The wait after Mrei had been taken away was the worst. Lucas was almost relieved when Varlon showed up and led them to a tiny, open-roof car - if it could be called that. It had barely space for the driver's seat and a single back seat, plus a small compartment for transporting items at the back. As it was, Kress and Lucas had a somewhat hard time both fitting on the back seat, but apparently they didn't have any options on this either.

It was fast, though. It would have taken a long time to walk to the central tower, but on this vehicle it was less than 15 minutes' ride.

They entered through a large door that was probably mostly for show - there was no way that any of the sky people had been that tall. This building didn't even make an attempt to appear anything but very modern, with the walls of polished metal and sliding doors. There were several doors to different directions, but Varlon led them unerringly through some predetermined route until they reached a large, circular hall with a single door on the opposite wall.

Lucas craned his neck to see what was around the curve, but couldn't see anything other than more of the same empty hall. If he'd had to guess, he would have said that this was a huge round room with another round...block in the middle. The inner walls kind of reminded him of television screens, the way they were divided into panels. But that just couldn't be. "Where are we?" he wondered.

"This should be the core of the city," Varlon told him.

"Meaning..?" Kress asked.

"The means to control everything in this place, as well as all the knowledge of the sky people." He gave Kress a push towards another door. "That is probably the door to the inner core. Open it. Only you can."

Kress hesitated for a moment before placing his hand against the door. It opened without a sound.

Varlon followed him, keeping an eye on both boys.

It was quite small and plain room. There were similar metallic lines to the healing pools they had seen earlier running along three quarters of the walls. On the floor, a little towards the undecorated side of the room, was a pedestal topped with a layer of blue crystal. Unlike the one in the shrine of the Sky spirits, it was hexagonal instead of rectangular and the top sloped to each six directions. It was also somewhat larger, and the floor was slightly raised in a circular shape around it.

Kress walked up to the pedestal and placed his hands on one side. Both the pedestal and the floor around it instantly lit up.

The light seemed to rush through him, a heatwave that covered every cell in his body. But unlike before, it was not painful at all. And he could...see things. Lots of things. Every little detail of the city in the present. And...also in the past, from the time its original inhabitants had turned against each other. A war that had cost thousands of lives and buried this place under the waves.

Lucas stared in awe as white wings - just like a bird's - burst out of Kress's back. He had never even imagined something like that might happen. Had all sky people been able to soar the skies?

Kress had to let go of the pedestal. The images were too vivid, too many.

"Are you alright?" Lucas asked, concerned.

"I've been better. Could you bring me some water?"

Varlon nodded as Lucas looked at him questioningly. "Go on." Then he continued to Kress, "Tell me what happened."

"Visions. It's not like any data storage we know. It transmits information directly into its user's mind." Without taking his eyes off the chancellor, he placed one hand back on the pedestal. The door to the room slid closed as silently as it had opened.

"Tell me what you saw."

"No." He hadn't really wanted water - he had wanted Lucas out of here. As long as that door only opened to the messenger, he could keep himself and Varlon locked in here.

"Refusing to be an obedient puppet now?" Varlon clicked the safety switch off and pointed the gun at Kress. "Then I don't need you anymore."

"You can't threaten me. Not after everything you did to me. I resigned myself to death a long time ago." With his condition cured he had for a moment dared to hope for a future, but now that this future was about to be taken from him again he couldn't feel any regret over it.

"Foolish brat. Say your final prayers."

His final prayer would be to protect the world. Sheesh, that sounded stupid. But he couldn't let Varlon bring another war to the people and slaughter countless innocents. And apparently the man hadn't realized yet that he would have no way out. Well, he wasn't about to tell him. Better that it ended quickly than being tortured to submission.

Suddenly the door opened again. Kress could see Lucas right as an intense, burning pain hit him. No...

Lucas ran to the other boy, completely heedless of his own safety, as Kress collapsed to the floor. The metallic lines running along the walls dimmed almost instantly.

And then the entire room shook. The initial tremor only lasted for a brief moment, but next they were assaulted by a feeling like in a moving elevator. Very, very slow at first, but Varlon quickly realized what was happening.

Tavali was falling from the sky again. They had only reclaimed their lost homeland for a short period of time.

The kids could be buried under the waves for all the cared - if they didn't die from the impact as the floating city hit the ocean surface. He would have preferred to gain more from this place, but he could settle for what he had found this far.

The king was dead, and the princess under his control. He could claim the throne for all practical purposes. There was always more than one path to the same conclusion.

Lucas barely paid any attention to the chancellor making his escape. He was too worried for Kress. There was a large burn wound just below his right shoulder, and his wings were twitching with every labored breath. With his frail build the shot had probably penetrated all the way to his lungs. "Hey...We should get you back to that healing place."

"No time," Kress breathed out. "Help me up."

"No time? But you might die-"

"We will all die if the city falls!"

"Wha-"

"Don't you feel this movement?" No, that was not how he knew what was happening. He was still too closely connected to the main controls. They had awoken the place completely from hibernation, but something had gone wrong when he had been injured. "Now help me stand. I have to at least try to stop it."

Lucas obliged, almost dragging the older boy to his feet with quite a lot of difficulty. Once Kress got his hands back on the pedestal, he felt confident he could stay there on his own. "I'll manage. Go find Mrei and get out of here."

"Not without you."

Of all the stupid people, ideas and times! But he didn't have the time to fight over it. The longer he waited, the harder it would be to stop any falling object - including one of this size. "I can't start an argument with you right now. Just promise me that if this doesn't work, you run."

~*~*~

Mrei quickly scampered to her feet as the ground shook. What was happening?

The soldiers suddenly seemed far less interested in guarding her and Tamaris and more in returning inside the airship as fast as they could. The huge vessel rose slightly to air, preparing to leave. The rope ladder was still lowered, but Mrei didn't really notice that. She only noticed her chance to get away and find Kress and Lucas...and she took it without hesitation.

"Princess! Where are you going?" Tamaris was frozen in surprise only for a tiny moment before dashing after her.

Suddenly she was assaulted by a strong wind pushing against her face. She looked back only to see that the barrier around the city was gone and that the movement of the air was pushing their only way back to earth away. And that it was also moving slightly upwards. No...they were sinking.

"Princess Mrei, come back!" she hurried after her again. Why did children have to be so fast when they wanted to be? She had almost lost sight of her in her hesitation.

Varlon also spotted the fleeing girl on his way back from the central tower and quickly turned his car to follow her.

Mrei noticed him, but was not about to stop. She couldn't be caught by any adult before she found her friends.

The road was blocked by some kind of metal debris. She imagined it was a fallen airship, but didn't have the time to study it any closer. Instead she noticed a small gap near the ground and dove through it.

Varlon cursed his luck and turned to drive around the building.

Tamaris couldn't fit through the child-sized opening either and instead chose to scamper up a ladder at the side of the neighboring house. If there was another on the other side, she could catch Mrei there.

Mrei already thought she had gotten away from both as the ground shook again. The entire plaza in front of her collapsed, leaving only a huge chasm. The girl instantly skidded to a halt. She could only see clouds below, so it was a long fall down.

Tamaris reached her first, but only seconds before Varlon's car stopped several yards from them and the chancellor stepped out. He was holding his gun again and seemed agitated, but his voice remained calm.

"I don't want to kill you, princess. All you need to do is to come along quietly and once we get back to Delavia, tell the people that your father has died to an incurable illness. I will be ruling in your stead until you're of age."

"And once she is? What then?" Tamaris asked. Varlon would not just step down quietly.

"Marriage has worked well to prevent civil wars in the past, so I see no reason why it would not this time. The people will still have the heir of the Dawn King on the throne, and I will still hold the real power."

"I will never marry you!" Mrei yelled at him. That was just...yuck! Varlon was old and mean and heartless and...And he'd hurt people she cared about...

"I don't think you get any say in the matter." He moved closer. "Now come along. This whole place will fall back to the ocean soon."

"NO!"

Suddenly Varlon's gun was knocked out of his hand. For a split second he thought Mrei might possess some powers too, but quickly dismissed the idea as ridiculous. Their clan had never possessed any special abilities beyond their interest in technology.

And then Tamaris's fist connected with the side of his face. Stunned and in pain, he quickly backed away.

"Tamaris!" Mrei exclaimed. She had always been so gentle with her. She'd had absolutely no idea that her nurse could fight too.

"I live only to protect the princess," she stated coldly. "I'm surprised you didn't know I was trained for that task since I was a child, Varlon. Never take your eyes off your real opponent."

"Tsk. I thought poisons were more down your alley. Although considering that -you- failed to notice their effects on the king, perhaps that isn't so surprising." He pulled another, smaller gun out of his pocket. "No matter. I will just kill you now."

Mrei couldn't just stand idly and watch. She knew she wasn't a warrior, but if traveling with Kress and Lucas and Rolan had taught her anything, it was that everybody could make some kind of difference. So she took a stone about the size of her palm from the ground at her feet and threw it at Varlon.

The stone hit the chancellor's arm, not hard enough to even injure. But it was all the distraction Tamaris needed.

Quickly she closed the distance between them, seized his gun and threw it over the edge. Then she grabbed Varlon by the front of his shirt and pushed him to the ground. "Now you will call back your airship and tell me what you did to those boys. If you cooperate, I might spare your life."

The airship had left? Those cowards had just decided to abandon him and run? Damn it...

There was no way Tamaris would let him live. With the loyalties of the soldiers divided between him and the princess, he was too much of a risk. She must have also realized this. They were both trained to be completely ruthless in fulfilling their tasks since they were children - she might not do it in front of the princess, but he had no doubt she would kill him at first opportunity.

"I think not," he sneered. "Rather I take you with me!"