Izran...or Thaliak...charged, water flung up around him as he ran. Shadows followed, snaking through the mire and along the divots and delineations left by the hills of mud. He shifted as he ran, the ripple of his changed shuddered and twisted. It looked violent and uncomfortable, and when complete, it was something out of a dark dream that faced the pack.
Adda was surprised, at first, that the transformation was able to take place at all. Yet, Morakamouth could change, too. Nex had said that the Shifter-creatures were young...newly formed. She guessed their inexperience was what prevented them from shifting entirely. Thaliak didn't have that problem.
The wolf was in similar condition to the man, the last time Adda had seen him. Most of its fur was missing and, even from this distance, she could pick out patches of seeping raw flesh. Its bottom jaw hung to the side, dangling and bobbing as he ran.
We cannot wait for the outcome of this battle, that woman will ruin everything.
Scet growled and shifted, and Adda found herself pushed and hurried behind his form and the bodies of the others. She was no good here, not even trained in the warrior's dance. The Shifters in front of her grasped at their spears, or whatever weapon they possessed, prepared to fight. Even Andas had set his burden next to the temple wall, the next level of the pyramid, and now faced the approaching onslaught.
Indecision tugged at her. It was right for the others to put her aside, she would only be a liability in battle, and was best out of the way. Still, it was an intimidating and awe inspiring sight, these warriors standing their ground, surrounding the great bear. Adda had to really appreciate how very large and legendary Scet was in this form. The essence of a true warrior, strength and honor, and she would lose him now.
Across the swamp, a trap sprang, a pike, pushing upward, but too slow to do much damage, weighed down by years beneath the mud. It ripped through the wolf's shoulder, a debilitating wound on anyone else. The beast didn't even slow, and, to Adda's dismay, more and more creatures crawled from the forest behind him. Even now, they were far too outnumbered.
Adda.
Nex spoke but she couldn't hear him, he was a distant noise in the rising wall of her panic. She couldn't get enough breath. She was suffocating and her fear spiked.
Adda!
The thunder Nex made was impossible to ignore. Along with a whisper of his true power, it slammed into her consciousness. Pain from the volume of it stabbed through her head. She shuddered a little, coming back to herself.
I can't just leave them here. They will die. I brought them here, this is my fault.
You are wrong. They each have their own reasons for this battle, enough to say that fate would have led them all to this conflict eventually. But if you do not get the orb before Illaise, then all of their reasons will be for naught. Where are your positives, woman?
I thought optimism was foolish?
...Out of all the tactics you've been faced with, it was hope that got you this far. Not threats, and not fear. It has brought you farther than even I believed possible.
Are you being...nice?
A soft snort was the only reply, but his words had worked. Her life had become a series of impossibilities, and yet she had passed through each trial. And she'd be Quatori fodder if she let Illaise take the last of her hope from her.
I'll reserve offense at that if you simply get moving.
Her decision couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but Thaliak had made it half way to the temple. Scet charged out to meet him. Adda hadn't expected him to return to the water, to go where so much danger lay. Watching him nearly ripped away the motivation she had gathered.
He goes to protect, to lead the battle away from the others, from you. It is your turn to act, if you want to lessen that burden on him.
And she did. She moved, forcing herself to turn and work her way up the sloped stone. Time and moisture had eaten away pocks of the material, allowing her feet a better grip. The wall to her right, the second level of the temple, stood well above her head. It was constructed of a darker stone, huge square chunks of it. The spots where the stones joined had gathered dirt over time and moss and tiny pink flowers grew in places. Adda scanned its length, desperately looking for a door, or an opening that might allow her entrance. Unfortunately, whoever had constructed the temple was determined to keep people out of it.
The main entrance has sunk, but there should be a secondary entrance opposite to that, on this level.
Adda reached the corner of the temple with some difficulty. The sinking end had put pressure on the rest of the construction. Stones cracked, half of them jutting forth, providing obstacles to scramble over. Others dropped and, more than once, she felt them shift as she moved over them. She wanted into the temple, but falling through the roof was not how she wanted to get in.
She made it at last and rounded the sharp corner. This side was in far better condition, and, as Nex had promised, it held a domed protrusion with arched thresholds. Adda slipped into one of the openings, blinking to adjust her sight to the darkness within. The light from the entrances created sharp lines on the floor and walls, even the air seemed divided into shadow and light. After a few steps, the light simply ended.
But there was more than a lack of light that contributed to the temple's darkness. She stepped into the shadow and knew immediately there was something bigger, and much, much older in the darkness.
The shadows here are very powerful.
He was right. She could sense its presence, even without Nex's help, and the fact that it was disgruntled. She stepped farther into the temple, one hand along the right wall to keep her bearings. The stone was damp and cold, but smooth. The wear of centuries had not reached the temples interior, nor did any of the mosses or small plants grow there. Adda got a sense of a long narrow passage leading slightly downward toward the temple's heart. The air along it was still, silent, as if waiting, yet not stale.
The ancient shadow's disgruntlement turned toward Adda, a focus that felt like a pressure on her mind...almost like Nex himself. It made her wonder if the Quatori had somehow originated from the shadow.
Direction please, Nex. I'd rather not fall and break my neck in here.
I believe the shadow wishes us to go forward, to remove the disturbance the woman has created. It isn't happy.
That makes a few of us.
Adda slid along the passage, careful to run her feet along the floor in front of her before committing to a step. It was painfully slow, but, she reasoned, there were likely to be areas of the floor falling into ruin like the exterior.
I was clear that this is an urgent matter, yes?
More urgent than keeping alive and intact?
Maybe, but the passage is clear. Listen to the shadow, it is guiding us. I've convinced it we are here to stop the disturbance and then will leave it in peace.
Is that what we're doing?
Perhaps. Close your eyes, Adda.
Are you crazy? Adda snapped. Things were dangerous enough as it was.
You're using them?
...He had a point. In the complete darkness, they weren't much use, but it felt wrong to close them. What if something came along that Adda could see and she missed it?
Deciding on trust, she closed them. Instantly, she sensed the shadow, as Nex had said, taking over her concentration where she had been trying—ineffectually—to see. All she could think was that Nex had placed her back in the same situation as he had when the shadows had shown them the cavern.
I haven't made a bargain, Nex. Adda warned a little desperately. I'm not falling for that again.
This is not my doing. I'm not guiding you. It is.
Huh.
Adda relaxed and allowed herself to concentrate. There, she could feel the difference. When Nex guided her, she could see and smell and taste...or she thought she could. This shadow didn't offer such experiences. It was simply feeling, almost pressures within the temple. Like when she and Lis would swim the small lake they had found beyond the Onyx city; Adda could tell when Lis was swimming near to her by the pressures of the water around her. This felt the same. Almost a current, pulling and ebbing. Not the air, that was still, but something else.
It's the darkness, the shadow, itself.
And Adda could feel where Illaise had passed. She had been there, right where Adda stood, moments ago, but long enough that the current began to settle. The shadow could feel her passing, and to one that had been still and at peace for a thousand years, it was akin to one of those pikes in the swamp slicing through it.
Adda found she could run along the corridor, if she paid close attention to the shadow's current: where it rose, she stepped upward, and where it swirled mercilessly, she avoided.
Illaise's scent invaded her nostrils, as she reached the corridor's end and the walls around her opened into a massive chamber. She was catching up.
Streams of light filtered in here. She couldn't see them, her eyes were still closed, but the shadow was well aware of them, and it was not pleased. Parts of the temple walls and ceiling had crumbled allowing the invasion, and the shadow worried that, one day, all might be lost to the light.
It fears for its existence. It has gained consciousness. Nex sounded fascinated.
Maybe we can ponder it after I stop Illaise? Where did she go?
Upward, the shadow answered her. That's where it wanted her. That's where Illaise went. It was certain she would ruin everything. In fact, it was nearly in a panic she would bring the light.
Adda shook herself, unable, for a moment, to separate the shadow's fear from her own, or from Nex's. The light...the orb…the shadow was afraid of it.
Adda felt both elation at the proof that the orb truly was there and wariness. Why would a simple shadow fear the orb? She thought it was a weapon against the Quatori. Would a shadow have reason to fear it? Couldn't it simply avoid the light the orb created?
It will bring the shadow pain, more because it understands what it is losing.
But just what is it losing? Can't it just go off and find a spot in the forest? It's just a shadow.
It is no more 'just a shadow' than you are 'just a Shifter' or I 'just a Quatori'. And if that woman opens the orb at the wrong interval, none of us will survive.
What do you mean, open it? I thought it was a weapon?
Up. The shadow pushed at her. Upward. Upward. She opened her eyes momentarily. There wasn't enough light streaming through the breaks and cracks in the structure to allow her to see anything in the gloom, or perhaps that was the shadow's doing. As soon as the light entered the space, it seemed to be swallowed up, never reaching the floor. Adda shook her head and closed her eyes once more, breathing deeply through her nose. Illaise's scent left the walls of the chamber. Adda followed it while trying to get a sense, using the shadow, of what lay around her.
She approached the stairs before the shadow's current hinted at change. They sat at the center of the room, along the side of a new wall. Adda pushed at the shadow's awareness. This central structure was odd. She could tell that it was not connected to the ceiling in any fashion, nor was it to the walls, yet it was massive in itself, and stepped…like a second temple inside the first.
Why would the ancients build in such a wasteful way? A small temple, completely inside the outer, completely protected.
And how did Illaise know about it? She may have wandered a little, but she somehow knew the temple's design, both the door on the far side, and this central structure.
The shadow urged Adda toward the stairs. Up. Up. She must hurry.
As she placed her foot on the first stair, something happened. The pressure of the air changed, a strange feeling that stole her breath and caused her ears to pop. Then came the light, and the pain, like thousands of swords piercing her skin, burning her alive.
She screamed, unable to help herself. She couldn't tell where she was any longer, only that she was dying. The only thing that existed was pain.
Adda, you must close yourself off to the shadow, push away its consciousness.
She could hear Nex speak, but the pain was too great. She couldn't understand. He wanted her to do something, but how could he ask anything of her while she was dying?
Then she was being invaded, her own thoughts ruthlessly shoved aside, shoved back into the tiny space of her mind. And without warning, the pain ceased. If she still had control over herself, she would have cried tears of relief, but Nex was in control now, and he was racing up the stairs, aiming for some goal that she had yet to decipher.
What happened? Nex I did not agree to this, how are you in control?
A wave of concern and a feeling of certain doom overcame her. Nex's emotions. She could finally read them.
...I have been able to take control for some time, Adda. I only needed your agreement once. And the orb is opening.