Archon (10 page)

“Maybe the kidnappers stole supplies in Deliverance and brought them along on the return trip,” Amma said.

“And left them here?” Taemon said.

“You’re right. That doesn’t make sense. All we can say is that someone from Deliverance has come this way.”

“And that’s a good sign, right?” Taemon looked Amma in the eye. “That means we’re on the right path and we should keep going.”

Amma was quiet for a while, studying the supplies. “Maybe this box was Elder Naseph’s doing. If he was negotiating an alliance with the Republik, maybe he was smuggling supplies across the mountain.”

Amma began packing some of the food and water into their knapsack.

Taemon’s conscience was tugging at him. “Isn’t that stealing?”

Amma stood and looked him in the eye. “We don’t have a choice, Taemon. If you want to keep going, we’ll have to take these supplies.”

Together they packed a few more things into the knapsack.

“Let’s not take all of it,” Taemon said. “In case someone does need this stuff.”

Amma nodded. “We can’t fit it all, anyway.”

At the bottom of the box, Taemon found a flashlight, and before Amma could argue, he used the tiniest bit of psi to turn it on. He felt the now-familiar weakening but tried to ignore it.

“Hey,” Amma protested. “No psi, remember?”

“How else are we going to get through the tunnel?”

“Tunnel?” Amma asked. “Is that what this is?”

“Let’s find out.”

The first part was a shallow cave that looked completely natural. But when Taemon stepped a bit farther in and cast the flashlight across the back wall, he noticed an opening just wide enough for one person to walk through without ducking.

“It
is
a tunnel!” he said.

Amma looked dubious. “It could just be the way the rocks settled. I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

Taemon walked forward a few more feet. “It just keeps going!” He stopped and shone the light on the wall of the tunnel. He ran his hand over the rock. It was smooth, with no marks that might indicate a chisel or a shovel or any other kind of powerless digging.

“It was made with psi, wasn’t it?” Amma said, coming up beside him.

“It had to be.” He marveled at the thought. Only an incredibly powerful psi wielder could tunnel through solid rock. Had Nathan made it all those years ago when he first pulled up the mountains that protected Deliverance? Or had someone — or a team of someones — made it in recent years? “It’s hard to tell how long it’s been here,” he said.

Amma gave a low whistle. “Skies, this might work after all.”

They moved forward, Taemon first with the flashlight and Amma behind him. “I’m just glad we don’t have to tromp through any more snow,” she said. “Tunnels I can handle.”

Taemon wasn’t sure how long they’d been in the tunnel. An hour? Two hours? Luckily it sloped downward, making it a bit easier on his left leg. The air had a stale smell. Taemon ran a finger along the wall and felt a thin film of moisture clinging to it. He expected to see spiders or insects of some kind, but so far the tunnel seemed devoid of life.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Amma asked. “The way we’re twisting and turning, we could end up back on the Deliverance side.”

It was true. The tunnel twisted and curved, and he wondered why. If he were to make a tunnel through a mountain using psi, he would make it straight. This winding path was taking forever.

“This has to be it.” The secret path to the Republik. What would it be like? It was exciting and terrifying at the same time.

The flashlight chose that moment to die, blanketing them in utter darkness. They stumbled to a stop.

“Great,” Amma whispered.

“I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner,” Taemon said. “This kind needs sunlight to recharge.”

He heard her sigh. “Well, there’s not much we can do about it. We’ll just have to feel along the walls.”

Taemon had one hand on his walking stick and one hand on the wall. Behind him, Amma placed her hand on his shoulder. It felt good, like they were connected. It also felt heavy, like a responsibility pressing down on him. After at least another hour trudging through the dark tunnel, Amma squeezed his shoulder. “I think . . . I think the blackness is turning gray.”

Taemon blinked. “You’re right. We must be close to the end!”

“Skies, don’t say it like that,” Amma whispered.

They picked up their pace as the visibility improved. The tunnel widened, and they had to climb over a few more rocks, which meant Taemon once again needed Amma’s help. Finally, they came to a rocky outcropping at the mouth of the tunnel.

Taemon was ready to step out of the tunnel, but Amma held back.

“I need a minute for my eyes to adjust,” she said, shielding her face with one arm. “I can’t even see where I’m going.”

The light was nearly as blinding as the darkness had been. But after a few minutes of blinking and rubbing his eyes, Taemon realized that the light wasn’t that bright; it was just that the sun was low in the sky and glaring right at them. It would be twilight soon. They had been inside the tunnel all afternoon.

He turned to look at Amma, who was staring out over the land. She turned to him and gave him a quick hug. “We made it!”

“We did,” whispered Taemon. “We’re in the Republik.”

“No snow.” Amma beamed. “It’s warmer here.”

Taemon looked again and saw that Amma was right. On this side, they were below the snow line, and it was definitely warmer. Taemon took his jacket off and tied it around his waist. The warmth on his skin felt heavenly.

Everything was different on this side of the mountain — the sparseness of the trees, the vegetation, the color of the soil. The differences were subtle, but this was definitely not Deliverance.

There were no paths this high on the mountain, and the trees were few and far between. Looking down, they could see signs of houses and buildings among the heavily forested hills. The buildings were spread out, not clustered together as a city would be. Some of them looked rather large, though it was hard to tell from this far away.

“What do you think those buildings are for?” Taemon asked.

Amma shook her head slowly. “I have no idea. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. Right now we need to find a place to camp before it gets dark.”

“Wait. Look over there.” Taemon pointed to some movement far below them.

Someone was running up the slope of the mountain. A woman, from the look of her long black hair and the dress she was wearing.

“Skies, is that a jaguar chasing her?” Amma said.

Taemon looked beyond the woman and saw the blur of a very large cat. “That looks bad.”

It was hard to judge the woman’s speed, but she must have been fast because the jaguar was not gaining. Or maybe the jaguar was trying to tire her out before going in for the kill.

“I can’t watch,” Amma said.

Taemon felt the same, yet he couldn’t seem to look away. “Just a minute. I see more people.” A group of uniformed men was chasing after the jaguar. “The authorities are going to help her.”

Both Taemon and Amma startled when the sound of guns echoed against the mountain.

“They’re shooting at the jaguar,” Taemon said.

Amma shuddered. “I don’t want to see the jaguar killed either.”

“Don’t worry — they’ve missed. Everyone’s still running,” Taemon said.

As soon as he said that, the woman slowed down and turned to face the jaguar.

“Skies, does she think she can fight a jaguar?” Amma said. It seemed she couldn’t look away either.

But the jaguar didn’t attack the woman. Instead, it ran up to her and stood by her side. Together, the woman and the cat faced the men who chased them.

“What in the Great Green Earth . . . ?” Amma breathed.

More gunshots rang out, but the jaguar and the woman seemed unhurt.

She was gathering psi. Taemon couldn’t say how he knew that. It was almost as if he could feel it. Before he could tell Amma what was happening, though, three of the soldiers fell to the ground. The woman was wielding an incredible amount of psi, so much that the air fairly rang with it.

Taemon tried to follow what she was doing, but it was all happening so fast. Guns flew from soldiers’ hands and disassembled as they arced backward, the parts falling inertly to the ground. The disarmed men were at a loss for what to do. Then one by one they dropped, clutching their throats or heads or chests. One man was lying with a pool of blood under his head.

“Holy . . .” Amma muttered.

Psi. The woman had used psi to kill those men. How in the Burning Blazes was that possible? Was she from Deliverance? Even if she was, she would be powerless. She was clearly defending herself, which explained why she was able to use psi to harm another person, but the fact that she used psi at all was unthinkable. Only Nathan’s people had the gift of psi. That is, they used to.

The woman turned and continued running up the slope with the jaguar at her heels. She was heading directly toward them.

Amma tugged Taemon’s arm. “Quick. Back in the tunnel.”

“No,” Taemon said. “If that woman follows us, I don’t want to fight her in a tunnel.”

He jumped down from the ledge they’d been standing on, and Amma did the same. There were few places to hide. There were no trees close by, but there were plenty of rocks. Unfortunately, none of them was big enough to hide behind. The best they could do was squeeze into a little niche under the ledge. It should be out of sight from the direction in which the woman was approaching.

They’d lost sight of the woman when they’d jumped down, but Taemon could hear her footsteps. The jaguar’s, too.

Then the footsteps stopped.

A menacing growl made Taemon’s blood run cold.

“I know you’re there,” said a voice. “I saw you earlier. You can come out. My battle is not with you.” The voice was raspy, out of breath, but Taemon could still hear the strange accent. She was definitely not from Deliverance.

Taemon looked steadily at Amma. “There’s no hiding from that jaguar,” he whispered.

“She wants to talk,” Amma whispered back. “Maybe she’s not so bad.”

The jaguar let out an ear-piercing scream, which made it clear that the time for hiding was over.

Taemon gathered psi at the ready, just in case he had to defend himself, and stepped forward to face the woman.

Only it wasn’t a woman. It was a boy. A teenager. His long hair fell nearly to his waist. He wore black leather leggings and a matching sleeveless tunic fastened with heavy metal clasps.

The boy squinted at Taemon. “Who are you?”

“How did you do that just now?” Taemon asked, nodding toward where the boy had come from, where he’d destroyed the men chasing him. It was a foolish question. He knew exactly how it had been done. With psi. But how did this boy have psi? It didn’t make sense!

Taemon felt Amma’s hand on his arm, but he didn’t dare take his eyes off the boy, who had just used psi to kill seven people.

As he and the boy stood there, facing off, Taemon sensed movement to his left. Skies! He’d forgotten about the jaguar. It pounced on him.

In a split-second reaction, Taemon reached out with psi to stop the fierce cat. The animal jerked back, as if someone had yanked it on a leash, and Taemon heard it cry out with an eerie yelp.

“Don’t hurt her!” shouted the boy.

Taemon withdrew his psi — which was a mistake, because the jaguar immediately turned to attack him. In a flash of teeth and fur, hot breath and glowing eyes, the huge cat was on him. What was worse, the cat was pressing down its massive paws on his bad shoulder, which sent a stabbing pain radiating down his spine. The pain made it difficult to focus enough to use psi effectively. If Taemon couldn’t keep the cat’s sharp claws and wicked teeth from tearing into him, he knew he would lose this battle in a few short moments.

He heard Amma’s voice pleading, yelling, but he couldn’t focus enough to make out the words. In the instant Taemon was certain he would die, the boy shouted at the jaguar.

“Jix, let him go!”

The beast held Taemon in place for a few extra seconds and growled as if to remind everyone who the victor was. When the jaguar released him, Taemon let out a deep breath. The cat trotted to the boy, who cooed a few words of praise, and settled itself at his feet.

Taemon, meanwhile, was fighting to keep from blacking out. He lay on his back, trying to slow his breathing and focus his vision. He was glad they were done hiking for the day, because he didn’t think he could so much as walk right now.

Amma was at his side. “Are you okay?”

“Cha,” Taemon said, though he wasn’t sure.

“Is that your pet?” Amma asked the boy.

“Jix is not a pet,” he said. “More like a traveling companion.”

“Still. It’s tame?”

“
Tame
isn’t the right word, either. We have an understanding.”

Taemon sat up slowly, and a tense moment passed as the two boys eyed each other. The Republikite boy’s sleeveless tunic showed off the muscles in his arms and shoulders; he was a couple of years older than Taemon.

“So,” Taemon said, rising unsteadily to his feet, “what now?”

Amma glanced at the horizon, where the sun was just about to disappear. “I say we make camp and then get to know one another.”