Starlighter (27 page)

“We all think so, yes.”

She turned to Cowl. “Back to the air vent subject. How wide is it?”

He set the fingers and thumbs of one hand against the others to form a circle. “About so wide.”

Elyssa scanned the ledge. “I need a rock to plug it.”

“But the hole is down near the bottom. It’s so dark, finding it will be impossible.”

She set a hand on Cowl’s cheek—which was scruffy, warm, and sweat-dampened—and poured her heart
in her words. “Trust me, Cowl. I’m trying to save your daughter’s life.”

New tears welled in his eyes. He picked up a rock and set it next to her. “This is close, I think.”

Water spilled over the pit’s edge and spread across the floor, wetting their knees. “Okay,” Elyssa said, “I’m no expert on fluid dynamics, but…” She set her hand on the surface and pushed down. “I know the water source is much higher than we are, but won’t the weight of the water eventually stop the flow way down there and make the feeding hole back up?”

“Maybe, Miss. I have no knowledge of such things, but I can tell you that when we drilled to the surface to make the vent, we detected an air pocket in between. If the water pools there, my guess is the weight of water in that pool might overcome the weight in this one.”

“Just thought I’d ask. Obviously the water’s still rising.” She set the end of the tube in her mouth and breathed in. It worked fine. She slid into the water, oily and warm compared to the river in her own world. “Make sure the other end stays clear. If I tug once on the tube, the rock you gave me is too small. Twice means it’s too big.”

“Miss, the danger is great. Let me go down there.”

Elyssa shook her head. “No time to explain. I’m perfect for this job.” She held her thumb over the tube’s opening, grabbed the rock, and submerged. Releasing most of her breath, she surged toward the bottom, hoping the loss of air and the weight of the rock would help her dive. Darkness flooded her vision. Water pressure increased in her ears. This wouldn’t be easy.

As she kicked and paddled the best she could with her burdened hands, she closed her eyes and probed with her mind. The bottom still lay well beyond her reach.

A flow brushed her cheek. Ah! That was it! Just follow the current, and it would lead her to the hole.

Soon a sense of fogginess numbed her brain, and the pressure grew too painful to go on. Tucking the stone, she pinched her nostrils closed and tried to blow through her nose. That helped a lot. She pushed the tube into her mouth and drew in a long breath. Good. Much better. After plugging the tube with her thumb again, she pressed on.

When she reached the source, the current poured out of the side wall at eye level. She braced her feet against some protruding rocks at the bottom to keep from rising.

Again probing with her mind, she sized up the hole and slid the rock inside. A rush of water pushed back, but not too forcefully. At first, the rock seemed too small to close the gap, but as she shoved it in farther, it lodged in place and slowed the flow to an almost imperceptible trickle.

Had she pushed it far enough? She tried to move the blocking stone, but it wouldn’t budge. There seemed to be no choice now but to leave it and trust that it would work.

After taking another breath, she let go of the tube and pushed with her legs to zoom to the top, but one foot wouldn’t move. She probed through the inky blackness and assessed the situation. Her foot was caught in two rocky knobs she had used to brace herself at the bottom. She jerked her leg to pull free. No luck. Trying not to panic, she searched her senses for the air tube. Something slender floated nearby in the darkness. That had to be it.

She swiped at it. Missed. It drifted farther away. Stretching her body, she swiped again. Snagged it! She pulled the tube into her mouth and sucked in. One gulp of air came through, then a stream of water.

K
oren’s voice sounded smooth and sweet, yet tinged with pain. After helping Randall sit, Jason walked over to her. “How is Natalla?”

Koren smiled weakly. “I think she’ll be okay. She’s more exhausted than injured.”

Randall, leaning his back and head against the wall, spoke up. “I was fighting the dragons, and…” He winced briefly before continuing. “And I was losing. Then Koren started telling a story. I thought she was mad, but it seemed to work. Two of the dragons turned and listened, like a pair of moths drawn to the light. The third one, a dragon she called Magnar, kept fighting. He seemed slower, kind of confused, but if not for Koren keeping up her story, he’d have killed me for sure. Those dragons are just too tough.”

Randall pointed at various wounds. “I took a claw slap to my cheek, a blast of fire to my foot, and a jab from a tail spine to my thigh. That last blow sent me flying, and
I slammed into Natalla. When I picked her up and ran, Koren stopped her story and followed.”

A loud growl sounded from outside. “Allender! Come out! The conditions have changed!”

Allender’s shoulders sagged. He looked back at his men for a moment before tromping up the stairs in silence.

Koren stooped at Randall’s side and dabbed his bloody cheek with the hem of her dress. “You were so brave!”

“It was the least I could do.” He winced again and turned to Jason. “Where’s Elyssa?”

“Down below.” Jason gave Randall and Koren a quick summary of what happened, including the bargain Allender made with the dragons, as well as the rising water in the mine pit. He added some details about the portal room, so Koren would understand the situation.

“I guess Elyssa thought she could help from down there.” Jason pointed at the ladder leading to the lower level. “She can’t stay for long.”

“I saw the redirected stream,” Randall said. With a quiet
oof
, he tried to rise. “I could go out there and sneak past—”

Jason pushed him back. “You’re too weak. I’ll have to do it. Maybe if I could stop the flow, it would buy us enough time to get the portal open.”

“Before I came in,” Koren said, “I heard Magnar order the patrol dragon to go down to the other entrance. The gateway to your world will be guarded again.”

“And if Tibalt sees a dragon, he won’t wait for us. He’ll close the gateway in less than a heartbeat.”

Allender descended the stairs with heavy footfalls, his shoulders sagging more than ever. Everyone turned toward him, each face reflecting his anxiety.

“Magnar knows we have two more young men among us,” Allender said, forking his fingers at Randall and Jason, “so he wants both to be included in the sacrifice.”

Micah combed his fingers through a little girl’s tangled hair. “Will they allow the children to be reassigned?”

Allender nodded. “No cattle camp. But…” He shifted his fingers to Koren and Natalla. “Those two have to stay in the mine.”

“And drown?” Jason asked.

“Magnar fears the redhead, so he wants her to stay here, and the other girl is already under a death sentence for escaping.”

Randall climbed to his feet and grasped the hilt of his sword. “Well, if I’m scheduled to be on a dragon’s dinner menu, I’m going down his throat scratching and clawing all the way.”

“If you fight,” Allender said, “the children will go to the cattle camp, and you will die anyway. Keeping them out of there is the reason we are willing to die.”

“What’s so bad about the cattle camp?”

Allender glanced at the other men. Micah heaved a sigh, while two others just shook their heads sadly. “I cannot even begin to describe it,” Allender said, “but if a man were ever to see it for himself and still not risk his life to keep the children out, then I say he is not a real man.”

The other men murmured “He’s right,” and “Ghastly place,” as well as a few indiscernible words salted with oaths.

Randall echoed one of the oaths as he kicked the wall with his heel. “It’s against my training! I can’t go down without a fight.”

“I have a suggestion.” Koren held out her arms, showing her injured wrists. “Bind me hand and foot and take me out
to the dragons. Tell them that the great prince wants me back at the Basilica, and they dare not keep a Starlighter from his judgment and the cooking stake. I beg you not to ask what these things mean. Please just trust me and offer me in trade for everyone’s lives. They do not fear me as much as they fear my voice. Put a gag in my mouth, and their fears will vanish.”

“Can you trust a dragon’s word?” Randall asked.

Allender looked at Randall as if he had lost his senses. “Maybe you really are from another world.”

“The dragons have a system of laws,” Koren explained, “but they are far more concerned about appearance than adherence, and that can work to our advantage. Whenever a dragon has gone against his word in a legal matter, we are allowed to appeal to the Zodiac. Most of the priests there are pleased to start a fight with the secular authorities, so the dragons usually just adhere to their bargains in order to avoid embarrassment.”

Allender took one of Koren’s hands in both of his and kissed her thumb. “You are a brave lass, indeed, far wiser and more eloquent than I remembered. If we are all in agreement, I will make the entreaty.”

With the exception of Micah, the other men nodded and said “Aye,” each one adding a word of compliment for the “courageous young lady.”

“What do you say, Micah?” Allender asked.

The gray-haired man reached toward Koren with a dirty, gnarled hand and slid it under her wrist. He looked at her wound, then at her face. “You are well-acquainted with grief, are you not?”

Koren gazed at the group of children. “I have worked in a mine, so I know the grief these children have already
suffered. I also spent time in the cattle camp, so I know what these children will face if we neglect to do all we can to keep them from that torture.” She turned back to Micah. “It is far better for me to suffer death than for one of these to live in unspeakable horror.”

Micah gave her a solemn nod. “Well spoken.”

“Then what say you?” Allender asked.

“Aye, but I wish to accompany her. No girl should be given over to the dragons without a friend at her side—especially this one. Besides, it would be against our code of honor to allow her to face danger without an escort.”

“So be it.” Allender walked up the stairs, calling back, “I assume Magnar will accept.”

Jason’s stomach churned. What could he do to stop this from happening? Everyone here was so noble, so sacrificial. They didn’t deserve to die. And now Koren, one of the slaves he longed to rescue, was about to walk into the dragons’ jaws. And it was all his fault! If anyone should be offered, it was he, not this innocent girl.

He looked down toward the lower level. Water had risen over the ledge, probably about waist high to anyone still down there. What was Elyssa doing? And with the portal guarded, did it even matter? Was there any safe path back to the portal?

When Micah hooked his arm with Koren’s, Jason set his sword down and stepped forward. “Micah, I appreciate your courage and honor, but since I am the one who killed the dragon, Koren’s sacrifice is on my head. It is my right to be her escort.”

“Ah! That is true,” Mark said. “Her blood is on his head.”

Micah stepped away and allowed Jason to take his place. “If your story is true, how are we to go to our home world without you?”

“Wait for Elyssa—she knows the way, as do Wallace and Randall.”

Allender returned, this time trotting down the stairs with a lighter step. “Magnar has agreed. Bind the girl quickly. We have to hurry before the water drowns us all.”

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?