The Seedbearing Prince: Part I (22 page)

“Good!” Eriya's face shone with delight. “You
have been given guestright aboard the Ring. This is my home now, so
you may ask of me first.”

Dayn had no idea what guestright meant, but
he did not hesitate. “Will the Lord Ascendant talk to my Village
Council? He could explain to the Elders what...what really
happened.”

Eriya winced. “Shardian the Lord Ascendant
is―” Abruptly she cut off, and fixed Dayn with her brown eyes.
“Wait...
you
are involved with why the Ring is here?” She
tensed, as if suddenly realizing she shared the hall with a hungry
wolf.

“No!” Dayn exclaimed. “I’m only here to
return an…artifact that Lurec lost. He told me about…the rest, but
I barely understand it all. I’m not sure if I even want to.”

“They say Shardians could teach Preceptors
lessons in honesty,” Eriya murmured. She closed the space between
them and looked deeply into his eyes. Dayn felt as though her brown
gaze plucked the thoughts from his very mind. “Did you see one?”
she whispered.

Dayn’s shoulders loosened in relief. “Two
chased us off the road. One of them died in a spinner’s web,
but...” Words caught in Dayn's throat at the thought of Nerlin. “I
think the other one killed my friend. He stayed behind so that I
could make it here.”

“That explains much.” Eriya glanced at his
torn clothes, nodding to herself. She began to walk down the hall
again. “It would be improper of me to speak for the Veiled Throne.
What is this artifact you speak of? Did it come from Thar'Kur?” Her
eyes gleamed hopefully.

“Thar what?”

“The voidwalker world, may blight strike its
heart. Most people believe they are spawned upon Tu'um, the
Deadworld, but that is fable.”

“I don't know where it came from.” Lurec
never mentioned it, but the possibility made sense. “There were a
dozen more of them, near Shard's heartrock. Whatever they were
doing didn’t work, or Shard would be…gone.”

“Blight and ash, you saw―” Eriya stopped
herself, although she could not hide her incredulous look. “It is
forbidden for me to speak of Thar'Kur with the Beltbound.” She
shrugged. “I am sorry.”

“Well this agreement didn't help me out very
much then, did it?” Dayn said, frowning. “I'll still tell you about
Shard, though.”

“I meant no deception, Shardian. I did not
think you would ask such things of me. I am only an Initiate. There
are Defenders who do not yet know what you have shared with me, nor
why you are here. The Lord Ascendant only orders a course diversion
for the utmost importance.”

“A course diversion?”

Eriya looked at him as though he did not know
water was wet. “The Ring moves along a fixed path between the
worlds of the Belt,” she explained patiently, “Almost like a world
itself. But the anchors holding it to that path can be shifted, so
the Ring can go to wherever the Belt requires aid.”

Dayn regretted his curt words. Eriya knew a
great deal, even if she could not speak about his current
predicament. “Can you tell me about the torrent, too?”

This time she only frowned at him like a
mother who had just watched her child put his trousers on
backwards. “Defenders travel in the torrent only at the direst
need, Shardian. There are faster ways besides, though transports
are the safest.” She paused and her voice became overly polite.
“You’ve seen transports before, besides the one that brought you
here? Perhaps you wish to become a navigator?”

“No, I don't.” Dayn flushed. It seemed every
other word out of his mouth made him look more the fool. The
Initiate averted her eyes to avoid embarrassing him, which did not
help. He felt cheated somehow, to know nothing of what other
peoples of the Belt thought of as ordinary. “Transports come during
Sealing time for the harvests. But they land away from the city, so
there’s room for the festival.”

“Then why do you ask about the torrent?”
Eriya asked, confusion evident on her face.

“You said you would answer my questions,” he
said defensively. Their path came to another ramp, which Eriya
bounded up effortlessly. Dervish did not boast of strong ground,
but she moved with deceptive reserves of strength. “That's what we
agreed to, isn't it?”

“But only navigators and coursers...” Eriya
peered into his face. “You wish to course?”

“For as long as I can remember,” Dayn
admitted. “I may not leave Shard for many seasons, after the Lord
Ascendant lets me return home. I figure this is my best chance to
see the torrent up close.”

His own words suddenly weighed upon him.
The Lord Ascendant could escort me home himself, but Mistland
folk still wouldn’t care.
Dayn would need years to regain the
trust of his family and the village Elders. The Course of Blades
would be an offworlder's fairy tale for the rest of his life. “My
only chance,” he added quietly.

“So I see.” Eriya held his gaze for a moment,
and Dayn wondered what she saw within his eyes. The Dervishi
Initiate swept off, her former tiredness melted away. “Come this
way, Shardian. I will show you something of the torrent.”

The Detritus Chamber

In the days before the Breach, people once buried
their failures in the world's guts. Devices older than worldhearts,
poisons worse than sickmetal. Now those old world bones are
scattered in the torrent's soup, doing peace knows what to the
animals and us coursers. All the more flavor, I say.

-Froncis Bul, Jendini coursing champion

A
small smile curled
Eriya's lips as she led Dayn deeper into the Ring. The playfulness
in her eye piqued his curiosity, and he gladly followed despite his
growing exhaustion. For anything to do with the torrent, he would
walk leagues.

They wove through endless, dimly lit halls,
up and down ramps, past metal doors and stark rock. Dayn wondered
over the lack of adornments, but reminded himself that he walked
the halls of a fortress. His mother would weep to see so many
barren walls. Eriya bounded smoothly through them all until finally
they stopped before two arched silver doors. Dayn prided himself on
not jumping when they hissed aside. He followed Eriya into the
adjoining space, and the doors closed behind them.

This new hallway stretched perhaps a quarter
mile with no visible doors. Crystal panes formed the entire left
wall. Beyond the crystal lay a cylindrical chamber of green-tinted
metal, like an enormous barrel resting on its side. It extended as
long as the hallway, and a hundred feet wide. Broken chunks of
stone littered the floor inside, but Dayn paid it little heed once
he realized someone stood among them.

Eriya quickly flicked her hand across the
closed door in a series of rapid movements, like painting. The
hallway lighting instantly dimmed around them and she stood very
still, listening. “This is a gauntlet created to train Defenders
for the torrent. The Detritus Chamber,” she whispered. “You are
fortunate these ones are here, although they are not doing lessons
at this hour with no weaponmaster present.” Her brow wrinkled in
disapproval. “Shardian, you must never tell anyone I brought you
here. Understand?”

Dayn nodded eagerly. The lone Initiate waited
in the middle of the chamber, fully armored and idly twirling a
length of wingline. He wore a dark mask, featureless except for one
narrow eyeslit and a diamond carved on the brow. Hair bright as
straw spilled wildly from the back of his mask and down to his
shoulders.

Dayn edged closer to the crystal, curling his
neck in order to see the top of the chamber. “Is that where the
rocks come from?” he asked, barely able to contain his growing
excitement.

Eriya promptly cuffed him in the ribs. “I
warned you,” she growled.

“Why’d you do that?” he demanded, clutching
his side. The beginnings of a new bruise began to throb beneath his
hand. “I only wanted to see better!”

“Those Initiates must not know we are here.”
Eriya pointed directly across the chamber. More Ringmen dressed the
same as Eriya milled behind a matching hall on the opposite side.
“Keep away from the crystal.”

Dayn backed away scowling, but held his
tongue.

A high-pitched whine flooded the Detritus
Chamber. The lone Initiate motioned at the other hallway in a rapid
series of hand signals. The sound increased, then cut out
completely. The entire chamber began to rotate, picking up speed,
except for a few stationary bands that circled the interior.
Scattered rock began to slide past the Initiate's steady stance. A
burst of light shone from the distant end of the Detritus
Chamber.

“Now you will see a glimpse of the torrent
for yourself,” Eriya said.

The Initiate crouched low like a loaded
spring. Fragments of tumbling rock began to shoot down the length
of the chamber as if carried along by a powerful wind. Small debris
pinged off of his armor in brief flashes of light. “Hey, he’s
wearing barrel sealer!” Dayn exclaimed.

“It’s called sheath,” Eriya corrected. “How
do you know of it?”

“The Consorts use it to preserve Shard’s gift
for the Belt. Or something like it, anyway.” Dayn shrugged.

More rock filled the air, sparking where it
struck the sides of the Detritus Chamber, which continued spinning
faster. Larger boulders sailed toward the Initiate with frightening
speed. He avoided them easily, contorting his body and sidestepping
to dodge direct strikes.

“I knew it would be fast,” Dayn breathed. The
Ringman maneuvered with astonishing agility, still holding his
wingline at the ready.

“This is a shadow of the true torrent.” Eriya
folded her arms, watching quietly while the Initiate slipped
through oncoming boulders as though his bones were made of water.
“There’s no sure air to breathe, nor steady ground under your feet.
Gerrit is a blustery one. He’s earned his armor, but I will earn my
sword before him.” Eriya glanced at Dayn's spellbound expression
and laughed softly under her breath. “The Lord Ascendant would
personally thrash the whole lot of them if this were known.
Watch.”

Eriya's brown eyes flitted toward the distant
source of debris. A boulder flashed down the chamber, large as a
barn and howling through the intervening air. The Initiate did not
move from its path. Across the chamber his fellows pressed close to
the crystal. Gerrit took two light steps, and leaped straight into
the oncoming collision.

Dayn leaned forward, forgetting Eriya's
admonishment. Seconds from being crushed, Gerrit crossed his
forearms and raised his knees, so his limbs formed a protective
wall before him. A flash of light pierced the chamber as he slammed
into the boulder.

Brilliant white cracks splayed across the
boulder's surface. In the next instant it exploded, pelting the
gauntlet walls with dust, sparks and fragments. A hot, caustic
smell reached Dayn's nose.

The chamber’s spinning immediately began to
slow. On the far side, the other Initiates raised their fists high
or pounded on the crystal. The straw-haired Initiate rose slowly
from the destroyed core of the boulder, for one moment the very
picture of unyielding might. Gerrit was covered in dust, but
unharmed.

“I’d never get hurt again with sheath on,”
Dayn whispered. The Initiate began to pick his way out of the
pulverized rock. The scene struck him oddly, to see the Ringman
walking so carefully after such an inhuman feat.

“Blight take his eyes,” Eriya muttered,
staring into the chamber. Gerrit dusted himself off slowly, but his
mask fixed right on them.

“It's dark in here yet. He hasn't seen us.”
They began to creep away from the crystal. The Initiate peered at
them, tilting his head to one side like a bird. Dayn could not tell
if he looked angry or alarmed.

“Surely, Shardian. Time to go!”

Eriya shoved Dayn through the large double
doors toward the nearest ramp. They bounded for five floors
straight up without stopping. Only then they paused, straining to
hear above the sound of their panting.

“Maybe they were more afraid of trouble than
us,” Eriya said, allowing herself a grin.

“Seeing that was worth the chase. Thank you,
Eriya. I’ll probably never get the chance again.” She looked away,
and his smile faltered. “Can someone really survive an impact like
that in the torrent?”

“Yes, but only as a last option. A courser
struck by something that large deserves to be flogged with their
own wingline.” Eriya set off around another corner. “There are
limits to sheath. It will fume away from your armor in a few hours
if you do not apply more. If you strike something too large or too
slow, your sheath will fail. Strike too fast, you will boil in your
own skin.”

“And too slow?”

“Sheath will not keep a dagger from sliding
between your ribs.”

Dayn's stomach twisted at the thought. The
sealer back in the Dreadfall that saved his life might just as
easily have killed him if things went any differently. His
ignorance could have cost him his life. “There’s so much I don't
know,” he muttered. “How will I ever catch up?”

“Most of the Beltbound know nothing of
sheath,” Eriya offered. “It’s surprising that you do. Coursing is
one of the old ways, from the days before the first Defenders found
the Ring’s transports. Are you so in love with danger, Shardian?
Rock pummeling you senseless; moving faster than you can see
coming? I cannot imagine a worse way to meet my end.” She shook her
head. “Perhaps I'll be able to show you something new. Unless you
want to go to your room now?”

Dayn shook his head. “Lead the way. I'd
rather see as much as I can before I go back home.”

They did not walk nearly so far, but Eriya
lacked her former confidence. He soon saw why. She approached doors
similar to the Detritus Chamber's observation hall, but this time,
two bleary-eyed guards stood before them. They wore long, dark blue
overcoats that fell past their knees like robes, and no armor. They
could be Initiates like Eriya, but lacked her dangerous grace.