Rift in the Sky

Interlude

UNTIL THIS MOMENT, STANDING TOO CLOSE to the sky in Yena’s canopy or on a mountain ridge—closely followed by dangling from the claws of an esask over a mountain ridge—had been the former Tuana’s idea of situations to avoid repeating at all costs. Enris dropped his hand from the now-stable tunnel wall, tested his legs, and moved being underground when the ground itself shook to the top of his list.

Trust Aryl and the Yena to chase after the cause.

Be careful, he’d sent, as if she could. Or would.

“That was—unpleasant,” he commented.

“That?” His uncle chuckled, not unkindly. “Always happens when Oud run their machines in nearby tunnels. Shakes up some dust, nothing worse. Josel?”

The hole had opened into a well-lit tunnel; a tunnel which promptly and unhelpfully branched in four directions, all strewn with Oud gore. Not for long, Enris noticed queasily. Normally skittish iglies clustered around the larger splots of green, paying no attention to Om’ray and their boots as they crowded to get at the stuff, shoving one another vigorously with their jointed legs. Those pushed out of place flashed alarm and complained with wet-smacks before jumping back in.

“Through here,” the unChosen announced, pointing to one of the identical tunnels.

All Josel had done was quickly step inside each tunnel mouth and back again. Having been lost among the Oud once, Enris hesitated. “Why that one?”

Netta bumped him forward. The twins, also identical, were his height and strongly built, even for Tuana. “She knows.”

“She does,” Suen assured him. “Josel’s Talent tells her where there’s been movement lately—and how much. This was the busiest tunnel.”

A useful Talent for a Runner, who would normally avoid any space in use by Oud. Enris gestured gratitude and was rewarded by a shy smile.

Galen waved Josel ahead; the rest of the Tuana followed. But Suen delayed a step to let Enris come beside him. “I want to thank you.” He spoke quietly. A Runner habit, not to risk mindtouch near Oud.

“Thank me?”

“For what you did for Naryn.”

Suen d’sud Annk was once S’udlaat. The family resemblance was there, in the fine lines of his face, the thick red-brown hair. The difference was in the openness of his face. Suen was not an Om’ray of secrets, though he had Power. And he was the closest family Naryn had left, cousin to her mother, heart-kin to her father’s brother. The closest she’d ever had, Enris thought. Suen had not only sheltered Naryn when she’d fled the Adepts; every time she’d had run off in tears, furious or petulant or both, it had been to him.

Enris shrugged. “Glad I could help.” However complicated the result.

A frankly doubtful look. “She doesn’t make friends.”

A not-question, like the Tikitik. “Not easily,” Enris agreed, but something made him add, “She’s found one in Aryl. You know that.”

The feel of Suen grew warmer. “I know. But, no offense, they’re two of a kind. It’s having you take her side that’s made the difference. Naryn’s life in Sona will be better for it.”

Not pleasant, hearing his dislike might have influenced the rest. Not that he need accept all the blame, Enris told himself more cheerfully. At her friendliest, Naryn was as safe to approach as a starving esask.

They walked on a rough floor, their way lit by glowstrips hanging from temporary supports. How new was this tunnel? Enris wondered suddenly. That the Oud might have dug it to reach the artifacts quickly was not reassuring. Not reassuring at all.

Neither, he thought, was that smell, and wished the iglies could slurp faster.

Iglies.

But no Oud. Rock or adult.

“Where are they?” he whispered. Voices echoed here, found their way back from unexpected directions.

“Where they need to be,” Netta said. “I’ve watched—” her wary look at Galen’s back suggesting a lack of Chosen permission for this activity “—Digger Oud. Only one starts a tunnel, but it doesn’t take long before there’s a crowd of them, pushing and shoving to get at the work. They don’t notice us at all.”

“Until the Minded one showed up.” Her twin.

“There’s no need to—” Netta closed her mouth quickly as Galen glanced over his shoulder. Her lips were as dappled as her skin. An Amna trait, making it easy to pick out those newcomers from that Clan, if not foolproof. Some were so thoroughly speckled their skin looked dark.

Aryl liked the effect. She’d told him it made her think of sunlight filtered through leaves.

Aryl. The tingle along his nerves wasn’t fear of this place, though he could, Enris grimaced, do without dead Oud goo on his boots or the squirt of it when he couldn’t help stomping an iglie. The tingle came from Aryl’s state of mind. It affected his; she couldn’t help it. Hunter. Her outer senses were incredibly alert; her thoughts, if he let himself reach too deep—as had happened once or twice—an emotionless sequence of decisions, rapid and sure. This far. Step there. Ignore these. Danger!

While such focus revealed much about a Yena’s ability to survive, he preferred not to share it. Probably, Enris reminded himself with a rueful inner grin, Aryl preferred that too.

He himself was more distractible. He liked to think as he walked. Not that he had anything in mind at the moment, but it had been his habit to wander through the fields at home, ponder designs, look to the world for ideas.

They passed an opening; Josel didn’t turn aside but Galen stopped. “Wait.”

Josel looked a question at the older Runner, who pointed to the floor. Enris felt a sudden chill.

A small puddle, without iglies. A puddle of dark red, thickened but still reflecting light.

Suen squatted for a closer look. “Om’ray,” he said grimly.

Enris shook his head. “Human.”

A different kind of day, sitting in the sun by the waterfall, a too-curious finger on Aryl’s longknife, a moment of shared wonder at a drop of innocent red.

Nothing innocent about this puddle on the floor of an Oud tunnel.

Without waiting for the rest, Enris walked through the opening beside the blood into what he found wasn’t a tunnel, but a circular room. The ceiling was twice as high and more openings pierced the walls above, a reminder that Oud had no trouble running underneath a ceiling or down a wall.

The floor of this—was it a room, or another kind of tunnel?—was what mattered.

The floor, and what the Oud had dumped on it.

There was no other word for the shambles. Crates of the Strangers’ white material formed a jumbled pile higher than his head; its base almost filled the room. Some had toppled and rolled to lie with what weren’t crates, but fragments of bodies.

Not Marcus. Not Marcus. Enris said it to himself over and over as he searched, his shields as tight as he could make them to protect Aryl, hand over his nose against the reek. Strangers. Of varied shapes and sizes. Cut into bits.

Once sure, he relaxed. Strangers, yes. Two . . . he spotted another piece of head . . . three. But none dressed as if pretending to be Om’ray.

“This one’s different.” Galen rolled a limp torso over with his boot. “Look at the clothing.”

The torso had its head. It was Om’ray-like—or Human—save for short yellow bristles where ears belonged. What remained of the body wore a one-piece blue garment with no fastenings or seams. A nearby leg bore the same fabric.

The other two wore Triad work clothes, complete with a line of symbols on their shirts. Names, Enris thought, and used his knife to cut the scraps free. He tucked them deep in a pocket. Marcus would want names.

There was nothing to identify the bristle-eared Stranger. Enris stared at its face, hoping the memory would be enough.

The twins hovered nearby, not overly concerned by the mess, but curious. Suen, meanwhile, followed him patiently from body part to body part. He was quiet, but there was a growing unease coming through his shields, so when Enris finished, he looked curiously at the former Runner. “What do you see I don’t?”

“There’s a story here. Galen? What do you think?” Suen pointed to an arm coated with green, then at a hunk of what was more meat than—than whatever it had been alive, Enris decided.

After his own examination, Galen went to the crates. He moved a couple of smaller ones aside, studied others with care. When he turned to face them again, his craggy features were set and hard. “I agree. These Strangers killed the Oud.”

“You can’t know that,” Enris protested. There wasn’t a Talent to show past events, was there? His uncle, formidable in his own way, was no Adept.

“I can. Only Oud juice on the crates means they died carrying them, or were nearest to them.” Galen indicated the arm. “Being dragged spread more of their goo around, but see this? The only splashes are high on the Strangers’ bodies. They were standing when the Oud died, close enough to be the cause.” He pointed to the meaty piece. “And that’s what a Digger can do. I don’t know,” flat-voiced, “the why of any of this. But Diggers rush to protect their Minded, like stingers boiling out of their nest. I’d say they did this time, but were too late.”

What had Marcus said? That it took two to turn off the defenses. Things began to make a terrible sense. “That’s why the Human’s camp was left intact,” Enris said numbly, remembering the smoke rising from the platform on the lake, the destruction on the mountainside, Marcus’ grief and worry. “The thieves knew what they wanted would be here. The two working with the artifacts were part of it.” Marcus had trusted those he’d left. They’d betrayed him.

For what lay inside these crates.

“I don’t understand. Why would they kill Oud?” Netta was pale. “Didn’t the Oud invite the Strangers here? Didn’t they work together?”

“The Oud worked with Marcus. They knew the artifacts were important to him; that he wanted them kept safe. And what does ‘safe’ mean to Oud?” Enris gestured to the pile. “Underground. My guess is the Oud decided to take all this into their tunnels and the thieves had to stop them. Try to stop them.”

Silence, inside and out, as the others absorbed this. He understood. This wasn’t good, on any level.

Josel spoke first, radiating worry. “The dead Strangers look like Om’ray. What if the new Mindeds think we did this?”

Her twin answered, her eyes widening. “They’ll attack us, like Tuana!”

Hush! Galen projected confidence. “You forget. Aryl di Sarc is our Speaker. Leave the Oud to her.”

More loaded on Aryl’s small shoulders.

Enris would have winced if he hadn’t agreed completely. “Let’s get out of here, before we’re the ones who confuse the Oud.” Above ground, and with his Chosen.

“What about the artifacts?” Suen asked, eyes flashing. “If they’re valuable, we should take them with us.”

Galen frowned, but gestured agreement. “You’re right.”

Maybe to a Runner, used to grabbing whatever could be moved in hopes of future gain. Enris fought for patience. “Their value to the Strangers caused this problem. We can’t risk bringing them to Sona.”

“We could ’port them to a hiding place,” Netta offered eagerly. Josel nodded, coming to stand beside her twin.

About to argue the goo-stained crates were well hidden right here, Enris felt a stir. Aryl. An alert, not quite a warning. “Something’s happening above ground.” Something astounding.

Aryl, he sent quickly. We found the crates. And Marcus’ people. Dead.

How? The Oud?

Yes, but . . . There was no easy way to say it. We think Marcus’ people were part of it. He shared the image of the bristle-eared Stranger. This one was with them. They killed the Minded for trying to protect the artifacts. That aroused the Digger Oud. Marcus was betrayed by his own.

She grew distant.

Aryl? Enris stared down the tunnel. What is it?

Marcus is here.