The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series)

by Mark Whiteway

  “Very well.” The hopper’s engine sputtered and juddered into life, and a line of burning white lights at the front of the cab snapped on. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the hopper’s side loading door and yelled, “All aboard!”

  The hinges creaked as Lyall lifted the hatch, and Alondo manhandled Boxx inside before clambering in after the Chandara. Lyall smiled encouragingly at the others and hauled himself up and over the side, disappearing into the bowels of the hopper.

  As the door clanged shut, Shann felt a cold shiver run down her back. She had always assumed that on this, their final decisive assault, they would all be going in together, watching out for one another, facing whatever awaited them as a party—a team... a family. Yet suddenly their group had been split in two. It felt as if a part of her were missing. She turned to Keris. “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing—dividing up like this?”

  Keris responded by turning on her heel and walking a short distance away, her cloak fluttering behind her like a banner. Shann and Rael followed. Behind them, the putt-putt of the engine became a roar and the vehicle turned and began heading off away from the cliff face, lights bobbing up and down as it trundled over the uneven rock surface. They watched it go; then Keris faced the other two. “Put on your flying cloaks. Hurry.”

  Shann and Rael both unslung their packs and pulled their cloaks free. Shann secured her shoulder harness and neck clasps with a practiced hand and then made the necessary adjustments to Rael’s cloak, brushing away his fumbling attempts and pulling at his neck fittings impatiently, half-strangling him in the process. “You didn’t answer my question,” she asked Keris as she worked.

  “I’m sorry,” Keris said. “I couldn’t explain it to you within Susan Gilmer’s earshot and now there’s no time. We have to get to the human weapon facility ahead of the others, if possible.” The tall woman dashed off after the hopper, tweaking the lodestone layer of her cloak as she ran.

  “Why? What are we going to do?” Shann called after her.

  Keris moved like a spear hurled towards its target. “Finish this.”

  ~

  Shann was rapidly growing irritated with both of them. Keris forged ahead like a woman possessed, leaping and bounding across barren rock. A long way behind, the boy mathematician bumbled and stumbled his way along, the journey etched on his body in the form of bumps and bruises. She was torn between coaching the boy—trying to keep him from crippling himself—and doing her utmost to keep up with the ex-Keltar. She felt like a rope stretched to its breaking point.

  She considered shouting after Keris, telling her to wait up, but she knew it was useless. Keris had as good as warned the boy that if he decided to come along with them and could not keep up, he would be left behind. Shann half-wondered whether the woman was doing this deliberately in order to prove her point. Keris must have realised that as a bearer of one of the four components of Annata’s instrument, Rael was essential to the carrying out of their plan to neutralize the hu-man weapon. It was almost as if she no longer cared about that. What are you up to?

  One thing was certain: Keris was not going to stand still long enough to be questioned on the subject. Shann stooped down and helped the gangly youth to his feet for the hundredth time. He tried his best to smile. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Then get a move on.” Her voice held a sharper edge to it than she’d intended. Here was another mystery. She decided to try and unlock it. “What are you doing here, Rael?”

  The boy talked to her back. “What do you mean?”

  “Why did you insist on coming with Keris?” she demanded.

  “I didn’t... well, th-that’s to say, it wasn’t Keris that I wanted to go with.”

  Shann shook her head. “You’re not making any sense.”

  “You,” he blurted out. “I... I wanted to go with you.”

  “Me? Why would you insist on coming with me?”

  “I... well, that is... I wanted to make sure you were safe.”

  Shann’s first impulse was to laugh out loud. “You wanted to keep me safe?”

  His eyes were firmly fixed on the ground. “I’m sorry... I suppose it sounds pretty silly when you put it like that.”

  “You got that right.” She grabbed his arm, but some of the annoyance had evaporated from her voice. “Come on, or Keris will end up leaving us both behind.”

  “She’s stopped.”

  “What?” Shann twisted around.

  Hunched down at the crest of a steep rise, framed by starlight, Keris was a dark, motionless shape. “Come on.” Shann led the way forward, no longer concerned with whether Rael was able to keep up. Pushing off two successive deposits, she alighted just below Keris’s position and crept the last few feet to the top of the ridge, dropping down next to her. Beneath them sat a tall building, bathed in the stark illumination of the arc lights that ringed it. There was no other sign of life. Shann had no need to ask whether this was their destination—the intense concentration on Keris’s face said it all.

  “How do we get inside?” Shann asked in hushed tones.

  The woman raised her head. “There.”

  “You mean the roof?” Shann’s eye flicked from the roof to the ground and back again. “That’s pretty high. I’m not sure whether—”

  “The red cloak’s boost capacity will enable us to traverse the distance,” Keris affirmed.

  “No, I meant... Rael. I’m not sure Rael could make it.”

  “This isn’t a training exercise—I warned him that it would be his responsibility to keep up.”

  “I know that,” Shann acknowledged. “But we need him if we are going to be successful in disarming the weapon.”

  Keris drew her lips together and her eyes narrowed. Finally she answered. “Very well.”

  There was a loud scuffling behind them. They each glanced over their shoulders to see the gangly figure of Rael just behind them. “What’s happening?” he asked conversationally.

  “Shhhh,” both women chorused.

  Rael lowered his voice. “Sorry. What’s happening?”

  Keris moved to a crouched position. “We’re going in. Stay close.”

  She set off on a low run across the ridge. Shann and Rael followed in her wake. Up ahead, the tall woman’s movements were swift and surefooted in the bright starlight. Behind her, Rael loped along with the apparent aim of kicking every rock and dislodging every loose pebble he came into contact with. It sounded as if a herd of raleketh were barrelling down the hill. Mercifully, the floodlit grounds surrounding the facility were deserted.

  Keris hunkered down in the darkness just beyond the perimeter and raised a fist, indicating that the others should go no farther. Shann caught up to her. The older woman was silent, face set—eyes unfocussed. Listening.

  At first, Shann could hear nothing. Then her keen Kelanni ears caught the distant roar of an engine. The hopper was approaching the other side of the building. Keris rose and beckoned to the others. “Quickly—there isn’t much time.”

  Keris’s hand went to her neck control. Shann joined her, scanning for deposits of lodestone. It was not easy to filter out the strong steady signal emanating from the source of refined lodestone in the building in front of them. Finally, the tall woman pointed off to her left. Shann nodded, and the two of them set off at a run.

  Rael trailed behind them. “Where are we going?”

  The two women reached the designated spot, a short distance inside the perimeter. The glare of the arc lights washed out the diorama of a clear starlit sky. There was still no one in sight. They stood together, staring up at the gable. The deposit she could sense just behind her was no more than average in strength. The mono-pitched roof was lowest on this side but was still a considerable way up. Traversing the distance with the black cloak would have been highly doubtful; with the red cloak they might just about make it, but... “How are we going to get him up there?” Shann asked, scratching her head.

  “Don’t worry about me. I can make it
.” Keris and Shann turned towards Rael. The expression on Keris’s face suggested that she was preparing an acerbic reply.

  Shann cut across her. “Kharthrun. When we were descending into the Pits, you used the lodestone in the flying cloaks as a baseline, together with a system of ropes. Maybe we could do that here?”

  Keris nodded vigorously. “We use the boy’s cloak to gain sufficient lift; then we both pull him up, using the rope. Very good. Rael, take off your cloak.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “Yes,” both women chorused. Shann reached up and started fiddling with his neck clasps.

  Rael batted her away. “I can do it.”

  “Well, get a move on, then,” she said testily.

  The lanky lad divested himself of his cloak. For some reason he looked even more helpless and vulnerable without it. Keris snatched it from him and strode over to the building, selecting an optimum position before laying it carefully on the ground. She made the necessary adjustments. Then, without another word, she bent her knees and leapt straight into the air. Shann and Rael watched transfixed as her crimson cloak billowed outwards and she disappeared over the edge of the roof. Moments later, her head reappeared, framed by jet-black tresses. “Shann. Come on. Don’t forget the new boost capability.”

  Shann shot a glance at the boy standing next to her and felt a momentary pang of guilt at leaving him on his own. It has to be this way. She steeled herself, then took sight on Keris’s position, adjusted her neck controls, and launched herself skyward. Her heart quickened at the thrill of flying through the air, the sudden wind ruffling her hair and caressing her cheeks. Then all too soon it was over and she alighted on the sloping roof.

  Keris extracted a length of rope from her pack and let it down over the edge of the roof. She cursed under her breath.

  Shann went over to her. “What’s the matter?”

  Keris pointed downwards. “Look.”

  Shann peeked over the edge. The rope terminated some twenty feet above the ground. Beneath it, Rael’s upturned face gazed up at them expectantly, reminding her of Alondo, stranded across the gap during the descent into Kharthrun. “You’ll have to use the cloak and grab the end of the rope,” Keris called as loudly as she dared.

  Shann cupped a hand to her mouth. “Come on, Rael. You can do it!”

  Rael scooped up his cloak and shook it out, then pulled it around his bony shoulders and began fumbling with the harness. After what seemed like an age, he cried, “Ready.”

  Shann held her breath as her mind cycled through an assortment of worst-case scenarios: colliding with the side of the building, tumbling to the ground, a sprained ankle, a broken ankle, a broken neck... The line went taut. Rael was dangling by one hand. With an effort, he swung his arm, grabbed the rope with his other hand, and started to heave himself upward. Shann joined Keris in taking up the strain, gritting her teeth as she hauled the boy up, inch by inch. Her arm muscles knotted and her palms grew raw. At last, she saw a hand, followed by an arm and then a tuft of untidy hair.

  As the rope went slack, Shann heard a faint commotion from below. Voices. Someone was coming around the side of the building. She froze. Ahead of her, Keris dropped the rope and lunged forward, grabbing the boy and dragging him up and over the edge by the seat of his trousers. She shoved him flat against the metal roof and signalled for Shann to lie down. The three of them lay motionless, trying not to breathe. The voices got nearer. Shann could not make out what they were saying, but there were no cries of panic or alarm. Finally, the murmuring receded and drifted off into the night. Keris rose silently, put a finger to her lips, and led the way up the slope.

  Shann wondered momentarily where they were going; then she saw a skylight set into the roof. Keris’s slender fingers closed around the latch, and she pulled. There was a loud shriek of complaining metal. She raised the skylight more gently and the shriek ameliorated to high-pitched squeal. Three heads peered into the square hole. A soft radiance illuminated their faces, and faint echoes drifted up from below.

  Keris climbed into the opening and lowered herself carefully onto a metal beam suspended from the ceiling. As Shann followed, she saw that the beam was part of a complex gridwork that criss-crossed the ceiling, supporting an array of powerful lights that shone down onto an immense chamber. Some distance below, three huge bronze spheres nestled at the centre of a raised walkway.

  Rael had let himself down beside her. His jaw slackened and his eyes filled with wonder. Suddenly, Shann heard a commotion. She followed the sound and spotted the hopper parked a little way off to the side. It was surrounded by hu-mans, some dressed in pure white, others in blue, artificial illumination glinting off their odd silver weapons. The hu-man woman got down from the cab and said something to one of them. Immediately, three individuals strode forward, banged loudly on the side of the vehicle, and shouted. Shann felt a lump rise in her throat as the hatch on the side of the hopper lifted and the three unmistakable figures of Lyall, Alondo, and Boxx climbed out. The hu-mans levelled their weapons.

  “Susan Gilmer,” Keris hissed. “She’s betrayed us.”

  <><><><><>

  Chapter 15

  “Let me go.”

  Shann tried to squirm free, but Keris’s hand dug into her shoulder like a claw. The older woman’s breath brushed against her ear. “You can’t go down there—there’s too many of them. You’d only be captured along with the others.”

  Shann’s eyes were damp, blurring her vision. Her throat constricted. “I have to do something.”

  “There’s nothing you can do for them right now,” Keris hissed.

  Shann watched as Lyall, Alondo, and Boxx were led away. Lyall and Alondo had their heads bowed. One of their captors delivered a swift kick in the Chandara’s direction, but it was too quick for them and scuttled between Alondo’s legs for protection. Slowly, they passed out of sight. How can this be happening? A sudden thought struck her—a realisation that sprang from the events since Susan Gilmer had first announced her plan of attack, with a silent Keris standing at her shoulder. “You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?”

  Keris let out a slow breath and relaxed her vice-like grip on Shann’s shoulder slightly. “I could not be certain, but I had an idea that something like this might occur, yes.”

  “And you just let them walk into a trap?”

  “I had no choice,” Keris replied. “It was Lyall’s decision to make a pact with Lafontaine and Susan Gilmer. The moment the hu-mans became involved, there was always the possibility that our original plan would be compromised.”

  “So... what do you propose we do now?”

  Keris pressed her lips together. “I doubt very much whether Lyall and the others are in any immediate danger. I’m sure the hu-mans will want to interrogate them fully—find out what they were up to. It’s what I’d do in their place. That gives us more than enough time.”

  “Time for what?” Shann exclaimed under her breath. “You’re forgetting that Alondo down there is one of the four component carriers. The three of us aren’t going to be enough to disable the devices.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Keris said evenly. “I suggest we descend to the area where the weapons are stored and then use the bracelet to penetrate the protective barrier in order to activate our three components on the first of the three spheres. That will reduce the time that we will eventually need. Then we set about rescuing Alondo and return so that we can complete the job.”

  It sounded reasonable enough. Nevertheless, Shann couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more going on here than met the eye. “The hu-mans deceived us. Their bracelet may not even work.”

  “True,” Keris acknowledged. “In that case, we may have to capture one of them and ‘persuade’ them to assist us. However, first things first. We need to get down there.”

  Rael craned his neck and peered over their shoulders. His voice cracked. “It’s a long way down.”

  “It shouldn’t be a problem,” Keris s
aid in hushed tones. “If we move to a position above the spheres, then we can use the refined lodestone to slow our descent.”

  “What about the invisible barrier?” Shann hissed. “Don’t we run the risk of flying into it?”

  “I know where it is,” Keris said. “I’ll go first. Then you follow me.”

  Shann was about to ask again about Rael, but something told her that his welfare was going to be up to her. Keris crawled to the end of the beam and then began picking her way nimbly over the gridwork. Shann glanced at the boy beside her. He was still gazing at the drop beneath them, his features pale and drawn. She smiled encouragingly at him. “Come on. You’ll be fine.” Rael did his best to smile back. “You go first,” she suggested. “I’ll help you if necessary.” Still glad you came along?

  Rael inched forward, his long limbs wavering uncertainly as if he were experimenting with which way to fall. Shann felt a lump rise in her throat as he reached the end of the girder and stretched across empty space towards a criss-cross of metal supports. Finally, his hand closed around one of the supports and he began moving gingerly across the gap.

  The intricate span with its suspended lights extended across the ceiling like the web of some unknown metal monster. Keris was already far ahead of them. Shann felt like telling the boy to hurry it up, but she was terrified he would miss his footing and fall headlong to the floor far below. She was forced to content herself with following him as closely as she dared.

  After countless heart-stopping moments, the two of them finally reached Keris’s position.

  The tall woman was staring at the great bronze globes, nestled amidst an iron-grey framework. The walkways appeared deserted.

  She glanced over her shoulder and nodded, then flared her crimson cloak and stepped calmly off the ceiling gantry. Rael swallowed as she dropped like a stone. All of a sudden her rate of descent slowed and she angled her line of flight away from the spheres, alighting gracefully on the upper level. Her face turned towards the ceiling and she made a rapid beckoning gesture.