‘If you did that, they'd send you away and never let you back. Anyway, monks have protection.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It's in some of the old stories. They developed devices to protect themselves.’
Lynella wished, yet again, that she had taken as much time as Maria to study all of the detail in the stories. After a few seconds she asked, ‘Do you think that's what's in the little wooden box on the table?’
Maria stood up to see the box. It was made of dark polished wood with a fine silver inlay and looked like some illustrations she had seen in the old books.
‘Yes, I think it might be. How about that! He certainly came prepared.’
‘What does it do?’
‘The stories aren't very clear, I don't think any of them were written by monks and nobody else seemed to know. They called the thing it set up, a protective aura.’
‘What? It protects him against anything I can do?’
‘Apparently it protects him against almost anything that gets thrown at him: your rings or even arrows and swords and things.’
‘So, there's nothing I can do to him at all?’
‘Nothing at all. Only the most powerful mages could overcome the auras.’
‘How did they overcome them if they couldn't get through them?’
‘They got inside them in some way, I think. Please don't try it. You'll only make things worse.’
‘No, don't worry. But I must ask the steward what he knows about it before I go.’ She smiled reassuringly at Maria and then turned to look more closely at the box.
‘Please don't,’ Maria repeated, but she knew it was pointless. As quietly as they could, Maria and those around her moved away.
Brother Andrew was not looking at Lynella but, as soon as she probed the box, he knew what was happening and turned to face her. Years of careful practice had enabled him to establish his delicate mind link to the intricate mechanism and the clumsy intrusion was very unpleasant. Immediately, he set up his defensive aura and everything around him stopped moving. A housefly near his head fell to the ground with its wings frozen. Lynella's probe was thrown out, very firmly.
‘I see that you can do more than I expected. You must learn not to do that. This will be one of the first lessons you learn, how to avoid intruding on other individuals.’
This comment to Lynella confused everyone else, so he explained, ‘Lynella was probing this device which I use for my defensive aura. It was a natural thing for an ignorant young girl to do and I have stopped her, but it emphasises the need for her training.’ He smiled patronisingly at Lynella. Comments were made about how they had at last found someone who could control her. Before anybody noticed, Lynella was standing wearing the jewel on her forehead. Brother Andrew turned to see her, alone at the far end of the room with the jewel already glowing gently.
‘Where did you get that from?’ He turned back to the others. ‘You never told me she could use a jewel.’
‘Do you challenge me?’ Lynella's voice sounded distant. She was standing motionless with her feet slightly apart and her hands by her side. After a long silence, Brother Andrew replied, ‘I don't want to challenge you. I want to help you.’
‘Then leave me alone! Leave me here!’
‘No, I can't do that. You need us, and we need you.’
‘What if I refuse to go?’
‘Then,’ he paused, ‘I must challenge you, but I warn you that you will hurt yourself.’
The jewel started to glow more brightly. Maria shouted, ‘Don't, Lynella!’
Some of the others at table started to move. As the glow increased, one of them stood up and moved towards the door. Others followed and fled in panic, leaving Lynella facing Brother Andrew across an almost empty room.
‘I have had over thirty years of practice at this,’ he warned. ‘Why fight me?’ Lynella scarcely heard him. She was blind to everything around her, except the mechanism in the box. Somehow, she was able to sense the power in it. She could not make out any detail but was just able to discern a point to focus on. She pictured it as one of the rings she had been practising on and pushed at it. It seemed to give slightly but then rebounded on her, causing searing pain. Brother Andrew spoke again, ‘There, you see. You can't get through it. Why make a scene? Why not just come?’
Lynella was swaying. The jewel was dull now. She felt her mind being drawn into the aura. This was quite different from projecting power into it. This was a form of captivity in which Brother Andrew's aura would control her power. It seemed easy; there would be nothing to worry about. As he took control, she was able to feel his personality; she had the sense of a good man working for something he believed in. This gave her confidence. It was something he believed in with a total, blind and overpowering faith. Then, at last, the realisation came to her. He was not here to help her. He was here because he needed her for the plan. She would become a tool, like the box on the table, in a plan she knew nothing about. She would never become a mage this way. She must fight before the trap closed.
She found pathways like those in the jewel. But each one followed an exact geometric route. There was nothing beautiful about it like the jewel, it was just a machine with a job to do. Its job was to store energy in rings that were set all around it and the energy it was storing was hers. The jewel was now dark. She found herself watching Brother Andrew was leaning over the device. Her hands felt cold, even the pain in her head felt cold. She sensed somebody walking towards her, reaching out to her and holding her. She saw Maria looking at her, trusting her, believing in her. Believing in her power, her future.
Brother Andrew was caught off guard. By the time Lynella regained consciousness, he was on his way back to the monastery. The guard had collected the ruins of his device.
6
‘I'm bored with this and I've still got a headache!’ Lynella's voice rang out across the Great Hall. ‘Every time that ship passes overhead, it gets worse.’
As she finished speaking, one a pair of fist sized iron rings resting on the table beside her flew up against the wall, sending shards of stone onto the floor. The old steward looked terrified. He had never seen her use her power like this before.
‘We're doing all we can, as fast as possible. Please be patient for a bit longer,’ he replied.
‘But how fast is ‘as fast as possible’? Why can't we just go and ask them to fly it somewhere else? I know all about what the compact says about going to the source, but nobody ever thought this would happen when they wrote it.’
The steward looked horrified. ‘Dear girl, after all that I have taught you!’
‘I insist that you summon the High Council to change the compact. I know how long it takes but we've got to do something.’
The meeting was at an end. He let her have the last word, and grabbed the large pitcher of wine with such speed that much of it spilled down his woollen cloak. He had thought that the heavy cloud would be enough to hide the castle and, if they found nothing, the aliens on the ship would get bored and go away. They were obviously not going, and he had no idea what to do. He drank the last of the wine, and wished for peace and quiet and a clear sky with no ships in it.
She walked out through the anterooms to the courtyard. The rooms were beautiful, and she had loved the way the sun came through the windows to light up the patterns on the rugs. But today there was no sunshine; everything was dim and overcast. Across the courtyard to the stables even the horses seemed agitated and her own, a powerful grey mare, was no exception. She fought to control the animal as they crossed the drawbridge, and then drove it forward as they galloped along the great road that went in a perfect straight line across the farmlands to the Northern keep, which would soon be visible at the edge of the forest. The wind in her hair made her feel better; the sound of the hooves beating on the flagstones drove away the pain from her head, but the clouds still oppressed her.
The Captain of the keep saw her coming and, knowing who it was, dusted off the chaff whi
ch always seemed to get on his tunic when he fed his chickens, and ran over to the stables. She would resent the escort that she had to have when she went to look at the crucibles near the source, but regulations were regulations so, as always, he would go.
The small party, the girl, the Captain, and his six men set out. He allowed Angus to take Lynella well to the front. They set a brisk pace as the road rose out of the valley, curving only slightly with the contours of the land. Now they were past the farmlands they were riding through a clearing, scarcely wider than the paved surface of the road. Quite suddenly, as they came close to the highest point, Angus stopped his horse, calling out to Lynella as he did so.
‘What is it?’ she asked, coming to a halt beside him.
‘I saw someone,’ he replied. ‘They ran into the forest.’
By this time, the others had caught up.
‘Probably just a traveller,’ the captain suggested, ‘scared of soldiers.’
‘Not looking like that.’ Angus turned to face them. ‘I managed to get quite a good look at him. His clothes were close fitting, smooth and neat looking. He looked like a city man. From a very strange city that is.’ He jumped down from his horse and ran ahead into the undergrowth.
‘Why are you hiding here waiting for us? Planning something, are you?’
Paul looked out from the thick fern where he was hiding to see Angus looming over him. Seeing the shoulder length hair and beard to match he knew in an instant that this man was not from the ship. He was holding an enormous sword, held high with a gleaming polished blade.
‘Stand up and come with me.’
He stood and stumbled out to the road.
‘Down there.’ Angus pointed with the sword.
Paul saw the group of horsemen. They wore leather tunics and all carried swords. But their swords were not drawn. They were staring at him and looked quite as shocked as he was. He stopped, and the man came up beside him, the big sword now held lower.
Two of the horsemen moved forward. Then he saw, one in the group behind was not a man, it was a girl, long blonde hair tied back at the base of her neck. Her tunic looked different, possibly woollen, belted at the waist with no scabbard hanging from it. She was slim and slightly built, much smaller than the men, but riding a massive horse, which made her seem to dominate the group.
‘I am the captain of the northern keep.’ One of the men in front of him leaned forward in his saddle to talk to Paul. ‘You have met my son Angus.’ He looked down at the big man with his sword drawn and then turned to the group behind him. ‘And this is the princess Lynella. What is your name?’
Paul looked up at him suddenly wondering what would happen if his name was reported back to the mission director. The captain was studying his dark blue uniform which felt slightly ridiculous on this road in the forest.
‘If you're innocent, you have nothing to fear. Tell me your name’
‘Perhaps he can't speak,’ Angus suggested.
‘Perhaps he's from the ship and doesn't speak our language,’ Lynella added.
‘The lady is right. I have come here on a ship’. He finally replied in an accent they seemed to struggle to follow. ‘My ship, the Atlanta, is in orbit around this planet.’
‘Ask him how he landed while the ship is still up there. Ask him why he speaks our language. Ask him why they came, and how many of them there are on the ship’ Lynella was still speaking when the Captain interrupted her to address Paul again. She turned sharply to look at him but showed a trace of a smile as he spoke.
‘So, what is your name?’
‘My name is Paul Evans.’ Something about these people made him want to be honest.
‘At least, ask him why the ship gives me a headache and how long they plan to stay.’
Paul couldn't help looking up and watching her move on her big horse as it pulled restlessly on its bridle. She was staring back at him. He wondered if he was the first person she had ever seen clean shaven with a regulation crew haircut.
The Captain spoke to Lynella; ‘We must take this man to the steward. We have many questions to ask him and he may have many to ask us.’ Turning to Paul, he said: ‘You must come with us and explain yourself to the steward of this kingdom.’ Lynella smiled.
Paul had not ridden a horse since childhood but managed to get his foot in the stirrup and pull himself up without loss of dignity. Once he was up they set out right away, he had little trouble persuading his mount to follow the rest.
The sun was setting as they came to the edge of the plain, stopping briefly at the keep to rest the horses. Then they rode fast along the road to the castle. With no moons and few nearby stars, the darkness on this planet came suddenly and blanketed everything. Faint pinpricks of light ahead were all they had to guide them, but still the soldiers drove the horses on, confidently finding the line of the road across the plain.
Flickering oil lamps hanging from the chains on either side of a drawbridge suddenly revealed a structure which appeared to be well maintained but seldom used. Entering the courtyard beyond they were met by men who helped him dismount and took the horses. The Captain spoke with one of them and hurried into the building ahead to announce their arrival.
Paul assumed that there would be a Great Hall and he was not disappointed. The room he was escorted into was beautifully decorated, and similar to some he had seen in old castles on earth. Oil paintings and an assortment of swords, spears and shields hung from the high walls. Above a fireplace in the wall facing him, the largest of the pictures showed a single man, apparently unarmed, facing a large green dragon rearing up on two of its six legs. There were many doorways to either side and from one of these an old man entered. Lynella smiled broadly and said, ‘This is Paul Evans from the ship. He’s here so you can explain to him why they have got to go away.’
The man smiled absently at her and turned to the Captain.
‘We think he really is from the ship, Sir. We found him by the road to the source. His clothing and accent seem very strange. He tried to hide from us.’
‘Oh, I see,’ the man replied. He looked at Paul carefully, ‘I am the steward of this kingdom. Please excuse the Princess and be welcome here. It is true that your ship has caused certain difficulties and we should discuss them later. We should be honoured if you would be our guest here for the night.’
Paul thanked him and accepted. Angus was assigned to show him to a room. They crossed to one of the doors. Its entire surface was metal; from the colour, he guessed it was copper or some form of brass. All of the upper half had been worked into a design which showed another dragon, this time confronted by a line of spears. Through the door, a corridor led to a flight of stairs. Along another short corridor at the top of the stairs, he was shown to a room. Once inside, he found it pleasant, if a little cold. A bed, table and chairs all looked to be of relatively familiar design but were once again all made of metal, albeit with generous leather and fabric upholstery. The door was closed behind him but opened almost immediately for a maid who lit the fire and apologised for not having it ready for him. She returned with a bowl of water but then stood transfixed when she saw him using the electric razor from his backpack.
He caught his elbow on the top of his pack and it suddenly fell over and his gun slid out onto the table with several clips of spare rounds. The maid took absolutely no notice and clearly had no idea what it was. He put it back, not wanting to even think about using it in this place.
Soon a footman came to escort him down to the dining room. Just two gold candelabra lit one end of a large table. The steward ushered him towards a chair next to Lynella.
‘Permit me to introduce the royal family of the Southern Kingdom. You have, of course, met the Princess Lynella. This is her mother. I am her great Uncle.’ Another girl, who seemed to be of similar age to Lynella, was not introduced.
After a moment of silence, Lynella's mother said a lengthy grace and they sat down. However, the other girl remained standing behind Lynella’s chair whe
re she remained virtually motionless and silent throughout the meal.
Lynella turned to him, ‘Now, tell us all about your ship and why you came here.’
‘Let the gentleman enjoy his meal without all of your questions,’ her mother scolded her.
‘Perhaps you could join me in my study afterwards?’ The steward continued, ‘and perhaps Lynella might like to join us and hear your account?’
At that point, servants entered with soup. Paul was relieved to identify carrot and other familiar vegetables in it as it was served into his plate from a tureen, both of which appeared to be made of solid gold. He turned to see Lynella looking at him and said, ‘It would spoil this excellent meal to tell you the whole story just now.’ This earned him an approving look from her mother. Having said it, however, he could think of nothing else to make conversation. They ate in silence as a tender roast, served with a strong red wine, followed the soup.
After the meal, the steward took Paul to his study, and they sat in comfortable chairs by the fire while he explained why Lynella had said that they had to go away. The area around the landing field was apparently known as the source. This was where a Great War had been fought and it was marked by a single standing stone at the centre and a ring of similar stones around the perimeter, and it was absolutely forbidden for anyone to go there. This was why it was essential that they should leave, if people went back to the source there would be wars again. The ship was, apparently, also upsetting the population even while it was in orbit and was not welcome.
The steward paused as a servant entered with fresh glasses and another bottle.
‘It seems that we are giving the Princess a headache. We certainly have no wish to do that,’ Paul said, remembering her remark from earlier and trying to lighten the mood. To his surprise, the steward took him absolutely seriously. ‘Yes, she has experienced severe pain since your ship arrived. That was how we first noticed you were there’
He made no attempt to explain this before carrying on with his original subject. He emphasised that the ship would have to leave as soon as possible but indicated that, now he knew that the crew was human, he would welcome it if a few of them decided to stay, especially those who knew how to fly it. Paul could not possibly imagine what use a knowledge of nuclear engineering would be on the planet but made no comment. He tried to give a brief account of the mission, ‘We have only come here to mine ores. We do not plan to stay or to disturb your lives here. We have chosen a site which is special because it has something called a magnetic field which will enable our ship to land. This will mean that we can load the ore faster than carrying it up in our shuttle craft, and will mean that we can get away quicker.’
Ringships Page 4