Ominous Odyssey (Overworld Chronicles Book 13) (10 page)

"Shelton would never let them leave without us," Elyssa said.

"The Mzodi don't always listen to us," I reminded her.

"True," she admitted, "but I'm sure Shelton would've left something behind to let us know."

The Mzodi were an interesting group of Seraphim, both Darklings and Brightlings who worked together to harvest aether gems from the intense magical pressures of the vortexes all over the realm. Unlike their land-dwelling brethren, they held no prejudice against Seraphim simply because of the kind of magic they channeled. In a sense, they were like a nation unto themselves, their homeland a secret place I'd never seen.

They were also driving me crazy with this long wait. I tapped on the Mzodi communication gem on my waist, a small silver stone, and waited for the chime that told me the flagship
Uorion
received my request. Like arcphones, the gems utilized aether to transmit communications, but beyond that, I didn't understand the mechanics. Shelton told me the gems were charmed to have an affinity to one another, meaning they all operated on the same frequency.

I hadn't used it yet because bugging the leader of the Mzodi was the last thing I wanted to do, especially since Thomas had already contacted them. Unfortunately, my patience had reached an end.

A faint chime emanated from the gem and the image of a sera with a sharp nose and hawkish eyes projected into the air before me.

"How may I assist you, Minister Slade?"

I had a different title for every group I dealt with—minister, commander, Kohvaniss, and so on. I'd reached the point where I just accepted it and moved on. "We're still waiting on the
Falcheen
. Any word on its arrival?"

"We sent the rendezvous request and received affirmative ping several hours ago." She looked at something to the side. "They are scheduled for the Acheron Canyon, correct?"

"That's right." I shifted impatiently. "Can I contact them directly?"

"Not without the proper gem," she said. "I will resend the request. Please hold."

The magical projection went blank but didn't disconnect. I gave Elyssa a disbelieving look. "They just put me on hold!"

She rubbed my arm. "At least they're more responsive than customer service at a cable company."

The wait stretched on a few minutes and the sera reappeared. "Apologies, Minister Slade, but I received no response."

Fingers of ice gripped my heart. "Meaning what?"

"Either interference from a vortex is blocking communications or"—her forehead creased with worry—"something happened to the ship."

I'd ridden through a vortex on a sky ship and thought the turbulence was going to kill me. The sky fishers did what sailors do, shouting and running around a lot, but had gotten us through the storm with our pants soiled, but our bodies unscathed. My mouth went dry and I struggled to swallow. "Is it possible they shipwrecked?"

"Despite our best precautions, it does happen." She looked to the side and nodded, probably to acknowledge someone standing near her then turned back to me. "Maintain your position and we will let you know the moment anything changes." Her holographic image flickered away.

Elyssa squeezed my hand. "I'm sure everything is okay, babe."

"Shelton and Adam are on that ship." I jumped to my feet and grabbed my broom. "We've got to go look for them."

"Not a good idea." Elyssa gently took the broom away. "Flying a broom into a vortex is only going to get you killed."

I threw up my hands. "We've got to do something."

The sad look in her eyes told me there really wasn't anything we could do. Without a sky ship, we couldn't investigate Voltis or launch a rescue mission. But that wasn't the worst part. What really drove a knife into my guts was that my best friends might be dead.

Chapter 9

We spent the night huddled behind the shelter of a boulder. Despite the hard ground and the gut-wrenching anxiety, we somehow fell asleep.

An insect tickled my ear, dragging me from slumber just enough to scratch myself. It landed on my nose. Irritated, I rubbed the spot. Next, it landed on my forehead. I slapped at it and smacked myself in the face.

The sound of two grown men giggling jerked me the rest of the way to wakefulness. I looked up and saw Shelton and Adam hovering over me, a feather in Shelton's hand and big grins on their face.

"You dirty bums." I jumped up and squeezed Shelton in a hug. "I thought you were dead!"

Shelton clapped me on the back. "We had a close call or two."

Adam's grin faded. "Gems aren't the only things inside the vortexes."

Elyssa stood near the rock, a smile on her face, and I realized she'd been awake while Shelton tickled my face with the feather. "You traitor."

She laughed and held up her hands in surrender. "Guilty as charged."

"Yeah, she wanted to wake you up, but we convinced her that our way was better." Shelton tucked the feather into the band on his wide-brimmed hat. "What the heck are you doing way out here, anyway? I thought we were gonna meet you back in Kohvalla."

"Turns out Kohval has his own plans," Elyssa said, and explained our wonderful experience with the Legiaros.

Adam's forehead pinched with confusion. "He tried to kill you?"

I kicked a stone off the ledge. "I don't think the Daskar were chasing us down to give us goodbye hugs."

Shelton snorted. "Sounds like it's story time."

I looked around but saw no sign of the
Falcheen
. "Where's the ship?"

Adam walked to the edge of the cliff and pointed down.

I looked over the edge and spotted the
Falcheen
hovering in the canyon. Its shape resembled a sword with a hand guard that curved forward into points. The ship's crystal hull shone like polished pearl with black crystal decking in between.

Large round aether gems called foils protruded from the lower hull in six places. Nearly six feet in circumference, each foil kept the ship afloat in the sky. Rubies the size of my head studded the upper hull. Each one was capable of firing magical death rays, provided someone channeled magic through them.

A long gash ran down the side of the outer hull, and the deck was splashed with dried blackened fluid.

"What happened to her?" I asked.

Adam opened his mouth to reply, but Shelton interrupted. "Man, this huge crystal"—he spread his arms wide like a kid trying to describe something big—"came outta nowhere and smacked into the side of the ship, knocking us off course and out of the vortex."

Adam jumped in. "Then this monster reptile dove in before we knew what had happened and started tearing into the Mzodi."

"I got my staff and blinded the dragon—" Shelton started.

"Then I used one of my disorientation spells," Adam said.

Shelton elbowed him aside. "Then the Mzodi came in and cleaned its clock."

"You two are great story tellers," Elyssa said dryly. "Maybe you could get lyres and lutes and become modern day bards."

"The stories would be better if Adam didn't interrupt all the time," Shelton grumbled.

Adam snickered. "Can you imagine Shelton singing?"

Elyssa cringed. "Maybe he should play the lute."

I steered the conversation wagon back on track. "They're still encountering dragons?"

"From what the crew said, they don't see nearly as many off the east coast anymore." Adam gazed down at the ship. "The north seems to be the hot spot now."

Shelton scratched his head. "Where's Commander Borathen?"

"Yeah, how'd the peace talks go?" Adam asked.

"Not so hot." Elyssa rubbed her stomach. "How about we discuss it over breakfast?"

Shelton's eyes lit up but his shoulders deflated. "Breakfast here is miserable." His eyes misted over. "I miss bacon so much."

"They have really good bacon and pizza in Kohvalla," I said.

His mouth fell open. "Are you for real, man? What are we waiting for? I want bacon pizza right now!"

Adam dared look hopeful for a moment but saw my grin and groaned. "Don't play with our emotions like that, Justin."

"So cruel!" Elyssa giggled. "Unfortunately, they have the same crap in Kohvalla as anywhere else."

Shelton glared at me. "Just the thought of bacon almost made me feel human again."

I threw up my hands. "Payback's a bitch."

"For the feather tickling?" Shelton rolled his eyes. "You toyed with a man's emotions—his soul."

"I think you mean his stomach," Elyssa said. She pointed at the ship. "Breakfast please? I don't want to have to eat one of you."

Shelton took out his wand and launched a flare into the canyon. A moment later, the ship rose on glowing levitation foils and extended a gangway to shore. I strode onboard and snapped a smart salute to the tall broad-shouldered captain, Illaena. She'd served as first mate on the
Evadora
, but Captain Cora had rammed her ship into Cephus's crimson arch to destroy it before the Beast escaped the Void.

Illaena stared back at me. Mzodi didn't salute their captains, they simply obeyed them. Even the head honcho of the sky fishers, the Muhala Kajeen, didn't get any bows or major signs of deference, which was kind of strange. I wondered if it was like that back in their homeland, wherever that was.

"Are you ready to return to Tarissa?" Illaena said.

"Actually, we have other plans." I took out my arcphone and displayed the Castigean Ocean on the screen instead of projecting it. "Can you take us here?" I touched Voltis.

Illaena's eyes flashed wide. "The Voltis Maelstrom? Have you lost your mind?" Her eyes narrowed. "Why would you want to go there at all?"

"Can we discuss over breakfast?" Elyssa said.

"Of course." Illaena led us below to the galley where a long table bore crystal dishes filled with a variety of food—all of it fruits and veggies since Seraphim didn't believe in killing for meat.

Elyssa grabbed some panari, a bread-like substance, and I helped myself to a bowl of nuts and grains since I was sick of glurk. Then we sat around a table.

I set my phone in the center and projected the map again. "The Brightling Empire is massing soldiers in Cabala."

"Yes, I know that," Illaena said. "Our ships visit nearly every coast in the realm."

"The Brightlings want a peace treaty, but refused our conditions for uniting or granting equal rights to Darklings." I ate a spoonful of muesli and let that sink in.

"The land dwellers have always been backward in their beliefs," Illaena said. "Why should they change now?"

Her point was hard to argue against, so I plowed forward. "I met Primarion Arturo for the first meeting."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Shelton slapped a palm on the table. "That bastard is still alive?"

"Alive and kicking," Elyssa said grimly. "You're never going to believe who showed up the next day."

Before I got into that, I told them about our espionage in the Brightling camp, but didn't get into the story of Issana yet since that was another can of worms. "From what we can tell, Arturo believes there's some sort of powerful weapon in Voltis."

"Man, sounds like whatever it is would put them on Easy Street," Shelton said. "So who's the new emperor?"

Elyssa let the tension simmer a moment before answering. "Kaelissa is the new empress."

"What?" Shelton nearly choked on a quinto. "Who put that crazy bitch in charge?"

"Arturo, apparently." Elyssa shook her head slowly. "Since Daelissa was her daughter, she apparently didn't have any problems taking over."

"The politics of the land dwellers are of no concern to us," Illaena said. "What does this have to do with Voltis?"

"The intel we stole proves the Brightlings are moving on Voltis to secure a powerful weapon that'll allow them to take over the world." I went for a touch of the melodramatic just for emphasis.

Illaena didn't buy it. "Impossible. Voltis is an uninhabitable region with volcanoes, aether storms, and nothing resembling a weapon."

"What if Cephus's crimson arch made a new ally or enemy available?" I said. "What if there are dragons inside Voltis?"

Illaena looked at me blankly for a moment. "The dragons have proven themselves capable of surviving the vortexes. It is possible they could survive Voltis as well." She shook her head. "Even so, they are unintelligent beasts, incapable of allying themselves with any faction."

"There are ancient, incredibly intelligent dragons in Eden," Elyssa said. "Thankfully, they prefer to remain hidden deep in the earth."

"What sort of dragon lives beneath the ground?" Illaena said.

"Earth dragons." I displayed an image of Altash, his massive red form coiled up in the caves beneath El Dorado, Colombia.

Illaena's jaw dropped. "Monstrous."

"They ain't so bad," Shelton said. "They helped us revive Seraphim that were husked when the Grand Nexus exploded."

Illaena turned to me. "They are your allies?"

"Not exactly." Her question sparked an old memory of mine back to life. "Altash and Lulu refused to help in the war against Daelissa because they claimed it would bring an ancient nemesis into the fray."

"The problem is, they never explained any of that crap." Shelton leaned back in his chair. "Are you sure there's something in Voltis? Maybe the Brightlings are massing for an attack on Pjurna."

Elyssa shrugged. "Whatever the case, I think their peace offering is meant to lower our defenses. We need to go to Voltis and see what's there. If the dragons are really a threat, they'll affect everyone in Seraphina."

"I will not risk my new ship in the maelstrom." Illaena stood. "Unless you discover proof a threat exists in Voltis, I will not venture inside."

"Can you at least take us near it?" I asked.

She pursed her lips. "No. I will return you to Tarissa. If the Muhala Kajeen sees fit to grant you another ship and crew, that is her decision. I have already lost one captain and the finest ship our fleet has ever known. I will not lose the
Falcheen
."

"Cora made a decision that saved the entire realm," Elyssa said. "You didn't lose her. Please, Illaena, taking us to Voltis will help everyone."