Reclamation

All at once, Jay's voice echoed up the shaft. Her disk delivered nothing but a string of nonsense syllables. Aria drew her legs under her. A staccato noise like hail on granite rang against the walls. Light flashed brightly in time with the deafening sound. Aria threw herself away from the edge of the well and pressed back against the shadow-filled wall. She glanced back toward the entrance.

Run? I could, but where to? She gritted her teeth and clutched her sling. What I need is here.

Another flash of light and burst of hail shot out of the well. Then she heard Jay scream.

Aria picked a stone out of the sling's pouch and crawled over to the well's mouth. She raised her hand, ready to hurl it down. She peered over the edge.

Below her, Jay slumped against the tunnel wall. His eyes glistened brightly in the reflected light. There was no other movement visible, except for the restless shadows in the walls.

Aria dropped the stone back into the sling. She stuck the straps between her teeth and grabbed the ladder's rungs. She started down as fast as she could. The ladder twisted and wriggled under her hands and she cursed it under her breath, wishing for the steady metal rungs that had carried her out of Haron Station with Eric.

A shadow shot up the wall and stopped three inches from her nose. Aria gasped and almost lost her grip on her sling. The shadow hung in front of her eyes. Its edges expanded and contracted as if it was breathing. Aria swung her foot around to find the next rung. As her eye level dropped, so did the shadow. Aria felt her pulse flutter like a trapped wasp in her wrists, but she forced herself to keep climbing. The shadow followed her all the way down.

At last, she was close enough to the floor to let go of the wriggling ladder and drop the last three feet. Jay curled against the wall. His weapon lay on the floor at his feet. Down the tunnel, toward a lighted archway, lay three corpses. Human gore spattered the walls around them. Aria swallowed against the sweet, coppery scent that filled the tunnel.

Aria turned her eyes quickly back to Jay. His jaw was slack and a small trail of spittle trickled out over his lips. His eyes were open but he didn't blink, or track her as she leaned over him.

"Jay." She laid her hands against his chest and felt his shallow breathing. "Jay!" The spittle dripped onto the back of his hand, and Aria saw a dart with a sapphire blue shaft sticking out of his arm.

"Garismit's Eyes." Aria plucked the dart free. She bit her lip.

Probably not poison, or he'd be dead already. Probably just drugged. It'll wear off. She sniffed the dart carefully and smelled crushed leaves and antiseptic. She glanced down at Jay's paralyzed figure. In time.

But I need him now.

Aria tucked the sling into her belt and opened the pouch of stones. She touched her fingertips to one of the cool spheres.

Her mind opened with staggering force. Light surged through her, illuminating every thought, every facet of knowledge that she carried inside her. The substance on the dart was a paralyzing agent. It would wear off in about four hours if not reinforced. When used as a weapon against people or animals, an antidote was generally carried.

Aria shook her hand and the stone fell, but the light didn't fade. It carried her down the tunnel to the corpses. The light was a shield and a bind. It moved her hands while she watched, bemused, from the back of her mind. Her strong fingers ripped open the corpse's tool belt and found a flat case the size of her hand. Her fingernail pried the cover open. Inside lay a selection of color-coded needles. Her hand selected the blue one and the light drew her back to Jay. It reached her arm out until the needle drove itself into the Skyman's neck. It held her there for a dozen or so heartbeats and then drew her arm back. The needle came away with it, and Jay blinked.

The light winked out and Aria dropped to the floor. Her heart spasmed madly and her stomach heaved. She coughed and gagged against her bile.

"Aria?" Jay croaked.

"I'm here." She pushed herself upright.

Jay was sitting up too. His eyes looked dazed, but at least they were focusing.

"What happened?" he asked.

Aria swallowed bile and blotted at the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand. "I don't know." The stone lay on the floor, as perfect and beautiful as it had ever been. "This place may be having an effect on my namestones." Or on me. She lifted her free hand away from the floor that felt so much like the skin of her stones. Nameless Powers preserve me.

"Can you stand?" Jay drew his legs under him in a series of short jerks.

Aria nodded. "Can you?"

Pressing his hands against the corridor wall, Jay climbed to his feet. "Looks like it." He lifted his hands carefully away from the wall, and stayed standing.