BOOK 3 - Myth Ch. 05

MYTH

Key in one hand, knife in the other, Myth made sure to keep her eyes forward as the barge approached the island. Iqiohr would expect her to behave as usual, which meant staring at him adoringly. Keeping her face expressionless took all her concentration. All she wanted to do was weep. Norrix would have taken away. Freedom was so close. But it was illusion. She'd never leave her daughter behind. The brief stint of independence made accepting walking back into this cage bitter, but her life was here as long as her daughter was. The sooner she forgot about Norrix, and all the impossible things he made possible, the better for her and Fable.

When the fog cleared Iqiohr stood at front of a crowd of his soldiers on the end of the dock, arms crossed over his chest. His white hair and eyes stood out against the darkness of the night, beacons leading her back into prison.

The barge stopped and Myth stepped onto the platform. Iqiohr held out a hand. Myth placed the key and the knife in his palm. His other hand lashed out, seizing her chin in a crushing grip. Her eyes watered as Iqiohr's white, lifeless gaze bored into her, like he could read all her secrets.

After an eternity he released her without a word and dismissed her with a slight tilt of his head. The men split, opening a path for her. Careful not to touch any of them, Myth backed towards the entrance to the house, unsure if this was some sort of test. Iqiohr wasn't acting quite right. He turned to his men, holding the knife high. They cheered.

Why was the knife so important? What had she done? Myth closed her eyes. There was no point in wondering since she would do anything to save Fable.

Myth wandered. Iqiohr moved Fable around so Myth never knew where to find her. No one stopped her. No one followed her. Whatever Iqiohr was planning had to be big. Maybe they'd all be too busy with that to pay attention to her. Myth had searched everywhere she'd found Fable before, heart sinking further with each empty room. Myth crept downstairs. These lowest levels were always dark and smelled damp. No one wanted to come here, where the monsters lived, but it was the only place left to look.

Torchlight cast spooky shadows on rock-hewn walls. The doors in these corridors all locked from this side to keep the monsters out of the palace. Myth wrestled with the bolts on each one, opening the doors only enough to thrust the torch in and whisper Fable's name. Iqiohr had robbed Fable of her voice, but they could share story images. Fable wasn't here, either.

When the previous Scorpion-Mage had given Myth to Iqiohr, they'd stayed in the palace, but it would be years before an eight year old boy could assume the mantle of Scorpion-Mage. Fable had magic though. With her own bound, Myth hadn't been able to bind Fable's, something she regretted not figuring out sooner. Had Iqiohr really let the boy's family take Fable away? He wielded their daughter to control Myth though, so why let that sort of power over her go? A sinking sensation froze her in place. Her vision blurred and she covered her abdomen with one hand. Iqiohr wouldn't give away power, but he would transfer it to something else he could use. If she was pregnant, if she carried his son, he didn't need Fable anymore.

She needed to find her daughter and get out of this place. Fable deserved a better life than this, and for the first time Myth had hope. No one had searched her. She returned the key Iqiohr gave her to get to Ashana, but not the one to Norrix's room. She needed her daughter and a barge. They would be safe in Ashana if she could just get them there.

An arm shot out of a doorway, taking Myth by the elbow and dragging her into a library. Shocked that someone here dared touched her, Myth didn't make a sound. She stared at the hand clamped around her arm, but she didn't need to. The touch was cool, but her blood heated. Norrix.

Her eyes tracked from the fingers, to the wrist, up the arm, to his face and his eyes that saw into her. His hair and clothes were wet. Had he swum in the lake? That was insane.

Norrix slid his hand down her arm and took the torch from her. He wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her to his side. "I am here. I came for you. We'll get you and—"

"No, no, no!" Myth whispered. "How are you here? You can't be here!" She pushed away, opened the door behind him and motioned him inside. As soon as Norrix entered the room she pulled the door closed and locked it. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have followed me."

For all Norrix's talk of Dragas and love, he didn't know she had a daughter by one of the mages he so hated. And now it was possible Myth was carrying a mage's son. She couldn't tell Norrix that. Couldn't bear to think of his heart beating with disgust rather than love. She'd cherish the one time she'd known pleasure, been touched with desire and reverence, maybe even love. But now she was on her own.

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NORRIX

Norrix slammed a fist into the closed door. "Myth!" She hadn't let him tell her he knew about her daughter and would get them both out. Hadn't let him say anything. Dragas were infuriating!

She didn't answer. Her light footsteps pattered away.

Why was she doing this? He'd seen the hope and happiness in her topaz eyes when she first saw him, but her emotions shut down. His heart gave a desultory flutter as she closed off, as he saw anger and despair when she looked at him.

This room was abyss dark. His vampire vision couldn't pick much out, even with the torch. The wall under his hand felt like rough stone. Norrix scented water, something musky, and decay. He pulled his phone from its waterproof pouch and turned on the flashlight app. Flashing the beam around revealed the cavern Myth had locked him into. People, or what had once been people, lay scattered on the floor. They were missing eyes, teeth, fingernails, and all their bones, the skins that remained looking like deflated balloons.

The lapping of the water changed. Something was walking through the shallows. The light reflected red eyes. He was locked in with an Ahuizotl. No, there were a dozen red eyes looking back at him. This was a pack of them. Did Myth know they were here? Did she mean to kill him? Ember hadn't killed Stryx even after their tumultuous start, Norrix refused to believe he would be the first vampire killed by his Draga.

The ahuizotls stalked towards him, growls morphing from menacing to confused as they neared. The closest one snuffled his boots. Mush had smelled the Ahuizotl on him, but he hadn't been immersed in water them.

"That's right. I'm a friend. We rescued an Ahuizotl like you from a different Mage. He's at my house. Are you missing one from your pack? I think you can understand me, can't you? I should have finished reading Thoth's book so I could talk to animals. If you don't kill me I'll bring him here. I'll show you."

Norrix dialed Xenos. No answer. He tried Zeke. Same thing. Ciaran. Nothing. Jael's number gave him a message the phone was out of the service area. How far had Jael gone to be out of the service area? Stryx wouldn't be home yet. Ember had left Idris in her Draga space. The Ahuizotls were getting restless. Of all the times for no one to answer their phones. Drake and Sabien weren't at the compound. As a last resort he called Alaric, who answered. "Are you at the compound?"

"Yes. Why?"

Norrix forced the words out. Alaric would never let him live this down, and these were dangerous words to say to Alaric in particular. "I need a favor. Take your phone to the underwater spring and get the Ahuizotl on your screen."

Alaric was silent.

"I'm locked in a room with a pack of them and I'm hoping he'll put in a good word for me. Will you hurry, please? He seemed to like you."

"He slobbered on me, you mean. How did you get locked in with a pack of them?" Alaric asked. "Is there a Draga involved? This seems like something that happens when a Draga is involved."

"And just a couple days ago you were wishing for quadruplet Dragas. Are you walking as you're talking?"

Alaric huffed. "No matter what everyone thinks I'm really not just a pretty face."

"I have never said your face was pretty."

The screen went from buttons to a view of Angelic-Alaric as the call switched to video. "Well, maybe as repayment of this favor, I'll say you have to tell me how pretty my face is everyday."

Norrix glanced at the largest Ahuizotl. Its red eyes gleamed, but Norrix didn't feel animosity, more like pity. "You see what I'm working with." The Ahuizotl chuffed.

"Slobber-beast," Alaric's voice echoed in the cavern under the compound. "Phone call for you." The view rotated as Alaric aimed his spot one towards the water.

Norrix crouched, slowly turned his back towards the Ahuizotls and held his phone up, screen facing them.

The calm surface of the water was broken as two dark ears surfaced, swiveling like radars.

The Ahuizotls behind Norrix yipped and the spring erupted as the massive Ahuizotl surged from the water. He bounded at Alaric, who judging by the crazily slewing screen, fell on his ass.

"Stop licking the phone, Slobber-Beast. Get off me! Ugh, this is so gross."

The largest Ahuizotl nudged Norrix's hand. "Turn the phone, Alaric. All we can see is the ceiling."

After a bit more scuffling, the screen showed the Ahuizotl, Alaric's palm planted on its broad head to hold it away from him. "You owe me for this, Witness."

"Fair enough, Fae."

The Ahuizotls yipped and growled back and forth, ending their exchange with whines Norrix didn't need Thoth's book to understand.

"I know you miss him. Help me get out of here and I'll bring him back to you."

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Norrix hated being underwater. The only exit, aside from the door, was at the bottom of a flooded tunnel that descended to the bottom of the lake. It was the only way back to Myth though, so he stumbled five hundred feet below the surface, an Ahuizotl on each side to guide him. They bit his boots when he veered off course. He was definitely going to need new shoelaces after this. After an interminable ten minutes of stumbling around, the Ahuizotls put their big, blocky heads under Norrix's hands. He curled an arm around the neck of each one and they swam up.

They deposited him on a beach at the back of the ostentatious gold palace. He lay there, doing his best impression of a rock, as strength flowed back into him. He inhaled, searching for the scent of apples that would lead him to Myth. It was faint with so much water around, but he could track it.

He rolled over, watching for guards. No one seemed to be around. That was good, making it easy for him to get into the palace, but bad because something was going to happen, and everyone was probably there. He knew he knew what it was and couldn't remember. "Thanks for bringing me this far. I'll return with your pack mate as soon as I can."

Norrix stood, expecting the Ahuizotls to go back to dissolving people, but more of them poured onto the beach. They sat and stood, eyes on him expectantly. "All right, let's go." He made his way to the rear of the palace and tried a door. It opened into a lavish bedroom. The Ahuizotls slinked through the door on their raccoon hands, so quietly Norrix wouldn't have known they were there if he didn't have eyes on them. He opened more doors until he found the one leading into a corridor, letting the ahuizotls into the palace proper.

Myth's scent was everywhere, as if she'd been in every room in the palace recently. Why did Dragas never make it easy? Inhaling deep, he tried to sort out the most recent scent, but it was impossible. Her sent was thicker upstairs though, he couldn't tell if it was most recent, but she'd been there more often. Removing his gun from the waterproof pouch, he kept it at his side and darted up the staircase.

The smell of apples led him down endless hallways and passages until he spotted two guards outside ornate doors carved with enormous scorpions. Norrix reached for his throwing knives, but the ahuizotls were faster. Soundlessly, they lunged past him, raccoon hands landing on the guards' shoulders and slapping the hands on the ends of their tails over the guards' mouths.

Water bubbled from beneath the hands, pouring out of the guards' noses as the ahuizotls drowned the men on dry land. All that was left when the ahuizotls were done were empty skins. Norrix rolled them like carpets and stuffed them under a couch in another room. The pack left him, and he figured they could take care of themselves.

Norrix opened the fancy doors and slipped into a combination throne room and library. One side of the room held a golden throne. On the other, books, scrolls, parchments and tablets lined floor to ceiling shelves. An open door led into a bedroom. Norrix tracked the scent of apples to a closet in the bedroom. A smaller door at the back of the closet led into a tiny room. No, this was a cell. It contained a cot, a table, and a candle. Myth's scent saturated the room. This was where the Scorpion-Mage imprisoned his Draga, but not her daughter. There was no secondary scent here.

Curling his hands into fists Norrix tried to channel the rage coursing through him into something he could use. Myth was kept in a closet, like she was nothing more than an accessory.

Maybe Norrix could figure out what the Mage was up to and ruin his plans before taking Myth and her daughter away from this place.

Crossing back to the desk in the outer room, Norrix scanned through the scrolls and books piled on the desk, the languages slowly translating themselves in his head. It stood to reason having them at hand would indicate their importance. They all had to do with astronomy, specifically eclipses. What was the connection between the black knife and an eclipse? An eclipse that would be happening tomorrow afternoon. He should know. Would know if he could recall everything he'd Witnessed when he liked.

He concentrated on eclipses. His head spun with half forgotten memories. A war. He'd seen a war stopped by an eclipse. He'd seen astronomers beheaded when they failed to predict an eclipse. He'd seen a ship captain use an eclipse to his advantage when he successfully predicted one, intimidating the natives into feeding his men. Lygos fell during an eclipse. No, that was wrong. It was Byzantion. No, Constantinople. His mind spun off, trying to order the names with the place and event. Constantinople. It was Constantinople when it fell.

Was Aztlan going to fall? Did the Mage need the knife to prevent that? That didn't seem right either. His Witness powers told him this place was expectant, but it didn't feel like Aztlan was on the verge of rebellion.

Norrix blew out a frustrated breath, resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall, and tried to focus on Aztlan. He scanned the books and scrolls as he wracked his faulty memory for everything he'd Witnessed in Aztlan before.

He had to go back to a beginning, start from a fixed point. When was the first time he'd come to Aztlan? He needed a fixed point prior to that.

"But what is past the river, Mama?"

"Nothing you need to worry about."

"But-"

His mother threw her hands in the air. "Don't start asking me your endless 'why' questions. Go outside. I have work to do."

Norrix sighed and trudged out. "Don't go out at night. Don't go across the river. Don't ask about your father. Don't ask questions. Don't, don't, don't." Just because his father disappeared across the river didn't mean he would. He kicked a rock on his way to the river, walking right up to the edge and putting his toes in the water.

What was stopping him? He could cross the river here. It wasn't so deep in the dry season and he might only be eight, but knew how to forage for food.

"What do you call this place?" The man's voice startled him.

"Göbekli Tepe." Norrix stared at the man with the long beard and funny hat. People didn't come here. This place was boring. "Who are you?"

"I am Nabu, God of scribes. I write histories and stories."

"What do you mean write?"

"Oh, I forgot you don't have writing here yet. You'll have to learn to read and write."

"Where do they have it?"

Nabu waved a hand. "Another world, like this one but slightly ahead."

"Another world?"

"There are lots of other worlds."

Norrix gaped. Nabu said it like other worlds didn't matter. Norrix hadn't even seen another village, what would another world be like? Could he go to other worlds too?

"Are you planning to go across the river today?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

"Good. I'm on time then. You aren't like the rest of your clan. You're curious and have questions about everything. I need someone to travel and bring me eyewitness accounts about events so I can document them. I will make you my Witness." He touched his fingers to Norrix's forehead. "Come with me. The first thing you Witness will be a volcanic eruption and supernova that starts an ice age and makes several species extinct."

It sounded like the perfect job, but Norrix hadn't realized at the time what that meant. At first flitting from place to place Witnessing inventions, wars, the rise and fall of kings, natural phenomena, and even other worlds, was exciting and he'd given little thought to his old life. When he returned home though, decades had passed. Everyone he'd known was dead, nothing was familiar and Göbekli Tepe was gone.

Too early. He'd be here for hours if he started from that point. He needed another beginning.

Norrix mumbled, trying to repeat everything in a pattern he could remember. Where was he supposed to go? Nabu wanted him to Witness something new, but what? And where?

He stumbled and fell, not bothering to get up. Holding his knees to his chest he rocked, trying to soothe himself into a rhythm he could chant to. It was harder and harder to remember everything. Sometimes he couldn't remember anything.

People came and went, but he didn't let them interrupt his monologue until Nabu showed up. Nabu, the father figure in his life, who had offered Norrix everything he thought he wanted when he was too young to understand what it would cost. Sometimes he hated Nabu, but the next time he saw something he'd never seen before he forgot his hatred and Witnessed it.

"Nabu, what have you done to the poor boy?" A woman with lilac colored eyes and long black hair knelt before him. A man with gold hair and blue eyes stood behind her.

Nabu snorted. "The boy is older than you."

"He was young when you took him. He doesn't look any older than ten. You couldn't wait for him to grow up?" The woman sat next to him and gathered him into her arms. "I'm Selene."

Norrix couldn't remember the last time he'd been held like his mother had cuddled him when he was a boy. He snuggled into her embrace. "I was eight winters."

"The boy wasn't meant to grow up. Humans didn't live long twelve thousand years ago. That's why she let me have him. He was supposed to die the day I found him."

Had he been the Witness for twelve thousand years?

"She?" The tall man asked.

"Yes, I'm sure you've met her. The woman with two-colored eyes."

"Oh. Her." The tall man sounded like he didn't like that woman. Norrix knew that woman with two colors in her eyes. She saved him, but not the day he met Nabu.

Norrix shuddered. He'd meant to cross the river the day, in spite of his mother warning him not to. Wrapping his arms around Selene he buried his face in her neck. He'd never felt so like the small boy he was that day or missed his mother so much. "I want to stay with you but everybody dies. I Witness death all the time."

"We're not human. We won't age and die like humans do," the woman promised.

The blue-eyed man spoke. "He's still human and he's dying. How long has he been like this? Where is his family?"