Falling Skyward

Chapter Forty-Four: Return to the Lower World

Lana awoke early the next morning, her mind bright. Taren still slept, so Lana tiptoed around the chamber, packing and repacking her few supplies while glancing at Taren with nervous, thrilling agitation. Her mind could not focus on one thought before flying into a thousand different directions.

She heard rustling. Taren stretched, reaching for her, half-conscious. She responded to the gesture, coming to sit next to him on the bed, her hand playing with a cowlick of hair that refused to lie flat. Taren grabbed her arm, pulling her down next to him, wrapping his arms around her. Lana laughed, wishing full-heartedly this could be any other morning.

"Wake up, you lazy. We need to be leaving soon."

"Just give me one minute," he said, breathing deeply. "I want to remember this." For an excruciatingly brief moment, nothing disturbed the silence but their breath. Then, Taren relented, pulling himself to his feet with a grin on his face.

The door opened. "It's time," Soren said, his clothing immaculate, weapons strapped across his broad back and waist, and his blonde hair pulled back into an elaborate braid.

Taren grabbed his satchel and the two, ruffled and haphazard, followed Soren through the labyrinthine tunnels, descending a passage that plunged deep into the earth. While they walked, Taren silently pressed a small object into Lana's hand, wrapping her fingers around it. Lana inspected the gift, a small, intricate ring with a metal design rising in a wave on either side of a pearl of star ether. Lana silently slipped the ring on her middle finger, smiling at Taren as she clutched at the necklace resting against her sternum, feeling the warm pulse of both the ring and pendant spread along her skin.

Finally, they reached a doorway with a series of intricate locks and thick bars of iron lining the window. Soren rapped on the door, and Lana saw Drayer's head pop above the window. "I was wondering when you all would get here," he said.

Lana could hear a key jiggling in a lock, then the sound of a deadbolt, then more jiggling and clicks and unlatching. What on Caelis could be in there? Lana wondered.

Drayer opened the door, carrying several contraptions of leather studded with crystal beads filled with metallic, shimmering star ether. Lana started forward, but Soren's hand shot out, gripping her shoulder. "We'll stay out here," he said, trying to keep the anger and apprehension from his voice.

Lana craned her neck to see around Drayer, catching a glimpse of gray, dull iron in the next room. Even chairs and light fixtures were covered with webbings of the cold, colorless metal. As Drayer went to shut the door, Lana caught a glimpse of bars spanning from floor to ceiling. Was it a prison? A cage?

"The belts can only carry three hours of charge so far from their source," Soren said. "So we need to move quickly, destroying the nightstalkers and any of their nests before they have time to flee or destroy us."

"Source, what source?" Lana asked. Soren didn't reply. "What about Gailen?" Lana asked. "The whole point of this . . . this mission or whatever you want to call it is to save my cousin. Or have you forgotten?"

Soren's eyebrows rose. Lana continued, "Night after night, I see him, I hear him. I refuse to hear those screams any longer, no matter what your plans."

Soren looked at Taren, giving a conciliatory nod. Lana only had a split moment to wonder at the interaction before Soren added, "Of course we'll save your cousin. No need to worry. You say you have nightmares? Tell me, how often do you have vivid dreams?"

"Nightly. Why?" Apprehension tinged Lana's words.

"Have you had them your whole life?"

"As far as I can remember."