Crais (14 page)

Fury stepped into the water, and without hesitation
splashed out into the aqua-streaked waves. Dune was right behind her, neither caring that their Crais leafy attire was soaked through. Fury shrieked as Dune scooped her up and threw her further out into the ocean. She emerged, water streaming off her, and dived onto him. When they both resurfaced, their lips met in a kiss.

Swallowing the lump in my throat
, I forced a chuckle. “I think Dune might be a lost case, Lucy-loo.” I hadn’t called her that in years, but it somehow fell from my lips again.

The pair
were still lip-locked; it hadn’t progressed past that sweet initial kiss stage, nothing like their episode in the caves. Dune had one hand buried in her hair and the other on her cheek. Fury was clutching his biceps, pulling him closer.

“Kind of tame make
-out session. Where’s all the groping?” Lucy said in a half-whisper.

“I don’t think they can hear us from here?”
I mock-whispered back to her.

“I
never underestimate your freaky Walker abilities. Who knows what you guys can and can’t do?”

“
Word.”

We were silent for a moment
. I was lost in thoughts of missing loves, and stupid tempting offers. And Lucy was –

“I
miss him, Abbs.” The words burst from her. “What the hell is wrong with me? He’s a bad person. Dammit.” She hung her head. “I’m that girl – you know the one – who’s attracted to the bad boy, the one who destroys lives and treats her like crap. I always hated that girl in the books and movies.”

“The fact you always screamed ‘grow a backbone’ did give me an indication of your feeling toward those women.” I laughed.
“And there’s no way you’re that girl. You just happen to have a big heart which you gave Samuel a piece of. There was no reason to suspect he didn’t deserve you, and he’s going to get what’s coming to him.”

She shrugged. “
You make a good point. I was always going to be a small package with too much awesome for someone as stodgy as Samuel.”     

“Exactly, my friend.”

I turned back to the ocean; damn, those two were still going at it.

The door to my room opened
and Josian stepped through. We moved closer.

What had happened now?

“Just letting you know we’ll be heading to the mountains in about an hour. Your mother wants everyone to have a good lunch first.”

I smiled
in relief. There was no new bad news yet. “Of course she does; the quintessential mother.”

“Lalli is the most aw
esome person I’ve ever met. We’re lucky to have her.” Lucy, who’d never known her own mother, had really bonded with Lallielle.

“
Great minds are all thinking alike today,” Josian said as he waved us toward the door. 

“Great
,” Lucy scoffed. “Don’t undersell us, Josian. We’re freaking brilliant.”

Lunch was quiet, despite the fact everyone was present.

Fury and Dune
had been forced to wear First-World clothes; they’d had no replacement for their Crais attire. Lallielle had helped both of them find something that fit, but neither looked impressed nor comfortable. I’d just finished eating a bowl of fruit, and was wiping a few juice dribbles off my chin, when Fury turned to Josian.

“
I was speaking to Talina and she told me that I have marks like Abigail’s, but they only appear under a certain light.” She took a breath. “I’d like to see my Walker marks now.”

Oh
, yeah.
I’d never gotten around to explaining all that to her, and strangely she’d never asked why I wore marks.

“Your marks won’t be the same as Aribella’s.”
Josian pushed his chair back and rose. “But I’ve been waiting for you to ask. I’d like to know your clan. I find it disconcerting to get no reading on half-Walkers, especially your clan or power.”

“We like it that way, thank you
, Walker man.” I grinned at my father.

“So the
marks I have will tell you which clan my father is from?” Fury asked.

“Yes. All seven clans have their own unique marks. Let’s see yours.”
Josian flipped open the flat surface of his ring.

Sparkling yellow light reflected
off the gray crystals and filled the space. Talina’s black tribal marks emerged, along with Josian’s red lace design. Fury’s marks were gray swirls, highlighted on her red skin and contrasting nicely with her pure white hair. Her eyes had widened as she watched the emergence of everyone’s mark.

Josian clapped his hand
s in delight. “You’re Relli, Grantham’s clan. He’s my oldest friend and a truly fair and kind Princeps. He will be so happy to meet you when he returns.”

I knew
Grantham was off gathering his fellow Relli members and recruiting other clans to the final battle. I wasn’t sure a greater force would actually make any difference to our success or failure. But it couldn’t hurt.

Fury
stood then, craning her neck to see her reflection in the small mirror that adorned the wall behind our dining table.

“
In all honesty I’ve wavered between believing these stories and thinking you’re all insane.” Her dark eyes widened as she stepped back for a better look. “But these marks are ... incredible.” She faced me. “Why are you the only one who gets to have them permanently?” She turned back to the mirror, swinging her head left and right. “I want to see my marks all the time.”

I shrugged.
“Probably because I’m super Abby. You know, we get all the best powers.”

Josian interrupted
me, the smallest grin on his face. “The original seven Walkers had permanent marks. I believe that Aribella’s powers are tied to them – all seven of them – she seems to be able to channel large levels of energy but also access long-lost abilities. Her permanent marks have got to be an indication of her tie to the originals.”

Was that
what the Seventine meant when he said I was one of the ancients?

Fury’s eyes flashed at me and for once it wasn’t anger that shone through but
... sympathy.

“I know what it feels like to be considered special and extraordinary and have a lot of pressure on you to perform these amazing feats.” She chuckled
. “Like saving the world. I know that it’s definitely not as fun as it sounds.”

I swallowed loudly
. Denial was a great friend of mine, allowing me to forget or ignore all the demands on me. I’d probably have an anxiety attack if I thought about it too much.

“I like to live in the now
. I deal with things as they happen and try not to pre-empt the problems.”

Fury nodded at me, and then our little moment was over. She turned back to Dune and I could hear him commenting on her marks. He seemed to like them a lot
. I shuddered, turning my hearing down. I did not need to know those things.

“Maybe she has some redeeming points hidden under all her nasty attitude
,” Lucy muttered as she shoved half a melon into her mouth.

“
It seems as if, whichever planet we come from, our halfling status has only caused pain and havoc. We’re all a little damaged.” Talina smiled. “It will be nice when we are a complete unit, strong enough to never have to cower down to anyone again. Never have to fear for our lives or sanity.”

Josian
boomed out his laughter. “You’re strong enough for that already; there are very few beings, besides full-blooded warrior-trained Walkers, who could best you in anything.”

“What we really need to develop is that unprecedented level of arrogance all
of you Walkers have. I think we do fine with powers. It’s arrogance we lack.” I wrinkled my nose at my father.

Josian nodded. “I like to think of it as confidence.”

“Where did Lucas disappear to?” Talina seemed to have suddenly noticed he wasn’t in the room.

I’d noted it as soon as we walked in
to the house, grateful for the reprieve from his presence. He made me think and feel things that were darn uncomfortable.

“He had to go back and check on the castle and his father
,” Josian said, his expression unchanging.

Although he’d never said anything, I was under the impression
he didn’t like Lucas.

“How sick is his father?” I
realized that in all the time I’d known Lucas I’d never once asked about his father or family.

I felt a twinge of guilt
. I really hadn’t been interested, and with so much going on there wasn’t time to dwell on anyone else’s problems. But it must be tough for him, knowing his father was sick and that the mantle of ruling First World was about to fall into his lap. No wonder he continued to run away with us.

“No one has seen the Emperor for many years.
To my understanding he is bed-ridden with a deteriorating disease and relies on Lucas and his trusted advisor to pass on his instructions,” Lallielle said. “Lucas represents him in the court meetings.”

I didn’t know about everyone else but that seemed suspicious to me
. Who could trust instructions delivered through a third party? Now that my curiosity was aroused I might just ask a few questions the next time I saw Lucas. I especially wondered how he could keep world-hopping with us when the Emperor relied on him so heavily.

Fury laughed. “Sounds like the perfect situation for corruption to erupt and destroy your world.” She stole a sideways glance at Dune. “We have seen it happen with a false leader and the lies of his advisors.”

Josian nodded. “It’s for this very reason that First World has a council to rule individual lands. No major decisions can be made without complete council approval. They’ve worked hard to make sure one dictator can never dominate.”

“And for many millennia this has worked without drama. The Emperor’s sickness is the first fundamental breakdown we
’ve had in our system.” Lallielle pushed back her long hair. “As you know, we only have a few rare sicknesses that cannot be healed by our bodies. I’m afraid there’s no precedence for how to proceed here. It’s messy. And I don’t like that in our leadership.”

Lallielle sounded like she was about ready to step in and get the
m into line. I knew her family had been Emperors and Empresses in the past. That’s why everyone had so readily believed I was the chosen one.

T
hinking about Lucas and the prophecy gave me a headache. Somewhere deep down I believed him. I was supposed to be his Empress and really should be helping to fix the problems on First World. But for some reason my Walker side was stronger, my bond with Brace everything and my mission to gather the half-Walkers had to take precedence.

But that didn’t lessen that niggling
guilt.

“So it
’s just the seven of us heading to the dark mountains?” I changed the subject.

“I have some of our clan meeting us there; in fact
, they’ve gone ahead and are scouting the outer regions for us. So far there don’t seem to be any immediate obstacles.” Josian pushed back his plate and stood. “But we should head there now. I want that dealt with so I can get back to the research and Aribella can move on to the next planet.”

He looked over our heads,
toward something no one else could see. “Something tells me time is running out.”

We stood at the edge of the darkness. The mountains rising before us like the very
gates to a dead land. Under my feet there were scattered trees and plants that were still alive, but just beyond our group it was a different story. As if a bomb had been discharged, surrounding the black mountains was a perfect ring of death.

“I
didn’t realize it had gotten so bad.” Lallielle stood, hands on her slim hips. Like the rest of us, she was dressed simply: jeans, boots and a light jacket. Perfect for the fog and temperate weather surrounding the mountains. “Life energy is being leached from every living thing in the vicinity.”

“Yes, but what
we need to worry about is what they’re using all of this life-force for.” Lucy held her head as she spoke, fingertips resting on her temples.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

She shrugged before wincing, her eyes screwing closed. “The negative energy here has got to be messing with my mind. I’m seeing this scene in front of us but I also keep getting these alternate images in my head.”

“Frannie always sa
w double images like that when her soothsayer side was trying to warn her of something.” Lallielle patted Lucy’s arm. “Try not to block out the visions. They could be important and I believe if you let them come your head will ache less.”

Lucy crinkled her nose but nodded
. “Maybe I’ll actually see something useful rather than terrifying,” she muttered.

“What are the other images?” I had to ask.

She shook her head a little. “Random and disjointed scenes. Zombies again and all the time this blindingly bright light.”

I shuddered internally. Zombies were one of my biggest freak
-outs; I covered my unease with a joke.

“Don’t worry about the undead, Luce
. When Abby gets bitten by a zombie, she doesn’t turn into a zombie; the zombie turns into Abby.”

Lucy stopped dead, dropping her hands from her head.
“Two things, Abigail. First, don’t refer to yourself in the third person. Ever. Again. And second, I know you just took a Chuck Norris saying and inserted your own name.”

“Who the hell is this Chuck Norris they keep referring to?” I heard Josian ask Lallielle. “
He has to be a Walker with these skills.”

Lucy and I both dissolved into fits of laughter.

“Doesn’t this remind you a little of Crais?” Fury interrupted us. She was standing with Dune a short distance away.

“
Yes, according to the elders this is how our world seemed to die; a slow leaching of the green and nutrients,” he said. “Crais bit by bit succumbed to the heat of our suns.”

Dune
stared out into the distance as he pulled Fury closer in a protective manner.

“The main
difference here is that unnatural forces have caused this level of destruction and death. Not a natural weather evolution like Crais.” Josian’s lips curled. “This is pure manipulation and overflow of negative energy.”

“
Do we really have to head into that dead land?” Talina looked pale, her lips pressed together tightly.

“
In a minute. I’m waiting for Lanthorne to return,” Josian said, giving us a reprieve.

Lanthorne was
one of his trusted Doreen Reds.

I examined the mountains again
. There seemed to be a main peak, which had a circumference of at least five miles at the base, framed by two smaller mountains on either side. I was distracted as a figure stepped out of the shadows below the mountains, his red hair standing out in dramatic contrast to the monochromatic background. Lanthorne made his way to us in a matter of seconds, moving at Walker super-speed.

He formally greeted his Princeps with the Walker handshake, before speaking rapidly in a heavy accent. “The men are waiting near the entrance. We encountered a type of barrier halfway along that we have not been able to penetrate. At this stage we have no idea what awaits us beyond that.”

“Well
, let’s find out together,” Josian said, taking the first step toward the darkness.

I hesitated
, sucking in a few deep breaths. I could taste the dust and death in the air. Don’t ask me exactly what that tasted like, but it wasn’t pleasant. Ever since I’d had that dream of the dark mountains, the ominous feeling regarding this place had only grown stronger. The imbalance here was impossible to ignore now. It was too widespread.

The dead plants crumbled under my boots as we strode across the plane
, black ash covering us as we carved a path through. Since we’d initially stood about a mile out of the main entrance, it took us ten minutes to cross the distance. If the Walkers were impatient with this slow pace it never showed on their features.

Everyone fell silent as we closed in on the entranc
e: a large black hole in the side of the mountain. We paused at the edge of the darkness, waiting for our eyes to adjust. In the dull lighting I noticed that the strain on Lucy’s face had increased. Her left hand cradled her forehead as her thumb rubbed back and forth. Her eyes squinted and a permanent grimace adorned her features.

“
Are you okay?” I asked again in a low voice.

She
laughed, the sound harsh and grating. “We shouldn’t be here, Abbs. Very bad things are going to happen.”

“What have you seen?” Josian
snapped out.

Lucy opened one eye wide enough to send a glare in his direction. “I haven’t seen anything yet, nothing but
the same random images.” She shook her head. “It’s more the feelings I have, and they’re only intensifying as we move closer. Something is both drawing us in and warning us away.”

I wondered if it was the Bracentine drawing me
toward it. My heart rate accelerated as I sensed its cold power. It was here somewhere, buried under millions of tons of rock. The ache to have Brace back increased along with the fear and panic. What was I going to do if this plan didn’t work? Could I really risk everyone to save him? No, I had to believe I wouldn’t trade our happiness at the detriment of others but what really drew me to the Bracentine’s offer was how non-violent and simple it seemed. My reasoning made it easy to ignore that small part of me, deep down, that protested my choice.

As we stepped over the threshold between the outside and the inner sanctum of the mountain a shudder ran through our group.

“There is some type of field or electro-magnetic force on this doorway,” Lanthorne explained.

“
I’d say that it’s a warning system for intruders,” Josian said. As we moved further inside the darkness closed in on us so he sent out a small energy light, illuminating our surroundings. “Stay alert and keep eyes out for anything strange, including odd shadows.”

Seriously?

Everything looked like
odd shadows, especially with just one small light ball reflecting off the surfaces. Josian led the way, one of his hands tangled with Lallielle’s. Talina, Lucy and I moved closer together and followed them with Fury and Dune right behind us. Lanthorne was at the back providing protection. As we moved along the wide entrance started to narrow. Eventually the Walkers and Dune had to crouch so as not to hit their heads on the stone ceiling. The trail continued into the mountain.

“There are no other paths that we could
find; it’s just this one narrow corridor all the way to the barrier.” Lanthorne’s voice drifted forward to us.

“We seem to have spent a lot of time buried in caves lately
,” Lucy muttered. “We should head back to Spurn for some sun and relaxation.”

Talina snorted. “I don’t think your
last visit there was very relaxing.”

“
That wasn’t our fault. We didn’t break Spurn. Those sea-monsters and crazy Walkers were already there when we arrived,” Lucy said.

The three of us chuckled
; it echoed around the caves in an overly loud resonance. But as our laughter died away I realized there were other noises adding to the clatter. The Walkers were just ahead of us.

“Josian
,” one of them said as he stepped away from the group to greet his Princeps. “We have created a small incision in the field, but a strange whining noise resulted so we halted progress until you arrived to advise us.”

A dozen Reds were scattered along the narrow tunnel
, right up to the solid wall blocking the path ahead. We moved as close as we could, but with so many Walkers around, we were far from the barrier.

“Wait here
. I’ll barge my way through and see what we have blocking the path.” Josian kissed Lallielle on the cheek, then true to his word forced his way through, his broad shoulders knocking his men into the walls.

I was getting antsy now
. I knew Brace was close by and my soul was straining to connect, to fill the void that was slowly chipping away at my psyche. I closed my eyes and breathed in a few deep breaths, all to stop myself from barreling through everyone and having a crack at two-foot-kicking the barrier down. Yeah, I know I had energy balls and that, but how cool would it be to kick down the wall?

“You look like crap
,” Lucy said, interrupting my breakdown.

I
opened my eyes to glare at her. Instead, snorts of laughter burst from me.

“
Maybe you should have a quick look in the mirror before commenting on my appearance. You look like you’ve not only fallen onto the crazy train, but are the driver.”

She barely had her eyes open, squinting at me through her parted fingers.
Suddenly she gasped. Her blue eyes almost rolled back into her head.

“The
zombies are back,” she spat out.

Before I could force more information from her
the barrier fell. I shuddered as a chill ran along my spine; I noticed the others had similar reactions.

“Josian?”
Lallielle called out.

He was back at her side in a matter of seconds.

“None of us could penetrate the barrier; it dropped on its own. Which I’m sure we all agree is in no way suspicious.” Josian grinned before stretching to his full height, his head almost brushing the stone ceiling. “Nothing to do now but continue along the path.”

T
he Reds started to move through in single file; it was too narrow for anything else. We waited patiently for the path to clear.

“What happens if that barrier closes behind us?
We don’t want to be trapped under a cave system with no way to get out.” Fury had her hands on her hips, refusing to move.

“
Walkers are never trapped anywhere,” Josian said.

His confidence was
a welcome help to keep the panic at bay.

Fury glared at him, but didn’t comment again.
Shuffling forward, we moved with the group until we reached the previously barred area. As I stepped through I almost dropped to my knees. The other side felt different, the air thick and cloying. And that sick feeling was back in my stomach, the one I got when I was overloaded on negative energy.

Lucy let out a strangled shriek. I spun around just in time to catch her as she collapsed. Josian’s light floated above
our heads, allowing me to examine her face closely. She was completely out, her breathing swift and eyelids flickering in rapid motions. I tried to read her thoughts but as usual she was blocked. I snorted out my frustration.

“Lucy!” I said in a demanding tone. “Luce!”

Her eyelids almost opened, but I only got a glimpse of white, as if her eyes were rolled back in her head.

“What
’s wrong with her?” I looked up at Josian and Lallielle, who were crouching over me.

“It looks
as if her system was overloaded,” Lallielle said, taking one of Lucy’s limp hands, “the psychic energy is very strong here.”

“
She’s unconscious; why can’t I enter her mind?” I bit out.

“Soothsayers have special securities surrounding their thoughts. I should have guessed from the start when I also could not read her
,” Josian said. “There are very few beings who could keep me out, and especially no Earthling.”

“She’s untrained, Jos.” Lallielle tur
ned to Josian, her eyes crinkling as she gripped Lucy’s hand tighter. “Who knows the overload she’s been trying to deal with?”

Josian reached down and lifted Lucy gently into his arms. She looked like a tiny doll
cradled by a giant.

“Let’s hope your sister turns up soon,” he said, “because I have no idea how to train a soothsayer.”

I kept one worried eye on Lucy, although she seemed to have relaxed in Josian’s arms. I hoped she’d wake up soon and put my fears to rest, and most importantly that by continuing through the tunnels we weren’t doing her any further damage. The Reds were a fair way in front of us at this stage, so at least we’d have plenty of warning about any danger ahead. Unless they were all dead, of course.

Josian gave me a brief grin.
“The men are waiting for us; they said there is a large space up ahead with many channels branching off.”