Finally, after a few more moments, Malory began easing out from under the table. He never took his eyes off Darian the entire time he was moving. Finally, Darian stood up and moved away from the table, and Malory eased himself to a standing position. He apparently had one question. "It would hurt you to kill me?" He hesitantly asked.
Sarian told him, "We would feel you die no matter how you died. We feel every death. Every death hurts if we have woven it to the soul-threads. And we cannot not weave, even if we wanted to," He looked disdainfully up and over at Darian, "Even the sorcerers are woven to us, despite this idiot’s protest."
Darian looked a little ashamed for a moment. "I would feel your death, and if you died by another's hands, I would avenge that death. If it were one of our own people, they would be cut off from the tapestry; I would burn their thread from the tapestry myself. That is what a fire-walker does. Then I would have to sentence them to death and carry out the sentence myself, young one. No one in this race will kill you and live. I would not kill you. No one in another race would kill you and live. We would track them to the ends of the planet and kill them. You are safe." This reassurance was a little spoiled by the "unfortunately" Sarian heard, but he felt pretty safe that that mutter came through his mind and not verbally.
He was more certain of it when he heard Kane start to choke as though trying to contain laughter. Darian must be really upset if he was mind-thinking so hard that it came through to both of them without effort.
They would deal with Darian later. The important thing right now was to get Malory to agree to let Darian access his memories. Sarian did not think that was going to be an easy task.
Gesturing to a chair, he told Malory, "Have a seat. You are, believe it or not—and contrary to the stories you have been told—you are in the safest place you could possibly be in in the entire world. We would protect you with our lives."
Malory looked at Sarian in disbelief.
Kane had stepped out of the meeting room and was just now walking back in. "Food will be here soon. We will probably all do better with something to eat. Patro should be gathering the scientists and other sorcerers. While we wait, Sarian, maybe you can explain to him," gesturing to Malory, "exactly what Darian needs to do to find the memory of the portal creation."
Sarian said, "I think it would be best to have it done before everyone arrives. Darian will need quiet, and the scientists are never quiet. Malory will want the privacy." Turning to Malory, he began to explain just what would happen when Darian accessed his memories.
Malory was not happy—he was scared—and now he was finding out that Darian would need to touch his head and delve into his memories to find the key to making a portal. If there was anywhere to go to hide, he would go. Sarian was supposed to be the one everyone called insane, but from where Malory sat, it seemed the crazy one was Darian. Sarian seemed to be quite calm. Maybe it was only when people messed with Merriam that Sarian went insane? Thinking about Merriam made Malory remember Bowser. Oh goddess, please don't let Sarian find out Bowser went into the portal.
Sarian was talking again, but Malory had missed what he was saying. Refocusing his attention, he found Sarian was still trying to reassure him about Darian and his memories. Realizing he really had no choice, he finally nodded his head.
Sarian looked relieved, as did Darian and Kane. Maybe it would not be so bad, Malory thought.
Chapter Thirty-two
Patro stepped out into chaos. The scientists were shouting and running around. Patro almost decided to step back to the meeting room. Before he could decide to do that, the scientists saw him, and nearly mobbed him. Patro had to throw a shield of ice around himself to keep space between him and the scientists. A couple of the scientists actually ran into the shield in their rush to get to Patro. He could not understand what was being said, so he finally shouted for silence, which he did not get. Goddess, he hated dealing with scientists when a new discovery was in the works. He decided that maybe if he just stood there with his arms crossed, looking at them across the shield, which he’d only made to hip-high, maybe they would finally fall to silence.
After standing there, just staring at them while they got louder and louder, he decided maybe it would not work. But finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the scientists began to fall silent. Once silence reigned in the room, Patro said, "The first one to talk will be banned from the portal. You will be silent until I am done—silent, completely silent. Do you understand? Just nod if you do." He looked around the massive room and estimated upwards of one hundred scientists were in the room, all nodding.
Nodding with them, he continued, "We just found out about the portal. As you may imagine, Darian is furious, and I am not really happy with any of you, either. But here is what is going to happen going forward—let me remind you, if you open your mouth, you will be banned from the portal—banned! Now, although all of you would fit in our meeting room for the meeting we are about to have, I am going to choose a select number of you. Any protest, and you will be banned." Looking around, he wondered how long it would be before they broke. Not long, he figured.
"Now, I want a show of hands: who in here is at least five thousand years old?" About one-fourth of the scientists raised their hands. "I want you to move over there," pointing to one side of the room.
Facing this older group, he then asked them, "Ok, now how many of you were in on the discovery of how to keep our city lit up at night?" Of the twenty-five or so scientists that had moved to that side of the room, four men and one woman raised their hands. Pointing at them, he said, "Wait outside the door."
He pointed to the door that led to the hallway. "Silently, remember—if I hear one word, you are banned." Turning back to the others, he guessed he had maybe seventy-five or so left in the majority. Looking around, he saw a few holding their hands over their mouths as if they were trying to keep words from coming out. He wanted to laugh. He saw that the ones he had moved to the side were starting to integrate back into the others, with disappointment on their faces. Pointing to them, he said, "No, stay there, I am not done with you."
Looking around the room, he then asked, "Show of hands: how many have not seen the portal?"
Looking around, he thought, Oh goddess, how did so many scientists keep it quiet for so many days? Counting, he saw six hands raised. Out of roughly one hundred people, only six had not seen the portal. Pointing at one, he asked, "Why?" The man looked confused; Patro said, "You may talk," glaring around the room, "but only you."
"They made a list, I was on the list to go tomorrow," Pointing at the others with their hands still raised, he said, "They were, too."
Patro was thinking hard. He needed the best minds on the planet on this problem, but he also needed to find new ideas. The scientists had had a few days to come up with ideas and had come up blank, so, deciding quickly, he pointed at the six and said, "Wait outside." Thinking to himself, he figured no more than fifteen would be ok. If they could not keep fifteen in line, plus eight sorcerers… no, maybe fifteen was too many. He had eleven at this point. Thinking hard, he turned to the oldest scientists. Pointing to one, he said, “If you could pick one person to work with, who would it be?
The woman looked at him for a moment, thinking, then said, "He is already outside." Patro nodded. "Okay, wait here."
Turning to walk to the door, he collapsed the shield, and turning back, he admonished, "Silently."
Once he walked out the door to where the eleven scientists were waiting, closing the door behind him, he asked, "If you could have anyone working on the portal with you, whom would you choose? Think carefully; I am only choosing four more to go with me. Huddle up and agree on four more people."
After a few minutes, the scientists had come to a tentative agreement, and offered their suggestions. Patro felt like hitting his head on the wall a few times. I told the scientists four people, and they offer ten names. Apparently scientists can not count, he thought. Unknown to him, he was repeating the sam
e conclusion the sorcerers had already reached. Shaking his head, he said, "I may have made a mistake on choosing you eleven, since you cannot count."
The scientists all got looks of shock on their faces and began to shuffle their feet. "Can we uh, talk again? We can get it down to four, we can." One of the scientists begged.
Looking at them, he said, "Last chance."
Huddling up again, the scientists finally came back with four names. Patro winced when he heard the name Gragen, but shrugging in resignation, he turned and opened the door. Standing at the door, he asked for the four scientists whose names he had been given. As soon as the four made it to the door, all chaos again broke out in the room as the scientists left behind began to shout. Looking at them, he shouted, "Banned, all of you are banned until further notice. I did not even get to finish what I was going to say. And now I will not say it to you." Looking at Gragen, he said, "Get their names and put them on a list. I do not want any of them around the portal. I will choose others when the time comes to bring others into this."
The looks of shock and disbelief on the faces left in the room made him want to laugh. "I did warn you." Strolling down the hall a little piece, he then leaned against the wall and waited until Gragen came back out with a list of names. Looking at Gragen, he said, "If you left one name off that list, it will only take one name, I will ban you, too." Almost before he finished talking, Gragen was furiously writing names on the list. Patro silently laughed to himself as he watched him. Blasted scientists, could not trust them with new discoveries.
Once he was finished writing, Patro looked around at the fifteen men and women waiting on him. "We are going to go to our meeting room, and we will walk there, no stepping. By the time we get there, maybe we will have the answers we need from Malory." Turning, he started the long walk to the Atrium, where they would then proceed to the government halls and to the meeting room. Patro figured that should give the others plenty of time to get the answers from Malory.
Chapter Thirty-three
A few moments later, Malory was huddled under the table again, watching Darian go insane. Darian was definitely the insane one of the leaders. He was hurling fireballs at Sarian, who was dodging them, and in turn creating shadows and disappearing and then reappearing, usually close enough to hit Darian before he moved again. Malory was trying to figure out how to get out the door. He was also trying to figure out what had set Darian off. Everything was going well—for a few seconds. Darian had initially been really calm when he placed his hands on Malory’s head, and closed his eyes telling him, "Just concentrate on the portal." The next thing he knew, Darian had jumped backwards with a look of hatred on his face before facing Sarian, and just—just—well, he went insane.
Kane was standing with his mouth gaping open, trying to figure out what set Darian off. All Darian kept screaming was, "You knew, you shadow-spawned demon!" Kane had no idea what it was that Sarian supposedly knew. Whatever it was, it had just set Darian off, and, looking down, sent Malory scurrying under the table again. This was like a circus.
Finally, Kane sighed a long-suffering sigh and concentrated on surrounding Darian with a wall of ice. It would not last long, but maybe he could find out what was going on before Darian melted the ice. Seeing a wall of fire surrounding Darian, Kane realized he may have underestimated the situation. Looked like I had less time than I thought. Mentally shouting to Darian, Kane demanded to know what was going on. Darian was too lost in a rage to listen, but his shouts had alerted Patro, and, uh oh, all the dragons. Kane grabbed Malory from under the table and yanked him out. Taking a step, he stepped them both to the doors outside the portal room, where he could feel Sarian and Darian's dragons.
Kane looked at Malory, and resting his head on Kirrilla's front leg, he took a few deep breaths. Lifting his head, he said, "Young one, I do not know what was in your memories, but you need to start talking. What could you have in your memories that would have set Darian off so badly? Darian only loses his mind so badly when it involves Merriam. What do you know about Merriam?" Kane had not released his hold on Malory.
Malory was shaking with fear, "It was not my fault, Gragen did it!"
Kane shook Malory, "What was it Gragen did, you idiot?"
Malory started crying again and explained what had happened with Bowser. Hearing the tale, all Kane could say was, "Oh shadows, that is not the story Sarian told us."
"Ok, we can fix this, we can, we can fix this."
Kane, I can read his memories, if you will help us do the blood share. We can go to the Watchers’ Tower and use a memory stone. We need him to share his blood with the stone then we will have a bond to his memories. We don't need Darian, Irirnan said softly in his mind.
Kane looked up in surprise at Irirnan. “I thought that only worked with your bonded rider?”
Normally we only share memories with our bond riders, but that does not mean we do not share memories with others. We need to hurry, though; Darian will be looking for the young one soon. Come, meet us at the tower. With that surprising news, Irirnan turned, and with Kirrilla, left the building.
Kane looked at Malory, and shaking his head, told him, "Time to take a trip—we are going to the Watchers’ Tower. You will share your memories with the dragons, and they will in turn tell us what we need to know." Before he was finished, Malory was already shaking his head.
Kane looked at him, "It’s either the dragons, or Darian."
Given that choice, Malory squared his shoulders in a false show of bravery, "The dragons, sir." Glancing fearfully around, he asked, "Can we go now?"
Kane, having never released his arm, stepped forward and stepped them both to the Watchers’ Tower. Few people had ever seen the Watchers’ Tower, and Malory was awed at what he was seeing. The tower was huge, and seemed to pulse. Malory tilted his head to the side; it seemed to pulse like the portal, but not exactly the same. It was like it had a heartbeat.
"Look, but don't touch. It will be a while before the dragons get here." Hearing wingbeats, he clarified. "It will be a while before Irirnan gets here." As he motioned to the dragon landing beside them, he proudly told Malory, "This is Jade."
As Jade nuzzled Kane, she mind-spoke, What has the idiot done now? We heard your screams in our minds; we know he and Sarian are still fighting, but Irirnan only says he will tell us later what happened.
Kane filled his beautiful green dragon in on what had happened with Merriam and Bowser, and Darian's attempt to read Malory's mind. Turning to introduce Jade to Malory, he found Malory had moved a little away and was staring at the tower. Getting Malory's attention, he introduced him to Jade.
After a while of the three of them standing there in silence, he could see specks in the sky that he knew would be Irirnan and Kirrilla. After they landed, Irirnan sent Kane to the tower to request a small memory stone, and had Kane set it up on the ritual stones. By this time, they had gathered a small audience of dragons and watchers. A memory ritual with anyone but the Lyra, watchers, or dragons was unheard of in Kane’s mind. It had never happened in Kane's memory, but apparently the watchers and dragons, having access to all the memories of their race, knew what they were doing. He would have been surprised to find that they did not in fact know what they were doing. They were only just beginning to figure out how to use the memory stones. They had not yet figured out how to access all the memories in the tower.
Kane explained to Malory that he would need to make a small cut on his hand and drip his blood onto the stone, after which the dragon would hold the stone, and through the blood, connect with Malory. Then they began the ritual.
While this was happening, Kane asked Jade, why doesn't Irirnan bleed onto the stone? I thought the blood of the dragon was needed also.
No, Kane, we do that to bond with our riders., This is a different bond. We bonded through blood and memories with you, but Irirnan only needs the memories, not the blood bond.
As soon as Irirnan grasped the stone, he was able to talk to Malory. Eve
ryone knew the moment it happened, because Malory jumped and started looking around, trying to find the voice. After a moment, he seemed to calm down, and closed his eyes.
Quite a long while later, Irirnan opened his eyes, and talking to Kane, said, Tell the watchers to add the stone to the tower. Its memories will become our memories. I need to talk to the others. We know how to make the portals now; return Malory to his home. As soon as he finished, he and all the other dragons took flight, leaving Kane and the others standing on the plain at the foot of the tower, watching them.
Turning to Malory, he said, "Come young one, I am going to take you to a safe place. I will take you to my home. If I take you to your home, which is Central, I imagine, you will be too easy for Darian to find. This stunt with Merriam, even though it is not your fault, has not gone over well with Darian. He lost his mother to sorcerers; to find his daughter was that close to an untested portal, well, it may be a while before we can calm him down." Grabbing Malory's arm, he stepped them to his home.
Introducing Malory to his household, he told them to guard him with their lives, feed him, and make sure he was put in the blue room for the remainder of his stay. Leaving Malory in the safety of his home, he bowed his head and, asking the goddess of shadows for patience and strength, he returned to the meeting room at Central.
Chapter Thirty-four
Kane appeared in the meeting room just as Patro walked in the door with the scientists. Looking around, he saw that Darian and Sarian were sitting in their chairs, not talking. Darian was glaring at Sarian. He asked Patro, "Where are the sorcerers?"
Patro looked at him, "Oops?"
Kane shook his head and said, "Oops is not the right answer. Sarian, you got this? We gotta go get the sorcerers."
Sarian just waved him off.
Nodding to Patro to follow, they both stepped out of the room to the sorcerers’ wing, landing right outside the portal room doors. It did not take long to find the sorcerers, who had taken up residence in the room across the hall from the portal room, watching the doors.
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