Rout of the Dem-Shyr (The Ascendant Series) (27 page)

From what he’d determined based on Reider’s prepping and Barto’s brief lessons, the used air canister and ring he had found weren’t all that valuable. If he was lucky, they might get him a meal or place to stay the night. He could possibly try to find some of the Harvesting centers Reider had told him about and look for more items, but that would take more time than Ty was willing to spend. He also wanted to avoid any of the places Barto and the others might go.

His first priority had to be getting a back-up air canister. He was using the one he had worn back from the Tinkers’ dwelling the day before, which meant it was getting low. To acquire a canister, he needed something valuable to trade. Fortunately, Reider had told him of something that would open up every door in the Dark Lands if he got his hands on it.

Of course, the act of getting it would more than likely kill him.

That fact didn’t stop Ty. His choices were limited, and he wasn’t particularly worried about the danger. The worst thing that might happen was that he ended up in the land of the Great Yen-Ki…with Kyr.

He paused in his run as he reached the remnants of an abandoned storage silo. The lip of the doorway offered him enough protection that a passing vessel wouldn’t see him. It also provided him with a solid surface behind his back, so he didn’t have to worry about someone catching him from behind.

His breathing stabilized quickly, considering how long and fast he had run. His
Dem-Shyr
abilities had always allowed him to run faster than anyone else and hardly break a sweat. It appeared that his exceptional strength and endurance hadn’t been completely taken from him, much like his healing abilities.

Why was that? he wondered. How could all of his mental abilities be gone, but his physical abilities still largely be intact? Had the Guardians somehow screwed up when they imposed their painful punishment?

That thought had him flashing back to the memory of kneeling in Kyr’s room as they stripped him of his power. It was as stark a difference from the esteemed honor of ascending to the role of
Dem-Shyr
as one could get.

His parents had been allowed to attend the ceremony when he assumed his abilities. It was one of the only times they had been invited to the palace, even though Ty had lived there from the time he returned from his life lessons. He still remembered his mother fretting about not having a nice gown to wear, and his father surprising her with one the day before the ceremony. He remembered how proud they both were of him.

Now, they were living with the belief that their only child was a convicted rapist and murderer.

Thinking of how devastated his parents must have been when they received the news had Ty’s fist clenching. Vycor had taken everything from him. His position. His reputation. His power.

The woman he loved.

At first, Ty had wondered why Vycor hadn’t taken his life. Now, he knew the answer. Vycor wanted him to live with the knowledge that he had lost everything.

What Vycor hadn’t considered was that now, Ty had nothing to lose. And he would make Vycor suffer ten times worse.

His silent vow pushed Ty away from the silo. He picked up his run, sticking near structures and shadows as much as possible. Whenever he saw signs of life, he avoided the area and took a different route. There were sadly few such signs, however. The closer he got to his goal, the scarcer the signs became. By the time he stopped at the nondescript grate covering the man-sized hole in the ground, Ty felt like he was standing in a burial field.

I suppose that’s why they call this Death’s Door
, he mused, staring down at the seemingly harmless grate.

Reider had explained that the area beneath Death’s Door was thousands of years old. Somewhere in its depths was rumored to be a store of energy even more potent and sustainable than tajeria. Because it was so deadly to Harvest, it was very rare. According to Reider, no one even knew what it was originally named, but Outcasts called it the Gift of the Yen-Ki. Ty was certain he had never heard of the stuff under any name. As far as he knew, nothing was more powerful than tajeria.

In any case, Reider assured Ty that even a little of this mysterious energy source would gain him passage across the Dark Lands to the mine. He warned Ty that the poisonous air was more and more concentrated the closer one got to the Gift, and he would need a tightly sealed container in which to carry it. Reider told him if he didn’t find a container on the way to Death’s Door, he would likely find one inside by a dead body.

Not exactly a comforting thought.

He studied the grate, then looked around. A few tumbled buildings cast shadows around the area, but otherwise, there wasn’t so much as a breeze. It seemed even the scenery was holding its breath.

Checking his air gauge, he saw that it was lower than he had hoped. If this quest took him any significant length of time, he wouldn’t make it on this canister. Of course, he had breathed the unfiltered air of the Dark Lands before the Harvesters found him and he’d survived. Maybe he could survive this, too.

In any case, he didn’t have time to ponder it. The air wasn’t getting any fresher.

Lifting the grate took a surprising amount of strength. He wagered that was for safety reasons so people didn’t just wander down. He managed to tug it up and haul it off of the hole. All he saw when he looked down was darkness.

His eyes soon adjusted, allowing him to see the splintered wooden ladder leading down into the pit’s depths. There wasn’t much else to see. He didn’t trust the rungs of the rickety ladder to hold his weight, so he carefully lowered himself into the hole and grasped the sides of the ladder with his gloved hands, bracing his feet on each side. This allowed him to edge his way down. The going was slippery and precarious, but he made it to the bottom.

He stood still for a moment once he touched the ground. It felt spongy under his heavy boots. As his vision adjusted to the increasing darkness, he spotted a number of bodies in various states of decay filling the chamber.

Guess they tried to use that ladder the traditional way
, he thought.

A quick search told him that none of the corpses had any clothes or personal items on them. That wasn’t surprising. Reider mentioned that they had Harvested in that space a few times when they were starving or desperate. They hadn’t ever gone beyond this initial entry point, however, content to Harvest whatever the bodies had on them.

Ty stepped over the body closest to the dark tunnel on his right and started walking. He focused on keeping his breathing slow and shallow to save as much air as possible. Hopefully his healing abilities were strong enough to get him in and out of this place with or without air, but he’d rather not chance it.

The further along the winding passageways he walked, the darker it became. His vision continued to adjust, telling him he still retained that ability, as well. It continued to baffle him, but he wasn’t about to complain.

The air thickened and grew warmer. His goggles filmed over and he could smell the toxins even through his filtration system. The walls were damp with some kind of condensation that he had no desire to investigate.

He encountered a few more dead bodies along the way. Their poses suggested they hadn’t died without a great deal of agony. Pushing his natural aversion aside, he searched all of them for anything of value. There wasn’t much that hadn’t gone to rot, but he recovered a canteen, a compass, and a sealed container that looked like it would work well for storing the Gift.

He pushed onwards. After a while, smoke began rising from his clothes. The haze over his goggles got heavy enough that he could hardly see. The temperature rose to an intolerable heat.

But he kept moving. One foot in front of the other.

The canister ran out of air shortly thereafter, leaving him with only the low-level filtration offered by his mask. With each step he took, breathing became more and more painful. The poison was coating his lungs, pervading his clothes. His skin burned and blistered beneath his gear.

This way, Ty…

He stumbled as Kyr’s voice filled his mind. The poison must be in his blood. He was starting to hallucinate.

Well, if his dying moments were spent hallucinating about Kyr, he could think of much worse ways to go.

She appeared before him, looking like a projected image rather than a real person. She waved her hand, beckoning him. He hurried after her, suddenly not bothered by the pain in his lungs and raging along his skin. When he turned the next corner, he saw it…the Gift of the Yen-Ki.

The pool of glowing pink liquid swirled in a small crater. It looked like concentrated tajeria in viscous form. A thin line of it trailed from high above and dripped into the pool, but he could only guess its true source.

Dropping to his knees beside the pool, he collected enough of the stuff to fill the sealed container. He considered using the canteen to store more.

Save it for water
, Kyr told him.

Well, his mind told him in her voice.

He listened to her. So much pain wracked his body that he had trouble securing the container. It took him several valuable minutes. Finally, he had it properly sealed and stored in the sack he was carrying.

Get up, Ty.

I’m tired, Kyr.

Get up for me.

He couldn’t resist her command. Shoving himself up took all of his remaining strength. He staggered like a drunken person back the way he had come. His hands slid along the slippery walls as he tried to keep himself upright. By the time he was halfway back to the entrance, the pain was overwhelming.

Ty, you have to get out of here!

Kyr’s voice carried unexpected urgency. She seemed very cognizant for a hallucination.

Get out now!
she ordered him.

He crawled on trembling arms and legs. The air was a little clearer down there, but his lungs didn’t feel any relief. Blood seeped into his mouth, making him gag and remove his mask to spit it out. He was in bad shape. Even in his delirious state, he knew it.

The further he got from the source of the Gift, though, the easier it was to breathe. Kyr waved him forward, slowly. So slowly. After what felt like hours, the circular area marking the entrance came into sight.

You’re almost there
, Kyr encouraged him.
Keep going
.

His stomach revolted. He gagged again. Once he was sure he wasn’t about to vomit up his intestines, he replaced his mask and shuffled along the ground until he flopped beside one of the desiccated corpses lying there.

Kyr pointed up. Her lips moved, but he didn’t hear anything. She started fading. He wanted to beg her not to go, not to leave him, but words were beyond him.

As she disappeared, he stared at the ladder that stretched up, up, up towards the pink sky above. In that moment, he realized that it hadn’t been a fall that had killed the people around him. It had been the fact that, like him, they were too far gone to climb back up.

Chapter 35

The tunnel stretched before her, dark and endless. Noise roared around her. There were so many voices. Too many. They were all clamoring to be heard. She couldn’t hear herself through the cacophony of sound. She tried to cover her ears, but it didn’t help.

“Shut up!” she screamed.

There was a slight pause in the roar, but it quickly resumed. Her head throbbed. It felt like a vise was squeezing her at both temples. She fell to her knees.

She couldn’t do this. The pressure was too great.

Please don’t leave me, Kyr
.

Ty’s voice rose above the others. Her head lifted. A soft pink light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

Ty?

He didn’t respond, but the other voices quieted while she focused on trying to hear him. By using all of her concentration, she managed to subdue the voices enough that she didn’t feel like her eardrums were about to rupture.

She got back to her feet. Maybe if she reached that light, she’d hear Ty’s voice again.

As she started walking, a sense that something was wrong crept over her. It quickly escalated to the point of panic. She broke into a run.

Darkness. So much darkness. Had the Shelvaks come back for her? Had they decided to kill her after all?

Her chest heaved as she fought back another scream. The light didn’t seem to get any closer, no matter how fast or how long she ran. Somehow, the tunnel twisted, making her propel herself blindly around corners. The light remained a constant source of torment. She knew she had to reach it.

No. She had to reach Ty. He needed her.

The moment that thought entered her mind, the light snapped forward. She flew into a round chamber encased in rock. Pink light filtered down from a source high above.

Death surrounded her. She brought a hand to her mouth and barely resisted fleeing as she looked at all of the dead bodies scattered along the floor. It was fodder for nightmares.

But she had lived through her own nightmares. She would handle this.

One body was larger than the others. Even though it was covered from head to toe, she knew in her heart who it was.

Ty.

She rushed over to him. Dear Yen-Ki…was she too late?

She tried to grab him, tried to check for a pulse, but her hand passed right through him. Was this a dream? Why did it feel so real?

Why did she feel like she was losing him?

“Ty!” she cried, hoping he’d respond to her voice.

“Did ya hear that?”

She gasped. The voice had come from the source of light leading down into the chamber. Someone had heard her…someone who was getting closer.

Someone who meant Ty harm.

“Ya didn’t hear nothin’,” someone else growled. “Now get the Gift and finish him off.”

Ty wasn’t dead, she thought. But he was about to be.

Returning her focus to Ty, she tried again to touch him. She had to do something to wake him so he could protect himself. But her touch had no effect. In fact, he was starting to fade. Everything was starting to fade.