Of Gaea Read online

  Ari remember the night of her tattooing and what she had seen, what Nasya herself had driven off, but didn’t mention it.

  Nasya squeezed her hand. “You should be relatively safe.”

  Ari nodded and tightened her grip on the cane. “Let’s do this.”

  She walked silently along the building in the direction Nasya had pointed for the solarium. There was nothing on that side of the building but open fields. Ari could see tractors off in the distance doing whatever it was farmers did on them.

  The glass to the solarium looked darker than she remembered. It was tinted, but Ari didn’t remember it being so. She remembered clear glass. Every muscle tensed and she slowed her already patiently slow walk.

  There was no door to the solarium. Or there was a door, but it was nothing more than shattered glass. Ari stepped through cautiously then blinked rapidly as her eyes burned and she coughed with whatever was filling the space.

  When Ari crouched she instantly saw the issue. The glass was tinted because smoke nearly filled the room. Not enough to escape the door or the unbroken dome above.

  She had no way of letting the smoke out without breaking the dome. That would leave a risk that Leonidas’s less than friendly plants could get out in the public. She had to do something though, or go back outside and wait.

  Resignedly, Ari swooshed the cane at the topmost panels and sent a hard enough gust of wind to shatter those panels. Then, as she stood she swooshed her hands upward — like she was splashing water in a pool — and pushed all the air from the ground up through the broken panels.

  Not only did that clear the room for her to see, it apparently also put out whatever had still been burning. Her fear of the plants getting out had been unfounded.

  There was nothing but ash and death in the solarium. Blackened stumps were all that remained of gorgeous trees. There were no remains of flowers or vines. Shrubs crumpled to piles of ash as she slowly walked through. Even the stones were blackened and dead looking. She had no idea how long it had burned, it didn’t really matter. What mattered was it was gone.

  Her favorite bench was a twisted black mass. She didn’t sit on it but skirted around it silently towards Leonidas’s front door. Ari slowly and silently drew her blade as she walked.

  She knew enough not to shout and give away her position. She tensed with every slight movement or sound and waited ten steady heart beats before moving forward again.

  The carved door that Ari had so admired was splintered into pieces. Even knowing what she would find on the other side didn’t stop her from stepping through.

  The furniture was broken and scarred with heavy dents. Some were splintered into pieces as if they had been used as a weapon and fell pathetically before their foe. Blood, black, blue, and red marred the great tree on the floor. There was only one reason for that.

  Ari hadn’t known the Pure or the Tainted bled a different color, but there was no doubt that’s what she was looking at. There had been a huge fight in the living room that appeared to have ended in the kitchen.

  Or at least that was where the blood trails ended. What had been in the kitchen that Leonidas felt important enough to back himself into an inescapable corner? Ari flicked the light switch on and studied the scene.

  None of the cupboards were opened and there were no dishes in the sink. The canisters on the counter were in an undisturbed soldier like line. But for the blood on the floor, nothing was amiss.

  Randomly, she opened a cupboard and couldn’t prevent her smile. His baking spices were neatly lined up in rows, alphabetically. They were also kept separate from the cooking spices that were lined up on the other side of a divider and the grilling spices on the other side of yet another divider. No doubt to make cooking in any form easier.

  Ari opened another cupboard and found the same thing with breakfast items. There weren’t any cereal boxes in the cupboard; instead there were neat stacks of pour top Tupperware containers with carefully printed labels. Applejacks, Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops… she paused on the Fruit Loops. Really? The man ate Fruit Loops? The Apple Jacks she could understand but Fruit Loops? His cereal taste wasn’t why she rooted around in his kitchen she reminded herself.

  “Come on, Leonidas. You know I’m not a pro at this yet. What were you doing?”

  Ari crouched at the very end of the red streak and looked around. This would have been his vantage point if he had been on the ground. What could he reach from here without anyone else’s attention being drawn to it?

  All the cupboards were closed so she flipped them open. Pots and pans, canned goods, and extra Tupperware, all obsessively organized greeted her. The OCD organization was frustrating enough that she kicked a cupboard closed.

  The cupboard flew back open and smashed against her shin. She saw stars and fell on her back, into liquids she didn’t ponder, clutching her leg. Then froze; there was movement fluttering in her peripheral vision.

  “Ariadne!”

  She looked up at Nasya’s hurried approach and barely felt her arms draw Ari up and wrap her in a tight hug.

  “You’re safe.” She buried her face in Ari’s neck. “I saw the solarium. I heard the glass but couldn’t get back through fast enough. Why are you on the floor?”

  “An accident. Were there any left?” Ari asked neutrally.

  Her hesitation was brief before Ari felt her exhale and nod.

  “Pure or Tainted?”

  “Ari, we need Sasha and possibly Kleisthenes too.”

  She pulled away from Nasya, put her hand on Nasya’s shoulder and forced her to meet her eyes. “Pure or Tainted?”

  “A few of each heavily wounded. I put them out of their misery. Ari, think for a minute, what can we do? We need help. We’re in over our heads.”

  “Gaea told me I need Leonidas. I need him, Nasya. I don’t know why, but I do.” Ari pointed to the blood at her feet. “There’s not enough here for him to be dead, yet. They took Leonidas. I’m going to get him back.”

  Ari was outside and halfway down the block by the time Nasya caught up with her and grabbed her arm. “We can’t do anything without help. We need help, Ari. You shouldn’t do anything rash. Stop and think for a minute.”

  “It’s my fault.”

  Nasya looked at her confused.

  “He didn’t want any part of this; he didn’t want any part of me, and now he’s stuck. I dragged him into it.”

  “He is Spartan.” Nasya spoke quietly, as if she didn’t want to upset her. “It is expected…”

  “It shouldn’t be.” Ari pried Nasya’s hand from her arm. “It’s not going to be. I’m going to fix it.”

  “Some things cannot be fixed, Ari. It’s part of the balance. We see both sides .”

  “The balance is skewed. It has been for centuries. One life isn’t going to tip it back into place, I know that. But one life can start it.” Ari let go of her hand and stepped away. “Trust me to do this.”

  She sighed and nodded very slowly. “Be very, very careful. Your life won’t tip the balance, Ariadne. Your life will destroy the scale completely.”

  She smiled at Nasya. “I’ll be careful.” She began to walk away without glancing back to see if Nasya was joining her or not.

  “I’m going to go get Sasha and Kleisthenes. Please, think every action through. That’s all I ask.” She vanished from sight before Ari could respond.

  Ari continued her walk alone. Though, not technically alone, as she could feel the eyes on her waiting to see what she would do. They wouldn’t have long to wait.

  The only foreseeable problem was she only knew one Pure and two Tainted people in the entire town. Though there were several others she could guess at from her history. At the moment, she was closer to the Tainted than she was the Pure.

  Unfortunately, the shop was everything she remembered it being. The window looked slightly less cluttered, though that might have been her imagination. The mysterious fluids were still there.

  Ari hesitated on t
he sidewalk. The only other time she had been here, Nasya had been with her to repel the sickness. Though, when she had seen Erelah on the street she hadn’t gotten sick. She hadn’t smelled anything either, but she had been on the other side of the road.

  Agonized screaming pulled her out of hesitation into action. Ari struck the door with the cane and it vaulted inwards. As she charged forward, she took in some of the shop.

  Book cases were stacked much like a book store, but not with the variety of wares that a book store would carry. Ari didn’t bother with those and swept her arm as if she was swatting away a fly. They screeched over to the side of the room. Later she would pat herself on the back for control, as nothing had shifted or fallen off the cases whilst they moved.

  The shifted cases revealed five people on the opposite side of the room. Three of them were holding onto Leonidas. Erelah stood in front of him holding a rather sharp looking stick and the fifth thought to charge her.

  Ari ducked under his swing and used the cane like a bat. She put all her fury behind the blow. She felt it crunch as she completed the swing. He howled worse than anything she’d ever heard before.

  The contact with his body shattered his bones and sent him flying. He crashed into the wall and dropped to the floor like a rag doll. One down and Ari didn’t regret it.

  In the split second she had been preoccupied, Erelah and her goons had slipped out a doorway she hadn’t noticed. Cursing, Ari flew after them. The doorway led into another room, this one empty but for the strange markings all over the place. Erelah and company were exiting a door to what could only have been the alleyway behind the building.

  Leonidas looked directly at her. Locked eyes with her and shook his head ever so slightly. Blood dripped into his eyes and bruises colored his cheekbones. His face was apathetic. He wasn’t even trying to survive.

  It made her angry. At the same time she was okay with it. He didn’t have to try and survive. She would try for him.

  Ari didn’t slow when the monstrously, large man turned from Erelah to stand in the doorway. There was only one way to get through. She wasn’t going to let some monster of a brute stop her.

  She pulled out several of the bone knives and threw them. He ducked under and she jumped over. She was nearly free and out the door when his hand grabbed her ankle and yanked her back.Ari landed with a teeth rattling thud.

  He charged with a booming growl.

  Ari rolled to her feet and swung the cane at the same time.

  He braced and only slid back a few feet with the blast of air. He smiled tauntingly and cracked his neck.

  She rolled her shoulders and drew her blade. This was not going to be easy.

  It took a few dodge and parries for her to realize she was faster than the big oaf. She was also infinitely more agile. There was a downside, though. Ari was a toothpick to his strength and his arms were a lot longer than hers. She couldn’t get close enough.

  The elements only slowed him down temporarily. Ice, earth, air weakened when they met him. Ari didn’t try fire as she didn’t want that bounced back at her. She didn’t have time to ponder why.

  Ari had to rely on what Kleisthenes had taught her instead. It wasn’t a hard lesson learned. The Gifts of Gaea were a crutch she had relied on it first and shouldn’t have.

  She could only hope and pray for a mistake on his end. And in the meanwhile pray that she did not make one. It was a delicate balance.

  Ari felt the change first. It was like a whisper on the air. Or a scent. She knew what it meant.

  She wasn’t surprised when she jumped back again and someone intercepted so she could withdraw.

  “Are you okay?” Sasha wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her even further out of the way.

  Ari looked up at him. “I’m alright. They have Leonidas. He was here. I saw him.”

  Sasha’s arms tightened. “I saw them run into the woods. There’s no telling where they were going.”

  A thud drew her attention back to the fight. Kleisthenes was calmly wiping his blade off on the decapitated body’s shirt. The head laid several feet away with an expression of surprise etched on its face.

  “You’ve never been taught how to handle a strongman.” Kleisthenes stated when he saw them watching him. “The little one out there was handled rather roughly.” He gestured to the shop.

  Ari hung scratched her nose. “I was emotional.”

  He didn’t speak for a moment. “We’ve discussed emotions in battle.”

  “Yes.”

  He pointed to the strange marks on the walls. “Devil’s tongue. It weakens the Pure and anyone with Gaea’s gifts the longer you are near it. I think now is a good time to go for a walk.”

  Sasha and Ari didn’t question him, but followed him out the back door.

  The air was so clean and pure, Ari staggered on the steps and would have fallen if Sasha hadn’t caught her. She was dizzy and lightheaded.

  “Ari?” Sasha’s voice buzzed in her ear but she didn’t really hear it.

  Ari pushed away from him and swayed a moment before stumbling away.

  “Ari?”

  “Let her go a moment.” Kleisthenes murmured so low Ari almost missed it.

  She felt rather than saw the trees. Ari stumbled over and fell against them. She slid down a trunk and could swear the tree roots came up to embrace her. It felt heavenly; like sinking into a hot tub. Blindly, she unzipped her boots and dug her bare feet into the rich soil. She sighed contently and lolled against the tree.

  The sensation was new to her. Ari felt like she was asleep. Or at least her body had fallen asleep but her mind was still awake. She couldn’t respond or move but she was totally aware of the conversation of the men at her feet.

  “Keep this moment in mind, Sasha.” Kleisthenes spoke softly. “If she ever falls ill; poisoned, disoriented return her to the soil.”

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Too much time among the Tainted with little to no protection. She is not yet everything she will be. Once that happens, I think only the very powerful will be able to touch her. But right now, days before her ascension she’s not strong enough.”

  “Did you see the Tainted in there? He was crushed like a paper ball.”

  “Yes, he was. Raw power is not the same as endurance at all. Yes, she has power that makes most anything within the city cringe at the mere sight of her, but it’s not the same as those that know their power and have used it for decades.”

  “How long will she be recharging?”

  Ari sighed and opened her eyes. It was already over. She could feel it. She had been released from the cat nap, power nap, recharge, or whatever it was called. She stretched slowly, drawing the attention of the men.

  Sasha crouched down next to her. “How do you feel?”

  She pulled her feet out of the soil and dusted them off to put her boots back on. “Fine. I feel fine now.”

  “That’s good to hear.” Nasya stepped out of the trees next to her dragging something behind. She tossed it at Kleisthenes’s feet.

  A man was curled up in a whimpering ball.

  Kleisthenes reached down and with one hand dragged the man to his feet. “What do we have here?”

  “Nasya,” Ari turned to her. “I’ve been meaning to ask. Why do I feel disconnected from the earth when I wear shoes? It’s like muffled.”

  She cocked her head at Ari. “You shouldn’t. What have I told you about your mind? You think I’m in shoes I can’t feel the earth. That’s not true at all. At least it’s not for you. You should be thinking I am the earth and it’s always under my feet.”

  “Huh. I never thought about that.”

  “If you ladies are done?” Kleisthenes shook the whimpering mass in his hand. “Nasya, what do you intend to do with this whelp?”

  “Smack him around a bit and get the Tainted’s plans out of him?”

  “I like that idea.” Sasha seconded and the boy cried louder.

  “I don’t th
ink it’s going to take much pain to get him to give us anything. The question is will it be the truth.” Ari poked the boy and he jerked and sobbed hysterically.

  “Truly a pathetic creature, Nasya. Well done.” Kleisthenes slapped the boy across his face. “What did you do to his eyes, dear?”

  Nasya shrugged. “It was encouragement that he wanted to come with me.”

  “It’s too late.” The boy muttered. “Too late. She already has Leonidas. There is no stopping her now. There is no Gaea.”

  “What do they plan to do with him?” Kleisthenes gave the boy a teeth rattling shake. “Where did they take him?”

  “It’s too late. Death to the Goddess and her followers. You are doomed. In a few hours the darkness will come and the sun will never be seen again. She wills it.”

  Ari moved close enough to the boy for him to hear her draw her blade from the cane. “You know, I’m a pretty good hunter. On occasion, I even get the opportunity to skin my prey.”

  “You’re all dead. Dead I tell you. She’s going to kill you all. The boy is first.” He wept. “I don’t know where. It wasn’t actually discussed, at least not with me.”

  “Pathetic.” Ari walked away.

  Sasha was at her side in three strides. “Where are you going?”

  “Home. I want my bow. Then I’m going back to Leonidas’s to see if he’s got an answer we haven’t thought of.”

  “You’re not going alone.”

  Ari smiled. “I wasn’t expecting to.”

  “The sun sets in three hours Ari. We won’t be able to do anything in the dark.”

  “What do you suggest? Let him die?” She stopped to look at him. “I know you’ve never liked each other, but you’d just let him die?”

  “No. I’m saying we need to move fast. Most Tainted rituals occur at night. It’s something about the darkness, which is completely weird because Gaea isn’t limited to just this planet. The moon is one of your symbols and so is the sun. You are both ying and yang.”

  “Fancy that.”

  Kleisthenes and Nasya watched them go.