by Drew Wagar
CHAPTER EIGHT
Amaris, Capital of Amar
Round 2307, Third pass
The lethargic administration still took precious chimes to stir, and Coran had to lose his temper more than once to get them moving. Runners were dispatched with messages, riders on hergs were sent out towards the other townships and villages around the island. The warning was stark and the instructions terse; secure water and food, take shelter in stone buildings or caves and carry with you whatever essentials you could save, avoid the ‘blue light’ of Lacaille and wait until the firestorm passes before venturing out.
The crew of the Mobilis were much in demand explaining their warning again and again to the various authorities within the city, overseeing the preparations, giving advice, whilst all the while watching the darkness grow upon the face of Lacaille.
‘Get the streets swept clean, anything that can burn must be cleared or moved underground wherever possible,’ Coran instructed. ‘Zoella, Mel, Ren, you help me organise emergency housing for the citizens in the shadeward side of the city, we can use the city itself as a shield against the heat.’
Mel nodded. Zoella pulled Ren alongside her.
‘You can help me,’ she said.
‘Meru, Fitch, Daf and Creg, get yourself down to the harbour,’ Coran said, gesturing towards the docks. ‘Strip all the ships of their sails, splash their decks with water and fill their bilges as high as you can without sinking them. Let’s hope we can keep them cool enough to stop them catching fire.’
The crew dispersed. Meru paused for a moment.
‘Zoella …’
Zoella looked at him, pursed her lips and shook her head. She turned away.
‘Come on boy.’ Fitch yelled. ‘Work to be done.’ Meru sighed and left.
‘I know he’s hurt you,’ Mel said to Zoella. ‘But don’t leave it too long to fix things up.’
‘I don’t want anything to do with him,’ Zoella replied, her voice hard. She snatched up some packing crates and started hefting them. ‘Ren, give me a hand with this.’
‘Zoella …’
‘No,’ Zoella snapped, glaring at Mel. ‘He’s made his decision, and I don’t want to talk about it. We’ve got work to do.’
She gestured upwards. Above them, growing like a canker across the face of Lacaille, the dark spots grew, their ominous presence expanding each and every spell of the chime.
Coran set them to work, each organising an aspect of sorting out the chaos around them. Hundreds of folks were being crammed into the administrative buildings and more were flooding in from the surrounding countryside. They worked, chime after chime and still more came.
‘So many people,’ Mel said, ‘And little enough space for them all.’
Zoella nodded, looking at the crowds of people still thronging the streets below. They were carrying packages, baskets of food, barrels of water. All the provisions were being carried inside.
She could see Coran talking with the senators, issuing instructions. She recognised Henoch, Meru’s father. She could see the family likeness, though Henoch was grey haired and perhaps a little taller.
‘You’re Zoella, aren’t you? The girl from across the sea?’
Zoella looked around at the voice that had come from behind her. She caught sight of a woman, dark haired, through it was also streaked with grey. Her eyes were brown, almost familiar.
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ the woman said, already looking apologetic.
‘Yes, I’m Zoella,’ Zoella replied.
‘My name is Hannah,’ the woman said. ‘I’m … I’m Meru’s mother.’
‘Oh …’
‘I wanted to ask you something,’ Hannah began.
‘We’re quite busy,’ Zoella said, looking at the provisions being stacked and moved around her.
‘It won’t take long,’ Hannah said.
‘I can do work,’ Ren said, grabbing a box. ‘You go.’
Zoella sighed. ‘Just for a spell then,’ she replied.
Zoella followed Hannah outside and away from the crowds that were pushing through the streets.
‘You’re his friend,’ Hannah said, as they reached one of the piazzas that served as crossroads through the city. In the centre there was a fountain, surrounded by benches and trees.
‘No, not really,’ Zoella said.
Hannah frowned, gesturing to one of the benches. They sat down. ‘I thought …?’
‘We’re not exactly on speaking terms right now,’ Zoella said. ‘Not after …’
‘He lied to you too didn’t he?’ Hannah said. ‘I’m sorry, I guess we’re somewhat responsible for that.’
‘His lies are his own,’ Zoella said. ‘He needs to take responsibility for them.’
‘We forced him out you see,’ Hannah said. ‘My husband wanted him to join the senate as a scribe, but there was too much wanderlust in the boy. I knew, but I didn’t do anything. I should have. They were always arguing. I didn’t know what to do. Then Meru ran away. I thought he’d died, that we’d never see him again …’
‘He was heartless to do that to you.’
‘Perhaps, but we weren’t looking out for him either. Trying to force him into something he didn’t want to do. It was the biggest mistake. I’m just glad he’s back now.’
Hannah paused, looking up at the mottled disk of Lacaille before turning back to Zoella.
‘I saw him with you and the others,’ Hannah continued. ‘He looked happy, as if he was doing what he was supposed to do. I’m sorry, I assumed you were friends, he spoke so highly of you …’
‘We were,’ Zoella looked away, tears springing into her eyes. She blinked, wiping them away. ‘Why, what did he say?’
‘That you had saved his life, that you were the kindest and bravest woman he’d ever met.’
Zoella looked around in surprise.
‘He said that?’
Hannah nodded. ‘I wanted to meet you, I thought that you two were… well, I’m sorry to have wasted your time.’
Hannah got up to leave.
‘Wait,’ Zoella said, holding out a hand and grabbing the other woman’s arm. ‘What were you going to ask me?’
Hannah settled back down on the bench.
‘I only wanted to know if he was content in whatever he was doing. He was so miserable here, so down. With you, all of you, he seemed alive again, I haven’t seen him like that for rounds. I wanted to hear what he was like.’
‘He is happy,’ Zoella said after a moment’s thought. ‘He loves the adventure. I am grateful to him. He is brave and so very inquisitive. He rescued me too, without him I would have been captured by the priestesses, but …’
Zoella’s voice tailed off.
‘You said he lied to you,’ Hannah prompted.
‘After he rescued me he was captured by one of the priestesses,’ Zoella said. ‘That same girl killed my king, my prince and my loyal carn in front of my eyes.’
‘She sounds terrifying.’
Zoella looked at Hannah. ‘She is. Vicious and evil.’
‘What happened? What does she have to do with Meru?’
‘I don’t know,’ Zoella said. ‘But something happened between them. Something …’
Zoella felt the nausea rise in her again. Hannah could see the distasteful look on her face.
‘This girl and Meru …?’
Zoella nodded.
Hannah thought about it for a moment.
‘Misplaced affections are the hardest to steer,’ she said, after a moment. ‘He’s lucky that he still has a friend like you that cares about him.’
Zoella couldn’t answer.
‘A mother would always say this I suppose,’ Hannah said. ‘But I know he doesn’t mean to lie and deceive, he has a good heart under it all.’
Zoella got to her feet. ‘Maybe he has and maybe he hasn’t,’ she said. ‘But he’s done something I can’t forgive, not now, not ever. I’m sorry, he and I … we aren’t friends, not any more.’
Fresh te
ars were brimming at her eyes but she brushed them aside.
‘Zoella …’ Hannah reached towards her.
Zoella got to her feet, avoiding the older woman’s reach.
‘There’s work to be done, time is running out.’
She walked away.
Ren waved at her as she returned, and she stepped into line behind all the others who were helping load provisions inside the buildings.
‘All right?’ Ren asked.
‘I’ll be fine,’ she answered.
‘Keep at it,’ Coran called from nearby. ‘We’ll be ready in a stretch at this rate.’
‘We can cram it all in,’ Zoella answered. ‘We just need …’
High above, the light of Lacaille began to flicker.
Zoella looked up in horror. She heard the people about her moan and start pointing upwards. The fear around her was palpable.
Too soon! Lacaille hasn’t gone black yet, this isn’t how it happened before – we should still have plenty of time.
Yet, even as she watched a tinge of blue was souring the light above her.
‘We’re out of time,’ Zoella wailed, looking out from the doorway of the administrative buildings. ‘It’s upon us. Everyone inside now!’
Beyond the city streets in the distant sunward they could see the horizon was darkening. A mist was growing there too, a wall of cloud that was rising from the Straithian Sea far away. It was billowing, forming faster and faster, like a thundercloud, but at ground level, sweeping in across the sea.
Heat!
‘Ring the bells,’ Coran yelled. Janaid called out the directions and the bells began to ring outwards from the city centre, more and more joining in a sonorous toll, alerting all to seek shelter.
Below, across the city, they could see crowds of people trying to make their way inside buildings, the cries of tumult reached their ears. Panic and terror, the screams of the frightened; both adult and child.
Zoella gasped in horror.
Too soon, it’s not supposed to happen so fast. We’re not going to save everyone … those down in the harbour!
Her heart lurched. There was a crush of people at the gates of the city, the way back from the harbour was blocked by a milling throng.
‘Coran!’ she called. ‘Meru and the others … they’re still down there!’
Meru heard the bells as he was standing on one of the quays, helping to wrestle a sail down from one of the fishing vessels moored there. He looked back at the city and then up at Lacaille. A flickering blueness was writhing around the edge of the huge disk of light in the sky. Already they could see the Alisse cascading in the sky.
‘Oh no.’
Daf, Creg and Fitch were with him, as were the crew of the hapless fishing vessel.
‘We’ve got to go,’ he yelled. ‘The firestorm is coming now. It’s early.’
Already folks were deserting the quay and running back towards the city. The bells grew louder as more and more of them took up the warning.
The light was fading and the sky taking on a blueish tinge.
‘Everyone run,’ Meru yelled. ‘Seek cover.’
Daf, Creg and Fitch leapt from the sailing ship, helping the crew off and then they all raced up the quay, their feet pounding on the wooden planks until they reached the stonework of the harbour. Dozens of people were all around them, pushing and jostling to get back into the city.
Meru skidded to a halt and looked behind them.
The dark stains on Lacaille now covered perhaps two thirds of its surface, their edges tinged with red fire, strange curling arcs could be seen jutting out, reaching into the sky, their extremities blue and otherworldly.
‘We ain’t getting in this way,’ Fitch said.
Meru looked back at the city.
‘No way we’ll ever get inside in time,’ Meru agreed, looking at the crowd of people before him. A strange hissing sound reached his ears and he spun about looking for the source of it.
The sky on the sunward horizon was now a dark arc, foreboding and grim, creeping higher in the sky. Before it a mist, or something like it, was rolling in across the sea. It would reach the land in moments.
‘What in Lacaille is that?’ Meru whispered.
‘Nothing good,’ Fitch said. ‘We’ve got to get under cover, otherwise we’re gonna get cooked outside.’
The crowd of people were going nowhere.
‘This way,’ Meru called, signalling to Daf, Creg and Fitch.
He ran back down towards the quays.
‘Where in blazes?’ Fitch asked.
‘To the Mobilis,’ Meru answered. ‘We’ll have to take shelter there. It’s metal …’
They ran as fast they could down to the quay where the Mobilis was moored. Daf and Creg jumped aboard, wrestling with the forward deck hatch, spinning the locking wheel housing open. The hatch swung back with a thump. Meru pushed Fitch before him and he dropped inside.
‘Get to the starboard cabins,’ he yelled. ‘Shaderight side of the ship.’
Others from amongst the fishermen they had helped followed them, seeing that the crowd of people trying to get out of the harbour was in vain. Meru beckoned them over and one by one they began clambering inside the Mobilis.
‘Get in too.’ He motioned to Daf and Creg. ‘Nothing more you can do out here.’
More and more people were jumping on to the ship. Below, through the hatch, Meru could see Daf, Creg and Fitch manhandling people out of the way of the ladder that led down from the hatch.
‘Keep moving. Fast as you can!’
The light was fading, a deep gloom settling across the city. The sky was going dark, fading from a bright azure to a deep violet, tinged with blue and green strings of light. It was still awe-inspiring to Meru as he gazed up at the spectacle. For those around him and further on up into the city it was terrifying. He could hear screams of fear. People were panicking.
There was a crush of people around him now, forcing their way forward, trying to get aboard the Mobilis.
How many can we get aboard? Not enough …
The buildings on the far point of the island were covered in the mist. Then screams reached his ears. He watched as the mist rolled towards the crowds. As it hit them there were more screams and people flailed around before being hidden from view.
‘It’s not mist …’ he muttered. ‘It’s steam.’
It was rolling up the quayside now. More people screamed as it touched them, some throwing themselves into the water as it approached. There was a crush around the hatch.
Meru was almost pushed aside, but a big hand grasped him and pulled him back.
Daf!
The big man tossed Meru down through the hatch. Meru hit the interior deck with a thump that knocked the wind out of him. Above, Daf retreated in, trying to close the hatch behind him. Dozens of hands were grasped around the edges trying to pull it back open. Screams filled the air about them.
Meru saw a whiteness grow above the hatch. The light faded. Screams of fear turned to yells of pain and agony. The hands around the hatch vanished. A blast of steam forced its way inside. Daf yelled and yanked at the hatch, it closed with a resounding clang. He spun the locking mechanism before falling from the ladder and landing with a thump on the deck plating below, yelling in pain.
He held up his hands in shock and surprise. They were red, raw and blistered.
‘Let me fix that,’ Fitch said. ‘We need water, cold water.’
A loud hissing sound echoed around the ship. They heard the metal of the ship creak and groan, vibrations tinkling and popping up and down the hull.
‘It’s outside,’ Meru whispered. ‘If it gets in we’ll boil alive.’
One of the glass portholes on the port side cracked.
Zoella couldn’t just see and hear the panic, she could feel it too. It was a stampede, a rout. There were still hundreds trying to get into the city from the harbour and the streets were full of running people.
No …
Above,
Lacaille was fading fast, the great black blotches beginning to coalesce, the cracks between them churning with an angry fire. Already she could feel the heat, she knew what was coming next.
All these people …
The strange mist had reached the edge of the harbour. Zoella jolted from the sudden feelings she sensed.
Pain!
She tried to see what was happening. Those at the back of the crush of people were fleeing in random directions. Zoella saw the mist overtake some of them and saw them reeling, flailing about for a brief moment before falling to the ground.
Burning … the others, the others are down there! Meru.
She watched as the mist enveloped the harbour, sweeping in across the ships and obscuring them. Screams erupted from the city below as first the harbour area and then the walls were obscured.
But they were mercifully short.
‘Zoella move!’
Coran grabbed her, pulling her back from the doorway of the building and wrestling her inside. She pulled Ren along with her. People pushed and shoved around her as they continued to cram inside the building. She heard Coran yell instructions to close the doors as she fell to the floor.
She could sense the fear and pain all about her, a counterpoint to the agony in her heart. Doors closed with thumps nearby, the interior lit only by candles.
People were shouting and jostling, calling out the names of family and friends, trying to find each other in the dim lighting.
‘Meru? Where is Meru?’
Zoella saw Hannah being pushed back through the crowd, losing her footing. Zoella forced her way over, grabbing at the woman’s arm and pulling her up. Hannah struggled against her.
‘It’s me, I’m here.’
Hannah recognised her.
‘Zoella. Where is he? Where is Meru?’
‘He was down in the harbour,’ Zoella cried. ‘The flare came too soon …’
‘We’ve got to find him.’ Hannah began moving towards the doors, Zoella trying to hold her back.
‘You can’t go out there,’ Coran yelled, somehow managing to stand before them. ‘The flare will kill anyone outside.’
As if to underline his words, screams rent the air from outside the door, flames flickered and the scent of smoke was upon the air.