A phaeton was gliding towards him, suspended about half a metre above the ground. Suddenly, its front end dropped to the cobbles, throwing up showers of sparks. McCann froze, then drew back instinctively as the wrecked carriage careened past, metal screaming on contact with stone like a stricken maiden. The coach slowed gradually, flinging aside shattered sections of its undercarriage. It screeched to a halt, its back end pirouetting so that the vessel came to rest facing in the opposite direction.
The crowded street erupted. Shouts. People running toward the crash site. McCann roused himself and covered the ground to where the stricken phaeton lay. The door opened and a young female Kelanni stumbled out. She was slight of build, with short dark hair and wild hazel eyes. Arms reached toward her, but she pushed past, shoving McCann to one side with surprising strength and bolting down the roadway in the direction the phaeton had come from.
What the…? McCann followed the girl with his eyes as she slid to a stop farther down the street. She was gazing about, looking for…something. A second Kelanni–a lanky youth–clawed his way through the carriage door and started after the girl. He caught up to her, and there was an animated exchange that McCann could not hear. A third figure clambered out through the opening, rubbing his head. As he did so, one of the blue coated drach appeared and began ushering the onlookers away from the wreck. McCann allowed himself to be herded back with the others.
Another drach approached the occupant who had just disembarked. “Speak truth. What happened here?”
The Kelanni, who was evidently the driver, spread his arms wide. “It was one of my passengers. She…she just went crazy and grabbed the controls. There was nothing I could do.” He looked back at the smashed front end of his coach and swore.
“One of your passengers, you say? And where are they now?”
“I…don’t know.” The driver looked confused. “Gone…they’re gone.” He looked up. “Rael.”
The lanky youth was returning–without the girl. He joined the other two, reaching into an inner pocket and drawing out what looked like a small book. He handed it to the drach for inspection. “M-my name is Rael. I am attached to the Scientific Directorate. I apo…apologise for the accident.”
The drach drew himself erect. “Speak truth. The driver testifies that the crash was caused by another passenger.”
“The girl is…not from here. She has come here from…a different part of our world and is staying at the observatory in the care of Hannath and me. She was not familiar with the workings of the phaeton. I sh-should have monitored her more closely. I accept full responsibility”
“Hannath?” the drach registered surprise. “What would Hannath want with this girl?”
“Th-that is n-not your concern.” The youth was struggling to sound assertive. “Any enquiries about this matter should be d-directed to the observatory. Is that clear?”
The drach looked as if he was going to prolong the argument, but then checked himself. “Very well.”
The driver sagged in resignation. The youth who called himself Rael turned on his heel and headed back to where the girl was standing. She followed him meekly as they disappeared up the street. McCann briefly considered following them. No, that would be too obvious. Besides, it was unnecessary. He knew exactly where the girl was being held. He could bide his time and pick his opportunity. It would be necessary to take that one alive, so that she could be ‘persuaded’ to reveal where the rest of her confederates were hiding.
Alexander Edward McCann stood motionless amid the gradually dispersing crowd, stroking his stubble and feeling a grim sense of satisfaction.
<><><><><>
Chapter 13
“I’ll be leaving in the morning.” Keris sat in the corner of the living room in her chosen spot next to the broad-leaved houseplant which grew from an opening in the floor. Her tone was one of finality.
Lyall sat opposite her. His brow furrowed. “Leaving? What do you mean, leaving?”
“I’m leaving this house–this place. Now that you are well again, there is no further reason for me to stay.”
“What are you talking about?” Lyall demanded.
Keris had been rehearsing her arguments for days now. She had analysed their situation and there could be no doubt that this was the most logical, the most reasonable way forward. Co-incidentally, it was also the outcome she personally wanted–one that would leave her free of all encumbrances and able to pursue her chosen task with the utmost efficiency. It was in everyone’s best interests, she reasoned.
Yet despite her careful preparation, there was still an element of uncertainty. She could not be sure how Lyall would take her proposal. If he decided to veto her…well, she would cross that particular bridge if and when she came to it. She took a deep breath. “You said it yourself, Lyall. The invasion of Sakara strongly suggests that the Prophet has moved up his timetable. That means we do not have much time. When Annata appeared to me at the Great Tree, she said that if anything were to go wrong with her plan, then we should seek out the Chandara on this side of the Barrier. She said that they would be able to show us the location of the instrument she hid here in the past. Someone has to seek them out, and soon. That someone should be me.”
“But we don’t even know if there are Chandara on this side,” Lyall protested.
“We have no direct evidence, it’s true. But I don’t think Annata would have told me to seek them out if they weren’t here somewhere.”
Lyall was shaking his head. “No, Keris. We shouldn’t split up; it’s too dangerous. Maybe we could all go together?”
“You would only slow me down–no offence,” Keris said. “Besides, Alondo has to stay here and figure out how to get Annata’s machine working again. He’s not handling the loss of the others very well. Yesterday he imagined he saw the girl Shann, and would have embroiled us in a serious incident if I hadn’t dragged him out of there. Now he’s upstairs and won’t talk to anybody. He’s also consumed with worry over what’s going on in Sakara. He won’t survive here on his own. Someone has to stay with him, look after him and keep him focussed on the task of repairing the machine. As his friend, you’re the best person to do that. I…well I’m not much use in these sorts of situations. I should be out there, tracking down those that can help us.”
“But…even assuming Annata is correct and there are Chandara on this side of the Barrier, how will you find out where they are?”
She smiled wryly. “You forget–I’m a trained investigator. It’s my job to locate people and things. If there are Chandara here then I will find them.”
Lyall let out a ragged sigh. “I still don’t like it, Keris. This is a strange world. There are many things here that are unfamiliar–even dangerous. Patris stormed off on his own the day after we got here, and no-one’s seen him since. Going our different ways–well, it just seems wrong.”
“It’s a risk, I agree,” she said, “but I’m doing this of my own volition. You have no need to feel responsible for me. I can take care of myself.” Lyall sighed and gazed out a nearby window. Shadows lengthened across the snow-covered ground. Soon, the suns would be setting, signalling the beginning of her last night here. It was time to give him the good news. “We obtained a promising lead today–you and Alondo should follow it up tomorrow. We learned of an individual called Hannath. He is described as a ‘scientist’. I’m not sure what that is exactly, but he appears to be one of their high artisans–possibly one that has an advanced knowledge of machines. A woman who works in a kind of repair shop said that he is greatly revered in their community.
“She said that he lives in a building at the top of a hill to the west of Kieroth. The building is known as ‘observatory’. Apparently, there’s a unique dome-shaped construction adjoining it, so it’s very easy to spot. I would suggest you interrogate this Hannath first, to determine if he’s trustworthy, before letting him examine Annata’s machine.”
Lyall dragged his gaze away from the view outside. His eyes were mi
sty, as if he were about to cry. “How long will you be gone?”
“Difficult to say,” she replied. “If you have to leave here for any reason, try to leave word where you have gone. But in any case, I can assure you that I will find you again.”
“Because you are a trained investigator.”
“Exactly,” she said.
~
“We have to get out of here.”
Shann, Rael and Boxx were standing in Shann’s small room at the observatory. Shann was defiant, head high, hands on hips. Boxx was erect on its hind limbs, alert–eyes like twin black beads. Rael was stooped over, downcast, studying the bright multicoloured rug and the plain wooden floor. “We have to get out of here now,” she repeated.
Rael began, “I don’t see–”
Her eyes blazed. “I have to find my friends, and I have to find the instrument we need to destroy the Prophet’s machine. I can’t do that cooped up in here.”
“What instrument is that?” Rael asked. “What does it do?”
“I…don’t know,” she confessed. Rael had raised his head and was looking at her curiously. Shann realised too late that she had backed herself into a corner. Up until this moment, she had avoided mentioning Annata’s role in all of this. Her aim was to win him over as an ally. If he thought of her as crazy, he might be less inclined to help her. But now the stakes were about to get a whole lot higher. She was about to involve him on a course that would likely prove highly dangerous and would mean doing some things he would find quite disturbing, including defying Hannath. It was only right that he know the full truth of what he was getting into. I can’t lie to him, she thought.
She took a deep breath. “The information about the Prophet’s weapon and the instrument we need to render it inert comes from the past–from a woman named Annata.”
“Your ship,” he said, “the one we found beached up the coast. It was called Annata’s…”
“Annata’s Reach,” she finished. “Yes, we named it after her.”
“Was she someone you used to know?”
“Not exactly,” Shann said. “Annata lived and died over three thousand turns ago.”
“So you found some sort of writing–a prophecy?”
“No, she spoke to us through a machine.”
“A machine?”
Shann nodded. “That’s right. Annata sent a machine from the past to the Chandara on our side of the Barrier. The Chandara found Keris and brought her to their Great Tree, where they activated the machine. Annata then told her what the Prophet–the Unan-Chinneroth–was trying to do. She also explained that they had hidden some sort of instrument on your side, with the power to neutralize the weapon.”
Rael’s expression changed rapidly, as if he couldn’t make up his mind which question to ask first. Finally, he spoke. “You mean she sent it through time?”
Shann shrugged. “I suppose so.”
“How is such a thing possible?” Rael asked.
Shann thought back, recalling past conversations. “According to Keris, they used the power of Ail-Kar, the White Sun.”
“How?” Rael demanded.
“I’m sorry–that’s all I know.”
Rael fell quiet again, thinking. All of a sudden, he looked up. “Where is this machine now?”
“I don’t know. The last time I saw it, it was with the rest of our things in the stern castle on the Reach. When we visited the wreck yesterday I searched from stem to stern, but your people had picked it cleaner than a flock of starving perridons. Maybe they have it?”
Rael shook his head. “Impossible. I would have been informed of a find like that.” His face grew studious once more. Shann observed idly how it made him appear much older. He began again. “If this ‘instrument’ as you call it can render the hu-man weapon powerless, then why hide it? Why not just give it to your friend Keris?”
“Annata explained it was because the instrument itself is highly dangerous,” she said.
“In what way?”
“She didn’t say.” Shann considered for a moment. “The Prophet is accumulating large quantities of lodestone. Annata said that the weapon he is building uses the power of lodestone somehow. So it would make sense that the instrument which can neutralize it also uses the power of lodestone, perhaps in a different way.”
Rael nodded. “That would make sense, I agree. But we know how lodestone works. I just don’t see how you could use lodestone to make something so dangerous?”
“Maybe you don’t understand lodestone as well as you think you do.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, the Keltar use Speaker Rings and Vision Spheres. You apparently knew nothing about them. Maybe lodestone has other properties you are unaware of?”
“Mmmm,” Rael mused. “It’s a pity we can’t study these artefacts of yours. But you don’t have any of these Rings or Spheres with you; or the ancient machine, for that matter.”
Shann felt the conversation slipping away from her. Rael was a person who depended on facts, evidence; who relied on them to make sense of the world around him. Yet she was asking him to put faith in a tale that she hardly gave credence to herself. “You don’t believe me.”
Rael turned to the Chandara. “Boxx.”
The creature’s mouth rippled. “Yes, Rael.”
“Do you know of the machine Shann is speaking of?”
“Yes, Rael,” it squeaked.
“What does the machine do?”
“It Is From Before. Kelanni Speak From Before.”
“Why?” he asked.
“The Unan-Chinneroth. He Is To Bring The End Of All Things. I Am The Key. You Are The Key. Four Are Needed. Four To Pass The Test.”
Rael turned to Shann. “What test is it talking about?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know.” She resumed her defiant stance. “Do you believe me now?”
He looked at her reprovingly. “I never disbelieved you, Shann. A good scientist doesn’t dismiss a hypothesis just because he has insufficient data. My job requires that I have an open mind. Besides,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, “I would love to get a look at that machine of yours, if we could find it.”
She found his intellectual curiosity irritating. Like Hannath, there were times when he seemed to reduce everything to the level of an interesting puzzle. Doesn’t he realise that there are thousands of lives at stake? “Look, right now, the most important thing is to find the instrument Annata told us about.”
“So, what do you want to do?” he asked simply.
It was Boxx who spoke. “We Must Find My People. They Will Know The Place Of The Device You Seek.”
“I’m sorry,” Rael said. “The Chandara disappeared after the war. No-one has seen them since.”
“They Are Here.”
“Where?” Rael asked.
Shann suddenly remembered something–something Keris had shown them out in the Great Southern Desert. “A parchment,” she blurted out. The other two looked at her strangely. “Sorry…I mean, during our journey Keris showed us a parchment–a scroll. It had all the places in the world on it, as if viewed by a bird from high above.”
Rael smiled. “A map. You’re talking about a map.”
“Yes, yes,” she said. “Do you have one of those?”
“Of course. Wait here a moment.” A short while later he was back. He unfolded a waxy sheet of paper over the small desk that was in the far corner of the room. Shann and Boxx joined him. Boxx could scarcely see over the rim of the desk, so Shann fetched a stool and the Chandara hopped onto it.
The map was intricately drawn and looked much more detailed than the one in Keris’ possession. There were writing and symbols on it, the meaning of which she could not guess. Rael pointed to a square icon. “All right, this is Kieroth, where we are now. This is the Ayronath–or the Aronak Sea, as you call it. Here,” he stabbed a forefinger, “is roughly the place where we found your ship.”
Shann spoke softly into what she supposed w
as the Chandara’s ear. “Can you tell us where your people are?”
Boxx lifted an arm and pointed with one of its three digits to a place on the map. “They Are There.”
Rael craned his neck. “Are you sure?”
“Why, what’s there?” Shann asked.
“Well…nothing. It’s the middle of nowhere.”
“Is there no forest nearby?”
“Not according to the topographical map,” Rael answered. “The forest where the Chandara used to live is well to the north of there.”
Shann turned to Boxx. “There is no forest–no Great Tree in that place. Are you sure your people are there?”
“Chandara Are There,” Boxx repeated. “And They Are Suffering. Annata Has Told Us.”
Shann looked urgently at Rael. “How do we get there?”
He studied the map further. “Well…it’s a three-hop journey.”
“A what?” she returned.
“You remember Ravid saying that the range of an avionic was no more than twenty-five met-ryns or so?” he began.
“Yes,” she said, “but I still don’t know what a met-ryn is.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter for now. The point is that after so far, the avionic has to put down at a recharging station. They are usually recharged overnight. That means three hops–three days to get to the station nearest to the point on the map that your Chandara indicated.”
“Great.” She smiled. “Let’s get going.”
The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) Page 46
