Ensnared (Sorcery and Science Book 5) (11 page)

Cameron stepped toward an opening in the plane. A tiny waterfall slipped down the roof, pouring over his head as he passed under the arched doorway. The ground was packed with wet mud and decaying leaves, concealing whatever floor lay beneath centuries of forest debris. A dim orange light flickered against the walls as Everett lit his lantern.

“Isis, Cameron, make a fire. Not too close to the entrance. We don’t want to be seen from the outside. Everett, you’re on meal duty,” Jason instructed them. “I’ll scout and secure the perimeter.”

To Jason ‘secure the perimeter’ meant setting up all kinds of traps that promised a gruesome death to anyone who managed to get himself ensnared. It also meant he’d have to go back out in the storm while the rest of them could dry off and warm up inside. Cameron didn’t mind. He was just happy that he wasn’t the one who had to go out in that storm. Most people preferred warmth and shelter. Jason didn’t seem to care either way.

“Over here,” Isis said, waving at Cameron. “I’ve found some sticks that aren’t completely drenched.”

He followed her deeper into the plane. It was massive. They took a left fork and followed a hallway for a few minutes to its end, gathering sticks along the way. Just a few weeks ago, they would have chatted and laughed as they worked, but the only sound in the hall now was the slow drip of water. Isis said nothing, and Cameron didn’t try to drag her into a conversation. Her face was pale and solemn, the carefree happiness ripped from her. It made Cameron want to punch someone. Preferably a Selpe.

They set up their sticks in one of the rooms close to the entrance, and Cameron went about starting up a fire. As Everett unpacked their food and blankets, Isis moved toward the door. She met Jason at the doorway between the two rooms. The two of them just stared at each other for a few seconds, Jason’s eyes steadily darkening. Isis blushed and retreated a few steps. Then Jason closed the door behind him and deposited his pack against the wall before joining Cameron at the fire.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

~
Thieves and Assassins ~

526AX August 21, Pegasus

THE NEXT MORNING, a hard shake startled Cameron into consciousness. Jason crouched before him, pressing a finger to his lips. He connected with Cameron’s eyes just long enough to make sure he was awake, then he dashed over to the closed door. Isis stood to one side and he to the other, their ears turned toward the entrance chamber. Everett was packing up their things and putting out the last embers of their fire.

“There are people outside,” he whispered.

Cameron rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Who?”

“We’re not sure. Someone got caught in one of Jason’s traps. I’m surprised the scream didn’t wake you.”

So was Cameron. He must have been more exhausted than he’d thought.

“Looters,” Jason announced.

“Humans,” added Isis.

“Fools,” Jason said.

Xenen technology was far more advanced than any used by the Selpes and the Avans. There were bands that made it their mission to track it down for sale on the black market. Since most of the abandoned technology lay deep within the Wilderness, the work required a special kind of idiot. Elitions didn’t take kindly to humans crossing their borders. And that went doubly so for looters.

“So what’s the plan?” Cameron asked.

“It is a band of ten men. I set only four traps, more as a warning than as a defense. I will take care of the remainders,” Jason decided.

Isis stepped forward, but he shook his head.

“No, not you.” Jason motioned Everett over, and they both pulled on their packs. “Everett and I can handle them.”

“Jason
—
”

“No,” he cut her off. “We both know you’re not a killer. You stay here and protect Cameron.”

Then before she could protest further, he and Everett slipped through the door and shut it behind them. As soon as they were gone, Isis began to pace from one side of the room to the other, a glower on her face. She’d only just completed her first loop when shouts sounded from outside. A few seconds later, Jason and Everett burst through the door.

“Time to go,” Jason told them. “The coast is clear but not for long.”

They jogged out of the plane. Cameron squinted as the blinding glare of the rising sun hit his eyes. The sky was grey and mostly cloudy, but at least it had stopped raining. Jason took the lead, scaling the steep slope in two strides. Cameron tried to imitate him, but his boots sank deep into the mud. He kicked free, but not before Isis and Everett had darted past him. Cameron pushed himself hard, closing in beside Jason.

“What happened?”

“The Crescent Order showed up. They scared off the looters. That gives us a few minutes’ head start until they come after us.”

“How did they find us?” asked Cameron.

Jason’s face hardened. “They have a Prior with them. And a Phantom. And a Prophet.”

“They can track us?”

“They can track us,” he repeated grimly. “Over land and through portals…”

His eyes drifted up in thought, but his pace didn’t slacken. His legs propelled forward, running so fast that the rest of them could barely keep up. And yet it didn’t even strain Jason. He could go at least twice as fast without breaking a sweat. It just wasn’t fair.

“Maybe, just maybe, we can evade them,” he said.

“How?”

“Just tell the others to follow me. And quickly,” he instructed before he shot off through the trees.

Cameron slowed his pace until Isis and Everett came in line with him.

“Where’s he running off to?” Everett said.

“He said to follow him. And to hurry.”

“Spectacular,” Everett growled, gritting his teeth as he picked up speed.

Isis slipped between them, dashing off toward Jason. The shuffle of boots through fallen leaves sounded behind them. There was no point in looking back. Cameron knew what he would see there: the stony faces of the assassin crew. The wind whistled in his ears as he wove through the trees. Leaves shuddered and branches whipped against his arms. He watched Jason and Isis leap down, falling out of sight. He slowed slightly, bracing himself for the drop. He fell two meters, not nearly as far as he’d anticipated, then shuffled his feet to an abrupt stop. Jason stood in the center of the small clearing, turning and scanning with his eyes. Isis was watching him. Cameron joined her, and Everett jogged up behind them.

“Jason, what are you doing?” Cameron asked him.

Jason continued his turn-and-scan pattern. “Looking for the portal.”

Cameron looked at Isis. “I thought you said the portal is near the coast?”

“It is.” She watched Jason closely. “But I don’t think he means that portal.”

“I don’t see any portal,” said Cameron.

“Neither do I,” she replied.

“You wouldn’t see it,” Jason told them. “It’s not like other portals. It’s more like a ghost of a portal, one Terra and I found years ago during one of our explorations. It seems to fade with each use. I’m not sure it’s even still here.”

“It had better be, unless you want to take on twelve assassins,” commented Everett.

Cameron could hear the synchronized strikes of boots on the path overhead. The Crescent Order was nearly upon them.

“There,” Jason announced, pointing to a slender red-orange maple tree.

Cameron couldn’t see a portal, but there was something odd about that spot. The tree didn’t appear entirely solid.

“You won’t be able to go through without me, so we’ll all hold hands,” he instructed, extending his left hand to Isis.

She paused briefly before setting her gloved hand in his. Cameron took his right hand.

“Our assassin friends are here,” Everett said, grasping Cameron’s other hand.

Whispering voices drifted down from the hilltop.

“They’re too late,” Isis replied.

“It’s just as well. I don’t much fancy killing before breakfast,” declared Jason.

He said it so matter-of-factly that it didn’t even cross Cameron’s mind that he could be joking. So he was surprised when Isis burst into laughter. It was the first genuine smile he’d seen on her lips since she’d escaped the Selpes. Cameron was so happy to see it that he didn’t dwell on Jason’s dark joke. If it even was a joke. Jason wasn’t known for his sense of humor.

They stepped through the portal Cameron could not see. A portal shift was instantaneous—one moment you were in one place and the next moment you were suddenly elsewhere. This was not a typical portal. The trees dissolved slowly, fading to white. The scent of saltwater stung Cameron’s nose, followed by the unstable feeling of pebbles shifting beneath his feet. Swirls of sand and water solidified before his eyes, becoming a beach. Green blotches became kelp washed up on the shore, and brown lines turned to driftwood.

“The Wasteland,” said Jason. “The next portal in the loop is just down the beach.”

“Loop?” asked Cameron.

“This is a portal loop, a string of gateways, that crosses all of Elitia. “As I said, the portals fade each time they’re used. If we’re lucky, the next one will still be there. It will bring us to Mist Veil, just across the border from the Temple of Aurelia.”

Cameron shifted his pack in preparation for the hike. It wouldn’t be long now before they reached the Book of Prophecy. And then Terra.

CHAPTER TWELVE

~
The Wasteland ~

526AX August 21, The Sapphire Shore

EVERETT WALKED ALONG the shore
, which was
composed of ninety percent rock and ten percent wet and gushy grey sand. Pebbles shifted beneath his boots, and a gust of cold wind battered him, piercing his jacket. The official name of this Elition kingdom was the Sapphire Shore, but it wasn’t hard to see why it was commonly referred to as the Wasteland. Rocky beaches, icy water, scant vegetation, and strong northern winds were a superb combination
—
for survival training. It wasn’t exactly a luxury getaway spot, but he’d been to worse places. At least there were no assassins chasing them here. The only assassin around was Jason, and as long as you talked to him as little as possible and didn’t do anything too stupid, he tended to just ignore you. Except Isis. He hardly ever ignored her.

Though the poor girl had survived Selpe imprisonment, the scars were undeniable. She didn’t chatter and prance about as she used to. It felt wrong to see her so reserved, but she seemed to be slowly warming up again. Ever since they’d arrived in the Wasteland, she’d spent the entire time walking alongside Jason, engaged in a hushed conversation with him. Everett had even caught her smile once or twice. Perhaps, she just needed time. Everett wouldn’t have thought Jason’s stony, expressionless manner to be the best remedy to return her to a state of carefree bliss, but she’d been drawn to him from nearly the first moment. Women rarely made sense.

Isis tapped Jason’s shoulder and pointed toward the ocean. Mostly cloaked behind a thick cover of fog, Everett could just make out the distinctive disc-like silhouette of a Hellean city floating high above the waves. It was a marvelous feat of technology, and a sight he knew well. There was one just like it above the Western Seas, near to the Rev territories. Like all Rev boys, he’d grown up staring up at Pallas, dreaming of one day setting foot on it. But the chances of that were slim. The Helleans didn’t let just anyone into their cities.

“No, not that one. Ariella was headed for Oasis,” Jason whispered to Isis.

“I’m worried about her,” she replied, looking up at him.

Jason held her gaze. “I know.” He stroked his hand down her arm. “She’ll be all right.”

Everett cleared his throat loudly as he and Cameron stopped behind them. Jason’s hand dropped.

“How about some breakfast?” Everett suggested, smiling.

Cameron nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

“There’s no time,” Jason said. “We’re not the only ones after the Book of Prophecy. We must get to the temple before anyone else does.”

His face was set. Everett could see that there would be no convincing the assassin, and he wasn’t going to risk losing any nonexpendable appendages by trying. They would just have to eat while they hiked. As Jason and Isis walked off, Everett quickly recovered two wrapped sandwiches from his bag. He kept one for himself and handed the other to Cameron, and then they were off again. No time had been wasted. Even a stingy assassin like Jason Chanz couldn’t complain.

But it didn’t take long before they did fall behind. Beneath a stone archway, Everett tripped over a broken fishbone and lost a few minutes dumping sand and tiny gravel out of his boots. While he was waiting, Cameron decided to relieve Everett of the burden of his half-eaten sandwich. The wind echoed off the walls, and Cameron gave him a devious grin.

“You know, they say mermaids toss fishbones onto land, hoping to ensnare lost travelers and drag them into their underwater dens.”

“Who says that?” Everett asked.

“The old stories.”

“Well, where I come from, mermaids are far more civilized. Instead of throwing fish skeletons at men, they bewitch us with their songs and, um…” He smirked. “Seashells.”

Cameron stared at him blankly.

“You know, the seashells they wear.”

The boy didn’t get it. He was hopeless. Everett really needed to find some friends his own age.

“Never mind,” he sighed. “So, are there any more tales about the Wasteland?”

“Sure,” Cameron said, the animation returning to his face. “Ghosts are said to float above the shore after dark during the high tide.”

Everett looked up the beach. Green goo and sea muscles clung to the rock cliff. Right now, the tide was low, but at high tide, the water probably covered the entire beach. It was a good thing they’d not taken the portal during one of those times. They would have popped up underwater. Everett wondered if Jason had known that when he’d pulled them through.

“Ghosts, you say?” he asked.

Cameron nodded vigorously. “Yeah, but for all we know, it’s just chimes in the wind.”

Everett smiled at the reference to the day that they’d met, when he’d fooled a band of Avan soldiers with a handful of chimes and a few arrows.