The Devoured Earth (26 page)

‘Pukje brought us here via Tatenen and the Old Ones,’ Highson said. ‘They told us that we have to find the Goddess’s Tomb in order to save the world.’

‘How will that make a difference?’

‘One thing at a time,’ said the imp-dragon, letting out a blood-drenched bellow of air. ‘If we’re going to go anywhere, it should be soon.’

‘I agree,’ said Highson. ‘We should definitely get airborne while I can still feel my hands.’

‘Will you tell Sal we’re giving up on Shilly?’ asked Seth.

‘Yes. He’ll understand.’

‘Don’t forget the Angel and the glast,’ Seth said. ‘It’s hard to tell from the footprints, but I think they went in the same direction as the others.’

‘I will.’

The twins helped Highson aboard Pukje’s wrinkled back then secured themselves behind him. The imp-dragon took one last mouthful of cooling flesh, then strutted like a strange-looking bird to the edge of the snow shelf.

‘Do you think going to the towers is safe?’ Hadrian asked him, remembering Kail, whose death he had yet to fully absorb.

‘Oh, I doubt that very much.’ With one powerful thrust, Pukje launched himself into the frigid air.

* * * *

Sal had barely finished bringing Marmion up to date when a subtle sense tingled, warning that someone was trying to contact him. At first he thought it might be Highson, but the flavour of this communication was different.

‘Sal, are you there? Drop whatever you’re doing and listen to me.’

Sal held up his hand to call for silence. A discussion stopped in mid-sentence between Lidia Delfine, Heuve and Chu on who would take the first shift if they decided to spend the night in the abandoned Ice Eaters’ headquarters. ‘
Is
that you, Mage Kelloman
?’

‘It is, and I don’t have time for pleasantries. Skender and I are in rather a serious predicament and we need your help.’

‘You sound like you’re calling from a long way away. How did that happen?’

‘Don’t be obtuse, boy. I’m calling from my real body, of course, and you’re the only one who could pick me up. Those confounded Ice Eaters have Change-workers. They might detect me if I try calling from my host body’s location.’

The mage’s manner rankled as it always did, but Sal forced himself not to react. ‘
Where are you and Skender
?’

‘We’ve been kidnapped by Trey a. The Ice Eaters have taken us to an underground chamber some distance from you. Skender thinks they’re using machines to pump something, but I’m not certain of that. It’s hard to see from where I’m lying and the sound is difficult to make out. I think there’s a charm at work.’

‘Can you tell us how to find you?’

‘I can’t give you directions, but Skender probably could.’

‘Why can’t we talk to him?’

‘Because they’ve put a Change-sink collar on him, that’s why. Now don’t distract me, boy. This is the important thing. The Ice Eaters are dedicated to protecting the Tomb. Whoever was in the balloon broke the local laws, and they’re going to pay for it. You’ll need to warn them.’

‘
It may be a little late for that
.’ Sal outlined everything he knew: that the balloon had crashed after visiting the towers in the lake. ‘
But I guess that means the Tomb is under the biggest tower
.’

‘
Worry about that later
,’ said the mage. ‘
Concentrate on getting us out of here. Trey a is too busy to think about us right now, but that won’t last forever. All she has to do is raise a hand and that could be it
.’

‘She’d kill you?’

‘She might very well do just that. Who can say what such ignorant savages are capable of?’

Sal let that coarseness slide. He did note, though, that Kelloman — who was under no real threat of losing his life thanks to his ability to retreat to the Interior at any moment — was including Skender in his concerns.

Sal took a moment to outline their own situation, then asked, ‘
What do you suggest we do if we don’t know where you are
?’

‘Find some more Ice Eaters. They’re not all behind Treya in this. They’re divided. See if you can use one faction against the other in order to find out where we might be. Remember, we can hear machinery. It’s not the sort of thing that would be lying around anywhere. This is a special place and it would require maintenance.’

That made sense. ‘
Is there anything else we should know
?’

‘The Ice Eaters believe that they have a connection to the Goddess. If we can get out of our current predicament, you might want to think about how to turn this to our advantage. The twins knew her too, apparently, in their previous life. I wouldn’t take such a claim at first glance, but it may be worth exploring. With such a being on our side, we would be formidable.’

Sal thought of Tatenen and all his talk of binding the realms together. They needed the Goddess to do that. If she truly was still alive and could be summoned, then that potentially made things much easier. Once they had a plan, everything else was just logistics.

‘
All right
,’ he said. ‘
Thank you. We’ll do what we can
.’

‘I suppose I can expect no more of you.’

With that, the mage was gone. Sal became aware that Marmion was sitting next to him and had placed his one hand on Sal’s shoulder in order to listen in. The warden leaned away with a sigh. .

‘Was that Skender?’ asked Chu anxiously.

Sal shook his head.

A series of complex emotions passed across the young flyer’s face. ‘I hate this,’ she said. ‘I feel —’

‘Impotent?’

She nodded.

As Marmion began explaining what they had learned from Kelloman, another communication came through the Change. This time Sal took Marmion’s arm.

It was Highson, en route to the centre of the lake, with information about the balloon’s crash site and much more besides. Sal’s head began to reel at the news of the Angel, the glast, Mawson’s beheading, Ice Eater attacks, and the absence of any survivors.

‘I think you’ll have better luck tracking Shilly on the ground
,’ Highson concluded. ‘
The trail leads along the ravine and may end up underground, in the cave system. Obviously, we can’t track them from the air
.’

‘
Understood
,’ said Marmion. ‘
We’ll send Delfine and Heuve to the location immediately. When you reach the towers, report back to me. Don’t take any action, whatever you do. It looks as though the Tomb is critical, both in our relations with the Ice Eaters and in the fight against Yod
.’

‘
Tatenen and the Old Ones want us to lock the twins and therefore the realms permanently together
,’ said Sal. ‘
If the twins and the Goddess do have some sort of connection, and if we can get into the Tomb, we might actually make this happen
.’

‘
On that point, there could be a problem,’
Highson said. ‘
The twins appear to be on the verge of some sort of transformation. The Homunculus gives them the form by which they imagine themselves, so theoretically it could grant them each a separate body. What would happen to the realms then is anyone’s guess
.’

‘
Keep them together as long as you can
,’ said Marmion. ‘
You made that thing, after all
.’

‘
I’ll try
,’ said Highson, sounding weary. ‘
I’ll
try
…’

‘
We’re going nowhere fast at this end, Highson
,’ Sal added in what he hoped was a conciliatory tone. ‘
It may help to remember that
.’

‘
That’s not a terribly cheery thought, son
.’ Highson did sound faintly better, however. ‘
I’ll call you when we have better news’

As Highson broke off communications, Sal realised with some surprise that his face had turned red. That was the first time Highson had so casually acknowledged his parenthood. Normally, they were so caught up in angst over mistakes made and opportunities lost that the issue was rarely raised.

‘Eminent Delfine,’ said Marmion, turning away, ‘I have a favour to ask of you. You too, Griel.’

Marmion went about organising a party to search for the whereabouts of Shilly and the other survivors of the crash. Chu stuck close to him, determined not to be left out. Sal wondered what sort of Change-workers the Ice Eaters might be and if they would comprise a serious threat. Since leaving Fundelry, he had encountered people proficient in extracting the potential from blood, trees and fog, as well as the usual Stone Mage and Sky Warden reservoirs. Maybe they tapped into the cold, as their name suggested, to light their fragile-looking crystals. Nothing, he thought, would surprise him now.

It came, therefore, as a complete shock to receive a third message through the Change, one that sent him lunging for Marmion’s arm so he could hear too.

‘Sal, this is Kail. I’ve found Shilly. She’s a captive of the Ice Eaters along with Tom and the empyricist. They’re on the move. I’ll give you directions. I think you need to get here soon.’

For a moment, Sal was lost for words.

‘
We’re glad to hear from you
,’ said Marmion, as coolly as ever. ‘
We’ll move out immediately
.’

‘
Good
,’ came the reply. ‘
They’re planning something, and I think it’s going to be big
.’

‘
I thought you were dead
,’ Sal managed, feeling foolish even as he said the words.

‘
It takes more than a fall to keep me down
,’ said the tracker. ‘
Thank the Goddess
.’

Sal could tell, even as Kail began describing the route and the landmarks they should look for, that the comment was more significant than it might ordinarily have been.

* * * *

THE VEIL

‘The nature of the alien is to stand apart

until assimilated, to be different until accepted,

to compete until allied with.

The strange becomes familiar once it is

known and understood
—
but we must never

forget that a line existed no matter how smudged

it has become.’

SKENDER VAN HAASTEREN X

he pounding of engines and clanging of hammers continued unchecked long into the night. Strangely soothed by the driving rhythms, Skender actually managed to sleep crouched next to the head of Kelloman’s bed with the bilby curled on his shoulder, occasionally stirring when the creature licked his ear or shivered.

Only when the rhythms faltered and stopped did he fully wake. A chorus of shouts rose up out of the darkness, indicating that something had gone wrong.

He forced his knees to unbend and rose to his feet.

Not a flicker of awareness crossed Kelloman’s face as the guards approached. He was either still feigning unconsciousness or genuinely elsewhere.

‘What’s going on?’ Skender asked. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘No, it bloody well isn’t,’ said Treya, coming out of the darkness to stand with hands on hips in front of him. ‘Are you an Engineer?’

‘I do have some expertise in that area.’ He had read books on the subject in his father’s library so therefore didn’t feel he was completely lying.

‘Come with me, then,’ she said. ‘Watch the other one closely,’ she told the guards. ‘Collar her if she shows the slightest sign of waking.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

Treya turned and headed off into the darkness. Skender followed in the hope that he might find out where he was being held captive. As the faint glow surrounding Kelloman and the guards receded behind him, he struggled to see Treya’s back, let alone keep up. He felt as though they were sinking down into a deep, lightless sea. The downward-sloping floor only encouraged that impression. From ahead, he presumed, still came the sound of people shouting, but a welter of echoes gave the impression that a horde of people surrounded him. The babble of voices made him feel much more nervous than wandering through the darkness did.

Then the gloom peeled away, revealing a startlingly well-lit scene before him. The far end of the cavern ended in a massive masonry wall that sparkled like granite in the array of crystal-lights shining upon it. Numerous rectangular blocks, each as large as a camel’s torso, fitted seamlessly together with tiny charms chiselled into every blunt face.

He had seen such handiwork on the wall around Laure. Designed to protect the ancient city from the depredations of the Divide, it had been strong and yet flexible enough to hold back the full force of the flood. Why, Skender wondered, would anyone build such a wall inside a mountain?

There were several other interesting features near this new structure that became clear as Treya led him closer. One was a series of lines etched into the wall that didn’t match the pattern of blocks. It looked to Skender as though someone had pushed a cookie-cutter through the charmed stone to create a door without hinges or obvious handle. Another feature consisted of three fat pipes emerging from one of the larger blocks and snaking off into the shadows.

To the right of the door crouched a squat black machine of uncertain provenance into which two of the pipes vanished. It had the look of something that had until recently been very active. Skender assumed this to be the source of the pounding.

Around the machine’s base stood a dozen men and women, some of them stripped down to their undershirts. The air was much warmer near the machine, and within just a few breaths Skender had broken out into a sweat. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt such heat, and he breathed deeply of it even as he loosened the collar of his robes and tugged at his undergarments.