The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) (34 page)

Lyall gave a short bow. “Your offer is most generous, Ernan. We would like to get underway as soon as possible tomorrow.”

A tinkling sound came from the direction of the kitchen. Ernan stood up. “Well, I believe evening meal is about ready, after which I will make the arrangements for your departure tomorrow. At least I have this evening to talk to your Chandara friend.

Boxx raised its head at the mention of its name. “Chandara Friend,” it agreed. Shann wondered if she ought to warn Ernan that he was liable to end up with a splitting headache, but decided that it was probably best to allow him to make that particular voyage of discovery on his own.

Ernan was leading the way towards the kitchen while conversing with Lyall. “So, what does your Chandara eat…?” Shann and Alondo got up and fell in behind them, followed by Keris and Boxx. However, she found that she was no longer listening to the conversation. Her physical hunger had been replaced by a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach.
The Fire Pits…the Kharthrun Serpent…the very stuff of nightmares.

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Chapter 21

Down
. The way to the Fire Pits lay open before them. A slim path, a tiny fault of broken rock, led the way down the immense canyon wall before disappearing beneath clouds of vapour, beckoning them towards the dangers that lay hidden below.

The headman had been as good as his word. He and a group of half a dozen villagers rode with them to the rim of the immense depression. On the way, Ernan told them The Legend of Kharthrun. According to the tale, the Pits had been formed long ago, when the people of the Distrada had displeased The Three. The Suns had fashioned a fireball and hurled it from the heavens to serve as a sign of their wrath. The fireball gouged out a vast burning pit. Then it engulfed a forgar worm, feeding it until it grew into the Serpent. Shann thought the story outrageous and even a little blasphemous, but she listened politely and held her tongue.

At the rim, they halted and looked out across the fear-inspiring vista. Beneath the steam clouds Shann glimpsed twisted features amid dark volcanic rocks. The immense bowl stretched as far as the eye could see, looking for all the world as if it had been scooped out by a gigantic hand. She began to wonder whether there might be some truth to the legend after all.

Ernan could not hide his concern, as she and the others offered their thanks and expressed their goodbyes. Lyall made a formal gift of the wagon and the graylesh to Ernan, and they bowed gravely to one another before the older man conducted them personally to the point at the lip of the cliff face where the path began.

Lyall produced a long length of rope. “Tie the rope around your waist like this.” He knotted the rope around his middle and handed the end to Shann. She tied it in the same way and passed it to Alondo. “We stay roped together till we reach the canyon floor, in case of any mishaps.”

“What about Boxx?” Shann enquired.

Lyall shook his head. “I think the rope would only hamper its movements. More importantly, it’s much lighter than any of us, so if we were to stumble or fall, we would just drag it down with us. No, I think the Chandara is better off as it is.” He addressed the little creature directly. “Boxx, be careful as we descend. Do you understand?”

Boxx raised itself erect on its hind limbs as if coming to attention. “I Will Be With Keris,” it declared happily. Keris looked away, but said nothing.

Shann hefted her pack and manoeuvred her arms between the shoulder straps. They had slimmed down their possessions to no more than they could comfortably carry. For Shann that meant just her flying cloak and her staff; besides food and water, she had nothing else. She watched as Alondo reached inside his jerkin and pulled out the emerald he wore around his neck. The jewel sparkled in the early afternoon light. He bowed his head silently, mouthing a few words–
a prayer?
– before tucking the stone back out of sight. Shann was suddenly struck by the fact that she had no memento, no keepsake, nothing of her former life and home. If she died here in these Fire Pits, there would be nothing on her body to indicate to anyone who found her who she was or where she was from. Had she been a good or a bad person? Had she loved anyone or been loved? Had her short life amounted to anything? She felt a wave of sadness wash over her. Alondo had offered her a place in his home along with Hedda, but that was a long way off and there was a good chance she would never live to take him up on it. For now, all she had were the cloak and the staff. Yet perhaps those things said more about the person she was now than anything else. From that moment on a rain-soaked night in Corte, when she had grabbed the staff and ran forward to give it to the tall fair haired man with the piercing blue eyes, she had crossed a line. She had taken her life in a new direction.
She had decided to become someone who could make a difference.

Slowly and carefully, the party began their descent into the Fire Pits of Kharthrun. Single file, perched on the narrow rock ledge with their backs against the cliff wall, edging towards the plumes of rising steam mingled with smoke and sulphur, Shann felt a growing sense of peril. What was it Ernan had said?
Too many ways to die.

~

Shann could already feel the heat rising from below, creating an updraft of unsteady air currents. The palms of her hands were pressed against the rock face as she moved along a ledge not much wider than her feet.
Don’t look down
.

Alondo seemed to be faring worse than she was. He was far from sure-footed, and Shann could see the apprehension in his eyes. He tried cracking jokes in an effort to raise his spirits. “Lyall?” His voice was like a thin thread.

“Yes, what is it?”

“You know, out of all of the things we have done so far, I think this is my least favourite.”

“I know,” Lyall soothed, “try to hang in there, my friend.”

The flying cloaks were useless; a fall from this height would not be stopped by any deposits of natural lodestone, even assuming there were any directly beneath them. Looking out over the expanse, it occurred to Shann that there were no birds flying. The silence was broken only by laboured breathing and the sounds of boots scraping against rock.

At times, the ledge widened a little, allowing them to make faster progress. Keris was stone-faced, her dark eyes betraying no sign of anxiety. She moved over the thin strip of rock with the grace of a dagan. Boxx shuffled along with ease. He was forced to stop frequently as the Kelanni in front of him slowed his progress.

They were a little more than halfway down. The ledge had widened once again, and Shann was beginning to think that the nightmare would soon be over, when Lyall stopped in his tracks and raised a hand. Shann halted and so did the others. She noticed that Alondo was breathing heavily.

“What’s the matter?” she called ahead.

“Look.” Lyall moved aside to allow her to glimpse the way ahead. She squeezed against him, craning her neck. The narrow shelf continued for a short way before coming to an abrupt end, a broken edge falling off into nothingness–a brutal denial of passage. Her heart sank at the thought of making the journey all the way back up the cliff side. The musician had slumped down and was seated with his back to the rock, hugging his knees. His eyes were shut and he was breathing through his teeth. She was not at all sure he would make it.

Keris edged past Alondo and approached Shann and Lyall. She had untied herself from the rope and removed her pack.

“Why have we stopped?” she demanded.

Lyall met her eyes gravely. “The path is gone.”

~

“Let me see.” Keris sidled past the other two and crept gingerly to where the path ended abruptly.

Lyall leaned forward. “Be careful; it may not be safe.”

Keris did not answer or look back. She got down on her knees, then lay flat on her stomach and peered into the abyss below. Her head moved up as her eyes scoured the rock face.
There
. Ever since that night in the Gilah Hills when she had faced Mordal for the last time it had seemed as if a maelstrom were churning within her, a storm of grief and loss over which she had no control. When she had found herself kicking down a door in the village of Pinnar, it felt as if she were another person, yelling at herself from afar, but unable to make herself stop.

The feelings of grief and loss were still there, but now, for the first time in many days and nights, Keris felt a centre, a point of calm. She stood in the eye of the storm, aware of her feelings, but detached from them somehow. Here was a problem, an obstacle, but one that could be overcome by logic and tactical analysis. She was on familiar ground once more. She was in control.

She got back up and retreated to where Lyall and Alondo were waiting, indicating behind her with a flick of her head. “The path continues ahead of and below us. It begins again at a fault line, where the canyon wall is split.”

Lyall moved to the end of the path and checked where she was indicating. He turned back, shaking his head. “Too far. We could never jump that gap.”

Keris looked straight at him. Her eyes flashed. “I can do it.”

Shann and Lyall looked at her with disbelief. “If you’re thinking of using the flying cloak, it would take a leap of great precision to make it to that far ledge without falling off,” Lyall argued. “What’s more, there would have to be a good lodestone deposit on this side and you haven’t even taken the cloak out to scan for any yet.”

“I won’t be needing any.” Keris moved back along the narrow shelf. She passed Alondo and went to the place where she had set down her pack. Carefully she extracted her flying cloak and fitted it around her shoulders, fixing the clasps and shaking her head so that her dark tresses settled across her shoulders, framing her sharp delicate features. She tied the pack to her belt and made her way back to where Shann and Lyall were waiting expectantly. She addressed Shann. “Give me your cloak, please.” Shann looked to Lyall, who nodded at the girl. Obediently, Shann took off her pack and gave her own cloak to Keris. “Thank you.” Keris headed for the broken end of the path once more and knelt down just short of the edge. She laid Shann’s cloak out on the rock surface and began making adjustments to the control mechanism.

Lyall walked up behind her. “May I ask what it is you’re doing?”

Keris continued perfecting her adjustments without looking up. “I can get us all safely across to the other side.” Satisfied, she stood up and faced Lyall. “But I need you to do exactly as I say. Please ask everyone to untie themselves from the rope.”

Lyall examined her with his penetrating blue eyes, as if trying to read her mind. “Everyone, untie yourselves from the rope.” He gathered in the line and handed it to Keris, who took one end and tied it around her torso.

She handed the other end to Lyall. “Keep a firm hold on this.” Then she turned, stepped just beyond the place where Shann’s cloak lay, took a sighting on the far ledge and leapt into the void.

There were two parts to this plan that were going to prove difficult. This was the first. She had configured Shann’s cloak so as to expose the refined lodestone. Refined lodestone was stronger than any naturally occurring deposit, so she was in no doubt that she could traverse the distance. The problem was that there was nothing at the other end to put a brake on her momentum. For that reason, she had selected a trajectory that was as low as possible. The refined lodestone in Shann’s cloak gave her an unaccustomed jolt and she sailed across and down the cliff face towards the opposite ledge. Keris angled as close to the cliff as she dared as the narrow rock shelf rushed up to meet her. She overshot the edge, and her boots impacted the hard rock as she came to a running stop. The rope spanned the gap between both ledges.

Keris removed her cloak and placed it carefully near the fault line, exposing its lodestone layer. Then she looked up to the broken path across and above from her. She could see Lyall and Shann, as well as Alondo and the round head that was Boxx, driven by curiosity to see what was happening. “Lyall,” she called out.

“Yes?”

“I want you to tie the rope securely around yourself and make the jump, just as you saw me do. I have set my cloak so that you can use its lodestone to slow your descent.”

Lyall glanced behind him. “But what about the others?”

“Listen carefully,” Keris yelled. “In order for this to work, we have to execute a series of actions in a precise order. Everyone will be fine. I…must ask that you trust me.”

There was a pause. “Very well.” Lyall disappeared over the rim and then reappeared wearing his own cloak. “Ready?”