The Namura Stone

by Andrews, Gillian

  “Oh. Right. Can we go now, then?” Six was tired of all the posturing.

  Arcan seemed amused. “Soon, Six.” He turned back to the Dessites, always taking care to speak through Exemphendiss, rather than directly to the council or its president, clearly making an effort to hide his distrust and distaste for the species. “You have been included in the Obellium dictio, so we advise you to block all mental contact with the Ammonites. They are extremely strong when they are in the astrand and can cause much damage.”

  The prognosticator seemed to grow even taller. “They cannot travel to Dessia physically, and we are more than a match for them mentally. We are not afraid of a few hundred wisps of mind.”

  “You must protect yourselves. If they succeed in finding a mental link, and are able to reach Dessia with the astrand, they will attack you. Like you, they are also able to manipulate other races.”

  “There are too many of us for them to try that on us. And they might get a little more than they bargained for.”

  “Then our agreement holds?”

  The prognosticator exchanged impressions silently with the rest of the council. “It does.”

  “I will return you to Dessia.”

  “That is acceptable.”

  “Remember that my ambassadors, or curators, may not be harmed in any way. If they are then all pacts will be invalidated, and you will be isolated.”

  “We shall remember.”

  Much to Six’s relief, the greens and mauves of the Eye of Enara vanished, and he and Ledin found themselves back on Xiantha, beside the Emerald Lake.

  THEY MADE THEIR way exhaustedly along the path which led to Ledin and Grace’s house. There were welcoming lights in the windows, and they pushed inside together, laughing and happy to have finally reached home.

  “Talking about sea cucumbers …” Ledin pushed open the door of his home, “… did you ever have to eat the berries of the mountain palmetto?”

  “Did I ever!” Six shuddered. “Sacras! That has to be the worst taste in the universe, doesn’t it? But if you can keep them down, they will tide you over for a few days, won’t they?”

  Ledin looked rueful. “A few weeks, sometimes. I think you must have been better at looking after your sisters than I was with mine.”

  “We were lucky. We found that old abandoned house, and there were fruit trees nearby. It has always amazed me that we were left alone there. It was the perfect retreat, although I was continually worried that somebody else would come across it too, and we would have to leave. It took us a few years to find it, but once we did things got a lot better.”

  “Yes. You were lucky. I never found anywhere we could be safe. We were always on the move, always cold, always fearful.”

  “That was life on the old Kwaide. What is it like now?”

  Ledin tilted his head. “Quite good, really. The Elders are still giving us a bit of bother, but life has improved enormously for the no-names and even the sycophants. Cimma is doing a great job at the combat training, and the university is starting to give results. New Kwaide can actually hold its own technologically, now, you know.”

  They were so busy talking that the sound in the background took a long time to filter through to them. Then Ledin frowned. That sound was familiar to him; but there was something wrong. It was a sound he associated with the past, somehow. It was out of place at this moment of time.

  He had been about to expand on Kwaide’s new technology, but now he paused, mouth open, eyes puzzled, trying to put his finger on what was different.

  Six saw this and became aware at the same time that he, too, was hearing a sound which shouldn’t be present. It was there, at the back of his mind. A repetitive, mewling sound.

  They both realized at the same time what that sound meant, whirling around to stare towards the seating area.

  Grace was sitting in the most comfortable chair, propped up, but with a small bundle in her hands.

  “Took you two long enough to figure it out,” she said, with one of her slow, sweet smiles. “I’d like you to meet Ashuaia, our new daughter.” She and Ledin looked at each other. It was a special moment, full of complicity.

  He put his head on one side, listening to the low, comforting, whistle of the wind, outside. “You named her after the ashuaiana winds, the ones that bring the warm summer days on Xiantha. I like that.”

  “She came early. I suppose the actions of the Enarans brought on labour. She is fine, though during the birth I was worried, because of everything that had just happened. The sound of the wind kept me company. It made me think of halcyon days: of sunlight and blue sky. When I saw she was healthy, it seemed a good name.”

  They nodded in agreement and moved over to her to examine the baby, who was quite beautiful. Six clapped Ledin on the back.

  “Congratulations. Now there will be two women in the house to tell you what to do!”

  Ledin nodded. “Won’t know a moment’s peace from now on!” Then he looked worried, thinking back to other, less happy times. “Are you all right, Gracie?”

  She nodded. “Lannie helped me, and it was an easy birth, luckily, so we were fine.”

  “I wanted to be here.”

  “I know. You were here, in a way.”

  They gazed at each other, and Six felt a sudden moment of intense loneliness. He looked away, trying not to show his feelings, but Grace noticed the change in his face immediately.

  “Sorry, Six.”

  “Sorry about what?” He made his face smile. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I am very happy for both of you.”

  “I know you are. How is Diva?”

  They sat down to tell her everything that had happened, and her eyes got wider and wider as they did.

  “So now the Dessites are our allies? How strange, no? But, will Diva be all right?”

  When they had both reassured her on this, she relaxed, and handed the baby over to its father. Ledin looked down at his newly-born baby daughter and then grinned over at Six. “Two against fifty,” he said. “I’m catching up.”

  Six thought of being buried in sand by fifty-two children and gave another shudder. “I should stop while you are still ahead,” he said. Then he punched Ledin on the arm, and they touched knuckles. “Way to go!”

  But both the Kwaidians looked grave as Grace recounted what she knew of the events on the beach. Six gave her a brief hug. “Are you all right? I know you were terrified of being taken over again.”

  She exhaled rather shakily. “It … it has been a bit of a long day.”

  Six grinned. “A bit of an understatement! —Never mind, Grace. You got through it. Well done!”

  She nodded. “We have Tallen and Lannie and the children to thank for it.”

  “Yes.” Six looked thoughtful. “We were lucky there. And it was brave of Quenna to try to overcome her fear of heights.”

  Grace nodded. “They were all so good, so quick to act. But Bennel is finding it hard to assimilate that he tried to kill Tallen. In a sense, seeing his struggle to overcome the indignity is helping me to accept my own. Luckily Raven and Temar are too young to realize what happened. I don’t think they will even remember it.”

  “Hopefully, they won’t. They need to have a happy childhood, not one worrying about whether their minds can be taken over by the Enarans. Though I think Diva’s attack will make the Ammonites realize that it can be a two-edged sword. She broke up the astrand by using second sound, you know. They may not be so keen to do it again for a while.”

  Grace’s face shadowed. “It will always be my worst nightmare. It is such a horrid, horrid experience.”

  Six felt inadequate. There was nothing he could say to make her feel any better. He got up and gripped her shoulder. He could understand what she had been through, especially knowing in advance
that it was going to happen again.

  “I will leave you to it, then. I’ll see if Tallen’s leg is bothering him, and I want to check on those cuts and abrasions you say Raven has.”

  “Don’t forget to see Bennel, too!” Grace added. “—And his family!”

  “I won’t. Then Arcan has promised to take me over to Pictoria in a shuttle. I … I … need to see Diva too. I … I have to find out if she is all right. Look after Grace, won’t you, Ledin?”

  Ledin smiled down at his wife. “Always.”

  Chapter 24

  SIX STEPPED DOWN into the cavern of ortholiquid on Pictoria fully expecting to find his wife waiting for him, recovered from her injuries. After all, that was what the ortholiquid did, wasn’t it? But there was no sign of any of the morphics.

  He shouted, but no-one came.

  A cold feeling began to take over his stomach. He knew that something was wildly wrong; he could feel it in his bones.

  “Diva? DIVA? DIVA!”

  The call echoed around the huge cavern and was returned to him with ever-diminishing volume. ‘DIVA! DIVA! DIVA! DIVA! DIVA!’

  Nothing happened. Six turned towards the ortholake, ignoring a few amorphs which were scattered around the floor of the cavern. If they were not on the shore, then they must be inside the ortholiquid itself. That was the only thing that made sense. But he knew it was not a good sign. Diva would have come, if she had been able to. She would never keep him waiting, worrying like this.

  He flung himself into the ortholiquid, using his hands to speed his progress towards the central column. That didn’t go too well, either – the lack of viscosity meant that his hands swept through the liquid in a very strange way.

  Soon, he was swimming towards the centre of the lake. His eyes darted from side to side. They must be here somewhere. She must be here somewhere.

  But he had seen no sign of them by the time he reached the central column. He came to a halt and put one hand on the rock, which poured down from the dipping ceiling of the dome rather as though one huge inverted candle had been fused to another, upright, one. He trod ortholiquid, by now terrified at the thought of what had happened to Diva.

  The only thing he could think of to do was to feel his way around the central rock, gradually letting himself slide out of the lighter part of the cavern and into the darkest zone.

  Which is where he found them.

  The visitor saw him first. The bimorph moved over immediately to hover above his head.

  “I am sorry, Six. We hadn’t heard your arrival. You see … that is…” He couldn’t go on.

  “Diva …?”

  The bimorph flickered. “She … I … I am afraid that she is not healing.”

  “What in Sacras do you mean, not healing?” Six demanded, his blood thudding disconcertingly in his veins. “The ortholiquid is healing her. You said it would.”

  The visitor prickled at that. “Well it isn’t. And she has lost a lot of energy. Her life is draining away.”

  Six tried to push him out of the way. “Let me see her!”

  “You won’t be able to help. Nobody can. I am sorry.”

  Six stared at him. “You can’t mean …? No, that can’t be! She … she was fine … she just had pains in her imaginary legs! How can that kill her? That one neuron of yours must have fried itself! You aren’t making any sense!”

  The visitor spun. “We don’t understand it either, Six. It seems that what she perceives as blood loss is really a seeping of her vital energy. She has lost so much already that she will not be a viable being for much longer. We have been with her, and the ortholiquid doesn’t seem able to cure this. If anything, the loss is becoming greater. There is no way we can stem it. We have tried everything.”

  “What about Vion? Maybe he could do something!” But Six knew that was impossible. Even if they did bring Vion over, if they did tell him that Diva had not died in the explosion, how could he know how to treat a morphic? It was a stupid suggestion. “Oh, all right, don’t answer that!”

  “Six?” The touch on his mind was feeble, quavery.

  “Diva! I’m here! What can I do?”

  “Nothing. I’m afraid I was not meant to be a morphic for long. I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault. Is it very bad?”

  He felt her answer in his head, and his fingers dug into his palms. It was about as bad as it could get.

  Diva tried to dissimulate. “I don’t think I would mind, except … except this pain is wearing me down.”

  “I will get Arcan. Perhaps he could do something. Or the canths. Have you thought of asking them for help?”

  She hadn’t; he could feel her surprise at the idea. Then there was a small pause. Something had occurred to her. A new determination crept into the absolute exhaustion he sensed in front of him.

  “I must go over to Xiantha, before it is too late,” she said slowly. “I have to tell them about the astrand. I have to show them how to become one themselves. If anything h-happens to … to me … that knowledge would be lost. And it … it must be important.”

  “You think the canths can form an astrand too?”

  “I am sure they can. After all, the lost animas and the Ammonites have the same origins, don’t they?”

  “Ye-s, but that doesn’t mean they can do exactly the same things, does it?”

  “I saw how the Ammonites slotted into their astrand when I was on Enara. I knew then that I had to show the canths how to do it. If I wait much longer I will be too weak to go.”

  “Then we will all go over to the canth farm,” said the visitor. He didn’t like what he was hearing, but the logic could not be refuted. “I am sure the canth keeper will make us welcome.”

  “You and the trimorphs will have to help me. I am not fit enough for quantum travel. You will have to carry me. My waveform is rigid.”

  “Then we must go now. If we wait …” There was no need for the visitor to finish that sentence. Diva knew what he had been going to say. She would not last very much longer.

  Diva hesitated. “What do you think, Six?” She had been trying to hide from him how very weak and worn out she was by this continual pain, but she knew that she was losing that battle too. She could feel his own desperation. There was no longer anything to hide. She owed that to him.

  “He doesn’t know … won’t be able to accept …” The visitor sounded as though he doubted Six’s capacity.

  “Of course he knows, Visitor. He will accept it. He will have to.”

  “Accept what?” Six held his hands open. “What will I have to accept?”

  The visitor darkened. “—That Diva is dying. Even the ortholiquid is unable to stop what she perceives as haemorrhages and we perceive as involuntary emission of energy. It is killing her.”

  “She is NOT dying!” Diva managed a weak smile to herself as Six proved the visitor right.

  The visitor spun sadly. “I am afraid she is. We have known it since we arrived on Pictoria.”

  “—And she wants to go to help the canths? The journey is too much. It will kill her!”

  Diva sighed. “I have to go to the canths. I can’t die without passing on what I learned from the Enarans. They can make an astrand. I saw how they could do it. They have to know how to do that, or the Enarans will always be stronger than they are.” The effort of talking so much left her breathless; she had to stop.

  “But another journey might be the end of you.”

  Diva closed her eyes as another wave of pain washed over her. “I am dead anyway, Six. The ortholiquid can’t cure me.”

  “NO! Don’t say that! You must get better.”

  “I have been trying. But there is nothing it can do. The wounds are too deep; it cannot stem the blood.”

  Six looked at her for a long
time. When he did speak it was in a hollow tone, one which sounded like somebody else. “I shall come too.”

  The visitor gave a low hum, a sign that he was about to disagree.

  Diva’s voice broke over the sound. “Of course you are coming, Six.” She managed a wan smile. “I wouldn’t go anywhere without you. Not now.”

  The visitor gave something suspiciously like a sniff. “He and the canth keeper can help watch over the canths. If what you tell me is true, they will also be vulnerable if they form an astrand.”

  “Yes. There is that, too.” But Diva was looking at Six. She wasn’t going to die again apart from him. Not this time. Not on Xiantha. She could sense the same determination in him, as well. He would stay with her, to the bitter end. They hadn’t had that last time. They would, this.

  For once, Six felt sorry for the bimorph. After all, what could a few strands of consciousness know about staying beside your own wife? He looked across at Diva.

  “When will you leave?”

  She knew what he was asking. Would he have time to get to Xiantha himself? She answered the question he hadn’t asked. “You will have time, Six. We will see you there.”

  WHEN THE MORPHICS arrived at the canth farm, the man who spoke to canths stared up at four shapes which hovered in front of him. Six had arrived only moments before. Both Tallen and Bennel were standing beside him, ready to take whatever action might be necessary. Arcan had dropped them all off, and was standing to one side himself. Grace was still weak after giving birth, so distraught at Six’s news that Ledin had not wanted to leave her alone. She had begged to be taken to the canth farm by magsled, but they all knew that there was nothing she could have done, and her husband had shaken his head firmly. He and Six had exchanged meaningful glances. Six had given Grace a fierce hug.

  “I will come as soon as I can. You have to take care of Ashuaia. Will you two keep an eye on Raven, please? Lannie is there, but you know how prone she is to get into trouble when I am away.”