The Fifth City (26 page)

Forty One

The girl named Viktoria led Sylvia into a small room and shut the door.  Inside, a table took up most of the room, with a chair on either side.  They both sat.

Sylvia’s stomach jumped nervously, and she was keenly aware of her racing heartbeat.  She still had no idea what this Trial would entail.  She slid her hands down the cold metal armrests of the chair and waited.

After she had woken at dawn, Oliver had taken her on the train, headed away from the rising sun, to the west.  He told her Atlan had left early, at the firm request of Lady Naomi.  Sylvia had hoped she would get to see him before the Trial started, maybe when she got off the train.

She hadn’t known what to expect when they arrived at the shore; a grand castle, a towering cliff, or a seaside stage were all viable options.

But it was merely a plain stone building, perched on the high western cliff, the sea far below them, waves crashing on the rocks out of sight.  No crowd waited, much to Sylvia’s relief; only what looked like the families of the other initiates, most of which were heading down a wide set of stairs that led below-ground into the building.

Sylvia had wiped her palms nervously on her leggings as she and Oliver descended the stairs.  They fell in behind Emrick, the initiate highest in the ranks, accompanied by his father. 

Emrick reached the bottom of the stairs and was immediately met by the Keeper of the Trials herself, Lady Dorhni.  Sylvia perked up her ears and listened as Thea assigned one of her aides to escort Emrick to an examination room.  Her stomach churned.  An examination?

As she watched Emrick head down the left corridor, she thought she spied Atlan entering a room behind a short, stocky woman—but then the Keeper of the Trials cleared her throat, and Sylvia’s head swiveled back to the present.

“Sylvia Thorne, please follow Viktoria to your testing room,” Thea had said, and immediately a woman with dark skin and even darker hair appeared, ready to escort Sylvia.  Her disappointment in missing Atlan was overwhelmed by a wave of nerves.

Oliver had given her a wave goodbye, wishing her luck, and she had followed the woman down the right hallway to begin her Trial, to the tiny room they sat in now.

Viktoria slid a small silver box across the table.  Sylvia recognized the box, because it was just like the one her earlink had come in.  She raised an eyebrow.

“This is a special earlink,” the girl told her.  “The one you will use to complete the Trial.”  She nodded at Sylvia to take it.  Sylvia reached out and slid the box closer.

“You will connect to it just like a regular earlink,” she instructed.  “It will then present you with a puzzle.  You will be judged on how well you complete the puzzle, and the choices you make to finish.”

Sylvia nodded and opened the box, hands a little shaky, her thoughts swirling as she wondered what kind of puzzle it would be.

Viktoria continued.  “You cannot leave the room until the puzzle is complete, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Sylvia muttered.  She felt odd being instructed like this.  The other Trials had been so much more…theatrical.  This felt like a lesson.

Viktoria’s chair slid back with a metal screech as she stood.  “Good luck,” she offered neutrally, before leaving the room and shutting the door.

The walls of the small room pressed in around her.  She picked up the earlink, identical to hers except for its slightly darker hue.

She plucked the one out of her ear, shattering the connection she had held all morning.  After tucking it into her shirt pocket, she picked up the new earlink and popped it in her ear just like she usually did.

In a matter of seconds she made the familiar snap-to-the-side feeling in her brain.  It felt slightly different than usual, like it was snapping in the other direction, which put her on the alert.  Nothing was ever simple in Seascape.

A thought of the Four Cities chose that moment to surface, reminding Sylvia that if she didn’t pass this Trial, she would get no help from Lady Naomi.  She shook her head to clear it. 
There’s no use in dwelling on that right now
, she scolded herself. 
Just solve the puzzle and get it over with.

She waited, connected to the foreign earlink, waiting for the puzzle to present itself, like Viktoria had said it would.

A distant boom of thunder sounded from above.  It must be close, she was surprised she could hear it so far underground.  There had been clouds on the horizon, but perhaps the wild sea winds had flown the storm in from afar.  She turned her thoughts inward again, and waited.

Suddenly, something swam up to her mind through the earlink.  The puzzle.  She turned her attention to the data, blocking out the sounds of the coming storm.

But before she could figure out what the puzzle was, the distinct smell of smoke drifted under the door, and Sylvia’s eyes snapped open.

Her chair slid back with an awful screech as she stood. 
What was going on?

Thunder boomed again, this time sounding even closer.

Sylvia went to the door, but paused with her hand on the knob.  Viktoria had said not to leave the room until the Trial was done.  If she didn’t complete the Trial, she couldn’t get help for Meadowcity.  She was almost drawn back to the table.

But she could smell fire, she was sure of it.

A third boom made Sylvia turn the door handle.  Smoke was now rolling under the door.  She had no choice.  Something was wrong.

She bolted out of her examination room, and Oliver nearly collided with her.  His eyes were wide with panic, making Sylvia’s stomach turn to stone.

“They’re here,” he cried, as he grabbed Sylvia’s arm and pulled her in the direction of the stairs.

Before she could ask who, she heard the sound that had echoed through her nightmares for months; the sound of stone grinding as it was blasted apart, the sound of the earth shattering and erupting into flames.

The sound of Skycity’s bombs.

Forty Two

This way,” Oliver shouted as they reached the stairs.
He yanked her up the first step as she gawped around, trying to figure out what was going on.

“But—why didn’t the drones see them coming? What about the defenses?” she sputtered.

Sylvia was baffled.  How could Seascape have let Greyling’s army get so close?  Lady Naomi had been plain cocky about being able to fend off the Scouts.

Her head swiveled back down the steps as they rose, searching for the fire.  Smoke clouded the dark halls, and the doors to the other rooms had also been flung open.  Her thighs cried out as she and Oliver raced up the steps.  He was practically pulling her up.

The battle had finally come to Seascape.

Halfway up, another blast sounded, making the stairs themselves shake.  Sylvia’s veins were filling with adrenaline, the Trial forgotten entirely.

She couldn’t believe Greyling had come here at last. 
Maybe now Seascape would take a more aggressive stance instead of just letting it happen,
she thought callously as they reached the top of the stairs.

All around was chaos.  Initiates and their families were screaming or crying or shouting obscenities; some were pointing over the cliff, to the water they couldn’t see.  Greyling must have finally gotten his boats.

She scanned through the crowd, looking for Atlan.  Where was he?  Surely he had heard the bombs. 
Maybe he’s already on the train?

Oliver was pulling on her arm again, away from the building.  The train wasn’t far off, and it was humming and looked ready to go.  People were piling into it; stumbling over each other to get on.

“We have to get back to Castle Tenny,” Oliver ordered.

Sylvia wavered.

“Wait,” she cried.  “We need to find Atlan!”

“There’s no time!” Oliver bellowed as another round of explosions went off, throwing them to the ground.

The explosion loosened her from Oliver’s grip.  She dug her palms into the ground and got up, running away, stumbling through the crowd until she got her bearings.  She passed Nerissa and Sirena running to the train, clutching each other, faces tear-stained and sooty from the smoke.  She saw Emrick, Bryant and Colin emerge from the stairs and start jogging inland to meet their families.  But she couldn’t find Atlan anywhere.

Oliver caught up with her.

“The train is leaving, Sylvia—we have to go!” he demanded.  His face was red, and his normally tidy hair all askew.

“I can’t!” Sylvia cried, then her eyes darted to the stairs.

She ran for it.

“Sylvia, come back!”

Down the steps she dashed.  Only a few more people were headed back up, not a one of them Atlan.

Another boom shook the building.  She closed her eyes as she waited for it to pass, clutching the railing to keep her upright.  She waited a second after the blast was over before she started running again.

Terror fled through her as she remembered her escape of Riftcity—the way the bombs had obliterated the earth and rock, and the potent fires they created.

She turned left at the bottom of the stairs and sped down the smoky corridor.  She flung open the first door she encountered, but it was empty.

Thick smoke was filling the corridor, billowing towards her from further down the hall.  She didn’t have much time.

The next room was empty too.  And the next.  She ripped open each door; each second her vision became more and more clouded with smoke, and her lungs found it harder and harder to breathe.  But she had to find him.  It was
Atlan
.

The smoke was coming from further down the corridor; and the crackle of flames told her where the fire was hidden before she came upon it.  And then she heard it.

Atlan.

Yelling.  Screaming for help.

Her heart wrenched.  Through the flames and down the hall; that’s where he was.

She could see a door cracked open by a fallen beam, aflame amid the rest of the burning hallway.  Sylvia choked on the smoke, and doubled over as her eyes began to water fiercely.

Atlan was down there.

She brought her shirt to her nose so she could breathe.  She wiped the tears from her eyes and squinted, just enough to see through.  The flames had risen up the walls on either side, and were devouring the beam that had falling diagonally across the hall.

She would have to run between the flames, and jump the beam to get to Atlan.  He must be trapped.

There was no time.  She did the only thing she could think of.  She ran.

She sprinted down the hall, and the flames reached out to snatch her, their fiery fingers burning her skin.  The acrid scent of burnt hair reached her nose.  Her hands flew to her head in a moment of panic.  Her hair was singed on one side, but no longer aflame.  So she leapt on, down the hall, and through the flaming gauntlet.

Another blast shook the hall, throwing her to the side, and making her smack her shoulder into a fiery wall.  She shrieked in pain as she pulled away.

The heat made the air swim before her eyes as she sought the door.  The ceiling beams inside the room had fallen too, perhaps trapping Atlan underneath them.  She just needed to get over the one that had fallen in the doorway to get into the room.  But those flames had risen much higher.

She couldn’t turn back now.

With a smoke filled breath, and with a burst of energy, she jumped over the beam, launching herself through the doorway.  The flames scorched her feet, sending searing pain up through her legs.

She landed with a crash, and opened her eyes.

She was sitting in her examination room.

No fire.  No smoke.  No Atlan.

Viktoria sat across from her, a grin spread from ear to ear.