Phoenix Ascendant - eARC Read Online Free

use that to float these tubes up!”
    Tanvol froze for a moment, and then his thunderous laugh threatened to bring the roof down. “By the LIGHT , that we will!”
    The next half-hour was agonizing work, as they kept hauling out the massive tubes and dragging or carrying them to the teams that would somehow lug them to the surface. But then a crowd of the citizens of Kaizatenzei flooded into the laboratory, carrying nets filled with the mysteriously buoyant stone and metal that supported the flying bridges that had spanned the city. It took many of them to hold each set of stones down, but hooking them onto a tube made the tube easy for even an ordinary man to guide and carry up the stairs.
    The hours blurred together; the work might not have been quite as backbreaking, but it was painstaking, tedious—and dangerous. A massive boulder dropped from the ceiling three hours into the operation, crushing eight more tubes beneath its mass, and causing one Hue to drop instantly to the ground; the human body that had supported Hue Surura Saval was dead, and without that body and spirit there was nothing left to move the artifical shell. For a moment all the Unity Guard stood silent, shocked; then Miri snapped “ Move! That’s what will happen to all of you if we don’t get your tubes out of here—and we don’t know which ones are yours!”
    More hours passed, tubes pulled from sockets, rubble cleared from paths, chains and rune-ropes untwined to allow more tubes to be removed, a quick drink of water, a bite of food, then back to the work. It was harder because Wieran had not simply filled all of the spots starting from a given location; the individuals were spaced according to a complex pattern that made it difficult to be sure you had found all the tubes in an area, and forced you to go much farther, on average, to reach the next tube.
    Finally, Kyri realized that they actually were nearing the end. “We’ve…almost reached…the far side of the room,” she said, sliding the current tube into a floating sling.
    “Yes,” Miri said, exhaustion in her voice. “Let’s get the next one.”
    The “next one” was a tube isolated from the others, near the central area where Wieran had done his most complex work. She was about to grab it when Hiriista hissed a warning.
    “That one…is different.”
    “Yeah, and different could be bad,” Poplock said. “Different makes me suspicious. Let’s take a look at this one.”
    “You know anything about this?” Kyri asked Miri and Shae.
    Miri shook her head; Shae tilted hers, then nodded slowly. “That one…is relatively recent. I remember it showed up there, a year or two ago. It surprised me; I knew we hadn’t had any new…recruits in that time. When I asked about it, Wieran said it was a special delivery from his patron; that was as much as he’d say.”
    “Well, that one was locked and trapped. Good catch, Hiriista. I don’t think Kyri really wanted a bath in acid.”
    She shuddered. “No, thank you.” Kyri moved cautiously up to the presumably harmless tube, which was also slightly larger than the others—perhaps built to be moved more easily? It had been shipped here, if what Weiran had said was the truth.
    Kyri leaned forward, squinting at the clouded glass in front. What’s inside this one ?
    She realized there was one way that might show her; she picked up the tube and tilted it towards her.
    The shadowy shape within swayed and moved a few inches forward, revealing the outlines of the face for just an instant.
    Kyri staggered back, dropping the tube which was barely caught by Lady Shae. She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t think. It’s impossible! Impossible!
    But then the face became visible once more, as Shae lifted the tube back up, and Kyri lunged forward, without thinking, screaming out the name:
    “RION!”

Chapter 2
    Tobimar caught at Kyri’s arm and pulled her back. “Don’t! We don’t know how these open, remember?” He caught her gaze,