Shadowrun - Earthdawn - Lliferock (26 page)

We must drive these vermin away, he thought. Even if it means our lives.

This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected])  Chapter Thirty 

The body of Reid Quo grew out from Sangolin, his hands reaching for Pabl. The muddy gray skin of the rock peeled away from around Reid’s shoulders and chest, slipping slowly back into the mass of stone as it regurgitated him. Reid came loose with a wet pop, and the strong mildew odor of unwashed obsidiman drifted from his newly emerged body.

Pabl stepped back to stay out of reach.

Reid stood exactly the same height as Pabl, his glimmering black eyes at the same level. But Reid’s eyes didn’t stare into Pabl’s; they were focused at some imaginary point down the tunnel. His body had completely emerged now; his russet skin enameled with red stripes dripped cold and wet, detached from Sangolin. His mouth struggled to form words, but no sound came out.

“I know you,” Pabl said, stepping back again.

Reid put his hands out for Pabl. “Will you merge?” he asked. His eyes focused on Pabl.

“You are Reid Quo.”

Reid gave Pabl a puzzled look. “You do seem familiar. Do I 211

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know you?”

“No, but I know you. You are Reid Quo. You and I are of the same brotherhood — the Garen Brotherhood.”

“Garen? That name is familiar.”

“Garen Dne was our Elder many years ago. You and he were brothers, and friends as well. You gave him this necklace.”

Pabl held the Mynbruje pendant up to show Reid.

The jade statuette glimmered deep green in the dim light as Reid took it gently in the wet palm of his right hand. He bent his head to examine it, a look of recognition spreading across his blank face. “I remember this,” he said. “I will speak with you further.” He dropped the pendant, letting it swing up against Pabl’s chest and moved toward the tunnel. “But this is not the right place. Come.”

Pabl tasted the bitter disappointment of not merging with Sangolin as he forced himself to turn away from the gray mass. He followed Reid out of the cavern, trying to ignore the ever-waning pull from Sangolin.

“What is your name?” Reid asked.

“I am Pabl Evr. I have been searching for you. Our liferock is in danger and we need your help.”

“I know,” he said.

“How —?”

Reid shook his head to silence him. They had reached the end of the tunnel, and Pabl was momentarily afraid that the eight obsidimen who had taken him down from the mountainside would prevent him from leaving. But when Reid led him out into the hollow — darkening sky and blowing clouds of steam aglow with the deep red of the setting sun — no one stood guard at the tunnel entrance. None of the obsidimen paid them any attention.

Perhaps they assume I merged with Sangolin.

Pabl looked around for Jan and Celagri, but he didn’t see them in the hollow. They must’ve hidden, he thought. I’ll meet This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock 

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them later at the trail. Now, I must convince Reid to come back to Ganwetrammus.

The afternoon feasting had stopped. The fire burned low, and obsidimen lounged like fat rats amongst the discarded remnants of the spitted beast’s bones and flesh. The sight disgusted Pabl. How can they live like this? They’re all filthy, smelly and unwashed, eating only the flesh of animals. They are barely obsidimen. Hardly Name-givers anymore.

Reid led Pabl out of the hollow, toward the cliffs of fire which he had seen many times in his visions. There was a terrible, barren beauty to this place which frightened Pabl. It was an unnatural place; no plants grew here and the rock was tainted by Sangolin. And yet, the crisp red glow of the Scarlet Sea touched something primal inside him. Its heat filled him with a sense of ancient grace, as though molten rock in such a vast quantity were closer to the state of the world at the time of creation. As though the Scarlet Sea was a tiny vestige of the Great Liferock before it split into the myriad of drops which became nature and the universe.

Pabl looked up from the spectacular view of the molten sea a thousand feet below the rock cliffs. Thick clouds of steam rose from the mist swamps off to his left. And on his right was the great firefall — a river of lava which flowed out of the volcano to plummet over the cliffs into the sea. The firefall was easily a day’s journey away, but it looked huge to Pabl even from this distance.

Reid led Pabl along the wide cliff ledge away from the other obsidimen. Caves in the side of the mountain served as sleeping quarters for the obsidimen of Sangolin, which again surprised Pabl. Obsidimen preferred open sky and generally avoided living underground nearly as much as they shunned deep water or flying in airships.

Pabl followed Reid down a narrower ledge and into one of the caves. “We can talk more freely here,” Reid said.

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Pabl looked around the small cave. A pallet of animal skins served as a bed of sorts, but there was little else in the cave. A glow lantern on the floor and crude burlap curtains which could be closed across the front of the cave, but that was it. Otherwise it was barren rock. No decorations, no personal items. Nothing.

“This is where you live?”

“I suppose it is,” Reid said.

“How long have you been here?”

Reid looked quizzically at Pabl. “I don’t really know,” he said. “I only remember things in bits and snatches.” Then he lurched forward and grabbed Pabl’s shoulders with surpris-ingly strength. “You say you are from my liferock?”

Pabl nodded.

“Then you must know my true name. My obsidiman name.”

His intensity made his grip tighten on Pabl’s shoulders.

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Pabl said. “Your obsidiman name is known only to you and Ganwetrammus — our liferock.”

Reid let him go. “Then I will never know it.”

“You can and you will. I have come to take you from this place. Together we will travel to the jungle and merge with Ganwetrammus. You are called as one of our Elders, and we need your help. The liferock is in danger. You must feel it. Can you not sense it?”

Reid nodded, but the deeply etched wrinkles of his face bore an expression of sadness. “I do feel the pain. I feel it every day. Yet, I cannot leave.”

“Several weeks ago, a mining caravan began digging into the liferock. They chose a particularly vulnerable spot. We tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen to reason, and their mercenary force was stronger than us.”

“I cannot leave.”

“There is a way, however. A way to mend the wound in the rock. Powerful magic called the Ritual of Protection will help This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock 

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Ganwetrammus to destroy the miners and repair the damage.

But both Elders must dance the ritual. Both Elders.”

“I can never leave,” Reid said, bowing his head. “Never.”

Pabl took a step back. “Of course you can,” he said. “You must. Haven’t you heard what I’ve been saying? Don’t you understand that Ganwetrammus could be destroyed if you don’t help?”

Reid sat on the animal fur pallet and leaned his back against the wall, saying nothing in response.

“I will help you escape.”

Reid’s voice was distant when he spoke again, weak and tired as though speaking were a monumental task. “When Sangolin calls, I cannot resist.”

“I resisted.”

Reid looked up at Pabl, anger in his voice. “It let you go,” he said. “But it will call you again. And again, and again until you succumb. One time is all it takes, brother. Sangolin is as patient as mountains.

“It wants to be a liferock,” Reid continued. “Vecrix is preparing a spell to change Sangolin into something . . . something else. What, I don’t know. Vecrix believes he can make Sangolin into a true liferock.”

“What?” Pabl took a step back. “That’s not possible.” Liferocks were alive, more than a Gathering. Far more. They were spirit and stone, fragments of the Great Liferock. “It’s not like making a nice urn or carving a statue,” Pabl said.

“But Vecrix doesn’t know that, or he has forgotten. He wants to use blood magic to tie us all into a massive pattern while we’re merged with Sangolin.”

Pabl sank to a sitting position on the floor opposite Reid.

Shocked. An image came to him of fifty or a hundred obsidimen bonded into a single pattern with such a place as Sangolin. Bonded by blood, not spirit. It was perverse. Evil.

“Whatever is created,” Reid said. “It will be worse than a This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock 

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Horror.”

Pabl shivered, feeling a sudden chill pass through him. I must get away from this place before I become like the others.

He looked across the closed space of the cave, trying to ignore the claustrophobia which crept into the back of his mind. “I need to go soon,” he said. “I want you to try to come with me.”

“I —”

“No excuses, brother,” Pabl said. “How can you stay here when you know what is happening?”

“I don’t want to stay,” Reid said. “But I have no choice.”

Pabl looked at him, his red-striped russet skin dry now from the heat of the Scarlet Sea. “Why can’t you walk away?”

he asked. “How can Sangolin mean so much?”

“You can’t understand, brother. You haven’t merged.”

“Tell me then,” Pabl said. “Tell me what it feels like to merge with Sangolin?”

“I shouldn’t.”

“I just want to know . . .”

“Some things are best left unknown.”

“But —”

“You really want to know, I’ll tell you.” Reid leaned forward, staring down at Pabl with an intensity which was frightening.

He’s insane, Pabl thought. One moment, he seems fine. The next he nearly attacks me.

“It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced. The anticipation before merging is a sheer rush, but you’ve already felt that.

When you actually touch it, Sangolin sends wave upon wave of ecstasy through your body. It feels like you become pure spirit energy; it feels like the Passions have aligned and are cooperating to bring you all the pleasure in the universe at that one moment.”

Reid paused for a breath. “But then you emerge to discover that days have passed, maybe weeks or months. And outside, you’re alone. You feel hollowed out, like a cave. Empty like an This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock 

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urn without water. You don’t remember who you are because your identity is gone. Stolen by Sangolin.

“This place craves obsidimen,” Reid said. “It uses them up, drains them of their spirit, and effectively kills them in the long run. You’ve seen the others here; they are walking dead, alive only for the merge with Sangolin. Waiting for the call. Always waiting.

“I was like them until I felt the pain from Ganwetrammus. After that I began to remember things, to piece things together. Sometimes I wish I’d never realized how much of a zombie I used to be.”

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you why,” Reid said, his anger turning to melancholy. “It’s because I can’t leave Sangolin. I know what it does to me, and I still can’t leave.” He gave a sad sigh and spoke again, his voice low, his gaze on the floor. “I’m addicted, and the realization of that hurts me. Knowing is more painful than not knowing.”

Pabl stood up, his anger driving him. How much more of these pathetic excuses do I have to hear? He spoke, trying not to shout. “You talk about pain and addiction, of not being able to leave, but I still don’t believe you. If you really wanted to leave, you would come with me. You would take the risk of losing Sangolin to help your true liferock and your brotherhood.”

Reid shook his head slowly. “Your idealism is touching, brother, but unrealistic.”

“Enter the self-Dreaming with me, Reid, and you will remember much of yourself. You will know who you are, and you will understand. Afterwards, you won’t hesitate to come back to Ganwetrammus with me.”

Reid shook his head. “Calm down, Pabl. You are young and know not what you say. Merging with me could be hazardous for you. You would know my experiences, my longing for Sangolin. My addiction. Almost like merging with Sang-This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock 

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olin itself. No, it’s too much of a risk.”

“I am willing to take that risk to save my liferock. Nothing is more important.”

“I will resist you,” Reid said. “I refuse to condemn you to Sangolin. If you contract my addiction, you’ll never escape.

Sangolin has altered me so much that even Ganwetrammus couldn’t help me.”

Pabl knew he could not merge with an unwilling Reid, but he would not be defeated. “Maybe not,” he said, “But the Council of Four could. I visited them to find you.”

“They knew how to find me?”

“Yes,” Pabl said. “They knew of Sangolin from two obsidimen who did manage to leave. So it is possible, you see.”

“What became of these two?”

Pabl frowned. “The Council was able to give them back some of their memories, but . . .”

Reid said nothing.

Pabl turned away from Reid. “The two obsidimen went insane a few years after leaving the Valley of the Elders,” he said.

“But that doesn’t mean they won’t be able to cure you.”

Reid leaned back against the red stone wall of the cave and breathed a heavy sigh. “How did you know I was here? Or was that a guess?”

“The Council of Four had seen you in the memories of the two who escaped, plus Ohin Yeenar had been having visions of this place ever since his liferock died and you came with some others to take away the remnants of their brotherhood –”

Pabl stopped. A feeling of dread grew inside him. All those obsidimen without a liferock . . .

Reid swallowed hard, staring at Pabl. “I remember that now,” he said, “though I wish I didn’t. Ohin Yeenar . . . Othellium . . . How long ago?”