Melforger (The Melforger Chronicles) (33 page)

As he peered into the darkness, he realized that he had no idea of what he was looking for. With his eyes open, he was blind. So, he started humming again and closed his eyes.

Hands held cautiously in front of him, he shuffled carefully towards the strange weaving of colors over the uneven ground. It was difficult as he kept stumbling in the sand and over small rocks, but he made slow headway. As he neared the colors, they sharpened into beautiful webbing, forming a rough round shape, behind which the web stretched out in a cylindrical stream. Without understanding how, Raf recognized it as somehow musical.

Fascinated, he opened his eyes and took a moment to let them adjust to the darkness from the dazzling colors. He found himself standing at the foot of a small dune that was sprinkled with boulders.

Well, I know it was right in front of me when I stopped,
he thought, squinting forwards. All he could see was a large jagged rock set in amongst other smaller rocks, with a few scraggly shrubs growing around them. He touched the rock and tried to see if there was anything odd about it, but found nothing unusual. It was heavy and although he tried to push it, it didn’t budge.

Maybe it’s covering something?

Climbing up the sandy slope, he positioned himself above the rock and placed his feet on top, digging his hands into the thick sand for purchase. Then, he bent a leg back and kicked down hard on the top of the rock. He felt it shift a tiny amount, so he got both feet ready and, with a small jump, pounded down as hard as he could.

He wasn’t prepared for what happened next, and as the rock gave way and toppled forward, he fell with it, only managing to stop himself plunging down the slope by throwing his arms out behind him and grasping for anything solid. His right hand caught hold of something firm and he clung on desperately, swinging clumsily sideways into the shrubs. The rock rolled over once more and then slid to a stop in the soft sand at the bottom of the slope.

Raf looked back up at what he had grabbed hold of and saw that it was the stone edging of a hole in the dune that he’d uncovered. He hoisted himself up and then used his hands to scoop out some of
the sand that had trickled in from above. Ducking, he peered into the blackness behind the entrance. In the dim light he could just make it out extending gently downwards, oddly regular and uniform in width.

It’s like a pipe of stone,
he thought.
And large enough to
be a tunnel. That’s what the colors were! But how? What does it mean? And where does it go to?

He clambered up the dune and peered over the top, biting his lip thoughtfully as he lined its direction up.
Straight towards the hill with the
ishranga
and her stupid guards
.
Just brilliant.

He sighed and, making his mind up, closed his eyes and started singing softly again. There were too many unanswered questions, and feeling the need for something to distract him from reflecting on the situation with Tiponi, Raf stepped into the tunnel and tried to narrow his thoughts down to just the simple task of following the stone pipe downwards.

Following the colors in his mind, he moved carefully and managed not to stumble too often as he made his way down. After a few minutes, his feet scuffed against something giving him just enough warning to avoid hitting his head. On opening his eyes, he found that there wasn’t the slightest bit of light to help him, but feeling around with his hands, he realized he was standing in front of a rough wall. It wasn’t made of rock though, and scratching at the surface, he guessed it was just compacted mud.

The colors definitely carry on past this. And I‘ve been right up till now…

He crouched down, bunched his right arm up and butted his shoulder against the wall. It didn’t give, but there was a crumbling sound from the other side and Raf guessed it to be only a foot thick, maybe less. Another two blows and a section of it gave way with a crunch. Raf’s torso punched half way through the wall in a little landslide of dirt and stones that left him spluttering.

He looked up and noticed that there was a faint source of light somewhere nearby which brought to life dim outlines of things closest to him. There was also an unexpected damp, acrid smell that he couldn’t identify. Hauling the rest of his lower body through the small opening in the wall, he stepped forwards cautiously, aware of a looming shape directly in front of him that sloped up towards the ceiling. He sidled around it, taking small steps, things slowly coming into focus as his eyes adjusted. His soft footsteps gave rise to surprisingly loud echoes that fluttered back and forth, painting a picture in his head of a
very
large room.

What
is
this place?

His eyes followed an uneven wall that materialized to his left, bending around in front of him a good fifty yards before closing in and looping back to his right. He could see two small flickering candles set into holes in the wall that provided the meager light supply.

Well, those have been put there recently by someone
.

His eyes opened in excitement as he scanned the middle of the chamber and spotted what he thought were trees disappearing into the blackness far above – almost large enough to be
Ancients
– but on closer inspection, they turned out to be large rocks. They were oddly shaped though, with wide round bases that extended upwards tapering, a bit like some of the huge ant-hills they had spotted on the plains. They were very smooth and slightly damp.

Raf ran his hands distractedly over one. They were peculiarly situated in this room, and he felt the tingle of goose-bumps as a realization suddenly occurred to him that there was something purposeful about them. He moved into the middle of the chamber, turning this way and that, trying to figure it out. Just like it had with the
Ash-knell
and Orfea and the
paodrin
, there was something about these giant rocks that he recognized, something that made sense to him…

And then it hit him.

They’re instruments!

He felt light-headed as he turned around slowly on the spot, feeling it all fit into place in his mind.
But how had it been done? They looked completely natural.

More importantly
, he thought,
how do they work?

He frowned in the gloom.
Definitely not like the Ash-knell. They didn’t feel hollow at all, which meant they couldn’t be drums, either.

Seeking inspiration, he drew a calming breath and closed his eyes. It was the
gretanayre
again that came to mind and he started singing it softly.

The storm that exploded into his mind almost knocked him over. Countless colors streaked back and forth in frantic spirals, forming a seething vortex that filled the room. With no effort, he sank straight into them and become part of them and felt his awareness, his presence, grow. As it did, the room shimmered into perfect clarity and he realized that it wasn’t the individual rocks that were instruments – the whole room was an instrument! The tunnel he’d come through was also part of it, some sort of channel for the sound. Every one of the rocks suddenly had a different character that he could now understand, a tone or timbre that set it apart from the others, but would blend together perfectly with the rest.

He reeled as the pure energy of the room filled him. He could feel the frenzy of colors spinning and curling through the air, like a thousand sparkling butterflies. He dived into them and felt himself spreading through the room, soaking it in color, immersing the rocks in different hues as he danced and wheeled around them.

A part of him registered that the rocks themselves were now emitting a noise, a deep humming sound, serving only to intensify the colors which were almost boiling with energy. Faster and faster they moved, creating a giant whirlpool in the middle of the room, with Raf at its centre.

The sheer volume of the sound threatened to crush him to the floor and a glimmer of unease streaked through his mind at the raw power which was swelling to bursting point around him. He struggled against the fierce desire to continue in his mind and, inch by inch, detached himself from the connection, feeling the roar of sound dwindle.

He realized he was still singing and reluctantly quietened to a whisper before stopping altogether. Peeling open his tightly shut eyes, he stared up at the darkness above him, aware of pounding echoes still reverberating around the room, bouncing off every surface. They were beautiful sounds, and their fading away brought with it a sinking feeling of emptiness. All that was left was a deep, almost inaudible, throbbing from the floor. Raf also heard something else underneath it all though, a whimpering noise behind him. He tried to find the source and when he turned around, had to bite back a gasp of shock. The
ishranga
was standing not ten feet from him.

She was leaning against the wall, her head tilted backwards, the dull light catching and illuminating her eyes which were completely rolled back in her head. Her throat was moving oddly and for a moment, Raf thought that she was choking. Casting nervous glances around the room for her guards, who were nowhere to be seen, he stepped up to her and softly tapped her shoulder. Her head dropped down and he jumped back, watching as her eyes gradually, in fits and starts, revolved downwards until they were looking at him. Her breathing was fast and irregular and, even in this half-light, he could see that her skin was covered in goose-bumps.

She slowly calmed down, her eyes not leaving his for a second. When she spoke, it was a strained rasp. “How are you here?”

Raf quickly held his hands up. “I’m sorry! I was trying to help Tiponi, but followed the col-… er… I found this place.”

Shima’sidu broke her gaze and glanced past him to the rock pillars behind. “The stones… how? I have never... I have heard stories, but… never have I heard them sing so.”

“I… don’t know,” replied Raf, biting his lip. “I told you, I don’t really understand it. I just kind of saw how they worked and… and then I tried to…”

“You… you are truly
ishranga
.” She held up a thin fingered hand, the thick bangle of beads rattling gently against her ebony skin. “The go-between did not lie.”

“Well, I think I
did
heal his shoulder,
ishran-”

“You must not call me this!” she whispered. “No more. To you, I am Shima’sidu
,
” she lowered her head, “
ishranga.”

Raf drew a sharp breath. She was bowing to him!

“Do not be afraid,” she said, her eyes gleaming in the candlelight. “You are safe here,
ishranga
.” She suddenly raised her arms in the air and ululated wildly, the cry echoing around the room before grabbing his hand. “You must come with me! I must know you more.”

She pulled him towards the opposite end of the room and he relented, letting her lead him through a small archway of rock that led up a long, winding flight of stone stairs before opening out into a large, murky room. There was a sole candle on the floor. One side of the room’s stone walls was completely covered in animal hides and hunting trappings, and in the middle of the room was laid out an enormous black and white striped carpet – some sort of animal hide – with rough pillows strewn around. The rest of the room extended back into darkness.

“
Ishr-
… Shima’sidu,” said Raf hesitantly, “is it true that you banished Tiponi?”

She made the cat-like hissing noise again. “A go-between must keep the Trust. It is forbidden to bring strangers here, he knows this!”

“But that’s not really fair,” replied Raf. “We were trying to get a cure for the disease, and then, I suppose it’s also my fault then because there was that whole thing with Tiponi’s shoulder. And
that
was only after we saved him from those other iMahlis.”

“What is this?” she said, her eyes narrowing.

“Some…fit... fet-”

“
Fetumu
?”

“Yeah, that’s it, some
fetumu
had captured him and we managed to rescue him.”

Shima’sidu shook her bangles violently and stood up. “Did these
fetumu
know
what
he was?” Raf started to shake his head but she cut him off. “Of course they knew!” She hissed again furiously.

“He was trying to warn you when they got him,” said Raf. “I think that maybe you’re being too hard on him.“

Shima’sidu hissed at him. But then her expression changed and she dipped her head. “Of course,
ishranga
.”

She suddenly shouted out a phrase in her language. Raf almost fell backwards when, a second later, one of the huge pale guards bounded out of the shadows at the back of the room.

He’s been just there all this time!

Raf could feel his heart thumping in his throat. The guard was simply immense. In the candlelight, his powerful torso seemed to be hewn from rock, and the blade in his hands gleamed dangerously as he whipped it out, a look of shock and fury at the sight of Raf standing next to Shima’sidu. She offered him no time to think though, and immediately snapped off a string of orders. Without hesitation, the guard turned on his heel and bounded soundlessly out the door.