The Realms of Ethair (25 page)

“
If you wish to save him, you must go with
Pellinor.” Her hold loosened. Until now, the Prince had not
mentioned Arturion even once in their discussions. “Farewell,
Liyanna. Mother Ethair be with you.” Then, he was gone.

“
If you would follow me, Liyanna.” The
Captain half-turned to a panel on the wall that slid
open.

Pellinor’s eyes would not meet hers as he
silently led her within the secret passages of the palace.

“
Are we there yet?” she asked. Liyanna
missed her old watch. It was hard to track time in underground
tunnels. Pellinor decided when to stop and rest and for how long.
And she could not ask him when he remained distant to her. “Where
are you taking me?”

“We’re almost there.” Pellinor looked
unhappy. “I can’t tell you where we’re going.”

“Would you be committing treason if you told
me?” she said, making Pellinor pause. “I was kidding.”

After several minutes walking in silence,
Pellinor said:
“These
corridors and the rooms here shift frequently. I rely on the sense
I have of the place. This maze was built long ago to safeguard the
Devatas who survived after the Great Fire consumed the forest.
Kelor-dan would make a better guide than me if his duties were not
pressing.”

“
I’m amazed he even has time for me,” she
murmured. “Would he have befriended me if things were
different?”

“
Different?” Liyanna looked away. She must
be desperate to be voicing her doubts to the coldest person she has
ever met. “The Prince,” Pellinor began. She hadn’t realized he had
turned towards her and almost collided against him. “I cannot speak
of what I am uncertain of but know this. The Prince has long been
hiding his true self for years. It is only now that I see fragments
of his old self resurfacing.” Abruptly, he resumed
walking.

“Are we friends again?” Warily, she walked
beside him.

“We’re not. We are allies driven by a common
goal. Allies are better than friends.” He smiled.

Straight ahead, doors unfocused and
refocused. A burst of expletives erupted from Pellinor. “Hurry!
Their location is about to change.” He grabbed her hand and ran
toward the opening at the end of the hall.

A blast of cold air hit Liyanna’s face.
She looked behind her. The opening they had entered moved further
away until it blinked out of sight along with their only source of
light. For a moment, she couldn’t see against the pitch black
darkness. The sound of movement caught her ear. Her first thought
was Pellinor, but it seemed to be coming from three different
directions. She could not access their intent, thoughts and
feelings. And her guide? Missing.

Liyanna
tried to transport herself to a safer location but
something blocked her. She braced herself. Her three attackers
moved in unison. She listened closely and found that they followed
a rhythm. They drew closer until she was surrounded on all sides.
From the left, an arm was drawn back and shot towards her face. At
her right, a fist aimed her kidney. She twisted in midair. Kicked
the person to her right and landed her punch at another earning her
precious seconds to make a run for it.

The third attacker had not moved. Yet.

The first two recovered and pursued her.
By then, Liyanna’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness. She was in a
large cavern with weapons decorating the walls. Most of these were
deadly but too cumbersome for her to use effectively. At her right,
a glimmer caught her eye. She sprinted towards it.

The man who had hung back headed towards the
same direction. Her two pursuers were gaining on her. She turned
sharply towards them and ran head on. One of them had his torso
open. She pretended to take the bait but twisted away at the last
second. Before the other man could hit her, she was already where
she wanted to be.

The staff’s size and weight was just right
that it seemed to have been designed for her. Its roughness was
caused by the symbols etched on the weapon. This mesmerized Liyanna
which the enemy took advantage by throwing a knife at her. The
effect of the blade in the air caused her to look up and
sidestepped a moment too late. The sharp blade nicked her cheek
before it struck the wall. The man advanced on her, his hands
wielding four daggers each. The other two joined him.

Calmly, Liyanna placed her staff between
her and her enemies. More than her life was at stake.

She cannot – would not let them
win.

An odd sense of detachment overtook her. The
weapon became an extension of her
arm. She fought three men, her defense almost
perfect. If she left an opening and one of her opponents attempted
to use it, Liyanna was quick to counterattack. At the back of her
mind, she worried over her opponents’ inability to tire. In a
while, she would slow, someone would notice, and the fight would be
over. It angered her when she thought of what would happen if she
lost. Kelor-dan’s deceit and Pellinor’s betrayal fueled it further.
Her movements became sharper and faster. Symbols engraved on the
staff glowed bright red matching the haze in her eyes. Her enemies
were retreating but she continued to harass them. A voice ordered
her to stop but it seemed so far away and she was too numb with
anger to listen to it. She felt them panic as she knocked one of
them senseless. The one at her right left his chest open, she
raised her weapon… Suddenly, she was lifted off the ground. She
struggled to break free.

“
Liyanna, stop!” Her head whipped to the
side and saw Reno. The numbness receded but the anger remained as
she realized:
It was a test?!

“
Reno. Put me down,” she said, keeping her
anger at bay.

“
Your weapon is still glowing.” Liyanna
looked at her staff. He was right but it was gradually turning
orange.

“
I told you this was a mistake.” Pellinor
materialized from the shadows. He flicked a speck of dust from his
shoulder.

“
Whose idea was this?”

“
Not mine,” Pellinor said at the same time
Reno admitted: “It was mine.”

“Why?”

“I needed proof that you can defend
yourself.”

“Did I pass?”

Reno studied her.

“
Uncle, put her down!” Mindy
demanded.

Reno turned to look at his niece. “How did
you get here?”

“
By walking,” she said sarcastically. “It
doesn’t matter how I got here. Put my best friend down.” As soon as
Liyanna’s feet touched the ground, Mindy hugged her. “I’m
sorry.”

The show of affection made
Liyanna forget her anger. “I’m
sorry, too.”

“
I hate to break this heartfelt reunion,
but time’s a-wasting,” Pellinor said, effectively breaking them
apart.

Liyanna
saw her former opponents near the doorway as Reno
gave one of them instructions. The person she had knocked
unconscious was awake. He had his arm around one of his fellow
fighter’s as they left the training room.

“
Don’t go after them,” Reno approached
Liyanna’s company. She wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or to
Pellinor, whose eyes were a little too bright.

“Who’s going after whom?”

“Captain—”

“
Control your pack, Halfling,” Pellinor
said and walked out.

“What’s his problem?” Mindy asked.

Liyanna
’s hand went up to the scratch on her cheek. She had caught
Pellinor staring at her face when Mindy barged in.

Reno’s office resembled a sci-fi movie
when Liyanna and Mindy entered an hour later. A Tiger’s eye stone
spun at the center of the table emanating a wave of energy which
manifested into images and code hovering around the long table.
Half of those in attendance were Black Guards while the other half
consisted of Pellinor and his men. None of them were in uniform but
they had come heavily armed judging from the two piles of weaponry
stacked in a corner.

Everyone stood the moment they walked in.
A chair was vacated for Liyanna. Once she was seated, everybody
settled down. Meanwhile, Mindy occupied the chair at the Comms area
with round glass mirrors held together by a metal frame. The
control was a crystal ball which Mindy seemed to be familiar with
as she confidently moved her hand over it.

A Guard officer who was in the middle of
delivering his report when Liyanna and her friend came in resumed.
One out of ten in Merleina was illegally travelling to the third
dimension in search of missing family members and friends. The
Council kept the information under wraps while it investigated how
these civilians were still able to cross to the third dimension.
The Elders would completely lose control of the situation in a
number of days.

“
They have already lost control when they
let their fear rule them,” Liyanna said. Sara’s prophecy was still
fresh in her memory. She extended her hand to Reno. A stone disk
materialized and dropped on her palm. She pushed the vision into
the stone and released it. The disk replaced the first stone on the
table. The images played before them. The audience grew silent at
the sight of the glass tanks Reno called stasis
chambers.

“How did you come by this information?” Reno
asked.

“The necklace.”

Reno retrieved the disk. “We’ll continue
in an hour.” The Guards and Sentries filed out. Those who stayed
behind were Liyanna, Mindy, and Pellinor.

Reno tapped the table with two fingers in a
tap-tap-tap tap-tap pattern. A door behind his desk slid open and
Arturion’s impostor walked in.

“S7504, meet–”

“
Liyanna. I know.” The impostor plopped on
the chair, earning Pellinor’s glare.

“S7504 has been very helpful in giving us
intel about his employer’s activities and on how to deactivate the
drones used for abducting our people. He will be leading a squad to
destroy the data they’ve collected about us.”

“
I’m going with S7,” Mindy said.

“
No, you’re not. Pellinor and I have
discussed how we’ll divide our men. He brought out a miniature
globe. It was a map of the third dimensional Earth with lights
marking specific areas. Reno pointed at the green light. “The
Sentries will rescue those in facilities near forested areas and
unchartered islands.” He pointed at the red. “My men will take care
of the facilities in more populated areas. Their system is
centralized. Once the main server is out, we move in then move out
quickly. How long do we have before the generator revives the whole
system?” Reno asked the impostor.

“Sixty seconds max., including boot up.”

“We’ll make it work.”

“
You don’t have to. I can delay it for a
little while,” Mindy butted in.

“How do you plan to do that?”

“I have a program that could trick the
computer into thinking it needs a system update. It’ll shut itself
down without triggering the generator.”

“
Clever, except you forgot one tiny
detail,” S7 said. “To install this program, you’ll need to override
five biometric scanners.”

“
Mindy,” Reno warned.

“Why should I stay when Kristina’s
going?”

“
Liyanna,” Reno corrected, “is staying in
HQ.”

“
She can’t,” Pellinor said. Liyanna was
aware he wanted nothing more but to agree with Reno. She assumed
the Captain was just following Kelor-dan’s orders.

“Captain, she is vital to our people. I can’t
risk her neck out there.”

“
She is not powerless. She can fight. You
have seen it. Your stray dog can vouch for it.” Pellinor glanced at
S7, who rubbed his neck absently. The skin beneath the collar
showed blue-black. It didn’t take long for Liyanna to recognize how
he acquired the discolored stripe on his neck. She couldn’t help
stare at the damage she had inflicted; a few centimeters more and
Liyanna could have broken his collar bone.

“What are you not telling me?” Reno’s eyes
narrowed in suspicion.

“
We’ve agreed to take Liyanna with us after
you have seen her fight.”

“You’re evading the question.”

“Kelor-dan sent you his best warriors to help
you in your mission.”

“
I am merely asking why Liyanna has to join
us.”

“
You gave your word that you would ask no
questions regarding Liyanna’s purpose for joining us,” Pellinor
said tersely.

“
I did under the assumption that she has
relevant information to share. Her safety is our first priority and
you want me to allow her, Their target, in the field. Again, why?”
Reno’s voice boomed.

“
Because I’ll die if I don’t,” Liyanna
said.

The two men turned their heads to her. They
seemed to have forgotten she was present in the room.

“
There’s more chance of you dying out
there.”

“You don’t understand.”

“
I do. You want to look for him as much as
I do. But it’s impossible to trace someone who left part of his
Self in that” – he pointed at her necklace – “to become completely
human and take on a new identity.”

“What do you mean?”

“Arturion buried his memories of Merleina in
that crystal. As member of one of the most influential families, he
knew too much. It was the price he paid to protect us.”