by Aaron D. Key
“How serious do you think it is really? Do you think I should sleep with someone just in case and get myself with child? It could be my last opportunity.”
“You have a few months before the power will have any effect on your ability to have children,” I said seriously. “I would wait and see if I die first. It would be more pleasurable to have the children of someone you love, someone who would love them, don’t you think?”
“Do you mind, Damon Ich, that you will never have any children of your own?” Now she was being serious. The power was known to produce both a reduction in desire and a lack of fertility. I had always assumed this was to limit the number of power holders in one place, a sensible arrangement.
“I have been too busy even to have considered the matter, but I don’t think I really do mind. Rael was telling me about his wife, and I could see them happy together but without ever being able to imagine myself in the same position. I think that I am destined to grow old alone, and even that does not disturb me. I will just continue to keep myself busy.”
Ann grimaced. “That seems very sad, but you are still reasonably young.” It annoyed her that I was two years younger than her, at least in terms of the years we had spent in Herron.
“I think we should concentrate on Rael before we allow any neglect to endanger our own existence.”
She accepted my change of subject with no comment and good humouredly said, “Take me to where you left him in Herron so I will know how to find him.”
I took us to the same time and spot I had visited that morning. Rael was still sleeping, this time on his front. I turned him over.
“Damon Ich, he is so much like you!” Ann exclaimed.
I saw similarities but I no longer felt as though I was looking at my own sleeping form.
“So you will feed him for the rest of the month? Don’t forget clothes,” I said, looking at his spartan swimwear. “And then show him where the power awaited him. Do you remember that gorge where the river runs? We used to play there as children. You need to get him there, a month after he arrives here.”
“But I don’t understand, Damon Ich. We explored this gorge a hundred times when we were younger and found no power in it.” Ann frowned.
“Rael hid the entrance in our time so that the only way it can be reached is by a person already blessed with power. Only they can travel back in time to the place that he found. I’ll take you there.”
The scene around us changed. Now the air throbbed with power and a red light tried to penetrate our eyeballs. The naked, untainted power was frightening.
“Is this what he found? I’m surprised he went anywhere near it,” Ann said. She sounded scared.
“You will have to tempt him,” I laughed.
“Do I take this power?” she asked holding out a shaking hand.
“I wouldn’t.” I shook my head. “This power is unadulterated. Wild! Able to kill. Take the power from me, the tamed version that Rael passed down to his ancestors.”
I took her hand, away from the red light, and held it close to me. Power passed and her skin glowed like a shell held up to sunlight. It felt like a blessing passing from me to her, although I suspected she didn’t appreciate it as such. Still, she smiled and said, “You can trust me, Damon Ich. It is my future as much as yours at stake.”
I smiled. “I know I can. If you were destined to fail in your task, the universe would have rewarded me with a stinking headache to warn me time was not going to plan. And I am headache free.”
“Can we go and see him now?” Ann asked. She was excited, as I had been on first realising who Rael was, before his condition had filled me full of pity instead of awe.
The glowing light faded and instead the cool stone and shade of my room surrounded us. Rael sat in the window seat, smartly dressed in his newly restored uniform. He put down the book he had been reading. He looked solemn but resigned. I realised that he was reading the diary of my predecessor, which was odd. If he had wanted knowledge, and now I knew that this was the point of returning to my room on his own, I would have expected him to have looked into his own diaries. I had never looked into these more recent diaries myself, in spite of knowing Rael’s very well. I never really had the time or the inclination to read details of things I thought I remembered from my childhood, but I made a vow to look at them in more detail once I had returned from the desert.
“You must be Damon Ich’s adopted sister?” Rael said as if uncertain.
Ann stayed unusually silent and smiling.
“This is my sister, Ann,” I confirmed. “She has your power now, as I am getting ready to leave.”
“Yes, I think I can see that,” Rael replied. “Although this journey seems full of risk, I’m convinced that this will be one of the most important things you do. It is good to see you prepare yourself for it so quickly. I almost wish that I could come with you, but I know that can’t happen.”
“You seem to have recovered well from your ordeal last night. I hope you feel better?” Ann said.
“I feel very well, considering what I remember of that experience. I think I have Damon Ich’s help to thank for that.”
“Are you preparing to return to your life?” I asked tentatively. “Or is it just that you feel happier in those clothes?”
“Although I am dawdling and reluctant,” Rael said slowly, “I do think it is time I returned to my real life now. I have given you the message I was supposed to. If I left it any longer it would be almost impossible to persuade myself to leave. I feel content here. I should thank you, both of you, for all your help.”
I could almost imagine that he knew what we had planned earlier. Knowing his ability to read my mind, it was possible he really did.
This was a solemn moment that had come upon me quicker than I had imagined. We would probably never meet again. Perhaps I would understand more of Rael’s diaries if I read them again, but the man himself would only ever be one more figure from history.
“Goodbye, Damon Ich.” Rael rose and gave me a surprisingly warm hug. I felt its warmth like the comfort of childhood: protection, safety, and love.
“I am sorry, Damon Ich. I believe that I know why I acted as I did, that I had no choice. I hope all will become clear to you, one day, and you will forgive me.”
I had a feeling that if I understood this I would be more nervous about what was to come. I tried to remember the words so that I could think about them after I returned from the desert.
“Goodbye, to you both. Will you take me back now? I’m sure that is easy for you to do. I am proud of my ancestors.”
I knew where he had to go to. He held out his hand and his form began to shimmer and fade. When he had gone completely, Ann turned to me with a look of exasperation.
“What is going on? Why is it always you that the good-looking men want to hug? Why not me? You’re not that attractive!”
“You just said I looked like him. Make your mind up.” I could not help commenting on her lack of logic. “Unfortunately, I think in this case it was nothing to do with looks but something to do with what he was apologising for. It probably isn’t good news.” I sighed.
“He does look like you superficially,” Ann said as if analysing it carefully, “but he’s really attractive, and you’re … just you. He’s been reading your mind continually. That’s why he was so thoughtful, I think, having seen your activities this morning. There was something else on his mind as well. He was hiding it well.”
“Something he read in the diary,” I agreed. I had noticed it too. On that subject he had been remarkably evasive. For a powerless man with no experience, he had grown particularly adept in training his mind.
“I’m definitely reading the diary when I return,” I determined, wondering whether I was foolish to leave it that long. Still, I was sure that I had to leave soon before fear got the better of me.
&nbs
p; “I travelled over the desert last night,” I said. “I ought to start from Rael’s Hill to give it the best chance of working again.”
“You’d better get ready. I’ll go and check there’s nothing for which we need your advice.” Ann disappeared, leaving me with no excuses to avoid packing.
Solemnly, I began to pack clothes and procured some food from the kitchens. I didn’t know how long I would be away; whether I could transport easily over the desert or would have to rely on my own legs. I didn’t want to be underprepared. I had always believed and never tested that it was impossible to use power to travel over the desert. I had never needed to. But this was exactly what I had done last night. I had brought Rael from the other side of the desert to Herron and only my ignorance meant I hadn’t even queried this feat or faltered. It would definitely speed up my journey if I could do it again.
It felt like I had lived a week in one day, so much had happened, but it was still just after lunchtime. Pensively I was eating my last good meal in the Great Hall as Ann came in.
“We don’t need you for anything, I’ve checked,” she said in a cheerful tone. “Don’t take it personally. Are you ready?”
I nodded in reply.
“I’ll go with you to the hill,” she suggested.
* * *
We neared Rael’s Hill and the blood berry trees bowed towards me as if inviting me in. They seemed pleased to embrace me in their circle.
Ann held my hand as we passed through the barrier of the trees so we would end up in the same place.
“Hopefully I won’t be gone long,” I reassured her as I stalled for a moment. “I’m not sure how to get to the right place,” I admitted. “I’ve never knowingly been to the other side of the desert. I do not know what to ask for.”
I considered. Usually when I came here I was working and I let the universe decide where to send me. It had never let me down yet. Sometimes I had to acquire something that was not available on our world and it was sufficient to ask for the thing. The universe knew where to take me to find the thing I wanted. This gave me an idea.
“I will ask for Aeth’s murderer,” I resolved and gave her a hug. “Stay safe.”
“And you. I have full confidence in you, Damon Ich. Don’t forget you have to return for the sake of my unborn children.”
“I’ll remember,” I promised. “When faced with deadly peril, this will be my first thought.”
“I’m relying on you,” she answered, too brightly to hide her fears.
The hill and Ann faded from my sight.
* * *
I was expecting a return to the darkness in which I had found Rael. It was a surprise to find myself on a stone path underneath a sickly sun, surrounded by a plain of rock and barren soil. I guessed that this was the desert. It was an eerie place. From what I remembered of childhood tales, the path was the only safe way to cross the desert. It was protected, ancient. On the path there was neither heat nor cold, neither light nor dark. Each side of me the desert rock lay distorted, like an image refracted through a glass bowl.
I wondered where Aeth’s murderer was to be found in this expanse. I wondered even if the power had got it wrong and whether the tales of the desert’s disturbing influence had not been exaggerated.
Then I turned around and I saw it.
It was a tower almost identical to the one in Herron except that this one was shorter – or built in a dip, I couldn’t decide. There was someone waiting there. I wasn’t sure it was Aeth’s murderer but it was definitely a person the power thought I was destined to meet. I got the impression of someone who had been holed up in an ivory tower as I had been for years and I had a sudden realisation that I was just a puppet. I had not really made a decision by myself for years. I relied upon the power to tell me what was best to do. I had always imagined that the power had my best interests at heart and I trusted it. I was beginning to wonder whether I had been a fool.
I stared across the glowing rock. A light was shining from the tower, like an eye or a welcome. If I could be sure of the power, I would know I had to go in. If I was sure of Rael, I would know I had to carry on. Still, I was indecisive, having to make up my own mind for the first time. As I sat there, someone else sat by the light and contemplated me. That I was sure of and I was careful to give nothing away: no signs of fear, no uncertainty. The tower called to me like home. I had always believed the world of Herron was mine. It was disturbing to comprehend that I was not the only one with power. Although I did not understand myself, I felt that I had no choice in the matter; that what lay in the tower was not to be denied: some sort of enchantment that intrigued me and controlled me.
So for a while I made no choice but sat and rested. I watched the dust blowing over the desert rock, like the windings of a thousand snakes, and I thought I felt the occupier of the tower laugh at my inactivity.
That, although I did not admit it, made the decision for me. I jumped up and stood on the edge of the path like a man faced with a dive into a river gorge. Stepping through the deviation of light and onto the desert rock, I felt the protecting influence of the path pass through me, a shudder of lust, and it was warm. There were noises outside the path: a howling endless rustle of wind amongst dust and rocks.
I travelled towards the tower always downward. The ground beneath me changed from a solid rock to unstable scree. The tower was still in the distance, though slightly larger now. Although the path was safe and part of the power that surrounded Herron, I began to believe that walking in its cover was like growing up in the arms of an over-protective parent: unreal and unfitting for the possibilities that lay ahead.
So I walked in the real world; a world that would shape and harden me instead of smothering me. Still, I walked, and I kept my eyes on the ground in stubborn refusal to acknowledge the power that made the tower recede as my hopes of reaching it grew stronger. With a cry of surprise I fell as I stepped onto what seemed to be level ground but was actually the first rim of a deep crater valley. I rolled over jagged rocks with a cacophony of images and came to rest at last against a rock smooth like the polished surface of a well-loved statue. I looked up. The tower loomed above me, as the tower of Herron had never done. The tower was not greater but I smaller. In Herron I felt wanted, needed, and the very land depended upon me for its security. Here I was nothing. A comforting thought, to one weary of responsibility.
I began to climb around the troubled rock, easing my feet in and out of clefts for fear of breaking bones. The entrance was not hospitable, as though there had been many years since it had known a caring hand. I wondered what I would find inside.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Tower
There was a lowly wooden arched door set in the blocked-out frame of a stone arch, just like the one in Herron. It was shut. I pushed against the sand-worn surface of the door and stared for a while into the darkness that lay behind. Here the resemblance to Herron ended.
If I had not seen the light, I would have said that the place had been deserted for years. A remnant of power from long-lost history left to darkness, to the desert, and to bats. The floor was deep in their filth like a soft carpet and I could hear their silence, as if they waited for an excuse to panic in a crowd, to beat their febrile wings against me in an echo of my beating heart.
I stepped with caution towards the open stairs that curled up the walls of the tower in a long, sweeping spiral. Each footstep fell deep and sticky into bat dung until it seemed that it was in a dream I walked. I began to climb stairs, which seemed endless. I looked down into the darkness; the ground floor appeared just a little way beneath me as the scale of the tower belittled other distances.
Above, I could see the rafters of the first floor and beneath them hung a darkness I knew was alive. The smoothness of the steps was more dangerous now and I walked carefully, thinking of Ann’s anger if I died falling down stairs. What sort of person, I th
ought, could live here? Did it mean that they never left the security of the tower heights?
Ten more steps. I climbed each one leaning against the stone wall for security. I eased my feet down into the sludge and found a new balance before taking another step. Behind me, the staircase now looked deep: too deep to fall down and to survive. Before me, was a door. My heartbeat sounded loud and someone knew I waited there, behind the door.
Another step and my foot skidded backwards. The sound of my fall was an explosion of sound. It was not just the sound of my impact on the stone but of a thousand bats awaking suddenly. I grabbed at a projecting stone to stop my fall and crouched, covering my head, secure in a ditch of bat filth as the rush grew around me like a wild wind in the greatest storm I had ever seen. I listened with remoteness and disbelief as their wings beat the air above me and against me as if I were another stone to polish.
Their squalling began to subside. It was no longer alarm but the pleasure of being part of a crowd that propelled them. Soon the crowd was calling to those still sweeping in the air to re-join the quiet darkness, and gradually they did. I looked up again.
Just then the door opened and a burst of unnatural light shone through. I could not see any details of the figure in the light but it appeared to be a tall man dressed in black. Instantly I was sure this was not the person who had laughed at my indecision on the desert path.
“Well,” his lazy voice reached me. “Are you going to join us or are you determined to keep the bats exercised?”
I stood up carefully and began to walk towards him with less caution than I had shown when I had been alone.
He stepped to one side as I passed through the door.
“Thank you,” I said in a curt voice. He shut the door and I looked around the octagonal room. It was very like my own but half of it was hidden behind a wall covered in patterned hangings. The four window bays that I could see looked out onto an expanse of grey that was pleasantly calming. A thick carpet covered the floor. There were comfortable seats, cushions, and two cats that stared at me with disinterest and a little disgust. No one else that I could see and that surprised me.