Читать книгу Rise to the Rahz - Erik van Mechelen - Страница 9

Next shift, the worker found another sixth bulb. When he did, the events of the previous shift slowly returned to him. It was the strangest thing, remembering. Images and emotions seeped into his consciousness. Indistinguishable shapes like the chunks in the soup he'd foregone again when he'd awoken. He couldn't recall remembering, not once, what had happened the previous shift. Of course, he always knew where to go, what to do, and why. Tend the turma. With it the Rahz could protect them from the shadows in the Abyss.

He realized, though, when he really focused on them now, that the details were missing. He shivered at the experience of a past self, another version of this same person, who was there before and here again.

He stayed after the others to investigate the bulb. Director Dimah would want to know about this abnormality. Their training said they were to report things like this. There was another reason he stay: to see if the strange worker would return.

The first toll sounded. The white hill followed by the shadow flashed across the worker’s eyes. His hairs stood on end as he remembered how close he'd come to being taken by a shadow. He needed to get back. The worker he'd met must truly have descended, after all. Only the Rahz stood a chance against the shadows.

The worker ripped the bulb from the vine and powder spilled out of a gash his clumsiness created. But his attention went to the sensations the powder produced in him. He felt it inside him, moving under his skin, in his chest. Then into his head. Was he doing this, or was it? No time. He made for the exit.

I can still make it.

At the top of the stairs, the worker heard the second toll echo from the chasm, its vibrations shaking the stone underfoot. He considered hiding back among the stones in the growing room.

There is nowhere to hide.

Words echoed through his mind from the past. A past beyond the previous shift. From a time when he was...young. Maybe they would still let him in. They had to.

Dim earthlight shards guided him across the bridge. Comforted by the light, the worker afforded himself a moment to look to his right, across the short stretch of the chasm to the Great Spire, which rose from the apex of opposing chasm cliffs. A red glow, not unlike those in the Growing Room, shown from an opening far overhead. Are the Rahz watching over me? With a jolt he recalled the previous shift's gaze up to the crimson balcony, and his similar thoughts.

Behind him then came a sound. Like the noisy sleepers in the alcoves adjacent his. A wheezing snore followed by… a hiss. But there were no workers but him to speak of out here, alone, on the bridge.

Two yellow eyes appeared at the far end. The worker froze. The shadow growled. The sound was like a cruel version of their soup bowls harshly stacked by the cleaning worker. If you were behind me, how did you get over there?

When he made to retreat, though, a second set of yellow eyes waited. Nowhere to hide and nowhere to run.

He backpedaled toward the center of the bridge, away from the nearer set of eyes. Two sets of hisses whispered menacingly.

The nearer pair of eyes entered the first earthlight’s dim aura. Carrying those eyes was a four-legged lizard, black as the Abyss, and half the worker's height. Lengthwise, twice. Its forked tongue sliced through the air. Another hiss. Its hexagonal scales now sketched a pattern of light. The worker stole a glance behind him to the other, and its scales too drew a pattern, then faded again to black. The worker had only one disturbing guess: they were talking. And one premonition.

I am about to descend.

A childhood memory sprung into consciousness: the Selection. On his back in a ring of stones, he was being pummeled in the face by a larger boy. Like a beetle flipped on his back, he’d squirmed out of the ring. Since then he was on track to become a grower.

But that stint would be over soon.

The first giant lizard lunged toward him, springing from its hind legs. A shadow of itself came first and the worker tucked his head under just in time to avoid the beast’s jaws. Its front leg, though, caught him on the side of the head. Pain burned through his face.

He was spinning from the blow, off-balance, to the edge of the bridge. White lights engulfed his vision as he tried to regain his footing and find the yellow eyes. His waist slammed into the stone railing. I’m falling…into the Abyss. He caught the railing with both hands, but one slipped. He couldn’t grip it with just one, and he prepared to relent. The Rahz had protected him once, but twice was too much to ask.

He felt somone else's hands on his own. “No you don’t,” said a voice. He was pulled back and collapsed onto firm stone. There was blood on the stone. He touched his face and gasped at his red palm.

The young man laughed. “I guess you’ve never seen blood before. If I’d gotten here a second later you never would have.”

“Thank you,” said the worker.

“Don’t mention it.” He stood and offered the worker a hand. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

The worker looked closer—it was worker with the scar above his eye! “You work in Growing Room One. But I couldn’t find you today.”

“I’m Kaydin, pleased to meet you.”

The worker winced as he touched his face again. Then he saw the two lizards, each lying on their sides. “How’d you kill the shadows?”

“They are sentinels, not shadows. And I didn’t kill them. We don’t know how to.” He held up his hand. A series of stone rings with sharp points. “I stunned them with my gauntlet and a flurry of earthlight shards. Now, come on.”

The worker took Kaydin’s hand, letting him pull him up as he found his feet. At the end of the bridge the worker bumped into Kaydin.

“We’re not going back to the workers quarters,” said Kaydin. “I hope you don’t regret it, but you left that road behind you when you stayed out past the second toll.”

The next few moments went fast for the worker. Kaydin urged him along the chasm walkway and into a crevice he was forced to climb part way into the chasm to reach. A stone door was slid open for them by a tall man this Kaydin called Gara, with whom Kaydin spoke in whispers as they made their way through the ensuing tunnels. Into another unseen crack and through a crawl space. A cramped stone stairwell. Then light so strong the worker had to shield his eyes. And voices, but they stopped when they saw him.

“So you’ve made it, then,” said an old man, struggling to push himself out of his stool. His hands were on a black-stone table. The small cave around them was mostly bare besides the shards of earthlight, blues and greens. A colony of glowworms lit the far corner where a cluster of turma vines climbed and crosshatched the jagged stone.

“Stunned two of them to get him out,” said Kaydin.

The man limped over to the worker. He rested strong hands on the worker’s shoulders. “We’re glad you’re here,” said the man, his eyes taking on an alluring green below those deep crevice-like wrinkles. “My name is Ry.”

“Me too,” said the worker, “I owe my life to Kaydin—I would have descended.”

There was noise in the stairwell behind. The worker turned, expecting the worst. Instead, two women and a man entered wearing expressions not unlike the worker's peer had the previous shift when he'd miraculously come through the stone door.

“We were watching from the lookouts,” said a man with hair around his lips and chin but nowhere else. “We are glad to see you. Kaydin took a big risk to save you, you know.” The words sprang from him like irritated turma vines.

“There were actually two more sentinels joining from the east bank if you guys weren’t quick enough,” said one of the women. Dark brown hair brushed lightly against her slate-colored shirt, which fastened in two knots across her chest.

“That’s Mav, Maryn, and Bel,” said Ry. “They are all part of Haven. They were watching over you tonight, just as Kaydin and Gara were.”

Watching over me? And the Rahz? Why weren’t they doing likewise?

“Sharp claws on those feet,” said Kaydin, tapping his scar. “And sharper teeth.” He held up his four-fingered hand. “Doesn’t look like you faired too much better, though.”

The worker felt the dried blood on his cheek, then moved his hand to the still oozing wound, feeling pain as he did.

“We do try to avoid them,” said Ry, glaring at Kaydin.

“If I’d been quicker,” said Kaydin, “I could have distracted the sentinels from even attacking you. But I haven’t fought them in awhile.”

“None of us have lately,” said Ry. “but it isn’t easy to get out of the system without a scratch.”

“And yet you avoided fatal injury,” said Kaydin, “as if you knew where the sentinel would attack.” The worker realized he had dodged the lizard much like he had evaded the brunt of Director Dimah’s blow. He had seen the claw coming before it actually did.

Feeling a hand lightly squeeze his shoulder, the worker noticed Ry had held it even as the worker had turned to meet the newcomers. “We’ll have to get you bandaged,” said Ry, eyeing the worker’s bloodied face. Maryn took this as a cue, passing through the room to a hallway beyond.

“Why don’t we sit a moment,” said Ry. He pulled the worker kindly toward the obsidian table, offered him stool. He started to notice the gray lines etched into the smooth surface, but the others joining him drew his attention, and he took a moment to study them: Kaydin, the lost worker; Gara, the taller partner-in-rescuing; Maryn, light hair like the turma vine, small nose, a hopeful smile; and Bel, brown hair on her bare shoulders. She had said little, but now hugged Kaydin from behind before sitting. Ry, their apparent leader, now spoke.

“This is Haven,” said Ry, gesturing around the table and the small cavern. “We help people like you, the curious and the rebellious, survive in this underground city outside the established system of the Rahz.”

“How’d you make this place?”

“With tools.” He nodded to Gara, who produced a stone hammer. Then he drew the worker’s eyes. “And anger.”

Maryn returned. “You and your anger,” said Maryn, laughing lightly. She brought out a cloth which stung to the touch. Her lips formed a frown. “Stitches, Ry.”

“Just wrap him up for now. You and Mav can fix him up in the morning.”

Mav, the man with the goatee, smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ve stitched people up before.”

“What do you mean fix me up?” asked the worker to Ry, trying to touch his cuts but finding them wrapped by a cloth. Maryn continued circling his head and face with the bandage, eventually covering his right eye.

“It’s time to rest, son,” said Ry. “Answers are coming.”

Maryn led the worker by the arm out the main room along a roughly carved corridor. Vines ran along the walls here, too. A red pitcher plant the size of his fist waited, idly, until a glowfly deigned to snatch its nectar. It pounced and the glowfly was reduced to a droning like a muffled snore. Maryn saw him eyeing them.

“Each of us has added our own touches over the years.”

“What is a year?”

“A long time.” She paused. “Well, not that long. About three hundred of your shifts, the time between tolls. But it goes fast. Ry used to say time flies."

"And what does he say now?"

"I think he wishes it would go a little faster."

After a short walk, Maryn pulled him into a small, dark room, only lit by the corridor. She led him gently to an alcove. “This is your place to sleep,” her smile just visible in the dim, orange light. A small lizard scampered into a crevice.

“Thank you,” said the worker, frowning and hoping there were no more of the critters. “What’s this?”

“A mat for your head. I weaved it myself.”

“From?”

“From the inner workings of the plants, of course. That's how I made all our clothing. We don't have the lizard skins that you workers have.” She was whispering, but took pleasure in his not knowing. The worker hadn't considered his attire was woven with the insides of the small, shifty creatures.

This is…nice, he thought, trying the headrest. Not enough to make him stay, no matter what this Ry had said. Director Dimah won't let me stay, anyway.

“There’s even a compartment for you, there.” Maryn smiled when he again frowned his ignorance. “Once we get to turma allocations, you can store it there. Now you should sleep. You’ve had enough excitement for one day--or shift--I should think.”

It took all of his focus not to check his pocket to ensure he still had the turma bulb. The pain still shot through his face if he moved too much, so he settled in as best he could. He couldn’t think of anything else to do as his eyes closed except wonder if he would wake up with memories of all that had so recently come to pass.

Bel excused herself for the evening, and Kaydin remained with Gara, Mav, and Ry.

“Are you guys alright?” said Ry.

“Still have my nose,” said Gara, touching his bent nose.

“Still have all nine,” said Kaydin, wiggling his fingers.

“Good here,” said Mav.

“I’m interested in seeing the rescue,” said Ry.

“I’m low,” said Kaydin, turning an eye to Mav.

Mav sighed, but went for his cloak’s pockets. He brought out a handful of obsidian vials. “This is into my allocation, now,” he said, raising a finger.

“It’s for the good of us all,” said Ry.

Mav nodded. “Of course. Kaydin will tell us what he sees. Two to start with, right?”

Kaydin uncapped and downed two vials. He felt the turma in his chest. Reaching for it, he focused on the moment he wanted to begin reviewing the Retained memory, then lit Reflect.

Kaydin’s attention shifted to the scene. From his post on the eastern wall, Kaydin watched the adolescent boy walk onto the chasm bridge. He checked that his gauntlet was tight on his wrist. Then he felt for the turma inside his chest. He had just downed two large vials. Ten doses on top of the three he had taken earlier: one to Heighten senses and two for Retain. He would need ten more if things got serious.

He shuffled onto the ledge, shutting the door on the crawlspace behind him. He listened for movement with Heightened hearing. Anything. A hiss, or the scrape of lizard feet against stone. Even the buzz of a glowfly, which could signal a retreat from a sentinel's passing.

As the boy reached the halfway point of the bridge, Kaydin saw the beasts: one on the nearside, one on the far. They had crawled from below the bridge. Kaydin reached for the turma, brought it into his head and all the way to the front.

Now things were serious: he activated Predict. Shadow images of the two lizards and the boy swirled around them. These were the most likely combinations of movements given the memories of previous sentinel battles he had Amplified.

Silently, Kaydin hung, then dropped from above the Growing Room One entrance to the landing. The stairs, then the walkway, then the bridge. He looked out. The great lizards moved in on the boy as he backpedaled.

Kaydin took the stairs three at a time, feet landing expertly. He could run from here to the bridge in seconds. The shadow images converged on the boy, and Kaydin broke into a run. Upon reaching the bridge, he skipped the short stair with a leap. The sentinel lunged for the boy’s face, but he ducked, mostly avoiding the monster.

Kaydin met the second sentinel as it lunged for the boy, his gauntlet striking it on the unprotected underside of its jaw.

The second sentinel, which had just swiped the boy, turned. Kaydin watched the boy’s shadow images teetering off-balance toward the edge of the bridge. In that moment, the sentinel’s shadows shifted their attention to Kaydin. He focused, collapsing the shadow images from four to two, one of which began taking steps toward Kaydin, the other of which prepared a lunging jump.

Either way, he could outsmart it. He waited a breath. The lizard began its attack, but Kaydin was too fast, sidestepping it and landing a stunning blow.

The boy’s shadow images tipped over the edge, but the boy’s brighter version still stumbled toward the railing. Anticipating the timing and specific location of the fall, Kaydin raced to prevent it.

He reached both hands over the railing, gripping the boy's forearm. “No you don’t!” he said.

Back in the main room, Ry, Gara, and Mav watched Kaydin Reflect. Apart from slight twitches, grimaces, or eyebrow raises, he remained still.

Eventually Kaydin opened his eyes.

“So?” said Ry. “We noticed your reactions.”

Kaydin itched his scar. “The sentinels, they seem…faster."

"How so?" said Ry.

"The second one’s shadow image was preparing a jump at me from a considerable distance—it would have been quite the attack.”

Gara tapped his hammer on the table. “If they can jump further and move faster, they are that much more dangerous."

“I still managed to strike it true,” said Kaydin, rubbing his wrist. He passed his gauntlet to Gara, who said he would mend the damage it too had taken against the sturdy skull of the sentinels.

“Maybe they are adapting,” suggested Mav.

“Maybe…but how?” said Gara.

"Don't know," said Kaydin.

“Keep that in mind,” said Ry.

“I will,” said Kaydin. “If we have to fight them again, I’ll remember.” I’ll use Amplify to strengthen these memories.

“I wish we could kill those bastards,” said Gara.

Ry slammed his fist against the table with such force that the stone cracked. “What did I say about that, Gara?”

“Sorry, Ry, I forgot. I was just caught up in the moment.”

“Anything else?” asked Ry.

“That boy evaded the first sentinel’s lunging attack. It’s as if he saw it coming.” The room went silent. “I’m curious myself,” offered Kaydin.

“We’ll look into it,” said Ry.

They started to rise.

“Wait, there’s one more thing,” said Kaydin. “You might want to sit down.”

“Well, what is it?” said Ry.

“I noticed a fifth sentinel.”

The bags below Ry’s eyes sagged deeper. The thin pair of lines between his eyebrows and across his forehead suggested surprise. Not the unexpected kind. The dreaded, knowing, inevitable sort.

“I’ve seen the fifth sentinel before,” said Ry. “Over fifteen years ago.”

“This is heavy,” said Gara.

“All these years,” said Ry, “I thought Dag might have had his way with it.”

Dag cut the beast’s eye. Ry thought he killed it when they tried to escape the city. “It could be a new one, couldn’t it?”

“We don’t know where they come from,” said Mav, “so it’s a possibility.”

“It seems odd,” said Kaydin, “that after all these years the Rahz couldn’t have raised a new one.”

“These aren't your average crevice lizard,” said Mav.

“Sorry to have to say so Kaydin,” said Ry, “but we don’t know where they come from, so ‘raising one’ is only one possibility among many. We don’t know enough about them. Kaydin, I do want to see that memory, though.”

“Sure,” said Kaydin, “but Inspire takes turma.”

“It’s worth it,” said Ry, “to know if it is the same sentinel or not.” Ry leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment.

This must bring it all back for him. The Dag days. His brief relationship with Mirai. His tension with Dylan. The failed escape. Despite the pain, Ry had raised Kaydin from before he could walk.

“So how are you really feeling?” asked Ry, opening his eyes and addressing the three.

“Excited,” said Gara. “We’ve got a new member to train.”

“Once he’s back to health,” said Mav, “but I’ll take care of that in the morning.”

“A new member,” said Kaydin, “and maybe something more. I can’t believe the sentinel didn’t kill him.”