Shadow Over Avalon (45 page)

“Yes, in seven. Is there anything else I can do to help you?”

“Continue as you did. I don’t need distractions.”

“You all heard him. Move!”

Arthur concentrated, aware of Kai steering him around obstacles in physical reality, and then helping him climb down into the darkness. He couldn’t try the same deception with transport hopping again, since the Archive wouldn’t be fooled a second time. Now he needed to give it something it wanted, before it destroyed him. He gambled the acquisition of his seed was worth the stay of execution, having noted security sent by the Archive to catch him on his mind journey had their weapons set to stun.

Kai put shields on his eyes. “Arthur, if you can hear me, prepare for high-pitched sounds and a burst of light.”

“What’s he going to do?” Ambrose asked.

Shadow pried up the rusty entranceway with Ector’s help. “Kai’s made a study of ancient pyrotechnics. He modified a certain type to detonate with a whine rather than a bang. We need noise, light and movement to trigger sentinels I found at the first gateway before we risk passage, but not enough noise to bring seers running.”

A flash followed by a hurtful sound set five laser bursts at the target object. Ector took aim and fired at the apertures. Kai sent another incandescent burst through the gateway. This time, all remained peaceful.

“Quickly, we have less than four minutes,” Shadow urged.

Smells of ancient must assailed Arthur’s walking corporeal body as his astral self waited for the final pod stop. They reached sight of the next gateway with one minute to spare.

“I’ll scout ahead,” Ector volunteered when Shadow joined the rest.

“No, I miscalculated the distance. We must wait. Arthur can’t have any feedback from any of us until he’s through with the trail he’s laying. Meditation everyone.”

Intent on his image-self, Arthur waited on the Archive’s action before he continued to the next false trail. When the last stop failed to produce a captive from the innocent railpod, the Archive let its rage surge to unimaginable levels for a split-second. It now searched for an echo, rather than a presence, so Arthur released a picture of him sneaking into Sanctuary from the eyes of a passerby. The Archive began to pick through every mind within, starting at the ground floor up. Arthur obligingly left a trail to Circe’s room, having accessed her sleeping mind moments before.

Fear of failure released adrenalin, but not to strengthen Arthur’s will as he’d gambled. His mind made a peculiar flip, moving up into new realms, where he could feel rage as a hot wave of hate and power.

Hate was irrelevant, but loathing such as he felt represented constructive use of emotion, since it didn’t impair his judgment. He activated the Circe program, letting it run while he dealt with the problem in his physical world.

“It’s been too long,” Ambrose said. “We have to move, or he’ll take us down with him.”

“Ambrose—” Shadow started.

“Look, we can’t keep stopping for him. We must continue without him, or abort.”

“Shadow, either keep him quiet, or remove his ability to vocalize, I don’t care which,” Arthur ordered. He heard, rather than saw, Shadow’s sword drawn.

Circe responded to his phantom kiss. Her dream sequence altered to his suggestion. The Archive entered her mind seconds later. It wanted him badly yet . . . it backed off to wait until he’d finished, satisfied he couldn’t escape.

Arthur looked up to find Ambrose pinned against a wall with the point of Shadow’s blade brushing his neck. She released him at Arthur’s nod.

“We have at least forty-five minutes of uninterrupted progress,” he said. “You can let him go now.”

“How do we know we have that long?” Ambrose demanded, red-faced.

“Because I’m currently visiting with Circe,” Arthur said.

“Less than five before security raid her room and find her alone.” Ambrose dismissed the notion.

“Who’s Circe?” Kai wanted to know.

Arthur grinned. “She’s a seer breeding mistress who’s wasted a large amount of her valuable time trying to get viable seed out of me. Now she dreams of gradual success.”

“I’ve had enough of this fabrication. No one manipulates seers, and this lad claims he’s controlling the Archive. Whose word are we taking for truth that the Archive is aware of our quest anyway? Do we have any corroboration? No.” Ambrose shouldered Ector aside to continue. “I say this boy is merely voicing precisely what he’s supposed to say to implicate us all beyond redemption.”

Part of Arthur’s mind registered irritation. He relaxed the barrier sealing away his ongoing encounter with the Archive to release a confined broadcast, cutting straight through privacy shields of all within his vicinity for the space of sixty heartbeats. Each face registered shock, and some looked embarrassed, while others were awed by the time he ended the transmission.

“Not . . . one . . . more . . . word,” Shadow glared at Ambrose. “He’s more than proved himself. Interrupt him again, and I remove your ability to interrupt, permanently.”

Ambrose looked away; his shoulders slumped, unwilling to face a circle of hostile stares.

“Mother, I make it forty minutes now,” Kai said.

“Keep together and no one move near any sentinel until we have tested it for activity. Same formation as before.”

A more cautious group edged forward in almost total darkness for fifty paces until Kai called a halt. He fumbled in his backpack for a moment to withdraw a metal ball. “On your knees, everyone,” he called, rolling it ahead of them. Nothing happened. Kai rummaged again for a pyrotechnic. He lit the fuse and hurled it as far as he could. A brilliant blue cascade would have temporarily blinded the party without eye shields. Again, no response to the prod. Kai unhooked a flashlight from his belt. They stood no more than ten meters from an obvious portal. It remained inactive.

“Advance slowly,” Shadow called. “Let’s have more light.”

Ector and Ambrose both unhooked flashlights. At Shadow’s signal, all removed eye shields. They moved forward with caution.

Ancient walls oozed malevolence around them. Ancient dust rose from every step to coat their lungs. They passed Shadow’s first barrier and traveled unknown territory. Two more sentinels proved identical to the first and Kai disarmed each with ease. Ahead, a faint break in the wall alerted Ector. He caught Ambrose by the shoulder to halt him. The others grouped behind.

“What have you seen?” Shadow said.

“Maybe nothing. An irregularity. Kai . . . would you please?”

Kai went through his complete repertoire to no effect. He looked at the rest. “I sense danger. Our odds have just plummeted.”

All gazed ahead. The passage stretched into infinite gloom, but the walls looked clear and there laid the danger. No one imagined easy access after the elaborate traps behind them, not with Kai’s warning still ringing in their ears.

“I guess this one’s down to me,” Ambrose said, by way of general apology.

“Don’t go past that break in the wall unless you’re certain—” Shadow began.

“No more than a body length near,” Ector broke in.

One step at a time, Ambrose advanced, shining his flashlight on walls, ceiling, and floor, and then he stopped for a long time.

“I’m not sure, but I think I’ve found a difference,” he called.

They joined him to stare where his light rested on the floor.

“I think I see faint patterns in the dust,” he said.

“He’s right,” Kai said. “Luck is riding with us now.”

“We don’t know how deep the dust is, or what lies underneath.” Ector hunkered down, to touch the surface. “Shadow?”

“I can’t, not alone. Have you any idea how difficult it is to lift individual particles? Every single one has to be isolated for levitation. I’d need to see the next wall break to even calculate how much power we need.”

“Lights, everyone,” Ector ordered.

Darkness lifted, revealing the passage stretching ahead.

“Hells, that’s about twenty body lengths.” Kai relaxed his grip on Arthur’s arm.

“One hundred and twenty feet,” Ector translated for the benefit of Ambrose.

Shadow turned to Ambrose. “I know how Ector ranks in psi factor, and Kai can’t help, so that leaves you.”

“Levitation is not my strong point. I can lift myself when the need is great, but inanimate objects tend to slip. Besides, I think I might recognize those symbols if I could see them clearly. I can’t lift and decipher at the same time.”

“I’ll do it. Three is only going to complicate matters.” Arthur moved forward to stand by Shadow.

“Maybe we could lift half at a time,” Ector suggested. “Look, I know you said you were a twenty on a good day, but this isn’t one when you’re carrying the Archive.”

“It’s busy gloating. I really don’t like gloating. That’s a most disgusting expression of feeling. However, I’m free for a space.”

“Don’t you need to stimulate Circe’s dream?” Ector wanted to know.

“She has an active imagination. She’s doing quite nicely all by herself. I just need to keep a light touch on her mind.”

“You ever lifted multiple objects before?” Shadow asked.

“I know the principle. Give me a moment while I focus. I’ll take the left side of central.

Arthur looked at the stretch before them while he calculated the distance, probable depth and absolute width. He knew he couldn’t use all his will, as he had to keep tabs on both Circe and the Archive. The residue might just be enough, given the drain of linking.

“Ector, we may need a reinforcement of will. Don’t try to help us lift. Just give us the strength we need if we seem to be faltering,” he said.

Shadow looked once into his eyes as she reached out her hand. He made a conscious effort not to block her as the strands of their wills linked together, before immense power flooded through him when their wills combined to a single purpose. Their eyes turned as one, to the dusty floor. Together they focused on every particle. The drain sucked at his life-force by the time they assimilated each atom.

Slowly, so slowly the mass lifted. Sweat ran down into Arthur’s eyes, blinding him. He could feel the lifting, and then it faltered as limits topped.

“Ector,” they gasped in unison. Power flowed into the joining to magnify their wills. The blanket of atoms once more ascended.

“That’s enough,” Ambrose cried. “Hold it there as long as you can. I can see now.”

Every fiber of Arthur’s being cried out for relief, and he could sense Shadow’s distress, along with Ector’s rapid tiring. His link with Circe began to fail.

“Let go, I have it,” Ambrose ordered.

All three of them relaxed, and Ector dropped to his knees to begin rubbing at his neck muscles, while Shadow stretched, and Arthur breathed deeply. Kai passed high-energy rations to each. Ambrose stood with his eyes half-closed in deep concentration until Kai finished, and then turned to him.

“Have you an eidetic memory, Kai?”

“A what?”

“Total recall. I know all original Brethren had such from the moment of banding, but not if children inherit.”

“Some don’t, I did. What data do you want to review?”

“None, I need to download while the floor patterns are still intact in my mind.”

“Go ahead.”

Arthur wondered at Ambrose’s strength. Shadow and Ector didn’t bounce back as swiftly as himself, and neither picked up on Ambrose for his peculiar request. He decided to take initiative.

“Ambrose, why is Kai storing?”

“So I don’t lose the pattern while I compare ancient symbols against the original. I don’t possess your level of concentration. Please let me alone for a while.”

“Arthur, how much time do we have left?” Shadow rubbed her hands over her eyes and sighed.

“Twenty minutes on my current program.”

“Then what?” Her gaze skewered him.

“Depends on whether the Archive will be content to let the apparent me sleep. If not, you’d best go on without me.”

“Can’t you . . . ?” Kay grinned.

“No. If I’m not where it expects to find me this time, it will know for sure I’m misdirecting. I could possibly buy five extra minutes, seeming to be at an exit. Where I can’t be is anywhere around the rest of you. If I get five minutes, I’ll try to use them going back to Sanctuary.”

“Supposing I stay with you?” She laid a light hand on his shoulder. “There will be three left to continue. It might gain us more time.”

“And two certain deaths, instead of one. I knew the risks, and I was forfeit anyway. Much may happen in the next twenty minutes. We may reach the end of our quest, or we might encounter a barrier we can’t penetrate and have to turn back—the possibilities are many. I’d like my life to have meaning.”

“Leave him be, Shadow.” Ector wrapped his arm around her waist for a brief hug. “As he said, the future hasn’t happened yet.”

“We can continue now.” Ambrose looked up. “The symbols were based on ancient cartouches. Follow my exact footsteps until we get across.”

They formed up to proceed. Ector moved sluggishly enough for Arthur to wish himself not removed by one from the weak link. Shadow also noticed Ector’s fatigue.