Ohre (Heaven's Edge) Read Online Free Page B

up my blade earlier that day. Hopefully I wasn’t going to regret wasting it on this hunk of scrap now. The cool water heated up quickly as the glowing rope latched onto the hull like a sticky web. This was Adi’s compound at work. When set to the right pressure and heat, it made a goop that could be made into a rope stronger than the tightest cables.
    We used a similar technology to move object of much greater size when mining. The shield didn’t need to make a rope. It could be rounded out to encase the space around it as well. And this shield was what allowed us to fly in the heavens in the first place. I wasn’t supposed to steal the secret to crafting our shields. Only the elders were given the knowledge of how we survived so deep in the core of our water world.
    I turned back to Qeya and found her closer than I had expected. She had her back to me, her red hair loose and fanning like liquid flames in my face. When I reached to touch her shoulder she whipped round so fast her image blurred before settling. Her eyes were wide and frightened and I knew then she must have seen the abandoned dwellings as well.
    They looked nothing like the Royal palaces, or my people’s vast caves. Each of the white hovels was stacked on top of another and whatever else remained of their village was claimed by the kelrapi forest. The water was stale beneath us, unstirred and untouched for some time now.
    Hoping to take her mind off the fact that we were sitting wirms in a grave town, I inclined my head back and pointed to the gold coil attaching my arm to the shuttle. She shook her head in reply. I reached to press a finger to her forehead and hoped she wouldn’t misinterpret my request to share her power to give me the extra strength I needed. It was never wise to share thoughts with just any female. Being forced to survive together had its advantages apparently, because she nodded in agreement and placed her hand over my arm.
    As the Orona, Qeya could heal or take away life if she wanted to. Most Miners did not know what the Royal pair was capable of. I knew it firsthand. When she touched me, I felt strong enough to tear this ocean floor to bits, as if I could take on the demons that blew up our ship. I could see now why, when the Core Worlders invaded, they took out the Orona first. She was the key to everything.
    I drank in the power her touch innately gave me. I knew most Royals had to concentrate to let down their inner walls before sharing their gifts. Qeya proved to be the exception to the rule. I clenched my fist even tighter, to maintain the field and nodded to Qeya. Wordlessly, she swam ahead and together we pulled. A heavy creaking groan echoed in the water and the tremors would be felt leagues in any direction, unfortunately.
    I kept my eyes peeled, either way. Only a fool would assume this sea was safe because it was empty. The sound reminded me of the leviathan’s cry, the sort of sound that gets under your skin and never lets you forget. This was the noise that shook us to our bones and reminded me we were floating in a fathomless ocean we knew nothing of. Only that for some reason, no fish dwelled near the surface and the aliens that might have resembled us most, had abandoned their homes long ago.
    Qeya winced but did not let go of me as we swam together. The closer to the surface we neared, the faster her strokes. With the added glow of her power in her eyes, she moved faster than I had ever seen her. And because I was bonded to her now, I felt it too, the gill-pounding, blood-curdling rush that made me wonder how she could stand to lose it, once she pushed it back behind her mental walls.
    The water thinned and it was with some effort my body adjusted to land. For me, it was harder than most miners. Maybe it was because I spent so long alone and flying free in the ocean. I wish I could remember more about my life before.
    Qeya and I shivered when our bodies pulled out of the gentle waves and into the night air. She