The Yanti (41 page)

“I could slow down for your sake.”

“When do we have to be at Shasta?”

“The sooner the better.”

“Why?”

“Your ex has a nuclear bomb and she’s itching to set it off.”

“God.”

“I said the same thing.”

“You’ve seen this bomb?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Then you have to take me there now. You can’t make two trips.”

He was right, Ali thought.

“What can I put you in that would make you feel safe?”

Hector considered. “A deep-sea diving bell. They’re usually attached to long thick cables. They can withstand incredible pressure. But you’d still have to be careful not to rock me around too much.” He added, “They weigh a ton. Can you handle that?”

“Don’t worry about the weight. Where can I get one?”

“They don’t exactly sell them in stores.”

“Where can I
steal
one?”

Hector paused. “There’s a ship designed for deep-sea exploration in Seattle’s main harbor. It has two high-pressure bells aboard. But the place will be swarming with security.”

“Where should I bring the bell?”

“You know the park outside of Toule? Just before you enter town?”

Ali nodded. “Hansons Park. Are you sure it will be empty?”

“Yeah. Contractors I’m working with have just torn it all apart. There should be no one there.” He paused. “When should I be there?”

“In forty minutes.”

“What if you run into trouble?”

“Listen, after what I’ve been through today, I’m not worried about harbor security.” She added, “Hector?”

“What?”

“Lucy is not the Lucy you used to know.”

“In the car, driving back to town, Nira said the same thing.”

“What did she say exactly?”

“She said, ‘Father, if you see her, she might kill you.’ ” Hector added, “She meant if I went after her.”

“But Nira’s right. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes. I need to confront her. And ask her why. Just that.”

“You might not like the answer you get,” she warned.

Ali met with only a slight delay in Seattle. As she was ripping apart the cable that attached to the deep-sea diving bell, she was approached by two armed guards. Since she was doing all this with her bare hands, they drew their guns on her before asking any questions.

“I need to borrow this bell,” she said. “But I’ll bring it back later.”

One guard shook his gun nervously. “Stop what you’re doing! Put your hands on top of your head!”

Ali smiled at him, stared him in the eye, expanded her magical field. “Stop. Lie down and close your eyes. Go to sleep.” She glanced at the other guard. “You, too. Lie down and rest. Don’t wake up for two hours. And forget I was ever here.”

The guards lay down and went immediately to sleep.

Ali was a bit disconcerted to discover how heavy the diving bell was. It was more like
two
tons. It took her longer than she planned to reach Hansons Park. As she set the bell down in the trees, out of sight from the road, Hector stared at it with more than mild trepidation.

“Is there any chance you might drop me?” he asked.

Ali groaned as she rubbed her shoulder. “I am kind of beat.”

Hector saw she was not kidding. “You already saw her today?”

“Yes.”

“How did it go?”

“Badly.”

“What makes you think you’re going to do better this time around?”

Ali grew serious. “I honestly don’t know. But we’re out of time. And for the first time, I can feel the same is true in the other world. Doren’s about to attack Geea. We’re going to have to go after Lucy, and we’re going to have to do it now.”

“Is there anything—anything at all—that can improve our odds?”

“Maybe you could kiss her or something.”

“Ali . . .”

She suddenly held up her hand. “Wait a second! Mt. Shasta! I was thinking about this earlier. My mother took me there as a child.”

“So?”

“She took me there without my father!”

“So?”

“We never went on vacation without my dad. Plus I was real small at the time, she had to carry me a long way up the side of the mountain. And she had a package in her arms.”

“What was in it?”

Ali was thinking. “I remember she buried it on the mountain near a cave . . . Yeah! The cave intrigued me, and I told her I wanted to go inside, but she said I would have to wait until I was older. But when the time was right, I would dig up the package and go inside that cave!”

“Was your mother psychic or something?”

Ali nodded. “She has special gifts no one else has.”

“What do you think is in the package?” Hector asked.

Ali smiled. “I have a pretty good idea.”

Geea killed at least two hundred drones before finally admitting they were not going to stop the monsters with ordinary fairy magic—even with an army of dragons at their backs. There were simply too many drones, and the dragons were dying at too fast a rate. Some were simply fleeing, even though Drash tried his best to set a good example by leading the way in the fight. But Geea herself told Drash it was unfair that so many of the dragons should die for the sake of the others. It was a quandary.

Plus, there was trouble on the ground. The majority of the elementals had reached Uleestar, but there were still plenty trapped in the surrounding woods of Karolee. With the drones gaining the upper hand in the air, Doren had unleashed her armies of marked thralls and ravenous scaliis. She had also blasted the cave on Tutor back open. Dark fairies were pouring out on massive clouds of black smoke, their fire stones sending red stabs through the already burning heavens.

Ironically, the drones often attacked and devoured the dark fairies—they were not exactly discriminating eaters—but such mishaps did nothing to deter Doren’s forces. Geea ordered Drash to signal the dragons to retreat to Denzy.

“They’re to lock themselves inside until the threat of the drones has passed,” Geea said. Drash nodded that he understood. He dropped them off at Uleestar before flying away to spread the message.

“Is that wise?” Ra asked as they walked toward the palace. “The drones will just attack Uleestar.”

“I want them to attack Uleestar.”

Ra was stunned. “Why?”

“You’ll see.”

“I would rather be told than to be kept in suspense.”

Geea smiled. “Just like Jira.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Why not?”

“Next you’ll be wanting another kiss.”

Geea laughed as if there were no war. “You wish! Human!”

“So you are prejudiced, after all!”

“Only when it comes to skinny African boys who insist on calling my dear Ali a fat American.”

“She told you I said that?”

Geea gave him a knowing look. “I
heard
what you said.”

The dragons were only too happy to obey Geea’s order to retreat. Yet their sudden disappearance appeared to confuse Doren. Perhaps anticipating a trick, she did not immediately order a strike on Uleestar. Geea was pleased for the delay. It gave her a chance to address the heads of the other elemental forces: Lord Vak, Lord Balar, General Tapor, and even the trolls’ leader, who called himself Lord Loaf.

“We’re going to retreat to beneath the palace. To where Tiena used to be. The cavern’s mostly dry by now. It can hold us all comfortably. We will fight as we retreat, as if we’re being pushed back against our will. But we’ll bring supplies—water and food. Then, when we’re safely in the cave, I’ll seal the known entrances to the underground harbor. The enemy will rejoice at having taken our city. They’ll think they’ve won.”

“If Uleestar falls, they will have won,” Lord Vak said.

“Not at all. I have a plan. Trust me,” Geea said.

“Don’t ask,” Ra warned his father. “It’ll be a waste of time.”

As the last dragon vanished, Doren apparently changed her mind, and the attack intensified. The dark fairies, the scabs,
the drones, the scaliis, and the marked thralls were now all concentrated on Uleestar. The rushing waters of Lestre, pouring around all sides of the fairy capital, slowed them down but it did not stop them. Soon it was no longer a question of it being Geea’s strategy. The elementals were simply forced back.

Ra oversaw the bulk of the retreat. He did not want to go underground until he was sure that most were safe. Lord Vak noticed his reluctance to flee and complimented him on the fact.

“You must have a brave Earth father, to have taught you so well,” Lord Vak said.

“My father died when I was young. I was raised by an uncle. But he was a powerful
chimvi
—what you would call a sorcerer. He raised me to face my fears.”

Lord Vak nodded. “Perhaps, all these years, I’ve been wrong to judge humans so harshly. Even if you were not my son, I see you as someone I could consider a friend.”

“Thank you,” Ra said.

Lord Vak frowned. “It is just that humans cause the Earth so much pain—pain we feel here as well. Your people seem so determined to destroy their world. It is hard for an elf to understand.”

“There’s much they could learn from you. Perhaps one day, you could come as a leader, instead of as a conqueror, and they would listen to you.”

Lord Vak stared at the swarms of approaching drones and dark fairies. Finally he nodded. “I hope we’re given a chance to see that day.”

As the drones fell on Uleestar, the first thing they did was behead many of the dark fairies, who—like gluttonous invaders—were anxious to ransack the ancient home of the fairies. It gave Ra some satisfaction to see how the enemy’s troops cared nothing for each other. But then the massive
drones began to force their way toward the palace. Geea had to grab Ra and Vak by the arms and pull them underground to Tiena’s harbor.

“Are you sure this was a good idea?” Ra asked, as they rushed down a spiral stairway he was unfamiliar with.

“There are many layers to my plan.”

“Be so kind as to share a few of them with us,” Lord Vak said gruffly.

“Fine. I’m about to set off some takor,” she said.

Lord Vak’s eyes widened. “I have heard of those. But . . .”

“It’s what Ali used to seal Tiena with,” Geea interrupted. “Now it will help us in different ways. First, it will help destroy Doren’s army. Exactly how it will do that—I want to save that surprise for you both. You will enjoy it! At the same time, it will bring Doren here.”

“How can you be sure?” Lord Vak demanded. “Her base is inside Tutor. She is safe there. She has no need to show her face.”

“I don’t just plan to wipe out her army. I’m going to wreck the palace as well, and you have no idea how much it means to Doren. She always assumed she would inherit it, but when I was crowned queen, and it was handed over to me, it ate at her night and day. That’s why—throughout this war—you’ve noticed she’s never had the dragons melt any kloudar directly over Uleestar.”

“That’s right!” Ra realized with a shock. “She’s been preserving this spot!”

Geea nodded. “She wants to rule from here. But if she hears I’ve done something to harm the palace, no matter where she is in the green world, she’ll come running.”

“But the drones
will
smash the palace,” Lord Vak said.

“On the contrary. Did you not see them lining up to protect it? Did you not see them killing the dark fairies that were
trying to burn down the gardens? Doren does not want the building seriously damaged. And she knows I’ll never damage it.” Geea added with a note of sorrow in her voice, “She thinks she knows me.”

Ra understood. “It’s hard for you to sacrifice this place.”

Geea shook her head bravely. “Lives are worth more than palaces.”

With Geea, Ra and Vak finally reached the cavern. The retreat of the elementals into the black dry riverbed of Tiena had created quite a sight. There had to be at least a million creatures—of all sizes and shapes—gathered in the gorge that had once held the famous river.

The crowd grew tense when Geea briefly left them and went partway upstairs. There she detonated a series of takor, cutting off the palace from the underground harbor. In the mass of jammed elementals, Ra saw that Lord Vak had found Lord Balar and General Tapor. The three leaders appeared displeased with the explosions.

“We’ll be penned in, with nowhere to flee,” Lord Balar growled.

“They’ll come at us from Lake Mira,” Lord Vak agreed.

“Lake Mira,” General Tapor muttered with a frown. “I think I know what she’s trying to do, but timing is critical.”

“She knows what she’s doing,” Ra said flatly.

The three leaders appeared unimpressed with his confidence. Especially when clouds of smoke and dust from takor blasts filtered down to the subterranean cavern. It was not a pleasant sound to hear a million elementals start to cough at once. Ra tore off a portion of his sleeve, put it over his mouth, using it as a mask. He had nothing to shield his eyes from the dust. For the most part, he tried to keep them shut.

But he had them open when Geea suddenly reappeared and
floated over the elemental mass, glowing with the full majesty of her shimmering green field. Pulling out her sword, she pointed toward the invisible palace above them, and when she spoke, somehow her rich voice carried to every living creature in the cave.

“The enemy thinks they have us trapped down here. Right now they’re totally focused on breaking through the temporary barrier I’ve erected. As of yet, they haven’t given any thought to the waters high in the Youli Mountains. And by the time they think of them, they will be as good as dead.”

With that, Geea suddenly turned and disappeared up the long dark cave.

North
, Ra saw. She was definitely heading for the lake.

They could only sit and wait. Ra stayed near his father. Lord Vak appeared unusually interested in hearing about the Kutus tribe that lived around Mt. Kilimanjaro.

“You say you make a living helping Americans climb to the top of the peak?”

“It is one of the many things the Kutus do in order to survive,” Ra replied.

“Your father, how did he die? Was it in battle?”

“It was during a hunt. A lion killed him.” Ra added, “To graduate as a
chimvi
, my uncle required that I slay a lion.”