Koren held out her hands and waited while Micah and another man bound her wrists. She smiled at Mark, who sat on the floor, cradling Natalla in his arms. Natalla breathed easily, though her eyelids and arms occasionally twitched.
“You will take care of her, won’t you?” Koren asked.
He smiled and brushed back Natalla’s hair. “Like she was my own daughter, Miss.”
As Micah placed a gag over Koren’s mouth and tied it in the back, Jason looked into her bright eyes—sad eyes, filled with depth and wisdom.
What had he done? If not for him, this girl would likely be free on Major Four, along with all the other slaves in this mine. Now she would be sent to her death, and the rising waters might shut down the portal for good.
Jason clenched a fist. Somehow he would find a way to save her and the others. Maybe using his brains for a change would get everyone out of this mess.
Elyssa continued pulling her leg and clawing at the stones trapping her foot. Her lungs begged for air. The surrounding water pressed in. Her ears ached, and wetness leaked into her nose.
Something yanked on the breathing tube, and she gripped it tightly. A sleek form darted through the water, and powerful arms wrapped around her waist and pulled, but she stayed put.
She shouted in a flurry of bubbles, “I’m caught!”
Nimble fingers worked around her foot, pressing, squeezing. Pain stabbed her bones, and new throbs pounded her head. Somehow the pain helped her mind draw in the details—her foot, the two protrusions holding it in place, the blocked air vent.
Suddenly, the stone blew out of the vent, and a glittering sliver of light, no longer than her hand, fell in its wake. Although her foot wouldn’t move, the vent was within reach. She picked up the plugging stone, jammed it in as far as she could, and scooped up the crystal.
Something jerked her foot free. Bending her knees, she vaulted toward the surface. Again her ears ached, but this time the pressure pushed from the inside, as if her brain were about to explode. Her muscles knotted, and her joints locked. She flailed with her arms, but they felt like stiff boards. Light appeared. The surface couldn’t be much farther, could it?
Something grabbed her wrist and jerked her upward. Her head broke through the surface. Ah, yes! Air! She sucked in two lungfuls, then coughed them back out, spitting water. She breathed in again, slowly this time. Once her head cleared, she looked into Cowl’s worried eyes.
“Are you okay, Miss?”
“I think so.” She looked around. Her feet were planted on solid stone, but she stood chest deep in water. “Wasn’t that you who freed my foot?”
“That was Wallace.” Cowl held up the end of the rope. “I felt your tugs, but I had to keep this above water, so he dove down to see what was the matter.”
“My foot was stuck, and the tube leaks.” She scanned the surface, dim and rippling. “Have you seen him?”
Cowl pointed at a ladder leading to the portal exit. “He made sure you were safe and then scrambled up.”
Elyssa looked that way. Water dripped from rung to rung before spilling to the flood level. “Maybe he’s going to see if the path to the gateway is clear.”
“The water is no longer rising,” Cowl said. “It seems that you were successful.”
“At least for now. I’m not sure how well that stone’s going to hold. It already popped out once.” She laid the crystal in her palm and showed it to him. Like a tent peg, it had a blunt cap on top as if for striking with a hammer. “Magnar’s prize?”
Cowl’s eyes widened. “Where did you find it?”
“It came out of the air vent.” As she gazed at it, the dim light in the chamber gave clarity to something in the center of the crystalline cap, two tiny dark spheres slowly orbiting each other, like a pair of pebbles in a swirling dance.
“Maybe it was in the air pocket we found,” Cowl said, “and the river washed it out.”
She rubbed her thumb along the smooth, clear surface. “So Magnar guessed it was here somewhere. It’s as if someone buried it, and he was looking for it.”
“A fair deduction. Allender’s burn injury tells you that Magnar is quite passionate about finding it.”
Elyssa pushed the crystal into her pants pocket. “Now that we have time to wait for Tibalt to open the portal, we have more options.”
“First we have to stop the sacrifice,” Cowl said.
Locking her stare on the miners’ entry ladder, Elyssa began slogging through the water, swiveling her hips and arms. “I have to get to Jason. Now!”
After Micah tied Koren’s ankles together, Jason formed a cradle with his arms and lifted her. She felt light, not much heavier than a child half her age. As he ascended the stairs, she set her bound wrists on her waist and looked into his eyes. Although her mouth had been gagged, she communicated so much with her sad, yet hopeful expression. Do not fear, Jason, she seemed to be saying. All will be well.
It was so strange. Those words seeped into his mind as surely as if he were reading her lips. And how could it be well? Everything was falling apart. Soon, the mine cavity would be flooded, and every man and child would face the risk of drowning. Choosing death to save the others, who might die anyway, wasn’t exactly “All will be well.”
Not only that, where was Elyssa? What was she up to?
When he reached the top stair, he blinked. Three dragons stood in front of him, two with thick scales and long spikes from head to tail, along with Yarlan, the patrol dragon.
Jason eyed them in turn. Yarlan was tough enough. These other two would be impossible to slay alone. Somehow he had to buy time. Elyssa, Randall, and Tibalt would come through.
“Lay the Starlighter on the ground,” one of the big dragons growled.
Stooping, Jason laid Koren down gently. He glanced back. Randall and Allender stood on a step halfway down the flight, watching. Randall flashed a glimpse of his photo gun hidden underneath his shirt, apparently waiting for a signal from Jason.
Jason shook his head. The blasts from that gun had served only to annoy the dragons, and without his sword, both he and Koren would be dragon fodder. There had to be another solution.
“I am Magnar,” one of the big dragons said. “I will take the Starlighter now. You may go back to your fellow slaves.”
Jason bowed. As he rose, a barrage of thoughts whistled through his brain. Apparently Magnar didn’t know the slaves well enough to recognize him as a newcomer. Had their encounter in the darkness been too short for Magnar to get a good look at him?
“Magnar, may I intercede on behalf of this girl? It is not our way to allow a young woman to face such dire consequences without an escort.”
The dragon snorted derisively. “Why would she need an escort?”
“To ease her passage to the next world.” Jason gave him a surprised look. “You do believe in another world, don’t you?”
“It depends on what you mean by another world.” Magnar extended his neck and brought his head close to Jason’s. As the draconic eyes stared into his, the dragon’s hot breath warmed his cheeks. “You are veiling your words. What is it that you are not telling me?”
“If you allow me to go with her, I will give you more information, but first I want to—”
“So be it.” Magnar withdrew his head. “I will carry the Starlighter,” he said to the other big dragon, “and you will take the male. Yarlan is capable of dispatching the rabble.”
The word pierced Jason’s mind. Dispatching? “Wait,” he called. “What do you mean by ‘dispatching’? We had a bargain.”
“Shall I carry him by claw?” the other dragon asked.
“It is the only secure method.” Magnar flapped his wings, and, with a jump into the air, snatched Koren off the ground with his claws.
“Wait!” Jason called again, but the dragons ignored him. He looked back at Randall, who had drawn his photo gun and sword.
“We won’t go down easily,” Randall said.
The other dragon launched as well, and with a swi
pe of his eagle-like talons, he grabbed the back of Jason’s shirt and jerked him into the air.
Elyssa ran out of the mine, dripping wet and screaming, “Jason!”
A claw bit into Jason’s skin. The shirt pulled tightly against his chest, making the litmus finger throb again. Now well above the top of a nearby tree, he shouted back. “Is the way clear to the portal?”
“It is!” Elyssa paced back and forth underneath him. “What should I do?”
“Just make sure the Lost Ones get home!”
“I will!” As she spread out her arms, her wet clothes clung to her dungeon-thin body. “And I’ll bring you home, too! I will find you, no matter how long it takes!”
The dragon shot higher, making it impossible to communicate, but the shrinking bodies of his friends still said so much. Elyssa let her arms droop. Randall wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hurried her back into the mine.
Yarlan sent a blast of fire after them, but it missed well high of their heads.
When his carrier dragon leveled out, Jason looked over at Magnar. Koren dangled in his claws, her cloak flapping in the breeze. She stared at him, peaceful, as serene as a sleeping child, even with her hands and feet in bonds.
Starlighter. The name kept echoing in Jason’s mind. What could it all mean? Why was she so valuable? And what caused the dragons to go back on a bargain?
Jason nodded to himself. No witnesses to appeal to the Zodiac. Yarlan would likely stage a mining accident, and no one would be the wiser. The only hope for Elyssa and the others would be to escape through the portal before the accident occurred. Yet, if anyone could figure out what to do, she could. Apparently she had already stopped the flood.
He let out a sigh. It was best now to settle down and survey the area. Maybe remembering the landscape would serve him later.
To his left, the stream flowing next to the mine, as well as three other streams, ran together, creating a substantial river that ran through a forest that stretched into a massive wilderness on the opposite side. The green hardwoods signified healthy, fertile soil, far better than the sanitized clay back at the mine.
Ahead lay a town, a village of stone. Two of the buildings stood out—a cathedral-like edifice with a tall belfry, and a multi-spired structure with a smooth dome cap. Beyond the village much farther downstream, a high wall of stones stretched from left to right as far as he could see. The river ran up to it but disappeared beyond, as if it passed the boundary underground.
After a few more minutes, Magnar glided into an opening in the roof of the structure with the belfry. Jason’s carrier followed, and they flew through a marble-lined corridor and into a huge chamber. Inside, dozens of fountains of fire shot up toward the ceiling, making a circle of flaming geysers.
Magnar swooped low and released Koren. Her chin slammed against the marble floor, and she slid several body lengths. Jason’s dragon dropped him from nearly twice his height, but he managed to land on his feet in a run.
As the dragons settled to the floor, Jason hurried to Koren and lifted her to a sitting position. He reached for the gag, but Magnar shouted, “Do not take that off!”
Jason lowered his hands and slid one over Koren’s. “I will do everything I can to protect you,” he whispered.
She looked at him with glistening eyes. Again, they seemed to speak, as if she wanted to say, “I know, but please save yourself if you can.”
After Jason’s transport dragon flew back into the corridor and disappeared, Magnar stalked toward them, speaking in a gruff tone. “Who are you, little man, and where did you come from?”
Jason glanced at Koren again, then at the flames behind him. They warmed his back beyond the comfort level, and the potential flames in front of him seemed just as dangerous. “My name would mean nothing to you, Magnar, but I think you already know where I came from.”
“Do I?” Magnar again drew close and studied Jason from head to toe. “You are too healthy, too well fed to be one of our slaves.” The dragon’s tongue flicked out and in. “How do you explain that?”
“My mother is a good cook.” Jason spread out his arms. “I promised to give you answers, so ask me another question. I, unlike dragons, will not go back on a bargain.”
Magnar snorted a plume of smoke. “You emerged from a mine, wearing clothes unlike other miners and with hands not yet broken by the hammer and chisel. You are clearly not a miner. I wonder if you even know where you are.”
As the dragon’s head swayed from side to side, Jason watched his fiery eyes. Apparently Magnar expected an answer even though he hadn’t asked a question.
Jason firmed his chin. This interrogation would be like a sword duel, yet with words as weapons. “Magnar, are you asking me about my location? I’m sure a dragon as wise as you already knows where we are.”
A ball of fire shot past Jason’s cheek, singeing his eyebrow.
“Do not patronize me!” Magnar roared.
As he rubbed the superficial burn, Jason looked at Koren. A tear tracked down her cheek and into her gag. Her anxious eyes seemed to warn him of something, but what?
He turned back to the dragon and squared his shoulders. “I am from Major Four, the fourth alpha planet from Solarus, and I have crossed into Dracon through an underground gateway.”
Magnar’s brow lifted. “Ah, yes. Dracon. That is what you call Starlight on your world. I had almost forgotten.”
“What do you call our world?” Jason asked.
“Darksphere.” Magnar moved a step closer. “How did you open the gateway? Did you find the crystal?”
Jason leaned back to avoid the hot breath. “I don’t know anything about a crystal.”
Magnar stared at him eye to eye. “We will see how truthful your words are.” He called out, “Zena, lower the shield. I want to speak with you.”
The fountains subsided, revealing a tall, slender woman who wore a wraparound black sheet. Holding her head high and carrying a shoulder bag, she walked past a dark object that looked like a big egg.
As she neared, her eyes came into view. The pupils were black ovals with no surrounding irises, more like a ghostly cat’s than a human’s, and they seemed to wander, as if unable to focus. “What do you wish?” she asked.
Jason shuddered. She looked like a risen cadaver who had forgotten to stay planted in the ground. Even her voice seemed to come from the grave.
“Take the Starlighter back to the prince,” Magnar said. “She must be chained again. Under no circumstances may she be released until I give the word.”
Zena kept her head held high. “And if the prince chooses otherwise?”
Magnar spoke through a low growl. “The prince will not choose otherwise.”
“As you wish.” Zena withdrew a dagger from the bag and sliced through Koren’s bonds, including the gag. She led her to the egg and fastened manacles to her wrists and ankles.
Now sitting cross-legged, Koren gazed at Jason with a forlorn look in her eyes. “If it is in your power,” she said weakly, “please come for me.”
Her voice ripped through his heart, bringing tears to his eyes. He held up a fist. “One way or another, I will set you free. I promise.”
Magnar smacked Jason with the tip of his wing. “You make a beggar’s promise, bread for your children when you have empty pockets.”
With a spin on his heels, Jason faced Magnar again. “What do you want from me?”
The dragon’s eyes flamed. “The crystal.”
Jason pushed his hands into his pockets and turned them inside out. “Like you said, I have empty pockets. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
Magnar extended his neck again and sniffed Jason’s clothes for a moment before pulling back. “Perhaps when you see the Starlighter tied to the cooking stake, you will remember where you put it.”
Jason resisted the urge to ask about the cooking stake. Whatever it was, it had to be bad. It would be better to probe for more useful information. “Who is Zena, and what is th
is black egg?”
As if on cue, the fountains of fire began to rise again, veiling Koren, Zena, and the egg. Although all three were still visible in between the columns, the wavering flames distorted the view, making it impossible to know what they were doing inside.
“Your first lesson as a new slave on your new home planet,” Magnar said, “is that you do not ask questions of your master unless you are in a submissive posture.” He swung his tail and bashed Jason on the side of his head. One of the spikes jabbed his scalp and nearly penetrated his skull. He collapsed and writhed on the floor, holding a hand against the wound. Warm liquid flowed between his fingers.
“Ah! That is better.” Magnar let out a low chuckle. “Now you may repeat the question.”
Jason pushed up to his hands and knees. Blood streamed across his cheek and down his chin before dripping to the floor. He looked up and glared at Magnar. “This is not my home planet. If you hope to learn anything from me, I advise you to treat me as an emissary, not as your slave.”
“Emissary?” Magnar’s voice shifted to a surprised tone. “If you are an emissary, why did Prescott fail to communicate your visit to me in the usual way?”
Jason focused on the blood pooling in front of him. Usual way? And how does he know Prescott’s name? He cleared his throat. “The governor was indisposed.”
Magnar stared at him, his red pupils oscillating between wide and narrow. After a long moment, he extended a wing and helped Jason rise to his feet. “If you are really an emissary, I will not insult you any further. Yet, if I discover that you are not, your execution will be instantaneous.”
Jason wiped blood from his hand to his shirt. Again, blistering retorts flooded his mind, but any one of them would likely mean death.
“Climb on my back,” Magnar said, “and I will take you to the Zodiac’s courtyard. There we will find my emissary to your world, and I have some pointed questions for him.”
Twenty
Koren stared at the black egg. The shell’s polished surface reflected everything around—the circle of fountains spewing fire to the ceiling; Zena standing nearby, stoic, as if in a trance; and her own reflection, her downturned features painting a portrait of her feelings—tired, sad, near the point of despair.