Jadde - The Fragile Sanctuary (29 page)

Bredon sat down suddenly as if the weight
of change had exhausted him.

Malkrin bowed and offered ready agreement,
as did his companions who had listened closely. Then Malkrin’s warriors could
contain themselves no longer, and rose slapping and hugging each other and nearby
Brenna guards in relief and victory.

The remainder of the night was spent in
guest quarters in the Great Hall. Malkrin stayed with them and slept until well
after the sun spread its rays over the great encompassing mountains.

CHAPTER
TWENTYTHREE

M
alkrin’s
day started with a visit to his and Cabryce’s home. Familiar things returned to
caress his senses. The smell of cooking from neighbours and the bang of a loose
shutter in the breeze, then the sight of the new wooden water barrel they’d set
up to collect rainwater. He reached his cottage’s door and was saddened to see
it had been crudely barred with rough planks. A glance through the small front
windows showed his sturdy furniture still tidy but dust covered. Everything
outside and within returned his thoughts to Cabryce and he hoped his life would
never change so greatly again as it had in the last two years.

     He had one other task
to perform before walking to the Priests Keep to consult Nardin and Sire Steth.
Halle’s Desira lived in a lower alleyway . . .

     Malkrin left the debris
of his previous life and climbed the steep winding path to the keep admiring
the blossoming cherry trees in the crisp spring air. When he rounded the last
corner, the keep doors came into view. Nardin was there at the gates to meet
him as arranged. He stared myopically around at the sound of Malkrin’s
footfall.

     ‘Nardin – let me
help.’ Without waiting for an answer he lifted his friends arm and guided him
with a continuous commentary until they were in the familiar confines of the
stepped passage leading to the upper library. Two priest guards stood rigidly
at the head of the steps, but stood aside at Nardin and Malkrin’s approach. The
momentous decree of last night had reached them.

Steth sat dozing in his
favourite chair and awakened with a start as Nardin wished him a good morning.

‘I apologise Assistant,
and to you Malkrin, I should be attending to the document search, but the
events of yesterday have left me quite exhausted.’

‘Rest easy Sire, I will
read Nardin’s discovery and then be on my way. There is a lot to organise and
little time.’

Minutes later Malkrin watched
Nardin examine a metal box on a reading bench in the lower library. He glanced
around at the marvel of the brightly lit chamber, the invisible light alone
confirmed it to be the ancient’s genius. Immediately he realised that this
ancient building the priests occupied had once had some key significance to the
ancients – but what?

Nardin
handed him a slim handwritten volume and he read
Lieutenant Edward Morris-Tailt’s
chronicles. Then become as confused as Nardin with
all the letter and number jumbles that must have designated something once. Then
a hammer blow hit him despite Nardin’s warning of the account’s heretical text.
The Goddess Jadde’s name appeared with her title
General-commander.
But it fitted in with what he knew of the ancients. A general was in charge of
an immense amount of warriors, so an immortal Goddess would be a commander of them
all – would she not? Then he read of her death many years later and he felt
cold and spiritually empty.

Goddesses did not die. How could he deal
with the elimination of all he had been told was sacred? Jadde had been mortal
after all; his quest had been for nothing. Had the Seconchane priests preached
a lie all these innumerable years?

Then he reasoned, her altar still contained
her omniscient and powerful justice, and all the tribes apart from the
Brightwater people could not all be wrong in their similar beliefs. General-commander
Jadde must have been her earthly manifestation, and when she had accomplished
all she intended she had allowed her mortal body to die. Then she had carried
on guiding with her magnificent hands encompassing all the tribes from her
heavenly realm. 

He relaxed, his reasoning rekindled his
faith – Jadde was still the ever-present immortal Goddess and she would help
them in their hour of need.

Relieved he had thought
through a difficult text, he returned to more worldly matters and found Nardin
deep in the rack entitled
Theology
.

‘Malkrin, I’ve just finished
the
Divinities
sections
having searched
all the volumes. I
found this note within the volume Ethics in Daily Life. I’m afraid it’s not
helpful.

Malkrin took the yellowed note and read.

Future searcher.

I have removed the diary pages from here
two years after my original note. Please do not think ill of me but you must be
sure that you wish to use the weapons. If so, I am convinced that if you search
this library diligently, you will find a route to what you seek.

Use 4765, you will realise its significance
I’m sure.

Kristopher Falconfeather

Nardin added, ‘there are no other notes
left by Morris-Tailt or
Falconfeather in Divinities.’

‘They hold the key Nardin, keep looking.’ Malkrin
joined in the search. The language of the books was similar to the Brightwater
but more uniform along with the lettering. Nardin stated they were regular
shaped letters as the books had been produced in multiple copies by printing machinery.
Malkrin then realised most of the Brightwater library had been re-copied over
the centuries as the original books had crumbled. This library was full off the
ancient’s originals; they were of incredible value to all the peoples. It was a
storehouse of treasure and he marvelled that ancients had technology installed
here to keep the room pristine for millennia.

After half an hour of searching, he could
spare no more time. He still had to check that all necessary provisions and weapons
were loaded onto the horses and carts. Then find Josiath his old mentor to find
the truth about the highsense suns he wore, and find out who Rachel was.

Quickly he searched the corners of the
chamber where old equipment had been piled haphazardly. The wall behind the
junk had a huge emblem emblazoned over the surface. He recognised a depiction
of planets orbiting the sun. He moved a large metal cabinet to get an
uninterrupted view. It took a moment to relate the familiar sign. Then with
astonishment he realised it was the same symbol as the one engraved on the
deceased searchers gold suns. He stared at the wall symbol; there was something
about it, but he was too laden with other duties to work out any significance.

He walked back to Nardin.

‘I must leave you my friend. Give your eyes
frequent rests, try focusing on distant objects to relieve them. But keep reading
when you can.’ A sudden thought rose, ‘find out which book is numbered 4765
.’

‘I have been trying to find out if 4765AD
is a relevant date, but so far nothing ties in.’ Nardin’s brow creased in
concentration, ‘I see what you mean – 4765 could be a book title or it could be
a location from some point in the library leading to a particular book.’

‘Or the four thousand seven hundred and
sixty fifth book to be placed here perhaps.’

‘I will solve the puzzle Malkrin – leave it
with me.’

They wished each other Jadde’s luck and as
Malkrin climbed the steps from the ancient’s library he wished he had allowed Seara
to return with him so she could have attended to Nardin’s blindness. He briefed
Sire Steth before striding out of the Priests Keep to find his onetime mentor.

Sire Josiath was organising
the packing of horse’s panniers. Cart loads of weapons and provisions had
arrived from the Brenna homesteads along with the first contingent of Brenna
warriors. The market square before the Great Halls of Justice was a bustle of
activity. Malkrin’s old hunter companions were arriving with fresh game to
store in a provisions cart.  A queue of townsmen had formed to volunteer; all
were laughing with bravado at the thought of a great adventure.  Malkrin assessed
which ones were the keenest and fittest for the long march, dismissing the
others. Then to the remainder he showed techniques for killing quarter-men. BalthWolf
and Talgour took over to further brief the men on the lands they would
encounter beyond Cyprusnia. Finally he had a few minutes with Josiath. The two old
friends sat on straw bales under a thatched veranda in a quiet corner of the square.

‘I wish I could go with
you Malkrin, but my place is here to help begin defences in Cyprusnia and the
Derant Pass should the demons bypass Brightwater.’

‘Sire, I had thought of
that too. It is also possible the horde will split to attack both Brightwater
and Cyprusnia.’

‘I think not Malkrin, it
has been discussed and we believe they are too uncoordinated or too rigid in
their approach to split for independent action.’

‘I hope you’re right
Sire.’

‘The Brenna and my
advisors believe that will be how events will develop.’

‘Your advisors Sire? Are
they the people with who you communicated using your highsense sun? The same
three sun people that have been pursuing me since my out-casting?’

Josiath sighed, ‘So many
questions Malkrin; and so little time to answer them properly.’

‘We have a few minutes
Sire and the answers will help me understand a complex situation here. I need
the truth regarding who really governs our Cyprusnia.’

Josiath avoided the question and said as if
he had always known of the diaries existence.
‘I
know you’ve been to visit Researcher Nardin this morning and he has finally found
the lost and legendry
Morris-Tailt account.’

Malkrin began to get an inkling of the
extent of his mentors involvement in intrigues buried beneath the daily life of
the Seconchane. He nodded and Josiath continued. ‘The people that hoped to find
you are called the Jenna from our hidden brother state, Highnirvana. They are benevolent
and have powerful highsense gifts, but are cloaked in a psychic veil. This is
why no one from Cyprusnia has discovered them. Ten years ago they recruited me
to delve into a rumoured trend that ordinary folk were concealing their
highsense gifts for fear of being cast out.’ Malkrin listened intently;
questions he had long pondered over were being answered.

His onetime tutor continued, ‘I apologise profusely
for an ulterior motive in allowing your expulsion. The Jenna needed someone with
great talents to assess the resurfacing quarter-man scourge. That someone had
to be a skilled hunter with superb tracking abilities and one who could look
after himself in a fight with any man or creature. Also that person had to have
developed highsense abilities with potential to further improve. Lastly he had
to have natural leadership qualities. They rightly assumed the chosen one’s
journey would increase his powers, and you Malkrin fitted the criteria exactly.’

 Josiath looked intently at Malkrin; his
expression was of apology for what had been imposed on his onetime pupil. He
carried on as if needing to complete a confession. ‘The Jenna deemed they were
not sufficiently qualified in all these attributes and feared they would fail
in the quest. It is not that they lack courage or highsense ability, just the
stamina to breathe the rich air beneath their high mountain lands. The air downhill
from Cyprusnia fogs their thinking and drowns their lungs. You had every skill
required in overflowing quantities, so they grasped you in desperation.’

Malkrin thought hard, it all fitted, right
from the first moment on the hunt when his highsense had drastically failed
him. ‘They arranged for me to lose my ability at the most inopportune moments?’

‘I am mortified to admit it – but yes, they
directed their abilities from afar and focused on you to create momentary
highsense blindness.’

Malkrin felt anger building. It was the
only way he could come to terms with what had then transpired.
‘If I had not been exiled then Cabryce would
not have died and Halle and Seara would not have felt the need to follow and
break up their family.’ He punched his fists together in frustration, but began
to see the devious cleverness in the three-sun-people’s plan.

‘I feel terrible about all that has
happened to you, but we could not foresee all the consequences. The Highnirvana
Council tried to tie up the loose ends by taking Cabryce to a safe place but
were too late, Brenna hardliners were slightly quicker. And we did not know of Halle’s
and Seara’s hidden abilities at all – which went to confirm the rumours of hidden
highsense talent.’

‘In all those years you found no one with
hidden talent that would admit to it?’

‘You remember the solitary loner, the hunter
who somehow killed mountain lions that got into our lands?’

‘I remember Will Snakeeye; he disappeared
whilst hunting a pair of wild bears two years back.’

‘He didn’t disappear, it was the only way I
could get him to announce his abilities. He would not inform the Brenna so we
took him into Highnirvana. And over the years four others too, but I won’t tell
their stories now.’

Malkrin thought of how Josiath’s tale added
together to make perfect sense, his highsense confirmed every word to be true.

‘Just to finish before we return to work.
The Jenna sent their three fittest people to assess Halle and his daughter and
to persuade them to return to Highnirvana. Seara’s talents were deemed too
precious to lose. The Janna wore newly designed breathing masks to enable them
to dilute the rich air. Even with these aids the cloying air filled them with a
desperate lethargy, and they could not intercept you. Unfortunately you instinctively
cloaked your own, Seara’s and Halle’s highsense emissions as you sought to
protect them. That is why you couldn’t be found.’