Aegis Rising (43 page)

Without thinking, Kody threw his knife as hard as he could. The knife whipped straight past Mariah and buried itself in Hutar’s right shoulder. Hutar stumbled back but held onto his own weapon. Mariah spun around. Realizing he had been about to stab her, she quickly moved away.

Kody had only half a moment to admire the amazing result of his throw before the youth he had been fending off seized him and threw him to the floor. He crouched over Kody, grabbed his neck, and started to choke him.

At the other end of the hall, Tegan saw Jag lying facedown, dangerously close to the spreading fire. She ran to him and knelt down, pushing his hair back to see that his eyes were closed. “Jag, come on.” He didn’t respond. She shook him frantically. “Jag!”

Taking matters into her own hands, she grabbed his arms and dragged him away from the fire as the flames licked closer and closer. As she pulled him, she heard a strange, cracking sound and looked up. The beam directly above them was on fire and the burning log was weakening its hold on the roof. “No,” she murmured as she saw that the beam was about to give way. With a punch of adrenaline she pulled on Jag’s arms, so hard that she may very well have pulled them right out of their sockets. She swung him across the floor and away from the fire just as the smoldering beam finally plummeted down where Jag had just been.

Twenty feet away, Mariah kept her eyes on her assailant. Hutar clenched his teeth and, with his left hand, pulled the knife out of his shoulder. Blood ran down his arm and dripped to the floor. Now wielding two blades, he slowly advanced toward Mariah, his breathing heavy and ragged, his face contorted in a murderous snarl.

Relsuc saw Tegan and Jag. He boomed at a youth in his own language. “Cretin! Take care of those two!” He was still cradling his limp hand as oaths flowed freely from his mouth. The youth he had given the order to approached Tegan and Jag from behind and landed a punch to Tegan’s head. She fell forward, stunned for a moment, but staved off the pain and flipped onto her back, then sprang up to face the youth.

Hutar backed Mariah to the side of the bar. He held the two knives at chest level and spat, “No more of your little games, pest.” Mariah looked around for something she could use to uneven the playing field to her favor, but the fire had destroyed any objects she could have used.

Hutar raised the knives over his head and brought them down. Mariah let out a bloodcurdling scream as she saw the tip of the knives aimed toward her chest.

Like a phantom appearing from thin air, a figure leapt in front of her, shoving Hutar’s arms away and delivering a mighty kick to his abdomen that sent the youth sprawling back. Mariah covered her mouth and stared in disbelief. “Akol!” she cried. She leaned against the bar counter to steady herself. The burst of adrenaline left her head pounding and her entire body shaking.

There was a loud boom as the front door burst in and crashed to the floor, hinges and all. At the entrance now stood a man, straight as an arrow, with flaming red hair. And he didn’t look pleased.

None of the youths had ever seen Tayoka look this intense as he surveyed the scene with indescribable fury in his storm-gray eyes. The youth who was choking Kody looked up at the Elder in fright and let go of the boy. Kody had passed out, though not before he saw Tayoka come through the entrance. He dropped unconscious with a smile on his face.

Relsuc cast his eyes downward; not in shame but in admission of defeat. He sat back against the wall and watched the fire slowly starting to move toward him. He would have rather been engulfed by the flames than face the Elders after this.

The youth who had been fighting Tegan as she stood guard by Jag had heard the boom of the door collapsing inward and turned to look. Upon seeing the Elder, he panicked and bolted toward the still-open door to the deck. His boots caught on fire as he made the headlong run but he didn’t care to stop and hurtled out of the building. Tegan watched him go, utterly thankful. Seeing that the fire was drawing closer, she grabbed Jag’s arms again and pulled him away.

Across from her, Akol was holding Hutar down. “You tried to kill the five and the Elders,” he growled.

“Maybe I should have killed
you
first, maggot,” Hutar spat. He tried to push Akol off but the other youth wouldn’t allow Hutar room to maneuver away.

The fire had been spreading along the wooden beams and one directly above them creaked and groaned. Neither youth noticed; not until it started to come crashing down—all two hundred pounds of burning log—did Hutar see it. He let out a yell, eyes wide in terror as he saw the approaching beam. His terror turned into disbelief as the log came to a sudden stop, hovering in midair above Akol’s head before it flipped on its side and crashed down a few feet away from the youths.

Tegan, who had seen it as well, looked at Mariah expectantly but Mariah shook her head. She hadn’t acquired that level of skill yet. The girls looked around them to find an explanation. They found their answer when Saiyu strolled through the front door, wearing the same look of silent fury as Tayoka did. “Get out, all of you,” she said in a fierce, icy tone.

As Hutar’s comrades got to their feet and hastily exited the burning building, she added, “And I know all your faces. There is no hiding now.” The youths couldn’t look at her. They knew they would be severely punished for their part in attempting to murder not only the outsiders, but the Elders as well.

Mariah hurried to Kody and tried to lift him up. She managed to get him to stand by leaning him against her. Taking his arm and slinging it around her neck, she half-walked, half-dragged Kody out. Tegan tried to do the same with Jag, but Jag had bulked up with his training so she simply opted to drag him all the way out.

The two Elders in the building watched the fire with unreadable expressions. Their eyes landed upon Hutar and Akol. Akol still had Hutar pinned down but didn’t look like he could hold out for much longer.

Tayoka strode toward them. Hutar saw the Elder coming. He stopped his struggling and looked away angrily. The Elder gazed down at him, embitterment written on his face. He hunkered down and looked Hutar in the eyes. “You have brought shame to your community, Hutar. Your father would have been utterly disappointed—and heartbroken.” He reached for the dark blue crystal hanging around Hutar’s neck and ripped it off. He then grabbed the youth by his collar and dragged him out of the burning building.

48

T
aking a quick glance at the heavens as twilight finally fell upon the forest, Akira tucked her wings by her sides and dove through the clouds that hovered above the Ayen’et mountain. Vanishing for a few moments, she reappeared as she shot out from the bottom of the cloud and spread her wings, leveling off to a glide as the mining site came into view. What caught the eagle’s eye was the large, roofed-over shed in the middle of the site. Curious, Akira flew lower. She didn’t notice a man with auburn hair in a black coat gazing up at her as he headed to the shed, astonished at her proximity to the ground.

The sound of machines at work in the mine, though muffled due to the depth in which they operated, stood in stark contrast to the quiet, tranquil environment of the forest. The smell of fumes from the vehicles and equipment that were in use was an alien infusion to the freshness of the mountain air.

As she glided past the shed, Akira observed a few large vehicles that weren’t in operation parked underneath. She did one loop of the hundred-foot outbuilding and returned to where she had started. Still gliding low, she passed a steel building on her right—the only steel structure in the area—then flew by a larger building beside it. Several men were sitting on benches and tables in an open space between that structure and another one with a large red cross on the front. They were too engaged in their conversation to take notice of the majestic bird swooping by. Passing by the building with the cross to the final one next to it that had light spilling out of glass windows, Akira peeked in and saw a few men, some in a line holding trays, others sitting down and eating meals.

Swooping to the left, she passed a large building that took up all of that side of the mining operation. Some miners were trudging into the building wearily, appearing as though they might fall asleep standing.

The eagle made another left turn and could now see a large tunnel opening on her right. She would have flown into it to take a look around if the sight of the five large, cauldron-shaped vats mounted on a raised platform hadn’t caught her attention. She flapped once to gain some height and peered down into the vats. The vats were about fifteen feet in diameter and ten feet deep, holding what appeared to be crushed rocks.

As Akira flew around the vats to take a proper look, some miners walked out of the tunnel and saw her as she circled. They stopped and stared in awe, grinning. Deciding to give them something to remember, she shot up into the sky and hovered there for a moment before doing a one-eighty and rocketing back down some paces away from the men. At the last moment she opened her wings and soared by the miners with a screech, so near that the men felt the buffet of wind from her wings against their dirt-streaked faces. They stepped back, letting out calls of amazement as they watched the eagle fly around the vehicle shed and out of view.

Satisfied with her job, the eagle went around the back of the steel building into the tree line. She lighted upon a branch of a tree behind the benches and tables, observing the men who were still sitting and chatting.

In the Elders’ assembly
neyra
, Nageau, Saiyu, Ashack, and Tayoka were sitting around the small fire pit, talking quietly as Tikina sat in a corner at a table with a quill in her hand and a scroll in front of her. Every once in a while her hand would move to draw as she gathered insight through the eyes of Akira as to how the mining operation on the Ayen’et mountain was laid out. With the eagle circling overhead, no one would ever fathom that she was part of a reconnaissance mission.

Still holding onto the mind-link with the eagle, Tikina looked around the area, wondering where Tyse was. The Elder had guided the lynx to the mountain earlier; she would need the animal’s eyes for exploration at ground level.
Where are you, my elusive friend?
Tikina thought.

She flew Akira back behind the buildings again, trying to scout out the wandering rascal. Suddenly a head popped out of the trees right below the eagle, nose twitching as it sniffed the air, followed by a short, silverish-golden body.

There you are
. Tikina landed Akira on the ground in front of the lynx, startling the larger animal. The moment both animals made eye contact, Tikina released her link with the bird and jumped into Tyse. She watched as Akira flew away from the mining site.

Tyse blinked once as Tikina readjusted herself to connect with the lynx’s senses. Once she’d established a steady link with Tyse, she guided the animal toward the steel building. The lynx sniffed around, picking up an odd, unfamiliar smell. Obviously a creature had marked this as its territory, but she had no clue as to what animal.

As she sniffed around the back of the building, a disconnected, angry bray startled Tyse so horribly the animal hissed and retreated into the trees, ears pinned back. Tikina gently urged Tyse out again and steered the lynx clear away from the vicious, almost roar-like barks that came from within the steel building.

Tikina wanted to get a closer look at the vats and directed the thick-furred cat in their direction. The lynx prowled around the dark gray metallic cauldrons, keeping her belly low as she weaved in and out under the platforms. A worker walked out of the mine tunnel and saw her. He stopped and stared, unsure whether he should be amazed or worried that the cat might disrupt the refining process in the vats. In the end he decided the latter and shooed Tyse away, but wisely kept his distance from the wild animal. Tyse bounded a few steps back and watched him walk away from the tunnel before sneaking into the tunnel herself. The sound of the machines was painfully loud to her ears but Tikina held the lynx steady. Tyse skulked over the metal tracks, sniffing this and that and taking in the layout of the tunnel.

A couple of the men yelled out when they spotted her. The cat’s ears twitched and she stopped to look at them. A few of the workers looked delighted at the sight of a wild creature this close, but others grabbed their shovels and chased her away. Tyse scooted off to the next tunnel beside the main one. This tunnel appeared abandoned. She only went in a little way before coming back out and turning into the doorless storage areas where the spare tools were kept. Tyse halted at the front of the door that lay at the far end of the storage area, head cocked to one side. Tikina sensed an overpowering feeling come over her as she stared up at the door through the lynx’s eyes. Though she could not explain how she knew, she realized that this must have been where Rikèq, Aydar, Keno and Breyas were held captive during their imprisonment. Sadness filled her heart as she turned Tyse away and walked her out of the tunnel.

At the other side of the camp, a guard had walked into the steel building. Night was falling quickly, and it was time for the Marauders to come out.

Tikina led Tyse directly onto the path back to where she had linked with the animal. As she rounded the shed, she saw the front door of the building open and five massive, canine-like creatures step out, hackles already raised. They immediately turned to stare in her exact direction.

The lynx balked as Tikina stared at the creatures in terror. She had never seen such vicious-looking beasts, with fur as black as the night and ivory teeth so long they curved down slightly from their elongated upper jaws. As their hungry, bloodlusting eyes landed upon the lynx, they snarled and gave chase.

Tikina, thoroughly frightened, let some of Tyse’s flight instincts take over as she veered the cat around. Tyse hightailed back to the entrance of the dark, abandoned tunnel and scampered in. She could hear the sounds of the beasts’ panting and their snapping jaws behind her, much too close for comfort. She sped down the tunnel as fast as she could. Jumping up and over some collapsed wooden beams and rubble, she spied a large entrance at one side of the tunnel. Without giving it a second thought the lynx sprinted out of the opening and found herself stumbling down the side of the mountain. She flailed her paws until her claws hooked into the dirt, then, using the momentum she had gathered, propelled herself down the mountain, not looking back until she reached the bottom.