Defender of the Empire 2: Facades (19 page)

Chapter 24 – The Issue with Trust

              Rylynn

              I was cautious at first. I didn’t know if Knight was waiting for me or not, and I really didn’t want to be surprised. But I guess he either didn’t know I had followed him, or he didn’t see me as a threat, because he wasn’t hiding around the bend in the back of the cave. The only thing waiting there was a tunnel that sloped down in a loose spiral. I expected it to be completely dark, but it wasn’t. A strange, reddish light lit everything. There were no shadows, just stone that looked to have been cut into by a massive drill. The heat of it had melted the harsh edges of the walls, so they had a kind of rippled effect.

              Just around the bend, I could hear Knight’s jogging steps. As quietly as I could, I followed after him. My earlier impromptu lessons from Fydo in walking, now silently paid off. I kept just out of sight all the way down. It got warmer, and I kept wondering if Rexio had ever thought to call this passage the ‘Doorway to Hell’. The heat, reddish light, and the downward direction made the name an obvious choice to me.

              As I walked, I could hear whispering. Sometimes it was so faint that I questioned if I had even heard it. Other times it was loud enough that I could almost make out the words. That was before I realized that the words were in a different language. I didn’t need to know the language to understand the basics of what the whisperers were saying. So many voices were whispering. By turns, they were sickeningly desperate, or terrifyingly angry. All were pained. It was absolutely horrible to listen to. And it got louder the farther down I went.

             
Yep, doorway to Hell. There are the souls of the damned,
I thought.

              THEY ARE SOUL SHADOWS, Kylesst reminded me. AND THEY HAVE BEEN TRAPPED FOR A VERY LONG TIME.

             
Do they ever die?
I found myself asking.

              Kylesst didn’t answer at first, like he was listening. SOME OF THEM WANT TO. I realized that must be what the desperate cries were about. They were pleading for death. I shivered. These were the enemies of the Spectrals and life in general, and I felt a little sorry for them. I’m not sure if I should be ashamed of that or not. But I felt that nothing should suffer like this for so long. I didn’t want them released. I just wanted them out of their misery.

              Eventually, the tunnel leveled out. Knight’s constant jogging slowed to a stop. Carefully, I edged around the bend and peeked ahead. About twenty feet ahead was a doorway into a much wider chamber. I could just make out a silver pool past Knight’s kneeling form. Above him was what looked to be a large, many faceted crystal that looked like a pool of oil with a breeze rippling its surface. I could only see the bottom portion of it. The whispers were much louder now.

              I crept closer. Knight raised his head and Kylesst cried out RYLYNN! HURRY! BALENNA IS DRAWING THE
LOUS-ECI’DALB
! In short, time had run out. I hurried forward. Just as Knight rose to his feet, I let the knife I had just charged to white fly.

              I didn’t miss this time. I pierced the back of his right leg, just above the knee. The white blade ensured that there was no interference from armor or bone. Only the hilt kept the knife from continuing on.

              Knight hissed with the pain and lost his footing, but he had been too well-trained to lose the knife. The big man turned to me as I ran into the room, another knife in my hand. I channeled power into it, charging it faster than its own energizer could. I glared at the ex-admiral. A matching glare was on his face, but it was wrong somehow, like it was a mask. Hatred glittered in his eyes. Even from where I stood, I could see that they were black.
So that is how you can know if someone is possessed by a Soul Shadow,
a distant part of my mind catalogued for later.              “Don’t you dare take another step!” I shouted. “You will put the blade down by your feet. If you do not I
will
kill you.”

              Knight’s mask-like face sneered, before he turned his back on me. He took a step toward the colossal crystal and I didn’t hesitate. I threw my newly white-charged knife. Marius would be proud of me. It flew straight and true. It struck him in the back and stabbed through his spine and into his heart. Marius had taught me well.

              Knight went down, and the
Lous-eci’dalb
skittered away to teeter on the edge of the pool of oily silver liquid. My heart lodged in my throat as I stared at its precarious position. I barely noticed the faint black cloud above Knight’s body. I rushed toward the knife just as the blade was starting to tip down toward the strange liquid. Landing on my knees, I snatched the hilt before it could succumb to gravity and fall in. I now remembered what the silvery liquid was, but I think that could be forgivable since the only other time had been at the Academy. It was char jelly. I knew that it was probably okay to touch at the moment since it wasn’t in a vacuum, but I didn’t want to lose Kylesst to the pool’s depths. I had no idea how deep it was, but if the Empire had been mining it for as long as Lenti had been one of its holdings, I figured it was very deep.

A droplet splashed into the center of the pool, drawing my eyes up to the crystal. Another silver oily drop was forming in its place.
Char jelly was made by imprisoned Soul Shadows?
My mind shuddered. A common weapon of the Fleet and it was made by our greatest enemies.
What was it even made out of?

RYLYNN, BREAK THE BLADE BEFORE BALENNA FIGURES IT OUT HERSELF, Kylesst called. Instinct made me look toward the black mist hovering over Knight’s body. Somehow, it was contracting and expanding in a way that made me think that whatever it was, it had been so startled that it almost drifted apart. But now it was starting to condense more than expand.

Right.
I began slamming the knife against the lip of the stone pool at an awkward angle. I had no idea if this would actually work, but I was going to give it my best. The thing felt wrong in my hand. I could feel the pain of the Spectrals within it. I could even hear them now, begging me to break the knife, to free them. After a few tries, the
Lous-eci’dalb
finally did shatter. Through the breaks a bright light bloomed. It was so bright that I had to cover my eyes.

The Spectrals whirled around the chamber, singing in joy. Trapped, watching in the crystal, the Soul Shadows screamed. The hungry anguish in that scream made my blood shrink in my veins. The Spectrals disappeared through the rock—all but one; a creature with a bird-like head and a serpentine body, which curled around me. I had seen drawings that had tried to depict creatures like this.

“You’re a basilisk,” I whispered.

I TOLD YOU I WAS NO MERE SNAKE, Kylesst replied. I felt the bond between us grow and it made me feel whole. I hadn’t realized how empty I was until my Spectral fully bonded with me. He was still weak, but now I could help him. Strengthen him.

I was so lost in the moment that I was barely aware Timothy had entered the chamber. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him look around, but I was too busy feeling elated. I had saved my Spectral. The paranoid part of my mind urged me to leave the chamber, that I was not safe there. That I could celebrate later.

But I didn’t listen. I felt nothing could touch me at that moment.

A presence behind me and an arm wrapping around my waist was the only warning I got before a biting cold pain slid sickeningly into my back. Shock wanted me on my knees, but the arm around me held me up. “You should be more careful who you trust,” Timothy’s voice whispered in my ear. Cold shock choked me. What had just happened? “It may just result in a knife in your back,” Timothy continued conversationally. His voice changed subtly, becoming deeper. “And in this case, a knife that uses your gift against you. Say your prayers, little one, because you can’t heal yourself from this. The
Lous-eci’dalb
isn’t the only blade I forged. Though, it was my favorite.”

He paused a moment and I managed to force one question from my lips. Why it was this one, I don’t know. But it was. “Who are you?”

“I’m the Betrayer,” he told me proudly. “Your worst enemy,” he chuckled, “drad’age, little ‘Defender’, he mocked, “It was a good game, if a little short.”

He pulled the blade from my back, causing a wrenching pain. I was so cold. Even the heat of the room was a forgotten memory. M. Kit was talking to me, though she sounded glitchy. But then, I wasn’t doing so great either. Everything was fading away. But I wasn’t alone. Kylesst stayed with me.
With me till the end,
I thought, touched. But it made me sad, too. I knew I was dying and I had just freed him.

Don’t die with me,
I begged him.

NO ONE IS DYING, Kylesst hissed. YOU
WILL
LIVE. YOU HAVE NO CHOICE IN THIS.

When did you get so bossy?

I could feel him roll his eyes. WHEN DID
YOU
GIVE UP? I didn’t think I had, but I was so tired. Drained. Kylesst’s voice softened, though it was no less determined. STAY WITH ME, RYLYNN. STAY WITH ME... His voice seemed to trail off and I didn’t know if he was still there or not. I didn’t know much of anything at the moment.

Chapter 25 – Living Death

              Betrayer

              The young girl went completely limp in his arms. Gently he lowered her to the ground. Her blood pooled around her. It was on his hands. Betrayer knelt next to her. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to be gentle or even tender, but he was, and it wasn’t costing him anything. Maybe it was because she was so young. He could feel youth’s vitality in her blood on his hands.
Life is strong in this one,
he thought. Stretching his senses, he could feel her life force still clinging to her soul. It was weakening, but the Basilisk Spectral was winding himself tightly about her. Betrayer raised an eyebrow at the lengths some Spectrals would go to protect their bond-mates. Why would something so strong waste itself on a creature so frail?

Betrayer shrugged before he stood up. Absently, he absorbed the energy coating his hands. The still-living cells in Rylynn’s blood shriveled.

His gazed travelled thoughtfully from the girl to the knife in his hand. Why did that ancient prophecy claim that such a little creature could hurt him, let alone kill him? She had hardly been a threat, just an annoyance.
All well. She is dying now
.

Pounding footsteps echoed closer, and Betrayer rolled his eyes.
And the cavalry arrives… late as usual.
Betrayer walked over to Knight’s corpse, kicking the handle of the
Lous-eci’dalb
into the oily silver pool. It was useless now, anyway. Channeling a bit of energy to the knife in his hand, Betrayer burned away any trace of himself on its handle. He then placed it in the dead man’s hand. He returned to kneeling beside Rylynn. Pulling her into his lap, Betrayer placed his hand over the wound, as if he was trying to staunch it.

A moment later, a boy he knew to be Gaelen Imperen—though he went by Jason—and a woman with jade eyes raced in. On their heels were two other boys, one of which Betrayer could sense to be a Shade, as was the newly-minted Admiral Wingstar who came in after them. Behind them was a Masailen trained doctor, Jack, Fydo, and Talis. Betrayer wondered if Dukio and Kifen were keeping watch at the entrance.

It was comical to see them all come to a halt as if they had run up against a wall. Their eyes were wide, and all their faces had gone pale as they took in the scene before them, especially the scene of Rylynn’s prone form in his arms. Of course, he didn’t let the amusement show. “Rylynn!” Jason cried out, breaking from shock’s iron hold. “What happened to her?” he asked, coming toward them a little stiffly.

“He stabbed her! I can’t stop the bleeding!” Betrayer said in a panicky voice.

“Move,” the doctor said, rushing forward. Betrayer moved out of the way. The admiral was by the doctor’s side providing the strength needed to stop the bleeding. “She is still alive, but only barely,” the doctor reported. She reached into her pack. “I’m putting her in stasis. Hopefully it will give us the time we need to save her,” the doctor said as she pulled out a stasis cube. She placed it over Rylynn’s collarbone. Once switched on, the little cube bloomed with light. A skin-tight shield flowed from it around Rylynn’s body.

Braeden carefully picked her up and carried her from the chamber. He didn’t spare a glance for anyone else or his surroundings. His entire focus appeared to be on the girl and getting her to safety. The doctor had to jog to keep pace with him. Two of the boys followed. The remaining boy, the Shade, walked over to Knight’s body.

Keen green eyes took in the scene and the Shade turned toward him. “How could Knight have stabbed her if she had already gotten him in the back?” he asked, pointing out the chromatic knife lodged in Knight’s spine.

Betrayer shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. He was dead, and she was dying when I came in.” The Shade frowned and started searching the body. He ignored the knife in Knight’s hand. After all, it looked like a normal blade. “What are you looking for?” Betrayer asked, crouching near him.

“He had a stone blade, but I can’t find it now,” the Shade said in frustration.

“Why is that one important? This is the one that hurt Rylynn,” Betrayer said, pointing at the bloody knife.

The Shade glanced at him but didn’t answer. Instead, he looked up at the whimpering crystal above the pool, then returned to searching the corpse. Faintly, Betrayer could see the Panther Spectral press against the Shade’s far side. Betrayer let his eyes glide over her like he was blind to her presence. Looking past her he saw Jack gazing at the mess in the room. Betrayer went over to him.

Jack was staring at Rylynn’s spilled blood. Betrayer put his hand comfortingly on Jack’s shoulder. Jack glanced at him. “Timothy, I don’t think I have ever been this afraid.” Shaking his head slowly he continued, “She is the Defender and yet she is dying…” The old man sounded so lost.

“Perhaps,” Betrayer said in his Timothy persona, “she has already defended us,” he suggested. When Jack stared at him he shrugged. “She kept that man from unlocking the prison.”

“But surely she isn’t supposed to die young.”

“Life doesn’t always follow our plans, and prophecies don’t always match up with what people claim they mean.” Betrayer patted Jack on the shoulder. “You should go and see if she will make it. I’ll clean up here.”

“Thank you, Timothy,” Jack said, and then left. Talis, Fydo, and the Shade left with him.

“You’re welcome,” Betrayer said with a small smirk after they were gone.

***

              Marius

             
Where could the
Lous-eci’dalb
have gone?
Marius wondered as he left the prison chamber.

              I DON’T KNOW, Zara began, BUT WHEREVER IT IS, ITS HOLD ON THE SPECTRALS IS GONE. I SAW KYLESST FEEDING RYLYNN HIS ENERGY TO KEEP HER ALIVE. BUT HE WAS WEAK AND SHE WAS WEAKER. Zara’s voice was sad. THEY ARE BOTH BEYOND OUR REACH. LIVING, BUT LIKE THE DEAD.

             
Coma,
Marius thought. He prayed that his friend and student would find her way back to them. There was hope, though dim, that lightened his step. Rylynn was still alive and the prophecy of the Defender said that she would survive if away from the ‘place of learning’. Well, she wasn’t at the Academy.
She will pull through,
he thought with more conviction. They just had to protect her till she figured out her way back.

              Zara picked up on his lighter mood, and it made her feel hopeful. Not all was lost. Not yet.