“I’m Dayne Heldrin of the Tarian Order, and I am commanding you to stop this horror!”
“I grow weary of this,” the vile man said. “I am trying to conduct critical research before we attempt to crack into the very fabric of reality.” He looked over at Rynax like he was a confidant. “I mean, we only have hours.” With a wave of his hand, Dayne came flying out of the tunnel, and then was hurled down to the ground.
“Dayne!” Lin shouted from the platform on the machine.
“Oh, I see,” the mage said. “You know them. Now it makes some sense.” He started waving his hands over the controls of the machine. “None of this is right.”
Dayne forced himself onto his feet.
“You can still make the right choice,” Dayne said. “No one else needs to be hurt.”
The mage sighed. “I mean, something is wrong. Everything is out of balance. Is one of you a mage? If so, it’s messing up the experiment.”
Maresh looked up. “She is. Let her go!”
He waved to one of the creatures. “Go get her down.”
“Sir!” Dayne said. “I insist—”
The mage frowned. “No, something else is wrong. That cage is open. And—ah. Now it makes sense.”
Another indifferent wave, and the Thorn was fully visible. The Thorn leaped over the mage and the monsters, firing arrows like a blur. “Switch jobs, Dayne!” he shouted.
Dayne jumped over to the machine, where the rings were still spinning about. How did the Thorn get through them? Dayne couldn’t worry about that. He jumped into their path, holding his shield ahead of him. Then one spinning ring slammed into the shield, knocking Dayne back.
“Adorable,” the mage said. He threw a blast of green fire at Dayne, which burst over his shield.
Dayne looked up at the machine. The children looked terrified. Maresh and Lin were the same, struggling with their shackles. Dayne couldn’t fail them.
“Thorn, hold him off!” Dayne called back. But he looked back to the Thorn and saw how useless that was going to be. Gurond had come into the room through grand double doors. The Thorn hadn’t seen him, and landed right in front of him. “Look out!”
Too late. Gurond’s massive fist knocked the Thorn across the room like a doll.
“Stop, Tarian,” the mage said, grabbing Dayne magically and lifting him off the ground. “This is truly pointless.”
“It is, Senek.” A well-groomed man with a manicured beard strolled in, looking oddly out of place compared to every other denizen in this place. “Whatever are you doing?”
“I have time for another experiment,” the mage said. He must be Senek.
“You said the ripe time was right before sunrise.”
“Thus a few hours,” Senek insisted. “And look at all these new toys to play with.”
“Fascinating day this has been,” the well-groomed one said. “Who are they?”
“He asked for an audience with you,” Senek said, indicating Rynax. “I’m not sure about the Tarian and the baby mage, but they seem to be friends.”
“They’re with me,” Rynax said.
“Fascinating,” the groomed one said. “Well, by all means, bring them to my sanctum. It seems to be a day of surprises.”
“But . . .” Senek said, gesturing to the machine. “My experiment.”
“I would prefer you not waste the fuel, Senek,” the groomed one said. “Besides, further testing should not be necessary. We will soon have all our missing pieces in place.”
“Missing pieces for what?” Dayne asked, still suspended in the air. “Who are you?”
The man came over to Dayne and gently touched his face. “Rejoice, friend. You are most blessed. The Nine wait below, and you will have the privilege of audience with me, their High Dragon.”
Chapter 16
THERE WAS NO SIGN OF Rynax. Hemmit couldn’t wait, not with the little boy, who was clearly hungry and exhausted. Despite his own pain, he carried the boy down the tunnels. Fortunately, the chalk marks were there and easy to find. After pushing himself, forcing himself to take each step, he found an exit to the open air.
Both he and the boy laughed and whooped once they realized they were out, even though it was clearly late. It took him a bit to get his bearings—he was somewhere in North Seleth. After a bit of searching, he went to the one place he really knew in the neighborhood: Kimber’s Pub. By the time he got there, the boy, spent, had fallen asleep in his arms.
It was a quiet night, only a smattering of patrons. Or perhaps it was just that late.
“You can’t bring that boy in here,” the matron of the place said as he came in.
“Ma’am,” Hemmit said. “You probably don’t recognize me, but I was here the night of the riots? The election?”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”
Hemmit frowned. “I was meeting with the Rynax brothers. And that boy was hit in the head?”
“Of course I remember that,” she said. “Still, you—”
“Apparently one of the Rynaxes went searching for missing children in the tunnels underground today.”
She shook her head and sighed. “Oh, Asti.”
“This boy was one of the ones taken. But there are more. And I think Rynax is still down there. As are other friends.”
“You were down there?” she asked. “I mean, sir, you look a frightful mess.”
“I feel it.”
“Let’s take the boy to a cot in the back, and then work on finding his parents or such in the morning. You should do the same.”
It was awfully tempting. He wanted to lie down and not move. His whole body was hurting.
But Dayne was still down there. Jerinne and Maresh and Lin. He couldn’t just walk away. He couldn’t rest now.
“I wish I could,” he said. “Take care of the boy, and if you see the other Rynax, let him know—”
“I will,” she said. She went to the bar and came back with cup of water. Hemmit took it gratefully. He never was so happy to drink water.
“Are you going to be all right?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he said. “But I have to help everyone else, or
