“Don’t worry; I don’t wish to know any more about it,” Pretsan agreed. “You are obviously accustomed to such things, but I have no wish to deal with any power I don’t understand. I’ll go down there if you really need me to lift anything. Otherwise, I’ll stay up here and, if anyone asks, as far as I am concerned there is no lower chamber.”
“Do you need us to help you down there, Blan?” Aransette asked hesitantly.
“No, Arnapa and the others will be getting worried about you two twins. Now we’ve found the entrance to the lower chamber we must hurry to get word to Arnapa. We’ll need to improvise a ladder to get you through the door I found in the roof. I saw at least one soldier patrolling the top of the dome. If there are not too many others, you two might be able to return to Arnapa after dark. Even if you are seen, the soldiers are not likely to mistake you for me or Pretsan. With luck, they will think you are local peasants. Aransette, make sure that you darken your face and hands with soot before you go up.”
“I hardly need to. I have so much grime on me already. How about you two?” Aransette asked, turning to Pretsan and Memwin.
“I should go with the twins,” Pretsan urged Blan. “I can divert any trouble with soldiers.” Then, in answer to a worried look on Aransette’s face, he added, “There will be no general alert for me yet. The matter will be left to the circus guard for a few days before anyone else gets involved. The army is too busy with its plans to advance into Dabbin to worry much about one deserter. Anyway, nobody in camp knows what is down here, or they would already have opened it up and used it for shelter and storage. They think it’s just a convenient lookout position. Whatever regiment was responsible for trashing the place in the last war is deployed elsewhere, or maybe it was destroyed by the Free Alliance advance after Fandabbin’s final victory. The circus guard will search for us in the woods and along the river eastward. That is the direction we seemed to be heading. Maybe some bright spark will eventually guess that the rubble outside the main entrance suggests a possible hiding place. Until then, other than the circus guards, soldiers we come across will not likely be aware of my desertion.”
“Very well,” Blan conceded. “Memwin should also follow you. However, she must escape and go to Arnapa by herself if there is any trouble. There is no reason to think that her disguise has been uncovered, so she should still be able to move through the camp, provided she is not seen with you, Pretsan.”
“I can escape any time but I want to stay with you, Blan. I want to see the lower chamber,” Memwin said evenly, hiding her panic about being again subject to adult control. “Also, I can keep watch for you, Blan, in case enemies approach,” she added hopefully.
Blan sensed Memwin’s concern. She also knew by now that she could not stop Memwin doing what Memwin wanted. Memwin had her own mind and it was better to guide it than to oppose it in vain.
“Memwin, I would be honoured to have you stay with me. Together we will learn what we can about this lower chamber.”
Memwin smiled broadly, hugged Blan around the waist, and ran off to look for something that might be used as a ladder.
“If there are sentries on the top of the dome, how do we get out there without being seen?” Norsnette asked.
“Very quietly and at night,” Blan suggested. “We don’t have much choice.”
“It’s not as bad as you imagine, Norsnette,” Pretsan maintained. “When the circus was in Belspire camp three months ago, soon after the army drove off the defenders and occupied this area, I went up to the top to see the view. It’s not as flat as it may appear to be from the distance. There are ruined fortifications up there. Indeed, it is said that there was once a great spire, the one from which some people say the city took its name. Those fortifications have been destroyed, but long lengths of wall, up to half a fathome high, and many piles of rubble remain. Unless a sentry is standing quite near, three of us could get out that way and crawl away with only a small risk of being seen. Today, the circus guard will search the hilltop thoroughly but they’ll soon move the search further away when they don’t find any sign of Blan or me nearby.”
88
Instead of a ladder they found a solid table not too damaged by fire. They used the block and tackle to get the table and themselves up to the top level, one by one. The table fitted neatly across the sides of the bridge, its length just sufficient for its legs to hang outside. When Blan stood on it she could reach through the hole in the outer shell and remove loose dirt from above it. When she had done a certain amount of this she changed positions with Pretsan. He, being taller and much stronger, then carefully broke off more of the outer shell, using one hand to jiggle the crumbled masonry free and the hand of his injured arm to catch anything that fell. The two of them alternated until they were confident that their activity would not cause the ground around the hole to collapse uncontrollably. Fortunately, the original hole in the outer shell was near the edge of the doorway and not in the centre, so they widened that hole toward that edge until they could work while sitting on the inner shell. That enabled the twins to help and, in due course, two could work at the same time. The work was slow and tedious as they had to keep the noise low, and their arms quickly became tired from stretching up, but they felt the enthusiasm of people on a worthy quest.
Once the hole was just big enough for each of them to climb through, using the top of the inner shell as their launching pad, Norsnette won the right to be first to poke her head out and look around.
“I have the darkest face, least likely to stand out,” Norsnette whispered on her own behalf. No one was convinced. It was daylight outside and camouflage was more important than the complexion of the skin, yet it made sense that neither Blan not Pretsan should risk being seen, so Norsnette had her way. Kneeling on the inner shell she slowly stood up until her head and shoulders were above the outer shell, then she turned a full circle and came down again almost as slowly.
“There’s a sentry sitting on a wall about twenty paces away with his back to me,” Norsnette whispered. “He seems to be talking to others who I couldn’t see. The wall under the sentry is almost a fathome high; its top could be the highest point on the hill. I couldn’t see anything higher. Our hole is surrounded by piles of rubble, so we have some good cover, so long as the sentry doesn’t turn around and see us.”
Pretsan remarked hopefully, “That’s good because all their coming and going will be around their lookout point and not right on top of our escape hole.”
Blan decided that it was now safe enough to risk taking a look herself. She kept lower than Norsnette. If he had turned to look, the sentry would have seen only the top of her head. She noted the surrounding ruins but she focused her mind on listening.
After about five minutes Blan climbed down and whispered, “The sentry was speaking to two of the circus guards. They were describing Pretsan and me. There was no mention of anyone else. The sentry kept repeating that he had seen nothing but would report in if he did.
“I think we should close this door now and open it again after dark. If they find our hole they might see patches of the mirror-like inner shell through the dirt that tumbles down when we close the door. They won’t understand what it means and they won’t be able to enter.”
Blan closed the door in the same way she had closed the side door, by prodding the side into which the door had withdrawn into the shell when it had opened. Clearly, no special request or password was required to close sky ship doors.
Pretsan and the twins spent the rest of the day preparing for the night’s escape, rebinding his wounds, checking clothing and weapons (the twins had a small bow each), collecting soot for camouflage and, finally, getting some more sleep. Blan and Memwin helped them. Blan did not want to venture into the lower chamber until her mind was clearer, mostly of the practical matters of the others’ escape, and she could make something of her first impressions.
89
As soon as darkness came, Blan and Pretsan helped the twins up th
rough the hole above the roof door. Pretsan followed.
Feeling a pang of loss, and reluctant to close the door behind them, Blan climbed up and listened. There was a gentle breeze, unusually cool, which muffled the smaller sounds of ground birds moving in their nests and small four-legged creatures going about their business. Blan thought she could still hear the crunch of twigs and the brush of leaves as Pretsan and the twins crawled away southward.
According to the twins, they had entered Belspire by crossing under Belspire River through a tunnel which had been known to Arnapa since her childhood. The entrances were well hidden; Arnapa knew how to find them and unlock them. Arnapa had told the twins that she would watch for their return and then come to unlock the Belspire tunnel entrance. They would then cross to a wooded island in the swamps on the western side of the river where the canoes were hidden.
Much closer sounds were coming from the enemy lookout twenty paces away. Blan could not see anyone but she could hear two soldiers complaining about the increasing cold and arguing about when the army would be moving on to Dabbin. Blan deduced from their whispered tones that they thought that a superior officer could call by at any time. She was just about to withdraw into the dome when she heard something approaching. It was not the confident sound of a soldier’s march but something covert, so she tensed, readying herself for a rapid drop to the bridge below.
She had almost forgotten the sound. It was the chirpy clicking of a northern robin, a bird common around Blan’s home but not likely to be found in this area. The sound came from about two hundred paces away southward. It was repeated. This time it was clear to Blan that it was a human mimic. The sound repeated again convincingly and then again not so well. It occurred to Blan that someone who was good at making the bird’s sound was teaching someone else. The pupil learned quickly, so he was good at making bird sounds but not familiar with the northern robin. Blan thought that it must be one of the twins teaching Pretsan, but why here? That did not make sense, so maybe Arnapa had become concerned and made her way to the dome just in time to find the twins escaping. That made more sense. Blan felt relieved and pleased by the prospect of seeing Arnapa again. Arnapa had been around during many of those golden days with Telko. It was a connection.
Blan listened to hear if the sentries had taken any notice of the alien bird calls. They had not. If they came from Krar or even Port Cankrar, they might be familiar with the sound and not have thought that it was out of place this far south.
Now she heard the faint crunching as a body crawled toward her. She saw a shadow moving cautiously between piles of rubble. At ten paces she heard the soft bird call and recognised Pelembras as he approached. She had not seen him for almost seven weeks, since the day that the Akrinans had built her waterwheel at Pitpet Brook.
Without speaking, she helped him down the hole. Then, when they were both on the bridge, she knelt down and hugged him.
“The others are safely on their way with Arnapa,” Pelembras whispered. After Blan closed the door above, he continued in a normal voice, “When you stand, I am too short for you and when you kneel I am too tall for you. But I’m so glad to see you again.” Despite his jovial bluster, his eyes were moist with emotion.
“What is Arnapa’s plan?” Blan asked after they had both bowed their heads in thought for a moment, remembering Telko.
“The twins told Arnapa that you wanted to stay here to study the devices in the lower chamber. She is not happy about you staying, but she understands the importance you attach to it. She will lead the others to Port Fandabbin while I stay with you and Memwin.”
“That’s very kind of you, Pelembras, but you should go with the others. It may take me many days here. I’ll find an escape somehow, and Memwin seems to be able to move around amongst the enemy as she wishes.”
“Nevertheless,” Pelembras insisted, “you will need some kind of water craft to get to Port Fandabbin and I’m the best one to arrange that. Besides, Telko would want me to do everything I can to help and protect you.”
“After the trouble I’ve led us all into, I hardly feel deserving of your protection or the risk you take… have already taken on my behalf,” Blan lamented.
Pelembras smiled up at her and said softly but firmly, “Nonsense, Princess. You think it was your faulty logic that brought you here, but I say it was your good instinct. I can see in your face that you have suffered. You need not say how. I can guess. You knew in your heart that you might have to suffer for what you set out to do, yet you went forward anyway. You knew that the enemy’s vast power would sooner or later grind us down to defeat unless a new spark of hope turned the tide. Nobody else is able to supply that spark of hope, so you set out on your quest just as a great Grand Vizier would do. Look where it brought you; to this ship, for I am sure that it is some kind of ship; and a new power that you might learn to wield. The story is not over yet and your suffering has not been in vain. At the very least, what you have achieved has made me feel a lot more hopeful about the future.”
“Don’t forget that you’ve helped me too, Blan, and I love you,” Memwin said. She had come up next to them without either of them noticing, an innate talent she seemed to have already honed into a fine skill. No wonder she had been able to come and go around the enemy camp unhindered, Blan thought.
With wet eyes Blan hugged both her friends, and said, “Your words give me a lot of comfort. Let’s get to work.”
The first thing they did was to quench their raging thirsts with the water Pelembras had brought in his flagon. They had enough food for a few days but they would have to find a way of getting fresh water if they were to stay in the dome for even one more day.
Pelembras had brought a bag of wild food with him; fruit, seeds, nuts, roots and leaves collected by Arnapa and Zeep earlier in the day while he and Bonmar had kept watch. He divided this into portions, each barely adequate to feed one person for a day. He counted fifteen portions so, in theory, they had enough food for five days.
“What about water?” Blan asked.
“It has been raining quite often,” Pelembras replied. “With luck, we might collect some through the roof opening. Anyway, I will have to go out again to arrange transport away from here, so I might as well go sooner as later, and fetch water as well.” Easily said, Blan thought as she felt guilty about the risks she was causing Pelembras to take. There were so many uncertainties in her plans. Perhaps even the most logical person must sometimes surrender to the mere hope that something will turn up, she thought ruefully.
They used the block and tackle to get down to the library floor. As soon as they were all down, Memwin curled up and fell asleep. Blan mused about how the little girl had not been getting much sleep lately. No sooner had she thought about this than she was herself overtaken by a huge yawn which almost cramped her jaw.
“You get some sleep,” Pelembras advised. “I rested well enough this morning. I’ll keep watch.”
Blan told him about the side door, the cracks in the outer shell where daylight would glow and the blocked main entrance. Then she cleared soot and ash away from a patch of floor, lay down on it and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep of mental exhaustion.
90
Belspire – 16th November
Blan slept until dawn. When she woke, the dome was well lit from the gaps in the outer shell. There were new cracks appearing on either side of the main entrance. Pel had already investigated these and, from the little that could be seen through the cracks, he had deduced that the enemy had already decided to dig out the entrance and look inside the dome. Someone must have guessed or been told that the hill was hollow.
“We have perhaps two days before they break through the heavy obstructions blocking the front door,” Pelembras counselled. “Arnapa seems to know this city very well, like one who once lived a privileged life here. She told me of secret, underground passages we could use to escape. We used one of them to evade the sentries and cross under Belspire River. One of those tunnel entrances
is not far from the side entrance by which you entered the dome and, according to Arnapa, it leads to another tunnel which passes under the main street of the city, down to the docks.”
“But we can’t all escape through the top without leaving evidence that we have been here, and the crack we came through in the outer shell will surely be guarded by now,” Blan complained. “They saw us go that way, even if they can’t be sure we entered the dome there.”
“Let me try the side door tonight,” Pelembras replied.
“I’ll go with you.” This was Memwin who had just woken up and had heard the end of the conversation. As she saw frowns developing on the adults’ faces she added, “I can creep under branches and leaves more quietly. I can hide more easily and, in any case, they aren’t looking for me and won’t fear me.”
Pelembras was no longer shocked by Memwin’s perception and quick wits. Blan was accustomed to it. They both nodded, and that was all the agreement that Memwin required.
They were silent for a while, each deep in their own thoughts. Pelembras broke the silence.
“My experience as mariner and mountaineer tells me that winter is coming early. When Fork Pass is snowed under, the enemy will increasingly depend on the sea for supplies and they will therefore move closer to it. We should try to leave this place no later than they do, so we don’t have to pass through the entire army to get to Port Fandabbin. They are now secure in their fortified camp and have become a little slack. They will be far more alert once they confront Free Alliance defenders and lay siege to Port Fandabbin.”
“I have no doubt that you are right, Pelembras, but I feel that the devices in the chamber below may be of vital importance to us and I must study them,” Blan replied.
“Then it is my duty to help you to the best of my abilities,” Pelembras vowed.
Grand Vizier of Krar Page 32