Chapter Twenty #3
How had he not realised? How had Ione not realised? This was what he’d been feeling, this tugging in his gut, the sickening sensation of his own blood coursing through him.
The pull, magnetic and undeniable, of one god to another.
It was Etan who voiced it, grim but clearly awed: “That’s Sowelan.”
A voice boomed from the altar – Rigel, Soliz’s Archpriest. In response, Lina flinched, going stock-still and sending him a fearful look.
Kai watched her even though it hurt, even though it made his head pound, his skull feel too tight.
Slowly Lina faced Ione again, her movements stilted, her face drawn as she summoned a weak wall of flame.
Lina was fighting Sowelan. Lina was trying to reject Sowelan.
He cried out, the magnetism feeling like his flesh was being pulled from his bones, and suddenly he was on his back and away from the edge of the mezzanine, the others crowded above him, Etan’s hand clamped over his mouth.
“Quiet, you idiot,” he whispered. He shot a nervous glance towards the balustrade. “I’m calling it. We’re leaving.”
“What?!” Hilo hissed. “We’ve come this far – ”
“And what d’you want us to do? Swoop down there and fight a god and hundreds of Moths, when this one can’t even control his fucking mouth?” He dragged Kai to his feet. “Come. Forget the others.”
“I’m fine.” Kai swatted him away, hating that his knees trembled to hold his own weight. “Leave if you want, but I’m not going anywhere without – ”
“Your man’s gone.” Hilo had crept to the edge again, his face pressed against the rails. “The pricks minding him haven’t even noticed.”
Footsteps, the sigh of a door grazing against carpet.
And then River was there, arms opening, pulling Kai into a fierce hug.
For a second Kai froze, a deluge of emotions hitting him, and then he wrapped his arms around River’s waist and – to hell with his brothers, with anyone watching – buried his face in the crook of River’s neck.
“One out of two en’t bad,” Nalu mused. “Let’s quit while we’re ahead.”
That woke Kai up. “Fuck off, Lulu.” He disentangled himself but kept hold of River’s arms, feeling startlingly grounded with him near. “Right,” he murmured. He couldn’t help but grin. “What’s the shtory?”
“What’s the shcandal?” River shot back, cracking an exhausted smile. “About time you got here.”
“We had to argue over it first.”
“I’m glad it was settled in our favour. Although they’re all so distracted by the fight, none of them stopped me from coming up here when I heard you.
” He jutted his chin to the sun-bright room below.
“They summoned Sowelan into Lina; Ione’s trying to wake her back up, and the priests are considering it a test of their new weapon. ”
“I’m all caught up, then.” Kai squeezed his arms and let him go, his stomach jolting when he turned towards the edge of the mezzanine.
Towards Sowelan. Stop, he demanded inwardly, rubbing his face.
Don’t do this. Not here. He loosed a breath.
“Etan and Nalu, distract the priests. Hilo, keep Lina busy.” He pointed at him. “Do not hurt her. Am I clear?”
Hilo merely blinked.
“Good.” To River, “You help me grab Ineen, because she’ll fucking fight us.”
River nodded, but Etan grabbed Kai’s wrist. “Are you insane?” he whispered, surprising Kai by looking genuinely worried.
“I’ve entertained this long enough. We’ve one of our deserters.
We’ve some extremely pertinent information to deliver to M – to Saros.
And we’ve our fucking lives, which we might not be able to say after we fight a literal god. ”
Kai’s gaze found Lina again, still circling Ione like a cat to a mouse. Both of her hands were up, a defensive position, and while she reacted to whatever command Rigel shouted at her, she also responded to Ione’s voice, calling her name, begging her to come back.
“Sowelan hasn’t manifested fully,” Kai said. “We can do this.”
Below, Lina clasped her hands over her ears, shaking her head when both Rigel and Ione called her. With a furious cry, Lina pivoted and hurled a wheel of fire at Rigel; two priests stepped in the way, effortlessly extinguishing it before spinning her back towards Ione.
“Kai.” Hilo was in front of him now. “Were you listening? I said – ”
“I heard you,” Kai snapped.
“Then wait with your man downstairs. We’ll get her.”
Etan materialised on his other side. “You’re not able for it.”
“I am.”
A hand on his arm, his shoulder. Kai whirled around, ready to scream, and relaxed instantly to see River. Steady, solid. “I’m fine,” Kai whispered. And he was. He could do this. He caught Etan’s eye. “Let’s go.”
A long moment passed. His eldest brother sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Your five minutes start now.”
“Copy.” Before anyone could stop him, he held out a hand. And when River took it, they climbed onto the balustrade and leapt, a waterspout rising to meet them and carry them the rest of the way down.
A surprised ripple of cries and gasps shrilled through the congregation as Kai, his brothers and River landed in the shallow marsh that was once a formidable altar room.
Red and orange robes swarmed, light and blistering heat briefly blinding him – but at once it was all muted as Etan and Nalu erected a dome of water over them, swirling and building it until it was a foot thick and frozen solid.
The fight halted, Ione on one end of the space, sinking to her knees and gasping for breath. Lina, opposite, cowered and stared with blatant confusion up at the ice. A faint line of bruising ringed her neck – the binding ward, activating and then evidently shattering when Sowelan took control.
Of course, that bone-deep pop Kai had felt earlier: even his ward was no match for a god.
“Hurry,” Etan ground out, widening his stance as he focused on maintaining the freeze. On the other side of the dome, flame burst in all directions, furious cries echoing.
Ione coughed. Kai tore himself away from the tortuous pull and knelt with River beside her, him smoothing Ione’s hair back; River, holding her upright.
“They’re here,” River whispered. “Let’s go.”
Ione shook her head. “I can’t,” she managed, holding up her arms, streaked with burns, for Kai to heal. “I’m not leaving her behind.” Her eyes widened and she shot back to her feet, scrambling to stand between Hilo and Lina. “Don’t,” she commanded, arms splayed. “Don’t hurt her.”
“I’m not!” Hilo whirled towards Kai, silently demanding direction; behind him, Ione had Lina’s face in both hands, her voice soft, soothing, and Lina – Lina –
“Rigel’s not here,” Ione whispered. She stood on tiptoes and kissed her forehead. “It’s me. Do you remember?”
There was more, a promise to protect her, a reminder of some sewing project Lina wanted to start, talk of a kiss by the fountain.
Kai glanced at Lina, still and silent, and the edges of his vision fizzled out.
He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes; when he opened them again, Lina was staring right back, her own eyes golden.
Not here, he begged himself, Menon, his breaths shallow and quick. Too quick. Please, not here, not in front of Ione, not –
“Menon.” Her voice was distorted, but still feminine. Lina was trying to fight Sowelan’s influence – but she too was losing. “Menon,” she repeated, louder, tinged with fury and terror. “Why is Menon in the House of the Sun?”
Something snapped within him.
Lina – Sowelan – shook Ione and Hilo off. “What toys have come to be broken?” their distorted voices asked; Sowelan advanced, staring them all down. “What pyres have come to be lit?”
Arms wrapped around his stomach, yanking him backwards.
His eyes darted, searching for an escape, an anchor.
Fire roared, and so did his brothers, desperately holding the dome intact above them.
Water dripped to the floor, and all the while, Sowelan’s eyes smouldered as the last dregs of Lina drained away.
Shouting, begging, pulling – he couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t put together what was happening.
Ancient, ceaseless sunlight burned above them through a hole in the dome; the rest of it collapsed in a freezing slosh, and then there were priests, all flying to protect their god.
A whirl of grey and white raised an icy slash in time to douse Sowelan’s encroaching flames.
Kill them. The scream was a dizzying reverberation, but Menon located its source, a dark-haired man in finer robes than the rest.
Menon raised Her arms, the water reacting in kind. She would drown them.
She would drown them all.
Wake up. A hand on Her shoulder, gripping. Wake up, you idiot. Fearful eyes widened as the man dodged Her responding spear of ice.
“Do not interrupt,” She commanded, and smartly, he retreated.
Turn him off, someone cried.
I’m calling it, this is getting out of hand.
Mam’s gonna be pissed.
“Kai!”
Another face appeared before Her, a familiar comfort, a light in the dark. This one, She recognised. This one was important.
Gentle hands on Her cheeks. This man’s eyes bored into Hers, and She had the distinct sensation of being brought down from a high, frightening precipice.
“Kai,” River – River – murmured. All else faded to incomprehensible static. “Wake up, Kai.”
Menon was losing. “Riv,” She said in a voice that wasn’t Hers, and River smiled so prettily She nearly forgot where She was.
But – movement, behind him, a furtive little mouse scurrying away amongst the din of confusion and the endless, numbing vibrato of magic.
And with this little mouse –
“Sowelan,” Menon roared, Her power roiling to the surface. “Don’t you run.”
Sowelan hesitated, glancing back at Her, but the little white mouse pulled and pulled until they were both through a shadowed, hidden doorway. Menon slammed to the ground, countless hands wrapping around Her arms, pinning Her in place, forcing Her down.
“How dare you,” She shrieked, weakening. She bit something, a shoulder; She tasted blood. A howl of pain pierced Her skull. “Release me.”
There was the River one again, and Menon seethed, determining to kill him and anyone else who would stand in Her way. But Her feeble human shell refused, and feeble and repulsive though it was, its refusal was enough to restrict Her.
River looked sorry, and just as Menon wondered why, his hand shot out in a swift blur. Pain, sharp and sudden, ricocheted through Her temple.
Blackness bloomed, and weary and despairing and battered, Menon slithered back into the dark recesses of this despicable human shell.
Heat and noise and movement, a scuffle, his limbs swinging uselessly.
Etan’s voice was louder, nearer; Kai lifted his head once, understanding that he had been slung over Etan’s shoulder, before giving in and letting it droop.
He heard a shout, River, calling Ione’s name – then a low oof.
Kai cracked one eye open: Nalu had punched River in the stomach and folded him over his shoulder.
“If she wants to stay, she can fucking stay,” was all Nalu said. “Anyone else got a complaint?”
Hilo swam into view, burned and exhausted. Somehow they had gotten outside; now they were running, sprays of water and ice fending off bolts of flame.
She escaped. He felt his lips move; he might have been speaking. She went through that door. We have to go back.
Etan cuffed him in the side of the head.
The sun priests didn’t chase them, not for long. Not while they had more important matters to tend to: a new weapon, a god reborn.
Ione escaped, he told himself, over and over and over.
But thinking it didn’t erase the truth: his brothers had left her for dead.