The Labyrinth of the Dead Read Online Free

ablaze and the demon tree was desperately trying to untangle itself
from her. Portia took its trunk in her hands, just as she had touched the
felled trees in the living side of Penemue to split them into firewood, and let
her fire out. Tongues of seraphic flame tore from her flesh, haloing her in a
sphere of blinding light. It annihilated the tree in seconds, and the force of
it knocked down most of the others around her in a wide ring.
    With extraordinary effort, she pulled
the power back into her, leashing it with heavy chains of will. She sagged to
her knees, exhausted, then slumped over onto her side, her heart racing and her
eyes dazzled. She pushed the goggles up onto her forehead and looked around,
gasping. She had never felt so connected to the celestial power within her. It
had leapt to her command, exponentially more potent than it had ever been…and
that much more difficult to contain once it was freed.
    All the training , Portia realized, it isn’t going to be enough . I can’t control this.
    Splintered wood spread in an elegant
fan shape radiating from the shallow crater where she lay. The spirits that had
been trapped within rose from the wreckage
like steam and, moaning softly, vanished into the ever-present mist. A
soft patch of green grass had sprung up all around Portia, jeweled with violets
and clover. She pushed herself up onto one elbow, running her hands over her
head to find her scalp entirely healed. Kanika stood nearby with a hand
outstretched to help her to her feet.
    The girl’s perfect ringlets bounced as she shook
her head with that same imperturbable smile playing along her soft lips.
"Portia, you’re trouble."

     
    —3—
     
    AT THE center of Penemue stood a fountain with a
large pool. Graceful figures reached for the sky as water showered down around
them, all carved from an ivory-colored stone flecked with gold and red. On the
shadow-side, instead, there was a festering pond from the center of which
sprouted an ominous-looking willow tree, its leaves hanging lank and leathery
like so many dead bats clinging to the long branches.
    "So, what’s in the bag?" Kanika was
chipper again, striding alongside Portia and bubbling with conversation.
    Portia batted the girl’s hands away as
she reached into the satchel.
    "Oooh, is
that myrrh unguent? Oh, my! Where did you get this? It’s not a real salvation
flower, is it? They only bloom once every one hundred years!"
    Portia reclaimed the pilfered containers
and stowed them back in the bag. "Kanika, listen, I appreciate the company, but
I cannot have you getting your fingers into everything."
    "Afraid I might steal something?"
    "No. Everything I have with me I have
for a specific purpose and it was quite a burden to get it here, so I would
like it muchly if you’d leave my things be. Please."
    The girl huffed.
"You do need me to help you, or don’t you remember?"
    "If you ruin my supplies, then all the
information in the world won’t be of any use to me."
    Kanika kicked at some of the loose
scree scattered atop the cobblestones. "You aren’t any fun."
    Portia wheeled on the girl and Kanika
flinched. "Take me somewhere that’s safe, where we can speak openly. You’ll
tell me what you know and I will find a way to repay you."
    Kanika looked dubious at the
suggestion, but after a moment’s thought she led the way toward a long row of
broken-down houses. Portia recognized the place as Jeweler’s Row.
    "So, how close of a copy is this to the
living world?"
    Kanika shook her head.
"Not a copy, an echo. There are places, many in Penemue, where the two worlds
not only intersect, but interact."
    Portia gazed around the cavernous
building toward where the floor had buckled and the second story had caved in, leaving
a jagged and unwelcoming maw where once had been a bustling shop full of gold
and jewels. "An echo, hmmm? Evidently something here has gotten lost in
translation."
    "It’s the only
world we know. And much better than any