Lightning Strikes Twice (Unweaving Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

  Sarah K. L. Wilson

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  All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.

  Copyright © 2017 by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Interior design by Pronoun

  Beta reading by C. W. Crowe

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One: To Worlds Beyond

  Chapter Two: Battlefield

  Chapter Three: Escalation

  Chapter Four: Kjexx

  Chapter Five: Dead City

  Chapter Six: Black Talon

  Chapter Seven: The Mark

  Chapter Eight: Testing

  Chapter Nine: Snake Bite

  Chapter Ten: The Other Cataclysm

  Chapter Eleven: Leavings

  Chapter Twelve: A Team

  Chapter Thirteen: Breaking Camp

  Chapter Fourteen: Standards

  Chapter Fifteen: Crack in the Wall

  Chapter Sixteen: Birch & Oak

  Chapter Seventeen: A Proposal

  Chapter Eighteen: Only a Dream

  Chapter Nineteen: Owe It or Worth It?

  Chapter Twenty: Gilded Cage

  Chapter Twenty-One: A Purple Scarf

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Preparations

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Grande Triumphe

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Surprise

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Balcony

  Chapter Twenty-Six: Eaglekin

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Ancient Patterns

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Rewriting

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Landers

  Chapter Thirty: No Answer

  Chapter Thirty-One: Flight

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Trapped

  Chapter Thirty- Three: Pinned

  Chapter Thirty-Four: Stolen

  Chapter Thirty-Five: Again

  Chapter Thirty-Six: A Doorway

  Epilogue

  More by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  About the Author:

  LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

  Copyright © 2017 by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For information contact:

  Sarah K. L. Wilson

  www.sarahklwilson.com

  Book and Cover design by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  First Edition: April 2017

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  For my sister,

  Kathryn.

  Who always chooses

  the worst books.

  Chapter One: To Worlds Beyond

  “Time to leap, Wild Girl,” Rusk whispered in my ear.

  I squeezed his hand tighter, not looking away from the sun rising out over the sea. “Kiss me one more time, first.”

  “You’ve already asked me to do that three times,” he said, but he took my face in his hands, and the tether that kept us bound — always eight feet apart on the silver cord connected to our wristbands —together brushed lightly against my shoulder as he kissed me. My heart leapt. This was still too new not to feel a thrill every time.

  The golden light of the dawn made his honey-warm eyes sparkle as we broke apart. His lips curved into a teasing smile. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were afraid.”

  “I’m standing here in foreign clothing with a foreign weapon in my hands. Do I look afraid?” He looked better than I did in the close-fitting clothing we’d found in the Tooth. Should I change back into my sarette? It wasn’t too late and I felt strange and masculine in the streamlined black suit. No. It was utilitarian, and who knew what the place beyond the door would be like?

  “Stop whining about your clothes and get on with it,” An’alepp prompted from Ra’shara. Why did I have to have a third wheel in my head? The worst other girls had to deal with was a nosey parent.

  “To me, all you ever look is beautiful,” Rusk said.

  I felt my cheeks heating. Couldn’t we just stay here on top of this mountain forever? Couldn’t I just live a simple life loving Rusk instead of chasing off after hopes and rumors to save the world?

  “Then let’s jump,” I said.

  He gave my hand a squeeze and then led the way to the door. His fingers were lightning-fast as they depressed the numbered buttons. A slight squeal sounded and then the door’s frame slid and the open doorway widened and increased in height until it was four times its original size. Rusk’s fingers tapped a second code and then he smiled at me, a small dimple forming in his cheek.

  “Don’t look like you knew all along that this would work!” I shook my head. “You must have doubted your ancestor was right as much as I did.”

  “Let’s hope he was just as right about being able to fly the Tooth through,” Rusk said, taking my hand and helping me ascend the steps carved into the side of the Tooth. At least when we were holding hands it was easier to forget the tether. I bit my lip. Should I have negotiated for Rusk’s freedom along with his family’s? But then who would go with me to this new world of Axum? I didn’t want to go on my own.

  We closed the hatch and settled into our seats within the Tooth. Had we really only seen one for the first time a few days ago? It already felt as natural as riding an elephant to get inside and expect to fly.

  Rusk placed his hands on the desk and the image display spring to life. He shoved them into the semi-transparent images while he motioned fluidly and the Tooth lifted gently from the ground.

  I felt my stomach lurch and I bit my lip. What awaited us on the other side? Could we find a cure for the destruction that I brought with me just by existing? Could we find a way to stop our world from unweaving?

  “Ready?” I asked, my voice just a little shaky.

  “At your command, Tazminera.” His smile told me he was teasing.

  “Then we’d better go save the world,” I said, clenching my jaw hard when I was done speaking and gripping the armrests of my seat. No reserves, Tylira. Don’t hold back now.

  Rusk’s flat palm swooped forward like a diving bird, and the Tooth mimicked his motion, swooping towards the cloudy surface of the door. We struck the surface and felt some resistance slowing us, but we were still flying forward. Would we fit? Had Rusk’s ancestor told him the correct coordinates and program to get us through? What happened if you got them wrong? Even by one digit? I felt sweat begin to bead around my hairline and my breath grew uneven. Rusk stared forward, his full intensity on the clouds beyond our Tooth, but a tremor in his knee told me he was feeling the risk of what we were doing, too. There was no turning back now. We were going through to a new world.

  The ultra-calm female voice of the Tooth — the strange vessel we were going to fly — began and I let out a breath as she counted in a foreign language. So far it looked like the door was going to work. Wait. This door had worked before, but it had only gone one way.

  “Can we come back through this door, An’alepp?” I asked.

  “With the correct code.”

 
“And you have that code, right?”

  “I have all the codes to the doors we deployed. If there is a door on the other side, and since the countdown has begun I can assure you that there is, I can enter the code and we’ll come back here.”

  My heart raced despite her words. What would we see when we finally —

  And then we burst into a clear blue sky, sailing over frosty white plains. I leaned forward in my seat to try to catch a glimpse of the new world we’d entered.

  “Axum,” I whispered.

  Rusk whooped with delight in reply, banking the Tooth to gain height and give us a better view of the world beneath us.

  “We did it, Rusk!”

  “So far, so good, Wild Girl!”

  We shared a look of triumph and then I turned my attention to the landscape below, trying to get my bearings. There was a silver gleaming sea to one side and the land was coated in white. Everything seemed too bright, like the colors were over-saturated. I squinted into the brightness.

  “Is it a desert? The sand is so white.”

  “Not a desert. Snow,” Rusk said. “We would get it on the southern border of the Kosad Plains in winter. The birds mostly migrate away from it.”

  “It’s a fungus?”

  He laughed. “It’s rain that is so cold it has frozen and turned solid.”

  I shivered. What a terrible thought.

  A range of mountains ran from the sea inland, like the spine of a long dead deer sticking up out of the grass, and petering out into hills and then dunes just before it reached the nearby sea. Beside it a dark mass heaved and rolled. A river? No, it was broad, but short. Trees waving in a strong wind?

  Oh! There was the door. I could just pick it out on the top of one of the hills.

  “Do you see the door?” I pointed to it in my excitement. My motion was too quick and then slow again, as if movement in this world was different than movement in our own. It left me feeling disoriented.

  “On the northern range,” Rusk confirmed.

  Something dark flowed along the beach and over the rim of the northern mountains towards what I had thought were trees.

  “You need to stop sightseeing and find civilization,” An’alepp reminded me. She sounded agitated.

  “Just getting our bearings.” I should just fly everywhere in a Tooth now. The world was a thing of beauty seen from above. Wait. Not the world, but a world. Such a strange idea that we were on an entirely different world. It was just as beautiful as our own, even if it was strange and foreign so that it hurt my eyes.

  “Could those be migratory birds?” I asked Rusk, pointing to the dark, flowing mass.

  In response, he dipped the Tooth into a dive, angling towards the sea. There were so many of those dark things that they were almost impossible to count. Were they moving? Yes! Moving constantly. Insects? But we were too far away to see insects. Wait. We flew closer and closer by the second. Was that a banner? Was that a pavilion? Sweet Penspray! They were people! Thousands upon thousands of people.

  “I guess our arrival won’t be much of a secret.”

  We flew over a wide white pavilion with a blue and white banner, dipping so low now that I could pick out individuals. People scattered on either side of the Tooth, fear and horror filling their faces. Who was that? Just outside the pavilion one man stood, larger than the rest, decked out in battle armour that reminded me of General Komorodi’s and the High Tazmin’s army. He lifted a hand slightly, almost as if he were waving to us, but I caught his eye for an instant and felt myself freeze. His gaze made me want to hide. Along his bare arms, golden tattoos wove a thick pattern.

  “It’s an army.” Rusk sounded tense. “A massive army. There are tens of thousands of men here with light cavalry and excellent weaponry. I have not seen an army like this since the High Tazmin defeated me in battle and wiped my nation from history.”

  I swallowed. Should I reach out and try to comfort him for his loss? I didn’t want to distract him from flying.

  “How far from here do you think we can go?” I asked.

  He laughed hoarsely. “Hopefully a long way away.”

  I glanced beside us and saw that the army had set up posts of archers on the hills to either side. We started to ascend and then arrows filled the sky, surrounding us and rattling against the hull of the Tooth.

  “They’re shooting at us!” Did they really think an arrow could bring down a Tooth?

  “No,” Rusk said. “They’re shooting at them. Look, there are two battling armies down there!”

  As we gained height I saw what he meant. A wave of bodies crashed into the massive black army, breaking against its bulk. They rallied, the fighting breaking out all along the seam between the two rippling bodies of men and beasts.

  I gasped, some of those animals were the size of a large inn. “What are those?”

  “No idea. They’re massive. At least the size of this Tooth. And feathered, but I don’t see wings and they’re running, not flying.”

  Along the backs of the massive feathered beasts, tiered perches and large side-panniers were constructed, and archers fired down on the armies below.

  Rusk whistled a low tone. “I think I see more of them on the other side of the mountain.”

  I let out a puff of astonished breath. “At least we’re safe in the Tooth.”

  “Immanent Engine Failure,” a crisp voice said.

  The Tooth bucked under us.

  “An’alepp?” I called. “What does that mean?”

  “It means you’re going down. Prepare for a crash landing.” Her voice sounded strained, but I didn’t have time to spare wondering why. The Tooth bucked hard, and then gyrated sharply towards the northern range.

  “Rusk?!”

  “I don’t know what happened.” His hands worked furiously in the control image. “I’m trying to get my wings back under me.”

  “Try to angle towards the door,” I said. We were going down. It was clear he couldn’t stop it. In a few moments, we’d be right in the thick of the battle. “If we can get close maybe we can run on foot and go back through.”

  “Back?” Sweat ran down Rusk’s temple as he fought to angle the Tooth towards our only escape back home. The door was ahead of us, but just as my heart leapt, it sank from view as the Tooth lost power, spiralling towards the earth. The mountains looked inches away.

  “We didn’t bargain for a war.” I gritted my teeth and braced for impact.

  Chapter Two: Battlefield

  “Emergency measures engaging,” the calm voice from the control panel chirped.

  I gritted my teeth together as I was thrown back into my seat, rigid in the restraints. The memory seat held me tight within its embrace. I tried to glance at Rusk, but my head was thrown wildly to the side as the Tooth made impact with the ground. Shabam. The ceiling became the floor and then went back to the ceiling as we bounced back into the air. Wha-crash. I was keening quietly from fear as the Tooth juddered from the impact to the roof and bounced back into the air a second time. I shut my eyes, but I could still feel the force of our spin pushing my head first one way and then the next. Sheeeeen Was that metal sliding along rock? Whum Whum Whum ….

  The silence after impact felt heavy in my chest. We weren’t moving. How could it be so quiet? Was I dead?

  “Rusk? Are you alive?”

  “Yes.” He sounded shaken.

  I opened my eyes. The window in front of me was cracked and splintered, and we were laying on the right-hand side of the Tooth. I tried to twist around to see, but my seat was closest to the top of the vessel and the restraints held me too tightly. My hands were shaking. What should we do now? Was I injured? Was Rusk? If we didn’t get moving someone was going to come in this Tooth and hack us to pieces.

  I jammed my thumb on the release and gasped as I fell to the floor, landing right on top of Rusk in his seat.

  He moaned. “Think before you leap, Tylira.”

  “When have I ever done that?” I glanced over him. The sid
e of his temple looked bruised, but otherwise he seemed whole. “Are you hurt?”

  “Just shaken.”

  I pressed the release on his seat — not that it mattered since it was up tight against the wall of the Tooth.

  “I can’t believe we survived that.” I pushed upwards, meaning to stand, but Rusk put a hand on my shoulder and then pulled me into his lap.

  His hands were shaking and his eyes bore into mine.

  “Rusk?”

  “Listen, Wild Girl. Whatever happens, I want you to know that I love you. I’ll stick with you to the end. You won’t die alone.”

  My lip began to tremble. “Let’s just gather our things.”

  “No. Listen. Last time I went into battle I didn’t say what I needed to and then I never had a chance again.” His eyes looked glassy.

  In my mind’s eyes, I saw the huge feathered beasts and the carnage that was on the other side of our ruined shuttle. What would it be like to be torn apart by a great beast? To see your limbs severed by a blade while you still lived? I swallowed. I felt suddenly as if I couldn’t get enough air.

  “You’re scaring me.”

  He grabbed my head between his hands, pulling me to him roughly so that our foreheads touched.

  “Don’t be scared. Be strong. Know that I love you. That I’ll be with you. Promise me.”

  “I promise.”

  “Promise you won’t do anything stupid.”

  I hesitated. Who knew what people might find stupid? Things that just made sense to me made other people cringe.

  “Or at least promise that you won’t leave me behind.”

  I tugged gently on the eight-foot chain that connected to the bracelets on each of our wrists. I couldn’t abandon him if I wanted to. And I didn’t want to.

  “I’ll never leave you behind.”

  “To death and beyond. I swear it,” he said.

  I swallowed, meaning to echo his words, but he rose suddenly and I was dragged along by the chain as he hurried to the back of the Tooth, pulling at the door of the storage locker. The walls of the Tooth were dented and caved in. From beyond their confines, I heard guttural yells and the clash of metal on metal. My whole body spasmed in a shiver and I was suddenly glad I’d chosen utilitarian clothing rather than my pretty sarette. How long would we live once that hatch was open?