as they approached, like doves flying off the sea cliffs back at Ost. Rectangular and square shapes stood out in relief on the face of the cliff.
Gates? Or windows?

His hand shook on the steering lever. He tipped the lever to the right, maneuvering closer to the cliff face. So smooth. And yet not entirely, no, made up of panels, screwed together with bands of what looked like dark metal. In fact, he could swear he saw letters and symbols engraved here and there. He swerved closer.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Hera slapped her hand over his and they veered to the left. “We’ll crash, damn you.”

He didn’t let go, though. “Hera, this...” He swallowed hard as he pushed the lever up, speeding. Unlike the bays and coves he knew were above, along the coast, the wall was even, sleek, unwrinkled like young skin, curving delicately, perfectly. Endlessly. “This is huge.”

“It’s an island, Elei,” she said patiently. “It’s meant to be huge.”

“Not the point.” Was she being dense on purpose? “This can’t be natural, Hera.”

“We said—”

“Geomanipulation.” Elei gritted his teeth. “I remember. This isn’t it.”

“I beg your pardon?” Hera lifted a fine brow.

“It can’t...” More panels, more letters, more perfection. Metal. Gates. Windows. “It can’t ever have been natural.”

Hera snorted. “It cannot go on forever. I’m sure that, after a while, we’ll see the natural rock.”

He withdrew his hand then, let her have the steering lever. They cruised alongside the endless wall. He just stared, hands gripping the arm rests, as the foundations of Ert slipped by, majestic and huge and so artificial-looking. Strange that Kalaes wasn’t commenting.

Elei jerked out of his seat. “Kalaes.” Cold washed down his spine despite the heaters blasting hot air. He stepped out into the back cabin and found Alendra kneeling at the other boy’s side. She glanced up when he dropped to his knees. Her gaze was bleak.

“How is he?”

“He won’t wake up,” she said, her voice cracking. “He won’t... Gods, Elei, what shall we do?”

Through the mind-numbing fear, he had a bright, fleeting wing of a thought that he could love her, for worrying for Kalaes, for sitting there by his side instead of gawping at the wonders of the deep.

“Kal.” He shook Kalaes’ shoulder, watched horrified as the tousled head lolled forward. “Did you manage to give him water?”

“Some.” She wiped a hand over her face, and he could swear he saw a film of tears in her eyes.

“Compresses?”

“Here.” She pressed a soaked cloth into his hand. “I only just took it off him to wet it.” She swallowed. “Is he really your brother?”

Elei paused, fingers clutching the rag. “Yes, he is.”

And that was the only essential truth in the world.

Chapter Eighteen

T
he cockpit was
quiet when Elei returned, Cat licking his leg in one corner, and Hera at the controls. He sank into the co-pilot’s seat and tried to focus on the control panel. His eyes were blurry. He wiped a hand over them.

Hera didn’t seem to register his presence. She stared straight ahead, her hands gripping the arm rests in a white-knuckled hold.

“Hera?” He laid a hand on her forearm and she recoiled, twisting to clutch at his wrist with bone-grinding force. He tried to pull away. “What is it? Where’s Sacmis?”

Sacmis chose that moment to walk back in, through a narrow door at the back. “Looking for me?”

He grunted. Tried to free his wrist again. “Let go.”

“How is Kalaes?” Sacmis came to stand behind Hera’s seat.

“Not good.” He finally managed to jerk himself free of Hera’s hold. “What’s wrong with you, dammit?”

“You were right.” Hera shrank back in her chair, her voice barely audible. “Sobek’s ugly face, you were right.”

“About what?” he snapped, unable to shake free of the bone-deep fear that Kalaes wouldn’t wake up. He couldn’t quite grasp the thought, the possibility, the reality of it. He couldn’t let this happen. Not after everything. Please gods, not when he’d started hoping again.

“About this...wall.” Hera jabbed a finger at the swath of lit water outside, the occasional fish darting by, the endless curve of the island. “About this not being natural.”

His head swam and he leaned back, closing his eyes. “So what are you saying? The foundations of Ert...”

“The Islands are man-made,” Sacmis said.

Elei looked up at her, his thoughts a whirlwind. The mountains and the marshes and the fields... “Are you talking, what, the whole world?”

“Just look at this.” Sacmis gestured at the endless wall, the foot of the island. “The symmetry of the islands. The document was right.”

“It can’t be true,” Elei muttered. Underwater colonies. A man-made world. He shoved his fingers through his hair, then reached up to straighten the course before they crashed into the wall.

But Hera didn’t seem to notice, or to hear him at all. She rose, all coiled energy and fury. “What document?” She took a deliberate step toward Sacmis. “What else have you not told us?”

Color rose to Sacmis’ cheeks. “I only had a look at the document to see if I could translate it with the help of that bilingual inscription.”

“You are not, by any chance, talking about the document we found in Hecate’s box?” Hera’s body radiated heat, and her scent wafted thick and viscous, clogging Elei’s nostrils. “You did not take it from my pocket and read it without telling me?”

Silence hung like a noose between them.

“How did you read it?” Elei wanted to know. “I thought it was in a language none of us knew.”

“The inscription mentioned Egypt and Greece. I guessed it might be a clue.” Sacmis’ gaze was fixed on Hera. “I tried the Egyptian I knew, it did not work. But Greek did.”

“You speak Greek?” Elei rubbed his eyes. “Wait, Greece was a real place?”

“Greek and Egyptian are obligatory temple teaching. As for your other question...” Sacmis shrugged. “Now everything seems possible.”

“What does the document say?” Hera sounded dangerously calm.

“What you and I suspected. That there is land out there, beyond the Seven Islands.” She threw Elei a sideways glance, but really, what effect could one more bombshell have? “That a tremendous volcanic explosion took out the ozone layer of the atmosphere. These colonies were built to protect us until the ozone was regenerated and we could return to the surface.”

Colonies. Plural. A volcanic explosion
. Elei’s fingers clenched around the steering lever.

“Sobek’s balls, Sacmis.” Hera slid into her chair and smoothed her hands over the armrests. “I want to trust you, but you have to stop withholding information from me.”

“I’m sorry,” Sacmis muttered. “I was going to, but so much was happening.”

Others had built the islands - people from beyond the sea, from land. Real land. They obviously had the technology for something like this, and they’d constructed hives, for all the gods’ sakes, where mortals slept in glass coffins, waiting... Waiting to rise from the sea. It’d explain the wall, the tunnels, the elevators, the symmetry and the gods knew what else. Kalaes would laugh to tears when he told him.

Kalaes... Pissing hells
. Elei closed his eyes, took a deep breath. “Let’s talk about
palantin
.”

“I told you,” Hera muttered, still angry. “
Palantin
is deadly.”

“And I’ve been thinking.” Elei opened his eyes, sudden clarity unscrambling his thoughts. “About the marks, the fever, the vomiting.”

“What about them?”

“They reminded me of something and I just remembered what.” His hands fisted. “
Telmion
.”

The silence that followed was so thick you could slice through it.

“What do you want me to say?” Hera asked eventually, fiddling with the controls of the vehicle. “That I knew?”

“Did you?”

She nodded, not meeting his gaze.

“You knew.” Elei couldn’t pissing believe it. “I asked you what it was, and you knew it was similar to
telmion
.” Something burned in his chest, choking him. He rose, took a step toward her. He wanted to hit her. “You knew how to cure it and never said a word.”

“Cure it?” Hera didn’t even flinch. “You cannot cure it.”

“Rex.” He bit the word out. “It can control
palantin
, like it controls
telmion
.”

“Listen,” Hera said. “Because you survived
cronion
and
telmion
, and then Rex, that doesn’t mean everyone can. It also doesn’t mean every fungal infection will withstand Rex. Do you know Gultur have died after getting infected with it, and others are still at the hospital, barely hanging on? Never mind that Regina is so strong. The strongest of them all.” She shook her head. “You also need to know if the timing is correct — if
palantin
has spread enough, reached a stage when it’s stable and could fight off Rex... Otherwise it could be deadly.”

“So I should just let him die?”

She grunted. “I might be kinder. He’ll die more painfully if you infect him with Rex.”

“Or he’ll get a chance to live.”

“It sounds like you have made up your mind,” she said calmly. “He’ll be sick, even if it works, until the parasites reach a balance inside him. And we’ll still be running while figuring out what to do next, how to save the world.”

“Let me explain something to you.” Elei forced his voice to be level, his trembling fists to stay at his sides. “Right now I couldn’t care less about the world. I made a promise to Kalaes that I’ll take him home. And my first promise is to Kalaes, always. First I save him. Then the world.” He swallowed. “And I need your help with this.”

She shook her head. Her gaze was half angry, half sad. “I understand.” Her eyes glittered. “I’ll do all I can to help you.”

***

Kalaes slumped in his seat, head propped on the backrest, mouth slack. His breathing was shallow and irregular. Shivers went through his body but otherwise he looked calm, undisturbed by real life. Already gone.

Elei knelt by his side, stomach churning. What if Hera was right? What if it was a kindness to let him go? The gods knew he’d been through enough pain already. Sacrificed enough. Lost everything and more.

It was selfish, then, this need to have Kalaes by him, but he did need him. Wasn’t sure he could go on without him. Besides, wouldn’t Kalaes want him to try? Wouldn’t he want to put up a fight?

Kalaes would’ve tried everything to keep him alive, he was sure of that. Kalaes had always placed him above the world, above anything else. Because family was like that, he knew it now.

And if he hates you for it later?
the little voice at the back of his mind whispered.

He’d take the chance. Nothing was worth fighting for if he couldn’t go home when it was over. And Kalaes
was
home.

“Alendra and Sacmis are driving.” Hera dropped the medic kit to the floor and knelt to open it. She hesitated. “You do realize that I have never done anything like this before. Nor did I think I would.”

He nodded. Neither had he. Especially not to Kalaes.

“We have no doctor with us, no serum, no...” Her fingers tightened around the handle of the kit until her fingertips turned white. “We do not know that
palantin
will react the same way to Rex as
telmion
. Or that Kalaes is strong enough to survive it.”

Elei didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. On top of that, her scent so close was driving Rex crazy, and the room dissolved into pulsing colors.
Way to go, Rex. Perfect timing as always
.

“I need you to help me.” He turned his face away, trying not to breathe through his nose. “Get him to swallow the blood so that he doesn’t...” He shuddered. “Doesn’t choke on it.”

“All right.”

She handed him something and he looked down, his fingers curling automatically around it. A cutter, meant to slice gauze for bandages and thread for stitching up wounds. Polished steel, sharp and shiny. He ran the flat of the blade along the back of his hand, shivering at the cold smoothness.

“Where should I cut?” he whispered. He glanced up at her then, suddenly feeling lost. “My wrist?”

“No.” She grabbed his arm. “Not the wrist. Do you have a death wish?” She turned his hand over. “The palm is a good place. No arteries or big veins. Just slice a line, and not too deep.”

“And...” He swallowed hard. “And then?”

“Then,” she brandished a tiny container, “I collect the blood in here, and we give it to Kalaes.”

“That’s all?”

“What else did you expect?”

Right
. “How much blood?”

She shrugged. “I’d say just a little, but I cannot be sure. Understand, Elei, this is not even the same Rex that you infected the Gultur with. It has evolved, grown stronger.” She cast a look at Kalaes, her jaw set. “I told you, I cannot promise this will succeed.”

“I know.” He bowed his head. “I wasn’t asking you to.” He gripped the cutter, and pressed the tip into his palm, drawing a line. The edge was so sharp he barely felt it — just a tickle. Blood welled, bright red, and he cupped his hand to contain it. It felt unreal, kneeling in this strange vehicle, gliding in the depths of the sea, watching his blood flow.

Watching Kalaes die
.

No
. Elei wouldn’t let him.

Hera tipped his hand and the blood trickled into the small container. He could only watch as it filled, slowly, steadily.

“All right,” she said. “Now press this in your hand.” She put a rolled-up piece of gauze on his palm, and his fingers curled around it. He could feel the pain now; a throb traveling up his arm.

He reached out for the blood-filled lid. “I’ll do it.”

Hera hesitated, then relinquished the lid and sat back. “Wait.” She reached around, grabbed a bottle, shook it. “There is some water left. We should mix it with the blood. It will make it easier to swallow.”

Elei waited, nerves grating like broken glass, his pulse thumping in the cut in his palm, while Hera dribbled water into the blood and mixed it with her finger. She wiped it on her leg and nodded.

Ready to go
.

The sense of unreality increased as he leaned over, dribbling his blood between Kalaes’ slack lips while Hera massaged the throat to force him to swallow. It was as if it wasn’t his hand holding the tiny cup while the other clutched at the bloodied gauze, not his knees scraping on the hard floor, not his heart thumping in his ears so loudly.

Out there was the deep ocean, the roots of the islands, a world that was apparently not, as he’d always believed, created by the hand of the gods, not pushed out of the seabed rock and coached to grow like seeds and bloom into the seven islands, cared for and molded by divinity, barely scratched by the actions of mortals. No, a man-made world. Constructed, put together, built and shaped —
when?
So long ago nobody remembered. New possibilities. Worlds beyond. More people. Wonders. Monsters.
More
.