The Hour of Dust and Ashes cm-3 Read online

  It swung around, the tail hitting me and Bryn square in the back, sending us flying. I gulped a mouthful of sand. It flew into my nostrils and eyes. I couldn’t scream her name or see where she ended up.

  I landed on my belly with a soft thud.

  “Get these bands off me!” Bryn shouted to my right.

  I wiped at my eyes, crawling to her. But I couldn’t risk setting her free, even if she could work magic to help us. Solomon had a death wish and I wasn’t about to let my sister going running into the jaws of a sand lizard.

  I could hardly see, could barely run in the sand. Couldn’t do much of anything without my weapons. But I did have power. Power inside of me and all around me.

  Sandy tears ran down my cheeks as my body tried to shed the hard grains from my eyes. I dove inside of myself, to the very core of my darkest power, to the energy I always tried to ignore and suppress.

  Fuck. It hurt. It burned. It took over, swamping me. This power was in its element. Its home. And it was harsher and more vivid than anything I’d experienced so far.

  A scream tore from my scratchy throat as it broke free of its chain like a savage dog, bursting through my chest and flying down both arms and into my hands. I cast my scorching hands toward the sounds of the creature.

  I fell back onto Bryn. Drained and trembling.

  Something landed with an oomph beside us.

  “Jesus Christ, Charlie! Try hitting your target next time!” It was Rex.

  “I can’t see, you moron!”

  “Here.” He grabbed my hand and turned me in the right direction. “You might want to hurry because your partner is about to be lizard snack.”

  “I used it all,” I cried, my vision clearing somewhat. “I’m tapped out.”

  “No you’re not, Charlie,” Bryn’s voice came from behind me. Her arms came down over my head and shoulders to hug me, her wrists still shackled. “Use me, draw from me and Solomon.” Her voice shook. Her body was trembling all over.

  “But …”

  “He’s weak, Charlie. After opening the portal and getting me to … kill.” She shook her head and her voice went sharper. “Just do it!”

  “Hurry!” Rex yelled, running away from us and toward the battle.

  I closed my eyes and gathered again, from my core like I was used to, but also from the energy wrapping around me, linking me to another. I gathered, pulled like a thin, starving creature, sucking it all, taking it all. I had no idea how I was doing it. Instinct? Necessity? Desperation?

  Bryn screamed, her shudders filtering into me, and I no longer knew where her screams ended and mine began. When I couldn’t hold any more, my eyes opened, I threw out my palms, and gave it all to the mass in front of me.

  A high-pitched screech. Sand falling like rain. Panting.

  “You got it!” Rex called.

  Bryn and I fell back. I had no idea what got it meant, but as long as the thing was down I didn’t care.

  “Where’s Brim? Is he okay?” I shimmied from Bryn’s hold and pushed my palms deep into the sand to rise.

  Before Rex could answer, a loud screech filled the air above us. The nithyn. My vision cleared enough for me to see the dark shadows circling above us. My legs wobbled as I stood. I pulled my Nitro-gun as the ground began to rise up beneath me.

  Another sand lizard emerged from the ground, lifting me off my feet and onto its back, coming between me and my sister. I lost my balance and rolled off the creature, landing on my side with a jarring thud. I struggled to rise; my only thought was my sister. “BRYN!”

  “No, Rex! Get Bryn to the portal!”

  He slid to a stop, glanced behind me, and hesitated. “Go east!” he shouted. “Follow the ridge! We’ll aim for the cell block at the station!” Then he turned and ran after Bryn.

  A shadow fell. Oh shit. I turned slowly to see the lizard’s large head poised over me.

  And then I was tackled by Hank as the creature dove for me. We rolled, his hand grabbed mine, and we were up and running. Away from Bryn, toward another ridge of rocks.

  Brim shot past us, running hard. The sand vibrated, and I knew the lizard had gone under again.

  A nithyn dove for us. We dropped to our stomachs. It missed, angled its body, and flew back up to circle again. Another was hot on Brim’s heels, flying low to the ground behind him, gaining. I fired my gun as Hank turned and fired into the sky. My shot missed the body but hit the wing. The nithyn screamed, turned, and slammed into the sand. As soon as it did, the others descended upon it, attacking. Christ. They were cannibals. As soon as one of theirs was injured, it was anything goes. From pack to prey in an instant.

  We made it to the rocks in a simultaneous leap. My calves and thighs burned. My lungs were on fire. The sand lizard rose up and hissed. We sailed over the smaller rocks, leapt up a bigger one, and then hit unexpected air.

  Oh God. My arms pinwheeled. Blackness enveloped us as we fell screaming into a black hole.

  Seconds of dark, weightless panic passed.

  I slammed into rock. The force caused my legs to buckle. My knee slammed into my face. Every bone hit and bruised and broke on rock as I tumbled. Wave after wave of blinding pain stole my breath. Amid it all, I heard grunts, bone breaking, thuds, and gasps. Brim’s claws scraping … a cry.

  My skull cracked on a rock. The force of the blow sent my body swinging around, airborne, and then I hit one last time on my side and slid into a hard barrier in a heap of broken bones.

  A sob broke past my busted lips.

  The only thing that reached me through the haze of excruciating pain was the sound of my gasping breaths, loud and echoing, in the darkness, and Hank’s muttered “Fucking hell” before I sank into oblivion.

  * * *

  The dripping of water was the first thing my waking mind processed. Slowly my other senses kicked in. The air was cooler and damper here.

  My head ached. My torso was on fire from what had to be several broken ribs. The left side of my body had taken the brunt—left arm and leg possibly fractured. Three fingers on my right hand were bent at an odd angle.

  Hot tears leaked from my swollen eyes. My exposed skin was raw and scratched, clothing ripped in places. I had no idea how long I’d been out, but I did recognize the healing process had aeady begun.

  A series of coughs gripped my sore throat, every push of muscle causing extraordinary pain.

  After several minutes, I pushed up enough to lean my back against the wall I’d slammed into. I grabbed my fingers with my left hand and prepared to reset the dislocated ones.

  I set them right one after the other, crying out each time I did. Nausea gripped me hard by the time I got to the last one, and I had to force down the urge to puke before shoving that final knuckle back into place.

  I must’ve fallen back into a state of healing because the next thing I knew, Hank was kneeling beside me, speaking Elysian in a near whisper. His flashlight lay beside me, creating a soft glow in the pitch darkness. I ached. Everything was stiff, but the intense pain of earlier had receded.

  Heat engulfed me. My nose was stuffy from crying.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, kiddo, I’ll live. Looks like we fell into some kind of cave or ravine. There’s water nearby. Can you walk?”

  “I don’t know. Where’s Brim?”

  “He’s by the water.”

  “Is he … dead?”

  “No. He’s not dead, Charlie.”

  My eyelids fell in relief. Thank you, God. I grabbed for his arm. “We have to get to that portal.”

  With Hank’s help, I pushed to my feet inch by punishing inch. My vision wavered as angry pain screamed through my hip. The scent of blood reached my nose. My wounds were a nasty concoction of congealing blood and sand.

  Hank’s arm slid under mine. “This way.” His touch set off my mark, and his deep voice bouncing around the cavern walls gave a little extra jolt to my system; though I felt it on the inside, it did little to help the scratch of san
d through my wounds as I walked. It filled my boots, my clothes. It was everywhere.

  I smelled the water before the flashlight beamed over the surface of the shallow pool. Beyond the pool the water trailed into a ravine, and moonlight filtered in at gaps in the rocks above. It looked as though, once upon a time, an underground river had cut out the caves beneath the ridge above, leaving deep grooves in the rocks.

  Brim lay by the edge of the pool, panting. He lifted his head when we approached, saw us, and then returned to his position.

  The water was a godsend. My mouth watered for a taste as Hank led me to the edge of the pool and I noticed that his feet were bare and his hair was wet.

  “The water is drinkable over there where it’s coming in from the rock,” he said. “I’ve already washed up in the pool and got most of the sand from my clothes. I healed you some while you were unconscious, but I’m wiped out and need to regenerate before I can do more. You need help?”

  “No. I’m fine.” I went to bend down, but pain shot through my torso so fast I swayed. Shit. My eyes burned and my dry throat grew thick. I wanted so badly to get to the water, but it hurtoo much.

  I blinked rapidly, not realizing until he spoke that Hank was kneeling in front of me. “Put your hand on my shoulder so you don’t fall.”

  I frowned, but did as he asked. And then it became clear as he gently placed one hand on my calf while the other pulled off my boot. Sand rained onto the ground. It took all my willpower to stay on my feet as each movement threatened to buckle my legs.

  After my feet were bare, he stood. “We’re going to need to move soon, but you’ve got sand everywhere and you’ll heal faster without it rubbing your wounds raw. You can’t get in there with your clothes on. They’ll never dry and will be hell to get back on.”

  “Take them off, I don’t care,” I said. Modesty didn’t factor at that point. Neither did romance. We were battered and bruised, sweaty and ripe. And Hank had seen most of me before anyway, just recently after my visit with Nivian and then Emain. “This is becoming a habit,” I mumbled as he removed my pants and I tensed in pain.

  He chuckled softly. “No doubt. And a bad one at that. God forbid I ever get to do this when you’re not wounded or half dead …”

  I smiled.

  Hank removed my belt, my sidearm, and then my pants, which I stepped out of very carefully while holding on to both of his shoulders.

  He straightened, eyeing me with concern. “Can you manage lifting your arms?”

  I winced, knowing it would hurt like hell. “Not really. But my jacket and shirt are full of sand. It’s even in my armpits. Let’s get it over with so we can catch up to Rex and Bryn.”

  He smiled.

  “Brave girl.”

  “If you say so.”

  Carefully Hank peeled off my jacket, my weapons harness, and then waited as I sucked in a readying breath, gritted my teeth, and lifted my arms. He made quick work of my shirt. Sweat was rolling off me, tears streamed down my face, and I was shaking. My arms fell limp at my sides, the action causing even more pain.

  Hank leaned down and rolled his pants legs up and then held out his hand.

  And I froze.

  The way he stood there … hair wet, a busted lip, his cheek scraped raw, a bruise shadowing beneath his eyes, yet strength and power still radiated from him … And holding his hand out to me. The image seemed suspended as though my brain decided to pause and take a snapshot.

  Then it was over almost as soon as it began. My chest ached and I wasn’t all that sure it was because of my wounds. Feeling exhausted and foggy, I slid my hand into his. His fingers closed around mine, warm and strong, feeding me some of his healing power, though I knew he had very little left.

  Once my foot hit the cool water, I sighed. The cold wrapped around my skin, easing the burn of scrapes and hurts. Hank walked me to a ledge where I could hold on while going deeper into the pool, then he left me alone so I could soak in the water and rub the grit, sweat, blood, and sand from my body. Bra and underwear were completely soakedthrough, but I didn’t care.

  Feeling better, I headed for the water coming in from the rock crevice, cupped my hands, and brought water to my lips. It was heaven.

  After I drank my fill I turned. Brim had finally gotten to his feet and Hank was shaking out my clothing and had our weapons set out in a line on one of the rocks. No doubt having cleaned them of sand the best he could.

  I guessed if I was going to be stranded in a hot desert world, he wasn’t a bad guy to have on my side.

  Brim walked into the water as I walked out. I patted his head and approached my clothes. Hank kept his eyes averted and worked on brushing sand from his thigh harness and then strapped it back on. He had his socks and shoes back on, too.

  I dressed as quickly as I could and had more of an issue with the smell of my clothes and the blood than I did with the pain of getting back into them.

  “If we keep walking beneath this ridge, we should be going parallel with our original track. Rex said to head east.”

  I grabbed my belt. “Thanks.”

  He glanced up, his hands still around his thigh.

  “For the …” I threw a hand toward the water.

  A smile that he tried to suppress drew across his lips and he shook his head. “Anytime, Madigan.”

  “So how good are you at directions?” I asked, easing into my shoulder harness.

  “Compass.” He held up a dagger that I hadn’t seen him take from the station. It had a nice little sheath along with the firearm at his thigh. The end of it contained a dome.

  “We’re not exactly home,” I pointed out.

  “All three worlds have poles, different ones, sure, but this has a compass for each of them. See?” He turned a small lever and the dome rolled to reveal another one.

  “Okay, survivor man, I’m impressed. You ready to go?”

  He shoved the dagger into the sheath and grabbed his jacket. “We’ll just make sure we’re on an easterly track. The ruins hopefully won’t be hard to miss.”

  Despite the dim light, I didn’t miss his look. It was iffy at best. We were out in the sand flats without our guide, neither one of us having been here before. Separated from my little sister … Another snapshot rose up in front of me.

  Bryn as a kid, sitting on the living room floor in her nightgown watching Saturday morning cartoons, her stuffed turtle in her lap—Turdy.

  What started out as “Turty” had quickly become “Turdy” … Connor and I always had a good laugh about that. My heart constricted with the memory of my brother.

  And Bryn.

  Seeing her as a cold-blooded murderer, blood on her hands. It was a sight I’d never forget.

  “You know it wasn’t Bryn,” Hank said.

  height="0em" width="1em">“She doesn’t deserve this, Hank. On top of everything else … it’s too much.”

  “You’d be surprised at what people can handle, Charlie. Look at you. All that’s happened … and yet you continue on. You’re one of the strongest people I have ever met here or in Elysia. And Bryn is cut from the same cloth. She’ll get through this, too.”

  I nodded and wiped at the corner of one eye, watching Brim walk from the pool and then shake his big body. Water and slobber went flying in all directions. “You gonna tell me what those sirens were doing at the gate?”

  For a second, I didn’t think he’d answer.

  “Well, I’d guess they were there to take me home.”

  “Back to Elysia? Why?”

  He shrugged and picked up another pebble from the ledge, turning it over in his hands. He threw it into the water. “Because I am a traitor.”

  17

  “What?” I turned to face him. “What do you mean, traitor?”

  No. Maybe I wasn’t conscious yet. Maybe I was still out cold and healing and this was just some weird-ass dream. I snorted a laugh and pinched the bridge of my nose, then rubbed a hand down my face, avoiding the tender spots.

  �
�I don’t … understand,” I finally managed. How the hell could Hank be a traitor? There was no way in hell. I knew him. “Hank, you’re no traitor. Even I kn—”

  “No, you don’t know, Charlie.” He whistled for Brim, turned, and strode off with parting words. “You don’t know anything about me.”

  Alessandra’s words came back to haunt me then. You never truly know another, what they’re capable of.

  Did I ever think Will was capable of leading a double life? No. I also didn’t think the same of Hank. But maybe he was right. I didn’t know a damn thing about his past or why he’d come to Atlanta.

  I finished arming myself, then grabbed my jacket and limped off after him, ignoring the soreness and the pain, determined that my instincts were right this time. “I know enough,” I said, catching up to him. “You’re not a traitor, Hank.” I grabbed his arm. “And if someone thinks you are, then they don’t know you like I do.”

  My touch drew him to a stop. He stared into the blackness ahead of us. I watched Brim for a few seconds and then asked, “Will we have another fight on our hands when we get back?”

  That seemed to knock him out of his thoughts. “You’d fight?”

  “Yes,” I answered, confounded that he’d think otherwise.

  “Not knowing the circumstances? Even if I was a traitor, a fugitive?”

  “You’ve fought for Emma, for me, and now for Bryn … Ofrse I’d fight. Look, whatever happened … I bet you had a damn good reason for what you did or whatever those sirens think you did.” I paused. “Why do they think you’re a traitor?”

  Part of me was cringing inside and hoping to hell he didn’t say something I couldn’t overlook. I wanted at least one hero in my life, one guy who had some honor and dignity. One guy who could open up and tell me the truth. That would be nice, too, I thought darkly as I waited for an explanation that obviously was not coming.

  I shoved my stiff arms into my torn jacket and pushed past him. “We should get moving.”

  “Charlie.”

  Exasperated, I stopped. “Look, just forget it, okay? If you don’t want to share, you don’t want to share.” I whistled to Brim and skirted the pool to follow the path of the running water down the ravine.