Toward dawning light, p.33
Toward Dawning Light, page 33
“Then we will,” Lucian said. “We’ll get more of the teams up here. We’ll find it, and then we’ll figure out how to destroy it. Valen, does anything jump out at you?”
Valen stood awkwardly with his hands clasped behind his back, almost like a child who was afraid to touch something and be scolded. He pressed his lips together as he studied the forge from a distance. “I’ve never seen anything like this, Commander.”
“What about the inscriptions?” Lucian asked. “Can you read them?”
“If you give me some time, I should be able to at least get you a few phrases,” Valen said, barely glancing in Astrea’s direction.
“Then let’s get on it,” Lucian said. “We need to get moving soon.”
Despite Astrea’s reservations, Valen had come up with a handful of broken sentences. There were mentions of “The One’s gift” and “chaos reigns,” plus a few phrases that seemed connected to actually forging aetherium weapons, at least based on what Cressida and Balthazar said.
Nothing suggested the volcanic forge could do anything other than smelt metal, though the mention of “The One’s gift” gave Astrea pause. The Myths and Other Legends book had talked about Tytas Ramkas’s very first aetherium weapons being gifts from the heavens. Maybe he’d even forged them here, and that was why Nazarov was keen on coming. Maybe he thought that would secure his position as head of the Paragon.
She couldn’t know for sure, so she tucked that information away for later as they waited for the small airship to land to take Mariya and Valen back to the boats. Astrea tilted her face up toward the weak sun. Even with better weather, thick clouds obscured most of the sky. All around her, warring energy surged and retreated: anxiety, relief, determination, frustration. Her skin tingled.
The airship landed on a flat patch of land beyond the base of the mountain, and as soon as the ramp unfolded and the door opened, Mariya started up into the ship. They would have to keep looking without her, as they had no adequate way to help her in the search for these tunnels. Her joints and bones hurt too much, and Lucian didn’t want to risk his or Astrea’s attention constantly being drawn to healing.
Valen had just headed for the ship when Lucian called, “Wait!”
Gray confusion spiked above Valen’s head as he turned toward them.
“You’re with us, Valen,” Lucian said.
“I am?” Valen asked.
“We need the extra help,” Lucian said. “This is no small task.”
As Valen rejoined them a few dozen feet from the airship, he clasped his hands behind his back. “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, Commander,” he said. “No magic and not much stamina . . . Won’t I slow you down?”
Astrea agreed with her father. He would slow them down, and that was coming from her. She wasn’t exactly the quickest one in the group.
“Any extra eyes will be helpful today,” Lucian said. “This gives us an even number to split up, and besides, if we stumble upon any other strange encampments or forges, we’ll probably need your knowledge, limited as it may be.”
Maybe Lucian had a point, too.
“Well . . .” Valen squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. “It’s as I told Astrea earlier, I’ll help however I can. I promise to try to stay out of the way and keep up with you all.”
“Good,” Lucian said. “Varojin, Take Astrea, Adi, Marko, Cressida, and Valen around the northwestern side. The others and I will start from the southeast and work our way around to meet you.”
After saying their goodbyes and making plans about when and where to meet if it got too dark out, Astrea and her group headed out. Cressida kept peeking over her shoulder, no doubt at Balthazar and Lennor. Orange anxiety vibrated around her head.
Astrea wished she had something comforting to say, but she didn’t. They were heading out to investigate a dormant volcano in search of the void metal that had hurt them all so badly. It was ridiculous, unfathomable somehow despite seeing it all for herself.
Adjusting her knapsack, Astrea focused on Jin’s broad shoulders in front of her and trudged forward. The sooner they finished this, the better.
The first few hours they were out yielded more of the same: snow and no good luck. Astrea was actually beginning to get used to this island and these hikes. Not that this would ever be her preferred way of living, but she was also capable of tolerating far more than she’d ever given herself credit for.
She swallowed a small sip of water from the canteen Jin had passed her, then offered it back to him. He drank more greedily, then shoved it back into his knapsack. It was the third such break they’d taken in as many hours. Valen seemed worse for the wear; his heavy fatigue pressed into Astrea’s bones, and her muscles twinged with echoes of soreness.
“Are we good to go?” Jin asked the group.
Valen, in fact, was the only one sitting down. He’d found a decently flat, mostly dry rock to perch on a few feet from the rest of the group. When the others indicated they were ready, Valen stood with a soft groan.
“Couldn’t we rip a hole in the side of this volcano and get in that way?” Marko asked. “Seems like the easier option.”
“Could we?” Adi asked. “Sure. But have you ever tried tunneling into a mountain with no more than your magic?”
“You’ve tunneled underground,” Marko said.
“Right, and that’s soft earth, not layers and layers of heavy stone. Do you understand how much more energy that’ll take?”
“Well, we need to get in there somehow,” Marko said.
“Don’t want to wear you two out unless necessary,” Jin said, gesturing to Adi and Cressida. “Let’s just get to our meeting point with Lucian before we make any decisions. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities to take Marko up on his suggestion if needed.”
They started up again, caught between the base of the volcano and smaller hills blocking the view of most of the northern ocean. Sharp air filled Astrea’s lungs, leaving her nose and mouth in a cloud of white. Every time they’d stopped, Astrea had given Cressida a small boost with her healing to help stave off the building pain. She’d thought about offering Valen some for his aches, too, but Astrea wanted to save her strength for her best friend, who no doubt needed it more.
At the front of the group, Adi and Jin talked in hushed tones. Marko brought up the rear. Valen was sandwiched between him and where Astrea and Cressida walked side by side.
“So . . .” Valen trailed off awkwardly.
“Yes?” Cressida asked without sparing him a glance.
“Are your efforts always so silent?” he asked.
“Not much to say at the moment,” Cressida replied. “I need to focus.”
“Right, of course. Apologies,” he said.
It was more than that, though. That orange anxiety had never left Cressida’s aura. It choked the air around her, grating against Astrea’s exposed skin.
“All of this is strange . . .” Valen shook his head. “My mother and brother were always bragging about our family’s legacy. Stories they told focused on our ancestors’ power, their ability to use the shadows and the void to their advantage against greater powers. But they never really spoke of aetherium aside old stories.”
“Everyone likes the story of an underdog,” Marko said. “Builds stronger bonds than some impossible and skies-given power. Gives them something to rally around and believe in, a story they can hold on to, one that validates their existing struggles and gives them hope of overcoming those very problems.”
“You may have a point,” Valen conceded. “Though hope is a fickle thing, isn’t it? It’s hard to hold onto. I’ve lost it many times over the years.”
“Doesn’t mean people shouldn’t try,” Marko said.
Astrea looked over her shoulder at them. They walked almost side by side, though Marko’s posture remained stiff and immovable.
“Adi—” Cressida started just as Adi called her name back to her.
“Find something?” Jin asked.
Adi and Cressida both slowed. They paused, as if listening intently to the world around them. There was nothing other than the occasional gust of wind.
“There’s an opening,” Adi said, starting forward in quick, long strides.
“There’s metal,” Cressida said. “A lot of it.”
Astrea hurried after them both, Jin, Valen, and Marko not far behind.
“Az, do you—” Jin started.
“No, I don’t feel anyone,” she said, “but if it’s aetherium, I might not.”
That thought was particularly disturbing to her, but she couldn’t fixate on it. Even if it was aetherium they’d found, the chances of there being anyone else out here were low. There’d been no sign of anyone other than the coalition for nearly a whole week now. And if there were people, well, they’d just have to deal with it.
“Careful, Adi,” Jin called as they approached a solid slab of rock, at least two heads higher than Jin.
Setting his palms on it, Adi began to trudge sideways. The rock moved with him, revealing itself to be almost like a door. A door one could only open with the help of an earth mage. Darkness waited beyond the threshold. Knapsacks rustled as Marko and Valen both dug around in theirs for flashlights. Valen’s was tiny while Marko’s was a small lantern.
“Stick together,” Jin said as he headed through the opening. Fire ignited over his gloved palm, creating a smokeless flame that illuminated the corridor beyond the others’ weak flashlights.
Astrea pulled on her light, too, its force much gentler than Jin’s magical flames.
“Tell me as soon as you feel the metal,” Jin said to Cressida. “Direct me as needed. We’ll find it.”
Find it and destroy it. That was all they needed to do. Find the aetherium in this dormant volcano, then figure out how to get rid of it forever.
Other than the occasional scuffle of boots, the corridor was eerily silent. Astrea’s whole body tensed as she kept putting one foot in front of the other. They rounded one bend, then another. The deeper they went, the lower the ceiling became. Jin’s and Adi’s heads nearly reached it.
“Keep going,” Cressida said. “I feel it, up ahead. It feels like the tunnel goes straight to it.”
Jin broke into a light jog. Astrea’s heart thundered in her chest, drowning out the sounds of their running. The light from Jin’s fire showed the corridor widening and growing taller again, giving his head more clearance. They could almost run side by side now. Up ahead, pillars were carved into the rocky walls.
“It’s in there,” Cressida said, spurring Jin on.
A few dozen feet, and Jin sped past the pillars. Ahead of them lay a large cavern, its walls covered in colorful striations of brown, deep purple, and rusty red. And there, interspersed among the other hues, were chunks of dull black metal that gleamed in Jin’s firelight.
Electric astonishment flickered behind Astrea as Valen said, “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“This is it,” Cressida said, breathless. “This is the aetherium Mariya felt.”
Chapter 35
They’d done it. They’d found the aetherium.
Or some of it, anyway.
“Now what?” Marko asked as they moved to the middle of the cavern. “There has to be tons of this stuff here. Literally.”
That was indeed the question. How were they going to destroy it here, now? They needed Balthazar and the others; maybe together, they could figure something out. They’d theorized acid would corrode the aetherium beyond usability, but how were they going to move this much to a lab where Mariya could treat it like that? Moving large vats of acid here to destroy it on-site seemed even more difficult.
“Hopefully Lucian and the others are nearby,” Jin said. “It shouldn’t take them much longer to get over here, unless they found their own place like this that they’re dealing with.”
Astrea wished more than anything that her magic could go farther and wider than her usual range, which was already painfully far beyond her body. But how nice that would be, to find Lucian that way. Or for him to find her that way.
“I can go outside and see if I can feel them,” Astrea said. “Walk a little ways in their direction.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jin said. “If you think your flashlights are enough, Marko?”
“Should you really be going on your own?” Marko asked. “What if Nazarov decides to show up now?”
“I know,” Jin said. “We’ll be quick, and we don’t really have a choice.”
“I’ve got another lantern in my pack,” Adi said. “Go.”
“I need my dad,” Cressida said.
Needed him to help with that much aetherium or because of the anxiety and terror swirling around Cressida’s body? Astrea wanted to go to her and wrap her in a tight hug, but she also didn’t want to let on to anyone else that Cressida was upset. Because if not for those colors, Cressida looked confident. Head held high, shoulders back. So instead, Astrea flashed her a small smile.
“What should I do?” Valen asked.
“See if there are any more of these carvings like by the forge,” Jin said, and Valen nodded. With that settled, Jin took Astrea’s hand in his, tugging her along at a jog. “I don’t want to leave them for too long. Let’s be quick.”
They hurried back through that winding tunnel with Jin’s fire to light their way. Astrea’s lungs burned with the effort. As soon as they were outside, he dismissed the flames, letting the midafternoon sun take over for him. A cold wind kicked up, biting into Astrea’s exposed cheeks.
“Anything from them yet?” Jin asked as they continued east, the direction Lucian’s group would be coming from.
“Nothing,” Astrea said. All she felt was that wind, the fresh air, and Jin’s heavy, familiar wall.
For nearly a quarter of an hour, they continued east, following the curve of the volcano’s base. Ashy black rock and snow mixed under their boots. And the farther they got from that tunnel entrance, the more discomfort swirled in Astrea’s belly.
“I think they must have found their own entrance,” Astrea said as they came to a stop. “Or they got busy exploring other caves.”
“Let’s turn back,” Jin said. “If they don’t arrive within the hour, we’ll all go look for them, together.”
They started back the way they’d come, retracing their path in the thin layer of snow. Heavy silence settled over them, as if the world knew how important this next step in the mission was. Astrea really hoped Balthazar would have some idea about—
She yanked Jin back to a stop as an empty, icy cold pierced her sternum. “Void,” she whispered. Was Marko a skies damned Stargazer or something?
“Here?” Jin asked.
“No, I’m lying. Yes, here!”
With a huff, Jin surveyed the area. There was nowhere for them to hide. No thick forest. No brush. Not even any particularly large boulders.
“We need to go,” he said, as if that wasn’t obvious.
“What about Lucian and the others? Could a void mage have them?”
“Let’s hope Lucian felt it, too, if he’s close enough,” Jin said, already pulling Astrea into a run. “We need to get back to that cavern. Now.”
They sprinted on. Astrea’s pulse roared in her ears as the void moved closer, farther, closer, farther. Was it Nazarov? Had he finally shown? Was it his army, and that’s what she was feeling?
“Wouldn’t all the coalition forces know if the Zaikudi navy and Nazarov had—”
A rumbling boom in the distance cut her off.
“That’ll be them,” Jin said. “Ship cannon fire.”
It came again, again, again. A steady, rhythmic chorus of explosions.
“And a lot of them, by the sound of it,” he said between breaths.
Gritting her teeth, Astrea kept going, trying to ignore every new detonation and the way her thighs ached.
They had to be only a couple minutes out from those tunnels. They could get Cressida and the others, either to fight or run. Maybe together, all of them could go find Lucian and Balthazar—
Cold swallowed Astrea whole, from every angle, as red hot anger and electric excitement burned her skin. She slammed into Jin as he stopped short to avoid the shadows snaking up from the ground. Astrea pivoted to go back, only to find that inky darkness there, too. Surrounding them.
Four void mages appeared, dressed not in snowy white or Paragon black or even Zaikudi green. Their Helosian red uniforms were like fresh blood against the snow.
And there with them, two pairs of golden eyes.
Emperor Aelius and Prince Kaius, on the Lost Isles, dressed in Helosian red just the same as the void mages. Only their uniforms were trimmed in gold stitching, decorative more than practical. Astrea locked her knees as giddy anticipation slammed into her.
“My wayward son,” sneered Emperor Aelius as he stepped forward. His breath came out in misty puffs. “And his wayward wife. I hear you’ve located some aetherium.”
How could they know that?
Jin tugged Astrea into his side, half shielding her from his father and brother. Kaius and Aelius stared them down like hungry wolves, predatory and vicious even if their polished uniforms and carefully styled hair made them look more like they were getting ready to sit for an official portrait than fight in a war.
Kaius laughed. “Come now, Varojin. You think that you’re going to stop us from getting what we want?” His focus settled on Astrea, making her skin crawl.
Four void mages. Two Sparkcasters, both with auras bright and full of energy. Could she do this? Take them all? Control them long enough for Jin to do something?
Astrea’s fingers twitched at her side. Green curiosity and red anger flared around Kaius as he watched her. Jin still held her left hand; she moved her right. And Kaius pulled a pistol, aiming it right at her.
“Any attempts at magic from either of you and I’ll shoot Miss Sovna with an aetherium bullet.” Kaius smirked. “Crafted from the finest aetherium in the Badlands. Used to be part of my dagger, but I decided to repurpose it.”
