Plague of Mybyncia (16 page)

Qippert cups my shoulder. “Remember what we
talked about.”

Securing my headgear and Enidd, I climb onto
Mimi. I grip the cratered handles of her gray back and position
myself for the ride.

“Ready?” Ariana asks.

Glancing to Qippert, I hold his stare for as
long as I can. He needs me to understand the peril of the
situation. Finally, and without breaking our eye contact, I answer
Ariana. “Yes, princess.”

“Mimi,” she strokes the patch of skin between
her red eyes, “let us go.”

The Stancimis submerges, my view of Qippert
disappearing as we soar from the Docking Station and around the far
side of the city. We’re still nearby, but descending just beyond
it, deep into the water’s dark depths. Mimi takes us down,
down
, until the lights from the thriving metropolis no
longer illuminate. I can’t really see where we’re going or what’s
ahead of us but suddenly, she slows, moving inward instead of
lowering.

We’re here.

“This will be different,” Ariana says as Mimi
moves closer to an ominous black structure ahead. “We will not be
docking. We will have to swim through the tunnel to get inside.
Follow me,” she lets go of Mimi and swims up toward a narrow dark
entrance above.

I do the same. Kicking off from Mimi, I cup
my hands into rounded shovel shapes and part the water above me, my
Enidd latched to my back. It’s intensely dark—nearly black—so I
could be moving straight for the rock and not even know it. But
Ariana’s feet kick in front of me, creating a map of waves to
follow. She disappears into the vertical tunnel and, trying to keep
my pace to a steady rhythm, I follow.

It’s narrower than I thought. Running my
hands along the rocky walls, I can’t even fully extend my arms.
Barely able to bend my elbows, the passage grips me with
suffocation as the black water continues to blind me. It’s like
being back in the labyrinth on Harrizel, traveling in complete
darkness led by touch alone. Trying not to give into my pounding
heart, I keep going, keep ascending through the confined dark water
until the waves above stop.

She’s not over me anymore.

But where’d she go?

I brace my hands above me, ready to feel the
top of the passage and when I do, new waves ripple toward me from
the left. I follow them, swimming horizontally through the tightly
enclosed space, this area more confined than the passage up. It’s
still murky, all sight of Ariana disappearing completely. I try not
to think of where I am, how far from the surface we are and what
would happen if I got stuck—or lost—down here. But Ariana wouldn’t
leave without me. If I take a wrong turn somehow, she’ll come get
me. This thought keeps me moving, keeps me swimming for another few
minutes until the passage opens into an enormous area, the water
clearing slightly.

It’s the size of the Great Hall, but this one
is empty, save the muddied water. Through it, I can see Ariana
toward the top, waiting by another tunnel opening. Once seeing me,
she waits, allowing time for me to catch up. I swim to the top,
finally reaching right behind her.

“Just a little farther. We are almost there—I
promise.”

I nod and she takes off through the tunnel.
My heart races, terrified of entering yet another confined space
and basically, moving through it blindly. But it’s too late to back
out now. Besides, I’m almost there.

Inhaling a deep breath, I take off after her,
pushing my way through the tightest passage yet, my shoulders
nearly brushing the walls around me. Kicking my feet to project me
forward, I don’t know how Reid—or even Booker—would be able to fit
through here. Maybe that’s another reason she asked me to come with
her. I can fit. But there has to be other entrances. What if the
prisoner is larger? How would they be able to get into the prison?
I remind myself to ask Ariana when I get the chance and continue
kicking my feet.

Finally, we emerge from the tiny space into
another huge area. I follow, swimming up, and I break the surface
of the water. Ariana’s head and shoulders bob out of the black
depths a few feet away.

“Are you alright?”

“Fine,” I glance around.

This room is similar to all the rest—an
enormous, bulbous space made of rock walls lined with separate
black tunnels. Except this area has a two-foot perimeter of solid
ground wrapped around it while the rest of the floor is encompassed
by the wide pool we’re wading in. Ariana moves for the edge and
pulls herself up. I swim after her and she reaches in, helping me
out.

Once we’re both on solid ground, she leads me
around to the nearest tunnel. “This way.”

I’m behind her, following as we enter the
dark hall. “So where are the other entrances?”

She glances back at me. “How do you know
there are others?”

“You have to be able to transport larger
prisoners,” I glance back to the pool. “And those tunnels were
insanely
narrow.”

“Yes—sorry about that. We used the visitor’s
entrance. It is to dissuade anyone from wanting to come by.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

She chuckles, “The main entrance is similar,
except the tunnels are much,
much
wider. Come on, we are
almost there.”

The princess leads us through the passage
until we reach the very end, where a tall glass wall separates us
from a tank of water on the other side. It’s not terribly large,
but gives its inhabitant enough room to swim around. Or, if they
prefer, coral stairs to lead up to the dry part of the encasement
where a small section of limestone ground remains. Solid bars of
the same material weave together, forming a different type of
wall.

Perio floats backwards, hands behind his head
as we approach. He does a double take as he sees Ariana,
immediately swimming up to the glass and pressing his hands against
it. Refusing to return the gesture, she moves up the matching steps
to meet him on the dry ground. He immediately joins her, flying to
the gray limestone ground and pressing himself against the
bars.

“Ariana, my love. You have come to free
me.”

She inhales. “No, Perio.”

“Then you have come with a message from the
queen about my freedom.” He says it as a statement, but at her
hesitation to agree, he goes on, grasping the bars in his hands.
“You would not come for nothing. Your presence gives me hope.”

“It should not.”

“It does,” he smiles dreamily at her.

“I have come to learn the truth.”

“You know my feelings for you.”

“Not that truth.”

“What else is there?”

She sighs. “What you planned to do to the
remaining humans. What you plan to do with the Muskos.”

At this he pauses, taken off course
momentarily. But he recovers quickly, trying to convince her with
as simple an explanation as possible. “We plan on keeping Mybyncia
safe.”

“How?”

“Doing what we must.”

“Which is?”

“Executing all foreigners.” He says without
hint of remorse. At Ariana’s gasp, he goes on, keeping his face
pressed between the bars. “Ariana, my love, I do this for you. This
is all for you.”

“I do not want this, Perio.”

He nods, expecting this answer, already
prepped with a response. “You are too innocent to understand. I
take on this burden for you, so you will not have to know the
horrors that live outside our great World. Ariana, my love,” he
gazes at her again, “do you have any conception of what your beauty
does to me?”

“How were you planning these executions?” she
ignores his question.

“The most beautiful of all Queen Ravan’s
daughters… I could not imagine a more precious creature. One as
lovely as you could not exist.”

“
Perio
,” Ariana’s voice tightens.

“Yes, my love.”

“How were you planning these executions?”

He pauses, his mind reeling as he gazes
adoringly at her. “Have I ever told you how your eyes sparkle when
you are stern?”

“I am not stern, I am aggravated.”

“You are breathtaking.”

Ariana turns to me with a defeated huff.
“This might have been for naught. I do not think he is going to
tell us anything.”

I’m still down the steps, near the glass wall
on the opposite side of the water tank. Perio follows Ariana’s
stare and once seeing me, transforms from adoring to an intense
severity. Narrowing his eyes with unfathomable fury, he looks at me
like I’m a walking disease. But the fact that I’m moving up the
steps, near Ariana sends him into a seething rage.

“What is
she
doing here?” he
hisses.

“I brought her.”

“She is a plague,” he focuses on Ariana
again. “Free me and I can rid you of her putrid presence.”

“She is a friend.”

“She is an
enemy
. Anyone not Mybyncian
is an
enemy
.”

“I am sorry you feel that way,” the princess
frowns.

“I want to create a safe world for you—this
is the only way.”

“I disagree.”

“Ariana,
please
,” he’s gripping the
bars. “I do this for you. I
love
you. Let me cleanse you of
her blasphemy.”

“
My
blasphemy?” I can’t take it
anymore. I know Qippert said to remain quiet but Perio has gone too
far. “
You’re
the one who wants to murder innocents.”

With spit flying, he spews a harsh jumble of
curses at me, his orange eyes narrowed in rage.

“Yeah, that’s the way to win your lady,” I
interrupt his vicious tirade. “Offer her a platter of corpses.
That’ll seal the deal.”

“You are just a dead human.”

“Perio!” Ariana gasps, suddenly nervous.

“She is dead.
All
of them are. It is
only a matter of time.”

“What do you mean?”

“As soon as the queen releases me, or
perhaps,” his smile grows, “before then, I shall seek vengeance for
the attack on the Southern Waters.”

“They were not the ones who did it.”

“It matters not. One day you will understand,
Ariana. One day, you will know what I have done for you. You will
see what I have come to realize, that this World we live in is the
only one that matters. We must do everything to keep it
protected.”

With an exhausted sigh, Ariana tries one last
time. “Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“Only how much I love you,” he’s back to
gazing at her. “How I dream of you and the day we are to be
joined.”

“That will never happen.”

“One day,” he doesn’t seem fazed by her
negative response, “One day you will understand and you will look
forward to it as much as I.”

Ariana turns to me with a defeated look. “It
is pointless. He will not tell us anything useful.”

“Ariana…” he goes on in the background.

“We should go. Maybe Chancellor Keller can
get more out of him.”

“Will that half-brain be visiting me too?” He
recoils with a bit of a snarl, until his mouth turns up in a
mischievous grin. “Oh… I do look forward to his visit. But of
course,” he swoons, “not as much as yours.”

“We are leaving now.”

“Dream of me.”

“I will not.”

“Then
I
will dream of us, and what our
life will be together.”

“Goodbye, Perio,” she starts down the few
steps and I’m right behind her. We’ve only made it to the beginning
of his water tank when he calls after her.

“Ariana! It is imperative to remember you are
safest in
my
arms,” he’s stressing his message to her,
hoping she hears the underlying importance of it. “Only
I
can save you from the plague to come.”

Something in his tone begs a second listen,
like he’s trying to tell her something, but at this point, it’s
futile thinking we would get the information we want. Refusing to
give him a return glance as we head away from his cell, I assume
she took nothing from it either. But still, I have to check. “He’s
talking about us, right?”

She nods, distraught over the outcome of the
attempt. She was hoping she’d get more information instead of
declarations of a love she no longer wants. “I guess so.”

We leave the way we came, through the dark,
narrow passages and out into the murky depths where Mimi waits for
us. Once we’re on, she takes us back to the city, to the Docking
Station in the FH. We’re there in minutes, Sampson, Clarence,
Qippert, Chancellor Keller, Maris, Salva and a few guards already
waiting.

Maris, Salva and the rest of the guards help
the princess down while Sampson and Clarence offer me their hands.
I take them both in mine and find myself planted firmly on the
ground, Sampson grasping my shoulders to face him.

“How’d everything go?” he looks over me,
searching for any injuries. “Are you both unharmed?”

“We are fine,” Ariana walks over, her fleet
of guards following. “But I am disappointed to report we learned
very little.”

“We did not expect he would reveal much,”
Chancellor Keller says, “even to you, Princess.”

“He really
does
hate everyone who’s
not Mybyncian,” I look to Qippert. “Called us a plague.”

“Did you speak with him?” he frowns.

“How did he phrase it?” Clarence asks before
I’m able to answer. “Did he call
you
a plague?
Everyone
a plague?”

I run through the conversation, making sure I
transmit it correctly. “He called me a plague and then…” I glance
to Ariana, “he said he’s the only one to save the princess from the
plague to come.”

Clarence, Sampson, Qippert and the chancellor
exchange nervous glances.

“It could just mean
us
…” Qippert
offers. “Another name to describe his war.”

“Yes…” Sampson strokes his chin. “Or
something else.”

“What else did he say?” Clarence asks me.

“Well…” I glance to Ariana again and sum up
the majority of the conversation, “he’s really got it bad for the
princess.”