“That’s not fair, Shann.” No. Leaving someone without their parents; not knowing if they are alive or dead –that’s not fair. Lyall smiled. “You and Keris are like two pieces of refined lodestone, repelling each other, yet unwilling to admit how similar you are.”
“I am nothing like her,” Shann fired back.
Lyall exhaled slowly. “You and she are both on a journey–not the act of putting one foot in front of another, but a journey of a different sort. You have always thought of yourself as weak. Yet with all that has happened over the past few days, you have discovered that you have strengths you never knew you had. You have fought sand scarags, escaped from a slave camp and ridden down a cliff. You are not the same person who left Corte.”
Shann’s brow furrowed. “I suppose.”
“Keris is very strong mentally and physically, but she has discovered that she has weaknesses she didn’t know she had. She too is on a journey. She too is not the same person she was. And just as you need help to come to terms with your new strengths, she needs help to deal with her weaknesses.”
Shann smiled in spite of herself. “I think you’ve been spending too much time with Boxx. You’re starting to sound like it.”
He laughed. “I take that as a compliment.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Want to get something to eat?” They both walked over to where Boxx was lying down and Keris was examining her staff. Shann noticed that whenever they stopped, the woman always seemed to check her equipment. She was almost pathological about it. Shann looked around for Alondo but could not see him. Then she saw him climbing the terrace. Lyall spotted him at the same moment and put a hand to his mouth. “Don’t go too far.” Alondo waved to them by way of response.
All of a sudden, Shann felt a low vibration. At first it was almost subliminal, causing her to conclude that she must be imagining it. Then it rapidly grew in intensity. Ground tremor? She saw Keris get to her feet, knees bent, eyes casting about wildly for the source.
The ground shook under them as a massive shape broke the surface of the fissure and reared up over their heads. An ear splitting roar shook the air. A living grey nightmare of scale, tooth and claw. Piercing red rimmed eyes. Neck frills flared. Flattened head split by an immense jaw which snapped at everything that moved. The Kharthrun Serpent.
The towering titan twisted with terrifying agility, massive maw darting towards the terraced area. Shann felt as if her legs were rooted to the spot. A small voice somewhere in the back of her mind was clamouring, screaming for attention. Alondo. Cut off from the other side of the fissure. She could not see him. The serpent drew back for a further strike and she spotted him. Knocked down. On his back. Hands and feet scrabbling against the rock behind him, desperately trying to get away.
Lyall was yelling at him, “Use the vortex arm.” Shann could not tell whether Alondo heard him or not, but he brought his instrument to bear, fumbled an adjustment and struck the strings. A powerful torus rippled outwards and struck the gargantuan beast, knocking it backwards slightly. It split the air again with a primeval bellow of pure hatred.
“That won’t hold it,” Keris warned.
Lyall’s gaze was still fixed on the creature. “No, but it might buy us some time.” He grabbed Shann by the arm. “The flying cloaks.” They ran back to where they had dropped their packs. Shann pulled out the cloak, shaking it free, and fastened the neck clasps. Her mind reeled. What can we do against that thing?
Boxx had rolled itself up–a segmented ball of impenetrable chitin. At least you are safe.
Keris backed away, staff held in a defensive posture, covering their retreat. She reached the position where Shann and Lyall waited, black cloaks now draped over their shoulders.
Keris shot a glance at Lyall. “Alondo is The Fool.”
Lyall nodded. “Agreed.”
“Mannatar gambit?”
“Risky,” Lyall returned.
“Do you have an alternative?”
“No.”
“Then it’s decided,” Keris declared with finality. A succession of waves from Alondo’s vortex arm washed over the serpent, causing it to sway its head back and forth. How much longer can Alondo hold out? “I am the mannatar; you are the dagger. The girl will have to provide you with a lodestone base line.
“You taught her co-operative mechanics?”
“No, of course not.” Keris faced Lyall’s questioning look and sighed. “The girl has no more than a simple grasp of the basics. Besides, she seems to have a…resistance to learning from me.” Lyall cursed under his breath. “I am the mannatar,” she reminded him. “Make haste.” She ran forward, flared her cloak and leapt into the air.
Shann’s mind whirled in confusion. “Wha– What is she talking about?”
Lyall’s attention was fixed on Keris as she engaged the serpent with a swift mid-air thrust. Her diamond blade was deflected by the creature’s thick overlapping scales. It whipped its immense head around and snapped at the empty space where Keris had been only moments before. “It’s shassatan.”
Shann was even more confused than ever. “The board game?”
“That’s right. Keltar use it to teach tactical thinking and as a form of shorthand–a kind of code.”
Shann’s heart stopped as she watched Keris twist in the air, narrowly avoiding the clashing jaws once more. The woman dropped to the ground, whirling her staff in a complex pattern. Backing away, she reached her hand into her pouch, extracting a small silver sphere. One of the precious lodestone grenades. She gave it a half twist and tossed it towards the creature. There was a low whine which rose in pitch, culminating in a blinding flash and the sound of detonation. The creature swayed as if disoriented. “B-but I’ve never played it.”
“Then this will have to be a quick lesson.” Lyall spoke rapidly. “In shassatan, each of the pieces is assigned a role which determines its relative strength and movement. Some roles are given; others may be chosen according to need. Keris has selected ‘the mannatar,’ named after a crane fly, an insect that stings repeatedly. It’s a distraction tactic. Whilst Keris is keeping the serpent occupied, we need to attack one of its vulnerable spots.”
Shann wanted to say that she couldn’t see where it had any vulnerable spots, but she shoved the thought aside. “What do you want me to do?”
“We have to work together. It’s called ‘co-operative mechanics.’ For example, if we leap together using a natural deposit, and I get above you, I can use the upper lodestone layer of your cloak to propel myself higher and farther. That will enable me to leap high enough to reach the other side of the fissure.”
“Wouldn’t that knock me to the ground?”
“That’s right, Shann. Action–reaction. But you should be able to use the natural deposit to brake your fall somewhat.”
Somewhat. Shann wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. But the others were under imminent threat. There was no choice. She pursed her lips. “Let’s do it.”
Keris had set off two more grenades. With a throw of some skill and accuracy, she managed to pitch one of them into the serpent’s gaping mouth as it clamped shut. Smoke was ejected from the nostrils on top of its head, but it seemed otherwise unharmed.
Shann and Lyall trotted forward, cloaks extended, searching for lodestone. Immediately, the Kharthrun Serpent reacted to their movement, lunging towards them. A monstrous head filled Shann’s field of vision, nostrils flared, neck ridges rippling, shining crimson eyes set in an angular skull. Hot breath washed over her like an imprecation. Lyall threw himself to the ground. Shann was forced to dive to one side, rolling away. She sprang to her feet. The serpent had pulled away and was thrashing around with a bestial rage. She saw a figure tossed in to the air like a rag doll. It came to rest; a broken heap, dark against the pure white stone. Shann felt a sick feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. Alondo.
Keris discharged her last two grenades. Then she shot into the air once more, launching forth a battering series of blows, driving the
diamond blade between its thick scales. The dark haired woman was now battling the creature alone. Baiting it. Drawing it to her. We have to act now.
Shann’s hand moved to the cloak’s control mechanism, feeling the push of lodestone a little to her left. She shouted at Lyall, “Over here.” She ran towards the spot, Lyall only a few steps behind her. Bending her legs, she launched herself skyward. As she rose into the air she saw that Lyall was already above her. A sudden crushing pressure. It felt as if a giant foot had stamped on her back. The ground hurtled up to meet her. She landed on her side, knocking the breath out of her.
Pain lanced through her chest as her lungs fought for air. Shann struggled to her feet and looked up. Lyall was on the other side of the chasm, standing over the supine form that was Alondo. The serpent flexed its huge neck, knocking Keris to one side. She tumbled away across the rock surface. The leviathan towered over the tiny figures of the Kelanni. Shann watched as it fixed its malevolent gaze and made a vicious strike–directly at her.
Lyall cried out a warning from the opposite side of the fissure. “Shann!” Instinctively she held her staff in front of her with both hands. A clawed arm reached out and caught her a glancing blow. Crack. Her darkwood staff split in the middle, and she was sent sprawling. The splintered sections of her staff skittered away.
Three more explosions. As Shann oriented herself once more, she saw a vision of Lyall perched on the head of the creature from the Pits, stabbing and slashing furiously with his staff. Gripped with horror, she watched as the beast flicked its head and caught Lyall in its massive jaws. In an instant, it turned and disappeared into the fissure with a final whip of its tail, dragging Lyall’s body down into the night-filled depths.
Chapter 24
Keris stood with her staff at the ready, straining her ears for subterranean vibrations–any clue that might presage the serpent’s return. As the silence persisted, she permitted herself the luxury of a brief self-examination. Her mouth tasted like ashes. Her body complained of various lacerations and contusions and what she suspected might be a broken finger. The pack she carried contained an analgesic plant that might provide some relief; for now, such minor injuries were beneath her notice.
She surveyed the aftermath of the conflict. Boxx had unfurled itself from its defensive ball and appeared unscathed. The girl was holding her side awkwardly, but she was on her feet and was alert and responsive. That left Alondo. Keris ran to the other side of the fissure and scrambled up the terrace to where the musician lay. She dropped to one knee, checking for signs of life. One side of his face was covered in white blood, drying rapidly in the volcanic heat. There was no rise and fall of his chest. His eyes were closed. He was not moving.
“Boxx,” Keris yelled across the gap. The girl appeared over her, still clutching her side and breathing a little heavily. In her free hand, she held Lyall’s staff.
“Keris–” she began.
“Don’t try to move him,” Keris shot back, a little too sharply. “Boxx,” she called again.
The Chandara arrived and lifted itself up on its hind limbs, looking at her expectantly. Keris indicated Alondo. “Can you do anything for him?”
The Chandara looked down at Alondo with its bead like eyes. “I Can Try To Do Anything.” It touched Alondo’s temple with the three fingers of its upper forelimb. It closed its eyes and its mouth rippled soundlessly.
“Keris–” Shann’s voice was insistent.
“I’ll get to you in a moment,” Keris snapped back. You are not seriously injured –be patient.
After a short while, Alondo’s chest rose slightly and Keris heard a faint rattle in the musician’s throat. She allowed herself to breathe once more. Wearily, she got to her feet and made her way back to where her pack lay. The girl came after her, grabbing her arm, pulling her round.
Shann looked small. Her eyes were puffy where she had been crying. “What about Lyall?”
Keris softened a little. “I’m sorry, child, he’s gone.”
“B-but we have to go after him,” Shann pleaded.
“I’m afraid that’s impossible.”
Shann’s body tensed. “We have to go after him now.” She was holding Lyall’s staff in an attack stance.
Keris ignored the veiled threat. Do I have to spell it out for you, girl? “Look, we can’t stay here. That thing may come back at any time. If it does, none of us may survive. Lyall is lost to us. We have to go on without him.” Keris turned on her heel, without waiting for a response.
“No!” The word strangled in Shann’s throat.
Keris sensed a movement behind her, the whoosh of a diamond bladed staff. I don’t have time for this. In a single movement, she thrust her own staff backwards and hooked it, slicing the girl’s legs from under her. She turned around to see Shann lying on her back, her face a mask of pain and frustration. The older woman’s eyes blazed. “I will not fight you.”
Shann got to her feet and stumbled off, heaving sobs wracking her diminutive frame. Let her go.
~
She was thin. Scrawny, some might say. Tall for her age, with long dark hair that ran down her back in waves. Pretty, in a severe kind of way. And with the heart of an utharan mammoth, according to her father.
The smaller children came running up to her. They pulled at her coat, her sleeves. “Keris. Look, it’s Keris. Keris will help us. Yes. Yes.” A little boy was pushed to the front. He was blond, podgy, with a gap in his front teeth. “A boy took Alerain’s spinner. Will you get it back for us? Keris will get it back. Will you? Please?”
She was dragged along to where a big-boned boy with close cropped, dark hair sat on the ground playing with the spinner. Behind him, the Dagmar tower rose above the manse like a finger pointed at the sky. “Give it back,” she ordered.
The boy looked her up and down and laughed unpleasantly. “And who will make me? You?” Keris stood her ground. The boy’s smile disappeared in an instant and he rose to his feet. “Why don’t you just try and take it off me?” She flew at him, pummelling him with her bony fists and kicking at him with her long legs. “Give…it…back.”
The boy staggered backwards, raising his arms protectively. His face creased up. “I’m telling my mother.” She watched his receding back. Then she picked up the discarded spinner.
The little children were cheering and jumping for joy. “She did it. Keris did it. Keris is our leader. Keris is our leader.”
Keris is our leader. The older Keris sat with the flying cloak covering her shoulders, keeping night watch, deep in the Fire Pits of Kharthrun. I never wanted that. But then someone had to be there to right wrongs, to protect the weak. Then as now, she was a prisoner of who and what she was.
The girl had returned to their makeshift camp later that evening. She sat on her own and turned away every time Keris looked at her. Shann needed to reach out to someone, but it was not going to be Keris, that much was clear. Boxx was preoccupied with his ministrations, and Alondo only drifted into consciousness for brief periods. So the girl was left to wrestle with her grief alone.
“Wh-what happened?” Alondo had asked with his eyes still closed.
Keris was stone faced. “The Kharthrun Serpent. It’s gone now.”
“Lyall?”
“We lost him. I’m sorry.”
Alondo’s head moved from side to side slowly. He pressed his eyes together. “Where’s Shann?”
“She’s fine.” It was a lie, but the truth was an added burden he didn’t need right now.
Boxx stood up on its hind legs and faced Keris. “Alondo Must Sleep. Alondo Must Heal.”
Keris nodded at the Chandara and stood up. “How long?”
“Alondo Must Heal,” it repeated.
Keris took the hint and left. She had not discounted the possibility that if the creature attacked again, they might be forced to try to move Alondo, despite Boxx’s protestations. Or they might have to abandon him altogether. These were decisions she would really rather not
have to make. I never wanted this.
She sat hunched in the flying cloak, burdens weighing on her shoulders like great black birds. Mists drifted over the flat ground. With an effort, she got to her feet and went to her pack. As soon as she opened it, she knew something was wrong. The small oil lamp she carried–it was gone. She rummaged around in the pack. There was no mistake. A wild thought occurred to her. She hurried over to the place where Shann slept. The blanket lay empty and discarded. The girl was gone. So were Lyall’s weapon and the pieces of her broken staff. Keris’ heart sank. You’ve gone after him. You brave, stupid girl.
~
Using the blades of her broken staff as pitons, Shann eased herself down the steep sides of the fissure. Her boots sought toe holds in the rock face. She regretted leaving Alondo, but right now, Boxx could do far more for him than she could. Besides, he would want me to do this. He would want me to save Lyall.
It was up to her. Keris was not going to do anything; in fact it probably suited her purpose to assume that Lyall was dead. That way, she could take charge by default. Not while I’m still alive.
How far this chasm went down, she did not know. The passage was curved slightly, so that light from the entrance above was gradually occluded. Soon, she found she was descending in a gathering crimson dusk. The thought of returning to the surface occurred to her briefly but she dismissed it just as quickly. He needs me.
Shann drove the diamond blades into any available crack or crevice. It was getting difficult to see. Her progress was slower now, as she made her way as much by touch as by sight. Her left side still grumbled from the injury sustained in the battle with the serpent. She gritted her teeth and ignored it. The volcanic heat was becoming oppressive, a steady updraft which washed past her like an exhalation. Beads of sweat began to roll down the side of her face and into her eyes. The odour of sulphur was becoming more persistent. She coughed once…twice. Her head was growing dizzy. Her left boot quested for a hold and found an irregularity. Her toe pressed home, and then slipped. Her sudden weight pulled one of her makeshift pitons free and she was falling backwards. Hot air rushed around and past her body. At last she struck solid ground and her tortured side gave one final angry cry of protest before everything went black.
Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms Page 25
