A nagging insistence at the back of her mind told her that she could not hang around too long. Shann drew herself erect and turned to head back the way she had come, when she sensed a movement, a subtle displacement of air. She wheeled around. A figure clad in a black cloak that mirrored hers rose up into the air and dropped lightly onto the outcrop in front of her. He was close enough for her to make out the cruel line of his mouth set into craggy features, the keen eyes watching her. She stood, rooted to the stone in shock. Her hand reached for her staff. Then, without a word, the Keltar turned, stepped over the edge of the rock platform and was gone.
Shann’s mind felt as if it were swimming upstream, fighting the flow, struggling to comprehend what had just happened. Maybe the Keltar had not seen her? No, that was impossible–he had looked directly at her. So why was she still here? A realisation began to dawn in her, a confluence of the events of these many days. It was like a strong current, sweeping her towards a conclusion. And with the conclusion came something else, something that would finally expose Keris for who and what she was. At last, Shann had a plan.
~
Shann sprinted and leaped to catch up to Lyall and the others as if the Keltar she had encountered were breathing down her neck the whole way. Finally, she spotted the covered wagon, and touched down just behind the party, breathing hard. Keris, who was bringing up the rear, regarded her with an odd expression but said nothing. Shann ignored her and went to the front of the wagon. Alondo greeted her with a warm welcome and she bade him stop for a moment, so that she could untie her graylesh. She jumped onto the beast’s back and squeezed its striped flanks, waving her thanks to Alondo and then riding to catch up with Lyall.
Lyall nodded to her as she drew alongside. “You’re back early. Are our ‘friends’ up to something?” he asked.
Shann ignored the question. “Lyall, I want us to make camp.”
He checked the position of the suns overhead. “What…you mean now?”
“That’s right.”
“Why? Did the others camp early?”
“No, not exactly.”
Lyall looked at her uncomprehendingly. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Shann. We have a fair amount of daylight left. If we camp now, it will give the Prophet’s men a chance to gain on us considerably. It could be dangerous.”
Shann’s voice was insistent. “Please, Lyall, this is important. I want us to make camp here and now. Then you and I will both go back and check on the soldiers. If they are still pursuing us, then we will return and get moving again.”
“But why–?”
“Let’s just say that I’m testing a theory. If I’m wrong, you and Alondo can make fun of me all the way to the Aronak Sea, if you like. But I have to do this. Please.”
Lyall looked into her eyes for a long moment. Then he called out behind him, “Alondo, pull over. We’re making camp.”
He turned back to face her and she smiled. “Thank you,” she mouthed. They dismounted together and as they both patted their animals reassuringly, Shann touched Lyall’s arm. “One more thing,” she whispered. “Don’t say anything to Keris.”
~
Shann was hiding in the shadow of a boulder, peeking out from time to time for any signs of movement along the trail. She was relieved at last to see the tall form of Lyall bounding towards her. He reached her position and she got to her feet.
Well?” she prompted.
Lyall urged her back along the way they had come. “Come on, let’s go.” She followed him down the track, jogging to match his long stride. He seemed lost in thought. Finally, he opened up. “You were right, Shann, they are camped just as we are, burning daylight. Would you like to tell me what’s going on?”
She paused to organise her thoughts. “I don’t think the Prophet’s soldiers want to catch up to us. Back on the plains, they were pursuing us for days. We were travelling as rapidly as we could, but we could only move as fast as the wagon. Didn’t you ever wonder why we were never overtaken?”
Lyall extended his cloak and leaped up the hillside to his right. Shann followed suit, her boots kicking up dust as she landed beside him. They started to cut across country. “You’re forgetting the incident at the tower,” he countered. “They attacked us, remember?”
Shann studied the ground as she walked beside him. “I’m not sure about that. Maybe that was a mistake. Or maybe they got wind of what we were trying to do, somehow. But everything else points to the same conclusion: the fact that they didn’t catch us on the plains, the fact that they camp when we do–and then there is what happened earlier today.”
Lyall stopped and turned to face her. “What do you mean?”
“One of their Keltar surprised me.”
“What?”
“He just…dropped out of the sky in front of me. I think it was an accident. At any rate, he immediately turned tail and disappeared out of sight.”
Lyall’s face was creased with anxiety. For a moment she thought he was going to berate her for her carelessness. “He said nothing?”
“No.”
“Maybe he didn’t see you?”
She faced him squarely. “Lyall, he was standing not much farther away than you are now and he was looking straight in my direction. There is no way he could have missed me.”
“So, you think they are avoiding contact? But why?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I think it is reasonable to assume that our Keltar friend has something to do with it, which brings me to another point. Have you noticed that she is still wearing that Ring of hers?”
“The Speaker Ring?”
Shann nodded. “She herself said that Speaker Rings are Linked. Hers is Linked to her master at the keep in Chalimar. Why would she hang onto the thing if she has cut her ties to the Prophet? You would have thought she would have tossed it away by now.”
“It’s just a ring, Shann.”
“I thought so, too, until I saw her use it out on the plains.”
“You saw her use it? Are you sure?”
“She sneaked out of the camp during her watch period. She doesn’t know it, but I followed her. I saw her speaking into the Ring.”
“What did she say?”
Shann shook her head. “I was too far away to hear. But the Ring lights up a green colour when it’s being used. She was using it to communicate with them.” Lyall looked sceptical. “You don’t believe me,” she challenged.
“No…no, I believe you. It’s just…why didn’t you tell me before now?”
Shann sighed. “I was going to. But Boxx got there ahead of me and activated that device he carries. When I saw and heard the image of the woman from the past, I didn’t know what to think. It seemed to corroborate her story. I didn’t think you would believe me. I felt I had to get more evidence of Keris’ true intentions before I could approach you. When the Keltar suddenly appeared in front of me and then took off, I realised there might be a way to convince you of what was going on. How do you suppose the others knew that we had camped prematurely? The one Keltar I saw did not follow me, I’m sure of that. There’s only one way they could have known. She told them.”
She could see Lyall digesting the implications of what she was saying. “If you are right, that would mean that we are not fleeing the Prophet’s men, we are being led by them. But where? I mean, what is the purpose behind it all?”
Shann looked up into his questing blue eyes. “Well, I know one woman who has the answer to that question and if we work together, I believe we can get it out of her. We will have to catch her in the act and then confront her.”
“That sounds dangerous, Shann. If she is exposed, then she might turn on us. You have seen what she’s capable of. I’m not sure that the two of us together could resist her.”
“She doesn’t scare me,” Shann declared. “Besides, the alternative is for us to continue to be led blindly towards whatever these Keltar have in store for us. I think we have to know what they are planning.”
Ly
all seemed to debate with himself. After a few moments he reached a decision. “All right, we’ll try it. But when the moment comes, I will question her. Are we agreed?”
“Fine,” Shann concurred.
They both resumed their journey back to camp. By now, the yellow sun was close to setting and the nocturnal creatures of the Gilah Hills were beginning to buzz and stir. Shann felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. At last she had been able to share the troubling secret she had kept to herself for so long. Whatever happened now, she and Lyall would face it together. As she trotted beside him, there was something akin to a spring in her step.
<><><><><>
Chapter 19
High in the Hills of Gilah, next to a bubbling rill, the camp sat bathed in Ail-Mazzoth’s soft red light. Three sleeping forms lay, covered by blankets and coddled in the arms of a warm summer night. In the midst of the camp, the dark form that was Keris kept watch. All was still; even the faint rustling and chirruping of nocturnal creation appeared to have subsided, as if it were holding its breath in anticipation.
The tall woman rose silently and glided towards the tiny stream as it trickled over smooth stones. She took a last look behind her, then turned and stepped through the shallow water into the belly of night shadow.
At the camp, two of the blankets were cast aside and two figures arose; one tall and thin, the other short and slight. Lyall signalled to Shann for them to split up; he circling around to the left, she to the right. Shann nodded and set out in a low run for the bubbling brook. The swirling water played about her boots as she crossed to the other side and crept upstream. She felt an odd mix of calm and exhilaration. Ever since Gort, when the Keltar had joined them, it had seemed to Shann as if she were being surreptitiously controlled; propelled in a direction she did not want to go, yet powerless to prevent it. No longer.
Lyall had warned that catching Keris in the act of duplicity could be perilous. She might decide she would be better off eliminating him and Shann together. Shann had witnessed the woman in action at the tower. Lyall had also described the scene at the guardhouse, where Keris had taken on a Keltar and half a dozen soldiers single-handedly. Shann was not entirely convinced that that particular event had not been staged for their benefit somehow. It didn’t matter. The showdown had to occur at some time or other; better it should be at a time and place of their choosing.
They were high up in the Gilah range now. Beyond the camp, the landscape climbed ever more steeply to what looked like a series of ridges or peaks farther up. Shann moved upstream a little way, lightly fingering the control at her collar to scan for the familiar push of raw lodestone. There was a small deposit in front of her and one off to her left. She put on a spurt, until she felt the front one pass just under her; then leaped and retracted the bronze layer of her flying cloak, pushing her up into the air. As soon as her momentum slowed, she angled herself to push against the deposit to her left and her trajectory shifted her up and to her right. Flying in a low arc away from the stream, she landed in a crouched position farther up the slope. She peered up the rocky incline, but there was no sign of the woman. Shann cursed inwardly. Perhaps Lyall was having better luck.
Sensing no more deposits in the immediate area, she began to climb towards the nearest ridge, seeking a suitable vantage point. As she crested the rise, she quickly scanned the area around her. Frustration was starting to take hold when she suddenly caught a movement way off to her left. A dark shape was scaling the hillside. Its movement was deliberate, purposeful. Shann dashed along the ridge and then swept silently down the slope at an angle calculated to bring her up behind the moving figure. Her quarry was continuing to climb in a straight line. Shann followed at a discreet distance, staying low and using cover wherever possible, but the shadowy outline did not look back. As she got closer she spotted the shock of sandy hair. Lyall. Her face adopted a rueful expression as she sprinted up the hillside and hissed his name. Lyall turned, registering her presence with a nod.
“Where is she?” Shann’s voice was hoarse.
Lyall frowned. “I’m not sure. I was trailing her for a while, but then I lost her somehow.”
Shann looked aghast. “You lost her?”
“I’m sorry,” Lyall’s expression was apologetic. “She’s been trained in escape and evasion tactics; I haven’t.”
“Do you think she saw you?”
Lyall shook his head. “I was careful… No, I don’t think so.”
“So which way do we go now?” Shann demanded.
Lyall looked up at the rising slope and the jagged peaks beyond. “I don’t know, Shann. There is an awful lot of hillside to search. She could be anywhere.”
“Surely you’re not going to just give up?”
“I don’t think we have a choice. If she returns to camp before us and we are not there, then we are going to have a hard time explaining our absence. She will figure that we are onto her, and that will take away our only real advantage.” Shann stared at him, bright green eyes flashing, but she knew he was right. She turned away, exhaling through her teeth. He placed a conciliatory hand on her shoulder. “There will be other times, Shann. This night’s exercise has been valuable. We have proved that there is something suspicious going on with our Keltar friend. If we are patient and work together, we will uncover the truth.”
Shann was no longer listening. She was rehearsing how she would finally confront the Keltar, how she would call her to account for her crimes and the crimes of all her ilk. You will pay for what you did to my parents. You will pay.
~
In the midst of a corrie rimmed by the silent peaks of the Gilah stood a lone figure, face hidden by the covering of a dark hood. Its presence was dwarfed by the scale of the ancient rocks which towered around it, yet somehow it exuded an air of authority which seemed to dominate even the stones themselves. Another black shape dropped through the air, alighting two dozen paces or so in front of the first. Keris’ flying cloak settled about her shoulders, enrobed in long black tresses. She crossed the short stretch of ground between them, coming to a halt in front of the other. Their respective forms cast long shadows on the uneven stone.
“It’s good to see you, Keris.” The dark presence raised its left hand and pulled back the hood. Small intense eyes burned in a round face; a mouth with sides turned upwards in a half smile. Mordal.
Keris felt a pang of guilt at the sight of her former mentor but thrust it away. She recalled their fateful discussion on a spring afternoon in the keep garden a lifetime ago, or so it seemed. That discussion had taken her on a journey neither of them could have imagined. She had travelled farther and farther from Mordal and all that he represented. Yet now here he was, standing before her. Full circle. “I have come as you asked,” she began.
Mordal’s eyes twinkled. “Thank you. I am pleased to see you looking well, Keris.”
She looked downcast. “I’m sorry about the boy, Nikome. I tried to talk to him, convince him to stand down. He wouldn’t listen. There was an explosion and he…fell from the tower.” She swallowed.
Mordal raised a hand in a conciliatory gesture. “Do not concern yourself with that. It was unfortunate, but he disobeyed a direct order. I am gratified that you were not hurt.”
Keris felt off balance. Of all the reactions she could have expected from him, kindness was the last. She allowed some small part of her to hope that her plan might actually work out. She gathered her courage about her. “Have you considered my proposal?”
“Yes indeed,” Mordal responded. He added lightly, “I would like to hear more about those devices you found.”
“There’s not much more I can tell you about them. The mechanism at the tower was destroyed, as you know. The communication device is in our possession, but it does not operate on demand. The woman from the past appears only at certain intervals. She mentioned a power generation problem. That’s all I know.”
Keris had been very careful about how much she revealed to him
through the Speaker Ring. She had told him about the holographic machine and the messages sent by the woman from the past, but she had deliberately not mentioned the Chandaras’ involvement. She had informed him that they were travelling to the tower to investigate another device but had not admitted to knowing its purpose. It was all very much a calculated risk on her part. She knew she would need to limit the damage in the event that it all blew up in her face.
To begin with, her idea had been simply to convince Mordal of the threat to the Kelanni. She would use the tower to transfer to the other side of the world with Lyall and the others, while he would remain here as a powerful friend and ally, working to undermine the Prophet’s schemes. With the destruction of the tower, things had changed. It seemed to Keris that the best way to proceed now would be for them to join forces and find a way to cross the Great Barrier together. However, achieving that objective would be a much harder task. It would involve a great deal of trust on both sides. Right now, they had many more reasons to distrust one another. If this plan was going to stand any chance of working, it would have to be handled very carefully indeed. She and Mordal were the key. She had to convince him of the danger that the Prophet posed to them all.
She studied the ageing Keltar. He appeared thoughtful. Keris decided to press home her advantage. “You should come with me to our camp. Alone. I will go in first and explain what is going on. The leader, Lyall, is a reasonable man and he will listen. The girl will be a problem, but I can handle her. Once I have their agreement, you can meet with them and we will arrange a truce. I will also show you the mechanism we are carrying so that you can see it for yourself.”
The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) Page 20