Prince of Attania, 2

Jet let go of his physical form and merged through the back wall into the hillside beyond it. It didn’t make sense they would build one metal-lined room to hold an Elemental and nothing else. He was right. There was hardly any rock behind the metal wall. Jet emerged into a man-made cavern strung with electric lights and lined with storage shelves. It seemed that at one time the small room at the front had been a lot larger. There had to be another access. Jet didn’t bother taking physical form. He wrapped Attan’s essence in his own and explored cautiously.

Most of the shelves were filled with dried food: vegetables and fish mostly. Jet sensed motion and coalesced into shadow with Attan still at his core. Attan confirmed wordlessly that the person who had entered the big storeroom was the one who had brought him to the metal-lined room. The man had no idea he’d caught the one Elemental who could not be bound.

A metal overhead door grated loudly as someone opened it from the outside, letting in light and three more non-family, each bearing a large mesh bag filled with ears of corn. Jet melded with the shadows in the room, absorbing free elementals into the nebulous being they had become. A dirt road stretched beyond the open doorway to disappear along the back side of the hill.

Jet caught Attan’s surprise as he remembered waving at Greg’s father as his truck chugged up the long road to the farmhouse and realized this is where he had most likely been coming from. The storeroom had been built into the side of the hill, probably so that corn from the fields could be moved into it directly. None of it spoke of anything nefarious. If it hadn’t been for the closed-off room completely lined in metal, Jet would have thought nothing of it. But Attan wasn’t wrong. Something else was going on here.

Still wrapped with Attan and the free elementals, Jet swirled to the other end of the big storeroom which was bathed in shadows. They fit right in. There was a seam in the back wall. Jet took human shape to feel its edges, smooth at first glance but a slight protrusion caught his fingertips. A door. Jet flowed back into shadow, carrying the other shadows with him as he melded through the seemingly solid doorway to the other side.

They kept to their elemental states as they emerged into a larger, dimly lit space which looked like it had been carved into the mountainside. To Jet, it was eerily familiar. Aylard had led his Sons of Men from just such caves underneath old Parrion. Reg’s group had actually carved out their northern underground hideout in the same fashion as this cavern. Jet had found more evidence of the Sons of Men in mountain caves far to the west. Were these non-family another splinter group of the Sons of Men?

Jet looked for a way to open the door and found it on a lever on the wall. There must be a lever on the outside somewhere that Jet hadn’t seen, but then again, he hadn’t been looking for it. A simple convenience—or had they meant to hide this room?

Tables crowded the center of the room. Jet focused on one in particular, his shadow substance seething dangerously as it settled over the items on the table. It was littered with metallic odds and ends, including a communicator! Few people apart from Jet’s trusted advisors had them. They had originally been developed and utilized by the leadership of the Sons of Men. Were these country farmers an offshoot of that organization after all? If so, who were they communicating with?

Several weapons were stacked in neat rows against one wall. Why would farmers need weapons? Another reason to think they were not what they seemed. About to flow through into the outer storeroom with intentions of confronting these so-called farmers, Jet sensed Attan’s reticence and transformed, instead, with Attan following suit.

Jet paced the room in human form, growling softly under his breath. Attan sat, cross-legged, on the stone floor. “What did he say to you, exactly?” Jet asked, although he had captured the moment perfectly during their merge.

“That they were ready. Dad—“ Attan hesitated. “Let me deal with this.”

“Let them capture you? Not likely!”

Attan hid a grin at his father’s gruff response. Of course it wasn’t likely—that’s why he was the perfect person to see this through. Attan could not be captured. “But we still don’t know what they’re planning.”

Jet had a fair idea. He’d seen the stores of food and weapons. They were stockpiling. He should just put a stop to it right now. Then he looked at Attan, so young and innocent. But not vulnerable. Attan had the strength of Attania itself within him. Jet raised his eyebrows. “You still want to be friends with this kid, even after what you’ve seen?”

Attan nodded. “Maybe he’s not involved.”

Not likely, Jet thought again. But the non-family boy was young too, not much older than Attan. And Jet was King to all of Attania, not just Family. “All right,” he agreed. “You handle it.”

Something caught Jet’s eye at the far end of the inner cave, a faint sparkle in the rock wall. He started towards it, becoming shadow as he realized the cave narrowed the farther in he went. Yes, it was faint, barely noticeable and probably invisible to non-Elemental eyes, but Jet picked up the subtle striations of color embedded in the rock walls. Attan broadcast curiosity as Jet’s shock resonated through their combined essence.

This changed things. The colored bands made these underground caverns suddenly more important than just a hideout for malcontents. Jet would have to look into it further, but not today. Today they were going to Darcy. He felt Attan’s startled joy at the realization that they were still going.

Darcy appeared on the horizon as a shining silver disk among a sea of green. As they approached, the King’s mansion rose up out of the city, no longer hidden as it had once been when Jet had first seen it. Darcy was cleaner than Low City. Newer, brighter, richer. Jet much preferred his home city. But Darcy was Attania’s capital and the King’s seat. It was only proper that he put in an appearance every now and then.

Besides, Merrell, Jet’s Enforcer, lived in Darcy or near it, in his official residence at Arden just over the low hills to the west. Merrell had been staying in the King’s mansion a lot lately. Jet knew it was because the former Queen, Sephira, still lived there. Jet hadn’t seen the need to force her to leave. It wasn’t as if he had any intentions of living there.

“We expected you sooner than this,” Merrell said as Jet and Attan took form in his office. Attan looked around curiously, his eyes catching on an odd figurine of blue glass on the edge of Merrell’s desk. Jet shook his head slightly, and Attan bit back the question he’d been about to ask.

“They’re waiting for us.” Merrell pushed back his chair and stood, ushering them out of his plush office and down the brightly lit hall. A central courtyard which was partially open to the sky above had been converted to a conference room, complete with a large table in the center. Flowering plants still dominated the room, making it seem more like an outdoor space than a meeting hall.

Attan’s head swiveled around, trying to take in everything at once. He’d been to the King’s mansion before, but not to the big meeting room. Faces, familiar and unfamiliar, ringed the table and Attan’s form flickered before Jet placed a steadying hand on his shoulder and urged him forward. Jet sat at the head of the table, with Merrell on his right. Attan took the chair on Jet’s other side, after its occupant obligingly slid down one seat to make room for him.

Not all the table’s occupants were Family. “Uncle Reg!” Attan smiled with pleasure at the man who had moved aside to accommodate him. His non-family uncle smiled in return. Of all the non-family, Attan liked Uncle Reg the most, next to Uncle Ben. He almost didn’t seem like non-family at all.

“This will be a short meeting,” Merrell began, speaking for the King. “But an important one. Jet—do you want to report on Parrion before we move on to other business?”

Jet stood. “I have two matters to discuss,” he said, flicking a glance at Attan. Two matters, but not the third. The colored bands along Attania’s inner cave walls were strictly Family business. “First, Parrion. Governor Talli has it under control for the moment. The city is coming together nicely, and we’ve been getting more influx from farmers in the region who have taken up our offer to resettle near Parrion.”

“You mean non-family farmers.” The person who spoke was a cousin, one of the administrators of a district out to the west.

“I do,” Jet replied. “However, some Family farmers have migrated to the area as well. Talli is working on coordinating the two groups. I’m letting him take care of it his way.”

“Is that wise? It’s the non-family farmers who are causing the unrest, isn’t it?” Reg asked in concern. “Ben says it’s pretty tense over there.”

“I trust Talli. He knows what Attania needs.” Jet closed the subject. “Attan has uncovered another potential problem. That’s my second matter to discuss.”

Everyone looked at Attan.

Jet explained about the farmer outside of Low City and his possible connection to the Sons of Men.

“None of ours,” Reg said adamantly. “I don’t know how they got hold of a communicator, but we didn’t give it to them! I’d know.”

He was right. Between Reg and his father, and Ben, they controlled the remnants of the Sons of Men, and they were firmly on Jet’s side. Attania’s side. They all had a stake in the future.

“Still.” Reg leaned forward. “We need to deal with them. I can have a group of men down there in a day.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.” Jet spoke quietly but firmly. “They bear watching, and I wanted you all to be aware of the situation, but Attan’s handling it.”

“Attan!” Merrell came to his feet. “He’s a child! He’s—“

Jet regarded Merrell steadily. Attan was the strongest Elemental among them, possibly more than that. Disgruntled, Merrell sat back down.

“Next on the list is King Jet’s marriage prospects.”

Sighing loudly, Jet said, “I told you I’m not interested in marrying anyone else.”

“But you’re King!” The cousin from Tashkan exclaimed. “It’s expected!”

“Why?” They had been over this—and over it—for ten years now. The only reason former Kings took wives in every city was to breed for powerful offspring so the most powerful sibling would succeed as the next King. Since Jet didn’t seem to be getting any older and since Attan was already the most powerful Elemental in history, Jet didn’t really see the point.

Arguments for and against were batted across the table, and Jet could see that Attan was getting bored. “Next item,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Ten family released last week in Tashkan.” That explained the Tashkan cousin’s presence. “Another ten in Darcy itself. The rate of release seems to be steadily increasing. If it continues, there won’t be a Family presence in Attania much longer.”

Jet glanced at Attan. Attan’s hold on reality was tenuous enough. This wasn’t a topic he should be listening to. Jet was just glad that the scattering of non-family in their midst had kept this discussion purely on the physical level. There was no hiding anything in a merge.

“Attan, why don’t you go see if you can find any of the cousins downstairs.”

Attan shot his father a grateful look and bolted from the room, turning to a fine mist before he’d even cleared his seat. Jet sighed again.

Arms wound around his neck and a low voice whispered in his ear. “And our point is made, my King. You need more heirs.”

Jet twisted around, his eyes flashing angrily. Overhead, clouds darkened the sky. He’d recognized that voice. “Lorra,” he said flatly. “Why are you here?”

His cousin Lorra tossed her wavy black hair out of her eyes and slipped into Attan’s empty seat. “Haven’t you heard? I’ve moved to Darcy.”