The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) (118 page)

Naturally.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” she said. “I don’t think we will be on this island for very much longer.”

They reached a place where several rocks broke the surface of the stream to form a set of natural stepping stones. Water frothed angrily around the obstructions. Keris hopped nimbly from one to the other, followed closely by the Chandara. She was quite sure that the creature could easily have swum across, but as ever, it preferred to stay with her.

She reached the far bank and turned. Boxx stood on the flat rock regarding her with its tiny black eyes. “I Too Will Soon Be Gone,” it declared.

Keris felt momentarily exposed. Had the Chandara somehow read her mind—figured out what she was planning to do? “What do you mean?”

“My Time—It Is Short.”

The Dais.
Boxx told her the same thing inside the dome of mist, just before her trial. It had entrusted her with a vial of transparent skin, filled with a milky-white substance. She carried it in the deepest recess of her pouch. She still had no idea what it was, or what she was supposed to do with it, but something told her that it was of vital importance.

“What will happen to you?” she asked and then immediately regretted the question. She was not at all sure that she wanted to know the answer.

“I Must Leave You. But You Must Take Me With You.”

Keris smiled inwardly.
Typical Chandara-speak. Completely true, but making no sense whatsoever.
The creature sounded as if it were talking about its death. But then what part did the vial play? “How long?” she asked.

“I Do Not Know. Soon. If I Must Heal, Then Sooner.”

“I will help in whatever way I can.” It occurred to her that if she had to go on a mission from which she knew she would not return, then she ought to return the vial—ask Boxx to entrust it to someone else. “If I cannot be there for you, I will make sure you get what you need.”

“Why?” Boxx said.

Keris frowned. “Why what?”

“Why Would You Not Be There?”

Keris turned and strode away from the rushing stream. She kept facing forward so that the Chandara would not see the lump in her throat or the tears filling her eyes.

~

Keris was about halfway back to the ship when she ran across the hu-man.

At first, it seemed like an incredible piece of good fortune: a small, elderly individual, wiry-looking, but she was sure that she would be able to overpower him. He appeared to be completely alone, leaning casually with his back to the fuselage of one of the thin silver avionics. What he was doing here in the middle of nowhere was a genuine mystery, but one that she was content to forgo solving if it secured her the prisoner/hostage she needed to enact her plan. As an added bonus, she would gain possession of one of their flying machines. The whole thing was almost too good to be true.

She took cover behind an outcrop of loose shale, gesturing for Boxx to get behind her.

“Hu-man,” the Chandara commented.

“Shhhh,” she commanded. The creature fell silent. She needed a moment to think about how to approach this. The avionic sat perched on a wide, roughly flat area of sandstone. If the hu-man saw her coming and perceived her as a threat, then he would only have to board his aircraft and lift off in order to escape. And if it was fitted with the same lightning weapon that the other hu-man avionics possessed, then she could very soon find herself coming under attack. Speed and stealth were going to be vital if she was going to pull this off.

She turned to the little creature behind her. It lay flat with its head on the ground, as if expecting another reprimand. “Boxx, listen carefully. I want you to stay here, out of sight. You are not to move from this spot unless I say. Do you understand? I mean it this time.”

It raised its head ever so slightly. “Yes, Keris.”

Her lips pursed and her brow furrowed. It looked... tired. No time to worry about that now. “Stay,” she repeated. She began undoing the neck clasps of her crimson flying cloak. The cloak would enable her to move in faster, but the bright red colour would make her too easy to spot from a distance. She folded it carefully into her pack, then set off back the way she had come.

She cast an appraising eye over the landscape and mapped out a route in her head that would enable her to skirt the flat terrain and bring her around to the opposite side, behind the avionic. There was no reason to think that the hu-man, whatever he was up to, would be expecting any form of attack, so she would have the element of surprise.

She picked her way slowly and patiently among a jumble of loose rocks that had piled up in a narrow ravine, out of sight of her quarry. At length, she worked her way around to her desired location. Lying flat on the ground, her black tunic and trousers stained by streaks of ochre, she could see the slender shape of the aircraft and, beyond it, the human with his back to her. He had not moved. The question of what he was doing out here occurred to her again, but she had no time for the luxury of speculation. She rose and began a silent, crouching run towards his position.

The sandstone table was flat, but not completely even. Time and weather had etched out ridges and natural hollows which afforded at least an approximation of cover. Keris could now see a small depression, perhaps five yards this side of the flying machine. Better still, it was close to the shadow cast by the fan housing. She crept towards the recess, keeping as low as possible, and dropped into it. The hu-man’s legs were visible on the other side of the machine. They shuffled position but stayed put.

From her vantage point, she could clearly see the panel where the avionic’s control mechanisms were situated. It would be a simple matter now for her to reach it and disable the craft before the hu-man could take flight. She could then don her flying cloak and chase the oldster down at her leisure. But that would mean destroying her prize, and she would rather not do that, if it could be avoided.

She arose once more and swept across the last few feet, coming up under the fuselage and grabbing the creature from behind. His eyes went wide and he made a gurgling sound as her hands closed around his throat. He was almost hairless—sallow skin stretched taut over angular bones. It felt like grasping a dry twig. “Wh... what do you want?” he managed to get out.

Keris had little interest in conversation. She shifted position and forced his hands behind him. Producing a rope, she began tying his wrists tightly. He cried out, but she did not slacken her grip. As she worked, she began planning her next move.

The ideal solution would be to retrieve Boxx and fly the Chandara and her hu-man prisoner back to the ship in the captured avionic. Unfortunately, she did not know how to pilot the thing, and she certainly did not trust the hu-man enough to allow him anywhere near the controls. That meant that they would have to make their way back on foot. They might be able to return and retrieve the flying craft later, assuming Shann or Rael was still alive, or they could persuade one of the drach to pilot it.

She tied off the bindings to her satisfaction and then pushed her captive roughly forward. “Move.”

“Keris, what are you doing?” The voice came from the avionic’s tail section. Her head whipped around to see Lyall, flanked by Alondo, Shann, and Rael. Her mouth opened, closed, and then opened again. “Lyall?”

The tall, sandy-haired Kelanni stood with his hands on his hips. “Would you mind letting this hu-man go?”

“Why?” she demanded. “Who is he?”

“His name is Lafontaine,” Lyall said. “And he’s here to meet us.”

<><><><><>

Chapter 10

Emile Lafontaine sat on the ground, massaging his wrists. He pulled a blue kerchief from a hidden pocket and mopped his brow in spite of the cold.

“
Merde.
I’m getting too old for this.”

“Keris apologises for accosting you. Don’t you, Keris?” Lyall regarded the tall, dark-haired woman dangerously.

Keris returned his stare. The words stuck in her throat. “I’m... sorry.”

The hu-man ceased wiping his forehead and stared into the middle distance. “Keris... Keris... That name rings a bell... yes, of course. The ‘Heroine of Gort’. Or the ‘Foul Green-Skinned Traitor’. Depends who you talk to.” He glanced up at Keris as if remembering belatedly that she was still standing over him. “No offence.” Keris felt as if she had completely lost control of the situation. One moment everything was proceeding according to plan; the next...

The hu-man got to his feet awkwardly. “They say you saw off fifty men with your bare hands. I suppose I should be grateful that I came away with my skin intact.”

“That is not true,” Keris protested.

Alondo smiled. “Seems as if you’ve become a legend, Keris. Guess you’ll just have to live with it.”

Keris ignored him and cupped a hand to her mouth.
“Boxx,”
she called. Moments later, the Chandara came trotting up beside her. Lafontaine raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She turned back to Lyall. “May I ask what you’re doing, meeting up with a hu-man?”

“I’m pleased to see you too, Keris,” he replied. “This hu-man says he wants to help us.”

“Is that what he told you?” Keris asked.

“Yes.”

“And you believed him?”

Lyall turned to the hu-man. “You’ll have to forgive Keris. Her experience as Keltar has taught her to be suspicious of everyone.”

Lafontaine waved a dismissive hand. “I quite understand. Humans and Kelanni have a history of mistrust—largely due to the actions of my people when we arrived here. However, you should know that not all of us agree with the Captain. In fact, his support has dwindled down the years; he now has no more than two dozen hard-core followers. However, I’m afraid that he is still bent on the destruction of your people.”

“He wants our lodestone, doesn’t he?” Shann said.

“That’s right.” Lafontaine regarded each of them in turn. “Look, I asked you to meet me here because there is something nearby that I wanted to show you. Would you come with me?”

This is a trap—has to be,
Keris thought. Before she could react, however, the elderly hu-man set off across the sandstone table and the others turned to follow. There was nothing she could do except go after them and see where this led. She took a moment to extract the flying cloak from her pack and fix the neck clasps; then she hurried after them, Boxx trotting faithfully at her side.

Lafontaine raised his voice so that all could hear. His hands moved excitedly as he walked. “When you look up at the night sky on Kelanni-Skell you can see thousands of stars, with tens of thousands of worlds revolving around them. And beyond that—beyond what the naked eye can discern—there are millions upon millions more. Now in all of that, how many places do you think lodestone can be found?” There was no reply; no one knew how to answer him. He turned and pointed towards the ground. “
Here.
As far as we know, this is the only place.”

The hu-man led off once more. “Your lodestone has great power—a power that the Kelanni are only beginning to glimpse. I’m not just talking about the Accumulator Device—the weapon that my people have constructed on this island. I’m talking about the power to propel you to the stars.

“My people use a different power—one based on the creation of the universe itself. We call it QDE or Quintessence Dark Energy. But it is unstable, particularly on long voyages. Everyone who goes forth into space knows that there is a risk that he or she could die in a pointless explosion. Your lodestone would take away that risk. It would provide a means of unlimited acceleration, of safe and stable space flight. That is something of immense value to my people—so much so that there are humans who would exterminate even an entire race to get their hands on it.

“When our ships arrived on your planet, Wang, the Captain, saw your people as primitives. The level of technology on Kelanni-Skell was two hundred years behind ours; on Kelanni-Drann, it was more like a seven hundred. Wang decided that the simplest solution would be to force your people into submission so that they would supply us with whatever quantity of lodestone we demanded. That led to the war sixteen standard years ago—the war we lost. The war cost the lives of many of our people, much of our equipment, and the total destruction of all but one of our ships.

“Wang did not give up. He devised a long-term plan to achieve his goal of power over the stone. It involved co-opting the religion and society of the less-developed side of the planet so that he could acquire enough lodestone to build the Accumulator Device and quell any organised resistance.