“One more thing,” Keris said. “More to satisfy my curiosity than anything else. Are you the Unan-Chinneroth? Are you the Prophet?”
The creature turned his head toward her. To Keris’ surprise, he was chuckling to himself. “Is that what you think? Well, I suppose a little honesty wouldn’t hurt. I am what you call ‘Unan-Chinneroth’–what we call ‘human’. But I am not your Prophet. His real name is Charles Wang. I think you will likely meet him very soon. But I should warn you–he is not nearly as pleasant to deal with as I am.” Still chuckling to himself, McCann hopped inside the sphere.
Keris went over to Shann, knelt down and helped her to her feet. “Why? Why did you do it? Why did you let him go?” Shann wailed.
“Shhh,” Keris soothed. She supported Shann as the two women moved away towards the parapet. A faint light shone from the globe’s opening. The doorway slid shut and there was a low reverberation as the four clamps disengaged and the massive orb began to lift into the air. They watched, transfixed, as it rose above the roof of the tower, blotting out the star-filled sky. Bright blue lightning crackled over the globe’s silver surface. The atmosphere shivered momentarily, then the globe imploded silently and vanished. An instant later an identical globe popped into existence and slowly settled back to the stone platform. The four clamps extended like talons, securing the enormous sphere in place. Ten days. That was the minimum period Annata had said before the towers could be used again. I don’t think we will be seeing him again for a while.
“I…owe you my life,” Shann said. “But you should not have allowed him to go free. I told you I was expendable. Sometimes you have to sacrifice individuals for the sake of a greater cause.”
Keris’ face was grim. “I’m sorry. I don’t do that anymore.” She strode over to the silver globe in order to retrieve the access module.
Shann followed her. “But…you sent him back to the Prophet, to the safety of his people. With the knowledge that we are coming, and of the power of Annata’s instrument.”
“Did I?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Keris smiled faintly. “‘Know your enemy’. That’s one of the key principles I was taught. Very often, it’s the difference between victory and defeat. Thieves and spies rely on deception and subterfuge. It is their greatest asset, but it is also their greatest weakness because they judge everyone else by their own standards. They can easily become entangled in their own web of deceit.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Shann said.
“Inside the globe, McCann would have found two sets of levers–red and blue.”
“You told him to use the red ones–the ones that would take him back to Dagmar.” Shann’s eyes turned away as if seeing something new for the first time. “He would assume you were lying. He would have used the blue ones.”
“Correct.”
“But that would mean that he would have been transported to…”
“Precisely.”
Shann shuddered. “That’s why you made him give up his Speaker Ring–so he couldn’t call for help.” She shook her head. “Slow starvation, freezing to death or being overwhelmed by the murghal…but there’s still a chance that he could escape from the tower in the Cathgorns. Or he might have selected the red levers after all.”
“That’s true,” Keris acknowledged. “But the risk in either case was slight and…not worth your life.”
Shann’s eyes were downcast. “I…I’m sorry. I have misjudged you greatly since our first meeting. Even if it was you who took my parents away, you…you are not the same person as you were then. I realise that now.”
Keris felt a strange mixture of confusion and remorse. Had she wrested this child’s parents from her? She forced herself to recall the slender, severe girl from those days–the newly appointed Keltar who had set about her task with such zeal and determination, such self-assuredness and arrogance, the conviction that her way–the Prophet’s way–was the only right one, and that it didn’t matter who got hurt along the way. The girl was right. She was no longer that person. But then who was she? Back on Annata’s Reach, Shann had asked her “What are you?” Perhaps, when all of this was over, she would finally have an answer to that question.
Keris gave a slight bow. “Come. The others will be waiting for us.”
She turned, cloak whirling about her, and headed for the roof exit.
~
Alexander McCann stood on the tower’s open platform, trying not to put weight on his roughly bandaged leg. The gelid mountain wind buffeted his fur coat and numbed his cheeks. This was not Dagmar.
Immediately he had returned to the sphere and tried to activate the red levers. Then the blue. Nothing. A rising sense of desperation settled into a feeling of fury in the pit of his stomach. Somehow, the tall female alien had outwitted him. If he met up with her again, he would tear off her green skin and hang it out to dry.
McCann limped to the parapet and peered at the surrounding landscape. The ground below was a jumble of broken glaciers, icefalls and snow-filled crevasses. Jagged peaks with snow clinging to their sides surrounded the high tower as if sealing his fate.
He had no way off this mountain, and no Speaker Ring to summon assistance.
Far below, a chorus of bestial growls echoed across the ice fields, reverberating from the mountainsides. The unearthly monsters that inhabited this cold, unforgiving place were waiting.
Waiting for him.
<><><><><>
Chapter 39
The avionics bearing Keris and Shann settled back onto the Dais and the two women clambered out, following the drach. Two figures were hurrying to meet them, hand-held lamps bobbing up and down, casting a soft radiance which pushed back the night. Shann smiled as she recognised Alondo and Rael.
Alondo held Shann by the shoulders, looking her over. “How are you? Are you all right?”
“We’re fine,” Shann assured him, “although Keris requires Boxx’s ministrations.”
“Later,” Keris said from behind her.
“We saw the tower’s transporter being activated,” Rael added. “Did you find the spy?”
“Yes,” Keris said.
“What happened?” Rael asked anxiously.
Keris stepped forward and the two women shared a look. “He’s been dealt with,” Keris replied.
Alondo breathed a sigh. “Well, at least that’s one piece of good news.”
“What do you mean?” Shann asked.
“It’s Lyall,” Alondo said. “Boxx says he failed his trial.”
“How is he?” Shann demanded.
“Resting. For now,” the musician answered. “He came out of it pretty badly, like the rest of us.”
Keris raised her hand to her mouth. “That’s bad news. Very bad. We only have three component carriers. It’s not enough to disable the Prophet’s weapon.”
“So what do we do now?” Rael asked.
Keris shook her head. “I wish I knew.”
As the brooding silence descended, Shann remembered something. Something that had happened during her own trial. Was it possible…? It was a pretty wild idea. Still, there was nothing to lose. Not now. “Where’s Boxx?”
“Still over by the dome of fog, I think,” Alondo said. “Why do you ask?”
“I need to see Boxx.” Shann strode past Alondo and Lyall and headed toward the centre of the Dais. She turned to see that the others were following her. “Alone. I need to see it alone.” She turned away once more. A small voice from within was yelling at her. What are you doing? I have to do this. I have to at least try.
She found the Chandara lying with its head on the flat metal surface. It raised itself at her approach and stood erect on its hind limbs. Keris needs healing, she reminded herself. That would have to wait.
She stood squarely in front of the little creature. It looked up at her–as usual, its expression was unreadable. “I want you to test me again,” she said. There was no answer. “Please. Let me go in ther
e. Let me take the trial again.”
“No,” it squeaked in its thin, high voice.
“Why not?”
“It Is Not Permitted.”
“Why?
“Cognitive Architecture Requires Subject To React Without Knowledge Of What Is To Come.”
“You mean I can’t repeat the process?”
“You Cannot Repeat The Process.”
“But…I never finished. I was pulled back before I could…take action.”
“When The Decision Matrix Shows Sufficiently High Probability Of Success Or Failure, The Scenario Terminates Automatically. That is The Rule.”
The rule–that was her opening. “During my trial–when you appeared to me as Alondo–you said that you could not break the rules, but you could bend them. You told me what I would be facing and gave me a way out, if I chose.”
“Your Pain Was Great.”
“But I chose to face that pain. I admit that I could not deal with it then. I would have made a terrible mistake. But things are different now. I know how to control my pain rather than letting it control me. I know how to let it strengthen me to face the real enemy. You must allow me to prove it to you…and to myself. You have to allow me to complete my trial.”
The Chandara swayed its head from side to side in a gesture that Shann could not fathom. Finally it trilled, “If I Allow, It May Cause You More Pain.”
Shann let out a ragged breath. “I know. Please, Boxx, I have to do this.” As much for myself as for the greater cause.
Boxx stared at her a while longer with its bead-like eyes. Then its wide mouth undulated. “Follow.”
She thought of asking it to wait a moment so that she could explain to the others–to let them know what she was doing and why, but she feared that if she saw the concern in their eyes, then her courage might desert her. I have to do this now.
She marched forward and followed the Chandara until both of them were swallowed by the flat mists.
~
Shann stood amid the greyness. Her heart beat fast and her chest felt heavy. She half expected Alondo and the others to come running out of the mist toward her, pleading with her not to go through with it. But there was nothing. The uniform surroundings seemed to deaden both sight and sound. She was truly alone.
Boxx faced her as if it were checking her resolve. “Resume,” it said.
She was standing in the cobbled street in Corte once more. The aches in her chest and shoulder had returned. Her hands gripped a staff, its diamond blade at the throat of a tall slim girl who lay helpless on the ground. Its razor-sharp edge was already drawing blood. The tall girl swallowed and her eyes knew fear.
Shann’s hands were slick with sweat. The staff felt unnatural, as if it were a serpent that might come to life at any moment and strike her. She pulled away from the other girl and stepped back.
The young Keris propped herself up on one elbow, massaged her neck and regarded Shann uncertainly. An impressionable girl, duped into performing the will of a tyrant. You are as much a victim as I am.
Shann flicked her head. “Go now. I release you.”
Keris got to her feet. A confused expression passed over her face. Then she turned away and began walking toward the prisoner cart as if Shann no longer existed. Shann went over to where the older Keris was still standing, and they both looked on in silence. The injured soldier was on her feet, supported by two of her comrades. The younger Keris waved an arm and bellowed as if nothing had happened. “Let’s get this cart moving.”
Shann looked into the eyes of her mother and father. Tears welled up and flowed down her cheeks. Behind their haunted appearance, they seemed…kindly. Did they realise they were looking at their only daughter, all grown up? She desperately wanted to run to them and hug them, to tell them that she was going to be all right, that they need not worry.
A soldier struck the striped graylesh on its side, and the cart started up with a jolt. It trundled off up the street, flanked by the soldiers, the young Keris way off to the side, holding her staff as if it were a symbol of power.
Shann watched the cart carrying her parents until it passed out of sight.
Goodbye.
The scene faded to grey and she was standing once more amid the mist with Boxx in front of her.
“Trial Is Complete,” the Chandara announced. It raised its round head and looked directly upward. Shann followed its gaze…and gasped. High above them, a hole had appeared–a small patch of starlight. It grew bigger, slowly at first, then faster and faster as it rolled back the grey to reveal the magnificence of the night sky, the Dais, and the plains of Akalon bounded by the Vannath range and the glittering line that was the faroff Arlan Sea.
Alondo, Rael and Keris were running toward them now. Behind she could see Patris and Lyall. They surrounded Shann and Boxx. “Are you all right? What happened?” Alondo demanded.
“Trial Is Complete,” Boxx repeated. “Alondo, Rael, Keris And Shann Are The Four Controllers.”
“You passed,” Rael exclaimed. “But how–?”
Lyall stepped forward. His voice sounded hoarse. “It doesn’t matter. We have what we need.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Well done, Shann.” There were murmurs of assent, but Shann was not paying attention. She looked into Lyall’s blue eyes and for the first time saw an emptiness there, as if the light of his life had suddenly passed behind a cloud. She gave him a look that said ‘I want to help’. The moment passed, and Lyall turned to Boxx. “Where are the components?”
Boxx led them back to the pedestal. The circular bulge in its upper surface was still giving off a steady crimson light. The Chandara raised its head and spoke again in a high clear voice. “Urien-Kathaar.” The light was extinguished as the pedestal lowered itself into the surface once more.
Shann’s eyes grew wide as the section of the Dais that had been occupied by the dome of fog split into curved segments like the spokes of a wheel, which then retracted, leaving a perfectly round hole. A set of stairs followed its circumference, spiralling down into the interior of the structure. “The Controllers Will Follow,” Boxx instructed.
Shann’s eyes turned to Lyall once more and saw that same empty expression. He smiled at her with some effort. “Go ahead.”
Reluctantly, she followed the others down the metal stairway and into the depths of the opening.
~
It doesn’t matter. That’s what Lyall had said. And yet it did matter. It was Lyall who had set her on a new course, who had given her life meaning and purpose–he who had trained her in the cloak and the staff, had watched over her, had made her feel like a grown woman and not a child. Everything she was, she owed to him. Yet now it felt as if she were leaving him behind forever. Which was crazy, because he was there, only a few feet above her and they would surely be reunited in a few minutes. So why did parting from him feel almost as painful as leaving her parents behind? You’re being foolish, she told herself. These are nothing more than mechanical devices. Soon all of this will be over and things will get back to the way they were before.
The four of them and Boxx were standing at the bottom of an open circular pit made of the same silvery metal as the Dais. In the centre of the pit was a plain metal cube, topped with a four-sided pyramid. “You Must Each Take A Side,” Boxx directed.
Shann took up a position facing one side. Alondo took the place on her left, with Rael on her right. Keris was opposite–Shann could not see her face. What do we do now? Link hands?
Boxx appeared to draw itself up to its full height. “Urien-Kathaar–Melpomene. Trial Is Complete–Release.” The sides of the pyramid parted silently, opening like the petals of a flower. A soft golden light shone forth from the interior, illuminating each of their faces. As her side of the pyramid dropped away, Shann saw a disk the size of her palm set into the pyramid’s inner surface. It was pure white–the colour of Kelanni blood.
“These are a different shape and colour,” Rael said. He glanced up and saw that the others
were looking at him. “Sorry…never mind.”
“I Am Boxx,” the Chandara announced. “My Task Is Complete. The Four Components Are Yours. Take Them. Use Them With Wisdom.”
They each reached out and claimed a disk. Shann held it reverently. She could not help but remember her last night in Corte, when she had examined a smaller lodestone disk given to her by a stranger with penetrating blue eyes. Then, she had not dreamed of the power that smooth dark stone represented. Yet here in her hand was the ability to create it–as much as one wanted. Such power cannot be allowed to exist. It must be used and then destroyed without fail.
The four of them fell into step after Boxx and ascended the spiral stairs once more, each consumed by their own thoughts. Lyall and Patris met them at the surface of the Dais.
“Do you have the components?” Lyall asked. Each of them nodded in turn. “Then it’s time for us to leave.” Shann felt weary from lack of sleep. However, she made no attempt to argue. She too felt the need to finally get away from this place.
“Where to?” Alondo asked cheerfully.
“We need to find out where the lodestone weapon is being constructed, and then disarm it,” Lyall declared.
Rael frowned. “You said that the weapon is on an island.”
“That’s what Annata told me, yes,” Keris affirmed.
“The island where the hu-mans were banished to after the war is called Helice,” Rael explained. “It lies in the Erigone Sea, far to the north. Unfortunately, it’s well beyond the range of our avionics–we would fall into the sea long before we got there. There is no way for us to reach it.”
Shann and Keris looked at each other. “The ship,” Shann said.
Keris nodded, “I was thinking the same thing. Patris, could Annata’s Reach be made seaworthy again?”
Patris’ eyes became unfocussed. “The sail and cordage could be replaced easily enough. The only other real damage is the breach on the port side, just above the waterline. Sure, she could be patched up and re-floated if I had enough manpower and the right materials–and if the sea where she’s beached hasn’t battered her too badly. I’m no shipwright, you understand. The result might not look too pretty. But it could probably be done. I suppose you’ll expect me to skipper her as well.”
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