Jandra cast the goddess a stern look. "When we get back," she said. "I want to see Zeeky."
"We'll talk about it," the goddess said.
Bitterwood moved next to Jandra and Hex. He stared into the black rip in the center of the rainbow. A shudder passed through him as he gazed into the void.
He felt as if the void was gazing back.
Chapter Twenty-Four:
Long Slow Fall
"Kill the gray one," Blasphet said, moving toward the stairs that lead up from the Thread Room. "Bring Metron up to watch the festivities. The attack of the sun-dragons should be well underway. The burning bodies of valkyries must be falling from the sky like stars."
As one the twenty women lowered their long knives and advanced toward Graxen. Graxen braced himself, running his eyes along the chain of attackers, searching for the weakest link. Unfortunately, the drugged smoke continued to play with his senses. It looked as if a rainbow had suddenly erupted in the air before him.
Then he slipped into madness. From thin air, a huge beast shot into the room. It was copper-colored, serpentine, and seemingly endless, studded with more limbs than Graxen could count. The serpent writhed, its body undulating as it trampled half of Blasphet's assassins beneath its claws.
The serpent hadn't come through alone. He was being ridden by a man in a white uniform, his eyes hidden behind a silver visor. The rider wielded a crossbow and coolly lowered it toward Blasphet. There was no way the rider could miss at such range. Yet as he pulled the trigger, one of the sisters leapt up and hit his arm. The shot went high, striking sparks on the ceiling above Blasphet's head. Blasphet winced as the bolt bounced against his skull. Then he quickly turned tail, slithering toward the door he'd entered.
With a back-handed slap, the rider knocked aside the girl who'd grabbed him. The copper serpent curved his head toward Blasphet, preparing to strike. The beast's eyes seemed unfocused in the smoky air. Suddenly, the serpent stumbled. The rider tumbled from his saddle as the serpent rolled to its side, succumbing to the poisoned torches.
Graxen's eyes were drawn by a motion to his left. He spun in time to find a tattooed girl attacking him. He thrust out his wing, knocking her knife away, then lunged forward, biting her throat with a quick snap of his jaws. He pulled back as she fell to her knees, clasping her neck with both hands.
Graxen coughed as he searched around the room for other attackers. The arrival of the giant serpent had caused so much confusion that no one was watching him. The atmosphere was increasingly difficult to see through. Some of the torches the assassins had carried had been knocked against the tapestries. The aged threads hissed as flames devoured them.
Jandra plunged into the rainbow gate, in pursuit of Hex and Bitterwood. In her previous journeys through underspace, she had exited the other side an instant after she entered. This time, something was different. She felt as if she were engulfed by the void, falling through a space that was not a space, a place disconnected from the normal world of up and down, back and forth. It was a place without light or sound. And in this nothingness, a familiar voice called her name.
Zeeky? she thought, before she stumbled back into reality. She was in a room full of smoke, with the dead bodies of sky-dragons underfoot. Bitterwood was helping Adam get free of Trisky's unconscious form. Hex had dropped to all fours, gasping for breath.
"J-jandra," he whispered, "the air…," before slumping to the ground.
"The smoke is poisoned," shouted a gray sky-dragon standing near a blackboard. The name "Vendevorex" was written on the board, the white chalk seeming to glow.
"You're Graxen, right?" Jandra asked. "Shandrazel's messenger?"
"Yes," he answered. "How did you get here? What is this rainbow?"
"I'll have to answer you later," Jandra said, fanning smoke away from her eyes. She reached into the pouch on her belt and threw thick handfuls of silver dust into the air. Despite the flames the air here was humid; she knew the Nest was located on an island. She commanded her tiny helpers to gather the water molecules in the air.
"Where's Blasphet?" Bitterwood asked Graxen.
Graxen pointed toward the stairs down. "He fled mere moments ago."
Now that the nanites had bonded to the water molecules, Jandra commanded a dozen small, localized showers to rain on all the torches and tapestries burning within the room. A second later the room went dark, with only a few red embers still visible. Content that the flames were extinguished, Jandra commanded the nanites to emit light. A soft white glow lit the nightmarish corpsescape.
"You must be Jandra," Graxen said. "Vendevorex's apprentice."
Jandra nodded. She looked back toward Bitterwood, but he was gone.
"Blasphet has sun-dragons attacking above," said Graxen. "We have to stop them!"
"If my father went after Blasphet, I must aid him," said Adam.
Before anyone could move, the rainbow rippled once more and a tall, silver-haired man stepped out. He was bare-chested, and sported long golden wings.
"Who?" Jandra and Graxen asked simultaneously.
"Gabriel," said the angel. "I'll take command. The goddess has explained the full situation. Blasphet's servants fan through the Nest, slaughtering valkyries. Adam, Jandra, since you cannot fly, it's your duty to stop them. The goddess is sending the remaining long-wyrm riders to other areas of the Nest to assist. Meanwhile, the valkyries are under assault from sun-dragons. Since only I can fly, I'll deal with them."
Graxen stepped up. "I can help."
"If you wish," said the angel. Without waiting to see if anyone would question his orders, Gabriel leapt over the dead bodies to the stairs, darting up them with superhuman speed. Adam followed as quickly as he could, drawing his sword.
Jandra knelt before Hex, placing her hands upon him to see if she could identify the poison that had claimed him. To her relief, he was still breathing. The smoke wasn't fatal.
"Aren't you coming?" Graxen asked.
"Not until I neutralize the poison," said Jandra. "He'll be a big help if I can revive him."
"If you possess Vendevorex's healing arts, please, save Nadala," Graxen said, bending low over the body of an unarmored valkyrie.
"I'll do what I can," said Jandra, as visions of molecules danced before her. She'd work better without any distractions. "She's safe with me. Go!"
She gave him a dismissive wave as she turned her concentration once more to Hex. Graxen ran up the stairs. The clicks of his claws were drowned out as unseen gears in the walls started to chatter and grind.
Arifiel aimed herself toward the sun-dragon that lagged behind the rest of the pack. She folded her wings and went into freefall, undulating like a snake swimming through water, racing toward her target. The tattooed woman astride the sun-dragon spotted her and pulled the reins to guide the dragon's head upward, but there was no way the gargantuan beast could move swiftly enough. Arifiel aimed for the dragon's left wing, a massive sheet of feathery flesh. As the dragon beat a down stroke, she extended her hind-talons. Her claws sunk into the hide with a satisfying jolt as she ripped long, parallel shreds from the wing. The sun-dragon listed, losing speed, its movement crossing the tipping point between flying and falling. Arifiel kicked, tearing one last shred as she pushed away. The sun-dragon craned its neck toward her. Arifiel caught the look of terror and confusion in its eyes.
Then, without warning, the dragon's rider gave one last squeeze of the bellows and a geyser of white flame shot toward her. Arifiel spun, pulling back from the worst of the flame, but cupfuls of the fluid splashed across her shoulders. She spasmed from the intense pain and found herself falling in the same path as the injured sun-dragon. She fought to regain control of her limbs, but each motion was utter agony as the liquid flame trickled across her scales.