Skies Over Tomorrow: Constellation (26 page)

“Lord Shen,” Madam Nariko said, “you and your party best leave if you wish to make the Pris Chroma. Its captain does not wait for anyone—not even us nobles.” There was a voice of concurrence from everyone, as Shen acknowledged the queen.

He, Lord Ogunsheye, and Lady Ishiko stood and bowed, and then followed Ume to the stable. As they walked through the palace estate, the chambermaid handed Shen a blindfold, and said, “You shall ride behind Lady Ishiko. She in turn shall guide your pack animal with Lord Ogunsheye riding to your rear. When you have arrived on Maraknus, Lady Ayame shall don the blindfold and ride two behind you. Lord Ogunsheye shall lead at that time.”

Shen covered his eyes while still in motion, and then reached out to grasp hold of Ume's shoulder, and she said, “I must say, my lord, given the circumstance, I think you and milady's keeping to an old tradition is quite exemplary.”

The priest-monk signaled acknowledgement with a finger-pat on her shoulder, as they continued their progression.

When they arrived at the stable, Lady Ayame was in full gear and waiting, and the chambermaid passed Shen off to Lord Ogunsheye. Ayame's back was to her fellow knights and mate, and from atop her pack, she said, “Let's be on our way.” She looked out across the grounds, over the rolling hills to the forest, and added, “We've a long ride.”

“Up you go, Lord Shen,” said Lord Ogunsheye.

Lady Ishiko, mounted on her pack, kept Shen's beast steady as he climbed on its back. “Lady Ayame,” she said. “You go on ahead. We shall not be far behind.”

“Aye.” The First Knight rubbed the head of her pack, and it sprung into a trot.

Once Lord Ogunsheye mounted his pack animal, Lady Ishiko looked to the one that carried Shen. It nodded, and she guided her ride to lead it out, both animals trotting into a gallop. Lord Ogunsheye rode close behind.

The party's journey began with a sprint over the soft hills of the estate into the forest, where upon reaching the main thoroughfare of rock and dirt, they went into a full gallop; and as the sun followed them, beaming through the canopy of the woodlands, there was no slowing for farmers, civilians, or clerics that traveled to and from towns and markets, and temples and houses. No stopping to even chat with other nobles. The hard ride pressed for the valley port in west, to catch the Pris Chroma.

With the perseverance of their packs, after keeping with numerous changes in direction and with the sun now falling away, they knew the harbor of the Pris Chroma was near when a vessel cruised the lower atmosphere and disappeared over a ridge in the forest. Emerging from the woods at the edge of the hillside, the band of nobles came upon the vastness of the strath and were dwarfed by the immense and majestical scene of the spaceport, Khonshu.

They descended into the hollow and trotted to the iridescent, open-air terminal. Its foundation spanned beyond the width of the tributary that branched left of the valley's river. Its multi-level, high vaulted ceilings and exterior walls of opaque glass were supported by light, embellished flying buttresses and columns. Inside at its center, a large ornamental wellspring, spouting, sat in the stream that flowed through the concourse. It was on one of the interior bridges, near the fountain, that they met a crewman of the Pris Chroma. He guided them through the hustle and bustle of merchants and bazaars, to the platform of the small trade vessel, near the far end of a pier. Its preparation for departure neared completion, as its captain stood and oversaw the final measures.

“Aye, Lady Ayame,” he said. “You just made it. Any longer and the Pris Chroma would have left without you.”

“Thank you for waiting, Lord Dumaka,” she said.

“Is this the priest-monk to reunite us in peace with the Shards?”

“Aye, I am,” said Shen.

“I say let us go to war and be rid of them, once and for all.”

“We care not for your perspective, Lord Dumaka,” Ayame said, “just passage to Maraknus.”

“Well, I see this one has the sense to take a party of nobles with him. Perhaps this shall not be a one-way voyage after all.”

“Enough, Lord Dumaka,” said Lady Ayame. “We ask permission to board the Pris Chroma.”

“Aye, you may,” the captain said, and bowed.

The party boarded, and after securing the packs in stalls, they settled into the offered quarters of the cargo hold, which doubled as a launch bay for the Pris Chroma's shuttle and two xenomechs. There was slight jerk when the trade vessel lifted and hovered above the ground; and as it came about, its boarding ramp retracted and closed up the hull's opening, and then it climbed skyward.

The Pris Chroma transcended the atmosphere of Enteria, and as it drifted in orbit of its home world, a ring structure uncloaked to its starboard. Counterclockwise, around its face, single strobes of light began to flash at a gradual pace, as the encircled view of space sank into blackness. The flashes increased in tempo, and as the supply ship drew nearer, the rim of the halo pulsed with light.

The partial vacuum of the astral chasm created by the ring drew the ship inward, the front hull elongating beyond the blackness of the epicenter. Then in an instant, it sucked in the entire vessel, and the Pris Chroma was gone. The flashes slowed back to a gradual rhythm and stopped, while the ring's window restored its view of the universe. The portal of the astral chasm then faded and melded with space, as to hide its existence until called upon.

Traveling rifts in space, to cross the stars, was as venerable a custom as Lord Dumaka, his crew and the ferried nobles were of the ancient civilization that made the feat possible. Where the universe is an open sea, the Creator's hand of evolution enlightened their ancestors to sail beyond the world of antiquity, ruined by advancements, after it could no longer support life. In saving themselves, the knowledge bestowed gave rise to astral chasms by which the ancients had searched for new worlds to seed and call home. Such was Enteria eons ago. Now, the ancestral wisdom—safeguarded in scriptures by the religious sect—was enacted upon by the Council to establish the practice of balanced utilization of technology and limit it primarily to the non-terrestrial aspect of existence. Thereupon, stellar flight afforded Enteria trade with other worlds and territories beyond itself.

Nearing an egression point within the domain of its home-world, as a terminal ring uncloaked and became active and the outlet for the astral chasm opened, the Pris Chroma flung from the hole in space, through the center of the pulsing halo. With arrival at the desert planet of Maraknus, the ring's framed distortion of the cosmos cleared, and as the void closed up, it reverted to its inactive state, and then amalgamated with the universe.

The trade vessel moved into orbit around the planet, before departing for its intended destination of Arcanon, and launched its shuttle to the surface. The entry was more turbulent than if the Pris Chroma were to land; but once lower in the atmosphere, calmness overtook the descent of the small ship, as it followed a plotted course to the ancient holy city of Rei.

Just outside the municipality, stirring up dust as its boarding ramp lowered and extended, the shuttle touched down. Once grounded and at rest, the four-member party rode their packs off into a sweltering, arid, and windy milieu, and trotted down the main avenue to the heart of the city's ruins.

“Maraknus is as forbidding as I have heard,” said Lord Ogunsheye.

“Indeed, it is,” Shen said, “but Maraknus hides a forgiving side if one chooses to find it.”

“I choose to find that hard to believe,” Ogunsheye said.

“Did the Creator really destroy this planet just to rid the Shards from it?” said Lady Ishiko.

“No, She didn't do this,” said Shen. “
We
did this—both us and the Sharizards. This is the result of us not aligning ourselves with the graces of the Creator, as well as being out of balance with the natural order of the universe, and with each other.”

Just then Lady Ayame's pack stopped and looked off into the shadows of buildings to its right. Though blindfolded, Ayame sensed the danger felt by her pack. “Be on guard,” she said. “We are not alone.”

They carried on, having acknowledged the feeling of being watched. The avenue ended at the elongated steps of a colossal temple at the center of Rei. Unlike the blemished and crumbling structures of the city around it, the shrine towered aglow over the party. The priest-monk and his escorts dismounted and walked seven cases of stairs that ascended to a narrow slit that was the temple's only opening. Shen and Ogunsheye entered, as Lady Ishiko, leading her sister knight, stopped and said, “He's inside.”

Lady Ayame pulled the blindfold down and let it rest around her neck. “You should go on ahead,” she said. “I will call if trouble arises.”

Lady Ishiko rested her right hand on Ayame's left shoulder; they looked and nodded at one another. Then Ishiko walked off and entered the cryptic, dark space of the temple.

“Lady Ishiko,” said Ogunsheye. “This way.”

She followed the constricting corridor, lighted by the flare torch in the lord's hand. Along the passage, she stepped over the remains of the priest-monks that had come before. The loitering stench of death was heavy on the nose.

Ayame smelled the decay vent from the slim opening, as the slight breeze carried a whisper; however, the wind that wailed about the city and corroded its structures spoke louder. It seemed to amplify the grievances of the city's lamenting, lingering spirits. Still, she kept a vigilant eye, remarking the pack animals resting at the bottom of the stair's ascent with closed eyes, and beyond the beasts, at the horizon of the main street, how the tip of the shuttle's vertical wing peeked over it. Even as she drew her sword and laid it in the grip of her crossed arms, her eyes scanned back and forth, watching, waiting.

The cry of the wind was long, though at times soft, yet it was always constant. It appealed to Lady Ayame's sympathy, which then she willed herself to tune it out. She had to maintain a steady watch; Shen's life and her honor depended on it, as she had traded her promise to protect him for his trust. The wind was silent now, though Ayame saw its touches, and felt it blowing.

With the sky all to itself, the sun crested, and with a gradual decrease in intensity, as it receded, shadows reached eastward. Ayame noticed one in particular, spearing across the ground toward the temple, and as she looked up, from the horizon approached a lone figure. She recalled instructing the pilot to remain with the shuttle. Perhaps something was wrong; perhaps Lord Dumaka sent a message. As the lone silhouette neared, she recognized the armor and the whipping cape and whistled, and the pack animals opened their eyes and looked to her. She pointed with her chin and commanded two to intercept the Shadow Knight.

The packs spilt and approached her adversarial lord, flanking him as he summoned his weapon's appearance. Passing by, sensing for a weakness to exploit before looping around and crossing paths, the animals strode up to his rear, one at either side of him. Lady Ayame called for the beasts to strike, and sent the other two to assist in the preemptive assault.

The first pair charged and leaped into the air. The Sharizardian lord wielded his sword-lance up in a spin and decapitated one feline beast, and continuing to spin, gutted the other. Blood rained down and splattered about as the steeds dropped from the air, and just as he turned to face the temple, sharp, curved nails and incisors were at him. The second pair snatched him to the ground, dust taking to the air after the pounce. One bit into his left pauldron as the other gnawed at the elbow of his right arm, attempting to force him to release his weapon. Their claws and fangs punctured his armor and tore at his flesh. He wrestled the beasts and managed to get one on its back, which it did not like, and it kicked him away. The fray paused, but only for a moment, as the beasts reassessed their enemy. Then one charged, and as the other circled around, the faceless knight lunged forward, stabbed, and made his third kill quick, and turned about and readied himself to engage the last pack. It hesitated, and then ran off, having heeded Lady Ayame's mental bid for it to retreat to the shuttle.

The Shadow Knight then cast his sword-lance away and walked onward to the temple, at which he arrived afterwards and was in no rush to climb its cased treads to meet the packs' master. Upon stepping onto the seventh landing, with a pointing sword greeting him, he waved a hand upward before his harden, smooth veil and revealed himself.

“First Knight of the House of Sarauniya,” he then said with a smile, “it has been some time, since we last fought.”

Ayame switched to an offensive posture. “Summon your weapon, Lord Garai,” she said, “and let this be our very last.”

“Though a delightful requisition, I must refuse. I shall not fight you, nor shall I be the one to kill Lord Shen.”

Ayame's stance changed with the quickness of a lightening strike, the tip of her sword now at the throat of the Sharizardian lord. “How did you come to know his name?” she said.

“That matters not,” said Garai. “I've come only to give you a message.”

“A message?”

The Shadow Knight peered into the eyes of the First Knight, beyond their pearlescent blackness, into their depths, and with a caress of her soul, he said, “Emperor Ohin is master.”

A ringing pierced the ears of Sarauniya's champion, and Ayame dropped her sword to hold the sides of her head, staggering away from Lord Garai. She tried to fight the hypnotic spell, as it brought her to her knees, and at the brink of unconsciousness, she hollered to release the pain. Her cry reached into the temple.

“Lady Ayame,” said Lady Ishiko, looking back in the direction of the entrance.

“Continue forward,” said Lord Ogunsheye. He in turn backtracked to the temple's opening, running the circular path of the tight passage that seemed without end. His breathing was quick as he came upon the fingertips of daylight reaching into the sanctuary. Halfway from the entrance, he saw a silhouette. “Lady Ayame, is that you?” he said, holding out the flare torch ahead of him.