The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) (84 page)

Shann smiled grimly. “When it comes to family, it looks as if we’re both on our own.”

“You mean because you’re trapped in Skell?”

“I don’t remember my father and mother,” she said. “They were taken by Keltar when I was very young. I don’t even remember their faces clearly. The relatives who took me in were kind enough, though. Gall was everything to me that a mother could be. I miss her a great deal.”

“I’m sure you’ll see them again before too long,” Rael reassured her.

“Poltann is dead,” she declared. “He was executed by the Prophet’s men because I intervened to help Lyall. When I left, Gall was missing. I don’t even know whether she’s still alive.”
Lyall and Alondo were like family. I lost them, too. I never seem to be able to hang on to anyone.

“I’m sorry.” He paused for reflection. “Come on, let’s get you out of the cold. There are one or two boarding houses in this direction. We can stay there for tonight. We’ll worry about the rest tomorrow.”

“Fine.” She pulled the cloak tighter around her neck and followed him up the empty snowblown street.

~

For the first time in ages, Shann felt like a whole person. She smiled as she reflected on the miraculously restorative effects of a warm bath and a hot meal. She had luxuriated in the rising steam, feeling the aches and pains from her exertions of the past few days melt away, until Rael had finally banged on the door, demanding to know if she was still alive in there. Supper was communal with the other guests, and consisted of a delicious broth, similar to that prepared by Meira at the observatory; slices of meat that Shann insisted was raleketh, although their jovial cook claimed not to know what a raleketh was; the habitual black bread that they seemed to serve with every meal, and a selection of vegetables. Their host appeared to have an inexhaustible supply of amusing anecdotes, so that it was a challenge to find sufficient time to chew and swallow amongst all the laughter. However, that didn’t stop her eating enough for twelve people. At last, her stomach insisted that she was finally full.

She had just recovered from a punch line at the end of a story about some wandering traders, when she turned around and noticed that Rael had slipped out. She glanced at the timepiece on the wall. Rael had taught her how to read those devices. It was late, and she realised that she was tired. She excused herself and went up to her room. She let herself in and saw that an elegant robe had been laid out on her bed. Rael was always considerate–that was one thing she liked about him. She changed into it. It was loose fitting, yet warm. She hugged herself, revelling in the way it caressed her skin. Tomorrow morning they would have to set about obtaining another avionic from somewhere. That could take a while, if it were even possible. Her black tunic and trousers were being cleaned and her flying cloak was safely folded away in her pack.
Replacement clothing.
She knew there was something she meant to discuss with Rael, but with everything that had been going on, she had never quite gotten around to mentioning it. If they were going to be here a while, then she should ask him to get her something that would help her blend in a little easier.

There was a door adjoining their rooms. She went to it, raised her hand to knock, and hesitated. He could well be asleep by now. She knocked lightly and heard a muffled “come in” from the other side of the door. She entered. At the far end of the room, a large board was propped up on an easel. Rael was scribbling rapidly, the same way she remembered him doing on the walls of the ancient tower.

She watched the curious marks and symbols flow from the end of his marker. “What are you doing?” she asked.

Rael stopped his flow, considered the board for a moment, then went back and rubbed out some of the marks with his sleeve. He turned and smiled at her. “Hello, Shann. Is everything all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. What are you doing?” she repeated.

“I’m carrying on my calculations from before. Trying to determine what destructive force a large lodestone device might have, and how to go about disarming it.”

“And you’re doing that now? After all we went through today?”

Rael scratched his head. “Believe it or not, it helps me to relax.” He went back to his scrawl.

“How is it coming?” she asked at length.

“Not very well,” he confessed. “It occurred to me that we might not be able to find the Chandara, or the device Annata concealed might turn out to be missing or damaged after all this time. I thought that if I could determine a method of disarming such a weapon safely, I might be able to recreate her device.”

“You can do that?”

“It’s a machine, Shann, nothing more. Any device can be built if you understand the principles involved and have the right materials. However, right now I can’t see a way to do it. Puncturing the weapon or causing a leak would be too dangerous–you would be more likely to set off the explosion than stop it.”

Shann cast an eye over the confusing hodgepodge of glyphs and diagrams. “I wish I could help you.” She sat on the bed and watched him for a while, willing the symbols to reveal their meaning. But the more she looked at them, the more confusing they became. Finally, she stood up. “You have work to do. I should go.”

“No, stay please,” he said. “Talk to me.”

Shann sat back on the bed obediently. All right, what should she talk about? She did not want to bring up family again. She felt all talked out on that subject, and it seemed to her that bringing up unpleasant memories would only serve to make his task harder.
Lodestone.
She knew little enough on the subject, but…“Where I come from, it is said that the original lodestones did not fall from the sky, but were native to our world. They are of a kind that always points south.”

Rael did not look up from his writing. “We call them magnets.”

“Mag-nets,” she repeated. “Well, after a while it was discovered that some metals, like iron, could be made into lodestone and used to make wayfinders. Travellers in my world use them to find their way. I remember being told that the process is also reversible–that original lodestone can be converted back to ordinary iron.”

“That’s true,” Rael said. “If you heat it past a certain temperature. Or if you use an alternating magnetic field.”

“So you can turn iron into lodestone and back again,” she concluded.

The boy’s eyes flicked over the board, checking his shorthand. He appeared to be only half listening. “I suppose so.”

“So could we do the same here?”

He turned towards her and shook his head. “What…pardon?”

“Could we do the same here?” She saw the confusion in his expression. “The Prophet’s weapon is basically like the lodestone grenade. It works by combining lodestone gas with ordinary gas, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” he said.

“So could we do the same thing to the lodestone gas that you can do with a mag-net? Turn it back into iron?”

Rael shook his head. “No, no…Look, Shann, magnets and meteorite lodestone may share the same name, but they’re quite different. Meteorite lodestone can’t be turned into ordinary matter.”

“Why not?” Shann persisted. “What makes them behave differently from one another?”

Rael put a hand to his chin. He looked deep in thought. The interlude was so long, she began to think she must have said something wrong. Suddenly he began. “We believe it has to do with gravity waves...
Gravity waves.
”

He was no longer talking to her. He turned back to the board and began frantically rubbing out whole sections of his work with his sleeve–attacking it as if it were a mortal enemy. She watched in astonishment as he began again, labouring as if he were possessed. She did not dare to speak for fear of breaking his concentration. At length, he finished with a flourish, drawing a circle around one group of icons. He took a step back and examined his handiwork. “Remember when I said before that you would make a good scientist? I really think you ought to consider a career in science, Shann. You’re a genius.”

“I am?” she said in disbelief.

“Come here,” he invited.

Shann got to her feet and walked over. He put an arm around her shoulder and faced the board. “You see there…and there.” Shann had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but she smiled up at him encouragingly. “The sign is positive whether the radiating mass is positive or negative,” he continued. “That means that in theory, both positive and negative matter can radiate away energy in the form of gravity waves.” He turned to face her, holding her by the shoulders. “You can’t transform lodestone into ordinary matter,
but you can transform ordinary matter into lodestone.
”

Shann’s mind staggered under the weight of new possibilities. “The ordinary gas–the air–inside the Prophet’s weapon would become lodestone. There would be no explosion. But that means…”

“Exactly,” he said. “Such a gravity wave device could be used to nullify the hu-man weapon. But it would also allow anyone who controlled it to manufacture lodestone at will. They would possess absolute power.”

As Rael released his grip, Shann had to make a conscious effort not to sink to the floor. “Annata said that the instrument we would need is highly dangerous–too dangerous for one person to hold.”

Rael’s expression became grave. “Indeed. If I am right, then that instrument would be far more dangerous than the weapon itself. I have no idea how to build such an instrument, but if it does exist, then it must be destroyed without fail.”

~

That night Shann slept fitfully, adrift amid a murky sea of dire consequences. She finally came to with a start. The knock on the connecting door that had brought her to wakefulness sounded again. It was still dark outside. She hauled herself out of bed, found her robe and wrapped it loosely about her. A distant part of her mind wondered what Rael could possibly want at this time of night. Had he somehow managed to uncover an even more terrifying secret on that wretched board of his?

She opened the door. Rael was standing there with a smaller figure next to him–a woman with silver hair and a careworn face. Espen–Rael’s mother. Shann was still foggy from sleep. “Wh…what’s going on?”

The older woman seemed to avoid her gaze. “I’m sorry to wake you, dear. I just wanted to apologise…and to give you this.” She pressed something into the girl’s hand. Shann looked down at it, uncomprehending.

“It’s the security key to our avionic,” Rael explained.

Shann rubbed her eyes. “I don’t understand. You father refused to let us borrow it. What made him change his mind?”

“He didn’t,” Espen said. “He doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Then what changed your mind?” Shann asked.

Espen flashed a secret smile. “You did, dear.”

Shann stood back, inviting them both in. She sat on the bed while they settled themselves onto two guest stools. Rael’s mother looked different somehow. Gone was the haunted look of a harried animal, and in its place…serenity? It was almost as if she were not the same person. Shann half wondered whether this might be a dream.

“Rael has told me a great deal about you,” Espen began, “including the reason for your journey across the Great Barrier and your fight for survival in the Cathgorn Mountains.” Shann opened her mouth to speak, but the older woman raised a hand. “It is all right. I have sworn to my son that I will not divulge to anyone the true nature of your journey, or the threat to this world. Rael tells me that you are a young woman of great courage, strength and loyalty. Following your visit to my home yesterday evening, I believe that to be true. Your words…shamed me. I have failed my son in the past. I cannot change that. But now fortune has graced me with the opportunity to make amends in some small way. The avionic is yours. Take it and use it to find the Chandara.”

Shann was fully awake now, but still felt stunned. “What will you tell Rael’s father?”

“I will tell him the truth,” Espen replied. “And I will also tell him that Rael is our son and deserves to be treated as such.”

Shann’s acquaintance with Rael’s father had been all too brief, but he did not seem to her to be the type who would listen to reason–or who would take kindly to being overruled.

She looked to Rael, who responded to her unspoken question. “Mother insists that she wants to do this for us. It is…her gift to me.”

Shann felt lost for words. She stood and repeated her salutation of earlier. “Greetings and honour be to you, Lady…and thanks.”