Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms (50 page)

Keris flexed her hands on her
staff in readiness. “Using lodestone and bronze layers to effect a
downward thrust. Very good. Who taught you that?”

“You did–at the tower–remember?”
Shann replied.

Keris smiled wryly. “You learn
quickly.”

“You saved me
using that particular technique,” Shann said.
“Now we are even.”

Saccath got to
his feet. His eyes were lit with fury.
“Th
–that will cost you your life, little girl.”
He turned and ran towards the ship’s bow.
Going for the lodestone in the foredeck.
Standard Keltar to Keltar tactics. Whoever dominates the
lodestone has a decisive positional advantage in height and power.
Up to now, Saccath had not even bothered with tactics. Lyall
remembered telling Shann that the Keltars’ greatest flaw was their
overconfidence.
Turns out we are not quite
the pushover you thought.

Lyall pelted after him, followed
by Keris and Shann. He wanted to order Shann again to stay back,
but she had already proved her bravery and competence beyond
anything he could have expected–and they were going to need every
advantage they could get. It was at that moment that he spotted
something out of the corner of his eye–something that gave him
renewed hope.

“All three of us–mannatar gambit.
Sting and retreat,” Lyall called as he ran.

“He will be familiar with that,”
Keris pointed out.

“Yes, but I have a surprise
planned,” Lyall said, “one that isn’t covered in
shassatan.”

Keris shot him a look but said
nothing.

Saccath reached the foredeck and
fully extended his cloak, hurtling upwards. He was closely followed
by Keris, then Lyall and Shann. As the four of them met in midair,
the deck rang with an array of blows.

Shann was struggling with her
unwieldy oar, warding off Saccath’s attacks as best she could.
Suddenly, he whirled his diamond blade and sliced her oar in two,
narrowly missing her hand. She threw the paddle half away and
gripped the handle end, which was more attuned to her
size.

As they sank back downwards,
Keris pulled away from the fray, dived towards the foredeck and
then immediately pushed off from the lodestone again. As she passed
Shann, she pushed off the upper lodestone layer of the girl’s cloak
to gain an extra boost in height. Keris shot into the air whilst
Shann was knocked flat against the deck. Using the poorly armed
girl as a lodestone baseline made perfect sense as a tactic, but
Lyall had a feeling that Shann wouldn’t see it that way. There
would be time enough later to debate such minutiae–if they all made
it through this alive.

Keris reached the apex of her
leap and began to drop rapidly, angling towards Saccath, who was
now rising to meet her. He had read her actions and was braced for
her assault. As they met, there was a concussion of wood against
wood. They strained against each other–a contest of strength and
wills.

Shann was still
getting to her knees–the breath had been knocked out of her. Lyall
glanced sideways towards the deck–it seemed that his little
surprise was ready.
Time to end
this.

The rain
continued to pelt down as Lyall launched himself upward once more.
He made no attempt to engage the Keltar. Instead he called out to
Keris, “Mannatar–withdraw.” Keris seemed not to hear as she pressed
her attack. She and Saccath were beginning to sink slowly towards
the deck.
“Withdraw.”
She disengaged herself and pulled away. Saccath swung his
staff, the diamond blade slashing her arm as she fell. Lyall backed
off, leaving Saccath alone in midair.
“Now.”

Instantly, the air around Saccath
congealed and he was struck with a giant invisible fist. The bald
Keltar’s mouth opened as he was hurled backwards and disappeared
over the ship’s prow. Lyall landed next to Shann and helped her to
her feet. They both made their way to the forward rail where Keris
was already standing, her long dark hair blowing about her face in
the strong wind. Lyall leaned over the rail and scanned the water.
The sea was slate grey, strong winds plucking spray from the choppy
waves. Of Saccath, there was no sign.

“Is he gone?” The three cloaked
figures at the rail turned to see Alondo standing before them. He
had slung his vortex arm behind him. Boxx was by his side–bobbing
up and down in curious fashion.

“It would seem so,” Lyall
replied. “I’m sorry you had to do that, but we had no
choice.”

“Well, I for one won’t miss him.”
Alondo grinned through the pelting rain.

“Impressive,”
Keris said. “I suppose we should call that the ‘Alondo gambit.’”
She walked past Alondo and carefully picked up something from the
deck, holding it reverently.
Saccath’s
staff
. Dropped in his final moments of
panic. She walked over to Shann and held the staff out to her. The
girl looked distinctly self-conscious with everyone looking at her.
“You fought bravely,” Keris declared. “This is yours by right–to
replace that which was lost.” Lyall and Alondo both nodded their
assent. Shann reached out and took hold of the staff as if she was
expecting it to bite her at any moment.

Lyall suddenly
remembered something.
“Patris.”

“I checked him–he’s alive,”
Alondo smiled again. “Maybe we should throw him overboard so he can
keep his ‘friend’ company?”

Lyall looked at him
disapprovingly. “He didn’t ask to be in this situation. I was the
one who decided that we should be less than honest with him about
the true purpose of this voyage. If anything, the fault is
mine.”

“What do you want us to do with
him?” Alondo asked.

Lyall looked up at the carrack,
its sails still towering over their ship’s stern. The shipmaster
was no doubt already speculating at how events had played out over
here–debating over what should be his next move. There was not much
time.

“You and Boxx
get him into the launch. Keris, Shann–
let’s get this ship moving
.”

~

Shann stood on
the foredeck of the
Reach
, fumbling at the straps on the
harness that now enveloped her shoulders and upper torso. Her
fingers felt numbed by the constant wind and rain. Lyall, who had
already completed his adjustments, came over to help her. Keris
stood a short way off, her own harness tethered to the iron rings
which had been set into the deck for this very purpose. Waiting
patiently.

Lyall smiled at Shann
encouragingly, as he checked her over. “You understand how to do
this?”

Shann fought back the feeling of
being patronised. “Leap off using lodestone. Then retract the upper
lodestone layer and extend bronze.”

“Correct. However, it’s important
that the three of us act in concert, so that we pull at the same
time. We leap together. Then extend bronze together on my signal.
All right?”

Shann nodded. As usual, she found
his intense blue eyes reassuring. She wanted to ask him about
Saccath’s taunts concerning events at Persillan and about his
sister, but this was clearly neither the time nor the place. Keris
was standing, listening to every word, and she had no wish to
embarrass him. Besides, Lyall was right–getting the ship underway
was their priority right now.

She and Keris
took up positions to Lyall’s right and left. “Ready?” he
called.
“Go.”

They ran a few
steps towards the ship’s prow, extended their cloaks and leaped
into the space above the deck.
Just like
the three perridons in Arval’s tale
, Shann
mused. As the line went taut, she felt the strain of the harness
against her shoulders. She looked across and saw the others
alongside her, suspended in midair and raised her hand to her neck
control, awaiting the signal from Lyall.

“Now.”

As she withdrew
the lodestone and simultaneously extended her bronze, she felt a
subtle change of pressure on her harness. For an eternity nothing
happened. Then a shout from below. It was Alondo.
“She’s moving.”
He ran
towards the stern, climbed the ladder to the afterdeck and took up
position at the ships rudder. Boxx scampered after
him.

Slowly,
determinedly,
Annata’s Reach
came about and headed into The Great Barrier of
Storms.

~

It was unlike anything Shann had
ever experienced before. The colossal tempest assailed her senses.
Rain lashed against her face, obscuring her vision. Cracks of blue
lightning blinded and deafened her. Wind buffeted her small body
like a dozen mailed fists. Before long, it felt to her as if she
were surviving on willpower alone.

It was impossible to tell if they
were making any progress. Beneath them, the Aronak Sea lifted up
their tiny ship on waves the size of mountains before dropping them
just as suddenly into valley-like troughs in between. She fancied
she could hear Lyall yelling encouragement, but the maelstrom
immediately ripped up his words and threw them away
contemptuously.

Above the
cacophony of sound, Shann had the impression of a high pitched
whine below. She glanced down to see Boxx on the foredeck. It
seemed to be pointing aft. She hazarded a look over her shoulder.
Through the mist and rain she saw the unmistakeable shape of the
carrack. Sails trimmed to beat against the gale.
Bearing down on them
.

A sudden
concussion
–but this time it was not
lightning. The sea burst ahead of them as the lodestone cannon
overshot its mark. Again Lyall shouted something. She could not
make out what he was saying, but she got the message clear as
crystal. The Prophet’s ship was no longer trying to cripple their
vessel. It was trying to sink her.

There was another impact just off
their larboard quarter. Shards of timber blew out as their ship
listed violently to starboard, then righted itself. The wooden hull
creaked in protest. Lyall shouted and pointed downwards.

Shann nodded
and adjusted her neck control, withdrawing the bronze and partially
extending her lodestone layer so that she drifted downwards to
where Boxx was waiting patiently. As her boots made contact with
the rain-slicked deck, she was already tearing at the straps of her
harness. She tore it free, letting it fall to the deck, and raced
to the port rail, with Boxx behind her. Leaning over the side, she
saw shattered timbers floating on the sea. The side of the ship was
now marked by a dark gash.
They were holed
just above the waterline.

Shann had barely had a moment to
survey the damage when she heard a loud retort followed by a
terrible rending of wood and canvass. As she peered into the mist
and spray, she saw the pursuing vessel heeled violently over to
larboard. The titanic storms had slapped it like a petulant child,
toppling the mainmast and snapping the mizzen mast in two. The
flame symbol of the Prophet still fluttered boldly as the ship was
blown onto its side by the howling winds. Crewmembers jumped or
were thrown into the turbulent waters. Shann realised with a
sickening feeling that there was nothing she could do to save them.
Slowly, the Prophet’s ship began to capsize.

As she watched the death throes
of the carrack, Shann found that she was unable to tear her eyes
away. The stern was gradually swallowed by the enveloping waters,
causing the prow to rise up in one final gesture of defiance before
finally slipping beneath the waves. In a few moments, the sea had
closed over the once proud vessel, so that there was nothing to
mark its passing.

Shann jerked
herself back to reality. They had to do something about the breach
in their hull, or the
Reach
would soon be joining the other vessel at the
bottom of the sea. She started back to where Lyall and Keris were
still straining, pulling their battered cog through the storms.
Then she saw it. A shaft of light burst through the whirling
clouds, revealing a sliver of azure blue sky beyond, like a flash
of hope. Suddenly an immense wave crashed against the starboard
side of the ship. The deck lurched under her and she was flung
backwards in the flood of seawater. Boxx was tumbling towards the
ship’s rail. Shann lunged at the creature, grabbing it round its
midriff just as a second wave burst over the side. She was hurled
back again. Then the world exploded as her head hit the rail and
she was tossed over the side of the ship, still clutching the
Chandara. Shann experienced an instant of freefall before hitting
the water with a splash. Her ears were instantly muffled as she
felt herself sinking below the waves, and gradually her
consciousness slipped away.

~

It began with a
merest suggestion of warmth. Slowly, the suggestion became a
sensation and the sensation moved outwards from its
birthplace.
Spreading.
Growing
. Its tendrils insinuated
themselves, enlivening and animating all that they touched. Slowly
the warm feeling changed colour and intensified,
becoming…
pain
.
Slowly, determinedly, Shann opened her eyes.