“Then perhaps you can acquire this knowledge also?” he suggested with raised eyebrows.
Rhuna walked out of the main building, leaving the representatives to continue their deliberations. She suddenly yearned for the warm sunshine and gentle breeze of the garden, and she walked directly towards Shandi seated in the shade of a tree. As she approached her young daughter, Rhuna saw that Mohandu had given her the carved and polished knuckle bones.
“Did Mohandu also show you how to play?” Rhuna asked as she sat down opposite Shandi. The girl nodded as she tossed one of the bones in the air and quickly swept another off the ground.
“You have to grab them in your hand before that one drops on the ground,” she explained happily. Rhuna watched a while, feeling the tension of the conversation inside the main building gently ebbing out of her.
“You try,” Shandi said, handing Rhuna the knuckle bones. Rhuna imitated Shandi’s actions, and soon found the mild challenge of speed and co-ordination to be an ideal distraction from the worrying situations surrounding her. She stopped herself from becoming too engrossed in the innocent diversion and returned the knuckle bones to Shandi.
As Rhuna placed the toy in front of Shandi, she noticed her young daughter’s eyes were focussed on a different time and place. She waited until Shandi appeared to return to the present, and her eyes focussed clearly on the knuckle bones in front of her.
“Simmon likes to play this game, too,” she chirped.
“Who is Simmon?” Rhuna asked, taken slightly aback by Shandi’s declaration.
“Lozira’s son,” she answered casually, taking the knuckle bones and resuming her game.
“Did you just see him in a vision?”
Shandi nodded, and then smiled as she successfully caught the bone she had tossed high into the air.
“I saw you playing with a girl, too,” Shandi said as she re-arranged the bones.
“You saw me?”
“When you were little,” Shandi added.
Rhuna remembered that the Time Dreamer in the Land at the Top of the World had told her Shandi could see into the past as well as the future.
Suddenly, a cool breeze swept across the vast yellow and green plains surrounding the inn, and Rhuna decided to go inside. She helped Shandi carry the bones, and as they entered the main building Rhuna sensed something in the air.
“I think it’s going to rain,” she announced to the others as she stepped into the main room.
“A strong wind is rising,” Aradin said, descending the stairs. “We should close the window shutters!”
“I will see to the goat,” Yarqi called as she ran outside.
As soon as Aradin and Yarqi had spoken, a gust of wind entered the room and thrashed Rhuna’s hair and clothes awry. A flurry of activity ensued as everyone dashed around the buildings of the inn to secure windows and doors ahead of a windstorm with rain. As Rhuna closed the windows of the upper level, she saw the gloom of the oncoming storm on the horizon.
Before long, everyone had re-assembled in the main room where the closed shutters kept most of the remaining daylight out.
“We need light,” Aradin said, and in that very moment a bright glow came from the doorway. Rhuna spun around in surprise and was even more startled when she saw Goram carrying several small glowing vessels, similar to the lamps she had seen in the land of Atlán.
“Are they…yes they are!” exclaimed Stillness of the Lake. “Pyramidal energy harnessing lamps!”
“These and similar devices were at the bottom of a pile of refuse in one of the outdoor storage huts,” Goram explained. “The Atlans who built the small pyramid obviously used these lamps as well.” He walked around the room, placing the lamps on some furniture and on the floor until the room was evenly lit.
“Ah, what a wonderful feeling!” Greeter of Friends said cheerfully. “So much clearer than firelight!”
“This indicates that the pyramid is now in good functioning order,” Damell commented.
“Just like in Atlán!” Stillness of the Lake added, delighted by the pleasant surprise of Atlan energy so far away from her home.
“The Pyramid is harnessing earth energies, transforming them into electro-magnetic waves which radiate outward,” Goram explained. “Lighting and other devices within range shall function adequately now.”
“Now that the pyramid is functioning, it is only a matter of time until the portal underneath it is also functional,” Greeter of Friends said in tone hopeful of a response from Goram.
“You are assisting in the construction of the portal, are you not, Keeper of Wisdom?” Protector of Remembrance asked Rhuna.
“Yes, but I don’t know when it will be finished,” she answered honestly.
Goram remained silent as he sat down next to Lozira.
“Is it a bad storm?” Shandi asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“We don’t know yet, Honey Cakes,” Aradin said as he moved Shandi onto his lap. The room fell silent as everyone instinctively huddled closer together around the comforting bright Atlan lamps. Rhuna looked around the room and noticed that the sandstone walls radiated warmth even in dim and gloomy conditions. She decided that sandstone was a preferable choice over the dense stone mainly used in Atlán which only radiated grey coldness on miserable days.
Suddenly, the window shutters began to rattle loudly, making Rhuna jump and causing Lozira to utter a stifled cry. For a brief moment, Rhuna thought that the Mages had created a deadly wave of force to topple the inn and everyone inside.
“Such fierce wind!” Greeter of Friends remarked.
“And look at the dust!” Yarqi commented, pointing to a misty cloud of yellowish dust that crept through the cracks of the shutters, windows and doorways.
“Strong winds are to be expected on these wide, open plains, near sandy wilderness,” Protector of Remembrance said.
As they sat still, listening to the howling and screeching wind outside, Rhuna thought of her mother, alone with only Goll and Panapu, in the dreaded Black City. She tried to imagine how the city could look even more sinister in a sandstorm such as this.
At long last the intense wind eased slightly and gave way to rain which pelted the inn’s shutters and doors like metal spikes. Shandi became restless as the relentless battering rain continued, and the Atlans decided to occupy themselves with meal preparations. Rhuna encouraged Shandi to assist them and thereby distract her from the formidable force of nature outside.
After a delicious meal of hot vegetable stew and dumplings, Rhuna began to feel relaxed and slightly drowsy. She reclined on some cushions and closed her eyes, aware of only the hypnotic repetition of the hammering rain outside. As her thoughts floated aimlessly, a wave of disorienting dizziness overcame her, and she tried to sit upright.
“What is it?” she heard Aradin say, as if through a long, deep tunnel.
Rhuna realized that she was experiencing another mental connection with the Dark Master, and despite her instinctive reaction to resist, she allowed the images and impressions to flood into her mind.
The first mental image showed confusing lines, symbols and squiggles on many sheets of parchment, and Rhuna experienced great frustration with them. Her thoughts were re-directed to a chart of planetary orbits and star constellations which hung on a wall inside a small room. Then the image began to spin, as if she herself were in the room and had turned around. Before her stood a long and narrow table with various vials, measuring instruments and small pouches containing mineral elements.
“Rhuna! What’s wrong?” Aradin’s urgent voice penetrated the vision and tore Rhuna out of its overpowering influence.
“Another vision of the Dark Master,” Rhuna answered as she slowly regained her composure and sat upright. She looked up and saw intense curiosity in the faces of the Atlan representatives.
“It was like the last vision,” Rhuna began, comparing the latest images with the previous experience. “Except this time I really felt that I was seeing what th
e Dark One sees, and feeling what he feels.”
“A mental bond, as we suspected,” Protector of Remembrance remarked.
“What was he doing?” Preserver of Faith asked with unsuppressed eagerness.
“He is still making calculations of some sort because he wants to see the future…I mean, our present time, but he isn’t succeeding and it’s making him very angry.”
“What kind of calculations?” Goram wanted to know.
“I think he’s trying various different things,” Rhuna answered, trying to remember the details of her images and accompanying thoughts and feelings. “Maybe making another time portal, or a way to summon visions using mineral compounds, like we use the coloured powders when summoning visions by means of the Gazing of the Waters.”
“He is attempting to advance the Atlan sciences,” Greeter of Friends surmised.
“I saw a chart of planets and stars which he is using to see the future,” Rhuna added.
“Yet he is still unsuccessful, and this angers him,” Damell concluded.
“He wishes to see the results of his actions,” Aradin suggested.
“Yes, this would be a logical assumption,” Protector of Remembrance agreed.
“It is very frustrating when you cannot see the result of your efforts,” grumbled Goram.
“A pertinent question,” Protector of Remembrance said as he raised a finger to signal attention. “Would the Dark One return to this present time, should he succeed in his attempts to construct a time portal?”
Rhuna thought for a moment.
“Yes, I think that’s what he would do, if he can’t summon visions of our time,” she answered.
“Ah, good,” the senior Atlan representative said as he leaned back again and contemplated the situation.
“It’s getting late and Shandi is tired,” Rhuna said after a while. She took Shandi’s hand as Aradin held the girl’s other hand, and together they ascended the wide stairs to the upper level.
“I hope the roof isn’t leaking,” Aradin said as they entered their sleeping chamber. The sound of the rain had become an incessant hum, and Shandi quickly fell asleep after Aradin pulled a blanket over her.
“She had a vision earlier, when we were playing in the garden,” Rhuna whispered as she slid under her blanket next to Aradin. “She saw Lozira’s son playing with the knuckle bones.”
“Her son?”
“Yes. His name is Simmon.”
Rhuna awoke the following morning sensing a freshness in the air outside, and rushed to the window to open the shutters. She breathed the clean air in deeply, then scanned the horizon where yellow plains had turned to green after the heavy rainfall.
The morning was filled with activity as shutters were opened and slimy mud was discovered on the terrace and paving stones around the inn. Rhuna worked alongside Aradin, Damell and Yarqi to remove the mud outside, and then sweep the fine layer of sandy dust inside. Afterwards, she admired the filled pond, and discovered a water irrigation channel that had been hidden under layers of sand. She cleared the canal with Mohandu and Yarqi until it was time to meet Goram in his small, upper level room.
Rhuna was startled to see various sheets of parchment strewn around on the floor in front of Goram. She was immediately reminded of the last two visions she had experienced of the Dark Master’s activities.
“What are these things?” she asked as she sat down on the only space that wasn’t covered in parchment and other instruments.
“My calculations for the special time portal chamber underneath the pyramid,” Goram answered. “It is also part of the knowledge I must transfer to you today,” he added.
“It looks so much like what I saw in the vision I had yesterday,” Rhuna remarked, looking more closely at the signs and symbols on the parchment sheet next to her.
“That is what I expected,” Goram grunted. “Yet perhaps my calculations are more advanced than his,” he added forcefully.
“Why do you think that?” Rhuna asked, fearing that Goram’s ego was clouding his judgement.
“He has not succeeded in returning to the present time,” Goram answered glibly, and then moved some of the sheets and calculating instruments so that he could sit facing Rhuna directly.
“This formula is for the amount of crystal that must be contained in a stone for it to channel a certain amount of earth, lunar and cosmic energy currents,” Goram explained, showing Rhuna the squiggles on the parchment.
“Is it writing? I can’t read it,” she responded.
“No. They are symbols and numbers that I invented,” Goram answered.
“This sheet contains the diagrams and calculations for certain star and planetary alignments,” Goram continued, pointing to another piece of parchment.
Rhuna looked at the lines and curves which intersected dots of various sizes. Goram had marked some of the dots in reddish ink and written symbols next to others.
“What is the purpose of these calculations?” Rhuna asked.
“It is to determine the correlation between planetary alignment and constellation correlates and past time periods,” Goram answered.
Rhuna thought for a moment.
“You mean you have to wait for a certain day until the planets or stars are in the right place to go to a specific period in the past?”
“Correct,” Goram grinned.
“When is the right time to step into the same past time period as the Dark Master?” Rhuna asked, suddenly thrilled by this exciting revelation.
“In fourteen days,” Goram answered. “We have time to continue transforming more stone blocks together, and then I shall construct a trap to prevent others from following me.”
“What kind of trap?”
“A stone slab shall fall down to block the entrance to the time portal once I have stepped on the last paving stone,” Goram answered as he reached for another sheet of parchment. Rhuna looked at the lines he had drawn on it in black and red inks. She noted the exactness of the diagram and accurate details of each stone’s dimensions.
“Exact measurements are essential, from the very small to the largest,” Goram said, guessing Rhuna’s thoughts. “And here, in these narrow channels between and under the stone blocks, fine sand shall pass through, allowing the block above to fall and act as a permanent barrier.”
“Oh,” Rhuna said feebly as she understood Goram’s design to stop anyone else entering the time portal after him.
“Did the Representatives ask you whether you could construct a time portal such as this?” Goram asked, his piercing green eyes looking sharply at Rhuna.
“Ah…how did you know?” Rhuna said hesitantly.
“I am not stupid! I know their reasoning,” he grunted, and then gathered a few parchment sheets in his lap.
“This is the knowledge I am transferring to you today,” Goram began, pointing to a diagram of a pyramid on the top sheet. “Namely the many other functions of the pyramids when they are constructed with certain features or positioned on particular energy current confluences.”
Rhuna listened carefully and repeated the key phrases, then summarized the information conveyed to her by Goram. She also studied the diagrams as she began to understand the meaning of the many lines, signs and symbols.
“After you have memorized the knowledge outlined on these sheets,” Goram said sternly, “…you must destroy them.”
“Destroy them?”
“Burn them. Remember, this knowledge is exclusive to the Keeper of the Great Secrets. When I depart for the past time period, you shall be that Keeper,” Goram reminded her.
“But…maybe there’s a way for you to come back to this time,” she suggested. “The Dark Master is already working out how to do it, so maybe…”
Goram turned aside and reached for a yellow-stained parchment.
“This is a sheet from his calculations,” Goram said, holding it out for Rhuna to see.
“What? Where did you get it?”
“It is the copy Gol
l made when he was in the Black City with you,” Goram answered. “When he showed it to me, I immediately recognized the Dark One’s symbol.”
“His symbol?”
“This,” Goram said, pointing to a small symbol in the lower left-hand corner. Rhuna looked closely and recognized the sign of a circle around a star, and two crescent moons on each side.
“It’s the same symbol as on one side of the Medium of Exchange!” Rhuna remarked with surprise.
“Of course,” Goram responded glibly. “He used this symbol already in Safu, when I was his apprentice.”
“His…apprentice?” Rhuna echoed, then remembered her experiences in the land of the Pyramids. “Yes, you were the leader of the Dark Master’s followers in Safu,” she stated. “You mean he taught you directly somehow?”
“More or less,” Goram said dismissively, and then pointed to an area of strange squiggles on Goll’s copy from the Black City. “This here is part of the calculation for the future planetary alignments. And these are mine.” Goram picked up one of the sheets he had shown Rhuna earlier and pointed to the bottom left-hand corner.
Rhuna looked closely at the symbol of several triangles within a circle.
“Once I encrypted the Dark Master’s symbolism, I proceeded to invent my own,” he said proudly as his hand made a sweeping gesture across his own parchment sheets.
Rhuna looked up at him and tried to search for his true inner self through his enigmatic green eyes.
“It sounds as if you plan to take over the Dark Master’s place, just like the Representatives said!”
“What of it?” Goram challenged.
“What of it? What of it? I thought you resolved within yourself not to pursue the Dark Master’s ways when you chose Lozira as a wife! And we all accepted you as a friend and family member, believing you had chosen to use your powers for good purposes!”
“It continues to be so! ” Goram insisted. “Great power is neither good nor bad, as the Atlan representatives so astutely observed. It is the purpose and motive for which the power is utilized.”
“And you think you’re using your powers for good purposes?”
“Of course!”
Rhuna- Black City Page 24