The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One'

by D. J. Ridgway

  He felt the essence of a life as it fluttered past and died. Mayan, he thought, believing at that moment she had died. Gideon felt the candle in his mind burn brightly as he again thought of his failure to protect her, his condemning her to death, as his candle flickered and went out, Gideon roared in pain as he thought of her, her death on his hands.

  He screamed his hurt, releasing all he was into the great barrier, his heart overflowed with grief once more as he melded and bonded the strands of life within the wall and forbidding it to fail. His suffering was evident as tears fell from his eyes unashamedly. At last, a loud bang reverberated around and around inside the now sealed dome and the wall shone, vibrant with life once more. With the hissing now stopped, the silence itself was profound and Gideon fell forward, tired to the point of exhaustion.

  ‘It is over,’ he said. ‘Mayan is dead!’ As the silence eased, Gideon sobbed quietly. Mayan, his beautiful Mayan was dead and Gath was going to pay. He sat up slowly, a fierce determination on his face.

  ‘Where do we go Thaddrick?’ He asked, pulling himself up to his feet quietly and looking across to where Thaddrick knelt over Jacob, Jonus was beside him and tears were falling from his eyes.

  ‘What is it?’ Rhoàld called as he too sat up, exhaustion clearly written across his now, not so gaunt features.

  ‘Jacob is gone from us, his journey has begun.’ Thaddrick said closing the man’s eyes.

  ‘Why him Thaddrick, why him?’ Gideon asked, bewildered and feeling guilty as he realised with relief it meant Mayan was still alive.

  ‘He gave himself up for sacrifice to the void. Thaddrick answered, adding, ‘to satisfy the balance needed, Jacob has died. I believe it was why he wanted to accompany us.’ He crossed the dead man’s hands over his body noting Jacob’s mouth was set in a small smile. ‘I pray on the journey he finds his family,’ Thaddrick said with finality before bowing his head in respect.

  Lemba sadly remembered the story Roidan had told her of Jacobs’s family. Of how his wife, at the last moment before the gateway had slammed shut on the colonies arrival had pushed him through saving him whilst trapping her and their sons’ on the wrong side. His wife had saved his life, whilst forever keeping them apart.

  Gideon, stunned to silence stood before the smiling corpse, again feeling guilty at the wash of pleasure that the death he had felt had not been Mayan’s

  ‘He hated me,’ Gideon whispered, I pray his journey is not long... I’m sorry...’ he finished, touching the old man’s forehead in respect.

  ‘No Gideon, he hated to be alive when his family were gone.’ Thaddrick answered, adding, ‘we cannot bury him here, this ground is contaminated. He spoke quietly to Varan and Sonal and began to sing. The elder twins joined him with their voices slowly followed by Jonus as he watched one of the first funerals he had ever seen. Lemba took his hand humming quietly as Rhoàld and Jed joined them. As the company sang, Jacob’s body seemed to shine, it grew lighter and lighter becoming as thin and as translucent as the great dome it laid beside, nervously Gideon joined in the song, his voice in perfect sorrowful harmony. The body lifted off the ground and rose up toward the heavens, and as it reached the great barrier, it turned into a blaze of light and joined as one with the power protecting the world from the void.

  The singing stopped and the dome returned to its quiet beauty.

  ‘Come on now, Gath will be waiting for us as sure as the barrier is whole once more,’ Thaddrick said hoarsely as he walked on into the fog.

  ‘No Thaddrick,’ said Sonal, ‘the barrier... it’s not just whole, it’s new and stronger than I have ever seen it,’ he whispered in awe. Even from the inside and through the fog the great barrier dome could be seen shimmering and dazzling with life and strength.

  Chapter 41

  A Final Battle

  All day the small group walked and always downhill, the fog was thickening continually and at times, they had to hold on to one another as it became too dense in patches to see through. Death seemed to surround them on every side and evil felt forever near. Darker patches of fog would loom at them only to fade away before they came to close. At these times, Gideon’s father felt as if they were being followed, his woodsman’s skills coming to the fore in the barren landscape, he took to walking at the rear of the group watching their backs. Having the least magical blood in a place full of magic he kept his wits about him and prayed on the journey his own was not about to start quite yet. He kept his thoughts on his parents, Jayse and on Dotty, the way she had smiled at him and the sidelong glances he had witnessed as they drove homeward the first time they had met. Does she like me, even though I’m too old fer ‘er? He wondered as the darkness continued to close in and breathing became difficult.

  Eventually the ground began to rise once more; Sonal and Varan looked exhausted as they finally sat down calling a halt. Unnoticed by the others the elder twins had erected a bubble of air around them as the void was now sucking the last of the air from within the dome, breathing normally was almost impossible.

  ‘Stay within the bubble,’ called Varan leaving his arm firmly clasped around Sonal’s wrist.

  ‘Outside the bubble the lack of air will kill you.’ Sonal explained. ‘The void has long since taken the air from the valley; the hissing noise was the air being sucked away from the rest of the planet. Thaddrick held up his hand and extended a magical light from his fingertips illuminating the small domed bubble surrounding them all. The bubble was filtering the air and keeping them all alive, as twins, Sonal and Varan needed no balance but kept hold of each other for moral support.

  ‘They will be waiting at the temple.’ Varan said suddenly, as his eyes glazed over slightly and his head dropped on one side as if listening to something.

  ‘Can you hear that too then Varan?’ Gideon asked in surprise as he looked toward man who looked so like his father’s friend.

  ‘The crystal calls us,’ answered Varan in lieu of an answer. ‘You forget I was once a priest.’ As the light shone illuminating the yellowing fog outside of the air bubble, Thaddrick glanced over at Gideon’s father sitting with his knife in his hands, he had intended to speak quietly, but sudden shock at Jed’s changed appearance forestalled him.

  ‘Great Journeys!’ he began but seeing the surprised look on Jed’s face he spluttered and began to cough, the light from Thaddrick’s fingers fading slowly as he held his hands over his mouth.

  ‘Ere we go again,’ said Jed, in an exasperated tone, ‘will someone please tell me what ‘on the Journey’ be going on?’ Thaddrick raised his hand once more and the light reappeared. Sonal also turned to his old friend, his jaw falling wide.

  In the hurry to re-establish the wall no one had noticed how Jed had changed, the yellow darkness of the cloying fog had prevented anyone seeing the man they all knew so well, how Gideon’s healing spell had not only healed Jed’s ankle but had strengthened his bones and re-established the elasticity in his skin. The muscle tone was improved and his heart, lungs and other organs were in prime condition, his once greying hair was now full, thick and dark, shining with youth and vitality, even in the magic yellowing light reflected by the fog. In short, Jed’s body clock had reversed; he looked old enough to be Gideon’s older brother, not the father he was. Sonal smiled knowing Jed’s argument over the Dotty situation was now probably invalid. If we ever get out of this, he thought. Jed himself, still unaware of the changes wrought during the healing scowled at the smiles and glances.

  As the time wore on and the company rested, Gideon, under instruction from Thaddrick took control of the bubble allowing the elder twins to rest. The candle principle worked on the bubble just as well as it had worked on the healing and he kept the small candle burning in his mind as the magic filtered the air needed to sustain their lives, protecting them from both whatever could live outside the bubbles embrace and the dangers of the void.

  After the company had rested and not knowing what time of day it was the small group began to move off onc
e more, always now travelling upward. Still Gideon heard the call in his head, Varan cautioned Gideon not to listen to the hypnotic sequence of words and cadences but despite Varan’s warnings, Gideon did find himself listening out for the new notes as they moved and occasionally he found himself singing the beat as he walked, no harm in singing, surely? He thought.

  Within the confines of the small bubble, Thaddrick constantly sought for danger through the ether, worry making him less cautious than he would normally be. He felt Gath as they drew near to him; soon, he thought, we will be upon him soon, there’s something else too, the feeling shocked him to the core, something strong, powerful and evil, he withdrew from the ether once more urging Gideon to more caution and took control of the bubble allowing the boy to rest.

  They had been travelling for hours with hunger gnawing at their bellies when at last the water ran out.

  ‘The lad can’t last much longer Blue,’ stated Jed who was carrying young Jonus who now, for all his new found youth, looked as tired as the rest of the group.

  ‘A little further,’ Thaddrick replied as he began climbing a much worn staircase once cut from the living rock. As they climbed, Gideon thought he could see the bodies of men and women, soldiers lying in the dust beside the pathway each in varying stages of decay.

  ‘Look,’ he called pointing at the body of an officer dressed in green and red, with the heavy gold piping of Derova lying face down in the dirt. Thaddrick turned the body over and Lemba gasped as she realised the body had been bled dry. Varan recognised the signs of a ritual killing and said nothing, having taken part himself in many killings just like this one. Young Jed refused to look, not wanting to see the face of a man who may have served, or even trained with him.

  ‘We have arrived,’ Thaddrick said, as the small group walked into the confines of a large cave and passed through a warding. Thaddrick shivered recognising the author of the spell. ‘I’m releasing the bubble as Gath also needs to breathe air,’ he whispered and muttered a word as the protective bubble around them disappeared.

  Although their bodies felt tired and heavy, they were able to breathe with some difficulty and Thaddrick smiled weakly. ‘The air will sustain us for a time...’ he said as he glanced around him noticing what everyone else was looking at. Misshaped bodies were lying asleep around the edges of the rock-hewn room, all with heavy limbs and fur coverings and their breathing fast and shallow as they attempted to fill small lungs. Again, Varan said nothing as he recognised the menial workers fed on blood and body parts of the dead, their devotion to the crystal more meaningful than anything else in their lives.

  ‘They are in a spelled sleep, come, quietly...’ said Thaddrick as he made his way stepping over the sleeping bodies and through into a stone corridor remembering the last time he had been in this place so long ago. At that time, he had been carrying his nephew’s body and he had watched as Dèvin’s body turned to dust releasing the captive evil into the crystal. Is Dèvin’s soul still within the crystal? He asked himself, remembering the way his brother’s son had sacrificed himself to hold the entity trapped safely within the confines of flesh and blood. Surely not, not after all these years... he answered his own question, hoping and praying he was right.

  Gideon heard the voice in his head call him; he knew the owner of the voice was close and Rhoàld believed he could feel Bastian, as he hovered in the ether waiting for release. Lemba too felt the fear once more as she thought of Gath, then her hair began to curl, twisting and turning about her head and she paled. She knew what it meant, it meant Toby was near but her thoughts of Gath, and what he was capable of turned her heart to ice, even Jed squeezing her hand could not warm her the way it usually did. Each of the travellers moved slowly, each filled with their own thoughts.

  Varan alone felt a strange release, he had carried the warning, Thaddrick’s spell, built into the wall so long ago, the warning of the child with the dead eyes, it could not happen, not now we have come this far. It would not happen, not now, he thought as they rounded the last corner and advanced into the room where his back had been so painfully tattooed and past the column where he had slit his grandfather’s throat along with many others before him. He had brought the one here, to this place to begin the healing, life would return to the earth just as soon as Gath was dead and the gateway to the void closed. Easier said than done, he mused.

  Oily yellow candles burnt around the room giving off a yellow light making the room dark and smelly. The chamber was exactly as he remembered it, rock hewn pillars surrounded the outer walls, now though; he knew they were built originally to represent justice. A reminder of the chamber of justice in some castle or other in Boetesh I think Thaddrick said, anyway it was on Arotia, Varan’s thoughts waffled on in confusion, trying not to listen to the voice insidiously creeping inside his skull, his fear making him dizzy and sick.

  High on the altar stone lay Mayan, stiff and cold. In his muddled state Varan heard Gideon sob. Behind them opposite the altar stone, the purple and black crystal sat nestled atop its plinth. It really doesn’t look too safe, Varan thought as Thaddrick followed him into the room.

  ‘Aahh, Thaddrick, well met.’ Gath said as he entered the room from a side corridor behind the altar, a soldier, dressed in a dirty red and green uniform with a scantily clad boy in a white and gold toga followed him. Darnel’s eyes flew open as Lemba recognised him, her eyes full of pity, her fingers clutched Jed’s arm tightly. Thaddrick stared at the altar stone that had once held Dèvin’s body, now it held Mayan. The stone if possible, looked more intimidating now than it ever had, then, it had not stained black with the blood of innocents as they gave their lives, hoping in vain to save their families. Thaddrick looked at the channels cut into the rock taking the blood away from the altar; they ran across the floor to the back of the plinth behind him, where he recalled Varan saying the crystal cooled in the blood before a servant carried it to the site of the old gateway.

  Gideon’s father bringing up the rear with Jonus in his arms stopped just outside of the stone chamber. Rhoàld in front of him stopped too, fear paralysing his legs, a large wooden door stood between them and the open chamber. Still in Jed’s arms, Jonus wriggled against Jed’s hold so Jed put him on his feet.

  ‘Close the door,’ whispered Jed, ‘close it now, coz iffen those little men awaken we’ll ‘ave a fight on our ‘ands,’ he said and as Rhoàld pulled the door closed, Jonus joined him.

  ‘You should be dead.’ Thaddrick said calmly, looking at his family’s one time nemesis. ‘You have wasted how many lifetimes attempting to get home? You will never reach Arotia, Gatherer.’ Thaddrick smiled, ‘you may kill us all but you will never get home,’ he smiled again as Gath’s demeanour grew ugly, his face purple with anger.

  ‘You will be the first to die Thaddrick,’ he spat as he threw a killing spell toward the old man. The spell missed Thaddrick as the silver grey wolf twisted out of the way just in time. The spell crashed into the rock plinth holding the purple crystal making it wobble precariously, the spell entered the rock column between the minute natural holes and fissures and slowly it began to crumble the plinth from the inside out.

  The explosion forced the sleeping servants awake and they charged the corridor only to find the door closed and barred.

  ‘You have my woman Brewster,’ began Toby, his silver necklace of hair curling in time and rhythm with Lemba’s, he walked toward young Jed, a long savage looking sword in his hand.

  ‘Never scum, not whilst there is life in me body,’ Jed spat back, pulling Lemba behind him.

  ‘Such a pretty bird, will she be as good as Mayan d’yer think?’ Toby asked as he advanced toward them slowly, ‘Mayan fought ser very ‘ard as I took ‘er, an’ she never told yer...’ he said, taunting the unharmed man in front of him. ‘Ahh, well, this un’ll be more compliant, that I do know. Eh Lemba, we’ll make a few bruises together won’t we love,’ he said as he lunged at the pair. Jed pushed the small girl further behind him as he rushed for
Toby, pushing Darnel out of harm’s way and ducking behind the stone plinth, there he slipped on some sticky substance on the floor and went down wedging himself between the column and the wall. Sparks flew off the stone when Toby’s sword broke in two as it smashed into the base of the crystal’s stone column inches away from Jed’s head and further damaging the failing pillar. Jed called to Gideon to get out of the way fearing the heavy stone would fall on top of him, Gideon stood still, rigid even, almost dazed with his eyes fixed on the blue and purple crystal as it spun precariously and slowly atop its plinth. Each movement at the unstable column’s base making the crystal spin more as the column moved, Varan rushed to aid the strangely stricken Gideon who stood compliant, listening to the voice inside his head. Jonas, also seeing Gideon’s plight raced from the relative protection of the corridor to aid Gideon as Gideon’s father and Rhoàld fought the strange but strong men, some, still half asleep as they threw themselves at the door with axes and rock hammers.

  ‘The door won’t be ‘oldin’ fer ever,’ shouted Gideon’s father as he turned to see Toby Hollins baring down on a fallen Jed, at once his knife flew from his fingers, straight and true, landing solidly in Toby’s arm. Blood flowed from the wound as Toby tore the knife free and advanced once more now trailing fresh blood as he moved, his injured arm hanging uselessly.

  Darnel standing hopelessly vulnerable and hidden behind the stone plinth saw Toby, the bloody knife still in his hand as he advanced toward the stricken Jed and himself. Without a second thought, he reached into his toga for his only possession, the box that contained his dried up tongue; he flung it as hard as he could. The box hit Toby squarely on the brow and he fell to the floor unconscious, landing heavily on top of Jed. Wedged as he was between the plinth and the wall, Jed struggled to get out from under the now bigger and more solid man.

  ‘Don’t remember yer bein’ so big, you oaf,’ Jed cussed as Darnel moved silently to help him.