***
“It’s really splitting. Wow...”
Four eager faces hovered above the coal, now completely split into two distinct halves. One of the halves began to rotate, eerily spinning on its axis. Kirin motioned them back, for fear that some hand or boot might inadvertently block the path if indeed the coal chose to move. Quickly, he risked glancing at those eager faces. The Scholar was open-mouthed, fingers busily tugging at her laces, emerald eyes glued to the coal as if she herself was willing it to move. Likewise, the Alchemist was intently watching, her golden eyes darting between coal and Seer as if she could divine his methods and practice them herself. For the first time, Kirin sensed the curiosity that must surely drive her and for the first time, he found himself approving. Kerris was sitting a little further back, taking in the entire room with quick blue eyes, enjoying being caught up in something unusual, something mutually unexpected, likely as eager to see that little coal head into uncharted territory as Kirin was to see it stay closer to home.
There was a yelp as the coal shot like a firecracker between Fallon’s knees, scuttling away from the map and across the floor.
***
fast, too fast, through clouds and valleys, violent ripples as mountain rock passed through, swifter than a falcon’s dive, swifter still, the Great Wall below, snaking like a sidewinder through the peaks, beyond the Wall now, over deserts as turbulent as a sea, unfamiliar ranges, golden rock and white-wash, sand and scrub and patches of sage, faster now, blurring the Sight, pulling faster, farther than a cat should go, no stopping now, over a small sea, the land below bleeding with color like paint holding too much water, too fast, to loose, falling apart, falling still
***
“Where did it go?”
“Don’t touch it!” Kirin leapt to his feet. “Whatever you do, don’t touch it!”
“Oh ho, Kirin!,” Kerris laughed. “I hope that thing’s wrong or we’ll be riding forever!”
“There!” shouted Fallon. “There, under the table!”
The coal was still moving, rattling across the floor like a stone skipping across the surface of a pool. There was no constant direction however, for it would turn as sharply as a mountain pony and shoot off in another direction, under boots, under tables, forcing them to leap and spin to avoid being struck and impede its path. It somehow managed to navigate table legs and benches quite easily however, like a river flowing through deep and craggy valleys.
Sherah narrowed her eyes, and moved closer to the Seer.
“Captain?” she purred.
“Where is it now?”
“Here,” barked Kerris, springing onto a bench as the coal shot under his boots. “No, no there!”
“Captain?”
The maddened dash began to slow and the half coal skidded back towards the kneeling forms of Alchemist and Seer, crossing the palette of soot yet again, passing DharamShallah, far to the north and west of the Great Mountains, passing even the heart of the Lower Kingdom. Finally, the spinning ceased, its journey ended at the base of a far bench. Chests heaving, Kirin, Fallon and Kerris approached the tiny projectile.
“Oh mother,” gasped Fallon.
“Oh no,” growled Kirin.
“Oh well,” grinned Kerris. “Guess we can all go home now.”
Kirin glared at him.
“That’s well past the edge of the earth, Kirin. Even our dear Kaidan hasn’t traveled that far, believe me. There’s nothing out there! Nothing. I’m afraid your Seer has had a little too much opium. I did warn you, didn’t I?”
“No,” growled the Captain once more, his tone darker, almost desperate. “No, Kerris. This must work. We must find this ‘Soul of a Tiger.’ We must.”
“Captain?”
It was Sherah, still kneeling very close to Sireth, studying his face with gleaming golden eyes. Kirin straightened up, putting hands to hips in frustration.
“What?”
She looked up at him, with a faint, crooked smile, made all the more exotic by the kohl-black streak along her cheek.
“Your Seer,” she looked back now, the smile growing wider, almost dazzling in its brightness. “Your Seer is singing.”
***
Kirin knelt forward.
It was true.
Eyes closed, hands still folded loosely in his lap, the seventh and last Seer of Sha’Hadin was indeed, singing.
But it was like no song he had ever heard before.
“He’s really quite terrible, isn’t he?” snickered Kerris. “Tell me, sidalady tigress, do all tigers sound that bad? I thought your people had the voices of angels.”
“Oh we do. Tigers are the best singers in the Kingdom. Why, almost all the famous poems and ballads are written for tigers. I think it has something to do with the stripes on our throats - makes us warble and trill like little birds. Want me to show you?”
“Thanks love. I think I’d need another sakeh.”
Kirin cast a quick glance at the Alchemist. She caught it and threw it back, her smile more dazzling than ever before. It was clear she was fascinated.
Finally, the Seer sighed.
“I can’t sing any more songs. If I have to sing one more song, I’ll go crazy. Well, maybe given my particular situation, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Okay, one more time, ‘Just sittin’ on the dock of the bay—”
“Hello?” said Kirin.
Sireth benAramis nearly jumped off the floor, sending both the Captain and the Alchemist scrabbling out of the way to keep from touching him. After a brief moment, he pulled his hand from his face, searching the room with unseeing eyes.
“Hello? Hello, is someone there?”
“We are here.”
“How long have you been there? Who are you? How do you do this?”
“Slowly, please,” said Kirin. “We know as little as you but we will try to answer your questions if you will try to answer some of ours.”
“I’m all ears.”
“What is your name?”
“You first.”
“My name is Kirin Wynegarde-Grey, Captain of the Imperial Guard.”
“Imperial?”
“Her Most Honoured Excellency, Thothloryn Parillaud Markova Wu, Twelfth Empress of the Fangxieng Dynasty, Matriarch of Pol’Lhasa, and Most Blessed Ruler of the Upper Kingdom.”
“Alrighty, then.”
“Now your name, sidi.”
“Dr. Jeffery Solomon,” said Sireth. “The stuff after my name isn’t nearly as impressive.”
“Solomon?” Fallon smiled. “Are you a king?”
The Seer’s head snapped up.
“Hey! Is that Fallon Waterford I hear? Scholar in the Court of the Empress?”
“Scholar in the Court of the Empress?” asked Kerris. “My, my, isn’t that a fancy title.”
She felt her cheeks grow hot.
Sireth was shaking his head, grinning. “Where are you people coming from, anyway?”
“From Pol’Lhasa in DharamShallah. And yourself?”
“Pol’Lhasa? Where in the world is Pol’Lhasa?”
“Please, sidi. It is important that you tell me where you are.”
“Why?”
“Because we would like to help you but we need to know how to find you. We need to know where you are.”
There was a brief pause. “I’m in a bunker, 20 k outside of Kandersteg, Switzerland.”
There was a longer pause. The Captain looked first to his brother, then to the Scholar. Both shrugged, baffled.
“Swisser-land?”
“Switzerland. Please don’t tell me you don’t know where that is.”
“I suppose then I won’t tell you, sidi.”
“Great. Just great.”
“This ‘Swisserland’, is it in the Upper Kingdom?”
“Upper Kingdom? You’re from Egypt then?”
“I am from Aegyp, sidi,” purred Sherah.
“Enough,” said Kirin. “Solomon, I must ask you more questions, but...”
His v
oice failed him as the realization struck like a cold wind. He was trying to find a man whose very finding would bring his death. It was dishonorable.
“How are you doing this?” said Solomon. “Are you using computer-links? Are you wired in to a Sat-com?”
“You are speaking through one of us, a man named Sireth benAramis. A Seer and Advisor to the Empress—”
“Seer? You mean like a telepath?”
“Your words are unfamiliar, sidi. These past two nights you have spoken and heard us speak through the soul of this man. Even now, his soul journeys to you to determine your exact location.”
“Wow. My very own psychic hotline.”
“In fact, he may be there, with you, at this very moment.”
***
mountains rushing up towards at blinding speed, falling like a shooting star, faster, the earth closer, closer still, earth passing through, snow and earth, soil dark and rich and brown, passing through, falling still deeper, metal passing through, beams of steel, slicing at his soul, wires, cords, altars, ground, shock of ground, quietness, quietness and a voice, a single voice in darkness, absolute darkness, blacker than a panther’s pelt, Shakuri? sleep, no -follow the voice,
follow it now
***
“Now? Here? That’s kind of eerie, if you ask me.”
“Say his name. I wish to know if he is there. Say it. Sireth benAramis.”
“Aramis? Like the Musketeer?”
“I don’t understand you, Solomon...”
“Never mind.” His unseeing eyes searched the Great Hall. “Hello? Sireth benAramis. Your Captain wants to know if you are anywhere around. Hello?”
There was a long pause, and he shrugged.
“Sorry, I have the feeling it’s just me and these creepy little animals down here - Ow!” He clasped a hand to his face.“Ow, dammit, something just poked me in the eye!”
A simultaneous cheer went up from Fallon and Kerris. Even Kirin could not help but smile.
“I believe it is you and the creepy animals and our Seer, sidi. Tell him to return at once but to map the area as he does so. We will be journeying into unknown territory and cannot rely on a steady quantity of opium to enable him to travel thus, very often.”
“Opium. I see...”
Kirin could not help but smile. “Tell him simply to return. He knows what to do.”
“Okay. Go home, Sireth benAramis and leave my eyes alone. I like seeing out of both them, thank you very much.”
Fallon squirmed closer.
“Are you a tiger, Solomon?”
“A tiger?” he laughed. “Hell no, I’m a Kiwi. Born and raised in New Zealand before I moved to California. That was before it fell off into the Pacific, of course. Then I moved to Boston, then Brussels. But, if you don’t know where Switzerland is, I’m betting you won’t have a clue about California, Boston or Brussels.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s alright. I guess things have changed since I went under. That was to be expected. I realize that, but this procedure has somehow gone wrong and I can’t get the computers up. There’s no light, no heat. At least there’s food even if it is just protein powder and vitamin squares. And the others... the others are all dead in their chambers. I think these rat-things havebreached the outer bunker but inside, well I’m not sure. All six and I...”
Now it was the one called Solomon’s turn to lose his voice, as a wave of despair crossed the Seer’s face. He dropped his head and Kirin felt a rush of panic. They could not lose the connection now, not when they had come so close, gone so far. He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath and waited.
***
too slow, much too slow, he had come too far, would never get back, sleep now, try later, no -faster, concentrate, the Inn at the Roof of the World, the room full of people, Path - her quick fleeting thoughts, the Captain an able anchor, reliable and worthy, the others, were there others? he couldn’t remember, fields of green and forests of dark trees streaking below, growing darker as he moved south and east, into the night, into the moon, too high, he was too high, clouds below, obscuring the Sight, a star pulling him higher, a star not a star, concentrate on the Inn, the Inn at the Roof of the World, soaring upwards soaring
***
“I’ll kill him!”
There was the clacking of bootheels as Major Ursa Laenskaya stormed down the stairs.
Kirin glanced up. “Hold your tongue, Major.”
She did not appear to hear. She brushed past the single leopard guard and snatched a dagger from her thigh.
“I said Hold!”
Still she came.
The Captain nodded and the guard darted forward to catch her slim white arm but she swung her fist into his temple and the leopard dropped like a stone.
“Major!”
“She’s not hearing you, Kirin!” shouted Kerris, “It’s the opium!”
Kirin was on his feet now, stepping forward to block the woman’s path. It was obvious she was not seeing him either, her pale eyes wide and glassy, every muscle in her body as taut as a steel cord.
She plowed into him like a small avalanche, literally forcing him backwards in his effort to contain her. Her fists flashed again, claws extended. Expertly, Kirin avoided them, snagging her wrists and using his greater weight to push her off balance. His foot lashed out, knocking her ankles out from underneath her but she pulled him down and they both hit the floor with a crash.
With a strength and skill heightened by opium, she drew her feet to her chest and sent sharp bootheels thudding into the Captain’s ribs. Pain exploded behind his eyes and before he could catch his breath, she was gone.
“Kerris!” He rolled onto his knees. “Kerris, see that she does not touch the Seer!”
The silver lion was already fully occupied in that very task, pulling chairs and benches into her path. Unmindful, she kicked them out of the way like kindling in her drug-induced quest. This ‘kindling’ was heavy, however, and one upturned bench sliced through the air toward the ashen map, threatening to obliterate the location of ‘Swisserland.’ Fallon dove for the coal as Ursa dove for the Seer.
Flame glinted off polished silver as Kerris grabbed her wrist before the dagger could find its mark, but like earlier, her free hand was lethal, slamming into his stomach like iron. The Captain tackled her from behind, and together, the three of them went down.
The heavy wooden bench hit the stone floor mere whiskers in front of Fallon’s face, smashing the coal to ashes, scattering the soot in a dustcloud. Helpless, the tigress glanced up and out of the corner of her eye, saw long speckled fingers reaching for the Seer’s cheek.
“Solomon, are you a wizard?”
“Sherah, no!”
She touched him.
Sireth’s head snapped up.
“An eye for an eye. A life for a life,” was all he said before falling forward into the Alchemist’s arms.
Suddenly, for a long, terrible moment, there was silence in the Inn at the Roof of the World.
***
like a boxkite with a snapped string, the spirit left him, and he began to drift, up up upwards, towards the star not a star, the Sight all but gone, clouds growing thin, dark, cold, the dying star not a star, he turned his soul to the star not a star but a dragon, a dragon of steel, a dying dragon with great fan wings and long segmented body and single eye, hovering just beneath the blanket of stars, watching the affairs of cats for years, more than years, years, he had been floating for years, too far, too long, dying
***
“No!”
With a roar of frustration, Kirin sent the heel of his palm into the Major’s temple and her struggles came to an abrupt end. He scrambled off her limp body, leaving Kerris to disentangle himself and was at the Seer’s side in an instant.
“What happened?”
“The connection severed. I caught him as he fell.”
Fallon’s eyes grew wide but no words came from her mouth. The Captain’s fingers found the spot on t
he throat where heart met soul and with a snarl, pulled the man out of her arms and onto the floor.
“Sireth, Sireth benAramis. Hear me.”
It was not a plea and more than command, rather a warning, a promise of dire consequence if it was not obeyed.
“Come back. Now. You have a duty. You are needed. Here. Now.”
There was no response.
“You must hear me. Now. You are almost home. You are almost here. You must finish what you started.”
He glanced up at his brother, at the Scholar and the Alchemist, all looking to him for direction, for a way out of this bleak and desolate place. It was up to him. It was always up to him. He nodded to himself, swallowing back the rising panic. Indeed, it was always up to him, for as always, he did know the way. It was inside of himself. Bushido.
With a deep breath, he slipped his hands around the Seer’s head, thumbs to temples, and closed his eyes.
“Sireth benAramis, come back. Here. Now. To the Inn at the Roof of the World.”
nothing
“Here you belong. Here with us. Here. Focus and find us. Find your way back to us.”
two hearts beating, but one soul, empty, cold
Another pair of hands on his, soft and slim and delicate, and without seeing, he knew it was the tigress. Her voice added to his.
“Come back here with us, Sireth. Find your way back. Please. We need you.”
Three pair of hands, grey ones now cupping them all. Kirin felt a wash of gratitude. Felt them feel it, as they united in hearts and souls and wills to bring the Seer home.
***
annoying, how annoying, like a child tugging on an adult’s tail, wanting attention, wanting to be heard, pulling him away from the dragon, annoying, ignore it, perhaps it will go away
***
“Come back. Here. Now. Here to the Inn at the Roof of the World. Now.”
Kirin felt an odd sensation, a stir of emotion, irritation perhaps? He clenched his eyes tighter, and continued.
The Way of Things: Upper Kingdom Boxed Set: Books 1, 2 and 3 in the Tails of the Upper Kingdom Page 21