‘Talis!’
In the same moment as his feet touched the crypt floor, Khatrene was in his arms and if the world ended in the next moment Talis would die happy. ‘Beloved,’ he whispered, and held her close, yet looked over her head to find Sh’hale across the chamber, his sword drawn. Around him stood the men of his guard. To the side, in the centre of the crypt stood Pagan next to their fallen King on the altar. Lae stood a distance further away with a bundle in her arms, her wary gaze on Sh’hale. As was Talis’s.
‘I’ve told Kert about Djahr’s evil history,’ Khatrene said softly. ‘How he killed Mihale …’
Talis held her tighter, yet said, ‘He believed you?’ and was suspicious that the customary expression of hatred Sh’hale directed towards him was gone. In its place there was nothing. A carefully constructed mask.
‘I think so,’ Khatrene said, then looked up into his eyes and shook her head. ‘But it doesn’t matter, so long as he protects us from Djahr while you perform the Ceremony of Atheyre.’
The Ceremony of Atheyre? Kert started towards them and Talis knew he must not be distracted by his love. ‘Why do you trust Sh’hale when he does not trust you?’ he asked softly. ‘And where is The Dark?’
‘We left him at the encampment. The baby put him to sleep,’ she said quickly. ‘And Lae read Kert’s aura. He’s a bastard, but he’s not an evil bastard.’
‘His aura?’ Talis struggled to comprehend. ‘The Dark was not at the encampment. The royal tent was empty save for the body of my uncle.’
‘Which Pagan doesn’t know about yet,’ she said and bit her lip.
‘You cannot trust Sh’hale,’ Talis whispered urgently, as Kert approached them.
‘I know you don’t trust him, but he’s agreed to protect us from anyone who will attack us, on condition that he can go with Mihale to Atheyre.’ She tried to smile. Failed. ‘I think he wants another chance at being King’s Champion.’
‘Guardian,’ Kert said, and Talis felt Khatrene’s hand on his sword arm which had instinctively started to rise. Kert’s own sword was low, but firmly held.
‘Sh’hale,’ Talis replied. ‘Do you acknowledge The Light as your Queen and name your blade hers?’
The Sh’hale guardsmen stirred behind him but Kert kept his eyes on Talis. In the end he raised his chin and not his sword. ‘While I remain on Ennae my blade belongs to The Light,’ he acknowledged, ‘who is the current sovereign of Ennae. Yet this protection does not extend to the daughter of the man who killed our King.’
Talis had little choice but to accept this pledge as true, yet instinct kept his attention on Kert’s blade which was not sheathed but remained in his hand. ‘Then you no longer wish to marry Lae?’ he asked.
Kert’s gaze turned scathing. ‘I formally retract my suit for the hand of Lae Be’uccdha,’ he said, spitting out the words as though they were bitter stones.
Beside them, Khatrene grew impatient. ‘If hostilities have been suspended, can we move on to the ceremony? It must be nearly dawn.’
‘There is still time,’ Talis told her, and though he turned to face Khatrene, in the periphery of his sight he monitored Kert’s actions. ‘I wish to meet the child of The Light who will join the Four Worlds.’
Her expression softened and she took his hand. ‘Here,’ she said, and led him to where Lae stood.
Talis ensured that he was positioned to face Kert as Khatrene took the child in her arms and held him for Talis to examine. The small glowing bundle resolved itself on closer inspection to be a sleeping babe. Khatrene smiled. ‘My son, Glimmer,’ she said proudly.
Talis touched the child’s small hand, his forefinger larger than the babe’s wrist. Such soft, pale skin, and how like Mihale in appearance. ‘The child of The Light has his mother’s penchant for sleep,’ Talis said softly.
Khatrene’s smile widened. ‘Let’s hope he doesn’t pick up his Uncle Pagan’s suicidal swordsmanship.’
Kert came to stand before them and Talis could not help but tense. ‘You smile easily,’ he said to Khatrene. ‘Is your brother’s death forgotten already?’
‘My brother won’t be dead for much longer,’ Khatrene said. Her calming hand on Talis’s reminded him a peace had been won with Sh’hale. ‘And my baby and my beloved are alive. I think I’m allowed to appreciate that. Your job is to keep us safe, not to criticise my behaviour.’ This was said in a manner which brooked no rebuke.
Sh’hale nodded stiffly at this and withdrew to direct his men. The King’s death obviously weighed heavily on his heart but Talis could find no sympathy within himself for Kert.
‘Forget him,’ Khatrene said. ‘We have to perform the Ceremony of Atheyre so Mihale can live again in the Airworld.’
Talis nodded, kissed her softly and then went to his cousin’s side at the altar. Though he feared The Dark would be searching for them, Talis would obey The Light, trusting that her instincts guided not only her own destiny, but that of her child as well.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
‘The child of The Light must live,’ The Dark hissed, and Roeg could only nod his agreement. ‘Sh’hale has them captive and has most likely drugged my wife,’ The Dark went on, ‘She may believe he is her ally.’
‘But when the Raiders attack the Shrine they will care nothing for her safety,’ Roeg argued. ‘This action carries a great risk —’
‘Bring the child to me,’ Djahr said quietly. ‘This is your primary mission.’
‘Yet The Light? The child’s mother?’
‘That is secondary to the main purpose. Rescue the child, then go back for the mother’
Roeg nodded his agreement and The Dark moved off silently through the concealing shrubs to where they had secreted the captured Plainswoman. No sound had come from that area, yet The Dark had found birthing remnants on her person and knew that she had assisted The Light to bear her child. In the darkness of near dawn, Roeg’s bedmate Queri had followed the Plainswoman’s trail back to the Royal Shrine where she had heard the sound of many muted voices. Only one force of any number remained alive. Sh’hale’s. Thus it must be that he held The Light captive, the better to stop her child joining the Lour Worlds.
Why Sh’hale would do this was not as clear to Roeg as it was to The Dark, yet despite his lack of understanding, Roeg burned for revenge. Mihale was dead, which meant that House Sh’hale had killed two Kings. Roeg would ensure Kert did not live to harm a third.
Queri had called her Raiders, and when they arrived, Roeg’s task was to save the child and let them slaughter the rest. This had been agreed, yet Roeg had an alternate plan. When Raiders poured down the stairwell, himself in their midst, he would bring Queri with him and give her the child to return to The Dark. For himself, he would stay to kill Sh’hale in battle, or die in the attempt.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
Barrion sat in the gloomy confines of his observation room, peering through the tunnelscope he had invented. Its uppermost glass was smeared with water, yet he could clearly see the skirmish being fought above them.
‘My Lord Verdan,’ his Guard Captain said, coming to the doorway behind him. ‘The men of your guard are prepared for battle.’
‘They may not be needed,’ Barrion replied, turning the glass to see if the same scene was being enacted right around the Loch. ‘The Northmen’s weapons cannot harm us at this distance and any who wade i
nto the Loch are dragged into its embrace to slumber lifelessly on a watery bed.’ The barbarians thrashed one moment and disappeared the next, the waters above them calming instantly in their wake. ‘Much will we do to honour the spirit of the Loch when peace is restored,’ he said.
‘Then … Verdan is safe?’ the Guard Captain said, relief evident in his voice. ‘For the moment,’ Barrion replied. ‘Until they discover that boats will bring them close to our air pipes.’ Whether they would waste time to build boats was not yet known. Thus far only one clan had attacked Verdan, yet Barrion had seen others run by on their way south, towards Sh’hale. Or perhaps the Volcastle where Ellega now lived.
‘Make preparations for a march to the Volcastle,’ Barrion instructed. ‘If we are not attacked further, we will follow these barbarians and join the King’s forces to defeat them.’
‘My Lord,’ the Guard Captain said and withdrew.
Barrion continued to gaze through the tunnelscope, watching as more of the Northmen threw themselves into the Loch.
‘Less to fight,’ Barrion murmured to himself as they were snatched beneath the surface, yet he knew this was merely to distract himself from thoughts of his sister and the happy wedding she would no longer find.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
Khatrene stood back from the foot of the altar with Glimmer in her arms. Around her were ranged the men of Kert’s guard, all outside the circle Talis had inscribed around the altar. Kert alone stood inside, his hand, palm down, on Mihale’s chest while at the head of the altar and outside the circle Talis and Pagan stood side by side. When the first ray of light touched Mihale they would open the way to Atheyre, and in that world Khatrene felt sure her brother would be given back life.
She tried not to be afraid. Bhoo and the Shadow Woman wouldn’t have told her to do this unless there was a reason. And that reason had to be saving Mihale’s life.
‘Once there was darkness,’ Talis intoned, and Khatrene, with her memories restored, remembered the ceremonies she had witnessed in the past. The Dark had played an integral part in them but on this occasion Khatrene would take his place. Letting Lae participate was completely out of the question as far as Kert was concerned, and he hadn’t been happy until she was put in a corner with a guard watching her. It hadn’t been worth a fight. Djahr was so completely without spiritually redeeming qualities, probably anyone could take his place and the rite would be valid. In any case, that’s what she hoped.
‘Into the void of darkness came light …’
Khatrene held her breath. Knew that despite any cloud cover above some light would filter down. It would be enough. It had to be enough.
Seconds ticked over and the area around the altar lightened perceptibly. Kert and her brother were more clearly defined, yet the others who stood back from the altar remained shadowed.
‘Those who have died will be reborn,’ Khatrene said, surprised at the ceremonial tone her voice had taken, as though in parody of The Dark. Yet Khatrene was deadly serious. She sought out Talis’s eye across the circle and said, ‘Atheyre will claim its own.’
It was the signal for Talis to open the way to the Airworld and he closed his eyes, raising his hands as though to touch the outer edges of the cylinder of light that would fall down from the sky opening when the connection was made. His voice was firm and commanding, his face a study of concentration as he drew the power of their world into his mind and used it to open the way to another.
‘Ancient powers, take from my hand the sacred element of our land.
This earth that gives our world its hue, will forge a way betwixt the two.’
A noise insinuated itself into Khatrene’s consciousness but not as a threat. She thought it might be rain coming, or a rustling of clothes from some guards at the rear. Yet it was soon forgotten as Talis completed the invocation,
‘… From life itself I would unfurl … the sun’s light from another world.’
Khatrene held her breath as she waited. Three seconds later a mighty crackling roar issued from the circle and as suddenly as flicking a switch, the unearthly light of another world beamed into the crypt, illuminating it starkly.
Khatrene gasped, yet Glimmer lay still in her arms, unafraid of the sudden noise or light.
Kert’s fingers on Mihale’s chest tightened, yet that was his only reaction. He gazed towards her blindly and Khatrene wondered if he could see out of the column of light. If the rite was successful, they would rise into the air, higher and higher until they disappeared into the clouds. Though she had never seen such a thing herself, Khatrene knew it had happened. Knew it could happen.
Across the circle, Talis held his position, his arms raised as though to support the column, while he waited to see if they would be accepted. Unlike Magoria, where any could trespass, entry to Atheyre was strictly by invitation.
Beside him, Pagan stood with one hand on the column as Talis had instructed, and this only after the connection had been made. His role was to monitor the exchange and to act as a backup in the event that more Guardian power was required. Talis had opened the way to Airworld on many occasions but never seen anyone pass through. It had been his decision to err on the side of caution and Khatrene had agreed, hoping it would take Pagan’s mind off the death of his father, news he had yet to deal with properly, apart from vowing he would see Mooraz dead.
Within the circle of light there was no movement and though Talis had told her he could hold the connection for many minutes, Khatrene began to wonder if there was something wrong. The Dark had no more lines to recite, but at the ceremonies Khatrene had witnessed as a child, he had bowed his head and raised his own hands when the column of light came, as though to aid Talis. Clearly, with no power of his own, this meant nothing, yet …
She turned to the guardsman beside her and said, ‘Bring the daughter of The Dark.’
He edged past his fellows and slipped around the circle, returning a moment later with Lae.
‘Is there something else I should be doing?’ Khatrene asked. ‘Djahr usually raises his hands.’
‘Do it,’ Lae said and took Glimmer from her.
Khatrene raised both hands to touch the circle. Another sound issued from the column then. Not the crackling roar, but a click, as though a circuit had been made. Immediately she felt the energy hum through her body, like the sensation of Guardian power she’d known from Talis only fuller, deeper, more tangible. ‘It’s …’ beautiful, she wanted to say, but it was so much more than that. It was like being a part of the people she loved. Talis. Mihale.
She couldn’t feel Kert or Pagan. She was too busy being a cloud called TalisKhatreneMihale. Kert and Pagan floated in that cloud, surrounded by its mists, but they were not part of it. The Verdan Loch came fleetingly to mind and she wondered if it had been formed this way — by Waterworld entities trapped on an Earthworld.
‘Khatter,’ Lae said faintly beside her, below her …?
Khatrene opened her eyes, her mind full of the ambrosial emotions she’d tapped into. Somehow she was floating several feet off the ground but that didn’t alarm her. She felt nothing but the ecstasy of the connection between Talis, Mihale and herself. Even the sight of Lae holding her child, reaching up towards her, had no effect on the rapture that had taken hold of her senses. She was inside the circle now, as was Talis and they floated near Mihale, smiling at each other, rising into the sky opening. Below them Kert screamed but Khatrene heard no sound, and neither did his furious expression have any impact on her blissful serenity.
Soon they passed through the top of the Shrine and continued to rise. Khatrene looked down at the Raiders darting out of the forest towards the Shrine opening, swords and clubs in their hands. She gazed ac
ross at Talis. Smiled. Between them Mihale slept on but Khatrene knew she would soon wake him.
Higher they floated until they had almost reached the clouds. Far below them, like tiny dots, Khatrene could see a great many warriors trailing out of the mountains and running towards the Volcastle. So much activity. It made her feel tired. Talis was already asleep and a lethargy filled with contentment and peace came upon her as well. She reached across to touch her brother, fingering his soft jacket and smiling. Then she closed her eyes. Slept.
*
Lae blinked as the column of light abruptly disappeared with another crack like the sound of two mountains colliding. Then the sound that had been held from them by the joining of the two worlds, impinged on her senses.
Kert screaming.
‘Be’uccdha! You tricked us!’ he yelled and started towards her, sword drawn.
Lae bolted across the room towards Pagan who steered her behind himself while drawing his own sword to fend off her attacker.
‘There was no trick,’ he yelled at Kert. Atheyre claims who it will. Do you think that The Light would willingly leave her child?’
Kert slashed at Pagan but the blow was parried. Again and again. Lae wondered how long Pagan could hold him at bay.
‘She did leave her child,’ Kert yelled between blows. ‘Your cousin has taken Mihale from me twice.’ He hacked forward relentlessly and Pagan was pushed back.
‘The child of The Light!’ Lae screamed to the guardsmen, trying to escape the direction of their blows. ‘Do you want to see it die?’
‘Raiders,’ came a yell from the base of the stairwell and miraculously a guardsman stepped forward to shield Lae from Kert’s blade as she ran for the sarcophagi, ducking behind one to hide. She grabbed at his arm. ‘Stop your Lord,’ she said. ‘If he kills the Guardian we cannot send the child into exile and safety.’
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