Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms (28 page)

Lyall looked around at each of
them in turn before delivering the news. “They are on our trail
again.”

Chapter
18

It was late the following morning
when they happened on the vale of floating stones. The track had
been rising steeply, causing the graylesh to move into low gear.
All of a sudden, it levelled off and dropped towards a narrow
ravine. Lyall who was riding out in front, raised a hand,
signalling the wagon to stop.

Keris rode around the wagon to
join him. “What’s the problem?” Lyall pointed above the ravine.
Rocks of varying sizes and at different heights were hanging over
the pass, like a rock fall, frozen in an instant of
time.

Shann pulled up to Lyall’s other
flank, eyes filled with wonder. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure… Keris?”

Keris patted her mount’s striped
sides. “Lodestones, obviously, although I’ve never seen them
floating like that.”

“They’re ‘Kal’
stones,
” Shann blurted out. The other two
looked at her. “You know, from the sacred texts.”

Lyall extended his lower lip.
“You may be right… I think it must be a naturally occurring
phenomenon.” He pointed again, his finger moving from the steep
incline to the narrow floor of the gorge. “The ravine must act like
a funnel, so that when lodestones fall they are collected at the
bottom. Then other stones tumble down the sides and occasionally
become suspended like that. Of course, that leaves us with a
problem…”

Shann turned towards him. “What
do you mean?”

“Recall the lesson I gave you at
the farmhouse, Shann.”

“Kal stones are unstable,” she
recalled. “So that means…”

“Precisely. If we are not very
careful, we could easily end up bringing an avalanche down on our
heads.”

“But don’t other people use this
path?”

It was Keris who answered. “Not
for many years, I think. It isn’t even marked on the map. The main
road east lies well to the north of here. We only ran across this
trail by accident.” She pulled her mount back and urged it over to
one side of the path and then the other. “I don’t see any other way
around, not for the wagon at any rate.”

Lyall was deep
in thought. “I think we can make it through, if we are careful. I
don’t want to take any chances, though. “
Alondo!
”

“Yes, my liege?” Alondo called in
a tone of mocking respect.

Lyall smiled wryly. “Get down
from the wagon, would you? We have some preparations to
make.”

Alondo swung himself down and
walked over to the three mounted figures. “I assume it has
something to do with that?” He indicated the pass with its silent
stone sentinels.

“That’s right. We are going to
need to muffle the wheels of the cart.” He glanced at Shann and
Keris. “Let’s see if we can lend him a hand, shall we?”

They all dismounted and followed
Alondo. In a short while, they had broken out the blankets and had
them tied to the wheel rims. Boxx had climbed down from the rear of
the wagon and was eyeing them curiously.

Lyall assembled the group. “All
right, when we enter the pass, it’s important that we maintain
silence. Any sound might set off a rock fall. If you need to
communicate, then signal to each other. We will travel on foot.
Avoid the temptation to move too quickly. Any
questions?”

“We could all travel in the
covered wagon,” Shann suggested.

Lyall shook his head. “If a large
enough stone falls, it will rip right through that canvas and we’d
never even see it coming. Out in the open, we at least have a
chance of moving out of the way.”

“What about Boxx?” Alondo
asked.

“Boxx can travel in the wagon.
Rolled up in that tough shell of his, he’s probably safer than any
of us. Right now, I wish we were all Chandara.”

Boxx seemed pleased. “You Would
Make Good Chandara,” it declared. There was a ripple of laughter,
which seemed to puzzle the creature.

The party prepared for departure.
Then, at a signal from Lyall, they began their slow progression.
Lyall walked in front, leading his graylesh by the reins, followed
by Alondo, driving the wagon gingerly. Boxx was curled up somewhere
in the back. Behind the covered wagon came Shann and Keris, leading
their graylesh in single file.

As they entered the ravine, Shann
realised that she was holding her breath. She exhaled slowly. Every
sound appeared to be magnified in her ears: the grating of her
boots on the rough scree, the step of her animal dislodging a
pebble, the rhythmic creak of the wagon’s axle. She could not
resist the temptation to look up. Rocks of varying sizes floated
motionless overhead. The sight was terrifying, yet fascinating at
the same time, like watching an accident in slow motion.

There was a hissing from behind
her. She turned her head to see Keris frowning and firmly pointing
to her eye and then to the ground. Embarrassed, Shann snapped out
of her hypnotic state, forcing herself to concentrate on the effort
of putting one step in front of the other.

They were a little more than half
way through when Shann heard the ominous sound of clattering rocks.
Lyall raised his hand and the column came to a halt. Shann did not
dare to breathe. After long moments, the sound died away. The party
continued to stand frozen in mid-step. Eventually, Lyall motioned
them forward once more.

Just when Shann
was thinking that there was no end to it, she looked and saw that
the cut opened out a short way ahead onto the wider hillside. They
were almost through.
Crash!
A large stone dropped to their left, bouncing and
striking against the side of the wagon.
Crunch!
Another fell behind them,
kicking up shards of loose shale. She heard Lyall shout,
“
Run!
”

Shann pulled at
the reins, urging her graylesh to a canter. Keris was yelling at
her rear, “
Shann, get
moving
.” Rocks continued to rain down as
Shann broke into a run. Suddenly they were clear. Dust billowed up
behind them as the aerial avalanche eased and finally died back to
a low rumble.

Alondo looked back at the pass,
mopping his brow. “That was close.”

“Is everyone all right?” Lyall
called.

Keris, fulfilling her role as
rearguard answered, “We’re all here.”

Lyall relaxed. “Well done,
everyone. Let’s take a rest.”

Shann tied her graylesh to the
wagon and walked over to where Lyall was standing. She smiled at
him. “Well, there’s one good thing. The Prophet’s men will have to
face the same obstacle. It may slow them up a bit.”

Lyall looked back at the ravine
as the clouds of dirt settled back, obscuring all signs of their
passing. “I don’t know, Shann. They don’t have a wagon to worry
about. They will find a way around. Or they may set lodestone
charges to bring down the rest of the floating stones. In any case,
I have the distinct feeling that they are not going to be so easily
put off.”

~

Shann dropped out of the sky and
alighted on a rocky outcrop. The flying cloak settled about her
shoulders in a soft embrace. She shielded her eyes from the midday
suns and squinted at the trail as it twisted back and forth through
the Hills of Gilah. The landscape was sparse, copses of stunted
trees and scraggy brush clinging to the sandy slopes. She glanced
around at the stone slab on which she was standing. It was a
perfect vantage point from which to view the soldier column as they
approached. Satisfied, she sat down on the stone with her cloak
tucked under her and took a swig of water from her canteen. It
tasted cool and sweet.

A small
creature rolled across the rock in front of her. It was round like
an orange-yellow ball, with various protuberances, but no limbs
that Shann could discern. It stopped in front of her, extending
what looked like eye stalks in her direction. A hole opened in the
side of the strange being–a
mouth?
Gas expelled from the hole, and the ball shot
away in the opposite direction. The gas was fetid; Shann screwed
her nose up.

She had already journeyed farther
than she could ever have imagined and had encountered many strange
sights. Not all of them had been pleasant, however. Some, like the
vale of floating stones that they had encountered three days ago,
had been positively dangerous. They had come through that incident
relatively unscathed, but Lyall’s prediction had been correct. The
Prophet’s men were still trailing them.

Her task, as ever, was to report
back when she saw them stop in order to make camp. Lyall’s
instructions had been very clear: observe their position, but keep
well away. “I don’t want to have to come rescue you
again.”

“If I recall correctly, I rescued
myself last time,” she countered.

Lyall chuckled and rubbed the
back of his head theatrically. “I remember.”

Keris had been given the same
injunction but with her, it was little more than a charade. Shann
was not fooled for a moment. Keris was acting for them as their
agent, so she was in no danger. Still, she seemed to be doing a
good job of keeping up the pretence as far as the others were
concerned.

It was evident
that Keris did not fit in. The woman was like refined lodestone,
repelling everyone she came into contact with. She spent much of
her time on her own and did not tend to talk beyond the limits of
operational necessity. Lyall did his best to include her, but Shann
sensed that his only interest was in trying to mould them all into
a cohesive team. She was convinced that he didn’t actually
like
the woman. Alondo,
on the other hand, liked everybody. That was part of his charm.
Often he would make a comment to her with a twinkle in his eye,
using humour to test her vulnerable spots. This would confuse and
irritate her, which only added to the joke. But he did not seek out
her company in the way that he would seek out the company of Lyall
and of Shann herself. The only one in the group that seemed to
gravitate towards her was Boxx.

In the evening, when they settled
round the campfire, Boxx would scuttle over and lay beside her.
Keris seemed strangely comfortable with its presence; in fact, she
seemed more comfortable with it than with any others of her own
race. When it spoke, it would choose to address her first, more
often than not. Shann found its preference for Keris impossible to
fathom, but perhaps that was not so surprising. Everything about
the Chandara was near impossible to fathom.

As Shann
contemplated the enigma that was Boxx, her eyes registered a
movement on the winding trail far ahead. She ducked down
instinctively and leaned forward. It was the contingent of mounted
soldiers moving inexorably through the hills. Shann could not
discern individuals clearly, but the banner they carried was
clearly visible; a rectangular black cloth mounted lengthwise on a
pole, bearing three concentric circles, one red, one yellow and one
white, and above the three rings, like an abomination, an orange
flame–the symbol of the Prophet. She tore her eyes from the banner
and forced herself to concentrate on the approaching column. It
seemed to her that she could only make out one dark cloaked figure
at the front. Maybe the other was bringing up the rear, she
speculated. However, as the column swung fully into view, there was
still no sign.
Where is he?

A nagging
insistence at the back of her mind told her that she could not hang
around too long. Shann drew herself erect and turned to head back
the way she had come, when she sensed a movement,
a subtle displacement of air
. She wheeled around. A figure clad in a black cloak that
mirrored hers rose up into the air and dropped lightly onto the
outcrop in front of her. He was close enough for her to make out
the cruel line of his mouth set into craggy features, the keen eyes
watching her. She stood, rooted to the stone in shock. Her hand
reached for her staff. Then, without a word, the Keltar turned,
stepped over the edge of the rock platform and was
gone.

Shann’s mind
felt as if it were swimming upstream, fighting the flow, struggling
to comprehend what had just happened. Maybe the Keltar had not seen
her? No, that was impossible–he had looked directly at her. So why
was she still here? A realisation began to dawn in her, a
confluence of the events of these many days. It was like a strong
current, sweeping her towards a conclusion. And with the conclusion
came something else, something that would finally expose Keris for
who and what she was.
At last, Shann had a
plan.

~

Shann sprinted and leaped to
catch up to Lyall and the others as if the Keltar she had
encountered were breathing down her neck the whole way. Finally,
she spotted the covered wagon, and touched down just behind the
party, breathing hard. Keris, who was bringing up the rear,
regarded her with an odd expression but said nothing. Shann ignored
her and went to the front of the wagon. Alondo greeted her with a
warm welcome and she bade him stop for a moment, so that she could
untie her graylesh. She jumped onto the beast’s back and squeezed
its striped flanks, waving her thanks to Alondo and then riding to
catch up with Lyall.