Shadow Hunters (24 page)

Ladranix looked stoic. “Then we die, proudly, for what we believe in.”

“No, wait,” Jake interrupted. “We don’t have to go in the main entrance, ringing the doorbel.”

While he was pretty sure protoss didn’t ring doorbels, they immediately understood the metaphor’s meaning. “What do you suggest?” Ladranix asked.

Jake smiled despite the pain in his head. “I know a back entrance.”

Rosemary met his eyes and grinned. She knew exactly what he was planning.

“So, we’re folowing in the tracks of Temlaa, then,” she said.

“And Khas,” Jake said.

“Him too. I always liked Temlaa better.”

The protoss within range of Jake’s thoughts stared at him.

“Khas?” said Ladranix. “Of course … preservers have the memory of al protoss.

You would have Khas’s memories.”

Jake nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “But for some reason Zamara had me live those moments through Temlaa’s eyes, not those of Khas.”

Why’d you do it that way anyway?

Because the lessons learned by Savassan—by Khas—are not the ones that are
important for you to understand. You do not need to learn as a mystic learns,
Jacob. You need to learn as an ordinary protoss does. You needed to learn as
the student, not the teacher.

He supposed that made sense.

“Khas and his friend and apprentice Temlaa were the ones who discovered the chambers in the first place, back during the Aeon of Strife,” Jake continued. “They figured out some sort of puzzle in order to enter. With any luck that … security system, I guess, is stil in place and the Forged got in through the main entrance.”

“It is so,” Alzadar confirmed. “I know nothing of any other way to enter the chambers.”

“I cannot imagine that they would have been able to figure out a puzzle they did not even know existed,” Ladranix said. “And this world, like al worlds must, has changed greatly over time. But there is one way to find out.”

It took some time to hammer out al the details. Then the protoss began to break camp. If the gamble succeeded, they would be leaving Aiur forever. If it failed …

then Those Who Endure would not be alive to worry about such things as camp.

Jake and Rosemary helped, until finaly, with only three functional vessels—and smal ones at that—they were ready to depart.

The remaining templar and al the khalai who had shown promise in combat would accompany Jake, Zamara, and Rosemary to the chambers. Other khalai would go ahead to the warp gate and clear it of any zerg in the area. The rest—children and those who for various reasons could not fight as wel as the others—would stay here, waiting to be ferried to the warp gate in waves. Eventualy, al the Shel’na Kryhas would rendezvous at the warp gate. Zamara—hopefuly—would be able to reactivate it, and they could al depart.

They were al, not surprisingly, stoic and in good spirits. No one held the cloud of failure in his or her heart. Jake found it very uplifting. Al thoughts were quiet and focused as he and Rosemary entered the by-now-familiar little craft and settled in.

Jacob
… Zamara’s mental voice was hesitant.

He chuckled to himself.
I know I’m far from done with Adun and Vetraas and
Raszagal.

Every memory I give you in this fashion will further damage your brain. I am
reluctant to do so, but I must.

I understand,
Jake replied.
Go for it.

“Who knew we had such a gift for stealth and secrecy,” Jake said wryly to
Adun.

Adun was wise about many things, but he had not yet seen enough to develop
the sense of humor Jake had through the long years. He bridled a bit at the
comment. “We do what is necessary,” he said. “I do not relish it. This is not a
game, Vetraas.”

No, it was no game, or if it was it was a game as life always was, with the
highest stakes imaginable. At first, the Conclave had been complacent. But
recently it was as if something had changed. They were demanding more proof
of the executions than simple recordings. Adun had done his best to keep them
from actually attending an execution thus far, but sooner or later, they would
insist on being present, and then the “game” would be over.

Or would it? The work Adun, Jake, and all the other high templar were doing
with the fugitives was focused on teaching them how to mask themselves with
startling efficacy. Just yesterday, Jake himself had watched, shocked, as
Raszagal proudly showed off her ability to become almost invisible.

“You taught us about the concealing shadows,” she said to Adun. “We have
studied hard, as I told you we would. Now we can bend light to hide ourselves.”

While Raszagal was the most visibly talented student, the others were not far
behind her. Knowing that their lives depended upon learning these psionic
abilities, and heartbreakingly grateful to the templar, especially the executor,
for saving them, they progressed with astonishing speed.

It worried Jake, how swiftly they moved. “It took us decades simply to learn
how to fully share our hearts with one another,” Jake told Adun. “You yourself
are learning as much as teaching, for these abilities are hitherto foreign to us.

Perhaps we should not push them so rapidly.”

“There is no other choice,” Adun replied. “The net closes in even now. And
because they are utterly convinced that this is the right path, they will not
relent.”

Jake shared his worry.

“Soon, we will not be able to hide what we are doing,” Adun continued. “Until
I can persuade the Conclave that in this instance they have made the wrong
choice, the only protection the dark templar will have is how well they can
conceal themselves. It would be so much more efficient if I could link with them
in the Khala—but of course, if I could do that, none of this would be
necessary.”

Later, Jake would sorrowfully muse that the events that unfolded were
inevitable. He and Adun were both right. The so-called dark templar indeed had
no defense other than these psionic abilities. And, they were trying to learn too
much too quickly.

Jake would never know exactly what the ill-fated dark templar who
accidentally brought about catastrophe was attempting. For of course he was
not linked with the Khala, and every one of his kinsmen, the beasts of the rain
forests, and the jungle itself for miles around were destroyed in the dreadful
psionic storm that was unleashed. What was certain was that he or she had
tried to do too much, too soon, and had triggered a psionic backlash in which
the summoned power raged out of control. This unfortunate soul was not the
only one; other dark templar presumably panicked and more and more storms
were created as the students, unable to handle such power without the comfort,
control, and discipline of the Khala, became the first victims of their own
inexperience.

“A psionic storm?”

“Dozens of them,” Zamara said gravely. “Al across Aiur. Al caused by inexperienced dark templar trying to wield too much power, too soon. Storms that were devastating in their scope; storms that were easily traceable back to their source by the Conclave. When they identified the bodies as those of dark templar they had been assured had been executed, they realized they had been duped by one they had trusted to do what they firmly believed was the right thing.”

“So it was al for nothing,” Jake breathed. “Al the difficult decisions, the lies, the painful choices.”

“No,” Zamara stated. “The dark templar were indeed found by the Conclave, but even here, Adun’s influence prevailed.”

The righteous anger and confused hurt emanating from Kortanul was almost as
overwhelming as the psionic storms. “How dare you disobey a direct order?

What gives you, a templar, the right to make such decisions? We are the
Conclave! We know what is best!”

Adun stood his ground unflinchingly. “I am at peace with my decision. What is
it you decree now, Judicator? For you know as well as I that if you publicly
condemn us, you expose the very secret you were so determined to hide—the
existence of the dark templar.”

Jake sealed off his sudden burst of humor, lest it be detected by Kortanul. Adun
had the judicator there. “We will do what you failed to do,” Kortanul replied.

“We will execute the dark ones ourselves.”

“You shall not!” Adun’s mental voice was almost painful. Jake touched his
temple. “For if one of them comes to harm, I will speak openly of them. And
again, your secret will be exposed.”

Jake waited, still as stone. He wanted to help Adun, but he knew that any
interference now would do more harm than good. This was Adun’s choice; all
would succeed or fail on how he handled it.

For a moment, Kortanul’s mind was a careful blank. “Curse you, Adun. You
know you are right. But the dark ones cannot be permitted to dwell with those
of us who follow the true teachings of Khas. You have seen how dangerous they
can be.”

“It was unintentional,” Jake blurted, unable to hold his peace any longer.

Kortanul turned to him. “That is even worse! You see how wild, how
uncontrolled they are. Would you have them and this power rampage across
our world unchecked? Can you in good conscience, as one who has sworn to
protect the protoss, say that is a good thing?”

Adun was stricken to the core, and lowered his head. “What … are you
suggesting?”

“Banishment. We have already rounded them up. We will put them aboard one
of the remaining vessels of the xel’naga and—

“You have such a thing?” Adun and Jake were both astonished and thought
this at the same time.

“There are many things we know which you do not. It is why we are the leaders
of the protoss and you merely wield the sword when we tell you to.”

Except this time, Judicator,
Jake thought fiercely.
Except this time.

“Yo, Sleeping Beauty,” said Rosemary, elbowing Jake. “We’re almost there.”

Blinking sleepily, his mind muling over the tragedy suffered by the pro-toss and wondering if he’d get to see the dark templar depart, Jake sat up. This was it then.

At first, he didn’t see it. And then … ah, there it was, the crystals stil towering toward the sky, glittering in the star- and moonlight, completely new to his eyes and yet completely familiar. Something inside him relaxed at the image, at the continuity it represented. Despite everything, despite the years and the wars and the zerg, these stones were stil here, their luster undimmed, though perhaps they were more deeply buried in the soil than before.

“No sign of zerg activity,” Varloris said. This was a risky moment. While Zamara had blocked his and Rosemary’s thoughts from being detected by the Forged, and of course the Shel’na Kryhas were able to block their own thoughts as wel, a protoss craft landing on an open space was not safe. If they were noticed now, by either Tal’darim or zerg, their mission might end before it had even truly begun.

This was definitely the place. Jake knew it in his bones, in his cels, the moment he placed a foot on the soil. Here it was that Temlaa and Savassan had stood so long ago, with no inkling of what lay just beneath their feet. Here they had touched the crystals, trying to figure out the puzzle. Savassan had smashed a necklace made of shels, to point out the universal ratio, one to one point six. Jake knew better than to think he’d see fragments of those long-ago shels here, but part of him yearned to look. Just in case. He stifled the urge.

A thought struck him.
Zamara—I’m not a protoss. The crystals won’t respond to
me.

You are not protoss, it is true. But your mind has been changed. Reshaped. I
believe the crystals will respond to you as they would to me. If not, it is no
matter, you can direct Ladranix in how to properly activate them. But … I
know you wish to try.

I … I do, I really do.

Then,
Zamara said, deliberately echoing words that had once been passed, then as now, mind to mind,
you do it, my student. The honor is yours.

Jake closed his eyes briefly and caled up the memory. He stood in this same place now as “he” had then, as Temlaa had. Jake opened his eyes and reached out his hand to touch the crystal, and for a brief heartbeat of an instant, it was as if a long protoss arm was superimposed on his own. Gently, he placed his palm on the cool crystal.

He felt a tingling, not a physical, but a mental one, and hope surged in him. The crystals were responding!

Moving counterclockwise, Jake touched the next crystal and held his breath. Both crystals seemed to light up faintly inside, and … yes, yes, there it was, that deep, barely audible hum that would grow in volume and harmony as soon as the voices of these two crystals were joined by others.

Rosemary whistled softly. “You were right, Jake. That’s the same sound we heard in the temple where Zamara was trapped.”