Elei's Chronicles (Books 1-3) (68 page)

Joy
.

***

The nether hells
.

Hera bit her lip. The map had been real, its elements true. The vents and tunnels did exist, and the entrances marked with red did open.

It was like waking up one morning and finding your dreams had been true all along.

She stole a glance at Sacmis’ bowed head, her knitted brows, a silvery tendril of hair brushing her cheek. The other Gultur was explaining how the levers and switches worked and how deep she thought the elevator went, how safe it was for all of them to ride together considering their combined weight and the apparent antiquity of the mechanism.

The underworld
.

Elei stood on the side, arms crossed over his chest, head tilted. Kalaes was talking about food, gesturing expansively, a huge grin on his face. Was food all he ever thought about? Stupid mortal, always creating trouble, always—

Her gut clenched and she forced her gaze down on the map.
Oh gods, Regina
. She could not even trust her own thoughts anymore. These two men were her friends, her brothers. How to separate the hot impulses the parasite sent through her brain from her sanity? Would she go into a frenzy and recover later to find out she’d killed her family? Was she destined to be one of those Echo princesses who went mad in the end?

Fighting a shiver, she stared unseeing at the map. Sacmis would not let her fall. She drew a breath of the familiar sweet scent, and let her shoulders slump.

She had to believe it.

***

They stood pressed together inside the elevator box, looking straight ahead, like soldiers in a parade. Cat had curled on Elei’s shoulder and apparently gone to sleep. Cat knew no fear or worry, apparently.

They’d been descending for a while. Various lights blinked on a panel next to Sacmis, green, yellow and red, and numbers flashed. Kalaes glanced at him, looking as lost as Elei felt. They both shrugged.

“Are we going okay?” Alendra’s warm hand landed on Elei’s shoulder, sending butterflies catapulting into his stomach, exploding like mini grenades.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Kalaes muttered. “All I know is, we’re going down.”

Cat woke and hissed.

The elevator jolted, throwing them off their feet. Elei’s head hit the metal panel and he slid down, both Kalaes and Alendra tumbling on top of him.

“What in the pissing hells?” Kalaes grunted, pushing off Elei’s legs.

“You all right, Elei?” Alendra levered herself off him.

Elei sat up, rubbing his head. “What’s going on? Did we stop?”

As if in answer, the elevator dropped a few more feet, and then screeched to a halt, metal grinding against metal.

Elei raised his gaze, and they all looked at each other, their eyes full of uncertainty. Standing between Elei’s legs, Cat hissed again, fur on end, like a demon from the lowest hell. Elei reached out to sooth him and got four parallel welts on his wrist for his trouble.

“Nunet’s cold tits,” Hera muttered, getting to her feet. “The ride is over.”

Talk about stating the obvious. Elei stood, swaying. Black spots danced before his eyes and he swatted at them. “Have we reached the bottom?”

“No.” Hera jabbed the buttons of the elevator. “Damn. It’s broken.”

“Or someone cut the current,” Kalaes said grimly. “They’re still following us.”

“We need to get out of here.” Sacmis grabbed Hera’s arm and pulled herself up. “If they did this, the next step will be to slice the cables and let us crash.”

“Why don’t you run that one by me again.” Kalaes gave Alendra a hand up. “Cables?”

“From which the elevator hangs,” Sacmis explained. “You have not been in many elevators, have you?”

“You kidding me?” Kalaes said mildly. “Buildings where mortals live and work don’t have that kind of shit. They got stairs.”

Elei’s eye began to ache. Rex was reacting to his fear. He watched as Hera tried to wedge her fingers into the door to get it open, the unease in the pit of his stomach growing. Above them, he heard a snap and the elevator shook.
Dammit
. Lights flashed randomly; there was nothing to focus on. Sweat dribbled down his back.

Sucking in a sharp breath, he shoved past Hera. “Let me.”

Another cable snapped above their heads. His fingers trembled as he forced them into the gap between the double doors and pulled. Muscles burning in his arms, he strained against the door. His heart boomed inside his chest. Time slowed. Then Hera wedged her hands inside, too. Together they pulled the first set of doors apart, and then the second, enough for a person to pass. Once open, the doors didn’t close again.

Outside stretched black void. He leaned out and saw the floor, thankfully less than ten feet below. They were hanging between levels.

The elevator creaked and swayed, and Elei cursed under his breath. “We jump.” He guided Alendra forward with a hand at her elbow. “Go. I’ll follow you.”

Hera stood at the opening. “See you below,” she said and jumped, followed by Sacmis. Alendra threw Elei a worried look but she went ahead, Cat following like an afterthought.

Kalaes was next, but for some reason he hung back. “You first, fe.” He glanced up, his mouth thinning. “Go on.”

Was he afraid of heights? “No, Kal, you go ahead—”

“Go, Elei.” Kalaes pushed him to the door.

A crack, and Elei saw the ceiling splitting. Kalaes was putting him before his own safety. “You’d better follow or I swear I’ll jump down the vent to find you.”

He edged between the doors, glanced at the silhouettes of Hera and Sacmis, and jumped. Cold air rushed by his ears, a roar like an aircar engine filled his head, and he hit the floor. He rolled, smacking his hand on concrete and then came to a stop, dazed.

He’d barely landed, when, to his relief, Kalaes dropped next to him. Just in time, too. The elevator box shook violently and then fell down the vent with an ear-splitting crack. It crashed through the lower levels, the clangs reverberating everywhere.

Holding their breath, they waited for the moment the elevator hit the bottom. And it came — a terrible boom and an explosion that shook the walls and sent plaster and dust raining on them.

Elei rolled on his stomach, coughing, and took a long, hard look at the place where they’d landed.

Another tunnel. He pushed himself up on his hands and knees and wiped the sweat from his eyes with his sleeve.
Fine
. Tunnels led to places, like roads. There had to be a way out of there.

A way down.

Chapter Fourteen

“W
e’re almost
here,” Hera said, pointing to a symbol on the map. It looked like a bush blossom. “A garden.” The green phosphorescence from the tunnel ceiling turned her hands ghost white, the dark lines on her knuckles into slashes about to drip blood.

Elei shook his head.
Not blood. Get your mind off that
. “So what do you suggest we do?”

“Cross the garden,” Hera said, “and take the next tunnel toward the sea. Somewhere there must be a vent leading down so that we can cross to Dakru.”

“If you’re right,” Alendra said. “Which we don’t know.”

Hera narrowed her eyes. “I’m right. I’m good at reading maps.”

“Yeah, just saying,” Alendra said, “in case you’re—”

Hera grabbed the front of Alendra’s blouse. “Do not test my patience.”

Dammit
. “Hera, let her go.” Elei reached out for her, but Kalaes beat him to it and wrenched Alendra from Hera’s grasp.

“Leave her alone,” Kalaes said, his voice rumbling with anger. “Don’t you dare touch her.”

“Or what?” Hera raised a brow. “You’ll blow on me?”

“Hera!” Sacmis tugged on Hera’s arm. “It’s Regina. You know it. Fight this.”

Hera pushed Sacmis backward. “Do not tell me what to do.”

A shadow of sadness passed through Sacmis’ gray eyes.

Elei’s stomach felt like a lump of ice, heavy and cold. Hera was losing control, and Rex was getting stronger. He swallowed past a parched throat. “Let’s have some water,” he croaked.

How long since they’d entered the vent? Surely many hours had passed. Was it afternoon? Night time? The next morning?

“Good idea,” Alendra said. “Let’s see what’s been salvaged in the bags.”

Hera passed her bag to Alendra, not meeting her eye, which was perhaps a good thing. Maybe she was feeling guilty for scaring Alendra like that. Alendra took the bag, not showing any signs she saw it as a peace offering, and opened it. She took out bottles of water and two wrapped loaves of bread, as well as one of Hera’s longguns, a clip of bullets, and a medical kit.

Kalaes set down his backpack, opened it and rummaged inside. “I’ve got a spare gun here too, and two clips of...” He stopped, the blood draining from his face.

Elei took a step toward him, a breath caught in this throat like a stone. “Kal?”

Kalaes upended the bag on the tunnel floor. Water bottles rolled away. A loaf of blue bread wrapped in paper fell out, followed by an orange blouse.

“That’s my blouse.” Alendra dropped to her knees next to Kalaes. “This is my bag.”

Without a word, Kalaes let the bag drop and bowed his head, dark hair hiding his eyes. Faintly he said, “I’m screwed.”

Alendra blinked. “What? Why?”

“My medicine,” he said. “It’s gone.”

Elei stood frozen.

“I thought you said it was just vitamins,” Alendra said.

“Vitamins.” Hera snorted, but her eyes were worried, her brows dipping low. “Sure.”

Elei took another step, not knowing what to say or do. “Kal, will you be okay?”

“It’s...” Kalaes shook his head and didn’t finish.

Silence stretched like a desert plain, barren and scorching. Elei wondered how bad this would prove to be. Very bad, he supposed, if his gut feeling had anything to say about it.

“What was that medicine?” he asked. Kalaes had gone to lots of trouble to get it, but maybe they had something with a similar effect in the medic kit. Hera would know.

“Copocine,” Kalaes said in that same faint voice that made Elei’s insides tighten with worry.

“A fungal suppressant?” Hera’s voice rose incredulously. “Whatever for?”

“What’s wrong with you, Kal?” Elei dropped to his knees but he didn’t dare touch the white-knuckled fists resting on Kalaes’ thighs.

Kalaes snorted, but his eyes were wide with fear. “
Palantin
,” he muttered. “Damn
palantin
.”

Palantin
. Elei remembered with sudden clarity the white mark on Kalaes’ forearm. He’d thought it looked bigger when he last saw it,
dammit
, the white web spreading toward the elbow. “I thought you were cured of it. Why didn’t you say something?”

“I thought I had it under control.” Kalaes flexed his arm. “With the medicine. I had it under control.” His face was white as a sheet.

“How serious is it?” Elei asked. “Hera?”

“Serious,” she said, her mouth a thin line.

“Show me.” Alendra tugged on Kalaes’ hand. “We need to see how far it’s spread.”

He freed his hand with a jerk and almost fell on his back. It nearly broke Elei’s heart. “Kal. Show us.”

Kalaes sat still, not looking at them. This time when Alendra grabbed the hem of his hoodie, he didn’t resist. He let her pull the hoodie and the t-shirt off.

Sacmis covered her mouth with her hand. Alendra stared. Hera looked furious.

The white web had spread, covering Kalaes’ arm and side, an intricate lace of diamond-shaped spaces.

Hera turned away. “
Palantin
,” she whispered.

Kalaes lunged for his clothes and put them back on. He tugged the hoodie down, his hands shaking.

“We must have something in the medic-kit,” Elei said. “Some other anti-fungal.”

Hera shook her head. “Nothing else will work.”

Screw this
. Elei took a deep breath. “He’ll be fine. We just need to hurry and get out of here, find a doctor, a pharmacy. There must be a cure.”

“There’s no such thing. The disease is rare enough that the regime never bothered to put money into finding a cure.” Hera’s voice was as colorless as her face. She nodded at Kalaes. “He must have had it for years, using copocin to suppress it whenever it flared.”

Kalaes didn’t move, not even to nod a confirmation.

Gods
. “What kind of disease is this?” Elei muttered, unable to wrap his mind around this new disaster. “How—”

“Let’s get moving,” Sacmis said. “You said it. The sooner we got out of here the better.”

Elei nodded numbly. “Hera?”

But Hera stared off into space, face set in hard lines, and didn’t answer.

Sacmis grabbed Elei’s arms and pulled him upright, and together with Alendra they lifted Kalaes to his feet. They gathered the bottles and bread, stuffed it back into the pack, and Sacmis shouldered it.

When Hera set off, the map clutched in her hand, Elei followed like a robot, his mind empty, but trusting her to know which way to go. How to fix this.

How to keep Kalaes and all of them alive.

***

See? See?
Regina whispered gleefully in Hera’s ear.
Disease and pestilence. Told you they are sick and weak. Be rid of them and you will be stronger
.

She swatted at the buzzing voice, and dropped the map. Sacmis scooped it up, frowning, and Hera snatched it back.

Kill them, kill them, kill them
—

“No.” She ignored Sacmis’ startled look and set off again down the tunnel.
Telmion
,
palantin
— both belonged to the same family as Regina. If they were sick, she was sicker.

But she became stronger with Regina, while they became weaker.

See?
Regina gloated.
I told you
.

I said no
. She clenched her teeth so hard her jaw hurt.

But, gods... Palantin
. No wonder Regina picked on Kalaes all the time.
Palantin
was an old acquaintance of Regina’s, a rival from its first days of existence. Deadly and unpredictable, unstoppable, hitting suddenly and savagely. It did not share Regina’s success because it did not take the time to alter the genome and modify the organism. It killed too fast for that.

The only thing known to slow it was copa, a chemical element found in crab apple vinegar, made into copocine tablets. Not just any anti-fungal, but a unique one. Although the medicine did not kill
palantin
, it suppressed it until it went into recession. The Gultur regime had deemed this one medicine sufficient and had stopped funding any further research into the parasite’s cycle.

It did not cause plagues, and thus did not affect human resources, the head of the parasitology department had explained. Mortals had so many flaws; a vulnerability to illness could not be avoided. Who cared if a mortal lived or died?

But I do
, she thought, furious and sad, striding ahead of the others, the scream inside her mind drowning out Regina’s whisper.
May the gods help me, I do
.

***

They made one short stop to drink and then continued down the tunnel. Elei trudged at the end of their line. By unspoken agreement they’d placed Kalaes at the center, and he walked behind Sacmis, stiffly, his gaze down. He hadn’t said anything since they’d set out again. All the energy seemed to have drained out of him.

Dark musings buzzed at the edge of Elei’s consciousness. He shook them off. Everything would be okay. It had to be. He’d taken the backpack Kalaes had been carrying, and now he gripped the straps digging into his chest.

He almost walked into Alendra’s back. He pushed off. “What in the hells?”

Then he saw the black metal door. It was at least ten feet high, its surface embossed with patterns —
blossoms
, Elei thought, stepping closer and craning his neck — and birds and animals that looked like cats and dogs, and others he didn’t recognize, with spikes on their heads and slender legs.

And there, rubbing himself on the metal, was Cat.

Elei’s shoulders lifted. “There you are.” He knelt and patted the small head. Cat’s ears flattened. “What’s this place?”

“The Garden,” Alendra breathed, staring up. Even Kalaes gaped at the gate.

Elei straightened. “A real garden?” The word brought to mind images from Bone Tower — the green trees, the colorful flowers, the running brooks and the children playing in the street, bathed in russet light.

“We’ll know once we enter,” Hera said, placing her hands on the door and pushing.

Of course nothing happened, and Hera looked distinctly annoyed. Elei and Sacmis moved forward to help, and Alendra and Kalaes followed suit, heaving together.

“Maybe it’s locked,” Sacmis suggested, withering under Hera’s scowl.

“Or maybe,” Kalaes squinted at the door, “we should pull instead of pushing.”

Cat meowed in apparent agreement.
Sometimes, really...
Elei sighed.

“How?” Alendra gestured at the huge doors and their lack of any sort of handle.

Kalaes scratched his head. He approached the door, dug two fingers into the relief of a star-shaped flower, and tugged.

Something creaked inside, and taking that as a good sign, Elei mimicked him, stabbing his fingers into a flower in the other door panel. He nodded at Kalaes and they pulled.

The doors creaked and moved. A gap opened between them, letting out a musty scent of moist earth. “It’s working.”

Another tug and the gap widened, the doors screeching on the concrete floor.

Cat bounced through and disappeared in a sea of green. Green was all Elei could see as he entered the underground garden, his thoughts fleeing like birds.

They stood beneath a giant dome with smooth panels where lights flickered like reflections on water. Around him grew trees and bushes, some covered in white and yellow flowers. Insects buzzed, and rustling indicated more life in the undergrowth.

Elei turned in a circle, taking it all in. Terraces covered in a mixture of brown and green — dead and living plants — a tangle of unchecked greenery rising like a temple, tree boles like pillars supporting a canopy of red and silver foliage. Rotten fruit crunched underfoot, releasing a sweet smell.