Sky Raiders (42 page)

The door open again, and Twitch was flung inside as well. Jace came a moment later. They both looked stunned.

“Welcome to your home away from home,” one of the legionnaires said.

“You better hope it doesn’t trip again,” another added, rubbing the side of his forehead.

“Do you hear me, Cole?” Liam asked in his right ear. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” Cole said softly. “We’re trapped, but not hurt.”

“Looks like she’s out to capture you rather than squash you,” Liam said. “I’m going to hang back for now.”

The back of the cage was the wood, stone, and dirt of Carnag. Thick metal bars composed one side and the front, including the hinged gate that allowed access. Cole went to the gate and tugged on it to no avail. He still had his Jumping Sword, but he wasn’t sure what good it would do behind bars.

When Carnag turned and started moving again, Cole clung to the bars to avoid falling. Creaking and swaying, Carnag stepped toward the tree that still held Mira. Carnag reached for the tree, and the branches unfolded.

“Flail, attack!” Mira cried. The Shaper’s Flail went for Carnag’s hand, whirling wildly to bash away clods of dirt, fragments of stone, and chunks of wood. After flinching away from the initial onslaught, Carnag snatched the flail out of the air, like a person grabbing a bug, and kept her hand tightly closed.

Mira used the diversion to shout the command word and leap to the ground. When Carnag rounded on her, Cole felt like he was looking down at his friend from high on the wall of a cliff. Carnag crouched to reach for her, making the cell tilt forward.

Cole wanted to close his eyes. If Carnag caught Mira, this was basically over! They were all getting captured too easily. It would be up to Liam.

Mira wasn’t pointing her sword to attempt another jump. She glared up at the giant stoically.

“No, Carnag!” Mira yelled. She put the tip of the Jumping Sword to her throat. “Back off, or I end us!”

Carnag stopped reaching. Cole wondered if Mira had planned to use this bluff, or if it had occurred to her out of desperation.

The giant stood up straight. “You really would,” Carnag said, mildly puzzled. From where Cole sat, the mounting echoes soaked in from all directions. “I feel your resolve.”

“You bet I will,” Mira called. “Better that I die than you rampage around Sambria, hurting my friends.”

“I haven’t killed,” Carnag said.

“I find that hard to believe,” Mira replied.

“I don’t kill,” Carnag repeated. “I collect.”

“Is that true?” Mira shouted.

“I haven’t seen it kill anyone,” one of the legionnaires in Cole’s cell called back.

“Me neither,” a woman answered from below, probably in the cage at the hip. “But it isn’t gentle.”

“I collect,” Carnag maintained.

“You can’t collect people,” Mira scolded. “That’s no way to act. We belong together. Come back to me.”

Carnag didn’t respond.

“Do you hear that?” Twitch asked.

“What?” Jace wondered.

“A faint voice,” Twitch said, moving toward the back of the cell.

“I’ve heard it too,” one of the legionnaires said. “Like it comes from inside this thing.”

Twitch leaned up against the back wall of the cell and
placed his ear against a wooden beam. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s a woman. Her voice is muffled. I can’t understand her. But she’s talking a lot.”

Carnag crouched and knelt on one knee, giving Cole a closer view of Mira. She kept the point of her sword at her throat.

A tendril snaked forward from Carnag, slithering over the ground toward Mira. She watched it with wide eyes. “I’ll do it!” she warned.

“Talk first,” Carnag said, the words reverse-echoing strongly.

At the end of the tendril, the ground swelled up. A perfect duplicate of Mira emerged, wearing the same clothes, holding a matching sword. The tendril was lodged in the center of her back, tethering her to Carnag’s foot.

“Hello,” the fake Mira said.

“What is this?” Mira asked.

“We need to talk,” fake Mira said calmly, her voice just like Mira’s. Cole didn’t have to strain to hear. It seemed like Liam must be using the clay earpieces to help broadcast the discussion.

“You’re not me,” Mira accused. “You’re a semblance.”

“I’m not you,” fake Mira said. “I’m me. You can’t beat me. You’re the weak part. I could protect you.”

“You’re not anything!” Mira said angrily. “You’re phony! You’re made of stuff you found! Dirt and wood and junk!”

“I can be whatever I want,” fake Mira said. “Whatever I need to be. We all shape ourselves. I’m just better at it.”

“You were taken from me,” Mira said. “Shaped away from me. I don’t know how. Do you?”

A second tendril slithered forward. When it neared Mira, the ground bulged, and the tendril became attached to a man in fine clothes. “I did it,” he said.

“That isn’t funny!” Mira spat. “No more puppet shows. You’re not him! You’re not my father!”

Cole scowled down at the well-dressed semblance. From his current vantage point, it was hard to see all the details. But assuming the man had been shaped as accurately as the fake Mira, it was his first view of his enemy, the High King.

“Are you sure?” the false High Shaper said. “I’m close enough. This entity spent a great deal of time with me. Much more time than you did. And much more time than it spent with you.”

Mira turned to her double. “You weren’t part of him. You were his prisoner.”

“She was part of me,” the fake High King said. “
And
she was my prisoner.”

Mira stepped close to her semblance clone. “Don’t you see? He took you. My father stole you. But now you’re free. We can be together again. We’re supposed to be together.”

There was no reaction from Carnag or the tethered semblances.

“I hear the talking again,” Twitch said. “This is messed up. Someone is in there saying stuff.”

“Can you make out any words?” Jace asked.

“No,” Twitch said, frustrated.

“You want to own me like he owned me,” fake Mira finally said. “You want to drown me inside of you! If I go back to you, I die. You’re coming with me. We’re both going to survive.”

“I’m not bluffing about the sword,” Mira said.

“I’m not bluffing either,” fake Mira answered. “What if I love my freedom? What if I’d rather end than go back?”

“Twitch is right,” Liam said in Cole’s ear. “I’m fantastic at discerning physical compositions. There’s a woman inside of Carnag.”

“Mira!” Cole called. “Ask Carnag about the woman inside of her! The woman talking to her!”

Both the fake Mira and the semblance of Mira’s father abruptly looked up at Cole. Their expressions told him he was on to something.

“The boy lies,” the fake Mira and fake father asserted in unison.

“What woman is inside you?” Mira asked. “Is somebody controlling you?”

The semblances paused.

“I hear her again,” Twitch said. “Quieter.”

Cole pressed his ear to the beam below Twitch. The murmur of hurried conversation was faint but definite.

“I hear her!” Cole said loudly.

“We hear the woman,” Mira asserted. “Who is she? Don’t listen to her! You’re part of me! Listen to
me
!”

“You’re unworthy, Mira,” her fake father accused. “You would have squandered your power. You let me take her, and you ran away!”

“I ran because my father was after me,” Mira cried. “I ran because I didn’t understand what happened. I used to shape so many things! Then it was gone. Stolen.”

“Then use your shaping,” her fake father challenged. “If
you’re worthy, take back what’s yours. If not, accept her protection and let her live. Let her thrive. Let her be all the things you were too inept to make her.”

“I can barely shape anymore,” Mira said. “I’d be lucky to change the color of my shirt. Why? Because my shaping power was taken.”

“Interesting,” her fake father murmured.

“More talking,” Twitch called.

“Can you make out what she’s saying?” Cole whispered, hoping Liam would understand that the question was meant for him.

“Sadly, no,” Liam replied.

“Who are you talking to?” Mira demanded. “Who’s in there?”

“Give me the sword,” Mira’s fake father said, holding out a hand. “We don’t want a tragedy.”

“Come an inch closer, and I’ll cut my throat,” Mira promised.

“She’s serious,” the false Mira said.

“I know,” the fake father grumbled.

“What do you call yourself?” Mira asked her double.

Fake Mira hesitated. “Some call me Carnag. I suppose that is a good name for my exterior.”

“Is that what you call yourself?” Mira asked.

“No,” fake Mira replied. “I call myself Miracle.”

“She’s the true miracle,” her fake father said. “She does wonders you could never have achieved.”

“I didn’t get much chance,” Mira said. “I was eleven. I’m
still
eleven.” Mira turned to her duplicate. “You call yourself
Miracle because you come from me. My father stole you. Was the woman inside of you involved?”

There came a long pause.

“I don’t hear anything,” Twitch reported. “She could be whispering.”

“Is she still talking to you?” Mira asked.

“Maybe,” fake Mira said.

“Why are you listening to her? Who is she?”

Fake Mira held up a hand to stop Mira from talking. “You wouldn’t understand. She’s . . . she’s my mother. Not
your
mother. Not Harmony.
My
mother.”

“Your
mother
?” Mira exclaimed. “Does that mean she made you? Is she who stole you?”

“
I
freed Miracle from you,” her fake father said smugly.

“Did she tell you she’s your mother?” Mira asked. “Who is she really? I’m more your mother than anyone! You came from me!”

“Don’t be absurd,” Mira’s fake father growled.

“I want to talk to this woman,” Mira said.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” fake Mira said. “Not yet. Later. After you come with us. She’ll help you understand.”

“I’m not coming with you,” Mira said.

“You’ll see,” fake Mira said. “You can free me. Fully free me. Free us. From each other. Cut all ties. We can go our separate ways. She can teach you.”

“You’re my shaping power!” Mira shouted. “We’re not meant to be separated. How would you like to lose your shaping power?”

“I can’t,” the fake Mira said simply. “I
am
shaping power.”

Mira gasped. Her fake father stepped forward and took hold of her. Mira struggled, but he was stronger. Carnag reached down and picked her up.

It took Cole a moment to realize what had happened. Mira had dropped her Jumping Sword. It was no longer a sword. It was a stick.

33

“C
arnag turned her sword into a stick!” Cole exclaimed.

“I know,” Liam replied in his ear. “That’s bad. The rendering was designed to be difficult to tamper with. And I was taking countermeasures to hold it together. It took some time, but Carnag figured it out. That means everything we have could be vulnerable.”

Jace and Twitch crowded the bars and watched as Carnag loaded Mira into the cage at her hip. On the ground, the semblances of Mira and her father approached Carnag’s foot, merged with it, and disappeared. The colossus stood up.

“Put me with my friends!” Mira yelled.

“Privileges are earned,” Carnag replied emphatically.

“Can you guys hear me?” Mira whispered. “Are you all right?”

“We’re caged inside a giant monster,” Cole replied. “Otherwise, we’re fine.”

“How do you hear one another?” Carnag bellowed. “Silence!”

The cage shook brusquely. Cole clung to the bars to stay on his feet.

“Don’t make it madder,” one of the legionnaires advised.

“I haven’t lost all of my shaping skills,” Mira called.

“Is that Miracle down there?” another of the legionnaires asked. “
The
Miracle, from all those years ago?”

Cole considered the legionnaire. Apparently the conversation between Mira and Carnag had provided him with enough clues to guess what was really happening. If he was adding up the facts, Cole figured it would be best to put the whole truth into circulation.