“Believe it,” Sonara said, even though she was just as shocked herself. “Markam is strong… insufferably so.”
“It was too much to ask of him,” Azariah said, as she knelt beside the Trickster. For the first time, she reached out and touched him, placing her gloved hands upon his cheeks so she could turn his gaze towards her.
Gone was the animosity between them, that palpable hatred Sonara’s curse had always cast. There was still tentative mistrust, but… it seemed she cared enough that she didn’t want to see his curse suck him dry.
“Magic that powerful, used for that amount of time, has a great cost,” Azariah said. “Markam, can you walk?”
The Trickster groaned but nodded. “I just have to…” he grimaced as he fought off the unbearable headache Sonara knew he was likely experiencing. “I just have to catch my breath.”
Sonara knew she should have been worried.
She’d brought nothing with her. No water, no food to give him energy to recover after he’d illusioned Thali into Karr. The cleric had decided upon it early that morning, so willing to give her life over to protect the planet’s heart.
There was no telling what would happen to her now, stuck outside with Cade and the others.
But she’d insisted. So much so that she’d spent the entire morning praying to the planet before they’d left on their mission.
Sonara turned now to get a good look at the space. So long, she’d dreamt of finding this ship, of going inside and finding Soahm here waiting for her. Alive and well, after all these years.
This was another world entirely.
Silver, rounded walls and ceilings, as if the whole ship were made of hardened moonlight. Red lights glowed softly along the floor every few feet, giving her the strange feeling that they were in the belly of something living. The air felt stale, cold and crisp beyond the sleeves of her long duster.
Sonara sniffed the air, searching for a trace of Soahm.
But there was onlycold.
Only the muted metallic tang of the ship’s walls, like a handful of fresh coins pulled out of a pocket.
And there was a strange, muted sound of humming beneath her feet.She took a step along the metal, feeling like the floor could fall out from under her.
If magic was what Thali and Azariah wanted to call a Shadowblood’s curse…
Then this wasdark magic.
Every part of Sonara screamed to turn back around, to rush into the open, endless air of Dohrsar. But the job was not finished.
“I can’t believe I just betrayed my own brother,” Karr said softly.
“It’s not betrayal when you’ve finally chosen the right side,” Sonara said. “Now what?”
She itched to move. To go deeper into the belly of the metallic beast and discover any traces of Soahm.
Karr worked at the wires in the small panel in the wall. “We find our way to the source. We shut down whatever’s powering Cade’s force field, and I’m guessing that’ll take out all the mites with it.”
“Guessing,” Azariah said.
Karr shrugged. “Educated guess.”
The ship felt like a living cage.
Sonara shivered as they jogged down the halls, sickened by the constant gentle thrum beneath her feet. Karr took the lead, turning this way and that, and Sonara kept her curse upon him, unafraid.
She would be ready, should he decide to turn on them.
Azariah and Markam took up the rear, Markam able to walk,but clearly in pain as he followed numbly along, silent for once. Should the door to the loading dock be opened too quickly—the only way inside the ship from the small transport pod that went to and from the ground—they’d be the first line, the strongest defensive powers shared among them.
“The crew level is down one,” Karr whispered.
