Shadow Seed (13 page)

Jaren knocked one of the tokens over. “You're
crazy if you think we can sustain an attack on the Pelasgians,
Denzso. Ain't gonna happen. Not against those numbers. It's just
gonna provoke them.”

Denzso sunk against the table, looking as
though he was watching a sunrise. “It's going to be real fun when
they outnumber us a hundred to one.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Perak, wake up,” Gillan said, splashing the
Draco's face with conjured drops of water.

Slowly opening his eyes, Perak found himself
on the floor with his friends and wyvern standing over him.

“That was a heck of a landing,” Caycee
said.

Perak rubbed the side of his head as he sat
up. “What happened?”

“If you don't remember, good,” Melkor said,
helping his friend up.

Gillan gave Perak a bottle of water. “Are you
going to be okay?”

“I'm fine…I think,” Perak answered. “My
noggin hurts a bit, but that's about it. I think poor Spire took
the brunt of the impact.”

“Your wyvern seems fine,” said Gillan. “You
should see about getting some medicine, at least to be on the safe
side.”

Perak took the reins to his wyvern. “I’ll do
that. Thanks, guys. I'm going to check in with my caste, see what
the damage is.”

“Get that head checked out,” Gillan said,
before turning to Caycee. “I really appreciate you doing this.”

“I don't mind,” Caycee said with a wink. She
focused her attention on the numerous piles of rubble nearby and
began pacing back and forth between them.

Melkor eyed Gillan’s pocket. “I don't think
it's a good idea keeping that rock.”

“I don't know what to think,” said Gillan.
“But that snake guy wanted me to have it.”

“Maybe he did, but that don't mean you had to
take it. How do you know it's safe?”

Gillan made sure to not lose sight of Caycee.
“Those people, whoever they are, could have easily killed all of
us. But they didn't. Don't you find that odd?”

“Nope,” Melkor said sharply. “A friend of my
enemy is my enemy. And after seeing what they were able to pull
off, I wouldn't take any chances. Besides, it's only a rock. I say
toss it.”

“If it's only a rock, then there's nothing to
worry about. But I think there's more to it. Appearances can be
deceiving.”

Melkor clinched his fists in frustration.
“All the more reason to throw it away.”

Caycee suddenly stopped. “Here!” she said,
pointing to a massive pile of rocks that was once a building.
“Someone is trapped under here, somewhere. They're hurt bad.”

Melkor examined the debris, sensing out as
many of the individual pieces as he could. He placed one hand out
and caused much of the rubble to shift upward.

“Wait!” Caycee cried. “Careful, you have to
be very careful.”

“I can control the rocks,” Melkor said. “But
I can't tell what direction they need to move. Not if I can't see
the person.”

Gillan crawled around the debris. “Hold up. I
think I can get in.”

“Make it fast,” Caycee said.

Light coming through the cracks let Gillan
see where he was going as he inched his was along. “Hello! Can you
hear me?”

From the darkness came a faint moan.

The crawlspace opened up enough for Gillan to
get to his knees. Around the next corner he found a female covered
with small rocks. “Found her!” he yelled. “Caycee, Melkor, can you
hear me?”

“We hear you,” Caycee hollered.

Gillan picked the debris off the woman.
“Relax, you're gonna be okay. Melkor, there's nothing pinning her.
She just got a little banged up. Go ahead and lift, slowly.”

As the rubble around him began to rise,
Gillan felt himself moving with it. “Stop!” he cried out.

Feeling the ground, Gillan figured it was a
large slab of rock.

“What is it?” Melkor asked.

“Looks like a chunk of wall,” Gillan
answered. “We're sitting right on top of it. I'm going to have to
pull her out, I guess.”

“No,” Melkor said, raising both hands and
closing his eyes. “Sit tight, Gillan. I can do this. I just need to
find that piece.”

As the woman came to her senses, the rubble
around her trembled as it slowly rose.

Caycee and other Khothu arriving on the scene
went in as soon as they could to help carry the woman out.

Melkor set the debris back in place. “Well
done, Gillan.”

“It's not me she has to thank,” Gillan said
with a glance to Caycee. “If it weren't for her, we would have
never found that girl.”

Nasia gently made her way through the crowd.
“Gillan, who in the name of Fyodor were those people?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Gillan
answered. “It's a safe bet they're not from around here, though.
And by here, I'm not just talking about Rhea.”

Nasia waved her hand in the direction of
several small fires to extinguish them. “Yeah, but they didn't look
like your ordinary Pelasgian either.”

Melkor grunted. “Or a Myrmidon, and their
powers over the elements seem to exceed ours.”

“I just hope they don't come back,” Caycee
said. “Not if they're immortal.”

Gillan pulled the jade from his pocket and
showed Nasia. “Here, take a look at this.”

Nasia had no idea what to make of it. “A
rock?”

“Souvenir, I guess,” Gillan said. “One of
those elemental guys gave it to me right before he left. Any idea
why he would do that?”

Nasia studied the jade for a moment before
handing it back. “On the island of Okami, it's customary for the
defeated warrior to give the victor a trophy. Of course, that's
only in games of contest.”

“I wouldn't say we won either,” Gillan said.
He began to put the jade away when it suddenly flashed bright green
and made him dizzy.

Caycee quickly grabbed Gillan. “Hey, you
okay?”

“I knew it!” Melkor said. “I kept telling him
he should've tossed it.”

Gillan’s head felt woozy. “Whoa…that
was...neat. The Caidoz...”

“Who,” Caycee asked.

“Those people, the ones that attacked us.
They call themselves Caidoz,” Gillan said.

Caycee's face lit up like a kid with candy.
“Oh! You just had a form of extra-sensory perception. Psychometry.
Very similar to what happened to me when we went to the Shadow
Realm. Remember?”

Gillan wasn’t exactly sure of what Caycee had
just said. “Uh...yeah, well, I guess we know what this rock is now.
It's a way for them to communicate. They said they're very sorry
for attacking us. That the Pelasgians forced them to do it.”

Melkor waved in disgust. “Rubbish! With the
kind of power they have, they'd make short work of the Pelasgians.
They could have wiped out the whole city.”

Gillan held the jade tightly and closed his
eyes. After a few seconds the jade flashed again, and he looked to
Caycee. “Remember what you saw in the Shadow Realm? The ball that
changed everything?”

“How could I forget?” said Caycee.

“The Pelasgian leader threatened them with
it. They left this rock so they could talk to us without him
knowing. They want to help us, but they don't know how.”

Melkor crossed his arms. “And you trust them?
C'mon, what if it's a trick?”

“Not a chance,” Gillan said. “Even you said
it. With the power they have.”

Caycee could sense how sure Gillan felt. “I
agree. It would be even easier if the Pelasgians used that
ball-thing to assimilate us.”

“Why not use it then?” Nasia asked.

Gillan remembered what Lilith had once said.
“It wouldn't work in the Netherworld. So, we think it's the same
for Rhea.”

Melkor didn’t like any of it.

“Makes sense,” Caycee said. “They can't
assimilate us, so they just go to the Caidoz and threaten them to
do their dirty work.”

Gillan pocketed the jade. “I'm sorry, Nasia.
I meant to tell the Chiefs about what happened in the Shadow Realm,
but there was no time.”

Nasia’s head felt like it was spinning.

“It’s a lot to digest,” Gillan said.

“You think?” Melkor mocked.

“Time,” Nasia whispered, looking around at
the city. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Everything is happening
all so fast. Only minutes before I found you, a Vesuvian courier
gave us information that the Pelasgians were gathering outside
Vesuvia.”

A horrible feeling of dread filled Caycee, as
bad memories filled her.

“What about Tiamat?” Melkor asked. “We can’t
just abandon the city.”

“I can't promise anything,” Gillan said.
“Nasia, I know we're in bad shape, but I'm begging you. The Khothu
must join the Vesuvians.”

Seeing so much of Tiamat in ruin filled Nasia
with sadness, then anger. “I will see what the other Chiefs can
spare, but we must make haste. None of us can win this fight
alone.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

In the Netherworld, a small house sat in the
middle of nowhere with only a single dead tree for company. Inside,
Sara moped near a window.

Leon slowly paced back and forth nervously.
At one point he veered toward Sara, but then decided it best to
leave her alone.

“I can't believe you, Leon,” Sara finally
said. “How could you?”

Leon felt a tinge of relief that at least
Sara spoke to him. The friction between them was palpable. “Sorry,”
he said.

Sara grew teary eyed. “Sorry? You're
sorry?”

“What would you have done?” Leon asked.

“You lied to me,” Sara snapped. “And worse
you told no one about Nibiru. All this time, you knew. You knew,
Leon and you didn't say a damn thing!”

Leon lowered his head in shame.

Sara turned, glaring in anger. “You said
sunlight wouldn't kill them.”

Leon stood by the window opposite of Sara.
“Okay, it probably will. But good luck getting them anywhere near
it. They avoid it like the plague.”

“What about you, your Vesuvian
Starlight?”

“I tried, once,” Leon answered. “Almost
killed myself.”

“But did it work?”

Leon shook his head. “The other guy just got
a bad sunburn. I can't generate the light needed to kill them. It
takes too much out of me, and I'm no good to Rhea if I'm dead.”

“There has to be a way,” Sara insisted.

“If you have any ideas, I'm all ears,” Leon
said. “But short of taking the sun and throwing it at them, I doubt
anything else is going to work.”

“What about Nibiru?”

“I wouldn't worry about him.”

“What?” Sara said in shock. “You know what
he's capable of. You know that at any time he feels like it, he can
erase our entire world.”

Leon seemed like he wanted to laugh. “Please
trust me. Nibiru won’t do it.”

“What makes you so sure?” Sara asked.

“Think about it,” said Leon. “If he uses the
Shadow Seed, then he changes me as well. And where does that leave
him? He needs me to join him as a Myrmidon.”

Sara was at a loss for words. She didn't
think of Leon as the egotistic type. Though at the same time, she
couldn't argue with him. There was a certain sense of logic to his
chutzpah.

Leon moved close to Sara. “As long as I'm
around, we'll be fine.”

Too mad to even look at Leon, Sara walked
away and sat on the couch. “What happens when Nibiru changes his
mind and decides he doesn't need you?”

“It won’t come to that,” Leon said
confidently.

“How can you possibly say that?” Sara asked.
“How do you know?”

“Nibiru would have done it by now. If he
could have gone somewhere else, we wouldn't be here right now.”

Sara leaned over, running her hands through
her hair. “Just tell me one thing, Leon. If and when that Shadow
Seed is hanging over your head, what are you going to do?”

Before Leon could answer, a portal opened
with Lilith stepping through. “Are we ready to go back to Vesuvia?”
she asked.

“Not yet,” Leon said. “The second we go
through, the Kanara will know everything Nibiru told Sara. They
can’t read me because I was made with the Council’s blood.”

“They need to know,” Sara demanded. “Everyone
has a right to know.”

Lilith closed the portal and stepped
away.

“What for,” Leon asked. “Telling them won't
help anything. It'll make it worse.”

Sara was feeling more stressed by the second.
“Maybe there's something that can be done. Something you haven't
thought of.”

“No,” Leon said. “We've both seen what Nibiru
is, what he can do.”

“You have to tell them, Leon,” Sara
countered. “Doesn't it bother you at all that the whole world is
fighting and dying for you?”

The coldness in Leon’s eyes was reflected in
his tone. “Let them die. It’s better than living in fear the rest
of their lives. They'd all be slaves right now if it weren't for
me.”

A strange silence filled the room. The kind
you get when everyone is beside themselves.

Knowing what the argument was about, Lilith
wanted nothing to do with it.

Sara got up, slowly walking toward Leon. “Did
you ever think of joining Nibiru? Do you think he’d spare the rest
of us if you just give him what he wants?”

Leon barely gave the idea a second thought.
“No, and I can't say what Nibiru will do, but I'm not taking any
chances.”

After another short moment of silence, Lilith
opened a portal. “Maybe I should come back.”

“Forget it,” Sara said. “Do Leon a favor and
send me to New Haven. There’s no point in fighting anymore.”

In an instant, the sight of Sara being so
upset made Leon begin to question himself. He gently grabbed her by
the arm when she began moving toward the portal.

Depressed and angry, Sara pulled away.

“Please wait,” Leon begged. “You're right.
And I'm sorry if I hurt you. I’d take it back if I could. You have
to believe that I was only trying to protect everyone. But you're
right. I should have told them.”