Chapter 42: Crawling Under the Surface

“Are we going to talk about it?” Clarkus asked as he looked down at Alena. The asura had been quiet for most of their hike to the sanctuary and especially silent once they were all inside. He had expected to hear one curious exclamation after another as they entered Deep and Troubled Waters. Instead, she had been quietly taking in the sights as she shuffled along by his side.

Alena plopped her tired body down on a crate. “Talk about what? Our crystalized commander, the suspicious kodan watching us like we’re criminals, or the constant overhanging sense of dread of meeting our end at the hand of a couple of villainous nobles?”

Clarkus looked down at his friend, who was looking more and more diminished these days. “Not all that. Jakob.”

Alena bowed her head. “I know what you’re going to say.”

“You locked him up in private quarters on the airship and wouldn’t let him out. You wouldn’t even let him come with us to this place.”

“It was for his safety,” Alena insisted. She looked up at her friend, hoping he would understand. Dark circles hugged the underside of her eyes, and strands of her amber hair had come undone from her rows and flew wildly around her head. “There are far too many terrible things going on all around us right now. It’s safer to keep him packed away where nothing can get to him. It’s going to be hard for him to get hurt tucked away behind layers of steel far up in the sky.”

“Alena.”

“What?”

“He wants to help.”

The asura sighed and rubbed at her tired eyes. “I know he wants to help, but if something happens to him, I—I don’t think I could live with myself. He took me in and called me family, even though he didn’t’ have to. He’s sweet, but he’s not known the dangers we’ve known.”

“If he wants to be a part of your life, maybe he should be exposed to them so he can build a thick skin. At some point, that ship has to land, and he’s going to come out. You can’t lock him away forever.”

Alena shook her head and made a sharp gesture with her hand. “No, and I don’t want to talk about this anymore. It’s giving me palpitations.”

Clarkus huffed. “All right. Don’t want your little heart jumping out of your chest.”

Alena yawned and pointed. “That over there, let’s talk about that instead. Tell me that doesn’t look peculiar,” she said quietly to Clarkus as they watched Nienna’s parents and the frozen carry her into the chamber on the end. They set the makeshift stretcher in the middle of the space and settled themselves around it.

The charr’s long ears twitched. “Even weirder than what we’ve encountered so far. Didn’t think that was possible.”

“What do we do? I mean, her parents are in there, so she’s safe, right?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Alena looked up at him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up those memories again.”

“It’s fine, but we should keep an eye on them. Maybe you can go do your research in there.”

Alena hit his arm with her staff. “By myself?”

The charr chortled and rubbed at the spot she hit him. “Bring Gordo with you, and maybe raise your other minions. Let them stretch their legs for a bit.”

“What about you? Where are you going to be?”

Clarkus’s tail switched back and forth as he watched a tall, cloaked figure speaking to Viktor outside of the chamber. “Not far. Yell if you need help.”

Unsure about the proposed arrangement, Alena hesitantly replied, “all right, but I’ll need my materials. Please don’t go too far.”

After Clarkus retrieved her pack with all of her notes and tomes, Alena did what he suggested and cautiously entered the frozen hovel with Gordo following close behind her. To her relief, Nienna’s parents allowed her to stay in the room and monitor her vitals while continuing her research. Having Gordo at her side made her feel more at ease, and she was able to concentrate on the tasks at hand. She tried to reorder the information just as she had it before Dee swept it all into the bag. Slipping pieces of parchment with her notes scrawled haphazardly all over them in between pages, Alena recreated the timeline of information she hoped would create a full picture of what was going on with Nienna.

Once she was finished, Alena turned to Nienna’s parents who had been quietly resting next to their daughter. “Um, sorry to bother you,” the asura began as she waved at them with her little hand.

Rhrya raised her head and opened her eyes. Her gaze darted nervously back and forth between their daughter and Alena. “Hrm? What is it? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. Well, nothing more than usual these days. I was wondering if I can borrow your family book again?”

Rhrya brightened and even managed a smile, despite her exhausted state. She reached over and pulled the tome from Viktor’s lap, waking him in the process. “Sorry,” she said quietly.

“It’s fine,” he replied with a tired smile. “What do you need it for?”

“The scientist needs it,” Rhrya replied and then handed the book to Alena. Her outstretched arm began to shake, and she dropped the tome before she could pass it on.

Alena reached over and scooped it up. “Are you all right?”

A cracking and crunching sound filled the chamber as the other frozen shifted their bodies where they sat. Her heart leapt into her throat as she looked around the chamber. Gordo rose to his feet, having sensed his mistress’ concern.

“They’ve become more restless lately,” Viktor said. “They can feel something crawling under the surface, whispering to them.”

Alena’s eyes grew wide. “What do you mean. What is whispering to them?”

Viktor’s eyes grew distant as he looked beyond the doorway and out of the chamber, as if he was looking for someone who wasn’t there. “He is.”

“He?”

“Aedan Byrne.”

Alena furrowed her brow. “How is that even possible?”

Viktor held out his hands, turning them over to show her the ice growing on his skin. “He has a weapon forged from Jormag’s blood-.”

“The Sanguinary Blade,” Alena interrupted. “We saw him with it at the Priory camp. It was stolen from the Priory’s Headquarters but covered up to make it look like something else was taken. Clever, if you ask me.”

Rhrya leaned forward. “He uses it to control the frozen army they are building. When he turns you, his voice enters your thoughts. You think they are your own.”

“His words were so loud at first, but as Rhrya and I fought them, their resonance faded. Once we realized we could fight them, we made a plan to escape. We liberated who we could, but many were left behind.” Viktor bowed his head. “Far too many.”

Curious, Alena’s ears perked up as she turned to an empty page in her notebook. “How does he do it? How does he turn them?”

“By piercing the skin.” Rhrya looked down at the spot on her arm and rubbed where the Sanguinary Blade pierced her skin. “The magic is introduced into the blood. We felt the effects immediately. A voice wormed its way into our minds, turning us into puppets. We were not ourselves.”

The other frozen stirred again, drawing Rhrya and Viktor’s attention.

“His whispers are getting stronger,” Viktor noted.

Alena clutched her notebook tightly in her little hands. Sensing his mistress’ trepidation, Gordo shuffled closer to her, watching the others with his empty eye sockets. “Are we okay in here?” she asked, keeping her voice low. “You know, with them?”

Viktor looked around the room, his eyes pausing on each of their frozen companion. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned back to Alena and nodded. “It’s quiet for now.”

“Good.” Flipping pages in her notebook, she stuck a little finger in the air. “While I have your attention, I wanted to ask you both a question.”

Rhrya brightened at the request, eager to be of help. “What do you want to know?”

“I was curious about your family line,” Alena began as she opened to the first page of the tome. She scanned through a few lines and then flipped through to the next section penned by the next ancestor. “The original author had a son. Her son’s first-born was a son. Then her son’s son’s first-born was a son.” She quickly flipped from page to page, creating a simple family tree in her mind. “Were all the first-borns male?”

Viktor and Rhrya sat quietly, thoughtfully contemplating her question. “There was gossip about the first-borns all being male. It’s hard to remember all of them,” Viktor admitted. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to recall details from previous generations, but shook his head in defeat. “I’m sorry. My memories are muddled beyond the last few generations, but I remember the Valar line was passed through my great grandfather, to my grandfather, and then to my father.”

Alena’s eyebrows raised. “Is that so,” she murmured to herself and then went back to flipping through the book. Every so often, she would write something down in her notebook, making a thoughtful noise as she did. The chamber remained silent, aside from the sound of Alena hurriedly turning pages and scribbling down her discoveries. When she reached the final page, she shut the tome and sat quietly, running all the collected information through her mind. “Well, that’s interesting. I don’t know that much about human physiology, but this seems like a biological impossibility.”

“How do you mean?” Rhrya asked.

Holding up her notebook, she pointed her little index finger at each of the lines. “Every first-born child in the Valar line is male, with the exception of the first Nienna and our Nienna. What does that mean?” She looked over at Nienna laying peacefully on the stretcher in her crystalline cocoon. “The statistical anomaly is staggering.”

Rhrya cracked a warm smile as she looked at her daughter resting within her chrysalis. “It’s why I named her Nienna, you know. Like Viktor said, there was talk the first-born children were all male, until her. It felt like it meant something, so I gave her Nienna’s name.”

“Interesting.” Alena scribbled down what Rhrya said. She looked over her notes one last time before closing her notebook. Reaching into the pack, Alena pulled out an old asura-made vital reader that was stuck in the back of one of the desk drawers on the Raven. She flipped the switch on its top and waited for it to boot up. The screen flickered and went out, but after a sharp slap with her hand, it finally produced a steady, empty grid.

“I need to take her readings,” Alena announced as she got to her feet and held the device over Nienna. She watched the blip on display go up and down, her mind circling around all the pieces of information she had collected, trying to make sense of it all. Beneath the chrysalis, Alena could see Nienna’s shadow move. It was subtle, like she was shifting in her sleep. Lowering the vital reader, Alena watched, wondering if she was dreaming.

“How is she doing?”

“Hrm?” Alena looked up to find Quint standing in the entry. “Oh, hi. Well, her heart rate is low, and her temperature seems a little off, but she’s stable. I can’t quite tell if the crystals are interfering with the vital reader.”

After sweeping his gaze through the chamber, Quint looked over at Nienna’s parents holding watch over her. “May I come in?”

The chamber grew uneasily quiet until the soft grinding of frost and ice filled the space as Viktor and Rhrya nodded. He leaned a tall staff against the wooden door frame as he entered. Alena noticed he didn’t have his scaled companion with him. She wondered where the red drake had gone off to.

“Can I see that?” He reached a hand out to Alena.

She set the vital reader in his palm. “Do you know how to read it?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these, but I‘m sure my memory will kick in.” He watched the blips on the small screen for a moment and then made a thoughtful noise. “I think your assumptions are right. This does seem low.”

Alena sighed and crossed her little arms over her chest. “That’s what I was afraid of. It hasn’t changed, so I guess that’s good at least. I don’t know. I’m a scientist, not a medic. We should find someone who can actually help her.”

Quint sighed and handed the vital reader back to Alena. “I don’t think we have many options right now.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” She yawned deeply and scratched at the back of her head. “I just wish there was something I could actually do to help.”

“You’re doing everything you can.” He shot a quick, nervous glance around the room. “Maybe you should get some rest. When was the last time you slept?”

The asura scratched her head. “I don’t know. Last week? At least it feels that way.”

“Why don’t you go get some sleep. I can take over the watch for now,” Quint offered.

As if on cue, Alena yawned again. “I would hate to leave her side, but my brain has been feeling a bit fuzzy lately.”

“Go. I’ve got this.”

Alena carefully gathered her papers and tomes and put them back in the pack. She slung it over her shoulder and motioned for Gordo to follow her out. On her way, she tugged at Quint’s sleeve, and he followed her out of the chamber.

“What were you talking to Nienna’s father about earlier?” she asked him. “Clarkus and I saw you.”

Quint looked off to one side of them to the other, making sure there was no one around to hear them speak. “I’d like to say it was nothing, but then I’d be lying.”

Alena’s ears perked up. “Quint!” she hissed nervously. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He flashed her a reassuring smile, but Alena recognized it. He used it when he was trying to cover for something unpleasant on the horizon. “What I’m telling you is I think you should go rest in one of the other chambers, preferably with Clarkus nearby.” He looked over at Gordo. “And maybe your golem too.”

“Quint-.”

“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry,” he tried to assure her. “Get some rest. You’ll feel better after.”

Alena looked back over her shoulder and then up at Quint. “I don’t like this. Should I tell the others?”

He looked down at her and smiled. “No. It’s okay. I’ve got this. Now go.” He nodded toward the other chambers the kodan had given them for the time being.

Alena knew there was something he wasn’t telling her. Instead of pressing him for details, she figured it might be better to do what he said and get some sleep. Her brain was indeed feeling foggy, and she needed rest if she was going to be any further help. She watched Quint disappear inside the chamber before she started searching for Clarkus.