An Elegy of Fate Read online

  "W-wait — no — !" He didn't have time to think before Rollond threw him into the duct. He clung to beam, and did not seem too happy about it, his lower body blown upwards.

  Rollond scooped So'yi up. She clung to him, wrapping her tail around his waist and clenched him with her hands and feet. Shortly after she was secure, he vaulted forward, and shot up into the duct, narrowly making the bar, having to forcibly push against the wind to grab it with his loose hand. He could hardly see, his eyes stinging and tearing, but he pulled himself towards Ashenzsi, and let go.

  He went up and smacked into the ceiling, scarcely able to pull himself along the smooth, cold, steely plates that separated them from the levels above. He struggled to breathe and his vision darkened. Until finally, the wind lessened, and he narrowly dropped onto a small ledge, barely laying hold on the edge.

  So'yi climbed up his arm and grabbed his wrist. She repeatedly tried to pull Rollond up, but his weight proved too much for her. But, then, as she pulled he started rising upwards onto the platform. And for a moment she grinned and hopped, leading him back towards the vent, proud that she could pull someone many times her weight — with Ashenzsi's help, as it turned out he put Rollond on his shoulders and pushed the man up.

  Once they were all on the platform, So'yi ducked down the vent. Behind her, Ashenzsi's tail swayed as he dragged Rollond's stiffening body by his wrists. The passage widened as they came into a service vent.

  "This is wonderful," Rollond managed to say between sputtering coughs and choked breaths. His strength was rolling through his body, coming and going like waves breaking on a beach. He carefully pushed past Ashenzsi and So'yi, and put his hand to the closed grating. It was big enough for him to duck and walk through, but he had not idea what was on the other side. There was a churning sound, steady and continuous, and the slosh of something wet. It could be water, it could be goop, it could be the vat the poisonous fumes came from. He doubted that though, because the grating was shut. Obviously the poison wasn't supposed to be in there.

  He leaned as his physical prowess waned, and the clarity of his vision receded further. He could not wait much longer, his senses beginning to spiral out of good use, that is, until he felt his vigor waxing back to its rightful place. It was sudden, and he almost sensed that it was being loaned to him, but that did not matter. What did was his fist. And as he balled it, he put it forward with less than his usual might, but the side of the grating bent into the room, and he punched it until it fell through.

  Down into the vat was their only choice. The churning mixer moved slowly as water poured into a thick solution. Nine tubes dipped into the vat, sucking up the same thick, viscous goop that filled the tanks.

  At a glance, Rollond thought the tubes were wide enough to snugly fit his size. And on little else but his gut feeling, he dove off of the ledge of the vent, into the vat of goop.

  Ashenzsi gritted his teeth and scowled. "You still have trust in that one?" he asked So'yi.

  She patted his shin. "As much as I do in this one." She hopped past him and dove into the vat.

  As he watched her swim to Rollond, who clung to one of the tubes, arduous disbelief gurgled in his gut: what was he doing being lead by a child? There was no sense in being concerned with it now. He hesitated, bobbing on his legs, but dove down too.

  "Through here," Rollond sputtered. The goo was so bitter he wanted to spit.

  "Where do these tubes end?" Ashenzsi asked.

  "I don't know," Rollond said. He kept his eyes on Ashenzsi's glowered face.

  "You have no clue where you're leading us, do you?"

  "I'll be fair," he said, "I don't know where I am or just how to get where I want to be. I do know the outside world is up there." Rollond pointed. "And that's where I'm going." He hardened his gaze, returning Ashenzsi's frustration. "You're still free to find your own way if you want," he said; then he ducked into the goop and entered the tube.

  So'yi went after him, leaving Ashenzsi behind. He grimaced, but took a breath and dove under. The tube sucked him up greedily, and though he tried to control how fast he went, his body was limp as if he had no bones. He could not breathe, he could not see, and the nastiest, most pungent taste crept past his lips. Soon a muffled, slurry, murky whir filled his ears. Ashenzsi clawed at the smooth tubing, but his talons slid along with him until he bumped head-first into Rollond.

  Equally blind, Rollond struggled to hold his place. He elbowed the tubing as his lungs ached furiously. He needed to breathe, and he slammed his elbow into the tubing. The rivets strained, but the metal popped open, and he nearly sliced his chin in two as he slipped down.

  Finally out of the tube, Rollond pulled So'yi up after him, and then helped Ashenzsi, who gagged, crumpled onto his knees and held his arms over his stomach before throwing up.

  "That stuff is disgusting," Rollond said between pants. "I can't imagine being cooped up in it."

  "Yes," Ashenzsi said. "I never thanked you, did I?"

  Rollond shook his head. "Huh-uh."

  Ashenzsi grinned after he caught his breath, discarding the goo-drenched strips of Rollond's shirt. "Uunan though you are," he said, as he stepped forward and placed his hand on Rollond's shoulder, "I will be honored if I may have you as my Brother."

  Rollond stared him in the eye. So all that flack was a test of his character? Or had Ashenzsi really come around? Then again, why be suspicious at all? There were plenty of opportunities for him to literally disembowel Rollond from behind, as often as he had his back turned to Ashenzsi. Yet so far, he proved to be a reluctant ally, and Rollond needed someone he could trust.

  He held out his arm, and Ashenzsi reached for his hand, but Rollond gripped him near his elbow. "A brother," Rollond said, meaning 'brother' as he understood it.

  Ashenzsi returned his gesture. "Brother," he said.

  There were certain expressions — 'words' — in Tswaa'ii that related to the kind and closeness of a bond. 'Metazanschi' meant a far-away, thin bond, like a neighbor who lived in the area but was not personally known. But the one insinuating a Brother, who did not share the blood tie, was of special significance.

  Rollond did not know what Ashenzsi meant, but the feeling was mutual.

  "So where to from here?" Ashenzsi asked.

  Rollond sighed. "Look for whatever gets us closer to the surface. You know how to alert me if you find something."

  Ashenzsi nodded.

  The network between isolated sections of the warehouse was a maze, a hectic mess. Rollond went in one direction, and Ashenzsi explored another. The network, apart from the faint hum of electrical power, was eerily silent.

  "Shenzi!" So'yi said, her straight, pointed fangs bared as she jumped at him.

  He hissed, stumbling backwards onto the floor. She hopped onto him and poked his nose with her own.

  "Don't scare me like that!" he snarled, pushing her off of him.

  She laughed. "Why is your rou'u shaken?"

  He purposely did not look her in the eyes. She would know if he granted her one direct glance. And he was sure of that because he knew So'yi, and that she always meant well. But this was all new to him, having to work with a human, especially one who could know him by his experiences, who could sense his emotions, his distresses, everything. That same human could will him to act — to move — to do things he would not normally do. Like when Rollond allowed Ashenzsi to lift his hand.

  This kind of involuntary intimacy was not only foreign, but frighteningly awkward for him.

  "Shenzi?" she asked.

  "Rollond's back that way," he said. "Go see what he wants."

  She flicked her ear and furrowed her brow. "Okay," she said, and she started for Rollond.

  Rollond sat on the floor, legs crossed, eyeing a key pad on the wall beside a door.

  Her steps were soft, her footfalls nearly silent. She poked her head under his arm and pushed her way into his lap. "I don't understand," she said, settling comfortably. "He offers you the bond, but is afra
id?"

  "Sometimes, So'yi, people do things hoping that they have a friend," Rollond said. "Your buddy doesn't know what to make of me yet, and I think he's smart for doing what he did, because I wouldn't trust a Prince either."

  She looked at him funny. "Why not?"

  "There's nothing worse than a spoiled-rotten politician." He grinned, but soon frowned.

  "I don't think you are a bad man." Her innocence radiated from her gaze, and seeped through her voice. As Rollond looked down into her large, pearly white eyes, she incited something in him: a noble thing, a proud thing. It was an abysmally deep pride — a dark, disturbing, unending pride.

  She blinked and looked down. "I don't think… Are you?"

  "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice smooth and eerily calm.

  Her ears splayed. "I — what?"

  "You were searching me out," Mokallai said, cold and disconnectedly.

  Her ears turned back.

  "Strange little thing, with your big white eyes. You ought be careful who you peer into." Mokallai tilted Rollond's head, and the white of his eyes went black. Rollond's blue irises turned a glimmering, polished gold.

  She started to shrink back from him, but he snatched her arm. So'yi squealed, jerking against his tightening grip.

  "That's a neat trick you have," he said.

  "Let him go!" she snarled.

  Mokallai chuckled, through Rollond. "How can a man let himself go? In the end we're all one and the same. I'm sure you've noticed that, with your prying, revealing eyes." He paused, as she kept her teeth bared, ready to bite chunks off of him. "Or do you think you can stop me?"

  "I will try —"

  "And I will destroy you." He smiled broadly, his tone yet calm, but fiercely threatening. "Be wise, child. Stay out of my way."

  She stared into those haunting golden irises. "No," she hissed. She curled her tongue and drew it deep into her throat. With pursed lips she began to mutter sounds. Her utterance was deep and bassful, electronic sounding. And as Rollond heard it his head snapped back, and his body straightened so fast he nearly threw himself backwards onto the floor.

  He groaned, rubbing his neck, until he noticed an angry, little, feral girl on his leg. "I did something wrong?" he asked.

  "Not you," she said, and smiled, hopping down from him. "What's with that?" she pointed at the panel.

  "It's the door," Rollond said. "I'm trying to guess what's behind it."

  The steady grind of gears filtered through the door, also the sounds of a conveyor of some kind, and the muffled slam of heavy lids.

  "It doesn't sound good."

  "No, it doesn't," he agreed, and stood up.

  As he started for Ashenzsi, So'yi rubbed one hand over the other. She did not know if she should tell him. Or even if he would believe her. Why would he? She knew she would sound absurd: 'Someone is watching you from deep inside.' She shook her head. She started towards him, hopping to his side. She reached up and held on to three of his fingers. "Rollond?"

  "Yeah?"

  "What if we get out of here and your life refuses to go back to what it was?"

  "What do you mean?" His stomach sank at her use of 'refuses.'

  She barely drew breath to reply when a loud yelp and something tumbling sounded from a vertical service shaft.

  Ashenzsi curled and covered his head. He dropped a hundred and fifty feet, nearly thudding on the floor, but a thick, yellow cord wrapped around his ankle spared him the impact.

  So'yi laughed at him, and Rollond unwrapped the cord around Ashenzsi's foot.

  He fell, then scrambled to his feet, growling as he shoved the dangling cord — the evil and aggressive, menacing cord.

  "You look like you've had an adventure," Rollond said.

  "There's a hatch," Ashenzsi said, "up there, with Uunani on the other side. But I can't tell if they are ifha or injyn." He paused. "They sound neither."

  "That's because they're Hedonites," Rollond said as he climbed the ladder.

  The hatch was heavy. It crushed against Rollond as he pushed it. He shifted up a few rungs and pushed harder, and gradually the hatch lifted. Sand trickled down around him.

  Fresh air and screams greeted him as he lifted his chin, breathing in the familiar, earthy, salty smell of the marbled desert. He thought the arid air was wonderful, barely noticing the speared body that flew over him as he climbed out of the hatch, because his skin itched terribly, and he was filthier than a fifty year-old neglected toilet.

  More worthwhile than that was the coarse condition of his briefs that ground against certain sensitive skin as he stretched in the open air. It was more of a concern to him, as he reached back to pull the stiff wedgie out of his butt, than the shadow of a Sandwyrk looming over him with gaping, drooling jaws. He had no time to react when the worm-like beast lunged, he just jolted at the sound of intense wailing behind him.

  Ashenzsi flipped through the air. The palm of his foot slammed into the jaw of the Sandwyrk, knocking it backwards. His feet barely touched the sand, and he hurled himself forward, heavy talons cleaving the thick, tough hide of the Wyrk's belly. The Wyrk barely drew it's massive, glossy body back, screeching while Ashenzsi rended bloodied chunks of it into the sand.

  The Wyrk lashed. The back of its bony blade protuberance, positioned something like a middle finger, struck Ashenzsi upside his head, and he staggered sideways into the sand. It was then that the beast, unable to slither on its belly for the awful sting of its wounds, swung itself forward at Rollond, its long, sharp blades screaming as it sliced though the air.

  Ashenzsi darted in front of it, snatching the Wyrk's outstretched wrist in his jaws. He bowed backward, forcing the Wyrk's arcing momentum to shift. The beast flipped forward, thudding loudly on its back. Ashenzsi sprung up into the air, his face wild, his teeth bared, and the heavy claws of his toes splayed to stab into the Wyrk's head upon his landing.

  But the Wyrk covered its head with its arms and rolled out of Ashenzsi's way. "Thu'uryi, enough! I bow to your dominance!" The Wyrk cried out, bowing low until its chin was flat on the sand, and its body was a large, bent noodle in the air.

  A crowd gathered. Several Trap-jaws sat in semi-circle at a distance behind the Sandwyrk, and others of its kind were peering at the one Wyrk that bowed to Ashenzsi.

  "Why do you attack him?" Ashenzsi growled, pointing at Rollond.

  "Our Tsamiiq," the Wyrk said. "She has given command to hunt, for us, ourselves. That the Uunani take our kin, and keep owning the blame."

  Ashenzsi nodded. "You are?"

  "Kiyurim," he said. "This one belongs to Hydarkua. These with me are my brothers," he said, pointing to the other Sandwyrks. "And these are my Brothers." He pointed at the Trap-jaws with them.

  Overhearing their exchange, Rollond jogged to Ashenzsi and tapped his shoulder. He furrowed his brows, not sure where to start his barrage of questions. "What is 'Hydarkua'?" he asked.

  "The name of home," Ashenzsi said.

  "And why are the Sandwyrks his 'Tdarja', and the Trap-jaws his 'Ma'aukja'? They're all his siblings?"

  Ashenzsi shook his head. "No."

  Rollond tapped his chin, looking perplexedly at Kiyurim. And since when did Sandwyrks have names? His skin rippled at the thought: the beasts he was taught to hate adhered to their own social structure, and that instigated his curiosity. Just how complex were these creatures? He hardly noticed Ashenzsi studying his face and how serious Ashenzsi looked, almost as if he wanted to pry into Rollond's head.

  "Do you want to learn?" Ashenzsi asked.

  Rollond eyed Kiyurim more. "Yes," he said, hesitantly.

  Ashenzsi stepped over to Kiyurim. "Have the Tyihai given you honor?"

  Kiyurim shook his head. "No."

  Ashenzsi grinned. "I will see that they do, if you take my companions and me to Hydarkua." His cheer flopped into pursed, frowning lips as he watched Kiyurim shrink back and shake his head.

  "No," Kiyurim said, "the Uunan cannot come —"

  "
Trust me, your virgin price will be a thousand times your worth and a thousand more — if — you bring this one with you." He watched Kiyurim's head bob, pondering the idea. Considerations surfaced in Kiyurim's thoughtful eyes, and Ashenzsi prepared to answer, but Kiyurim was not one to ask questions.

  "Tsche, come!" Kiyurim pressed his chest to the sand.

  Ashenzsi and So'yi mounted Kiyurim behind his shoulders, but Rollond hesitated to step near the beast.