The Traveller's Stone

by S J Howland

  ‘We here who are uninjured will cover the first shifts,’ continued Flint, ‘while the Wardens will convene a Meet to draw up ongoing rotas for all Travellers trained and able to ward.’

  At this point Wooten stepped forward, clearing his throat importantly.

  ‘Everyone,’ he said in a voice which wavered slightly. ‘Please be assured that we will have everything under control very shortly and there is no reason to be alarmed. We are dealing with a slight aberration in Haven’s defences –’ he paused, and Xander saw Wooten’s watery blue eyes rest momentarily on him, ‘– but you can trust your Wardens to bring it under control again, as we have done before in our long history. Please come and get your assignments, and we appreciate your assistance.’

  The crowd around Flint began to thin, as people moved over to the Wardens to get their duty assignments. Xander saw his opportunity and hurried over, dodging Ari’s attempt to grab at his arm.

  ‘Excuse me,’ he said when he reached Flint, who was talking quietly to Rafe.

  Flint turned and made an impatient noise when he saw Xander.

  ‘What now?’

  Xander knew that he had a very short time to get his point across.

  ‘I know why the borders are failing,’ he blurted, trying to get the words out before he was cut off. ‘And I know how to fix it. I just need some help from you or a couple of Travellers in case we get more shades there.’

  ‘I heard about your earlier attempts to ‘fix things’ at the hobs’ Core,’ said Flint. ‘It wasn’t too successful I hear, not to mention that we don’t have anyone to spare on your antics tonight – you heard what we’re dealing with here.’ He shook his head in exasperation and began to turn away. Xander grabbed his arm desperately.

  ‘Please, you have to listen. I got the wrong place before, but this time we’re sure. It matches all the clues.’

  ‘Clues?’ Flint asked, his eyebrows rising.

  Ollie stepped in. ‘Clues from the ancient terminal in the Halls of Records,’ he said. ‘It lit up again and gave us the information we need.’

  Callan Reeve had looked like he was miles away in thought, but at this he lifted his head abruptly, frowning.

  ‘That’s not possible, Ollie,’ he said. ‘Those terminals are dead and crumbling, they’ve been inert for literally a thousand years. They’re not even attached to any power grid anymore. They’re just historical artefacts.’

  ‘But it did,’ Ollie said stubbornly, and rather incoherently. ‘It responded to Xander because he’s an ancient seed, the hobs said so.’

  Flint and Reeve exchanged looks.

  ‘An ancient seed?’ Flint repeated, his voice now thoroughly irritated. ‘Look, kids, we just don’t have time for this right now. If you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a serious situation here and we don’t need juvenile fantasies.’

  Xander almost gave up but then he felt a warm pressure against his leg. Suze, Rafe’s dog, had moved to stand by him and her silent support gave him the courage to press on.

  ‘Flint,’ he said again, loudly enough to make him turn back. ‘It’s the Pavilions. That’s the whole key to this. It’s ‘the rock upon the water where the power lies’ and ‘only the stars remember’. The star wall will lead the way, but we have to go now.’

  Flint heaved a sigh, clearly warring with his impatience and a careful effort not to explode.

  ‘Compelling as that gibberish clearly is,’ he said, sarcasm lacing his tone, ‘maybe no-one has told you that the gate to the Pavilions will only open on the Solstice and it’s impossible to jump there. I tell you what, you run along now, and I promise that I’ll come with you next year when it opens again – if you still feel like an ancient seed then, that is.’

  Xander glared at him, but Flint just turned away, shaking his head.

  ‘Ari,’ he said sharply over his shoulder. ‘We’re at Mistleberry.’

  Ari looked at Xander, her expression worried. ‘Sorry, Xander,’ she said gently, but her eyes were already following Flint and she turned away to go.

  ‘Wait,’ said Xander. ‘I was just at Mistleberry earlier. It was crawling with shades – they nearly got me.’

  Ari swung back, her face shocked but Flint was already at the door.

  ‘Come on, Ari,’ he called impatiently.

  Ari gave Xander’s arm a swift squeeze as she turned to leave. ‘We’ll talk about this later. Don’t worry, I’ll warn Flint.’ With that, she hurried off, calling to several other Travellers as she left.

  Xander stood staring at the floor as the room emptied, blinking rapidly as frustration and panic swelled up inside. He had failed and he couldn’t think how they would manage alone, with no adult help. Worn out and worried, he rubbed his face and finally looked up. Callan Reeve was standing in front of him, while Rafe had perched on the table behind, arms crossed and face expressionless but still there, waiting.

  Reeve broke the silence.

  ‘I tell you what,’ he said. ‘Since I seem to be at an impasse with the Core and I’m of no use to the Travellers, why don’t you tell me about what has been going on with you three? What do the Pavilions have to do with anything, and what in the name of Haven is an ‘ancient seed’?’

  Xander heard Len’s deep breath of relief before she and Ollie fell over themselves to fill in all the details of the events of the previous few weeks, occasionally talking over each other in their enthusiasm. Reeve’s face grew more and more surprised as the tale unfolded, and he exchanged glances with Rafe a few times. When they had reached the events at Mistleberry in their re-telling, they both paused and looked over at Xander. To this point he had stood silent, letting the words flow over him as if they were referring to someone else.

  ‘The shades were all around him and he thought he was a goner,’ Len finished breathlessly.

  All eyes turned to Xander. ‘So, what happened then?’ demanded Reeve. ‘Obviously you did get away.’

  Xander swallowed, the memory of terror still thick in his throat.

  ‘I didn’t,’ he said slowly. ‘I would have died if I hadn’t been rescued.’

  ‘By whom?’ asked Rafe, leaning forward and speaking for the first time.

  Xander stared straight back at him. ‘I can’t tell you.’

  Rafe frowned and Xander spread his arms wide, appealing to him. ‘I’m sorry, I would tell you if I could but it’s not my secret. I’ll say as much as I can but I can’t betray them. They saved my life.’

  There was a long pause.

  ‘Fine,’ said Rafe finally. ‘We’ll come back to that. Just tell us why you think the Pavilion is the key.’

  Relieved by the respite, Xander described the images he had seen and how they illustrated a great and dreadful battle linked to Haven’s past. He left out all mention of the brownies, but told about the Shades rearing up to devour the world, the terrible power in the sky and the vivid images of the pillared platform on a rock in the midst of water. The two men listened in silence as the story poured out and it was only when Xander reached the end of his tale that Rafe finally looked up, with an unreadable expression.

  ‘You’re expecting us to take an awful lot on trust here, Xander,’ he said quietly. ‘Tell you what – if you want our help, tell us who showed you these things.’

  Xander clenched his fists, his nails biting into the palms of his hands in his frustration at failing again, but he knew that his path was clear. Always choices, as the Tan had told him.

  ‘Then I’ll have to manage without your help,’ he said, with a painful gulp. ‘It’s not my secret to tell.’

  Xander was shocked to see a rare smile light up Rafe’s face. He was even more surprised when Rafe stood up decisively.

  ‘We had better get prepared,’ Rafe said. ‘Have you got what you need, Cal?’

  Xander’s jaw dropped in surprise.

  ‘Huh?’ he said stupidly. ‘But, I thought you said –’

  ‘I said that you were asking us to take a lot on trust,’ interject
ed Rafe. ‘I just needed to make sure you were trust-worthy.’

  Xander grinned in pure relief, and then he caught sight of a flicker of motion. Ducking down behind one of Jenna’s plant pots on the floor was a small, curly head, which lifted momentarily to show a pair of sparkling black eyes, one of which dropped in a quick but unmistakable wink, before whisking away. Xander looked down at his feet, smiling quietly.

  A thump on his arm brought his attention back up to a beaming Ollie. ‘Are you planning to stand grinning mysteriously at the floor all night, or are you coming?’ he demanded.

  ‘I suppose there’s no chance of the hobs helping us?’ Rafe asked.

  Reeve shook his head, his expression sombre.

  ‘They’ve all disappeared. I wouldn’t even know how to get a message to them,’ he said, regret shadowing his face. ‘I know that they’ve always been secretive and untrusting of humans but I thought they knew that some of us at least have good intentions.’ His voice trailed off and Xander could see his genuine sadness at the breach of their relationship.

  ‘I’m really sorry,’ he blurted out.

  Reeve put a hand on his arm, shaking it to make Xander look up and meet his eyes.

  ‘Not your fault,’ he stated. ‘The mistrust has run deep for a long time – evidently deeper than we knew. You did nothing wrong. You didn’t poison their Core, and you certainly didn’t cause the breakdown, okay?’

  Xander nodded, still not entirely convinced but feeling better that Reeve at least did not blame him. A loud grinding noise from the back door made both of them turn around. A giant, bending over so he could poke his head through the door, smiled apologetically and cleared his throat again. All at once, Xander remembered him as one of the giants he had met at the Solstice Ball; he had been the one who had offered Primilla Pennicott’s macabre bowl of eyeballs back to her.

  ‘Alf, my friend,’ said Reeve, walking over to speak to him. ‘I’m afraid that I haven’t been too successful in my research so far, so we are going to try another way.’

  ‘I will come with you, brother,’ the giant ground out, in his gravelly voice. ‘Our oldest legends speak of our part in building the Pavilions. If that is so, perhaps a giant can help now, if you will have me.’ He smiled diffidently as he made his offer, as if half-expecting to be turned away.

  ‘I saw giants,’ blurted Xander. ‘In the old images, I mean. Humans, hobs and giants were all together at the rock.’

  Alf beamed at him, his teeth gleaming like fresh-cut quartz.

  ‘Then it is fitting that we stand together once again,’ he said.

  ‘Let’s hope it’s not critical though,’ muttered Len darkly. ‘As we can’t seem to persuade the hobs to do the same.’

  *

  Xander had worried that someone would step in to stop them leaving, but in all the turmoil it was, in the end, easy enough to slip out of the front door. Rafe led the way and Suze ghosted ahead in and out of the shadows, her eyes gleaming pale in the darkness and her ears cocked alertly. Her calm watchfulness as they passed along the track was reassuring, confirming that there were no shades breaking through here to menace them or at least, not yet. Alf brought up the rear, walking along ponderously with Reeve, who was carrying a bulging backpack full of his technical gear. Now they were all on their way, Xander felt the weight of responsibility like a stone in his gut.

  ‘I hope we’re right about all this,’ he muttered.

  Ollie was characteristically cheerful.

  ‘No point panicking about that now,’ he said. ‘Anyway, I’m sure we are.’

  ‘And if we’re not, then we won’t be able to get in and we’ll all just go home again,’ added Len, with cool practicality.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Xander. ‘I guess.’ But he continued to worry as they hurried on through the Wykeham Gate and then passed through the silent streets of the city, until they reached the dusky courtyard where the Pavilion Gate loomed. It stood atop its flight of wide stone steps, faintly illuminated by the glowstone which Ollie pulled out of his pocket, and throwing a long shadow on the pavement behind it. Xander remembered it from before, brightly lit with the stairs filled with smartly dressed guests waiting their turn to pass through, and he shivered in the darkness and the silence.

  Rafe glanced at Xander and then approached the gate and thrust one hand through the archway. It remained clearly visible and Rafe waggled his fingers before letting his arm fall and stepping back. There was an awkward silence.

  ‘So,’ he said. ‘Obviously it’s not working at the moment. Any thoughts?’

  Xander inspected the inert gate. The strange carvings, weaving all over the worn grey stone, seemed to mock him for his lack of understanding.

  ‘How do they usually turn it on at the Solstice?’ he asked.

  ‘They don’t,’ replied Rafe, evenly. ‘It activates at sunrise on the morning of the Solstice and remains open until sunset the following day.’

  Xander stared at the gate in utter frustration. He had been so certain about the Pavilions, it had never even occurred to him that he wouldn’t be able to get there. Flint’s sarcastic words rang in his ears and he tried to ignore them, casting about in his mind frantically, trying to remember if there was some clue or hint they had missed.

  ‘Just try –’ Len waved her wrist in front of Xander. ‘You know, zapping it.’

  ‘Zap it?’ repeated Reeve, dubiously.

  Ready at this point to try anything, Xander lifted his orb and concentrated hard on the image of the arch as he remembered it, alight and humming with power. His orb remained unresponsive, and the gate shut; after a moment he lowered his arm in defeat.

  ‘Maybe it runs on some mystical power thingy from the alignment of the stars or something,’ suggested Ollie in a worried voice.

  ‘Mystical power thingy?’ snapped a familiar grating voice from behind them. They all spun around and Xander’s jaw dropped. Standing before them, scowling horribly, was Hob. ‘You humans really are clueless.’

  ‘I’m very relieved to see you, old friend,’ said Reeve, delight clear on his face. Hob looked uncomfortable at this warm greeting and hunched his shoulders, glowering. Reeve just smiled at him. ‘I’ve been trying to reach you for days but we didn’t know where to start. How did you know we were here?’

  Rafe stood silently, watching with a guarded expression, and Hob stared back at him with glittering eyes before turning abruptly to Xander.

  ‘Some friends of yours,’ he snapped. ‘They have some very irritating notions about choices.’

  Xander heard Len’s quick intake of breath beside him and he couldn’t stop the little smile that pulled at his lips. Hob glared. ‘We were minded to ignore it but, on balance,’ he paused darkly, ‘we decided to see what foolishness you were embroiled in now. You certainly don’t disappoint. Zap it, indeed!’ His face twisted in contempt.

  Xander strangled a sudden urge to push the annoying hobgoblin down the stairs and took a deep breath. ‘We need to get to the Pavilions, Hob. We think the ancient power to protect Haven is there, guarded behind the Constellation Wall, but we can’t get past the gate.’

  ‘Power at the Pavilions?’ interrupted Hob testily. ‘What rubbish is this now? There’s no ancient power source there, or don’t you think the hobgoblins would have known about it?’

  Xander thought quickly.

  ‘The Elder Goblin said that so much knowledge was lost to you,’ he said. ‘Don’t you think it’s possible that this might have been too?’

  ‘Absolutely not,’ growled Hob.

  ‘But you do know how to open the gate,’ said Rafe, finally breaking his silence. Hob pressed his lips together but Rafe continued, his voice quiet but relentless. ‘You called us clueless about opening it, which would seem to indicate that you know how.’

  There was a moment’s silence, while Hob appeared to be wrestling with himself. ‘Fine,’ he snarled. He glared at Ollie. ‘Mystical stars do not turn on the gate, foolish child. We do.’

  ‘You?
’ said Reeve in surprise. ‘But why don’t we know this? Why the secrecy?’

  Hob eyed him coldly. ‘It is just the way,’ he said. ‘The timings and the secrecy have been passed down our generations. It is not for us to question the wisdom of our Elders, of our traditions.’ He looked very put out. ‘A tradition which I have now betrayed. I suppose that it is too much to expect that you will respect our ways?’

  Xander lifted his chin and stared back at Hob.

  ‘You can trust us to keep your secret. We won’t tell.’

  Reeve nodded earnestly. ‘Perhaps today can teach you some faith in your friends,’ he said gently.

  Hob just snorted.

  ‘But doesn’t this back up what Xander says?’ said Ollie suddenly. ‘Why else would the hobs have wanted to control the access to the Pavilions and keep it secret and secure? They wouldn’t have done that for nothing.’

  Xander felt the certainty tingle through him that Ollie had hit on the truth and he turned eagerly to the still scowling hobgoblin.

  ‘So, how does the gate turn on?’ he asked.

  Hob paused and then growled something in a language which Xander did not understand, but which sent Reeve’s eyebrows shooting up. ‘We controlled it from the Core, obviously,’ he said.

  ‘But that’s destroyed,’ burst out Len.

  ‘I am aware of that,’ said Hob sarcastically. ‘However, there is also a manual control on the gate itself, which a hob may activate.’

  He stumped up the last few steps to the right-hand side of the gate and, after sending one final glower at Xander, fitted his fingers into a series of depressions which apparently only he could see in the surface of the carved stone. Immediately, Xander could sense the difference. The gate itself had not changed, there had been no flare of light or dramatic sign, but it now seemed to hum with suppressed power. Xander felt a shiver run across his skin and the prod of a strange urgency. He had the strong feeling they should not linger here.

  ‘Right then,’ he said, trying to make his voice appear confident and certain. It sounded odd in his own ears. ‘Let’s get on with it.’ Taking a deep breath, he walked forward through the gate.