by Pedro Urvi
“Why not hide in some simple house? Among the third caste, the Commons?”
She shook her head. “Because that is exactly where they are looking for us.”
“But there,” he said, indicating the place of prayer and shaking his head, “it is too risky.”
“The best-kept secrets are those which are open to view.”
“Now you speak like Aruma….”
She smiled. “I will take that as a compliment.”
The boat reached the temple landing, and the two slaves secured it without a word. Ariadne leapt down and gestured to Adamis to hurry. The Prince did all he could to go faster, holding back the pain his body was punishing him with. Ariadne reached the doors of the temple and gently pushed them open. He was not surprised: the temples were never closed, since the priests’ duty was to look after the wellbeing of all the Golden, day and night, for all eternity, until the day they reached immortality. After a creak, a threatening twilight welcomed them.
“Come,” she said, and went in.
He glanced back over his shoulder and saw the two slaves continuing on their way down the canal. A moment later they disappeared into the shadows of the night, as silently as they had appeared. He faced the open door and went in. Everything was in darkness. A sepulchral silence filled the hall. There was no trace of Ariadne. He decided to use his Power to find her. He let a thread of his essence run through the spherical room in search of the Healer. He swept it from floor to ceiling, but there was nobody there. This unsettled him.
He saw a door in the opposite wall, across the hall. He was about to start towards it when suddenly a trapdoor opened in the floor. He stopped in his tracks.
“It is me,” Ariadne’s voice said. “All is clear. You can come down.”
Adamis snorted in relief. For a moment he had thought something must have gone wrong. Several stone steps took him down to the cellar of the building. The trapdoor closed after him, and he went into a cold, damp chamber lit by a pair of oil lamps. At the far end a hearth and two wooden chairs could be made out.
“It is not much…” Ariadne said apologetically.
Adamis was looking around the room. “It is more than enough,” he said with a warm smile. Very slowly, he sat down on one of the wooden chairs beside the hearth, concealing the suffering that simple act caused him. Seeing the pain reflected in the Prince’s face, Ariadne took a step forward to help him, but he refused her help with a wave of his hand.
“Do you need anything?”
“My body would appreciate a blanket. The dampness in this ring penetrates one’s very soul.”
“Of course, right away,” she said, and disappeared into the next room. She soon came back carrying two old woolen blankets. “Here you are, they will warm you up, I often use them myself.”
“Thank you, Ariadne.”
“We are in the fifth ring,” the Healer said, “in the kingdom of water, so the damp here is constant. But one ends up getting used to it.”
“Over the years… I do not think we have enough time for that.”
She nodded.
“Thank you,” he said, wrapping the blankets around him and sitting down again.
“Better?”
“Somewhat better, yes, thank you,” He felt the warmth penetrating his body, although he could not shake off the cold embrace of the damp, which heightened the suffering his body was inflicting on him.
Ariadne noticed his pain.
“If you would let me examine you…”
“There is nothing you can do. Aruma has tried everything. My body is corrupted and the poison is now a part of my blood, I shall not live long, and the time I have stolen I must pay for in suffering.”
“Even so… allow me, please.”
Adamis sighed. Then he relented with a nod.
Ariadne used her Power. A beam of brownish-green light issued from the Healer’s chest and ran through the Prince’s body, from head to foot. She examined him carefully, not missing a single detail. After a long analysis, she stopped. She looked into his eyes, and in her own he recognized a look of sadness and frustration.
“I am sorry…”
“Do not trouble yourself. I know my fate and I accept it.”
“What has happened to you is not fair…the torture you have to bear with every movement, every day. You are a Golden Prince, in your veins runs the blood of one of the oldest and most powerful families. It is very hard to see you like this.”
“Very few things are fair in this life. I do not regret what I did and I will pay the price. This added time Aruma has gained for me with her wisdom and power I will use for good. I am no longer a Prince, I am just another golden who, like you, is searching for the best for our people.”
“And in your case… for Men.”
He nodded. “Indeed, and for the race of Men.”
“And if you had to choose?” she asked suddenly.
“Between Men and Golden?”
“Yes.”
Adamis considered the question. It was a complicated one. The implications went deep.
He said at last: “Let us hope I do not have to make that decision.”
Ariadne nodded heavily, and he noticed that his answer worried her.
“I cannot heal you, but there is something simple I can do to make you feel better.”
She turned to the hearth. “This will be good for both of us,” she said, and began to get a fire ready to give them warmth. The flames did not take long to catch hold, and Adamis welcomed the comforting feeling of warmth. For a moment the pain vanished and he was able to relax. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, enjoying the pleasant sensation.
Suddenly there came a metallic click, and he knew it was the trapdoor they had come in by. Ariadne turned toward the stairs. A figure appeared, coming down. He wore a purple robe with a blue sash. A Priest of the fifth ring! Adamis stood up and prepared to attack.
Ariadne raised her hand. “Do not hurt him!” she said.
The Priest stopped at the foot of the stairs and did not come into the chamber.
“He is a friend,” Ariadne explained.
Adamis hesitated. He studied the man of the dogma as he activated his own Power, ready to deal with the intruder. He was more or less his own age, with a sharp face and aquiline nose. His skin was pale golden. The face was dry, yet the eyes, emerald-green, shone with a sweet glow, that of kindness.
“He is with us,” Ariadne assured him.
Adamis indicated the priest’s chest. “He is a priest, he is with the Golden Dogma, with the Five High Kings.”
The man of faith spread his arms wide.
“I pose no threat,” he said in a voice which was soft yet firm. “Ariadne has asked me to give you shelter in my humble home.” He indicated the chamber.
“And you always agree to help me,” she said, and went to hug him. Their embrace was almost fraternal.
Adamis looked hard at them. “Who is this?” he asked Ariadne.
“This is Sormacus, a great friend of mine, and of the cause.”
“Is he one of the Children of Arutan?”
“Not only that, but he is the Key.”
Adamis showed his incomprehension by a gesture.
“You will understand in due course,” she said. “But let me assure you that he is the key to our race’s new future.”
Sormacus took a step toward Adamis and looked closely at him.
“It is an honor to meet the exiled Prince of Ether.”
The two men’s eyes met as they studied one another.
“It is a pleasure, Sormacus,” Adamis said.
Ariadne came to stand between the two of them and turned a determined gaze on them.
“The time has come for the Children of Arutan to act,” she said. “The time has come to change the history of the Golden.”
Chapter 15
Kyra jumped down from her horse, patted it and left it to graze by the water. She took Adamis’s disc out and gazed at it, entranced. The golden pip i
nside the crystalline object always captivated her. In it a tiny particle of Adamis’s Power was stored, a fraction of him. She longed for him so much it surprised her. I hope you’re well, my golden-skinned, golden-hearted Prince. Luckily her nature did not allow her to stop to sigh. She had a mission on hand, and it was time to act.
She looked carefully at the pond. There was nothing special about it: a pond of green-blue water, quite large and round. No stream flowed into it, as far as she could see. She shrugged, closed her eyes and connected with the power of the disc. Show me the way. The disc rose above her hand, remained suspended in the air a hand-span high, then began to shine with an intense golden light. She opened her eyes and stared fixedly at it. The disc gave out a silver beam in the direction of the center of the pond. After a moment it vanished.
“What the heck! What do you mean? You want me to dive in there?”
It made no sense. She concentrated again and commanded the disc: Show me Adamis’s map.
There was a flash, and a translucent map appeared over the disc. She could see herself represented on the map by a blue bubble. In front of her was a perfect image of the pond, with a black bubble in the middle of the water. How weird, it shows the center of the pond too. Could it be broken? She commanded the disc to move its focus further away, as if an eagle were soaring into the sky. The map spread out and the image moved away. Now she could see far more widely, but the two dots, the blue and the black, remained unchanged.
“I’ll look for another temple…” she muttered. But the disc did not react to her voice.
She sighed when she realized this. Move your focus further away, I’m looking for another temple, she said in her mind, and this time she was obeyed. The map expanded, while the two dots shrank until they disappeared into the distance. Suddenly there came a black flash on the map. Close in on that. The disc obeyed and showed the new black dot. Hm… that’s a long way away. It would take me ages to get there on horseback. She snorted. She had no choice but to run the risk. She would have to go to the center of the pond, no matter how little she might like the idea.
She put the disc away and went back to her piebald horse.
She stroked its muzzle. “Time to say goodbye, my friend.” The good steed nickered. “I can’t take you where I’m going.” She picked up the bag of food and slung it on her back, then slapped the horse’s rump to start it on its way.
“Run free, my friend,” she said. She went slowly back to the pond and sighed. “Time for a little practice,” she said as she gazed up at the sun. It was her way of speaking to Adamis, even though he could not hear her. “And yes, I practice every day, as you begged me to do. And without any help from the disc, just using my own Power.”
During the long time she had spent looking after Adamis, he in his turn had given her an immense gift. One that she would never have imagined possible: he had helped her accept who she was. It was something she had flatly refused to do; in fact she had resisted with all her being. She could not accept that she was the daughter of that monster Oskas, there was no way she could. Nor could she accept that she was a Hybrid with Power, an aberration like her father. But Adamis had helped her to accept herself: with love, without forcing her, firm in the face of her protests, tantrums and even insults. In the end he had succeeded. Now she knew who she was and accepted it. And what was even more important, she knew she need not be like her father.
She sighed. I’ll never be able to thank you enough. Now she was at peace with herself, accepted herself. She was a Hybrid with Power, and she was proud of what that meant: she had her own Power, one which her body generated and could use. She did not need Adamis’s disc, and that gave her enormous satisfaction. She had not yet learnt how to use it other than at the most basic level. She could not do anything on a grand scale, like those things Adamis and the Gods were capable of, but little by little, day by day, she was learning a bit more and improving a little. One day I’ll be able to do amazing things. You’ll see.
She closed her eyes and focused. She needed to achieve complete calm, to put out the fire which always burnt inside her and prevented her from using the Power. She remembered she had been practicing every day for a long time, so as to turn it into an almost reflex act. She had still not attained that skill, but one day she would, because even though she was a hybrid she would become as powerful as a God. One day a Golden will kneel before me, and I will have defeated him with his own weapons, at his own game.
She focused on herself, searching for her own aura, her own spirit. She had to find it to be able to use it. Gradually she began to make out a silhouette, faint… an outline in white light… very small and far away… She brought it closer, pushing as if it were an object she wanted to attract. At last, after a long moment, a white flash ran through her body. She had done it. I have my aura. I have myself. Focused on her aura, now she had to find her power and use it. This was the most difficult part: truly difficult, and something she could still not fully master.
She focused on her inner self, within her chest, and tried to visualize her Power. She had had to learn that part by herself by trial and error, as it was different for Golden and Hybrids. For the Gods, Adamis had explained to her, using their Power was practically immediate, like having a thought and then acting upon it. They simply called on it and it happened at once. The greater the power, the faster it could be called and commanded. The most powerful Gods, those belonging to the Five Royal Houses, were so supremely fast with their Power that they could destroy an enemy before he could use his own to defend himself. Kyra could not even imagine it, because it was such a nightmare to activate her own. It seemed that it was not so easy for a hybrid to reach his or her own Power. The Power was a part of oneself, but it was at a much deeper, more inaccessible level. For a Golden it was like lightning. Adamis used his own so swiftly that Kyra believed it was even faster than a thought.
She went on trying to find her Power, but she was beginning to feel frustrated. She had to make a great effort to calm down and prevent her fiery nature from interfering. She relaxed, and finally, after some time, she managed to achieve complete calm. By Oxatsi, I’m going to manage this! And then she saw it: misty at first, then clearing after a moment. It was like a blue lake inside her chest, perfectly calm. The first time she had seen it, it had seemed to her that she was losing her mind. How was it possible? But Adamis had explained that it was not really a lake, but simply the way the mind represented the phenomenon. Her Power was stored in her chest, and that was the way her mind perceived it. Now it did not surprise her to see it that way. She found it frustrating to have to take so long finding it, but when she succeeded her joy was immense. As it was at that moment.
“Good!” she cried, and a startled bird flew away.
Kyra transmitted the order to her Power in her mind, focusing on her aura. She felt a tingling which she was beginning to know well: that of her Power answering the call. There followed a feeling of emptiness. She had it! Now she had to control her Power so it would do what she wished. Concentrating as hard as she could, she gave the order to act. Again she felt the tingling, followed by the feeling of emptiness. Yay! I did it! Slowly, she rose from the ground until she was three feet from it. To the center, very slowly, she commanded. She floated through the air above the calm surface of the pond, keeping to the height of three feet. She reached the center of the pond without incident.
She banged her chest with her fist. “What d’you say to that? No disc! All by myself!” She was so pleased to have managed it that she would have jumped with joy if she had not been floating above the pond. “I’m a Hybrid with Power and I don’t need any discs! Get yourselves ready, Golden!”
Suddenly a round beam of golden light rose out of the center of the pond and enveloped her.
“What the heck?”
And before she could react, the light blinked and carried her away. She took a deep breath of air, then the water swallowed her. She was sucked inside the pond, towards its depths. She lo
st consciousness a moment before she ran out of air.
She came to feeling terribly dizzy and on the point of throwing up. She tried to recover, but could not manage it completely and lay there on the ground, on her side, leaning on one arm. She felt awful. Breathing deeply so as to settle her stomach, she looked around. She was in a round chamber with silver walls. Golden, she thought. Her head hurt like mad.
“What a way to get in,” she grumbled, thinking of Adamis. “You might have warned me. When I next see you, I’ll give you what for.”
When she heard the echo of her own voice in the hollow chamber she began to feel uneasy. Adamis had warned her that some of the underground temples were used by the Golden when they moved across the continent, although they did not do it very often. They were like a crossroads with a way out into the open. Each temple had a portal which allowed them to travel a certain distance. Hopping from temple to temple they were able to cross the entire continent from north to south and east to west. Kyra had not the slightest idea how big it was, but Adamis had told her it was immense. Hence they had built the temples with portals, and in that way they were able to travel great distances in a short time. Kyra had to admit that the Golden were as clever as they were evil. Other temples, more important and secret, had to do with their religious beliefs: the Golden Dogma, together with religious and funerary rites. Adamis believed, although he could not prove it, that some Houses also had secret temples. In those they experimented with forbidden technology far from the Eternal City, behind their backs, avoiding discovery. Remembering this, she shivered.
She looked around and armed herself with the disc in one hand and one of her throwing daggers in the other. I’ve got to calm down. Adamis’ map only shows the known temples, the ones that are used as a means of transport. It would be a stroke of bad luck if I happened to cross a damn Golden in transit. As soon as she thought this she regretted it; she was not exactly the luckiest of women. Her misadventures spoke for themselves.
She waited in silence, listening, as Ikai had taught her to. Nothing. She seemed to be alone. Better to be safe. As she did not want to risk trying it by herself, she brought Adamis’s disc out and used it. A near-transparent thread of mist issued from the object. It took shape, like a spirit, yet it was not frightening; rather it seemed to be there to protect and serve. Search, she commanded, and the spirit moved through the chamber. Then it went toward the way out and lost itself in the tunnel of silver walls. She waited, alert, for the searching spirit to explore the place and come back to let her know whether it had met some living being. It was not long before it returned.