Elei's Chronicles (Books 1-3) (49 page)

She climbed up slowly, her legs shaking. Once, she started to slip again and Elei stopped her fall with a hand around her ankle. He waited until she’d stopped moving, then gently shoved her upward. She climbed higher.

At some point, Kalaes grasped her arms from above and hauled her up.

Elei dragged himself higher. Kalaes grabbed his sprained wrist and he bit down on a whimper as he was hauled up as well.

“Damn, Elei, are you okay?” Kalaes’ face loomed over him, pinched with worry. “Hells, I thought you’d fallen.”

“I’m fine.” He dragged himself upright on the bridge that creaked. Alendra stood by the wall, trembling. “We’re fine. Where’s Hera?”

Kalaes searched his face for a moment longer, then nodded. “This way. We’re close to the surface. Come.”

Close to Dakru City and the Palace.

Chapter
Nineteen

T
he last stretch
was easier, thank the gods. The bridges ran straight, very few steps separating one from the next in the adjacent tunnel. He felt it, too, the change in the air. They were not far from the surface and their goal.

Which brought more pressing issues to his mind and tightened his stomach. Soon he’d have to demand they stay in the tunnels and wait for him. Soon he’d go off alone and do everything and anything to reach the safety box, hoping this wasn’t all a misunderstanding, that the code — the numbers on his gun — worked and that there was something worth dying for in the box. There’d better be.

Hoping. Always hoping
.

The bridge led to another flight of steps, not so slimy this time. He still kept an eye on Alendra, though, just in case she slipped again. It was distracting, watching her long legs, the muscles shifting in her slim calves, her heart-shaped behind.

His arms around her, her body trembling against him, her faint scent of sea mist and fear, her fingers hovering by his face...

Don’t
. 

A faint light beckoned from above as they climbed upward. Morning light. His palms sweated. He wiped them on his pants, one by one, pausing in his climb. Hera’s silhouette was outlined against the light, dark and golden, like a goddess rising from the deep.

Then she stopped, fiddled with something, and more light burst into the tunnel, along with a breath of flowers and clear water. He took a deep breath, his eyes closing. Such a pleasure after the gagging stench of the sewers.

Hera vanished into the light. They climbed faster now, and soon Kalaes followed Hera out, then Alendra, and he was the last one, stepping over the raised threshold into Dakru City.

He walked into a large, white room with tall, narrow windows made of opaque glass, letting in the light but not allowing anyone to peer inside. The floors and walls glimmered, made of the white, shiny stone Hera had spoken of in the aircar.
Moonstone
.

Chairs and a table stood in a corner. White lockers covered one wall and stalls the other. Probably showers.

Hera was already opening lockers, probably looking for clothes. Elei closed the door to the sewers behind him, but their own stench now filled the room.

“Is this place locked?” he asked and Kalaes hurried to the single other door, so white it blended with the walls, that stood half-open. He closed it softly, then pulled the two bolts and secured it with a chair, jamming it under the handle.

Alendra opened the door of a stall and peered inside. “Wow,” she whispered.

“Where’s Cat?” Elei looked around. He realized he hadn’t seen the creature since it’d shot by in the tunnels what seemed like hours ago.

“Your animal jumped by me as I opened the door,” Hera said, sounding annoyed. “Startled me to death.”

Cat must have gone out of the building before he’d even entered the room. Maybe they’d meet in the city.

Now for the hardest part.

“Listen, all of you.” Elei cleared his throat, and warmth rose to his face when they all turned to stare at him.

“What is it, fe?” Kalaes crossed his arms and frowned. With his hair sticking in all directions, standing like that, he looked like the old Kalaes. But everything had changed.

“I’m going into the Palace alone.” Elei lifted a hand as they all started protesting. “Listen. Rex will help me.”

“How?” Hera cocked an eyebrow at him. “What’s on your mind, boy?”

“At the hospital.” He took a deep breath. “When I went in to get Kalaes. In the yard, before I managed to go in, four guards with dogs cornered me.”

Hera made a startled noise. Alendra shifted, taking a long breath.

Kalaes hissed. “Hells, fe, you almost got yourself killed to get me—”

“Rex saved me. My scent changed, so the dogs wouldn’t attack me. Then my temperature dropped, so the Gultur couldn’t see me.” Elei winced, remembering the pain Rex had caused him before that, trying to prevent him from going into the hospital complex. He’d have to brace himself for that again. “And the cats helped me. What I want to say is...” He sighed. “I think my best chance at getting into the Palace is on my own.”

Kalaes frowned darkly. “No, fe, I won’t—”

“Impossible,” Hera snapped. “Not letting you go alone—”

“You’ll complicate things,” Elei cut them off, willing them to understand. “Rex will protect me, but not you. It can mask my smell or make me almost invisible, but not
you
.”

He wasn’t sure when Rex would start reacting to the threat, to the possibility of getting killed. Probably as soon as Elei himself realized it and fear brought on the release of gods knew what chemicals in his bloodstream. Fear might be his best chance at surviving — if it didn’t come too early, and Rex didn’t cripple him so much he never made it into the Palace.

“Sobek, he has a point.” Hera groaned.

“Point or no point, if he’s hurt, if they capture him, who’s going to help him if we’re not with him?” Kalaes scowled. “No pissing way.”

“I can’t think of a better plan,” Elei said, steeling himself. “Please. You have to wait for me here.”

“No.” Kalaes shook his head of spiky hair, his eyes thoughtful. “You’ll be dead before you even enter the damn palace. You need to pull a fast one on the Gultur, have someone smuggle you in. Hera can help you, fe.”

Elei considered this. True, what use were all of Rex’s tricks if he couldn’t even enter the palace?

Still, that wasn’t the answer.

“Kal.” He clenched and unclenched his hands, trying to relax the tense muscles in his shoulders. “You may be right, but Hera’s plan won’t work either. Her face is all over their wanted lists, just like yours. Even if she got her hands on a visor, do you really think the Gultur go around visored in their capital, and in their own Palace?”

Kalaes opened his mouth to argue, glanced at Hera’s paling face, and shut it again. His shoulders drooped. “Hera?”

“Nunet’s snakes.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I knew it was not the best of plans, but I thought it might get us inside.”

“What, until someone pointed a gun at you and demanded you remove your visor?” Kalaes groaned. “Hells, fe, I thought your plan was bullet-proof.”

“I thought I’d improvise once we reached that point,” Hera said. She shot him an angry glance. “It was the best I could do on short notice. Feel free to suggest something better.”

“And feel free to kiss my shiny—”

“Whatever,” Hera snapped.

“—boot,” Kalaes finished with a sharp smile. “So what now?”

“You know as much as I,” Hera muttered.

Gods, but she sounded so tired. They’d relied on her since the beginning. Gultur or not, she was barely an adult and she’d been driving them on, guiding them, saving them.

“Kal, trust me,” Elei said, trying to instill his voice with confidence. “I can do this alone.” 

Kalaes’ eyes flashed with dark fire. “Hells no.”

“Rex will protect him, Kalaes,” Hera said, baring her teeth.

“And if it doesn’t?”

“It will.” Elei tried to calculate if he could take them all down and lock them up here. He doubted they wouldn’t find a way out if they wanted, though. “It has done so before.”

“But even if you manage to get inside the Palace, you’ve weakened the parasite so much it might not protect you,” Alendra said.

Elei turned at her quiet voice. Everyone fell silent. “What?”

“You took the tea Hera prepared, to make telmion stronger.” Elei hadn’t even known she’d paid any attention. “Rex is still weak. What if it can’t really protect you this time? What if it lets you down?”

Then I’m on my own
. “I’m sure Rex recovered already,” he said.

“Elei. Don’t. Don’t do this, okay? Dammit.” Kalaes huffed. “I’m not letting you go alone. You’ll get yourself killed and I’ll have to descend to the lowest hell to bring you back.”

Elei shivered. Fear was spreading cold tentacles inside him. He had to leave now, before he lost his nerve, before Rex tried to stop him. “I’m going.”

“I’ll go with you.” Alendra said unexpectedly. “I’ll get you inside.”

There was another of those interesting silences, and he turned back to her. He studied her small face, her clear eyes. “You?”

“I’m the only one of us who’s not in their records. They don’t have my photo on their screens and newsfeed.”

What had gotten into Alendra now? “You’re not a Gultur. How are you planning on helping me get inside?”

“I can pretend to be a Gultur. Maybe they won’t know.” Alendra turned to Hera. “Will they check everyone passing?”

Hera shrugged, her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps. But there are mortals working in Dakru City. That could work.”

“They do have Elei’s photo.” Kalaes’ hands curled into fists. “How will you get him through?”

“The same way Hera would.” Alendra gestured at the uniforms hanging inside the locker Hera had pried open. “The uniforms have hoods. Only I don’t have to hide my face.”

“Stop this, all of you.” Elei shook his head, exasperated. “I’m telling you, I have to go alone. I can’t protect Alendra any more than I can protect any of you.”

“Elei, listen.” Hera took a step toward him, her eyes seeking his. “Alendra is right. Telmion’s flaring may mean Rex cannot protect you like it did at the hospital. In any case, a cover until you reach the Palace may be your only chance. I thought to take all three of you with me, but the truth is that would draw attention and inquiries. The custom is for one
Saew
, one custodian for each mortal entering the Palace. If they do not notice she is no Gultur, then this could go smoothly.”

“I still don’t like it,” Kalaes grumbled. “Smoothly, my ass.”

Hera ignored him. “Kalaes and I can provide distraction, like the street children did for you in Teos. It will only take a guard on a bad day to pay closer attention and sniff you out, quite literally. But if Kalaes and I create some trouble nearby, their attention will be on us.”

“Yeah.” Elei’s heart boomed. “And then they capture you, and torture you.” He looked at Kalaes, willing him to understand. “Again.”

Kalaes’ face drained of blood, but he recovered fast. Still sickly pale, he nodded. “Fine then. We’re gonna do as you say, distract them while you go in,” he said.

Then he pulled out the small dagger from his belt, and before Elei could react, he grabbed the two braids hanging over his left ear and damn it all if he didn’t cut them with a single swipe of his blade.

Elei swallowed a gasp. “What did you do that for?”

Kalaes’ lips pulled back in a dangerous grin. “Getting ready.”

“What in the hells do you mean?”

Kalaes held the two thin braids in his fist and raised them like an offering to the gods of the storm. For all Elei knew, that was what it was.

“I let them grow for my dead, instead of tombstones. And now...” Kalaes shook his head. “Now I’m fighting for the living.”

He let the braids fall, stood still for the longest moment as if not believing himself what he’d done, and then strode to the shower stalls. “Time to get ready,” he announced, stepping inside and closing the door. The shower started.

Elei bent down and gathered the braids. He straightened, clenching his fingers around them. “Okay. Your way, Alendra. Let’s do this.”

Without looking at either girl, he stepped into the next stall, the braids still in his hand. He closed the door and laid his forehead on the cold stone of the wall.

Gods. I’ll be their death
.

***

Elei checked the stitches on his thigh and decided the wounds had healed fine. The water in the showers was warm and there was a bar of white disinfectant soap. Elei scrubbed himself with a rough washcloth he found in the stall, and rubbed soap into his hair. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d stood under the water. Had to be in Akmon, in the small apartment Hera took them to, before the Fleet had found them once more and the
seleukid
planes came close to killing them.