Baleful Betrayal (11 page)

"I didn't beat the Queen Bitch from Hell only to die from a poisonous flying lizard or a cute yellow fox that morphs into a monster and eats you." I looked around warily for signs of other strange creatures, but spotted only a purple-speckled owl watching us curiously from a tree.

Elyssa snorted. "We need to get you on medication pronto."

I looked up at daylight poking through the trees and wondered what was going on in Eden right now. "I hope Shelton had fun at his bachelor party."

"Maybe he postponed it until you get back." Elyssa squeezed my hand. "I really don't think he'd let you miss out."

"We're nowhere near Kdosh and don't even know if we can get the arch working if we ever get there." I booted a rock and sent it skittering through the grass. "Now I've missed out on the bachelor party, and there's no way we'll make it to the wedding."

"Because Shelton's wedding is more important than saving Tarissa," Elyssa said in a sarcastic tone.

I stopped walking and looked at her. "If we can't enjoy the little things in life, then what are we fighting for?"

She opened her mouth but the retort died on her lips. "You're right." Elyssa sighed. "I'm sad we missed it too."

A little knot formed in my throat. Shelton had once tried to arrest my father and hand him over to the Overworld authorities for a bounty. Another time, he'd reluctantly helped rescue my father from vampires and then kept him in a safe place after Underborn, the most notorious assassin in the Overworld marked him for death. I didn't know exactly when Shelton and I became best friends, but we'd been through so much together, we were practically family. It really sucked that I was missing out on some of the most important days of his life.

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. "I'm adding this to Cephus's list of crimes, right below trying to destroy Eden."

Elyssa pushed through a thicket and stopped. "We're at the cliff."

I stepped beside her and looked up at the steep rock face. The stone arch seemed impossibly far away. Didn't Flava tell us to find a trail?"

"Yeah, but I don't see one."

Elyssa gripped a small outcropping of rock and hefted herself up a few feet. "We might be able to boulder to the top."

I shook my head. "It'd be like climbing the Cliffs of Insanity, but without a thick rope and a giant to carry us." Try as I might, I couldn't see any way up.

We were stuck.

Chapter 10

Thankfully, I already had a Plan B. "Remember the hotel in Thailand?" I said.

Elyssa's eyebrows arched. "How could I forget? Can you climb all that way with me on your back?"

I nodded. "I dragged my dad up a cliff at the Three Sisters while Nazdal tried to eat us, so I think I can manage it with you."

"What if I try to eat you?"

"I would lose my concentration, but for other reasons."

Elyssa leaned forward and traced her tongue along my earlobe. "Can I do that while you're climbing?"

I swallowed hard and shifted the crotch of my Nightingale armor. "Where are we again?"

She laughed and walked behind me, lacing her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. "I'm ready when you are." Her lips nibbled my neck. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"You're making it hard for me to walk." I gathered my wits and flung a strand of Murk up the cliff wall. Like a web, it stuck to the rock. I willed it to contract. The web jerked us like a rubber band, launching us thirty feet up the rock wall. Using the momentum, I flung another web and yanked us up again.

"Whee!" Elyssa cried. "This is amazing!"

I laughed. "It's only fun when you're not running from a tsunami or hungry Nazdal."

"How far up can you throw a web?" she asked.

"Fifty feet at most." I grunted as the next strand tugged us upward. "Beyond that, it doesn't stick as well." I flung out another rope. Just as it contracted to pull us up, the section of rock it attached to crumbled.

"Fart bastards!" I shouted as we reversed course toward the rocky ground two hundred feet below. My reflexes responded before my brain, and another strand of Murk caught the cliff just above. We jerked to a stop and hung for a moment.

"Did you just say 'fart bastards'?" Elyssa said in an amused voice.

I wiped sweat from my eyes with a free hand. "How can you ask me that after we almost fell to our deaths?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "It all happened so fast."

A deep breath helped to calm my nerves. "Upward and onward."

Elyssa kissed the back of my neck. "My sexy rock climber."

I channeled a rope and began climbing again. "I'm about to take you back into the forest and go Tarzan on you."

"Me Jane," she whispered in my ear.

"You're going to get us killed," I groaned.

"I'm giving you a reason to live," she replied.

"My testosterone levels are off the charts." Another strand jerked us closer to the stone arch. "Junior is rubbing uncomfortably against the cliff."

She giggled. "Want me to shield it with my hand?"

"That's it, we're going back to the forest." The last aether rope jerked us up and over the lip of the stone arch. I landed heavily on my feet and stumbled.

Elyssa climbed off my back. "Aww, I thought we were going back down."

Flava and the others saw us and ran over. I stood slightly behind Elyssa so they wouldn't see the awkward bulge in my skintight armor.

Elyssa looked down and snorted. "Someone needs a cold shower."

"Shush, you evil woman." I looked at the approaching Darklings and plastered on a casual smile.
Down, boy, down!
Junior seemed to sag with sadness and deflated.

The Darkling I'd lent my rocket stick handed it to me. "Destroyer, I think your rocket stick is broken."

"Broken?" The odor of fried electronics stung my nostrils.

"It turned off during my descent, but thankfully, I was only a few feet from the ground." He looked down. "I am sorry."

I tested the switch, but the rocket stick didn't respond. "It's okay." I didn't like being grounded, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

Another seraph pushed past the first. "Did you see Jova below?"

I stood up and shook my head. "I'm sorry, no."

"He landed only a hundred yards from you," he replied, voice rising with agitation.

"He fell near the river," Flava said. "I am sorry, Axo, but he's gone."

"I wish to look for him."

Flava's lips tightened into a line. "Do you think your brother would want you to abandon the mission and look for him?"

"I do not care what he would want!" Axo said. "I will not abandon family!"

"We are your family," Flava said. "Your brothers and sisters who have fought by your side. Do you remember what Jova said before our attack on the crystoid?"

Axo squeezed his eyes and looked down. "Yes," he whimpered.

"If I die, I pray you fight on. Victory brings honor to the living and dead. If Cephus wins, the dead will be poured into mass graves and forgotten." Flava gripped Axo's arm. "Brother, I do not wish to be forgotten."

Nailan raised a fist overhead. "Remember the dead!"

The others roared the mantra.

Axo wiped tears from his eyes. "My only regret is that the Destroyer could not save him as he saved Eoriss."

His words stung, the venom making my heart so heavy I couldn't breathe. There were so many I hadn't been able to save—Vallaena, Nightliss, all those who fought in the wars. I knew it wasn't my fault, but every loss added another weight and this asshole wasn't helping matters.

Eoriss stared at him with open-mouthed horror. "How cruel to say such a thing, Axo! Jova was too far away for the Destroyer to reach."

I took a deep breath as anger burned through the regret and let it harden my heart. "We've all lost loved ones and seen more than our fair share of death and destruction." Turning my gaze on Axo, I held back the sharp rebuke I wanted to deliver and settled for something softer. "I'm sorry for the loss of your brother, but we have a mission to save thousands in Tarissa and perhaps the entire realm of Seraphina."

Demon flames ignited in my eyes and I held Axo's hard look until he shrank away. "If you care nothing for honor, leave us."

The seraph looked down and shivered. "I am sorry, Destroyer. I will not forsake my duty."

I nodded and turned to Flava. "Let's move out."

She nodded. "As you command, Destroyer." Flava pointed to the southern side of the arch. "The Mzodi often dock their ships at the town of Ooskai."

"What exactly are these sky fishers?" I asked.

Flava touched the gem on her uniform. "They harvest the gems from the depths of the vortexes where the extreme forces cause the aether to crystallize."

I examined the faceted green stone. "Oh, I thought the Darklings made the gems themselves."

"Life as we know it would be impossible without gems," she said. "Though gems can be safely harvested from the land around a vortex, the Mzodi brave the deeps where the most powerful crystals are formed."

I had visions of pirates flying galleons into tornados, tossing nets, and hauling in a bounty of booty. "What do their ships look like?"

A smile creased her lips. "They really must be seen to be appreciated."

I was stoked. "We're going to see angel pirates on flying ships!"

Elyssa's face scrunched. "I don't know how you went from sky fishers to sky pirates."

"Just a logical progression," I assured her. I hooked my arm in hers and started hustling over the stone bridge. "I hope their captain has a peg-leg and an eye patch. Shelton's gonna be so jealous."

Elyssa tossed a bucket of cold water on my enthusiasm. "I'm picturing a bunch of old men with fishing poles."

"Stop it!" I gave her a hurt look. "You're destroying my fantasy land."

The stone arch melded into a road when we reached the plateau at the top of the cliff. A wide crystal dock jutted from the side of the cliff. Beyond it sat a tall round house nestled in a stand of aquamarine trees. A stairway in the back trailed down to the edge of the plateau where a wide deck faced the valley.

I nudged Elyssa. "Imagine having breakfast with that view."

"Beautiful," she murmured. "It's too bad we can't stick around and explore. I'd love to hike the valley."

The main street of Ooskai offered a peculiar variety of domiciles. Though most were constructed of shiny black Murk, their shapes ranged from a mundane square and perfect sphere to a bizarre house that resembled a boot.

I pointed out the latter to Elyssa. "I wonder if the old woman in the shoe lives there."

She tilted her head in wonder at one shaped like a giant snail shell. "They obviously don't believe in cookie-cutter designs."

Flava stopped in front of the large house near the dock. It might have looked like a normal two-story house except its proportions were warped, as if viewing it through bent glass. The sera charged the gem where a front door might usually exist and waited.

A moment later the wall misted away to reveal a gray-haired sera. "What does one of the city wish in these parts?" she asked in Cyrinthian.

"Tarissa is destroyed," Flava replied. "We seek passage to Kdosh."

The sera didn't seem surprised. "The price for your sins, city dweller."

"It's like rednecks versus city slickers," I whispered to Elyssa.

"The Destroyer has come as promised," Flava said. "He will help us atone for our sins."

The sera narrowed her eyes. Her gaze quickly latched onto me. "He is different."

I waved my hand. "Hey, I'm the Destroyer, but you can call me Justin." I tried to sound ominous, but my voice cracked because her intense stare made me nervous. "Can you help us get to Kdosh?"

The sera frowned. "I will ask Mother." The doorway solidified into a wall.

I tapped Flava on the shoulder. "I take it they don't like city dwellers?"

"They believe we aspire to be like the Creator himself with our buildings reaching to the heavens and our magical advances." She wrinkled her nose at the village. "They consider this meager living virtuous."

"Some things are the same no matter where you go," Elyssa said.

A shadow flitted across the ground drawing our eyes up. Something I could only describe as a golden winged cat settled on the ground. About twice the size of its domestic cousins and unapologetically majestic, it stalked around us, green eyes wary.

"How beautiful," Elyssa said, not wasting a moment to crouch and summon the thing. "Here, kitty, kitty."

It seemed to think she was okay and rubbed its head against her knee, a purr like a saw deep in its throat.

"What is that?" I asked.

"A felix," Flava said. "They are common companions, though this one is particularly beautiful." She knelt and started talking cutesy gibberish—probably what passed for "Here, kitty, kitty," in Cyrinthian.

"My god, a flying cat?" I wondered what passed for dogs around here. "No wonder I haven't seen any squirrels." Elyssa beamed a pleading smile at me, but I cut her off before she could ask. "No, we can't keep him."

She pouted. "Aww."

"Mother will see the Destroyer."

I jumped and turned toward the sera. "What about Flava?"

"Only you," she said.

"Is it safe?" I asked Flava.

She raised an eyebrow. "I should hope so, for the mighty Destroyer."

Embarrassment heated my face. "Well, you never know."

Elyssa gripped my hand. "You're right. Don't let your guard down."

I pecked a kiss on her lips and stepped through the doorway. The sera charged a gem on the inside and a wall filled the space.

"This way." She walked down a flight of stone steps, through a cool tunnel with a musty smell to it. The corridor ended on the wide deck I'd seen from the bridge. A short balustrade provided the only protection from walking straight off the cliff edge and plummeting to a violent end.

The sera motioned to two empty chairs next to a table. "Sit."

"Where is Mother?" I asked.

"She will come." The sera turned and walked back into the tunnel.

Instead of sitting, I walked to the stone railing and looked out at the blue valley, taking in the lovely view now that I had a moment to rest. Wings flapped behind me. I turned and saw the golden cat fly in for a landing.