The Seedbearing Prince: Part I (27 page)

“Quit your nattering,” Cedrek murmured. “Look
at our route.”

Dayn wished he could understand the bright
points of light in the vapor surrounding the two Ringmen. The
display reminded him of the leap point in Terabin Round, but much
more complicated.

“We’re going around Feralos. Against the
turn? It will take weeks to get to all of the worlds he means to
reach.”

“Maybe, but it’ll be safe from Eadrinn Gohr
raiders. So find your ease.”

Dayn began to daydream about Suralose, and
meeting a leader from another world.
Will he truly listen to
some Mistland farmer's son? Dayn Ro'Halan, the Seedbearer.
The
notion seemed ridiculous.

The transport shook. Dayn's stomach took a
nervous somersault, and a moan rumbled from inside Lurec's
cavernous overcoat.

“Sorry about that,” Cedrek called out. Nassir
watched the navigators calmly as the transport pitched. Their hands
moved precisely within the suspended water droplets of the array.
“The torrent is strange today, I've never seen it drift so close to
a world. Sir, it would be wise for the Ring to dispatch a Guardian
to watch it more closely.”

“Very well,” said Nassir. “Do so upon your
return.”

“Is it dangerous?” Lurec asked.

“No,” Cedrek said, peering intently into the
vapor array. Dayn edged forward, straining for a glimpse of the
torrent through the navigator's crystal viewport. For the hundredth
time, he wondered why they built no windows into the transport
holds. “Sit down, Shardian,” Samli said sharply.

“I just want to see,” Dayn complained.

“I would Shardian, but...rules are rules.”
The navigator shrugged. His eyes flickered to the Ringmen before
returning to his steering.

What could it hurt to watch?
Dayn
thought.
If they won't even trust me on the transport, how much
worse will it be on a new world?

Dayn marveled that the Defender allowed him
to carry the Seed at all. He would rather the Preceptor kept it,
especially after realizing the Seed mirrored his own heartbeat, and
somehow swept away a month’s worth of injuries in just a few days.
He did not like not knowing how it worked.

“We're through the worst of it, Preceptor. A
few erratics broke away from the detritus stream for a moment.”

“Could it be a resonance wake?” Samli
asked.

Lurec shook his head. “Those fall near Ara
this time of year. The ripples wouldn’t range so close.”

“He's still a little green, Preceptor,”
Cedrek allowed.

“Surely, he'll be as trusted a navigator as
you,” Lurec replied absently.

“Time will tell.” Dayn detected a wry note in
the navigator's response.

The inside of the transport began to glow
with harsh light, until the stars were all lost to the glare. Dayn
felt a tug in his stomach, the pull of Suralose’s worldheart.

“Our placedown is coming up soon, sit easy.”
Samli gave Dayn a wink. “We'll land as close to the front door as
we can for you, Shardian.”

“Watch that vector,” Cedrek barked. He
scrutinized every move his charge made now. “She’s through the
upper air currents, you can ease back. You’ve flown the clouds over
Badai, right? These winds aren't half so fierce.”

After one last shuddering rumble, the
transport came to a rest. The rear hatch opened and the crystal
door slid aside. Glaring light poured into the hold, accompanied by
a piercing wind. Cold bit through Dayn's coat and set his teeth to
rattling, like he had gooseflesh fever.
Peace, but it’s
cold!

Nassir stood, motioning for Lurec and Dayn to
follow. The Suralose air tore into Dayn's lungs with every breath,
making him shiver even more. A particularly strong gust of wind
rushed into the hold, making both navigators yelp an oath. Nassir's
eyes flickered in the briefest mirth before he disappeared into the
harsh light. Dayn braced himself and stepped out, the Preceptor
followed reluctantly.

The hold door began to retract before Lurec
even passed fully through. Samli shouted to Dayn through the
closing gap, exultation in his voice.

“I'll collect large back at the Ring, thanks
to you. Wiggle your toes while you walk, that’ll keep them from
freezing! We'll be back to pick you up before nightfall.” The
transport lifted smoothly, angling forward as it climbed into the
sky.

Dayn took in the foreign landscape around
him. They stood upon the slope of an enormous mountain that reached
so high the peak disappeared into the overcast sky. Clouds were a
curiosity upon Shard, but here they spread in every direction as
though the world’s mist had chosen to leave the ground for good.
Ice blanketed the surrounding mountains, stretching for hundreds of
leagues in every direction.

“This whole world is frozen!” Dayn exclaimed.
His very
breath
had turned white in the cold.

Several deep fissures stood out in the nearby
ice. They glowed a vivid blue, cleaving the mountainside with
exotic stripes. Frozen brown stone jutted into the landscape as if
the mountain fought mightily to rid itself of ice completely.

“Must we be so far away?” Lurec asked. A mile
down slope, an unadorned, dome-like structure blended meekly into
the massive expanse of surrounding slope. Men stood in front, dark
specks at this distance.

Guards,
Dayn realized. Lurec gazed
toward them unhappily.

“To prevent accidents,” Nassir replied. Dayn
could see tendrils of white frost beginning to form on the
Ringman's armor. Nassir set off down the slope and he hurried to
follow. Lurec trundled along after them like a plump little bear
with gray fur. “Our navigators are the best pilots in the
Belt―except for the raiders of the Eadrinn Gohr―but Suralose would
still blame the Ring if some reckless liftrider collided with a
transport.”

“What’s a liftrider?” Dayn asked.

“Do they not teach the barest knowledge of
the worlds in your village? You’ll see one soon enough.”

“There’s no need to insult him,” Lurec said,
scowling at Nassir as best he could from within his furry hood. “An
underground river flows in the tunnels beneath the mountain. The
Suralose ice melters guide it to the stronghold below. They use
liftriders to fly themselves to the top. Defender, I trust you’ve
already dispatched a Sender to announce our presence?”

“There’s been no Sender assigned to this
world for months. Their numbers are too few, and Lord Adazia has
need of them elsewhere. That will change, with the voidwalkers
stirring.”

Lurec nodded thoughtfully, but said nothing
as he focused on his next step. Dayn's staff proved useful for
balance on the slick ground. He could not imagine anyone braving
this mountain day after day. They saw no one nearby, though Lurec
pointed out more guards gathering to watch their approach
below.

When Dayn saw his first Suralose folk up
close, he nearly tripped over his staff. Thickly bundled men
floated through the air, propelled by a strange device strapped to
their backs. A harness fit around each man's waist and shoulders,
reminding Dayn of his coursing gear. The harness attached to three
pearl-colored rings on each man’s back. A column of shimmering air,
like heat rising off the ground in summer, poured through the bands
and pushed the men into the air.

Dayn waved at one of the closer Suralose men
despite Nassir's scowl. The man waved back, watching them curiously
before his liftrider carried him further up the slope and out of
sight. “I’d freeze stiff, waiting for that thing to take me
anywhere. Better to bound. Why do they move so slowly?”

Nassir produced a strip of fabric and
proffered it to Dayn, then wrapped another around his own face and
neck. Lurec grinned smugly at them both from the depths of his
furry hood.

“Frostbite will claim your tongue with so
many questions, Shardian. This will keep your face from freezing,”
the Defender said. “Keep your thoughts on completing the Lord
Ascendant's task.”

“Thank you,” Dayn managed.
Maybe he’s from
Suralose, the cold fits him.
They trudged closer to the
stronghold below. Dayn remembered the navigator’s advice and
wiggled his toes. It actually helped against the cold.

He twirled his staff through Eddies in the
River to keep warm until the Defender's sharp admonition halted
him. “Your height is bad enough, Shardian. Stop drawing attention
to us.”

Dayn gritted his teeth, but he obeyed. He
felt often in his belt pouch for the Seed as they walked. His mind
might be playing tricks, but it felt warm whenever he brushed
it.

They were only a quarter of the way to the
stronghold when the ground trembled beneath Dayn’s feet. He looked
down to see steam hissing from a hole in the ice a span across. He
backed away as the melting edges rapidly widened, showing vibrant
hues of the older blue ice beneath.

“Well that is curious, isn't it?” Lurec
leaned interestedly over the hole, which continued to emit
steam.

“Find cover, now!” Nassir shouted. The
Defender shoved them both toward an outcrop that looked more ice
than stone. Steam filled the air as the hole continued to hiss. He
sprinted off toward a smaller overhang as though death itself were
melting out of the ice. The Defender pressed himself into the rock
twenty spans away, but paid no attention to the ground. Dayn
followed his eyes to the sky.

Oily flames spiderwebbed along the
transport's angular hull. Even at this distance, Dayn could make
out the shattered crystal surrounding the navigator's hangdeck. It
glittered weakly in the sun as the transport plunged toward
Suralose, spewing dark smoke as it burned.

“What happened to it?” Dayn cried. More
wreckage seared through the sky, leaving purpled streaks on his
vision. He barely covered his face in time as ice fragments
showered him from every side.

“The torrent is brushing against this world!”
Lurec shouted, his eyes round with terror. Debris continued
slamming into the ground.

Distant screams sounded faintly between
impacts. Craters wide enough to swallow buildings bloomed
everywhere, and the mountain groaned beneath their feet. Lurec and
Dayn cowered against the rock, pressing themselves into the shallow
bluff.

“The transport!” Dayn shouted to be heard
over the tumult. “We have to see if Samli and Cedrek are
alright!”

“Don’t move, Dayn! See how the rock burns
from falling so far? The transport's sheath has failed. Even if our
men still live, the crash will end them. Remember the Seed!” Lurec
grabbed Dayn as if to restrain him, though Dayn could easily free
himself from the weaker man's grasp. He could not so easily escape
the Preceptor's logic. Rock hissed through the sky as though the
torrent meant to pound Suralose to dust. A sharp, acrid tinge
filled Dayn's nostrils, and he feared the very air might burst into
flame.

Peering between his fingers, Dayn saw that
Nassir fared no better where he crouched. He caught glimpses of the
Defender making smooth, methodical motions down his arms and over
his chest, like someone covered in dirt wiping themselves clean. He
donned his mask.

“That man is equal parts foolish and
dangerous, but today I fear the fool sits greater.” Lurec shouted
across the slope. His words did not carry well, with the deafening
reports around them. “Stay there, Nassir! The sheath may not be
enough to protect you!”

The barrage lulled for a moment, and the
Defender took advantage. He ran toward them in a low, careful
sprint, dodging around hissing craters and steaming blue fissures
in the ice. Blinding light flashed around the Ringman's frame as
falling rock struck his layer of sheath. The pieces exploded
brilliantly, threatening to drive Nassir into the ground as he
advanced toward them.

On the horizon, the surrounding mountain
ranges were covered in dust and powder. Dayn spotted smoke on a far
distant slope, though he doubted anything could catch fire on this
world. His heart sank as he realized the transport must have
finally crashed.

“Are you injured? The Seed is accounted for?”
Nassir demanded, his voice oddly muffled behind his mask.

Dayn nodded fearfully as the Defender
examined him intently from head to toe. “Is it over?”

“Far from it.” Nassir looked impassively at
the trail of smoke left by the transport. Dayn whispered a prayer
of final peace on the two navigators. Lurec was right, they could
not have survived.

A deafening boom shook the mountain to its
foundations, sending all three of them sprawling. Lurec slid on his
back like a flipped turtle, yelping in alarm, and would have gone
further if not for Dayn's extended staff. Nassir immediately
regained his feet, staring intently up the slope.

“Thank you, young Shardian,” Lurec panted.
The Preceptor pulled himself upright and scampered back to safety,
looking fearfully at the sky.

Rock pummeling you senseless, moving
faster than you can see coming?
Eriya's words echoed in Dayn's
panicked thoughts.
I cannot imagine a worse way to meet my
end.

Suralose folk poured out of the stronghold
below, their confused cries echoing weakly up the slope. Great
clouds of powdered ice and steam clung to the pinnacle above,
overshadowing the mountaintop. A cacophony of murderous shouts
billowed in that haze, making Dayn's heart leap.

“By peace's embrace!” Lurec exclaimed, as an
ominous rumbling trembled the bones of Dayn's every joint. “How
could anyone survive that?”

“Powerful attackers, to twist the torrent
against us,” Nassir said, his voice grim. Icy particles and debris
trembled around their feet as the sound deepened. Torrent fragments
continued to burn through the sky. Plumes of ice appeared wherever
they struck the mountainside. The Defender's eyes rested on Dayn.
“We shall soon know what they seek.”