Attack on Phoenix (8 page)

"We need to get out of here," Torsten yelled over the thundering tremors. He braced himself with his palms against the rocky wall, wincing at the sharp stabs of pain.

Rell stumbled as she made her way to him. Torsten grabbed her wrist, pulling her to the wall just before a patch of dirt and rubble crumbled from the ceiling above.

"Thank you," Rell said.

Mellok yelled, "Let’s go back. We need to get aboveground."

"No!" Rell yelled. "We need to go deeper."

"I know the world is on fire above, but we’ll die here if this tunnel collapses." Mellok pointed down the way they had come.

"You must trust me," Rell said. "Follow me."

Mellok’s eyes narrowed. "No. I just met you. I don't trust you." He turned to Leila, holding out a hand. "Come with me."

Leila looked at her brother, biting her lip. "Tor?"

Another tremor rocked the ground. Leila reached out for Mellok's hand. They took off running up the way they’d come, Andessa on their heels.

"Go." Rell turned her back on Torsten, following the sloping tunnel down to the right.

Torsten watched his sister's blond ponytail retreat. He turned, seeing Rell's pink hair moving away in the opposite direction. Torsten knew which way he wanted to go, and which way he should.

He cursed as he jogged after Rell. "Wait for me."

She looked at him over her shoulder, surprised. She didn’t look especially happy to see him, but at least she didn't argue as he pulled up alongside her.

"Why?" she asked him simply.

"I want to know about the Key," Torsten said. He felt uneasy about leaving his sister, but Leila had Mellok and Andessa. Torsten was sure they’d keep each other safe.

"I can't tell you anything about the Key." Rell made a hard right down a darker tunnel.

Torsten squinted as the light became dimmer.

Rell held out a hand in front of her and whispered a few unintelligible words. A light sprang forth from her palm.

"What is that?" Torsten wanted to examine her hand, but Rell's pace didn't slow.

"It's a flame." Rell's sarcasm wasn't wasted on Torsten.

The ground shook again. The light from the small flame bounced along with their strides, but it was more than enough to illuminate the tunnel ahead. Torsten wanted to ask where they were headed, but he knew Rell wouldn't answer. At least not now.

Rell turned left down another tunnel. Torsten marked the turns in his head, building a mental map. He hadn't even seen the opening until she turned toward it. Another reason to trust her. Rell knew where she was going. She'd given no indication she wanted him dead, and he didn't think she'd risk her own life to hurt him.

He’d have to trust Rell, or die trying to find his way back out. He just hoped Leila, Mellok, and Andessa had found their way to the top... and they weren't attacked by the dragzhi or burned in the raging fires.

"Not much further," Rell said.

Torsten didn't respond, saving his energy. Rell had healed his leg, but he was still fatigued from the pain, not to mention having been on the run the vast majority of the day. He could hardly believe it was just that morning he'd been sent away from the tower. He'd met Rell mere hours ago, and here he was, risking his life with her. He never could have predicted it.

Rell stopped short of a door. She made a fist, and the light extinguished. She knocked twice, waited a moment, and knocked twice more.

The door creaked open. Rell grabbed Torsten's hand, tugging him after her.

He entered the dark room. A spicy, nutty scent permeated the air, as if someone was burning cardamom like his mother used to do. A cool breeze tickled the back of Torsten's neck. He kept one hand on the wall and the other firmly in Rell's grasp.

"Kneel," Rell commanded, tugging him down.

Torsten obeyed. He dropped to his knees. The ground was littered with broken shells and jagged pebbles. Tears sprang to his eyes as he tried to absorb the pain. Torsten sank down, letting his bottom rest on his heels.

A small light sprang to life across the room. Torsten could see Rell, her head down, her eyes closed in prayer. She didn’t even seem bothered by the sharp ground. He debated mirroring her, but he didn't know how to pray, or who to pray to.

This room didn't seem affected by the tremors. The walls were lined with bookcases. Some of the tomes should have fallen with the strength of the quakes, yet they all remained in their places.

"Torsten, be calm. Let your mind be free," Rell said, her voice barely a whisper. "Empty your mind. Do you understand me?"

He didn't. Still, he nodded his head in agreement. Torsten closed his eyes, attempting to let go of his thoughts. His heart pounded, feeling as if it was dropping to his stomach, only to rebound again. His palms dripped with sweat, and his jaw clenched. The harder he tried to relax, the more he failed.

Rell squeezed his hand. "You can do it, Torsten. Think of nothing other than a leaf blowing on the breeze. Or a star blinking in the sky. Focus on it."

Torsten tried thinking of something, anything, to calm him. Nothing about the military would do the job. He thought farther back, to his mother. She sat on his bed, holding him in her arms as he drifted off to sleep, her soft lips on his forehead. She smelled of earth, the most beautiful scent on Phoenix. It was the smell of freedom. Of love. It was something he hadn't thought of since the night his parents died.

Tears slipped down his cheeks. It was the first time he’d remembered his parents without thinking of the way they died. Instead, Torsten could feel their love. He heard his father sneaking into his bedroom, helping his mother lay him down on his bed. He snuggled into the flat pillow, pulling the moth-eaten blanket up to his chin. It was home. He was safe, and he was loved.

Torsten's body began to shake. Rell's hand grasped tighter.

"Don't let go!" she yelled.

Torsten felt the ground fall out from under him. The world began to spin. But instead of falling down into the hole created by the tremor, Torsten's body sped upward, twirling in the air. He tried opening his eyes, but the force of the wind around him was too great. Instead, he focused all of his attention on the feel of Rell's hand in his. Warm, trustworthy—just like his mother's embrace had once been.

Heat swirled around Torsten, burning off the sweat streaming from his forehead. He held tighter to Rell. He attempted to form words, but his body was caught in a force stronger than anything he'd ever experienced. His stomach flipped over and over again, until he no longer knew which way was up. He tucked his knees to his chest.

Rell's free arm wrapped around him, pulling him close to her. Her head rested on his.

Within moments it was all over. Torsten fell backward onto a hard metal floor, exhausted and confused.

He opened his eyes. Rell sat next to him, her eyes wide and a smile on her face.

"What happened?" he asked, his throat croaking as he looked around the room. Four stark metal walls surrounded them. A bench protruded from one wall, but that was the only piece of furniture.

"We are no longer underground." Rell let go of Torsten's hand, as if she'd just remembered she didn't want to touch him. "Sit. Look around."

Torsten rubbed his forehead as he sat up. He blinked a few times.

Everything had changed.

Rell was right. They were no longer underground. Torsten scrambled to his feet. He ran to the closest window. Looking out, he couldn't believe what he saw.

Darkness. Blackness so thick it could swallow anything touching it. A ship flew outside the window, speeding by at breakneck speed. Torsten whirled around, running to a window on the other side of the room. A planet, lush with green and blue, clouds swirling above it. Two moons. Countless stars. Torsten swallowed hard as Rell placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Is that what I think it is?" Torsten asked.

"What do you think it is?" Rell asked.

"Phoenix." Torsten swallowed again, hard, to tamp down his nausea. "It can't be. We were just there. Underground. Now we're here." He whirled around. "Where are we?"

"In the hands of the gods. The home of the Menelewen Dored." Rell's smile grew. "I have been trying to reach this place for years. Every time, I have failed."

"What?" Torsten croaked. "We could have gotten out of the tunnels with my sister, and instead you risked our lives for an experiment? We could have died down there."

Rell shook her head. "No. The gods always care for us when we need it. Today, we needed it and they responded. Don't you see, Torsten? This is the result of faith. We have been saved."

Torsten looked out the window again. Phoenix looked so peaceful from above. He couldn't see the fires burning in Hadar. It was as if nothing bad could happen down there. But something was missing.

"Rell," he said, "we haven't reached your gods. We are in the hands of our enemy. The ship out there. You saw one earlier today, just as I did. Those aren't ships of peace or religion."

He pulled Rell to the window. "Look."

Her brow furrowed as she looked out the window. "No."

"Yes. We haven't traveled to your gods. We are prisoners of the dragzhi. The same beings who are attempting to kill our people." They floated in space, alone except for one other ship. Was this all the dragzhi had left? Had they made a huge dent in the dragzhi forces? Maybe they could win after all.

"But, the Menelewen Dored..." Rell's voice cracked. "I don't understand. They kept telling us to reach the gods. They taught us how to pray. It was supposed to lead to our salvation, not our enemy."

A panel of the wall moved aside with a whoosh. Torsten and Rell jumped backward.

"Torsten, you made it." A woman glided through the opening, her arms wide, her distinctive red hair pulled back in an intricate braid hanging over her shoulder.

Torsten’s heart plunged to his stomach once more. "Mom?" he asked.

Rell held her breath as Torsten fell into the arms of the woman with long auburn hair. His mother was only slightly smaller than he was, yet their embrace was awkward. His mother’s arms couldn't seem to find the right placement as they fumbled about Torsten's back.

After a moment, they backed away from each other. Torsten's arms hung at his sides, his shoulders slumped forward. Rell could almost glimpse the little boy who'd hidden under the bed while he watched his parents’ slaughter.

"I thought you were dead," Torsten said with a whimper. "I saw them kill you. I saw the light in your eyes fade. I saw your lips slacken. I watched as they took your bodies away."

Torsten's hands shook. Rell debating taking one in hers, even if just for a moment to comfort him. She wasn't sure she was ready. She'd already touched him too many times. Becoming comfortable with his body would lead to sin.

She couldn't risk damnation now. Not after she'd finally succeeded. Her attempts to ascend to the gods had always taken her back to her room. This time, she was in space. Whether it was a dragzhi ship mattered not. The Menelewen Dored had finally found her worthy.

"And who is your friend?" Torsten's mother completely ignored her son's question as she bestowed a glowing smile on Rell.

"Rell." She clasped her hands behind her back.

“Yasmin.” She smiled warmly at Rell.

"Mom?" Torsten's hand found its way to his mother's shoulder. Yasmin turned around to face him. "Tell me why you're here. How?"

"The same way as you. I found the gods, and they brought me here." She smiled eerily.

"You were dead." Torsten said it through gritted teeth, and his shoulders tensed. "I don't understand. Please tell me what's going on. Are we..." he stared at Rell, his eyes wide, "dead?"

Rell squeezed her fingers. No, not dead. She felt just as she had before the gods had brought them to this strange place in the stars.

"No, Torsten. You're not dead. Neither am I. It is a very long story. I promise I will explain it to you in due time." Yasmin reached up, patting his cheek, as if he were still a small boy.

Despite the confused and angry look on Torsten's face, Rell's heart was warmed. Her own mother had never treated her so kindly, not even when she was a small child. All her people did was in service to the Menelewen Dored. Children were not allowed to be soft. They were trained from a very young age to be independent.

"I adore your hair. Is that how they are wearing it on Phoenix these days?" Yasmin ran a hand over Rell's hair.

Rell resisted the instinct to knock the woman's hand away. "Yes, I suppose it is the style. I only recently had my hair cut. Until very early this morning, my hair reached the floor."

“You are one of them." Yasmin’s smile softened.

"I don't understand." Torsten looked from his mother to Rell. "What does she mean?"

Rell straightened her shoulders. "I suppose she's referring to the length of my hair. She knows what it means. Your mother know I am an acolyte of the Menelewen Dored. I would like to know how she got here, if she isn't one. I brought us here through the power of faith." She spread her arms out. "We are among the stars, Torsten. The gods brought us here."

"Do you believe, Torsten?" His mother looked at him with accusing eyes.

Torsten threw his arms in the air, then sat down on the bench. "I honestly have no idea what is going on. Last night I was told I was being sent on a mission to find the Key. Then I ended up underground with Rell. The ground began to shake. She pulled me into a room. The next thing I knew, my world was spinning. Now I'm here."

Not only had Rell kept Torsten and his friends away from the Key. Now she had been rewarded. Of course her gods lived among the stars, and soon she would meet them.

"The two of you must be exhausted. I'll take you to your room, and we can talk in the morning. Come with me." Yasmin exited the room.

Torsten stood, shrugging, and motioned to Rell.

Eager to meet her gods, Rell followed. Maybe she wouldn't see them before sleeping, but surely tomorrow she would be granted an audience. She had prepared her whole life for this.

Heart fluttering in her chest, Rell followed Torsten's mother through the silver hallway. Rell ran her fingers along the cool surface, surprised at how smooth it was. They had nothing like this underground. Their metal was worked in a forge, and though it was strong and often sharp, it was never without imperfections.

"It's xorium," Torsten whispered over her shoulder. "It's one of the strongest metals available in space. Part of the original mission the humans had before they crashed on Phoenix was to find untapped xorium mines. The dragzhi must have it on their home world.”

Home world? Rell wanted to snort. The gods had no home world. All worlds were theirs. It was clear Torsten knew very little about the Menelewen Dored. He would learn quickly. Perhaps the gods hadn't just sent her to stop him, but also to teach him.

She looked over her shoulder at the tall man, his stubble even darker than it had been in the morning. He had a goofy smile on his strong face. Rell wondered if other girls found him attractive.

She forced her gaze to his mother's back. Those thoughts weren't just foolish, they were dangerous. She was only permitted to look at another that way if the gods demanded it, just as they had with her parents. Even then, her parents hadn't loved each other. They had done their duty by conceiving Rell, and she often thought her father loved her more than he loved her mother. They had been close. He had worried even more about his daughter than his gods. The night he'd taken her outside to the see the stars was the last time she'd seen him. Only moments before she committed her greatest sin.

"Here we are." Yasmin stopped. Lost in her own thoughts, Rell nearly ran into her. The woman with the auburn hair waved a hand over the wall, and the wall parted. "This is your room."

Rell stepped inside. There was a small bed, a single blanket, and nothing else. It reminded Rell of her pod underground. "Thank you. This is perfect." She bowed her head to Torsten's mother. "You will come for me in the morning?"

"I will come for both of you. For now, you must remain in here." She motioned for Torsten to follow Rell inside.

"In there?" Torsten asked, pointing into Rell's room. "Me?"

Yasmin nodded, her curls falling over her shoulders. "Get in. Hurry." She looked over her shoulder. "Before they come. Get in."

She gave Torsten a little push, and he staggered in next to Rell. Before she could object, the door hissed closed behind him.

"This is unacceptable." Rell brushed past Torsten. She waved her hand in front of the wall just like his mother had. Running her palms over the smooth wall, she began to panic. Nothing was happening. The door wasn't opening.

"Let me try." Torsten waited for her to move to the side and took over searching the wall. He repeated some of the same things she'd done, adding in a few strange hand gestures she didn't understand. He stopped, then turned around. "I think we're stuck in here for the night."

Rell sank down on the bed. "I don't understand. We came here to see the gods. They saved us from the earthquake. We could have died. Why would they save us only to place us in this prison?"

Torsten sat next to her, careful not to touch her. At least he was holding up his promise. Even though, for just a brief moment, she wanted him to hold her until her heart calmed.

"Rell, the gods didn't save us. We obviously stepped into some kind of portal. I've read about them. Humans had that tech before we left Earth and were stranded on Phoenix. It wasn't your gods." Torsten looked at her with an expression she couldn't decipher.

Sympathy? Pity? She didn't want either. They had been saved by the gods, and one day he would understand.

"Believe as you wish. You'll see in the morning." Rell tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle a yawn. She leaned against the wall. It was just as cool as the walls in the hallway. She shivered.

Torsten sprang up, pulling the blanket off the part of the bed he'd been sitting on. He lifted it up and placed it gently over Rell’s shoulders. "I'll sleep on the floor."

She bit her lip. It wasn't fair one of them would have to sleep on the floor. They both could fit on the bed, but she wasn't comfortable being that close to him. Anything could happen while she slept.

She eyed Torsten as he settled on the floor, one arm bent under his head for a pillow. He'd kept his word where she was concerned. He hadn't tried to kiss her again. And the gods had brought them here, providing this room for them to share. Perhaps they had plans in mind for the two of them as life mates. Rell bit her lip. She couldn't allow herself to think that way. The gods’ plans were theirs alone, and until they made their wishes clear she had to follow their rules.

I'm sorry
, she said in her head to Torsten. She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud, for fear it would encourage him to kiss her again.

Rell relaxed on the soft mattress, her head swimming. The day had been so long, so exhausting. She couldn't even begin to think of everything that had changed since she'd woken up, excited about serving the council.

Her eyes closed, shutting out the dim light in the room. She cracked one eye open. Covered in dirt, Torsten rested on the floor as if it were the most comfortable place he’d ever slept. Guilt washed over Rell again. He'd been through just as much as she had that day, if not more.

She scooted back against the wall, careful to keep the blanket between her body and the cold surface. Torsten shouldn’t have to sleep on the floor. There was perhaps enough room for him to share the bed without touching her.

Her heart thumped again, just as it had when she had traveled with the gods to this place. It was part fear and part excitement. The gods had brought them together. Perhaps this was what they wanted her to feel. Perhaps it was natural.

Still, she held her tongue. Instead of inviting him up, she imagined what it would be like to have him there next to her. She contemplated a bit more what all of this meant, but before she could come up with a conclusion, she fell asleep.