Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms (45 page)

“The Rings must first be Linked.”
Lyall handed the second Ring to Alondo.

“What do I do?” Alondo
asked.

“Hold the Rings against each
other so that the stones touch.”

Alondo touched the Ring to the
one on Oliah’s hand. They looked into one another’s eyes. After a
moment an ethereal green light filled the space between them.
Finally, the light died. Alondo handed the second Ring back to
Lyall, who placed it back in the box and closed the lid. Oliah
looked down at the Ring on her finger as if it were a thing of
wonder.

“Thank you,” Lyall addressed her.
“We will be relying on you.”

“I will not let you down,” she
said.

“I have one more favour to ask. I
need to talk to Shann and Alondo alone for a moment. Is that all
right?”

Oliah smiled bravely. “Of course.
Come on, Boxx.”

When the two had left, Lyall
looked at Shann and Alondo in turn. Now that the moment he was
dreading had finally come, he found himself torn by indecision. A
part of him wanted to excuse himself. To say it was nothing, that
it had all been a mistake. But he was locked onto a path that
allowed no turning. He pressed on. “You have both been an essential
part of this journey so far. I could not have asked for braver
companions.” He paused, looking down at the table; then raised his
head to look into their eyes once more. “Or truer
friends.

“Now we are facing our greatest
challenge yet. To save this world, we must attempt to cross the
Great Barrier of Storms. Yet, even in spite of all of our planning
and preparation, we may not survive. That is why I have
decided…that the two of you should stay behind.”

“No!
” It was Shann who reacted.
Alondo just looked stunned.

“I have thought about this
carefully,” Lyall pushed forward. “Boxx is essential to the
fulfilment of Annata’s plan. He will only deal with Keris, so she
has to come, too. Besides, there seems to be no safe place left for
her here. Patris is needed to sail the ship. As for the two of
you–well there is no compelling reason to risk your lives further.
Besides, Alondo has…ties here now.”

“Oliah and I have already
discussed this together,” Alondo said. “She believes in what we are
doing and she wants me to go.”

Lyall had a wry expression. “You
know little about women, my friend. She will tell you what you wish
to hear, but I was watching her tonight. Her face betrays her true
feelings.”

“This is about what happened at
Persillan again, isn’t it?”

Lyall felt Alondo’s words hit
home. “It has nothing to do with that. I simply will not risk more
lives than is absolutely necessary.”

“Persillan?” Shann
asked.

“It’s something that happened a
long time ago, Shann. It has no bearing here.” Lyall looked at
Alondo, willing him to silence.

Shann pulled
down the collar of her tunic, exposing the bare olive flesh of her
neck. The flame brand was clearly visible, the mark that he had put
there with his own hand. “I got
this
trying to free the tributes at
Gort from slavery to the Prophet. I am coming with you, whatever.
Unless you intend to throw me off the ship.”

Alondo leaned forward. “That goes
for me, too.”

Lyall looked at
their earnest faces and felt his heart melt. His best friend and
the girl who had saved his life twice.
How
could he forgive himself if anything happened to them?
He wanted to plead with them both–to beg them not
to add to his pain. Alondo was right. It was the pain associated
with those events eleven turns ago that had shaped his life ever
since. That pain had compelled him to attack a Keltar in Corte and
to try in vain to free the tributes at Gort. Now it was driving him
to hurl himself at the Great Barrier itself.
Aune. Are you still alive somewhere? Will I ever see you
again?

In that moment,
the door flew open, and Patris appeared. His breath was short and
his eyes were grave.
“Keris–she’s
disappeared.”

Chapter
29

The room at the back of the
Calandra seemed crowded. Shann, Lyall, Alondo and Boxx were joined
by members of the thief gang. Oliah’s arm was linked in Alondo’s
and the girl seemed to be leaning against him for
security.

Shann too felt conflicted, but
for different reasons. If the Prophet’s men had indeed snatched
Keris, then that would suggest that her claims to have broken her
ties with Chalimar were genuine. However, she could just as easily
have gone with them voluntarily to make it look as if she had been
kidnapped–perhaps as a last ditch attempt to delay their departure?
If that were the case, then the best thing to do would be to leave
her in the company of her Keltar friends and sail without her.
However, something told her that Lyall would never agree to
that.

Patris stood at the head of the
table. “They have her at one of their safe houses.”

“Safe houses?” Lyall
asked.

“The Prophet’s agents have
several business fronts and safe houses in the city,” Patris
explained. “Your companion is being held at one on Cyrran Street,
near where the shipwright’s office is located.”

“Then we must go there and free
her,” Lyall said.

Patris shook his head. “That
would be unwise. She is being held on the uppermost floor and there
are guards on each level. You would not get anywhere
near.”

Lyall frowned. “What do you
suggest?”

“I am not sure–I don’t see how I
can help you. Our thief company is a co-operative–I can’t order
them to undertake a mission such as this and to be honest; I
wouldn’t even if I could. To do so could lead to open war with the
Prophet’s forces here in Sakara–a war that we have neither the
people nor the resources to sustain. I’m sorry. I won’t do
it.”

“We could get
straight to the top floor.”
Shut up, you
fool,
Shann berated herself. Yet despite
her misgivings, it still felt wrong to abandon someone–even
Keris.

Lyall appeared lost in thought.
Then he turned to Patris. He seemed to be weighing his words
carefully. “I appreciate your situation. However, we must attempt a
rescue of our companion. As you say, there is an element of risk.
And…you have not yet been paid for your services on our behalf. If
we were to meet up with an accident–”

“That would be most unfortunate,”
Patris completed the thought.

“Yes,” Lyall said. “Yes it
would…Of course, our chances of success might well be enhanced if
there were some sort of unforeseen diversion–say for instance, a
fire suddenly breaking out in an adjacent building?”

Patris quirked one side of his
mouth. “I believe there is a blacksmith’s shop next door. It’s
quite possible that a stray ember might spark a blaze of sizeable
proportions.”

“Might such an accident occur
later this evening?” Lyall probed.

“It’s a distinct
possibility.”

“Then we have an
understanding?”

“I believe so–oh, by the way, I
wonder if you would excuse me. I have suddenly remembered some
pressing business I must attend to.”

“By all means. Don’t forget to be
aboard the ship by first light. Our departure will prove to
be…somewhat hasty, I would think.”

Patris and Lyall exchanged a
look. Then Patris signalled to the others in his group and they
filed out.

When they had gone, Alondo turned
to Lyall. “You had him eating out of your hand.”

Lyall laughed. “I just played on
his weak spot–money. Besides, I think he enjoys the thought of
taking the Prophet’s forces down a peg. I just needed to show him a
way of doing that without risk to his own people.”

Shann had a serious look. “You
realise this may be a trap.”

“You’re right,
it may,” Lyall said. “However, I don’t think we have much of a
choice.” Shann saw the resolve in his eyes.
No, I don’t suppose that you do.
“Shann and I are the only ones who can get to the upper floor
without having to go in the front door. So we will be the ones to
free Keris.”

“What do you want me and Boxx to
do?” Alondo asked.

Lyall put his arm around Alondo’s
shoulders. “I’m glad you asked that. I have a special job for you,
my friend.”

~

Ail-Mazzoth lay low in the west,
casting a ruddy glow over the rooftops of the port city. Sounds of
merrymaking drifted up from the various hostelries, as clothier and
baker, seaman and sail maker, raised a stoup to one another’s
health. In an alley to the rear of the safe house, hidden deep in
the shadows, two cloaked figures were crouched down side by side,
waiting.

A shout…then
another.
Not the sounds of casual revelry.
These were cries of alarm. Patris’ little diversion was
underway.
Time to move.

Lyall and Shann moved stealthily
along the alley until they were directly beneath the building where
Patris had indicated that Keris was being held. The edifice rose
before them, indomitable like a sheer cliff face, punctuated by lit
windows at regular intervals. Four storeys. It would take a
considerable leap to reach the uppermost level. Following the
battle with the Kharthrun serpent, Shann understood the basic
concept of co-operative mechanics. If they timed it
correctly…

Shann made eye
contact with Lyall, who nodded to her. Bending her knees, she
jumped, using a weak natural source. She felt a rush of air behind
her; then a crushing downward pressure on the refined lodestone in
her cloak’s mechanism. She was slammed towards the ground. The
natural deposit barely slowed her descent and she landed hard,
barely managing to stay upright.
How about
next time I do that to you?

She peered upwards to see a
hunched form on the roof and a rope snaking down to meet her. Shann
wrapped the rope around her hand and allowed herself to be pulled
up. As she reached the uppermost level, she passed a darkened
window. Her feet found the ledge. She signalled to Lyall and the
rope went slack.

With one hand, Shann held on to
the casement and with the other hand, she reached inside a pouch,
feeling the resistant pull of an oval shaped lodestone, dark as
night. She held the stone against the window just as Lyall had
instructed her earlier, and moved it in an upward motion towards
the inside latch. After a couple of failed attempts and a rising
sense of frustration, Shann heard the dull scrape of iron against
iron as the latch was pushed upwards.

The freed window moved outward
imperceptibly. As Shann pulled it all the way open, her other hand
moved instinctively towards the staff at her back–Keris’ staff. As
usual, the woman had taken her flying cloak with her, but had left
her staff back at the Calandra.

As they were getting ready to
leave, Lyall had handed it to her. “To replace your broken
one.”

Shann stared at it as if it were
about to turn into a serpent and bite her. “She would not let me
take this.”

Lyall smiled.
“You didn’t take it–I did. Don’t worry, Shann. If there is one
thing Keris understands, it’s necessity.”
I hope you’re right
.

The room beyond the window was
silent, swathed in shadow. Shann nimbly slipped inside. A moment
later, Lyall’s feet appeared in the window frame and she helped
pull him in.

Lyall took the
lead, moving to a door set in the far wall. He opened it a crack.
Artificial light washed into the room. It was largely empty, apart
from a cabinet against one wall and a few packing cases. Lyall
opened the door wider. The corridor was empty. She followed him out
into the hallway. They followed the passageway as it bore to the
left, passing a stairwell which led down to the floor below. All
was quiet. At the first intersection, Lyall held up his hand and
peeked around the corner. He stepped back and touched her arm to
get her attention, holding up two fingers. Two guardians. They
might just as well have put a sign over the door. He mouthed the
words, “
Follow my lead,”
waited until she nodded once,; then rounded the
corner confidently with Shann in tow.

The two
guardians were clad in light serge, with short blades at their
sides. They fingered the hilts and shuffled their feet nervously as
the cloaked figures approached. Lyall’s instructions earlier that
evening came back to her. “
Use the wood
and the flat of the blade.”
It was a
euphemism for the employment of non-lethal skills. She could just
imagine what Keris would have to say about that. Still, these were
obviously not Chalimar-trained soldiers; they were locally
recruited grunts. With luck, their wits would be as dull as their
blades.

Lyall stopped in front of the
guardians and assumed an authoritative air. “We wish to interrogate
the prisoner. Stand aside.” It was a calculated gamble. The flying
cloaks Lyall and Shann wore were not only a tool; they were a
symbol of authority. But would these men’s fear of the Keltar be
sufficient to overcome their natural suspicion? Shann felt her body
tense. The next few moments would be critical.