~
The dark haired waif sat in the older woman’s lap and sniffled. The older woman stroked her hair and the little girl grew quiet. The kitchen at the inn was warm and homely. The silver haired woman smelled of dough and spices.
A portly man in a blue apron stood over them both. His tail swished from side to side. “Shann–Shann, why did you worry us like that?”
The silver haired woman spoke on her behalf. “She fell out of a tree, Poltann, but she’s all right now–aren’t you?” Shann nodded, too choked yet to speak.
“The girl has no business climbing trees. It’s enough that we have the responsibility of caring for her, Gallar. If her father were here–”
“Poltann…” Gallar rebuked him. “Shann has learned her lesson. She will not go climbing trees on her own again– will you?” Shann blinked away the tears and shook her head. Her short, unkempt hair framed an elfin face.
Poltann shook his head. “Look at her; there’s nothing of her. She is small and weak for her age. I suppose we may be able to put her to work in the kitchen, but I really don’t know what she will be good for.”
“Shann will do her best, won’t you?” Gallar soothed. The elfin face nodded once more.
Poltann ran his hand over his bald head, smoothing down hair that had long since departed. “The girl has to learn that she is frail, and that she can’t just go climbing trees. One day she’ll attempt something like that and there won’t be anyone there to rescue her. She has to accept that there are some things that she simply cannot do.”
Shann gradually came to, with Poltann’s words from all those years ago ringing in her ears. “There are some things you simply cannot do.” No–I won’t accept that. Her head felt muzzy and her hand went up to feel a lump on her forehead. Her side still hurt, but no worse than before. She must have been nearly at the bottom when she lost her footing and fell. Shann sat up. The wide shaft stretched away above her. The area around her was a faint circle, surrounded by darkness. The lamp. She found it and fumbled with the tinderbox. Yellow light erupted and pushed back the gloom. She was in a large cavern. Her breathing was laboured. The air was hot and tinged with sulphur. And there were sounds. Distant. Indistinct. Ominous. The beast could return at any moment. She got to her feet gingerly, holding the lamp aloft. The broken pieces of her staff lay nearby on the ground. She gathered them up and then began to explore her surroundings.
The rock floor was surprisingly smooth. She walked in what she judged to be a straight line. Soon the gradient began to incline upwards and she found herself facing a wall. Using the diamond blade on one of the broken pieces of her staff, she carved three intersecting circles into the rock–the Sign of The Three. Shann had never been particularly religious, especially having witnessed first-hand how the Kelanni faith had been corrupted under the Prophet’s influence. However, she needed a mark that would be easily recognisable by her or any one of the others who might decide to come after her and that was the only sign she could think of. Her effort was crude, but effective.
Turning to her left, she followed the wall. Suddenly the wall disappeared into a dark recess–a passageway leading off from the chamber. Shann scrutinised the entrance. Too small. The serpent could not have passed that way. She continued on, moving along the wall, mapping out the cavern in her mind until she was back at the Sign of The Three, her starting point. There were five exits from the cave. Two of them would not have been large enough to allow the creature passage. That left three possible routes. Shann picked one at random and etched another Sign of The Three into the even rock face before heading away from the chamber.
It occurred to her that this subterranean maze could go on endlessly, but she had no choice but to press on. She followed the tunnel, lamplight reflecting back from the walls. After a short while, the walls began to narrow and the ceiling became lower. Not this way.
She doubled back to the large chamber and vigorously scrubbed out the mark she had made. Locating a second possible route, Shann made another mark and moved cautiously into the open passage. A steady current of warm air flowed past her. The lamp guttered. She turned the wick up a fraction before moving forward again. The gradient began to slope gently downwards. After a while, a large shadow on the right wall revealed an adjoining tube. The flow of air was still coming from directly ahead. Shann decided to ignore the side passage and continue on.
The way continued straight. Then her mind registered something odd–an irregularity in the floor. She had almost stepped into it. Shann stopped and leaned forward, rubbing the perspiration from her eyes with the back of her hand. A depression in the ground in front of her was filled with an orange-yellow glow, framed by a web of dark cracks. A lava pool. There was a ledge near the wall to one side, barely wide enough for her feet. Carefully she moved around the pool and tested the ledge with one boot. Slowly she began edging sideways along the rim. Heat rose from the molten rock within the pool, disturbing the surface so that it seemed to breathe like a living thing. A few more sidesteps and she was on the other side. She took a deep breath and resumed her progress.
After a short distance, the tube opened out into another sizeable chamber. She held the lamp aloft and peeked cautiously inside. The soft yellow illumination fell onto a huge shape within. The shape moved, scales scraping against bare rock. The Kharthrun Serpent. Panic rose momentarily in her breast. She extinguished the lamp, stepped back into the darkness and began to think. There was no safe way past the leviathan. More than that, she could not stay here. She had seen the speed at which it moved. If it came this way again, she would be crushed or worse. The side tunnel.
Shann retreated back down the passage, squeezing past the lava pool as quickly as she dared, and ducked back into the adjoining passage. She hunkered down and strained her ears to hear. A low growling sound. It was coming from behind her. She spun round. Half a dozen pairs of red eyes shone out of the pitch dark like steady flames. Shann sat on her haunches, transfixed, torn between the malevolent creatures before her and the gargantuan serpent behind. She made her decision.
Aarrrrgghh! Grabbing Lyall’s staff, she made the fiercest, most guttural sound her throat could muster, and rushed the red-eyed beasts, whirling and slicing indiscriminately. Snarls turned rapidly to squeals. Bodies scuffled and collided with one another. Fiery eyes receded into the blackness.
As silence descended once more, Shann listened intently. After what seemed to be an age, she heard and felt a low rumble. Getting closer. Instinctively, she drew back farther into the side passage. The monstrous form of the serpent appeared in the main passageway. Shann watched as it passed directly in front of her. It felt as if her very bones were being shaken. She waited long after the creature’s tail had flicked past and the rumbling had ceased completely, so that all she could hear was the hammering of her own heart.
Warily, she stepped back into the main passageway and headed for the second cavern once more. She checked behind her for any sign of the serpent’s return, but there was none. Striking the tinderbox, she relit the lamp and examined the vacated chamber. There was something different about it. It was strewn with rocks. No, not rocks. Bones. Shann keened her senses and moved into the chamber. There was something that looked like a mound in the centre. As Shann approached, she saw a pile of bones topped by what looked like a clutch of leathery eggs. And there was something else. A dark shape. Her heart leapt and she hurried over. She saw a figure lying, wrapped in a black cloak with a shock of fair hair. Lyall.
Shann knelt and touched his face. It was warm. Relief washed over her. She placed her hand in front of his nose and felt a faint breath. Quickly, she pulled a flask of water from her belt. Turning him over gently, she put the flask to his lips. The water dribbled from the side of his mouth. His eyes squeezed together and then opened. He looked confused, as if unsure whether he was dreaming. “Shann…what happened?”
Shann whispered as if the beast might somehow overhear. “The serpent snatched you and dragged you
down here. I came after you.”
“Wh-where are we?”
“I’m not sure. It looks like some sort of nest. We must leave before it returns. Can you move?” Shann helped him to a sitting position.
He tried to stand, then winced and sat back. “My left leg…it feels like a fracture.”
“Wait here.” Shann got up and cast her eyes about the chamber. She sifted through the bleached skeletal remains, trying not to speculate what or who they might have come from. All of the pieces were broken or too small or not the right shape. Then she suddenly remembered her staff. She pulled the two halves of the broken staff from her belt. Yes. These should work.
Shann placed them beside Lyall and quickly began ripping strips from her own clothing. Then she lashed the broken staff pieces to either side of Lyall’s leg to form a makeshift splint.
Lyall’s brow was covered with perspiration and he looked pale. “You look as if you’ve done this before. I didn’t know you had healing skills.”
Shann smiled as she worked. “From time to time, Gal would treat travellers’ injuries at the inn. Pretty soon she gained a reputation for it. She would let me watch and even help sometimes…There. Can you stand up now?” Lyall struggled up to stand on his good leg, using his staff as a crutch. “Don’t put any pressure on it,” she counselled.
Lyall looked about him. “Which way?”
Shann considered. Her plan, such as it was, had been to return the way she had come. It was obvious, however, that Lyall would not be able to make the climb out of the shaft in his present condition. They would have to find another route.
“How many exits do you think these caves have?” Shann asked.
“Probably several.”
Shann recalled her descent into the fissure. “Air from the Fire Pits rises. If we follow the flow of air, then we should find a way out.”
Lyall grimaced. “All right, let’s see if we can find a way to the surface. After you.”
Shann lifted the lamp and surveyed the chamber. She located two new passages. One seemed to have a stronger air current. “I think we should try this way.” She waited for Lyall to hobble over. Then a thought struck her. “One moment.” She made her way back to the nest and hefted one of the bones, raising it over her head.
“Shann, what are you doing?” Lyall called.
“I’m going to smash these eggs.”
“No.” Lyall declared firmly.
“But…why not?”
“Because the serpent is guilty of nothing except trying to survive, just as we are. We are the ones who invaded its domain. We should let it be.”
Shann let his words sink in, lowering the bone harmlessly as she did so. Lyall had a unique way of looking at things. Yet she found herself agreeing with him. This creature, fearsome and terrible as it was, was not her enemy. It was an astounding creature that was itself part of a unique world that one individual was bent on destroying for his own ends. If she were to commit such a wanton act of destruction–revenge–would she not in fact be serving the very purpose of the person she most despised? Fortified with this insight, and a renewed sense of purpose, Shann, the little orphan girl from Corte, rose to her feet once more. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
~
“I can’t believe it. You mean to tell me that you let Shann go down there on her own?” Alondo was sitting up now, squinting in the early morning sunlight. His scarlet coat looked dusty and worn, but he was remarkably recovered, thanks to Boxx. And he was demanding answers.
Keris felt as if she were being accused of a crime she hadn’t committed. “I did not ‘let her go’. She went before anyone could stop her. She was…upset. I tried to reason with her that it was hopeless but she wouldn’t listen. The next thing I knew, she had gone after Lyall on her own.”
Boxx was sitting on its hind limbs, watching the exchange between the two Kelanni curiously. Alondo was not letting up on the interrogation. “How do you know she went underground? She might have just gone off somewhere.”
“The girl took the lamp from my pack. Besides she was… determined. You know how she is when she gets that way; she doesn’t listen to anyone.” Keris was rapidly losing patience. “Look, every moment we stay here is dangerous. We have to leave. Boxx, can Alondo travel?”
The Chandara replied in its childish tone, “Alondo Can Travel.”
“Then we must leave, now.”
Alondo managed to stand with effort. He met her squarely. “I am not leaving them behind.”
Boxx’s eyes were like black beads, almost pleading. “The Key. You Cannot. You Must Not Leave Lyall And Shann. It Is The Key. It Is The Key.”
Keris had no idea what the Chandara was babbling about, but she had no time for its ramblings. She gave a massive sigh. “All right then. We will get you and Boxx to a safe place. Then I will come back and go down there after her.”
Alondo’s fierce determination melted as quickly as it had arisen. “You are going alone?”
“Yes, well, acts of rank stupidity seem to be the norm for this group, don’t they? Besides, you are in no condition to go.”
“At least take Boxx with you,” Alondo urged. “They might be injured. Boxx can help.”
It made sense. Keris addressed the little creature. “Will you come with me to look for Shann?”
“I Will Come,” it squeaked.
“Good. Then it’s agreed. Let’s pack up so that we can move Alondo somewhere safe.” Keris turned away and hurriedly began assembling her gear. A shout. Alondo’s voice. Keris reached instinctively for her staff, but even as she did so, a part of her registered that the shout was not one of alarm, but of something else. Elation? She looked to where Alondo was pointing. Out of the clouds of wafting steam and smoke a miracle was stumbling. It was unmistakably Lyall, his fair hair dishevelled and his clothes torn, supported by the tiny figure of Shann.
Keris ran towards them, then stopped several paces off, adopting her stoic stance, staff upright, expression drained of emotion. It was as if the arrival of Lyall and Shann had suddenly restored balance. Equilibrium. She was herself once more. Detached. In control. No more were people looking to her for leadership, demanding that she solve all of their problems. Keris stood apart from the celebrations, letting the outflow of feelings from the others wash over her like surf crashing against a granite coast and then ebbing to leave her intact. Secure. Indomitable.
Alondo had already covered the distance to Lyall and Shann, all thoughts of his lingering injuries forgotten. He was feeling their arms and their faces in an apparent effort to confirm that his eyes were not playing tricks. “Are you all right? How…how did you get out?”
Shann helped Lyall to a sitting position. Boxx was bobbing up and down. “It was all quite easy, really.” Lyall touched his injured leg experimentally. “After Shann found me and I regained consciousness, we followed the air currents. Eventually we found a shaft with a fairly gentle incline and crawled our way to the surface. We heard the serpent, but never saw it again.” He looked down at Shann. “I owe her my life.” Shann looked down at the ground. Alondo was beaming at them both.
Keris continued to stand guard. Checking the perimeter. Watching over them like a parent, keeping children safe from their own foolishness.
Chapter 25
It was the most breathtaking sight that Shann had ever seen. It seemed to go on forever. Shades of crimson and azure blue, topped with myriads of whitecaps, stretched to the very horizon. Waves reared up, breaking against the shoreline. Flocks of birds swooped in and out of the surf, their shrieking cries drifting upwards to Shann’s ears.
“The Aronak Sea,” Alondo announced theatrically with a wave of his hand. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Shann’s eyes were wide as dinner plates. “It seems to go on forever.”
“Maybe it does,” Lyall speculated. “Over there, some way below the horizon, lies The Great Barrier of Storms. If the sea extends beyond the Barrier, then who knows how far it goes?�
�
They were strolling down a chine which led through a meadow of yellow and purple grasses. Alondo was on Shann’s left, with Lyall to her right. Keris and Boxx followed a little way behind.
The party’s spirits were high. Keris had led them to a steep but navigable cut through the eastern wall of the canyon, so that they cleared the Pits in less than a day. Boxx had done an amazing job of treating everyone’s injuries, although it pronounced itself extremely tired afterwards–the act of healing seemed to sap its energies. Lyall had even carried it for a while. It seemed fully recovered now, as it trotted next to Keris.
The change in the air was palpable. Instead of oppressive heat and sulphurous steam, there was fresh air and cool sea breezes. Shann was mesmerised by the immensity of the sea. She pointed at a distant shape moving over the water. “Is that…a ship?”
“It certainly is,” Lyall declared. “Ships ply up and down the coast between Leota, Sakara and Kalath-Kar, as well as many of the smaller settlements. They carry everything from moba root to gold.”
“We will be at Sakara by this time tomorrow,” Keris announced from behind.
Alondo whipped his hat off and threw it into the air. “Whoo hoo!” He ran to retrieve his hat and settled it back on his head.
Shann chuckled. “You’ve been there before, I take it?”
Alondo nodded. “Lyall and I spent some time there a few years ago. It’s probably my favourite place in all of Kelanni. You’re going to love it.”
Keris snorted. Shann, Lyall and Alondo all turned round to look at her. “It’s a lawless place,” she retorted, “a den of thieves and cutpurses.”
“That is not true,” Alondo countered, “the lawless part, I mean. They have very strict laws in Sakara. And the Asoli are always there to keep order.”
“Asoli?” Shann enquired.
“Yes, they’re the city watch. You’ll notice them right off. They have green jackets and large plumed hats–almost as nice as mine.” Alondo grinned expansively.
“The Asoli are the eyes and ears of the Guilds,” Lyall explained, “The Guilds run the port city, and right now there’s an uneasy peace between the Guild Master and the Prophet in Chalimar. The Keltar and the Prophet’s soldiers could probably overrun Sakara and the lightly armed Asoli would not be able to do much about it, but holding on to the port would require a major investment of troops and resources that are currently being used to secure and refine the lodestone ore. So the Guilds pay a healthy stipend to the Prophet, in return for which they are largely left alone.”
Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms Page 26