With some formality he holds it out to me. He knows that the firehorns are mine, like the skulks are now his. The tiny firehorn blinks out of existence, causing him to stare at the empty space it leaves with a certain amount of confusion.
For some silly reason, tears have come to my eyes. I try to blink them away.
Torch sees them. He remains silent, but he gives a reassuring smile.
Ammeline is still hugging Koban. Still. They must really like each other. They are ignoring everybody else. They have forgotten we came here for a reason, not to kiss people. Vannis is already explaining about the firehorns to Jethran. I walk over to them.
Jethran gives me a hug. “Well done! Do you realize ... this means it wasn’t all pointless! We can ... we can do something to put everything right!”
I shrug. “I hope so. We just don’t know what, yet.”
“Bah! It will all become apparent soon. Early days. So,” —he mashes his hands together— “what do you need?”
I can’t see the Scoriats, or Karith. I ask him about them.
“Karith is just over there.” He points over his shoulder at the entrance to a small cave. “She is a little better, thank you. The Scoriats are together in a different cave. We take them food and water twice a day. All of them are wounded. They will not try to go anywhere. Not yet, anyway.”
“Say hello from me.”
“I will. Now, how much do you need?”
I tell him. “Do you want to come back with us?”
He shakes his head. “No. Torch and Rannyl won’t come, because of the skulks and the argents. We need them to keep bringing us food and water. And we shouldn’t take the Scoriat prisoners down there, not if Kelfor is such an important place to the ... firehorns ... did you call them?”
Vannis is glowering in Koban’s direction. “What about him?”
“No. That was decided before. So it is really only Karith and I, and I don’t think I should leave Torch and Rannyl unprotected, do you?”
Vannis is still looking at Koban. “Definitely not.”
“I could send Karith down with you, but I am not sure she would go.”
Ammeline is staring at Vannis. “If Koban has to stay here, I am staying too.”
“You can’t.”
She freezes. “I’m not going to let you tell me what I can and can’t do, so you’d better keep quiet!”
Vannis steps toward her, only to find his way quietly blocked by Koban. The two men circle each other.
I push in between them. “Stop it!” I try to force them apart. “Let her stay!”
Koban stops. After a few seconds, so does Vannis.
I go on. “We can come up and down every day, once I figure out how all this works. Don’t you understand? It doesn’t matter.”
Vannis is struck by this. “Perhaps I should stay here tonight?” he suggests. “So both Karith and Jethran can go down to Kelfor?”
It is Jethran’s turn to look askance. He is clearly surprised by Vannis’s offering to do anything. I want to tell him that Vannis seems sincere now, but I am not that convinced.
Jethran looks toward the cave where his wife is lying. “Not today, I think. But, thank you, Vannis. It is ... err ... nice ... of you to offer. I appreciate it.”
Vannis nods. “Very well. We will come back tomorrow. Perhaps we will have thought up some kind of plan by then. Are you sure you want to stay, Ammeline?”
She nods. “I am never going to leave Koban again.” They are holding hands now. “And I hate that place. I want to stay here, where there is sun and air.”
“All right. But you two can help to pile up some supplies into a few carricks. I see Jethran and Koban have brought them over. We could use some down in the chasm.”
It is only a question of minutes. We soon have seven carricks, each piled on the other. In the top one we have placed as much water as we can and almost all of the roots that the skulks have managed to come up with in what is little more than desert. It is enough.
Torch nods at us as we get ready to leave. He looks happy. I am glad he liked the trip I was able to give him. Lupo is standing at his side. Torch’s hanging fingers just reach the top of his pelt. Tears come back into my eyes. I know how he will be missing the other skulks. Torch makes an unearthly sound, as if to acknowledge my pain and thank me for it, but it is not as sad as I would have thought. Perhaps he understands death better than I do.
Life goes on. No, really, it does. I have discovered that. My mother is gone, but my life goes on. Like firehorns, we blink in and out of existence in a moment.
Vannis and I face each other, making a cradle of our hands and arms. Jethran and Koban place the carricks onto the cradle. The firehorns gradually begin to slide over to Vannis. He looks strange covered in such a mantle. I suppose I do too.
I think of the tree branch, and we are back there. I push at the firehorns mentally to make them leave me. They hang back, like they did with Torch. I wonder if it is a sign that they like me. I hope that it is.
Almost as soon as we get back, Kalyka runs toward us. She ignores Vannis and the others to tug at my arm.
“Hey, Remeny. You need to see this.”
Kalyka is pulling me to the other side of the cave entrance. She waves at Linnith to join us.
There, nearly hidden behind the opening, where the steps cut in the vitrified wall lead up to the Forest of Flame, there is one more plaque, surrounded by remnants of a broken sphere. We missed it before because it is almost completely covered in grime. I wipe away some dust, to be able to read what it says.
‘Fortiter in re. Et non sequitor. Sanctus nunc occultatum est. Hoc sacrificium populi veneramus.’
I look at Linnith. First, she frowns, then she looks shocked, then her eyes sadden. Her mouth turns grim.
“What does it say?”
She hesitates.
“Come on, Linnith. Tell us!” All the others have come over now and Vannis is tired of waiting.
She glares. “If you must know, it says ‘Resolute in execution. You shall not follow. Our sanctuary is now hidden. We honor the sacrifice of the people.’”
The words fall into a sudden silence. We all hear them.
They rumble around in my brain, sounding hollow to me. Why? What does it mean?
When I realize, it is with a deluge of cold apprehension. So they didn’t choose Dapsil, after all. They destroyed the image of the planet they chose. We cannot find where the rest of the Inmuri went. Because we were never supposed to follow! We were supposed to sacrifice our lives for theirs.
I begin to laugh. All this has been a mistake. We have failed in the one thing they left us to do ... die for them without revealing Kelfor to the Raths or the Scoriats. How ironic is that? Everything we have been fighting for – this whole quest – has been because we forgot to remember we were supposed to die.
For them.
And we can never find them, because they have destroyed the stone that represented their final planet. Just in case. Just in case we betrayed their trust and came this far.
Just in case we were traitors.
Which we are.
I can’t stop laughing. I clutch at my stomach and roll over on the vitrified floor. Tears are streaming out of my eyes. I begin to hiccup.
Furian strides over and hits me firmly around the face. “Remeny! Pull yourself together!”
“But ...”
“Yes.” His expression is flinty. “I have realized what it means.”
Vannis is looking confused. “I don’t ... I am not sure I ...”
Zivan grins in his direction. “We were never supposed to come here. We are the ones they left to die. We are the ones who were supposed to sacrifice themselves. Only, so many generations have passed that we forgot.”
It is Vannis’s turn to smile. Rueful, but a smile all the same. “You mean ... We can never find them? They are gone for good? They never meant to come back?”
I start laughing again. “Never!”
It wo
uld have been so much easier if we had just jumped ceremoniously off the cliff and into the Nyka diamond mine. En masse, like lemmings. A neat final solution to all our problems. Everything has been for nothing. We have risked the firehorns for nothing. We will never be able to join the rest of the Inmuri population.
Now I am crying. Something strange is happening to me. I don’t seem able to control any of my emotions. This is ridiculous.
All that sacrifice. All for nothing. No wonder the timeworn never let us come to Kelfor before. We were never meant to. Their job was to prevent such a thing. I wonder what Azrial and Thurifer would have made of that. Or Fimbrian. Or my mother.
Kalyka is looking confused. “What does that mean? For the future.”
I shake my head. “No idea. I guess we need to discuss it. I thought that Kelfor would be an ending, but it may only be a beginning.”
Furian inclines his head. “We need to decide things democratically.”
Vannis glares. “The timeworn are still the leaders of the Inmuri. There can be no reason to change that.”
“‘Sanctus nunc occultatem est’, Vannis. The sanctuary is now hidden. Don’t you understand? Our ancestors were their sacrifice. We are the sacrifice they left behind. You can’t seriously expect us to blindly follow the timeworn any longer?” Doven’s voice is incredulous. “I, for one, refuse!”
“And I!” Kalyka steps forward.
Linnith, who is timeworn herself, hesitates. Then she, too, steps forward. “And I!” Her shoulders are straight back, her head confident. She knows what she is saying. Doven gives her a surprised look. His whole face dissolves in pleasure. He offers his hand to her. She takes it.
“And I!” I surprise myself. That was my own voice. My own feet have taken me forward to join them.
Zivan says nothing, but takes a deliberate step forward too.
Furian and Vannis are left in the background. Furian is regarding him with one eyebrow raised.
“Well, Vannis?”
“I don’t agree with all this.” He turns away, walking back to the cave, looking angry.
Furian takes his step up to us. “The ancient Inmuri left us here to give our lives, but we weren’t asked if we were in agreement. Their decision is not binding on us. It cannot be. There have been too many generations in between.”
That makes sense to me. I don’t particularly want to die just because somebody’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather decided I should be one of the unlucky ones. I rather think I have as much right as anybody else to decide. Certainly as much right as them. A great wave of anger sweeps over me as I remember my parents’ lives and deaths. What choice did they ever have? It is so unfair.
I push past the others and make my way into the cave, like Vannis. I need to sit somewhere on my own. I want to close my eyes. I need to rest.
It isn’t until I am lying in my carrick that I remember the amulet. I wonder what those small few drops of water have done to the desiccated firehorn inside.
It is easy to open it now. I copy how Zivan did it yesterday. I memorized the sequence.
It opens.
There, lying complete and healthy, is a fully grown firehorn.
I stare.
But there is no doubt. The firehorn is alive; it is moving as I watch. It almost seems to stretch itself.
I put my fingertip close to it and it sticks to it. I pull the small being up to eye-level to examine it more thoroughly.
It is alive, and it looks quite well. I stare. How could this tiny being survive over all the centuries that have passed since it was placed inside the amulet? It seems impossible.
But here it is. And it is bringing friends. As I gaze at it, others are appearing on my skin. They cluster around the newly rehydrated firehorn, almost as if they are asking it to tell them of its travels.
Suddenly I am completely covered in the animals. They are buzzing and locking into place.
The cave flickers, then disappears. I have been transported to some other planet. This is a dark rock cliff face peppered with small caves. Out of the mouths of some of the caves waterfalls tumble down the cliff, in a cascade of white. In other caves, the same waterfalls seem to be falling upward. That makes me stare. As they fall – both down and up - they mingle with others, twisting together to form a stream of liquid which flashes in the light of a huge reddish sun.
I am carried directly into the path of the liquid. It is a strange experience. I expect it to beat down on me, heavily, but it doesn’t. I know I am within it, but I experience no consistence. I expect to be soaked, but that doesn’t happen either. This is the strangest liquid I have ever seen.
The tight lock of firehorns around me seems to pulsate. I try to make out what is happening.
The creatures are shimmering slightly. As this liquid pours past them, they are almost reveling in it.
I focus on my finger, on the oldest firehorn, the one that has been waiting inside the amulet for the centuries of the centuries. I realize that it is turning from side to side. It is like a tiny person, bathing in this unusual water, allowing the stream to drench it, first on one side and then the other. The sac which surrounds it is growing. Perhaps it is retaining some of this thick water? I don’t know.
I can’t breathe, and I am beginning to panic. There is a thudding inside my head, and my lungs are about to explode.
Luckily it doesn’t last long. The mantle of firehorns evaporates after depositing me carefully back on the floor of the cave in Kelfor. I am left alone again, with only the oldest firehorn to keep me company. That one – the one from the amulet – has not vanished into the vortex.
I bring it up to my face to look at it more closely. It is much healthier now. It is shining. The immersion in the cascade seems to have revitalized it.
That must have been the ortholiquid which Azrial talked about. The water that is not water. So the firehorns travel away from Hethor to ... what? Feed on it? And this one firehorn does not seem to want to leave me. He has been waiting. Waiting inside the amulet to be woken up.
Which means that the whole journey was pointless too. I could simply have broken the amulet open, back in Astakarth, and added water. Then this oldest firehorn would have brought the others to me. Not only was our quest pointless because the ancient Inmuri never intended to be found, but it was quite unnecessary. All I had to do was open the locket.
Fate seems to be playing tricks on us. I take the firehorn again on the edge of my finger and guide it back to the locket. It goes quite willingly.
Just as I am about to place it inside, I see some engraving on the inside of the amulet. I narrow my eyes, squinting to see what it says.
‘Seraphim. Nexus ad astra.’
I don’t need Linnith or her mother to translate that. ‘Seraph. The link to the stars.’
“So,” I murmur, careful not to be overheard by Vannis. “You have a name, tiny creature: Seraph. And you are my direct link to the firehorns. Good to know. I wonder how often you need to visit that waterfall?”
But Seraph has settled comfortably inside his permanent home. He shows no sign of wanting to leave. I close the amulet and replace it about my neck. There are so many things I don’t know. So many things that have been lost over the generations.
A fierce sense of protection has been awoken inside me. I will do nothing to harm them. They are magical creatures. These small things can travel effortlessly across the stars. I vow then to guard their secrets with my own life, if necessary. Seraph is like me. He and I are the links between the two species. Between worlds. That is very precious.
I must never put the firehorns at risk.
18.
I wake up the next morning to find my hand tightly curled around the amulet. I am clutching it so tightly that the metalwork has bitten into my fingers, making them bleed in some places.
I shake my head. I have slept too well. I still feel drowsy and slow. Being back in a carrick to sleep has been marvelous. The night has passed really quickly and I am
much more rested. Who would have thought that one simple carrick could represent luxury?
Linnith and Doven are still asleep. They have lashed their carricks together, which is sweet. They are holding hands. Linnith is curled up in her carrick facing Doven, and Doven’s face is smoothed of tension as he sleeps in his.
It makes me happy for them.
It is very early. The others are all still asleep.
I get up and find myself walking over to the tree bridge. The whirlpool of firehorns is still swirling around. They never seem to rest. Perhaps this is their rest.
I decide to go up to see Torch. I want to warn him about the meeting later today. Plus, it must be daybreak almost, on the planet’s surface. I want to witness the dawn.
I am poised to throw myself over into the abyss when I hear light steps behind me. I half turn just as I am stepping forward, which means that I slip and tumble off the tree bridge into the chasm.
As I slide off the bridge, I feel an iron grasp latch onto my arm. It is Zivan. She is not going to let me go on my own. My momentum pulls her over the edge with me.
I am angry with her for wanting to break my solitude. I never asked her to come! Why couldn’t she just wait in the Rift of the Timeworn?
But I cannot shake her free now. She would fall to her death in this seemingly never-ending cavern.
She is staring at me. She knows I do not want her with me. I pull a face, but she laughs. “I promised I would look after you. I am not going to stop now.”
“Come if you want, but I am going to leave you with the Scoriats. I just want to watch the sunrise.”
She is clearly having difficulty with this. “Why would anyone want to see the sunrise?”
“Oh, never mind, Zivan. Maybe it is a young people’s thing.”
She is skeptical. “Maybe it is a silly people’s thing.”
I look away as the firehorns begin to coat both of us. “I am old enough to go on my own, you know. And, in any case, your job is over. You got me to Kelfor.”
Kelfor- the Orthomancers Page 29