Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms (7 page)

A light suddenly appeared at the
doorway, illuminating the forms of two soldiers sprawled on the
floor. One was bleeding profusely from the nose. A man’s voice
called out, “What’s going on in there?”

The dark uniformed man stepped
into the room, holding an oil lamp. He bore a Captain’s
insignia.

Keris faced him squarely. “You
are Sallidor.”

The Captain squinted at her by
the lamp’s lambent light. “Keltar?”

She glanced at the soldiers, who
were by now helping each other up from the floor. One was still
clutching his bloody nose. “May I ask why your men do not issue the
customary challenge, but attack on sight like scaran
beasts?”

It was a moment before Sallidor
found his voice. “My apologies, Keltar, but this is a secure area.
We did not know you were here.” He seemed to recover his courage
somewhat. “May I ask the purpose of your presence here?”

“That should be obvious, even to
you. I am conducting an investigation into the events of three days
ago.”

“My men and I were sent here
to–”

“I know why you are here,
Captain. I also know that you executed the proprietor of this
establishment. Why?”

“He refused to give any
information.”

Keris had a strong urge to shake
the man by the throat. “Well, he certainly won’t be giving us any
information now, will he?”

Sallidor seemed lost for words.
She changed tack. “What have you uncovered about the girl that
worked here?”

“Only that she worked in the
kitchens. She eluded our soldiers and was seen leaving the town by
the West Gate.”

The West Gate…
The West Gate…
her mind worked
rapidly.
The road to Lind. That was the
girl’s likely destination, then.
She would
need to head there first thing tomorrow.

She came to another decision.
“This investigation is now being conducted by the Keltar. You have
new orders, Captain. You and your men are to withdraw from the town
first thing tomorrow morning. You will return to Chalimar and
report to Mordal on arrival there.”

“Yes, but–”

Keris shut her eyes and raised
her voice in an expression of exaggerated patience. “Do you
understand the orders you have been given?”

“Yes, Keltar.”

“Then carry out your
orders.”

“Yes, Keltar.”

“Now leave…and take these men
with you.”

Moments later,
she was alone again in the dim chamber. She felt sick to her
stomach, again.
Another man dead. Another
casual murder. Was this really all a part of the Prophet`s grand
vision?
She felt as if she were being
swept up and borne along by forces she could not control. She had
to put a stop to all of this somehow. Maybe she could put her
concerns to Mordal when she returned to the keep?
He did not seem
concerned at all by the loss of the “tributes.” What makes
you think anyone will listen?

She was struck
by another thought.
What will happen to
the girl if I take her into custody
and
bring her back to the keep?
Keris had no
answers. All she could do was to follow her mission’s path and see
where it led her.

She climbed out onto the window
ledge, and leapt into the caliginous night.

Chapter
4

Shann rose slowly toward
consciousness and opened her eyes. Shafts of light were filtering
through closed shutters, playing over the cot where she lay. The
room was small, with a single stool next to the bed and a hearth
opposite, presently unlit.

She closed her
eyes again, recalling her flight the previous night, and how she
had been taken in by Alondo and Hedda. They seemed kind, and Hedda
reminded her of Gallar.
I
wonder how she and Poltann are– if they are
worrying about me. Perhaps I should try to get word to them somehow
to let them know I’m all right?

She sat up in bed and saw that
she was wearing a grey nightshirt. With a start, she realised that
she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten to bed last night. Someone
had apparently carried her here, undressed her and put her in night
attire. The bandage on her ankle was gone also. She felt a wave of
embarrassment.

There was a light knock at the
door, and Hedda entered.

“I see my brave
little one is awake.”
There was that word
again.
“How are you feeling this morning?”
Hedda crossed the room and opened the shutters, allowing sunlight
to wash into the room

“I’m fine, thank you.” Shann
replied, squinting at the illumination of day. She ran a hand
through her short dark hair.

“How’s the ankle?”

Shann flexed the joint
experimentally beneath the sheet. “Better, I think.”

“That’s good. Are you
hungry?”

Shann`s stomach informed her that
she was in fact famished. She nodded.

“There’s something on the stove
for you when you’re ready.” Hedda laid out garments at the end of
the bed. “I’m afraid I don’t have any clothes your size. There are
some of Alondo`s clothes for now. They will be a bit baggy, I’m
afraid, but they should do–at least, until we can get you something
more suitable.”

“I don’t know how to thank you
for last night,” Shann began.

The older woman smiled.
“Nonsense, I’m just glad you made it here, and we found you safe.
If you are feeling well enough, I thought we might take a little
trip.”

She sounded as if she were
proposing a vacation or a sightseeing tour.

“Trip?”

“Yes, the gentleman you assisted
last evening would very much like to meet you.”

“Where is he?”

“Not far. Why don’t you hurry up
and get dressed?”

~

Later that morning, Shann sat
alongside Alondo and Hedda as their cart rumbled out from Lind and
onto a winding country road. Wayside flowers unfurled their petals,
and small birds pecked at the warming soil, affirming that spring
was now well underway. Ail-Gan bathed the landscape in its bright
yellow effulgence. In the distance farmers toiled in the fields and
domestic animals grazed contentedly. It all seemed so at odds with
the happenings of last night, as if those events had taken place on
a different world and in a different time.

“If we should be stopped by
soldiers,” Hedda had told her at the house, “you should say you are
a cousin of mine, visiting from Kinnat.”

Shann nodded. “Hedda, the man I
met last night in Corte, the man who gave me the disc. Who is
he?

“His name is Lyall. He and Alondo
have been friends since they were children. They’ve been getting
into trouble together ever since.”

“Why did he attack the
Keltar?”

“As to that…it would be better if
you asked him yourself. You will be seeing him soon enough.” She
placed a reassuring hand on the girl’s shoulder.

Shann found it remarkable that
she felt able to trust these people so completely, despite having
known them for less than a day.

She could readily understand why
she was drawn to Hedda. The loss of her own mother at so early an
age caused her to be naturally drawn to anyone who seemed to fill
that void. But she also felt an affinity toward Alondo that was
harder to explain.

She had never had a brother. What
was more, Alondo was unlike any brother she could have imagined
ever having. His absurd hat was still perched precariously. Shann
found herself wondering how it managed to stay on his head, what
with the cart’s jerky motion.

But there was something that
piqued her curiosity even more. He had slung over his shoulder what
looked like a musical instrument, although it looked like nothing
she had ever seen before.

It was pear-shaped, like a large
mandolin, with a fretless fingerboard. The neck and bridge were
arrayed with what looked like a mind-numbingly complex arrangement
of keys and levers. She could not imagine why he had brought the
thing along, unless it was to allay suspicion from them as a group.
In her opinion, it was more likely to draw undue
attention.

“Are you a musician?” she asked
him.

“You noticed,” he replied
cheerfully.

“What type of instrument is
that?”

“It’s an excuse to avoid work;
that’s what it is,” Hedda interjected.

Alondo smiled tolerantly. “It’s
based on a sabada, but it’s actually my own design. It has one or
two unusual…features. Maybe you would like to hear it?”

Shann`s face brightened. She had
always loved music. “Oh, yes, please!”

Alondo handed the reins to his
mother as if to prove her point, and then jumped into the back of
the cart. Seated comfortably against the backboard, he cradled the
instrument gently like a dearly loved pet, and made a few practiced
adjustments.

“Do you know this one?” he
shouted to those behind him. Without waiting for a reply, he
sounded an opening chord and launched into a light
baritone.

“Let me tell you now of a girl I
knew,

“With lovely eyes of the fairest
blue,

“Green skin as fresh as the
morning dew,

“With a hi hey diddle diddle
hey.

“I met her down on the market
square,

“The sunlight danced in her
auburn hair,

“Oh ne’r had I seen a maid so
fair,

“With a hi hey diddle diddle
hey……”

The girls joined in the chorus,
as the cart creaked from side to side and rumbled on into the
distance.

Insects buzzed and danced
together like motes in the warm spring air.

~

“My name is Lyall. I’m very happy
to meet you at last.”

Shann was sitting in the kitchen
of a generously proportioned farmhouse. Copper pots of all sizes
hung from the walls. She sat before a large wooden table with her
hands folded in her lap, looking up into the eyes of the stranger
she had met in Corte. They were as blue as she remembered, and
there was the unruly sandy hair, but he seemed taller somehow. He
winced a little as he sat down opposite her. She recalled the wound
left by the Keltar`s stabbing thrust.

“Are you all right?”

“Actually, Moina tells me it’s
only superficial. I only wish it felt superficial.” He adjusted his
seating position again, gritting his teeth as he did so. “It will
be a day or so before I’ll be leaping across rooftops
again.”

“Longer if you don’t learn to sit
still.” An older woman stood at the kitchen door. She had dark hair
with silver streaks and wore a workmanlike green dress and white
apron. “Hedda and Alondo are going to help me with the animals. Can
you keep our guest company for a while?”

“It would be my
pleasure.”

Moina turned in Shann’s
direction, adding with strained patience, “And try to keep him from
tearing his wound open again.” She turned on her heel and
left.

Lyall shrugged. “My mother’s
sister,” he declared, as if that were the only explanation that
were necessary.

His bright blue eyes seemed to
pierce through to the centre of her being. She felt as if she were
glass. “I am told you are called Shann.”

Shann sat looking at her hands
still folded in her lap. She nodded.

“Well I’m very grateful to you,
Shann. I might not have made it out of there alive if you hadn’t
helped me. You did so at the risk of your own life. May I ask
why?”

Shann moved her
hand to the side of her face, recalling the day the soldiers had
taken her parents away.
I wanted them to
leave my parents alone.
She raised her
eyes to meet Lyall. “I wanted it to stop–the tributes, all of it. I
wanted to fight them.”

Lyall’s voice was quiet. “I can
help you do that, if you wish.”

Shann felt confused. She had no
idea how she should respond. Eventually, she found her voice again.
“Why did you do it? Why did you take on a Keltar and a troop of
soldiers?”

Lyall smiled at her. “It was a
bit mad, wasn’t it? I surely didn’t plan it that way. It was just
that one of the young women in the ‘tribute’ group–she…reminded me
of someone.”

He seemed anxious to change the
subject. “Did you know any of them?”

“No, not really. I knew who one
of the girls was, but I had never spoken to her.”

“I believe I can make it stop,
Shann.”

“You cannot
fight the Keltar. They are the eyes and ears of the Prophet. There
is no way to resist them. What happened to you
proves
that.”

“I acted without thinking.
Besides, I had no way of knowing he would have grenades with him.
Otherwise the outcome might have been rather different.” He paused.
“The key to defeating a tyrant–any tyrant–is to understand the
source of their power. Once you do that, you can manipulate it;
even use their own power against them.”