“It’s going to be too loud to stay inside when we ring them,” Kirian added, “so take your teams back outside to the platforms when it’s time to work the portal.”
“Too loud? Just how big are these things?”
Kirian glanced at Niyal before breaking into a grin. “You’ll see. Let’s go.”
“Hold on, Tiza. We’re shifting again,” Arman cautioned as he reached out and grabbed his mate around the waist.
In the blink of an eye, the party transported down below to the white quartz floor of a lofty, cylindrical space where Selina and a large group of cloaked Makhás stood beneath a set of softly glowing, floating orbs, looking up at the monumental bronze shape looming high overhead.
“Oh my god!”
Arman’s stunned shout echoed around the stone chamber and was quickly followed by laughter and shouts of welcome from the adepts scattered around the room.
“Is that enough bell for you, big man?” Selina teased as she ran up from behind him and threw her arms around his waist.
“That’s the biggest damn bell I’ve ever seen—or imagined. When Kirian said ‘giant bells,’ I thought maybe—” He lifted his arms in front of him to form a circular shape six or seven feet across.
“Shit, man. If you’re going to ring a mountain, you’ve got to do it right,” Niyal quipped. “Our ancestors knew what they were doing.”
“Let’s hope these babies are enough to undo the damage the Drahks did up above,” Kirian prayed as he walked up to the side of the bell and put his hands on the cold metal. “This one’s name is Dolma.”
Arman came up beside him and did the same, craning his neck to look up the side before lowering his head and closing his eyes.
“Careful,” Kirian warned. “I toned with this one up at Namkha and nearly fried my nervous system. We’re standing on top of a vein of quartz and gold that runs down hundreds of feet into Tsari which will amplify—”
“—exponentially. Damn,” Arman bit off, shaking his head in amazement. “Help me do a test so I can feel its resonance points.”
Kirian took a deep breath and sounded a low, steady tone, shifting to the bell’s primary note he had touched before and quickly dampened his volume to be able to keep the vibration from avalanching his system. Arman’s voice came in around his, matching Kirian’s amplitude while he ran through a series of exploratory tones. The bronze vibrated under Kirian’s hands in response to the shifting sounds, sending a tingling current through his frame as it shot down into the floor to connect with the river of quartz below.
Arman broke off his toning and stood back, sucking in a deep breath. “Wow!” he exclaimed as Kirian lowered his hands. “The spectrum I picked up is really complex and I have a feeling I just touched the tip of the iceberg. When this baby rings, the range of frequencies it hits will fall far below anything we can perceive with our hearing.”
“I would expect as much for something that’s intended to work with planetary energetics. Did you get enough to be able to tell when it’s hung properly?”
“Yep. Niyal, did you find the hooks?” Arman called out while he looked up, studying the overhead structure of the tower.
“Yeah, in the same place I found the long ringer and suspension chains.”
“Are they in good shape?”
“Clean as a whistle.”
“Amazing—then let’s get this sister up into place!”
Kirian patted his friend’s broad back as Arman turned and swung into gear, calling out suggestions to the other smith while he stalked around the bell, examining it from other angles.
Walking back toward Selina, a comforting feeling of relief washed through Kirian at hearing Arman’s voice again, but it evaporated into mist when it hit him that his wife was no longer in the tower.
“Where’s Min?” he asked tautly. “And Tiza?”
“Relax, Kiri. They went to get something.”
“What??” Closing his eyes, he sent out a frantic call to locate his missing spouse. Minla! Where are you?
I brought Tiza back down to Edu. She has some things she wanted to collect.
Are you crazy? It’s—
I’m perfectly fine. We’ll be back in just a few minutes.
But you—
The longer you keep me, the longer we’ll be. Shoo!
Growling with annoyance, Kirian closed down the link and started to pace, glaring at his sister when she crossed her arms and smiled smugly. Arman’s strong voice rang out, pulling his attention back around just as the mammoth bronze bell lifted from the floor.
With his arms out in front of him, Arman guided the bell upward several feet, holding it steady while Niyal shifted one of the hooks into position down through the heavy beam anchored into the walls and a second one through the bell’s crown.
“Alright, we’re good,” Niyal shouted. “Let her down slowly.”
Arman lowered the great bell and as soon as it was hanging securely on its own, he bent over and moved under the rim, standing up inside where the soft sound of his voice could be heard humming within. Taking hold of the long wooden ringer suspended by chains from a second beam, Niyal walked it over to the side of the bell, touching it lightly while Arman listened to the vibrations from within.
A few seconds later, the big man bent over and popped back out of the bell with an ecstatic look on his face. “Perfect. This is so fucking cool. Ready for the next one, Niyal?”
“Arman!”
Kirian’s sharp yell bounced off the walls, making everyone in the room jump from the sudden sound. With an impatient exhale, he cleared his throat and adjusted his volume before he went on. “My wife took off with Tiza back to Edu,” he grated between clenched teeth. “Do you have any idea what that’s all about?”
“I think this might have something to do with it,” Selina announced behind him.
Whirling around, Kirian’s eyes landed on his sister standing next to the wall, leaning over a couple of large baskets filled to the brim with loaves of bread. As he watched, several more baskets appeared at the base of the wall, each holding an assortment of rolls, baguettes, muffins, and other baked goods wrapped in papers and towels.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Arman declared, stepping up beside him.
“What the hell is this?” Kirian snarled with a frown, turning a baffled expression to the bellmaker while the aroma of fresh bread permeated the chamber.
Arman placed his hands on his hips and smiled. “I think I’ll let her explain.”
A pile of small baskets appeared beside the bread seconds before Minla and Tiza materialized, their arms laden with sacks and heavy bags. Minla smiled and gave out directions to several adepts who rushed over to help as Kirian stalked forward and came to a halt in front of the two women.
Tiza glanced up at the tall yeshe while she handed off several jars of nuts and seeds. “I’m sorry, it’s not enough to feed hundreds, but we cleaned out everything I had in the shop.” When Kirian did not reply, she paused and looked up, caught off-guard by his look of utter disbelief. “I’m a baker—not a very glorious talent compared to what you—”
Kirian reached out and touched his fingers to her mouth to stop her words. “Arman was right about you,” he said quietly. “He told me you have a big heart. Thank you, Tiza.”
With a small smile, the Shitza woman nodded as Kirian dropped his hand away. “Whatever it is you’re planning to do, at least you can do it with a full belly. I couldn’t just let this stuff go to waste when I saw you needed it.”
As Tiza turned to hand out the rest of her parcels, Minla grabbed several buttery rolls and pushed them into her husband’s big hands. “Don’t wolf these down,” she said with a grin. “I’m going to take some bread to the teams in the other towers while Arman and Niyal finish with the Cagi. When we’re ready to leave, I’ll transfer the rest down to Rinzen and distribute it around to the folks on the ship.” Without waiting for his acknowledgment, she waved and ran to the back wall to pick up two baskets bef
ore disappearing once again from the chamber.
“Niyal, grab something to eat and let’s go!” Arman called as he walked up next to Kirian and held out his hand for Tiza. “Come with me, sweetheart.”
“Let me know the second you get the last one hung,” Kirian charged, taking a bite out of the crusty roll as Tiza came running up.
“I will. Shouldn’t take long since I have the feel of them now.” The bellmaker grabbed his mate’s hand and nodded at Niyal before the three of them transported out of the tower.
In the sudden quiet, Kirian looked up the side of the great bell, savoring the taste of Tiza’s gift while his friends behind him munched contentedly on the first fresh bread they’d had in days. Word of the Drahkian takeover had spread like wildfire across the plateau and the terrified Ustagi had all but vanished, huddling in their homes while the Makhás provisions dwindled to dangerously low levels. Rationally he knew it wasn’t his fault, but he couldn’t shake the horrifying feeling that he should have been able to prevent the pain of these people. No doubt his father had suffered the same internal agony all the years he had toiled to keep the last Makhás alive.
“You’re brooding again.”
Selina’s lithe figure appeared beside him, a look of calm anticipation lighting her fine features. “It’s almost over, Kiri. This is what Dad dreamed about for so long. Let yourself get excited about going someplace new.”
“I will when I know this’ll work. There are too many variables that can still go wrong.”
“You’ve always been such a worrier.” The tiny woman leaned against his side with easy familiarity.
“What if we can’t get out, Fluff? What am I supposed to do with these people, especially if we run out of food? I can’t even look them in the eye.”
“I don’t have answers for you, Kiri, but I do know that no one blames you for being afraid or hungry.”
The young yeshe stepped forward and placed a hand on the bottom of the bronze bell. “The people who designed these were nothing short of brilliant. I pray that I can live up to the standards they set.” Without turning around, he let out an anxious breath. “I’m going back up to the platform so my nerves don’t spill onto everyone else down here. I’ll call you after I hear from Arman.”
The bracing air hit him in a gush when he reappeared out on the stone ledge, immediately dropping again into a steady flutter. A blanket of stars blazed across the heavens above the peaks as he took up a restless stride, his cloak twisting sporadically in gusts off of Tsari. He paced for perhaps half an hour, each minute stretching into what felt like an age until Arman’s voice broke into his thoughts.
Finished and ready to roll. Niyal just took off to join Asti and their team.
Good. Time to make some sound, my friend.
Turning around to face the tower covering, Kirian sent out a call to the teams of adepts waiting within the five tower chambers.
Everyone, up on the platforms! It’s time!
Behind him, Minla, Selina and the forty-six adepts of Rinzen’s transport team appeared on the bare stone ledge, their heavy cloaks flapping in the wind.
Team leaders—lift the ringers for the first sounding.
Closing his eyes to focus with his inner senses, Kirian formed a matrix around the heavy wooden pole suspended directly below and pulled back, releasing his hold long enough to allow the ringer to swing down and strike the side of the great bell, quickly stilling its movement to keep it from interfering with the sound.
The stone shook beneath his feet as Dolma rang, vibrating the tower chamber below with a rumbling deep tone that rose up out of the depths of Tsari, rattling the bones and teeth of the Makhás adepts as it swept through them in a powerful beam up into Lyonnae’s atmosphere.
Again!
With the second tone, the column intensified and began to spin, rising like a serpent let loose from its chains far beneath the surface of the mountain.
Start your toning! Build your matrix around the column of sound and ride with it up to the portal.
Raising his voice, Kirian blended his tones with those of the adepts behind him, working together like a well-oiled machine to construct an energetic harness around the spiraling column. Extending his senses, Kirian picked up the distinctive signatures of the other four bells rising up from their towers around the base of Tsari, and with them, the intricate weavings of the other Makhás masters.
Keep sounding the Cagi to strengthen the beams while we work!
Kirian rang the bell again before shifting his perspective skyward to the wide portal area in the upper atmosphere. The convergence of energetic threads within Lyonnae’s grid that had once been the Makhás portal lay burned and broken, mangled remnants of the destruction caused by the Drahkian warship so long ago. As his team’s construct carried Dolma’s sound column closer to the strands, he could feel an energetic resonance with a particular set of gridlines running into the disrupted space and instinctively knew how to bring them together.
Guide your columns to the edge of the portal, then hold them steady. They’ll gravitate to the lines they were designed for.
Dolma’s beam curved gently within Kirian’s grasp, seeking its harmonic partners within the grid, and as soon as he felt a set of strands reacting to its presence, he eased it into position to allow them to meld. Within seconds, the other four sound columns, deftly guided by the Makhás teams, found their counterparts within the grid and smoothly linked themselves with the strands of the portal.
Kirian rang Dolma again, sending a fresh blast of sound from Tsari up through the column. When the spinning energy pulsed across the connection and traveled on into the damaged threads, he felt a surge of elation. The gridlines were responding. Tashi had gotten this far, but had been blocked by the Drahkian portal lock installed on the ground. Without that interference, they should be able to take control over the strands in the portal once again and bring them back into a Makhás configuration.
Sending his senses out across the energized network, Kirian followed the current flowing down the threads to the places where the lines tangled together in unnatural clumps.
Arman, pass off the ringing of your bell to Skamár and help me do something about these knots. Selina, take over Dolma and keep her sounding.
Shifting his focus to the largest clump, Kirian studied the gridlines twisting together from odd angles when Arman’s strong presence sidled in beside him.
The current dissipates in spots like this where several lines seem to be melted.
Yeah, it feels like fibers that were touched with a hot iron.
I can sense pairs of incoming threads which have the same signature, all part of Dolma’s network. Tashi’s notes said we should be able to use the Cagi to repair these, so let’s start by sounding out a formation to pick up a line on one side and reconnect it with its mate on the other.
Kirian changed his tone to begin shaping a new geometric form, latching it onto a point in one of the lines while Arman shaped a second form, hooking it into the same spot. Together they wove and spun the new matrix out into a long bridge, pulling it around the knot before attaching it onto the matching gridline on the other side.
Alright, it’s holding. Three more pairs to go to clear this juncture.
Working quickly, the two Makhás masters had the energetic bridges in place within minutes.
Selina, give Dolma a fresh ring.
The great bell’s sound shot up the column and the instant it hit the bridges, it rolled through the pathways, reconnecting the gridlines with a series of loud snaps as they pulled free, allowing the energy to flow cleanly for the first time in thirty-two years.
Yesss!!!
Kirian’s exuberant relief flooded the open link and was echoed by every Makhás adept working within the weaving.
There are blockages in each of the Cagi networks. Niyal, Kalden, Senga—pass the bell ringing to another adept and shift your focus to the malfunctioning gridlines. Arman and I will help you construct the repairs
.
The five masters went to work rerouting the threads, eliminating the fused junctions one at a time. When the last obstruction was cleared, the portal hummed quietly, the vibrations from the Cagi flowing smoothly through the lines inside the portal’s parameters.
This is how it used to feel when we flew—clean and alive. Kalden’s clear voice in the link radiated satisfaction and pride. It’s all thanks to you, Yeshe Vall.
Thanks to all of us, my friend. Help me sound out a few configurations to test the portal’s responses before we close down.
As they lifted their voices into familiar chords and shifted their tones, the gridlines within the activated portal zone stretched and moved with graceful elasticity to form the intricate patterns called up by the Makhás masters. It was exhilarating to feel Lyonnae’s energetic grid move in harmony under their direction and Kirian felt a deep sense of accomplishment that they had managed to heal the living fabric of the planet, at least in this portion of the grid.
We’re finished!! Let the Cagi ring with their last sounding and as the energy dissipates, release your attachment to the portal and ease your columns back down to the ground. Good work, everyone! Our ancestors would be proud!
Kirian threaded his voice back into his team’s construct, reveling in the last throbbing vibrations from the great bell beneath his feet. While the adepts tapered their sound, he sent his private thanks to Tashi and Sera Choden for their dedicated guidance and to the five Cagi themselves, knowing it was the last time they would ever ring on the heights of Tsari.
When the group was firmly grounded, Kirian brought the toning to a close. Taking a deep, cleansing breath of cold mountain air, he let his head fall back, listening to the flapping of cloaks caught by the gusts up the slopes.
The sound of raucous cheering startled him out of his brief moment of reverie. Minla’s arms flew around him an instant before Selina grabbed him around the waist, nearly knocking him off balance while the group of ecstatic adepts swarmed around him, pushing in close, patting his back and shoulders amid shouts of excitement and jubilant hoots.
Descent of the Maw Page 16
