Eyes of the Alchemist

by Janet Woods

  “Sybilla was my mentor.” Just thinking of her put a touch of yearning in Tiana’s smile. Life was much simpler then. “Her spirit is resting on Assinti. I said the rites over her and watched her ascend.”

  “It would have been a gentle ascent for her then. Sybilla is destined to live forever in one form or another.”

  “She is to mentor a very gifted friend of mine called Santo.” But the alchemist didn’t seem interested. He kept talking about himself, reminiscing about things he had done, places he had been and people he had known.

  She smiled and listened, but more out of politeness that anything else. If he talked much longer time would run out and they’d all perish. “Hadn’t we better get on with it?” she suggested when he eventually paused for breath.

  “Yes, I suppose we had,” he said wistfully. “It’s been lovely meeting you, Tiana, I’ve been lonely all these years.”

  Immediately she felt guilty. “When things are settled perhaps we could visit more often. There’s much I would like to learn.”

  He brightened. “I might be able to manage that if all goes as planned. By the way, I’ve been checking over Kavan’s calculations in the library. He’s got an amazing brain for maths. He must take after me for that.” The alchemist gazed around him, sighed then tapped the floor again and left.

  He talked as if Kavan was still alive. She put the thought from her mind. It was no use dreaming of what could never be. She applied herself to how she was to reach the dreaming place? She didn’t even recall in which direction the mountain lay. Remembering Kavan’s charger she smiled and headed for the cave entrance.

  The speed of the wind was breathtaking outside the cave. Just after she called Shazah there was a crunching noise and the High Place tilted to an even sharper angle. She slid sideways on the ledge, with only her fingertips for support. Her cloak filled with wind and billowed outwards. Whilst she pitted her meager strength against its drag, pebbles glanced off her head and shoulders. She looked down. Beneath her, the surface of the lake slowly swirled, like water being sucked down a pipe. Her head swam and she closed her eyes to recover her equilibrium.

  Tiana didn’t see Shazah arrive, but when she felt the support of the animal’s back under her feet she cried out in relief. A soft trill brought Kavan’s hawk to perch on her wrist. The bird hunched into wind-ruffled feathers, her eyes shining silver bright. Tiana ran a finger through the bird’s soft crest, trying not to wince when sharp talons dug into her arm for support against the wind. “I cannot see how you can help, but your company is appreciated.” Shifting the hawk to her shoulder Tiana whispered to Shazah. “Take me to the dreaming place.”

  As they soared into the air she heard a shout from below and saw Torma waving furiously at her. She’d forgotten about her bodyguard, and didn’t need him anyway. There would be nobody to hurt her at the dreaming place, and if she failed it didn’t matter, there’d simply be no-one left. When she waved back and kept going he threw his gloves on the ground and jumped up and down on them in frustration.

  “Poor Torma,” she said with a sigh. “He feels as if he’s been cast adrift. At least I have the quest to keep my thoughts occupied. Only Assinti knows how I’m to complete it, though.”

  This was not the romantic journey she’d made with Kavan that night – this was a rough passage through buffeting, dust-choked winds, lightning strikes and fire-streaked clouds. Shazah had difficulty keeping on an even course. The hawk huddled against her neck. Her high-pitched and frantic squawks vibrated sharply against Tiana’s eardrum.

  The landscape was topped by an eerily streaked purple and green sky. Jagged lighting sizzled across it, the air hissed and screeched like the mythical banshees she’d read about in the temple library. Her skin prickled, her hair lifted from the roots to discharge a thousand sparks about her head. Sulphur roughened her throat.

  As Cabrilan and Truarc drew ever closer, circular storms and water spouts chased across the surface of the land. Shazah took her across a tract of water lashed by boiling currents. On the far horizon, the mountain of the dreaming place loomed. One side of it had caved in. Steam vented. Fear stroked along her spine. She was one woman against all this might. What could she do?

  “Kavan, why did you die?” she shouted into the roaring wind.

  The sheets of crystal swayed and touched, their vibrations setting up a mighty din, like members of a choir singing in many different keys. Leaving Shazah to her own devices, she headed for the steps which spiraled round the inside cave to the top. Without Kavan she wouldn’t dare to try and float up the shaft, but the staircase was highly unstable. There was no handhold and it was open on one side. The whole structure swayed, huge chunks breaking off to shatter upon the floor.

  The steps seemed to go on forever. She was panting for breath when she reached the top, and when she saw the figure bending over the tablet her heart leapt into her throat. “Kavan!”

  When the figure turned she saw it was Javros. He smiled warmly at her. Despite her flare of disappointment, she whispered. “I’m so glad you survived the chimera, Javros.”

  “So am I.” His eyes hooded over. “Have you brought the pivot stone with you?”

  “The pivot stone?” She didn’t quite understand. “I know of no stone called that.”

  Javros cursed horribly.

  Dismayed, she stared at him. “Kavan managed to get the eyes of the alchemist to me before . . . before –”

  “You replaced the eyes in the body of the alchemist?” Fear whipped color into his face.

  “Of course, that’s where they belonged.”

  “You stupid little fool. The eyes are all seeing.”

  “I don’t understand, Javros.”

  He stared blankly at her for a moment, his fingers tapping on the tablet where the stones pulsated. The whole shaft was humming, which when combined with the vibration of the crystal sheets, produced a mind-numbing noise. A struggle seemed to go on inside him for his head jerked from one side to the other. “Never mind the eyes now,” he muttered, “My plans can be changed. I will need the pivot stone. It’s the color of earth and has bands of molten metal running through it.”

  “Kavan wore such a stone on his finger. It was set in silver.”

  Javros swore. Shoving a hand under her elbow he hustled her towards the shaft and gazed down. “Kavan . . . I’m sending your lady down for the pivot ring.”

  Kavan lived! He lived! A sudden surge of elation nearly took the top of her head off. She turned to her brother. “Can’t we join minds and pull him up?”

  His laugh was one of pure malice. His lip curled and his hand flattened against the small of her back. “If I wanted to pull him up I would simply reverse the spell that keeps him there.”

  “Javros?” she said trying to pull away. “You’re my brother. We’re joined by blood. Why would you want to harm your Lord and my true husband?”

  He hooted with laughter. “I warned you at the time that you trusted too easily. My mother used to work in the Truarc genetic laboratory. She was examining genetic material from your sire when she was captured. She implanted it, knowing the time would come when it would prove valuable to her. All this time she’s been working to put me in the seat of power.”

  “Even if you survive, the people will not heed you. The troopers will not obey your command.”

  “They will eventually. Even though you’ve made it impossible for me to leave this planet I intend to survive.” His thumb curved against her lips. “They’ll obey me with you at my side, fair Tiana. Those who challenge me by right of arms will be defeated, for apart from Kavan, none can best me.”

  She slashed the back of her hand across his face, cutting his lip and drawing blood. “You cowardly termite . . . you worm . . . you pathetic, pretty boy!” Her smile taunted him. “Chrisany came to see me yesterday, pleading for your future. What a schemer she is for her conniving son. She’ll not let you take a mate. She has too much envy in her and would not tolerate another rival for your
affection.”

  She knew her thrusts hit home when Javros turned a dull red. “Take care you don’t anger me too far.”

  She snapped her finger under his nose. “I don’t give a crumb for your anger. You’ll never be half the man Kavan is, and I’d rather die with him than let you lay one traitorous finger on me.”

  “So be it,” he said, his face darkening as he shoved her forward.

  “Cringing traitorous cur!” she yelled as she stumbled over the edge and plummeted feet-first down the shaft.

  Her arm nearly jerked out of her socket when Kavan caught her by the wrist. For a moment she dangled, then she looked deep into his eyes. Her body relaxed and he pulled her upwards. The hawk shrieked and squawked. Just for a moment the bird’s talons dug deep into Tiana’s flesh then she flew free and fluttered around them.

  Kavan pulled her close against him. “Save your breath and relax, my love. I’ve got you safe.”

  “I thought you’d died,” she said, and her heart beat frantically against his. “I wanted to die too.”

  One of his fingers brushed tenderly against her face. “It was a close thing. Arcus dragged us up from the depths of darkness. Unfortunately, Finn escaped from his body in time to occupy that of Javros. They are one being now, and although Javros fought his will, Finn was the stronger.”

  “Send up the ring,” Finn shouted down the shaft.

  Kavan drew it from his finger and held it up to the hawk. “You mustn’t,” she said, her hand closing around his fingers. Her palm began to burn but she ignored it. “He’ll leave us all to die when he's got the ring.”

  He looked deeply into her eyes, his smile so tender she thought her heart might break. “My quest was to join the rift and save our people. I’m not afraid of dying for them, and Finn cannot escape the pull of the stone so he’ll have to stay here. If my life is forfeit, so be it. I didn’t want you involved in this. Go to him and save yourself. You can do much for our people.”

  She hugged him tight. “I’ll never go to him, not even for you and the people. There’s a home together for us on Assinti.”

  “The ring is a map of the world united. Its power will rob Finn of much of his magic, as it did me. The force of the circle has strengthened now the time of joining is upon us. It will keep him earth-bound.”

  She opened her hand and slid her arms around his chest to anchor herself. He would not get rid of her so easily. “I’ll never leave you, Kavan, not even if you command it. I love you and intend to die with you.” Just above them, the hawk sang a song so exquisitely beautiful it brought tears to her eyes. “See how the hawk loves you. I was wrong to set her free.”

  “No, my love, you were right. A man cannot take wild creature’s freedom away and demand love in return.” A smile touched his mouth. “My, Lady Tiana, I adored you from the moment I set eyes on you. You come to me now of your own free will. To die with you in my arms will be the greatest honor a man could ever have.” His mouth touched for a moment against hers, then he gave a soft whistle.

  They gazed up the shaft as the hawk flew off with the ring. When it reached the top Finn reached out for it. There was a snapping noise and feathers drifted around them. Tiana gave a cry of distress and buried her head in his chest when the hawk’s body hurtled past. Such an ignoble end for a brave little bird, she thought, and she’d flown to her death knowing her end had come. The hawk had left behind her a beautiful song, whilst she and Kavan would leave a beautiful world.

  The pull of a powerful, crushing force almost robbed her of breath. Noise assailed them. The crystal rods began to move, the vibrating plates rubbed each against the other to splinter and melt from the friction. Below them, the shaft filled rapidly with the sticky melt of liquid. She gazed at Kavan and he held her eyes to his.

  “If I’d have known it would end like this I’d have come to you sooner,” she said.

  “I love you,” he whispered, and kissed her with infinite tenderness whilst the liquid crept ever upwards.

  “Don’t allow me to take fright,” she said when the melt crept over her feet, but she was frightened, and she hugged him tight for comfort.

  “Trust me, my sweet one. Look into my soul and know the essence of it, then surrender to the embrace of sleep, believing we’ll wake one day.”

  When she experienced the joy and love he held for her, she was content. Nobody could ask for more from a mate. His heart beat against hers as if they were one. His arms were a warm cradle to protect and comfort her.

  The liquid crept up over her chest, her neck, then made inroads over her chin, for it reached her first. Soon, she would no longer be able to breathe.

  She tried not to panic as she clung to Kavan, but there was no fear in him and she took comfort and strength from that. Just as the melt reached her mouth she tilted her chin up, closed her eyes and sought his mouth in one last, desperate kiss.

  The shaft filled with a pulsing, incandescent light of such power she’d have cried out from the pain of it if she could have drawn a breath.

  So this is what dying is like, she thought, feeling Kavan’s heart beat steadily against hers. Something squeezed against the base of her skull.

  There was an instant of bliss, of knowing that Kavan loved her too much to allow her to suffer. Then she experienced nothing more.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Just before morning Truarc turned curve down and the two planets moved together. It proved to be a less catastrophic joining than Kavan has predicted, his calculations fortified by a formula applied by the alchemist, who’d been preparing for such an event for thousands of years.

  The alchemist told himself he would have remembered to correct Kavan’s calculations, even without his granddaughter’s reminder. For a moment he wondered how they fared, then he bent his mind to the problem of how to divert a large meteorite shower that Celeste the young star goddess had blown his way.

  “Hmmm, a bit tricky,” he muttered. “She could have chosen a less destructive move for her turn of the dice.”

  As the forces of earth crushed together, the melt spilt from the mountain and spread along the rift, filling the cracks and gullies. Over time, mountain ranges emerged from the land and tidal waves flooded the plains. Rivers changed course.

  There were casualties on both sides. Those Truarc who didn’t heed the warnings to evacuate the edge towns, perished.

  Due to Kavan’s preparations there were not as many deaths as estimated. Cabrilan survived intact. The disturbance took less time and affected an area smaller than Kavan had predicted when adjusted to precision by the alchemist – but he didn’t know it.

  * * * *

  Time passed. Comfortable in his new skin, the manipulative Finn allowed a period of mourning for Kavan and then suggested a new ruler should be chosen for Cabrilan in the age old way of might-of-arms.

  Only the younger troopers challenged him, several sustaining mortal wounds before Torma called an end to the bloody one-sided contest to proclaim Javros Lord.

  As the seasons passed Finn was unable to sustain the charm needed to be Javros. It began to dawn on the populace that the new Lord was not what he once had seemed. He was unwise in his judgment, unfair in his dealings and it soon became obvious he cared only for his own glory and comfort.

  There was discontent.

  Kavan’s elite palace guards were disbanded. Finn recruited his own guard from the prison, brutal men who thought nothing of using their position to steal and rape.

  When the Cabrilan protested his rule became harsher. Gone were the promises of education. The library was sealed again and the people grumbled. Now withdrawn, the thought of book learning suddenly became very precious to them.

  When the farmers refused to grow food, Finn abducted their daughters and gave them to his guards.

  Fear stalked the streets like a mangy feral cat. A curfew was enforced.

  Finn snubbed the Truarc elders who’d been promised positions on the council by Kavan. When they presented petitions, the Ca
brilan lord summoned The High One and held him hostage in the manor on pain of death.

  Kavan’s elite troop, horrified by change in their former comrade, held secret meetings to plot against him.

  There was a crippled child kept hidden from the new lord by Torma and Benlogan. Part mystic, part visionary, Santo begged Torma not to despair.

  “I dreamed of Kavan and Lady Tiana,” he told them. “Our true lord told me all was well with them. He said we must take heart and they will return, one day.”

  As each day passed famine spread. Finn’s thugs roamed unrestrained through the streets and the townsfolk became frightened to walk abroad.

  So it became harder and harder to believe the rumor that Kavan would return, and people lost heart.

  * * * *

  There was a final upheaval, one that lasted several days. Inside the mountain, a shaft of precious crystal cracked along its length and shattered into pieces. A pod-shaped chunk was shaken to the top and expelled from the dreaming place. It rolled and bounced down a slope into a swiftly flowing river. Carried off by the current it entered a gorge that twisted and turned for many leagues then poured underground only to divide and take different routes.

  Above, the faithful Shazah followed the water’s course, soaring high in the air to keep watch over the many outlets when it went underground. Eventually, she was rewarded. The crystal pod emerged in the sunken forest, tumbled over a fall and drifted slowly along a backwater to wash on to a sandy bank of the lake at the High Place. It had changed little, except to subside and shift to the edge of the forest. The alchemist’s tomb had sunk beneath the waters of the lake. Shazah came to rest on the bank and began to graze on the lush vegetation of the forest.

  After a while, a pair of watchers lowered themselves from the tree canopy and sat a little way off. They gazed at each other and smiled, and then one gave a high-pitched whistle. Others joined them and they chatted amongst themselves.

  From the treetops, they kept watch over the pod and whispered amongst themselves.

  As is the way of things, the whisper was picked up by a passing breeze and blown against the ear of a woman hanging her laundry out to dry. She told it to her neighbor who passed it on to her son. In turn he entrusted the secret to the daughter of Benlogan, his newly betrothed.