'Don't take your eyes off him,' he whispered to Menas who rode beside him. 'We cannot trust him and I don't think Arducius can control him.'
The people of Yllin-Qvist had watched the exchange without apparent comment. Harban was looking at Jhered in some bemuse-ment but he continued, leading them to the centre of the stone-paved circle and the well, where he bade them dismount. Karku were waved in to deal with the mules. Harban pointed to the town's dominating building. It was a high-domed structure atop a two-storey circular wall that was studded with small windows. It was painted with a mural of mountains and blue sky and its main doors stood open, revealing a roaring fire at its centre.
The buildings either side caught Jhered's attention. Both were low, not much taller than him, with steps leading down into gloom. Chimneys disgorged steam, not smoke. He asked the question of Harban.
'They are the baths,' he said. 'You have such things in your Conquord, I understand. But we are blessed. We sit on a natural hot spring here and the waters are warm and soothing after a day on the mountains. Or under them.' He stared pointedly at Menas. He indicated each in turn. 'This is for the relaxation and easing of our ills. This for the celebration of life and the worship of our lords. You can enter neither.'
Jhered made sure the Ascendants had heard before he ushered them into the domed hall. He grabbed Kovan's sleeve as the young man walked past.
'I know it's difficult but try not to anger him,' he said. 'We need him. He is the power. You know it, he knows it.'
'I'll do my best.'
Inside, the lattice of timbers that held up the roof were lost in shadow. Lanterns were set all around the walls of the single room and the fire smoke was channelled up and out through a chimney, the opening of which was just a couple of feet above the highest flame. The hall was set with ring after ring of benches facing inwards to the fire. A stone apron surrounded it.
Four Karku sat together on the inner ring of benches and the outsiders were gestured to join them. Jhered sat to their left and the Ascendants, Menas and Kovan ranged next to him. Harban stood behind Jhered to translate.
'Who are they?' he whispered.
'We are the Gor-Camas,' said one. He was old. His face and head were pale and almost hairless, his body wrapped in heavy furs though it was warm in the hall. 'The guardians of the mountain for Yllin-Qvist.' He thought for a moment. 'You would call us quaestors or magistrates, I think. I am Icenga-Qvist. Welcome. Welcome, all of you.'
'We are honoured to be invited into your town,' said Jhered. 'It is an act of friendship unexpected but very welcome. The mountain passes are cold and difficult.' He tried to speak in Karku but Icenga waved his efforts away.
'It is best you don't,' he said and Jhered saw the smiles on all their faces. 'Your inflection gives some of your words - uh - alternative meanings. But thank you.'
Icenga and the other Gor-Camas looked long and hard at the four Ascendants, studying their faces. Jhered sensed them begin to fidget and spared them a sharp glance. Arducius was whispering to Ossacer, telling him what was going on.
'Your great Conquord has shunned its future just as Gorian said it would,' said Icenga eventually.
Gorian lifted his head. 'Did you know him? Gorian, I mean?'
Icenga laughed, a warm friendly sound that boomed around the hall. 'No, younger. Do I really look so old? I am afraid stories of our immortality are just another falsehood among many.'
'Oh,' said Gorian, disappointed.
'But he was the first outsider we allowed onto our hearths. His words were like echoes of our forgotten past and we remember them in verse, spoken story and myth painting. He said others would come one day, chased from their homes by the very people that should have taken them to their hearts.'
'Did he,' began Mirron, pausing when the Gor-camas swivelled to face her. 'Did he find others like us here in Kark?'
Harban's low spoken translation brought nods from all four of them.
'Oh yes,' said Icenga. 'It was why he stayed here so long. We have forever been at the mercy of capricious elements. Our animals and crops exist on the edge of life. Nature dictated that there would be those among us who understood these things more intimately, just as the Lord of the Mountains dictated that some of us can divine copper and iron and gold.
'But they are not quite like you, though he said some with your knowledge would come, at risk to their lives. None can tame the gorthock like you, on a whim from your mind.'
'I'm confused,' said Jhered. He turned to Arducius. 'I thought the Echelon said that everything Gorian knew was documented in Westfallen. This is an enormous omission.'
Arducius had no answer.
'We made him swear that he would not reveal our secrets,' said Icenga, and there was the light of excitement in his eyes. 'The spirits of our ancestors that shield us from harm will be joyful today that their trust in him was not misplaced. It is the same trust we are placing in you. Nothing that you have seen or heard here can be spoken of to the outside.'
'Why should it have been a secret from the Ascendancy?' asked Ossacer.
'Because the risk of outsiders knowing too much is too great. We do not need interference and we do not need questions. If the word escaped, as it has that you exist, people would come. And we are not so numerous we could stem the tide of invasion forever.'
'Anyone would be mad to attack Kark,' said Kovan.
Icenga nodded. 'Yes but it would not stop them, younger. Like it does not stop those outsiders who think they have the right to mine our mountains for themselves. They might not succeed in conquest but it would change our lives forever. That is not the right of anyone to decide but our lords and our canas-u.'
Jhered cleared his throat. 'Harban said that there were things we had to know. It's getting late, the Ascendants ... all of us, are tired.'
Icenga nodded. 'Of course. We have tracked you since you entered Kark, wondering if your journey was to escape the war but it is not, is it?'
'No,' said Jhered. 'We—'
Icenga raised a hand. 'This war must be ended. Yuran is foolish but your Advocate equally so. And now our friends in Gestern are under threat from an army too great for them to defeat. We cannot enter the conflict. Tsard has ever been a peaceful ally, much like the Conquord, but we find our borders pressed. Tsardon have attempted to use our paths to escape Conquord scouts. Conquord armies travel as close as they dare. We fear the battles that are to come, Paul Jhered. Should the Tsardon take Gestern we are isolated and they will be confident in their power.'
'And we are travelling to stop them. To turn back the Tsardon.'
'Much as we assumed.'
'You mentioned an army travelling close to your borders. The northern I presume. Is it Jorganesh? You know of him, surely.'
'He is long a friend of the Karku,' said Icenga. His head dropped and he studied his feet.
Jhered felt a chill through his body. 'What's happened, Icenga? What's happened to Jorganesh?'
'We will eat now,' he replied. 'Then you should rest. You have heard what you must. Tomorrow we will take you where you will also see what you must.'
'But—' said Menas.
Icenga shook his head and motioned to the open doorway where the last rays of the evening sun disappeared behind the mountains, dazzling the high peaks but leaving the town in darkness.
'With the last light of the day goes the time for talk of strife and pain. You will see what you must. It is more eloquent than any words I can frame in your language. Eat and sleep.'
But Jhered could not sleep. And the clouds that travelled across the darkening sky disgorged another snowfall.
Chapter 57
848th cycle of God, 21st day of Solasfall 15th year of the true Ascendancy
Sizzling slices of lamb, eggs taken from the nests of mountain birds, and thick root vegetables made a start to the day that left Mirron feeling she would never have to eat again. Beside her, Gorian belched so loud it echoed off the mountain side. She jabbed him but he just laughed.'J
ust my food saying thank you on my behalf,' he said.
She smiled back at him. They were sitting together around a small fire laid outside the house in which they'd spent the night sleeping under huge mounds of furs. Dear Kovan had snored so badly he'd been banished to another room where the fire had died and it had grown very cold. Now he sat wolfing down his breakfast and glaring at Gorian. Arducius and Ossacer were on a bench across the fire from her. There was a chill wind blowing down the plain but they were sheltered and the sun was rising above the eastern slope, sending light cascading into the town.
Away to the south of the settlement, she could see Jhered and Menas in conversation with Harban and Icenga. Jhered was clearly frustrated and Mirron guessed he was not getting the answers he wanted.
'I wonder what they want to show us,' she said. 'It's nothing good,' said Kovan.
He'd put down his empty plate and was sharpening his sword on a whetstone. Around them, a small crowd of children was gathering as they were pushed outside their front doors to play.
'How would you know?' asked Gorian.
'Because Jhered is worried, and in my experience that's never a good sign.'
'He doesn't know any more than you do, Vasselis,' said Gorian.
'He's a soldier, Gorian,' said Kovan with exaggerated patience. 'And a Gatherer. He knows when people are trying to hide a problem.'
'It's not in our control, that's what I don't like,' said Gorian, quietly. 'We're just shoved here out of the way while he decides what to do with us. Don't you feel lost in all this, any of you? Doesn't it make you feel helpless?'
Mirron was taken aback. She put an arm around his waist instinctively, wondering what had led to this sudden dropping of his guard.
'All of us feel the same, Gorian. That's why we have to stick together,' she said.
'Spoken like Arducius,' said Ossacer.
'We have to trust him,' said Arducius. 'He needs us alive.'
'We're just pawns,' said Gorian. 'It isn't because he likes us. He just wants to use us. So long as you all understand that.'
There was a titter of laughter and some high-pitched whispered words.
'Hello,' said Mirron, smiling at the gaggle of children, eight in all.
They looked incredibly sweet, swathed in furs and peering out from under caps and hats, with downy hair on their faces and covering their feet. They backed away at her attention.
'Don't be afraid,' she said. 'Look.'
She bent her hand to the grass and brushed away a little ice and snow from its surface. Beneath the topsoil, buried in the cold hard earth, was the bulb of a genastro bloom. A crocus, she thought, or something like it. It was a bundle of potential life, just waiting for the spark.
Mirron applied it, feeding a brief pulse of her own life energy into the bulb and prompting it to grow. She sensed its roots searching the earth below and its bud forging to the surface. She fed more of herself in, a tiny amount in reality, and watched as the bud and stalk burst from the grass and grew a few inches. The children were staring in mute amazement. Mirron finished the job, bringing the bud to flower. It was a beautiful soft purple in colour. She plucked it and handed it to the nearest little girl.
'There you are. For you.'
The girl squealed in delight and set off with the flower clutched in her hand, her friends in hot pursuit. Mirron laughed and clapped her hands together. She felt warm inside.
'They have no idea what's happening outside their borders, do they?' she said, sobering a little. 'Cocooned like we were in Westfallen. I wonder if that's right.'
'They'll learn soon enough,' said Kovan. 'They're young yet.'
Menas was striding up the path towards them. She shouted at them when she saw them notice her. They thanked the cook for their breakfast and left her looking a little confused, holding a stack of plates and forks.
'Time to go,' said Menas when they reached her. 'Come on.'
She led them down the bank of the river. It was a sluggish flow until it reached the mouth of the mountain where it seemed to narrow and rush into the dark.
'Which way are we going?' asked Ossacer.
'That way?'
Menas was pointing into the blackness of the mountain. They could hear the water course, loud like a drain. There were two open boats moored where Jhered and Icenga were still talking about something or other.
'You are joking, aren't you?' asked Kovan.
'Apparently, it isn't as bad as it looks,' said Menas, though she was not convincing.
'What about the mules?' asked Mirron.
'They'll be safe here,' said Menas. 'Come on. The sooner we start. . .'
Mirron looked into the boats. All their gear was already stowed under leather in the bows. Each had two sets of oars and also three poles with moulded hand grips at one end, bulbous and flattened at the other. She asked what they were for.
'To keeping us away from the sides where they close in around us,' said Harban. He was smiling, enjoying their discomfort. 'You have not been on a boat trip like this in your Conquord. Inside, the river splits. To the right, the path is steep and fast and feeds the heart of the mountain, where you may not go. We will go left. It is the easier route. Just.'
Mirron shuddered and looked round at Gorian for support. He was looking as white as she felt.
'Why can't we go the other way?' asked Gorian.
'Because it leads to Inthen-Gor, the heart of the mountain. The most sacred domain of the Karku. No outsider has ever seen it. No outsider ever will.'
'What does it look like?' Arducius was gazing into the mountain. Mirron could see his imagination already running wild.
'It is beautiful,' said Harban. His tone became soft and reverent. 'A great cavern and lake that we call the Eternal Water. At its centre is an island where our ancestors built the Heart Shrine. Both are as vital to us as the air we breathe. They govern all our lives and bind us to the mountains and the air and to all the creatures that walk the paths of the living and the tunnels of the dead. Every Karku must take this journey to achieve maturity and be assumed into their tribe.'
‘I would love to see it,' said Gorian.
‘It can never happen,' said Harban, though he smiled. 'But you'll see enough on our journey through the skirts of the mountain.'
The image of Inthen-Gor shattered and Mirron remembered she was scared. It must have shown on her face.
'You will be fine, younger. A little danger is exciting, no?' said Harban, chuckling away to himself.
'No, not really,' said Mirron. 'Do we have to, Lord Jhered?'
Jhered walked over to them and the look on his face was not unkindly though there was a sadness in his eyes.
'Are you all right?' she asked.
‘I'm fine, thank you,' he said. 'Look, we have to get somewhere very quickly and this is the only way. Believe me, I'd go another way if we could. But Harban says it's safe enough.'
'Yes, well, they all have harder heads than us,' said Ossacer. 'They probably bang them off rocks all the time.'
Jhered looked at him hard. 'You aren't joking, are you?'
'Their skulls are thicker,' confirmed Ossacer. 'You can see it in the way the energy flows around them.'
‘I see.'
Mirron watched another hurried and hissed conversation in Karku, with Jhered gesticulating angrily, pointing to his head, to the water and the rocks. Finally, he threw up his hands and turned back to them.
‘It's fine,' he said. 'Apparently, should any of us, including him, strike our heads, he assures me we will be killed outright. I trust that makes you feel more at ease.' He was shaking his head. 'This isn't good enough.'
'And there's no other way?' asked Arducius.
'If we want to waste thirty days and probably freeze to death, then yes,' said Jhered.
Mirron was bored with this. The boys and Jhered were all looking particularly serious and severe. Hands were on hips and frowns were deep in angry faces. She walked quickly over to Menas.
'Perhaps we sh
ould show them some courage,' she said. 'And get in first.'
'You'll be the master of men with thinking like that,' said Menas. 'What do you mean?'
Menas opened her mouth to speak but paused and stroked Mirron's nose with a finger instead. 'I expect you already know,' she said. 'Come on, let's do it.'
They walked to the front boat and climbed in.
'All we've got to do is keep our heads down, isn't it?' she said into the their stares. 'Are you scared or something?'
For three days, they journeyed beneath some of Kark's mightiest mountains and despite the wonders around them, the mood changed. Arducius wasn't sure he wanted to know why. Jhered had become even more introverted if that was possible, and their Karku guides looked sombre and drawn, like they weren't sleeping very well.
Arducius remembered the screams that had burst from Mirron's lips when the descent had begun. The feel of rock whispering past just above her head and so close to her hands where they gripped the gunwales so hard her fingers must have ached. The lanterns set fore and aft lit the journey with harsh light and garish shadow. But here and there, the lanterns had showed beautiful luminescent lichen that glowed a gentle green.
More than that, when the river levelled and the pace of the torrent slowed, they saw things that even their dreams could not have created. They had seen arrays of stalactites that were so beautiful they had stopped just to sit beneath them and stare up until their necks ached. They had seen pools lit by that luminescent lichen that had cast gentle greens and blues over the walls of deep caves. Underground beaches laced with natural columns and caves that would have shamed Westfallen's coast. Jhered had hurried them as much as he could but all of them, even Ossacer, had braved the freezing waters to swim and explore. It had been magical.
After the terror of the descent, Arducius had felt disappointed to leave the underground wonderland, as Mirron had described it. He'd wanted to see one last tributary leading away into a mysterious dark so that they could debate which hidden land it would lead to.
Early on the fourth morning, the river slowed and the passage widened dramatically. A great cave mouth revealed itself in the distance and the Karku began to row faster, wanting the freshness of the open air and the light of the sun on their faces.
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