Bertan`s quest - Michelle Tarynne (best beach reads of all time txt) 📗

of how to proceed. He had never handled children well, afraid that his coarse nature might chaff away their innocence. For some reason, that seemed to be no problem with the girl, who still looked at him. Her sharp eyes were obviously trained for secrets.

"Not that I can remember," she said, biting her lips, "She is scary, and I haven't found a way in yet."

The girl opened the elevator widely so that Kyre could comfortably extract himself from the tiny cubicle.

"Do you know a lot of ways around here?" he asked cautiously, slowly entering the ruined beyond recognition room that would never hold the Axe throne again.

"Of course, there is nothing else to do but to find ways around and stay unseen at the same time," she beamed, "I like to know things, but everyone thinks I'm too little to share anything with me." She was too young and too pure to be able to hide the real extent of her hunger for knowledge and immense curiosity that burned within her core, he noticed. "I just have to know, I need to know everything."

"Do you know any way out of this room?" He looked around helplessly, not really knowing what to look for. Everything was turned into dust. The only unbroken feature, the throne aside, was the huge gates that, he knew, were the last route to take. The route dead bodies usually take.

"Of course, but you won't be able to fit in, you are way too big." Lar giggled and quickly measured him with her quirky eyes. "I never knew people grew to this size."

"Yeah." He frowned, disliking the way his odds of getting out of this trap declined.

"Are you going to meet her?" she asked quickly to direct his interest somewhere else and find some information for herself.

"That's my intention… hopefully, I will." Kyre was becoming tense to his bones.

"Tell her not to worry about me. I will find her." She confessed flustered in her honesty. "Sometimes I have dreams about it."

Kyre was the first person, she felt safe enough around to spill her deepest secrets to. There is a certain, subtle substance some people emanate that pulls at others' cores, demanding trust and loyalty for the life they would willingly sacrifice while protecting the light. He had that quality, an air of a trusting command she would follow would he wish for it.

It wasn't a good cycle for Kyre, he decided. Nothing went as it was planned, and to be honest, he was the one to alter those plans. Unspoken fears gnawed at his core. He became more and more restless at the thought of his tribe unwarned of the turbulent times and unaware of the truths hidden in the Inner Block. The keys to their origins, they swore to forget long ago.

The truth beckoned at his core. It was the last chance to salvage the remains of their past that were literally crumbling down at his feet. He waddled through the mountains of crisp dust and chipped stone, to at least try and to find his way out of there.

All around him, subtle signs were scattered, of those who ruled this world before the great fire from the sky disrupted everything. This wrecked room spoke volumes of the times before his true First Anaerther Homeland, hidden deep within his core's heart, had gotten lost for them. The thing was that it just called them back tirelessly, filling every Seekinglander core with emptiness and sorrow, not even Idle Juice could tame. None of them really planned to go back home but the Fates crafted the only way for his tribe to survive and it was to dig deep into their old dwelling. He was sure the Duchess held the keys to everything that went missing in the Oracle's paths.

 

Unexpectedly, three grunting bodies fell down from the ceiling-less space above his head, followed by three graceful figures sliding down the barely visible wires Kyre just then noticed. Too surprised to say anything he watched the three men. Amid all this happening, he almost missed the silent conversation Lar and suddenly present by her side Duchess seemed to have. None of them said a word nor took a breath as if afraid to disturb the Fates. Two females just stared at each other infinitely.

"Mother," Lar said stiffly, breaking her focus and stillness that reigned over the whole chamber until then.

"Lar." The Duchess was at a loss for words, for the first time since she could remember and that was obviously a long stretch of time. She was satisfied with a mere presence of her daughter in the same space.

"I will not follow you today," the girl simply said. Amazingly, the Duchess could only nod to accept. "I had been followed by dreams Mother. The Fates are not on our side anymore," Lar said just before she began to retreat. She apparently decided to go back to her room, looking tired and overwhelmed with emotion.

The girl climbed up to the vent shaft she used to get inside the Throne Room when something on the floor got her attention. She paused and stared at it for a long time. Afterward, when he reached her bed, her dreams did not frighten her as usually for she dreamt of nothing but wet darkness passing her by.

"I feel it too Lar, though I hope to salvage what is possible here," the Duchess whispered while she watched her daughter silently and gracefully retreating. Once Lar disappeared, the Duchess quickly neared the throne machinery to open the hidden compartment Kyre knew all too well.

"I will not follow you either," he said intently avoiding looking at her disturbed face.

"I have assumed as much when I saw you standing here. Is it only Vlad, who got deep into the Mine?" she asked massaging her forehead.

"Yes. He went straight down into the Melting place."

"The fool, the fool, the fool," she kept on muttering, "The Oracle told of the six and a half cores going back into the Anaerther Stronghold to restore it. He knew it, and yet he decided to go there alone. Nothing will go as planned now… not that it ever has," she seethed in fury.

"And a half? What is a half of core?" Gi'Waters asked with a great dose of curiosity.

"I thought it would mean Lar and her small size, after all, she is like a half grown person," Duchess explained patiently. "We assembled the team of six adults: Vlad, me, Kyre, Hunn, The Two, Aru and Lar."

"We could still get her to follow us," Aru contemplated the Plan based on the Oracle's words, "There might still be ways to make it work."

"It's of no use now that he decided to go alone, knowing…" she sighed wearily.

"He wouldn't go wasn't it for the broken Calling." Kyre hoped to solve the unknown mystery.

"And that is purely my fault," she gritted through her teeth at the remainder of her failure.

"What are we to do now?" Kyre asked, hoping for a clear answer, "I'm not following you. I feel my core tugging me to stay on the surface."

"And it's not like I can follow you, Duchess, either." It was Hunn's turn to voice his objection, "I'm still useless, and I don't know when I will be back to normal. It would be unwise for me to endanger your quest this way."

"It's settled then." It took a mere eye-blink for the Duchess to decide. "Aru and the Two follow me while you two," she pointed her finger at Kyre and Hunn, "Stay here and guard Lar from whatever goes down on the surface from now on." She motioned at her chosen teammates to join her in the throne machinery cubicle, "Just avoid the King taking any notice of that fact. He will do anything to separate Lar from her Anaerther heritage," She closed the doors, and the whole throne structure disappeared beneath the floor, leaving only flat trapdoor behind.

"We should get going," Gi'Waters said after examining the throne leftovers. "This noise could attract the King here once again."

"Probably," Kyre recalled the earlier occurrence with a shudder of fear, "Will you be able to climb up back?" he directed his words at Hunn, who was still immobile below his waist.

"I can climb up that rope. I just can't walk yet," Hunn answered half proud, and half ashamed to admit any inability of his body.

"No problem then. We should get going immediately." Gi'Waters became increasingly nervous to stay in the room any longer. Any chit-chat and meet-and-greet could be done once safely outside the Inner Block walls, she thought reasonably. Logic and reason were the things she excelled at. Sometimes all too unwillingly.

 

CHAPTER TEN

Once the platform reached its destination halfway through the dunes, Bertan started regretting of her decision to bring Genes along for the ride. After all none of this was his fault more than hers. Yet, he would be the one to pay dearly her debts. Funny how the Fates roll out their plans sometimes, she thought, watching the towers of the Royal City of Naam to appear and grow in size as they were getting closer and closer. Seemingly endless lights fused with the fiery orange veins marring neighboring mountain slopes and foothills.

She had forgotten the mind-numbing exquisite beauty of the intricate towers that shot high in the sky that challenged nearby mountaintops in the race for the stars. A free-flowing lava rivers dotted with colorful gems, flooded with man-made structures. A single and weak tear found its way into her mouth, a bitter-salty reminder of the pain to come. Her sins couldn't be wiped out by a mere change of trade of her usefulness. Her debts still had to be paid in full. City of Naam gleamed from afar, and its lights were reflected in Genes' youthful eyes. As they neared, more details of the ever-pulsing lights were revealed. An incomprehensible pull called upon the visitors' mesmerized hearts.

"It's so beautiful," he breathed slowly, stricken with the impossible kind of beauty.

"It's deadly," Bertan muttered, berating herself for neglecting the fact that Genes was still a boy. He was easily distracted and impressionable boy, who seemed to spend all of his life in the valley plains. He knew nothing of the world, with the exception of venturing into the Inner Block that was nothing more than a big industrial slab of stone, never meant for housing or living. And here, she was bringing him into the source of all that was dark and all that was evil in their world, disguised as a city of a never dying light.

"Bertan of The Third Line. You and your subservient are required to come with us," a stiff voice called for her attention.

She was so distracted with overwhelming emotions of homecoming that she didn't even notice the guarding shadows once the platform came to a full stop, blocking their way out. She composed herself quickly, into a straight, taut line and put on a stone expression. Never faltering in her step, Bertan joined the guards. Thankfully, Genes silently copied her act.

She should have guessed earlier that they would be intercepted, before they would have any chance to get off the tracks and venture into The Royal City. The guards led them into the visitors sensing home, designed for discomfort and clarity, in its clear-cut stone edges seemingly void of vibrancy and life. The sensing home was small and solid in statue, un-glowing on the outside but filled with the light on the inside.

Genes had to be utterly disoriented with the way he felt there, she suspected. It was intoxicating in its welcome, and he never wanted to leave its warmth, and the heavenly aroma. Quick and decisive footsteps roused him from this spell. His head bowed even lower. A makeshift hood, made from the salvaged Kite sheet, covered him almost entirely to his knees.

 

"What is the important news that you bring personally, Daughter of the South? Nothing could be that important, as you well know," a tall figured man dressed for journey, quickly