Glimmer in the Maelstrom: Shadow Through Time 3 (39 page)

‘L
iving flesh makes a must satisfying meal
,’ Teleqkraal roared over the sound of the wind above them.

Kai made no reply.

The demise of the anchors appeared to have increased the Maelstrom’s ferocity and that should have terrified Kai, but he was beyond fear. He simply stood at the top of the tiered stairs and looked down on the young serpent, who in turn gazed at his reflection in the sky-mirror. Kai should have felt comforted by this return to Fortress Sh’hale, but watching Teleqkraal torment and then devour the feeble remnants of the Plainsmen tribe had awoken Kai’s memory of the destruction of his own people here.

‘
Only two remain
,’ Teleqkraal said and Kai moved his eyes towards the captives, a woman and a boy child who lay beside Teleqkraal’s clawed foot. The blood-splattered stone beneath them was all that remained of their kin. Both survivors had broken limbs and Kai suspected their insides were crushed.

Unfortunately for the Plainsmen, Teleqkraal had arrived as they were dining, seated around the sky-mirror — all in the same chamber. While they jumped for their weapons he had swept the youngest children into a corner and begun to eat them. The few adults and older children not already captured had fought for their kin and thus none had escaped. But unlike the Northmen, who had fought and run haphazardly, the Plainsman offensive had been organised and relentless. They had come at Teleqkraal from all sides, battering him with sticks and swords to no avail. They would have made formidable allies, but Kai doubted that any mortal could overcome a God. Certainly he did not hold out hope that he would be the first.

‘You will not defeat us,’ the boy sobbed and Kai tasted his own cowardice then like a bitter oil on his tongue. The woman was silent and stoic. ‘Our people will not die,’ the boy said, and Kai saw the Plainswoman slide her broken arm across the floor, pushing from the shoulder, so that she might touch the boy’s hand with her own. Of all the tragic things Kai had seen in the company of the Serpent Gods, this was the saddest.

Teleqkraal simply continued admiring himself in the Sh’hale sky-mirror.

‘I, Raggat, Storyteller of the Plainsmen …’ the boy sobbed, his voice growing weak, ‘… go now to the High Plains with my leader.’ The woman’s shaking fingers closed over the boy’s and Kai saw her gentle squeeze.

Teleqkraal yawned, tilting his head to the side to admire the reflection of his bloodied teeth.

‘Our Ancestors … await us,’ the boy said softly, his breath coming in shallow gasps now. ‘We have fought and … died well.’

The Serpent God finally turned to look down on them with an expression Kai couldn’t decipher. Boredom? Exasperation? Then he belched, a startlingly violent sound accompanied by a fiery wind that swept over the two and finished what his attack on their people had begun. The extinction of the Plainsmen.

They lay still, silent, their bodies waiting only to be devoured.

‘
I must eat more than this
,’ the serpent said, flicking a claw at them.

Kai could find no words within himself to reply.

‘
I must restore my strength if I would destroy this anchor. There weren’t enough Plainsmen.
’

‘Should I search the fortress for others?’ Kai asked, but he knew there would be no more. Any living Plainsman would have joined the battle.

‘
No.
’ Teleqkraal’s volcanic red eyes drifted away. ‘
The Catalyst took all but the Plainsmen with her.
’

Beneath the layers of indifference shock had wrought in him, Kai felt a shift, a morsel of his humanity awakening. The Catalyst had been to this fortress in his absence? Though he continued to stare at the serpent, Kai saw her dazzling white hair in his mind, like threads of ice against the glittering black gown she had worn. He remembered how her commanding manner had stirred him, and though he had known himself to be a stocky barbarian in her eyes, he had dreamt of lying with her and taming her arrogance with his passion.

‘
She waits for me at the castle by the ocean
,’ Teleqkraal said, oblivious to Kai’s dreams.

‘Castle Be’uccdha,’ Kai said, then refocused his eyes to meet the curious gaze of the serpent.

‘
Your voice has an odd timbre.
’

Kai, who had been outside of fear for so long, felt it now, deep in his belly. He shook his head. ‘I witnessed your birth at Be’uccdha. It terrified me,’ he said, remembering the horrific splitting of the woman Kraal had impregnated, Ellega of Verdan, as the egg that had housed Teleqkraal slid out from between her bloodied legs.

‘
You sounded entranced
,’ the serpent said.

‘It is the castle of your birth,’ Kai replied. ‘I am in awe of it.’

‘
I was born in the molten core of Haddash
,’ the serpent said. ‘
The mortal who conceived me was not my progenitor.
’

‘There is no part of her in you?’ Kai asked, remembering her bronze hair and pale gold skin. ‘I thought it was her blood in your veins that allowed you to handle the talisman.’

Teleqkraal’s red eyes narrowed. ‘
Do you seek weakness in your God?
’

Kai shook his head, felt the pounding of his heart and wished the mention of The Catalyst had not woken him from the dream of death where his emotions had been lost. ‘I seek only to serve.’

‘
I have further need of you
,’ Teleqkraal said.

Kai had suspected as much, yet hearing the assurance brought no relief to his heart.

‘
The Loch of Verdan is newly filled with the dead. I will go back there.
’

‘And I, Master?’ Kai asked.

Teleqkraal glanced back at the mirror. ‘
Keep away from the anchor
,’ he said.

‘As you wish, My God,’ Kai replied, bowing obediently. ‘I will go to the kitchens and forage for food.’

‘
Vegetables
,’ Teleqkraal sneered, then spread wide his membrane wings and rose on them, circling the anchor where it penetrated the opened ceiling of the Sh’hale great hall before Kai lost sight of him in the swirling black clouds above.

‘Why must I keep away from the anchor?’ he said softly to himself, returning his gaze to the mirror. Was it something to do with The Catalyst? Might he yet be able to redeem himself in his own eyes? In her eyes?

She would not have given him a second thought once she’d left the fortress, but Kai had been unable to stop thinking of her. That must count for something. Could he yet spend his life to buy something of value? A moment of her appreciation. A glance. If he was to die anyway, why not a glorious end, as was fitting for a clan leader of his race?

His empty stomach rumbled and Kai thought for a moment longer, then turned and made for the kitchens.

‘I
’m sorry I don’t remember our last meeting,’ Lae said. ‘My three years at the Volcastle have been stolen from my mind. Pagan told me pieces of it …’

Khatrene, sitting on the edge of her bed, squeezed Lae’s hand, wishing her friend would go back to sleep. Lae had woken an hour into the healing slumber Pagan had induced, but Khatrene was confident her exhaustion would soon see her succumb.

‘I can’t imagine us being stilted with each other,’ Lae added.

‘It was weird,’ Khatrene replied. ‘But you’re better off not remembering that time after Lenid’s death. Your grief was such a burden to you. And none of us needs burdens right now. Not with what’s coming.’

‘Are you frightened?’ Lae asked.

Khatrene smoothed the elaborately quilted bedspread beside her, then realised she was avoiding Lae’s eyes. ‘I’m frightened for Glimmer,’ she admitted. ‘Terrified actually. So I haven’t really thought past that to decide whether I’m frightened for myself.’

‘Your daughter is not dead yet,’ Lae said, and smiled weakly from the bed.

‘Not yet,’ Khatrene said softly and glanced at the bright fire burning in Lae’s hearth, illuminating the distant corners of her airy bedchamber. They couldn’t avoid the future, either thinking or talking about it. If Glimmer was right, the end would be upon them in hours. There was no place to run, not even in their minds.

‘I recall our first meeting vividly,’ Lae said. ‘You told me I looked like a sugar glider.’

‘Those big brown eyes in a pixie face.’ Khatrene shook her head, smiling at the memory. ‘Then you told me I’d grown to be “not quite the beauty we’d all expected”.’

‘I was less than gracious,’ Lae admitted.

‘You were mischief personified,’ Khatrene replied, and they smiled at each other, both remembering that day so long ago at the Sentinel Stones where Lae’s childish pranks had seen Pagan bitterly berated by his father and Khatrene almost attacked by a Raider.

‘I was a child,’ Lae said.

‘And now you bear one.’ Khatrene smiled into her friend’s eyes, able to look at her tattoo of Be’uccdha without shuddering, without remembering Lae’s father and the pain he had caused her. ‘Your own child,’ she added.

Lae nodded. 
‘
And you bear Talis’s.’

They gazed at each other a moment more before Khatrene asked, ‘What will happen to our children?’

Lae shrugged, a tired movement against her crisp white pillows. ‘What will happen to
us
? I know not.’

‘Glimmer will die,’ Khatrene said, and was surprised to find tears in her eyes. She’d meant to say that as a matter of fact, but premature grief had snuck past her control. ‘I don’t want her to die,’ she managed.

‘I am sure I did not want Lenid to die,’ Lae said, taking both Khatrene’s hands in her own. ‘Yet such was his destiny.’

Khatrene nodded, tried to get a grip on herself. ‘Not long now,’ she said, stating the obvious. ‘I hope they give us something to do.’

‘You are The Light. I am The Dark. How can they not?’

Khatrene’s frown faded. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’ But why not? They had both helped in the Ceremony of Atheyre, and that ritual hadn’t worked until Khatrene had touched the Column of Light. ‘What about Kert?’ she asked, suddenly realising he’d be the only one not actively involved. Then her next thought — too late — was to wonder if mentioning Kert to Lae was a good idea.

‘Perhaps he can protect us from this Serpent God’s son,’ Lae said, no trace of anxiety in her voice.

Of course. With no Volcastle memories, Lae would have no recollection of her marriage to Kert. Though perhaps it would be wise to change the subject. ‘You know how we used to argue about eclipses?’ she said.

‘The scythe of death?’

‘Exactly. Well guess what? You were right.’ Khatrene hated to admit it, but, ‘Glimmer told me the blackness that covers Ennae is completely different to what we had on Magoria. There, an eclipse was an object in front of the sun or the moon, and it never got pitch-black. Here …’ She shook her head. ‘On Ennae it really is a spiritual event.’

‘I knew that,’ Lae said.

Khatrene was so happy to have her friend alive again, she was quite disposed to let her be smug. ‘Do you want to hear the details?’ she asked.

‘If you please,’ Lae replied.

‘Well, it’s like a cosmic eye-blink, and it happens whenever the life-force of this planet is upset by unrest or agitation.’

‘Or great evil,’ Lae said.

Khatrene wasn’t surprised at Lae’s ready acceptance of the ‘life-force’ of the planet. The Dark’s belief in the teachings she espoused was deeply felt. It had, however, taken Khatrene, with her Magorian slant on things, a long time to accept.

‘It’s not evil as such,’ Khatrene replied. ‘Glimmer said it was more like a reflection of the consciousness of the planet’s inhabitants. When the people are agitated, which happens when they see bad things, the power of their emotions builds until it reaches a critical mass and then the blackness comes.’

Lae was frowning now. ‘But how does the death of an evil one cast it from our skies?’

‘The people
believe
The Dark’s intervention will dispel the blackness,’ Khatrene said. ‘Their emotions become more tranquil and … it goes away.’

‘Why was it not so on Magoria and the other worlds?’

‘Because they’re not lucky enough to have The Dark?’

Lae slapped her hand on the quilt. ‘Do not tease me, I am too exhausted to plead.’

‘Alright.’ Khatrene patted her hand to placate her. ‘Apparently they didn’t have the same spiritual connection with their world. That’s how they came to destroy the environment without realising they were destroying themselves at the same time.’

Lae nodded and her eyelids drifted lower, a sure sign that she was close to sleep. But still she asked, ‘Have we retained this spiritual connection to our world? There has been no further blackness.’

‘Maybe everyone’s resigned to their fate,’ Khatrene said, tucking Lae’s quilts in. ‘You can’t fight the destiny of the Four Worlds.’

Lae struggled to stay awake. ‘But does the connection still exist?’

‘I’ll ask Glimmer,’ Khatrene said. ‘I don’t know.’

‘It may help The Catalyst.’

Khatrene waited for more, but Lae’s eyes remained closed. She was down for the count. Khatrene hoped her friend would get a decent sleep before the serpent arrived. There would be no time for resting then.

She stood and smoothed down the quilt, then went to sit by the fire Talis had laid while Pagan had put Lae into a healing slumber. The sound of the Everlasting Ocean, thrashing against itself in fury, was a constant background moan. Lae’s chamber was in the depths of the castle, so there was no mullioned glass to gaze from. All the outer rooms had been abandoned when their windows had smashed, killing many of the castle retainers.

The remaining hundred-odd guards and servants had been sent to the Altar Caves where the anchor protected them. Soon Khatrene and Lae would join The Catalyst and her Guardians there. Teleqkraal, who had presumably survived the tornadoes and volcanic eruptions outside, would come. Somehow they would steal the memory stone from him and Glimmer would join the Four Worlds as the Be’uccdha anchor failed and the Earthworld was torn apart.

In those critical moments The Catalyst would lose her life, but if she succeeded, the remaining humans on Ennae would survive.

Khatrene trusted in her daughter’s destiny, but it was a tough ask: to destroy the serpent of death with only three Guardians — one of whom could not be trusted — two pregnant women, a master swordsman and a hundred frightened castle staff …

They needed more than a plan.

They needed a miracle.