Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms (11 page)

Lying near the periphery of the
shelf overlooking the ravine, she took out three lodestone discs
one by one from the pouch at her belt, placing them in a small
triangle at the edge of the overhang, on the side facing where the
highway approached from the north. Then she reached in once more
and took out a transparent globe, placing it carefully over the
centre of the three discs. The Vision Sphere floated in mid air,
suspended by the pushing force of the discs.

Keris got to her feet and moved
back a few steps out of sight, extracting an identical sphere and
setting it carefully in a crevice. She turned it until she could
see a fish-eye view of the road as it wound through the hills. The
two spheres were Linked, but unlike the Rings, the Link was one
way. She sat with her legs crossed and her cloak tucked under her,
watching the sphere set in the rock surface, planning her next
actions.

Three hostiles.
Objective; neutralize two, retain one for questioning. Tactical
assessment mandates isolation and containment protocol.
However, common sense suggested such precautions
were hardly necessary
. A musician, a slip
of a girl and a man who had delusions of being a Keltar.
The impostor would have to come with her, of
course, and he would have to explain how he obtained the cloak and
the staff. But she was inclined to simply let the others go. They
appeared to be no threat. At most, they were guilty of allying
themselves with a madman. And she had seen more than enough
unnecessary death and suffering of late.

A movement on
the road below.
The sphere showed a
distorted image of three figures and two morgren rounding a bend in
the gully. She obviously could not leap off a hundred foot drop on
the off chance that there would be a deposit of lodestone to break
her fall. Her plan was rather to allow them to continue through and
to be waiting for them at the other end, where they would have
nowhere to run.
Time to finish
this.

Keris picked up the sphere and
returned it to her pouch, then went over to retrieve the other
sphere and the discs.

A
shadow.
She made to turn, but was caught
by a vicious blow to the side of the head. She fell heavily on her
side. Her ears felt encased in fog, muffling all sound. She tried
to open her eyes and had an impression of a huge shape, wings
outstretched as if to claim her.
Then a
crushing pain in her side and in her right leg.

The searing crimson
of agony faded to the absolute blackness of oblivion.

Chapter
7

Keris clawed her way to
consciousness, and then wished almost immediately that she hadn’t.
Her head felt as if there were someone inside it pounding at her
skull, trying to get out. She put her fingers to her temple; it
felt tacky and her fingers came away stained in white blood. She
tried to focus, but everything was a blur. Screwing her eyes shut,
she forced them open again, blinking away a combination of tears
and dried blood.

She was lying
on a rough weave of branches and brushwood. Close by were four
smooth convex shapes half as big as she was.
Eggs?
Panic rose within her like a
gathering storm. She lifted her head a little. She was high on a
ledge, the ground far below.
A perridon’s
nest.

Keris glanced
up, scanning the sky. A pair of mylars was circling nearby, but
there was no sign of the great bird. There was little doubt that it
would be returning soon, however.
How did
I get myself into this mess?
No time to
debate that. She had to get away,
now.

Her staff was gone, but her cloak
was still wrapped around her. She tried activating it, to feel the
reassuring push of any nearby lodestones, but there was nothing.
Whether that was because the cloak was damaged, or because there
were none, she had no way to know. That left just one option. She
would have to climb down.

She tried to
heave herself upright, and then clenched her teeth in agony, nearly
passing out again. There was a searing pain in her right leg. With
a sickening jolt, she realised it was broken. She eased herself
back, eyes filling with tears of frustration.
I’m finished.

She lay back
and closed her eyes.
Not long,
now.

She felt a downdraught of wind,
heard a powerful flapping. She slowly opened her eyes. The perridon
spread its immense wings, filling her field of vision. She could
see its long tooth-filled beak and its yellow eyes like two burning
candles.

A commotion
from below.
Now I’m hearing things.
A stick or spear smacked the winged beast in the
side. It squawked and turned to face its assailant, as a group of
strange creatures appeared over the side of the
nest.

They were about
half her size, with six legs, or perhaps two legs and four arms; it
was hard to tell. Their round heads were set into their bodies,
with a layered underbelly and a segmented carapace covering their
backs.
Chandara.
Keris had heard of them, but had never actually seen one.
They lived as primitives in remote areas, never approaching Kelanni
settlements. It was said that they had the power of speech, but
that their speech made no sense.
It seems
as if someone is determined that I should be their meal
today.

The Chandara
were leaping and dancing in front of the perridon to attract its
attention. Every now and then, one of them would dash forward and
thrust a stick at the avian monster before retreating hurriedly.
This was a poor tactic, Keris observed detachedly. They stood
little chance of defeating the creature that way. Then she
realised–
they are not trying to defeat it;
they are trying to distract it.

Before she could speculate
further, she felt her shoulders being lifted under her. Another
group of Chandara were supporting and manhandling her out of the
nest. The movement caused another wave of agony to burst forth from
her broken leg. The wave crashed into her brain and sent her
hurtling once more into unconsciousness.

~

Keris felt
herself rising gently from a deep sleep. Weariness enveloped her
like a shroud. There was an ache in her side and another in her
right leg. She shifted her leg in response. It felt whole.
But it had been broken
–she was sure of it
.
Had she dreamed the whole thing? Was she still in
her room at the Silver Flagon in Lind? She kept her eyes closed and
sniffed at the odd scent which reached her nostrils.
Wood.

She opened her
eyes. The room–no, more of a chamber–that she was in, was nothing
like the room at the Inn. She was lying on a collection of furs,
piled beneath her on the floor. The floor and curved walls were of
smooth wood. There was no other furniture or decoration of any
kind. She looked down, realising she was naked.
How
…
?

Too many questions. She had to
start finding some answers. She pulled a fur around herself and got
to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly, and she swayed a little but
managed to stay upright. There was a single small round window. She
walked to it slowly, still feeling very fragile, and had to grab
the low sill to keep from sinking to her knees. She bent down and
viewed the scene.

She was looking down at a forest,
from what seemed like several hundred feet up. The chamber she was
in was itself set within an immense tree, the lower parts of its
trunk swallowed up by the forest below. She looked up. The trunk
stretched skyward, disappearing in a profusion of branches and
purple foliage.

There was a movement behind her.
She turned to see one of the Chandara standing in the low
entranceway to the chamber. It was standing upright, holding a
wooden bowl loaded with fruits by its middle limbs. She noticed for
the first time that their limbs ended in three jointed fingers. The
creature waddled over to the pile of furs and set down the bowl.
Then it turned to Keris, and spoke in a high, thickly accented
voice. Its mouth seemed to ripple from side to side as it spoke.
“You Must Lie. Soon After The Healing.”

Not a dream
then.
Keris pulled the fur tighter around
her. “Wh…where am I?” Her voice sounded in her ears like a
croak.

“This Is The Great Tree.” Keris
moved to the pile of furs, half collapsing on them. The Chandara
continued, “There Is No Perridon. You Are Safe Here.” She flexed
her right leg again, experimentally. A dull ache, but otherwise it
seemed perfectly all right.

She gathered her wits. “My name
is Keris. I am Keltar, on an important mission for the Prophet. I
require your assistance. If you aid me, I will see to it that you
are rewarded.”

The creature looked
uncomprehending. Then its mouth rippled in the same peculiar way.
“I Am Boxx.”

“I thought Chandara do not have
names.”

“Chandara Do Not Have Names.”
Keris was not sure whether it was agreeing with her, or merely
repeating what she had just said. It added helpfully, “I Am
Boxx.”

Keris felt as if she were getting
a headache. She tried changing the subject. “I need my things, my
clothes that I was wearing when I came here. Do you know where they
are?”

“I Know.”

“Can you take me
there?”

“I Can Take, But You Cannot. You
Must Rest. Then You Must See Before. Then You Will
Leave.”

Keris leaned
back, feeling exhaustion claim her once again.
Too tired to argue.

“Rest Now,” soothed the creature
in its odd little voice. “Then You Must See Before.”

~

Keris awoke feeling invigorated.
She was still lying on her bed of furs in the hollowed out part of
“The Great Tree.” A Chandara was standing next to her, although she
could not tell if it was Boxx, from earlier. She sat up.

“You Are Better.” It sounded more
like a statement than a question, but she answered
anyway.

“Yes, I am, thank
you.”

It pointed a mid forearm at the
bowl. “Food.”

Keris realised for the first time
that she was ravenous. She helped herself to the fruit, keeping an
eye on the Chandara, but it merely watched her eat without moving.
The fruit was sweet and delicious and soon she was feeling full.
She wiped juice from the side of her mouth, feeling like a little
girl. The creature pointed to the small entrance to the
chamber.

“You Come.”

“I need my
clothes,” she pointed out. It seemed not to understand.
“My clothes.
The things
I was dressed in when I came here.”

The Chandara merely indicated the
entrance once more.

“You Come.”

With an exasperated sigh, Keris
wrapped a fur around herself as best she could and
followed.

There was a narrow path which
spiralled downward along the inside of the vast trunk. Small
windows at irregular intervals looked out onto stunning views of
the forest and hills beyond, but Keris did not linger. They
descended without exchanging a word.

The path
continued down in a seemingly endless curve. Every now and then
they passed other Chandara, which scuttled past them on all sixes.
They were curious creatures, unlike any she had encountered before.
In other circumstances, she might even have found them amusing.
However, she was too preoccupied. She reminded herself that she
owed these peculiar beasts her life. It might yet be that they
would exact a price for that. She was feeling distinctly
vulnerable. They already had her clothes and her equipment.
They have me right where they want
me.

Without warning, the Chandara
turned through a narrow doorway. Keris ducked and stepped through
after it. She found herself in a much larger chamber, filled with
dozens of them. It looked like a disorganised melee. The creatures
were pushing and climbing over each other. However, despite the
apparent overcrowding, two areas were left clear; the one in which
she was standing, and a second in the centre of the chamber where
three Chandara stood erect on their hind limbs. The one in the
middle was grasping a gnarled wooden staff with its left middle and
forelimb. The one to the right carried a device that Keris did not
recognise. In front of them, a thick branch extending from the
floor was cut off, making a flat table about half the creatures’
height. She walked forward, the creatures clearing a path for
her.

The one with the staff spoke.
“You Are Kelanni?”

It seemed an obvious and
pointless question. However, Keris decided that the best thing
would be to follow along and see where this was leading. “My name
is Keris.”

“We Were Asked To Bring Kelanni
Here. There Is Great Danger To Your People.”

“Danger? From whom?”