Page 85 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
The only sounds were their own footfalls and the echoing drip from somewhere beyond them. It was eerie, something out of nightmares, but he supposed it was better than being in the city above, where the houses were burning and bodies littered the streets.
And he still hadn’t found Clara and Samuel.
At last, they made it to the turn. The light was coming from the other end of the short tunnel, and now that they were closer, Jove could tell it was flickering. It ended in a cavern not much larger than the foyer of Shackley Manor. Near its center stood a large crystalline structure; it looked very much like the top of a fir tree, its branches fanning out and growing upward toward the ceiling. It glowed a soft golden color, though black tentacles thrashed softly within each branch.
“May Toro have mercy on our souls,” Kainadr whispered, coming to a stop.
“I believe that is a Zuprium crystal?” His mother asked, inching forward to inspect it, but Jove caught her elbow.
“There’s something wrong with it.” He had no reason to know that, but a sense of malevolence crawled through his skin when he looked at it. He turned to Kainadr. “Do you know?”
Kainadr seemed very much in shock; Jove wasn’t sure if the man had even blinked again. He just stared, his little fireball guide wavering before flickering out. “This is why Yalvara is angry.”
Jove cocked his head. “I’m sorry. What?”
His mother turned back toward them. “The reason the tunnel collapsed? This crystal caused it?”
Kainadr pointed to the other side of the crystal. “See there? The rockslide? The corruption of the holy metal means Jagamot is returning, which is making Yalvara unstable.”
His mother turned back to the crystal and walked around it. “I do think it feels off, though I haven’t studied many texts concerning Zuprium in years.”
It probably brought up bad memories for her. Uncle Ezekiel had become famous from his work with the metal. “But we should still be able to find water, at least? ”
His question was answered by his mother’s gasp. Jove looked up just in time to see her dive forward; he lunged toward her, but his leg gave out. He cried out and fell hard on his knee. Kainadr ran forward and muttered what sounded like a curse in his language.
Jove managed to hobble back to his feet and painfully inch forward. “What? What is it? What happened?”
Neither his mother nor Kainadr seemed to be injured in any way. The Zuprium crystal hadn’t done anything or moved or speared anyone with one of those branches. But his mother was fixated on something regardless; she darted forward again, and when Jove finally made it to the other side of the crystal, it was easy to see why.
Anderson Enright lay sprawled upon the floor, eyes closed.
Jove went cold and nearly collapsed again. His mother bent next to the man, feeling the corner of his jaw, eyes scanning the rest of the man’s body. “He’s got a pulse, and he’s breathing, but both are too faint. I don’t see any injuries, do you?”
None of his limbs bent at an odd angle. Nothing seemed to be bleeding. Nothing about him suggested he should be comatose at the bottom of some chasm…except the last time Jove had seen him was when Loffler had been dragging him through the cells, claiming he had the power to make all the electricity go dark.
Jove still had only an elementary grasp on all of it. The power of the Essences wasn’t supposed to exist. The Yalvs had signed the Treaty hundreds of years ago…then had broken it.
And Kase had lied about it upon his return from Tasava with Zeke’s body in tow.
Staying angry at his brother was something he didn’t have the time nor strength for. Though Kase definitely deserved his ire, it could be dealt with later.
Once he knew Kase was still alive for him to be angry at.
As softly as he could without straining his still-healing shoulder, he knelt beside Anderson. Kainadr dug in his pouch and sprinkled dust over the man, whispering in a singsong.
Anderson’s body glowed brighter than the cluster now at Jove’s back. He raised a hand to block the light. It burned his eyes, though not as badly as when he was healed.
Once it faded, he lowered his hand. Anderson seemed to be breathing a little smoother, if he assessed it generously.
Les held Anderson’s wrist again and checked his pulse. “Stronger, but I’m not sure if whatever you did was enough.”
Hesitantly, Kainadr knelt as well and took out a pinch of dust, sprinkling it on Anderson’s face. He sang a little, but instead of the blinding light, the dust rose from Anderson’s skin and formed symbols above his head.
Kainadr inspected each one, tapping his lips in thought. “I am unable to perform more intricate diagnostics, but from what this here is indicating,” he pointed at a symbol that resembled what Jove thought looked like an eye, “I would say that this man is in perfect health.”
He moved his hands a little, and the symbols reconfigured themselves. “However, this here is telling me that he has something internal that is bleeding. And this other one here,” he pointed again to an eye symbol, “directly contradicts that.”
“So you don’t know?” Jove asked flatly. Why did Kainadr seem determined to give the longest possible answer to every question?
