I strained to see two reptilian shadows beating against the wind, distant. They didn’t seem to see us.
“What’s their course?” Samuel asked.
“Almost due east,” Ashton said. “Assuming they’re going straight to the Xenolith, we can copy their angle.”
“Do it,” Samuel said.
“Alright,” Ashton said. “Hold on.”
The ship suddenly lifted. With the change in course, one of the dragons broke, coming back to attack us. I could see its white eyes glowing in the night.
We rose higher, piercing the cloud layer and going in the direction the dragons had been pointing. Once above the clouds, Ashton allowed himself to relax. The dragon would be unlikely to follow us up here, and even if it could, we’d outpace it.
“We’ll stay up here for a bit,” he said. “We’ll come back below when I’m sure we’ve passed them.”
A few minutes later, Ashton lowered through the clouds. Once again, we were above the pink shimmering of the Great Blight. The land had flattened, but a line of pointy mountains rose to the northwest. I had a feeling that we were close. The clock on the dash showed 00:30.
A minute later, the ground stretched before us. A line of hills rose in the east, only visible from the glow of the fungus. As the hills neared, I saw the Xenolith rising above them.
“That’s it,” I said.
As we passed over the hills, there were no signs of a battle. In fact, the wide fungal plain seemed empty. The battle had concluded.
Perseus swooped by the rising Xenolith.
“Where are the Elekai?” Julian asked.
No one had an answer for that.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But Anna and I need to get inside the Xenolith.”
“How?” Samuel asked.
“There’s an entrance at its base,” I said, “if it’s anything like the last one.”
“And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Ashton asked.
“Not sure,” I said. “Lift off, but stay in the area.”
“Radio us when you’re ready to leave,” Samuel said.
At last, Ashton lowered the ship, setting it down on the xenofungal bed. Samuel handed me his radio.
“The channel’s on the right preset,” he said. “Try to hurry.”
“I’ll let you know,” I said.
Julian brought Anna’s wheelchair around. Together, we lifted and settled her in. I took the handles and swiveled the wheelchair around.
I knew it was crazy to take Anna with me, but I also knew she would never forgive me if I left her behind. We probably had to abandon the chair at some point. Anna could walk, albeit in pain. I could only hope that the Wanderer didn’t make us go too far.
Whatever the Wanderer told us, we’d hear it together.
Chapter 17
Anna and I walked onto the glowing xenofungus. The air was warm and humid. Ahead, the Xenolith shot hundreds of feet into the sky. It dwarfed everything else for miles. Thick branches curved from its central trunk, and these branches carried tufts of pink growth. The Xenolith’s trunk radiated silvery light, the illumination intensifying in silver and purple hues upon reaching the upper branches. The low wind sifted through the limbs, making the Xenolith seem to sigh.
Perseus idled as Anna and I walked down the boarding ramp. Anna was managing, if painfully. I gave her my right arm for support.
I pointed to the base of the trunk, where the Xenolith’s thick roots twisted into the fungal bed. These roots were the size of normal trees, winding around each other in complicated braids. If we were getting inside, those roots would need to untangle, somehow.
I walked forward and touched one of the roots. It reacted instantly, snapping back like a snake. I pulled my hand away as the other roots unraveled as well. They untwisted until a dark opening was revealed. Pinkish, silvery light glowed from within. We peered inside.
“What’s in there?” Anna asked.
“You’ll see,” I said.
As soon as we passed the threshold, the roots behind closed and knotted themselves shut, leaving us in the spiraling corridor glowing pink with bioluminescence.
The tunnel circled down to the right, much like the one in the first Xenolith had, only this tunnel seemed to circle more widely, which made sense if the Xenolith was larger. As we descended, the tunnel widened.
Soon, the tunnel stopped curving, opening into a wide cavern, glittering pink and silver with alien life. A large lake of pink liquid with an almost metallic sheen on its surface lay before us. Anna’s breath caught at the sight, mostly because two dragons were bathing in the lake. Only their angular heads were visible above the surface. Their eyes opened lazily upon our entrance. I felt a strange energy stir the air, now that the dragons were aware of our presence.
The dragons didn’t move, merely settling back into their doze. Something seemed off about them. There was so little I knew about the Elekai, or even xenolife in general. Maybe this was how they ate — nutrients and calories might enter through the liquid itself, nourishing the dragons.
There was no island in this lake, as with the last Xenolith. And there was no sign of the Wanderer.
“Where is he?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “We have to find him.”
“How?”
I stepped forward to the liquid. I didn’t even know if I should be calling it that. Liquid sounded too scientific, where this fluid was the very stuff of life.
Ichor — the blood of gods. That was what it should be called.
Anna joined me on the shoreline. The surface of the lake was still as glass, except around the dragons, where tiny ripples raced outward, only to dwindle to stillness long before reaching the shoreline. The ichor looked almost solid.
“Go ahead,” I said. “Step in.”
Anna looked at me, as if to be sure, before placing her right boot in the lake. The ichor wrapped around, as if in embrace.
“It’s warm,” she said.
She stepped the other boot in, wading a bit into the ichor. I followed her in. The ichor was warm, thick, and tingled a bit as it seeped into my boots and soaked through my clothing. We waded out together until the ichor had covered us to our torsos.
There, Anna paused.
“This…feels weird,” she said, after a moment.
“What’s wrong?”
“It feels…tight. In my chest.”
“Anna, are you…”
Suddenly, her eyes closed, and she fell backward. As if the pool had pulled her.
“Anna!”
The ichor claimed her, wrapping itself around the rest of her body until only her head remained above. Her eyes were wide with fear. She managed to scream the first syllable of my name before being completely submerged.
I rushed forward, but the ichor pushed me back, locking me to my spot. I could only watch, helpless, as Anna floated beneath the translucent ichor, eyes opened. Her body suddenly jerked in an unnatural way. I groaned as I pushed against the ichor — but it was useless. Anna’s body jerked twice more, in quick succession. Her eyes were closed, her body still.
I waited, my heart pounding, for at least a full minute. Still, Anna remained under the surface.
I looked toward the dragons. “What are you doing? Can’t you see she needs help?”
They stared back with fathomless white eyes, seemingly unconcerned.
“Anna…” I said.
But then, her body rose out of the liquid. I was no longer restrained, so I waded forward to pull her out. Her head appeared above, and I pulled her into my embrace.
“Anna! Anna, can you…”
She started hacking, and some of the ichor shot against my shoulder. She sucked in a sharp breath, coughing more liquid, before clinging to me tightly. Her body shook, and it was only after a long moment that she calmed.