The Farseekers (3 page)

Henry Druid had been among the first to oppose the Council's book-burning laws. A Herder novice, he had been cast out by the Herder Faction and had fled to exile in the high country. Rushton had been befriended by the old ex-Herder, and for a time their paths had matched. But the old man's fierce hatred of the Council was exceeded only by his hatred of mutations and in the end it had become too dangerous to continue the connection.

Apart from the one incident with the Teknoguild expedition, the Druid and his followers seemed to have disappeared. Sometimes that absence made me uneasy. Like Alexi and Madam Vega, Henry Druid had wanted power in the form of Beforetime weapons. What if he were to discover the machines that could set off the Great White again?

I choked off that train of thought. The expedition we propose will not be to Blackland fringes.'

Rushton looked puzzled. Then I don't see any difficulty. Teknoguild expeditions were banned because they never want to go anywhere but the fringes. But that still doesn't explain your interest. I would be surprised to find you had any aim in common with the Teknoguild.'

It was true I had often opposed their interests. Of all guilds their abilities were hardest to define, being little more than a vague empathy for inanimate things, a slight power to move things by will alone, and a passionate interest in the past. Unlike the other guilds, the Teknoguild was based outside Obernewtyn's walls in the network of caves discovered and used by Alexi and Ariel, who had assisted him in his experiments. They were believed to be the remains of a Beforetime establishment and had contained a number of machines. I had not been there since Alexi had tortured me using the Zebkrahn machine to force me to use my powers to locate an Oldtime weapon cache.

Pavo's request to come to the cave network that morning had been unexpected and unnerving. In the end I had gone, as much to lay my old fears to rest, as my respect for Pavo, who was more concerned with understanding Oldtimers than unearthing their mechanical secrets.

Also, I had been curious.

Walking back into the cave had been a disturbing experience. The past had seemed to lie tangibly beneath the present. The entrance to the cave network had been littered with boxes and sacks of Beforetime papers, books and other relics unearthed in previous expeditions. The passage had been well lit by candles set in sconces at regular intervals. There was no sign of the hissing green candles Alexi had favoured, yet I had seemed to smell their sickly sweet odour.

Coming from the sloping passage with its smooth walls into the main cave, I had been forced to stifle a gasp, having forgotten how big it all was, and how bright the Beforetime sphere of light which lit the area. High up in the shadows, stalactites hung poised like spears. Yet it was also very different than I remembered. Woven rugs and thick mats softened cold floors, and the walls were almost covered with paper, scrawled with lists and notes and diagrams. Tables and chairs were occupied by busy teknoguilders who barely registered my entrance.

Only the Zebkrahn machine had looked the same, though I knew it could no longer be used to coerce and torture, having long since been modified. Now it served as nothing more than an enhancer, enabling farseekers to double their normal range limit. Even so, my skin had risen to gooseflesh at the sight of it.

'Pavo asked me to come to the Teknoguild cave network,' I began bluntly.

Pavo gave a dry cough and rose. 'It might be better if I explain, Guildmistress,' he offered diffidently. As in the cave that morning, I was struck anew by his pallor.

'I did not know Elspeth would raise this matter today, and so I have not brought my notes, therefore you will have to take my word on some matters. A while back we uncovered evidence of an enormous book storage, which we believe is untouched since the Beforetime. However, because of the ban, we set this matter reluctantly aside. Last week, we succeeded in getting the Zebkrahn machine to penetrate the blocking static over tainted ground.' He paused to remind everyone that, previously, the machine, like farseekers, had been unable to project across or through tainted ground or Blackland wastes.

The machine is now able to monitor areas previously out of reach to us, even to farseekers as strong as Elspeth, whose range is normally better than that of the machine,' Pavo said. 'It was necessary for Elspeth to see the machine, not to admire the new modification, but so that she could see what it revealed.' Pavo looked at me, and all eyes swung expectantly my way.

I said obligingly, 'The Zebkrahn was registering a Talent at its outermost limit.'

'But . . . that's impossible. Th' machine has to be focused through a farseeker,' Matthew objected.

Pavo shook his head eagerly. 'Only in the case of ordinary or weak Talents. That is to say in most cases. But the Zekbrahn would need no farseeker focusing to register Elspeth.'

'But . . . that means this Talent mun be as strong as Elspeth . . .' Matthew said.

'Perhaps stronger,' Pavo corrected gently.

'Such a Talent would be worth rescuing,' Gevan of the coercers interjected.

'The two, the new Talent and the book storage Pavo told you about, are in the same region, and since it is so far away, we thought of a joint expedition,' I said.

There was a buzz of excited talk, but Rushton ignored it. 'So far . . .?' he enquired coldly. 'Exactly how far?'

My mouth felt suddenly dry. 'Somewhere between Aborium and Murmroth.'

There was silence, then someone sighed heavily. Aborium was on the other side of the Land, a coastal town. The only way to get there was to travel the main coast road, bypassing soldierguard camps and all the main towns, including Sutrium.

Rushton's face was pale with anger, realizing his brief words to me before the Guildmerge had prompted me to propose the expedition. He saw, as I had, that he could not dismiss my proposal since he meant to propose his own equally dangerous expedition.

That would mean travelling through Sutrium,' Roland said brusquely. 'A crazy dangerous idea. Our false certificates would not deceive the soldierguards for a moment.'

Pavo coughed again. 'It is not necessary to journey through Sutrium, or to travel on the main road. We have devised a route which will avoid both.' He pulled one of the maps on the table towards him and spread it out. 'I have a better map, but . . .' He pointed to the red circle denoting Obernewtyn. 'The expedition would travel out of Obernewtyn and down the main road, but would turn off to cut directly across the White Valley and through an Olden pass between Tor and Aran Craggie in the lower mountain ranges, and down to the Lowlands. From there, it would be an easy trip across the Ford of Rangorn, and down to the coast.'

Rushton examined the route. 'You are sure this pass exists? I have never heard of it.'

The teknoguilder stood self-consciously, nodded, then sat down. Someone laughed, easing the tension in the chamber.

'T'would mean winterin' outside maybe, if an expedition were to leave at once,' Matthew said tentatively.

'It would be best to act at once. Surely the gain is worthy of some risk,' Pavo said anxiously. 'Think of what we might learn from an untouched collection of Beforetime books, and who knows what Talent this Misfit will bring to us.'

Rushton nodded for us to resume our seats, his expression inscrutable. His eyes swept the assembled faces.

'Well,' he said at last, 'I called this Guildmerge for a particular reason, but Guildmistress Elspeth has preempted me. I, too, meant to propose an expedition.

'While in the high country these last few days, I heard rumours of men asking questions about Obernewtyn. Strangers, perhaps Councilmen, perhaps not. They were asking questions about the damage caused by the firestorm, wanting to speak to anyone who had actually seen Obernewtyn since the storm. This means the Council may know I lied about the storm. If so, we will be investigated, probably after the next Thaw.'

There was a muffled howl of dismay.

'Or,' Rushton went on, 'it may mean nothing. The problem is that we have no idea what the Council knows.

'Up until now we have striven to avoid any contact with the Council, to hide and grow in strength, until we were powerful enough to confront them. We are not yet strong enough for the final battle, or any sort of open confrontation, but it is time we moved on to the next stage of our plans.

'I called this meeting to propose an expedition to Sutrium, with the aim of finding out if we are in danger and if the Council has any real knowledge of our existence. We can no longer hide in the dark, shivering. We must look, in the next year, to establishing a safe house in the Lowlands, preferably right in Sutrium.'

'What is a safe house?' Miryum asked.

'The safe house will form the nexus of our inner defence. It means we can move with more confidence among the Lowlanders. Most important, it means we will be in a better position to know what the Council is up to.'

'What if someone is caught and . . . tortured into giving up the safe house location or, worse, to tell the truth about us and Obernewtyn?' Matthew asked. A few nodded fearfully at this.

'Don't you understand that we are no safer hiding up here?' Rushton said urgently. 'Even if the rumours are just gossip, the soldierguards will come to hear of it, especially if they set a camp in the high country. The question is, do we wait until the Council descends on us before we act, or do we act now, while we can still move with relative freedom?'

A thoughtful silence greeted his words.

'Then, do you propose two expeditions to the Lowlands?' Roland asked.

Rushton smiled slightly. 'I vote that we accept the expedition proposed by Elspeth, with the addition of another person, whom I will choose, who will leave the main party after Rangorn, and move into Sutrium. An expedition that can have two purposes, can as easily have three. Now we will vote on the expedition with its threefold purpose, and on the establishment of a safe house in Sutrium. Yes, first.' He lifted his own hand.

I raised mine, hiding a reluctant smile. Rushton was never truly defeated. He knew Garth would never have agreed to the move on Sutrium without the lure of the coveted library. In the end, the vote was unanimous. Perhaps all felt that the time had come, whether we were ready or not, for a less passive strategy. At any rate, no one liked the idea of waiting like a lamb to be slaughtered.

Rushton rose to close the meeting formally, but was interrupted by a commotion outside the doors.

Christa entered, her smooth face worried.

Seeing me, she beckoned urgently. 'Elspeth, it's Maruman. He's having some sort of fit. You had better come quickly.'

Maruman had been taken to the Healer Hall. As usual after days of wandering, often on tainted ground, his fur was filthy and singed in places, and dried blood matted the fur on one paw. But he looked no worse than he had on any other return. The wan afternoon light slanted obliquely from one of the high, slit-like windows to lay across his body, making it seem insubstantial, while candles burning all round the hall gave the room a ghostly orange tinge.

In the bed alongside the old cat's was a girl, heavily bandaged. She had been literally wrested from the Herders' purifying flame and had been unconscious since her arrival. One of the futuretellers sat beside her sunk in deep concentration.

I let my eyes rove around the room.

Two of the Guanna lay on a treatment bed near one wall. For a moment I had a vivid recollection of the night the dog Sharna had been torn to pieces by the savage wolves while trying to help me. I knew the healers were trying to treat the minds of the wolves who had been trapped and driven insane by Ariel. He had used them to guard the grounds and to help him hunt down and kill runaways. But his sadistic treatment had made healing almost impossible.

I looked up to see Alad come through the door.

'He looks like he's asleep,' I said.

Christa shook his head, nodding at the meditating futureteller, 'She can hardly think for Maruman's emanations. I don't understand how you can't feel them,' she added.

'I have my shield up,' I explained. I dissolved the protective mental barrier and almost staggered beneath the force of gibberish flowing from Maruman's mind. I had seen Maruman during other fits, but none so severe. 'I see what you mean.'

I saw from Alad's expression that he had lowered his own shield. 'Usually I find the flow of beast thought soothing,' he said ruefully.

Looking at the sleeping cat, it was hard to believe the insane babble rose from his mind.

'He was lying outside the Futuretell wing when we found him. It looked as if he had dragged himself there,' Christa said.

'It seems worse than usual. Is it a fit?' I asked.

She looked down at the old cat. 'The truth is that his mind is such a mess generally it is a wonder he can think straight even some of the time. I can't imagine what caused the damage in the first place, perhaps a traumatic birth. The amazing thing is that his mind seems to have adapted itself. There are the most extraordinary links and by-passes - yet somehow it all functions. The fits he usually has are the result of some sort of upward leak in his mind, where material from the deepest unconscious levels rises to distort his everyday thinking, hence the wild futuretelling, but this . . .'

'What do you make of it?' I asked Alad.

He sighed. 'I'm a simple beastspeaker. This is beyond me. I've sent for Gather. He has a small Talent for deep- probing as well as being a strong beastspeaker. No one else has that combination. Christa suggested it since she has no Talent as a beastspeaker and Maruman will not allow her to enter him. Perhaps he will permit a beastspeaker to deepprobe.'

'I can deepprobe,' I said.

Alad raised his brows, then he looked at the cat pensively. 'You could try. He's less likely to oppose you. I'm afraid if it goes on much longer he'll die of exhaustion. He looks calm enough but this is pulling him apart.'

I stared down at the battle-scarred old cat, tears pricking my eyes. He looked so vulnerable. He would have hated that. I stroked him, fighting for control.