The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) (49 page)

“I feel quite weak, but I am free of pain, thanks to Boxx. I do have a permanent reminder of my time as a guest of the Prophet’s minions, however.” She held up her right hand. Shann registered with shock that the end of her Ring finger had been cut off to the first joint. The injury had been hidden beneath her rough bandage. Shann fought down the sensation of nausea. “Unfortunately, Boxx can’t replace a missing limb. Still, it serves as a reminder of my stupidity in allowing myself to get taken off the streets in the first place.” She lowered her hand and concealed it in a fold of her robe, as if it were a secret shame. “I wanted to say…thank you for risking your life to rescue me.”

Shann felt caught off guard. “I…I didn’t do anything really.”

“Your modesty is unnecessary. You have already proven your bravery on more than one occasion–like when you rescued Lyall from the Pits.”

“But…you wouldn’t let anyone go after him.”

Keris looked down at the deck. “That was only because I was certain that he had perished, and I didn’t want to risk anyone else. I was…gratified to have been proven wrong.”

“But you didn’t even
try.
You would have left him there to
die
.”

“Look, Shann–”

“No,
you look
. Getting you out of that place was Lyall’s idea, not mine. I went along with it because Lyall believes you are important to the success of this mission. Annata seems to trust you, as does Boxx, but that’s only because they don’t know who you really are.”

Keris drew herself erect. “You know nothing about me, girl.”

“You are Keltar, sworn to serve the Prophet.”

“I was Keltar.” Keris had a faraway look. “When I came to live at the keep I was young–younger than you are now. My ears were ringing with words like ‘duty’ and ‘honour’. Mordal told me that I was special–that I had the strength and the ability to help people–to protect them, and to serve the Prophet’s greater purpose for all Kelanni. ‘The Unan-Chinneroth who ascends to the Heavens and returns. His ways are beyond our understanding.’ We were told that that great purpose involved the extraction of lodestone in large quantities. So I dedicated myself honing my skills–to becoming the perfect Keltar.

“However, as time went on, I saw things–people being starved. Brutalized. Even murdered. I began to doubt my oath. Finally, when the Chandara activated the machine from the past and Annata appeared to me at the Great Tree, she told me of the Prophet’s true intention. I did not want to believe it at first, but–well, it made so much sense after all the things I had witnessed. I knew in my heart that the woman spoke the truth. That was why I had to travel to Gort to deliver you, Lyall and Alondo from the trap that was waiting for you there. That’s why I turned my back on the Keltar and was forced to slay the boy Nikome and Mordal, who had been more of a father to me than my own father.”

Shann’s face screwed up. “Do you expect me to feel sympathy for you?”

“I expect nothing. I have chosen my own path.”

“What about all of your other crimes?” Shann demanded.

“Crimes?”

“Yes,
crimes
. What about all of the people you rounded up and sent to die in the ore camps? What about all of the families you broke up? The brothers and sisters that were parted from one another?”
The parents you dragged away from their children?
“What about all of that?”

“I don’t have any answers for you, Shann. I hold myself responsible for a lot of things that happened. But I cannot change the past. I can only try and work for a better future–and to change the person I used to be.”

Shann’s eyes blazed. “You say you are no longer Keltar? Then what are you?” Keris pushed past Shann and strode off across the deck. “
What are you?”
Shann called after her.

Keris did not look back.
“I am nothing.”

~

A few minutes after Shann had left Lyall made his excuses to Patris and exited the forecastle. Looking across the deck, he saw Shann and Keris in the shadow of the stern castle, deep in conversation.
Perhaps they are working out their differences at last?

He decided to leave them to their discussion. Besides, he had another important task to perform. He climbed the ladder to the foredeck and walked slowly to the starboard rail. It was a beautiful night. A balmy breeze blew through the rigging. Waves lapped gently against the overlapping strakes. Sidelights were strung along the curve of the hull, reflecting over the water. Black clouds drifted lazily across a dull pink sky. Lyall leaned against the rail, lost in the view. Then he recalled the reason for his late night stroll. He raised his right hand to his mouth and spoke into the Ring in his forefinger.

“Oliah.” The stone came to life, exhibiting its familiar green glow.

“Alondo, are you all right?”
Oliah’s silken voice was slightly distorted, but it was unmistakeably her.

“This isn’t Alondo, this is Lyall.”

“Where’s Alondo?”

“He’s…not feeling very well. Don’t worry; it’s nothing serious–just a bout of seasickness. It seemed to come on the moment we left the harbour. Boxx is caring for him and Shann just took him some food.”

“Can I speak to him?”

“He’s lying down right now. I promise, when he’s feeling better I’ll get him to Ring you.”

“What about the others? How is Shann?”

“Shann is just fine. Patris is keeping her hard at work. He’s a little put out because I won’t tell him where we’re going. I told him it was for his own protection, but I don’t think he liked that answer.”

“Maybe you should consider telling him?”

“No, I don’t want to risk him turning the ship around.”

“I doubt he would do that.”

“I don’t know–I think if I was in his boots and someone told me that we were going to attempt to sail this ship into the Great Barrier, I would think we had all gone mad. In any case, I have no intention of forcing him to come with us. I’m sure he will be more than happy when we cut him loose in the launch with a bag of astrias.”

“What about Keris?”

“She seems to be up and about already, thanks to Boxx. In fact I saw Shann speaking with her, just a moment ago.”

“Shann doesn’t trust her.”

“I know. I was hoping they could put that behind them. How are things back in Sakara?”

“The city was in uproar after you left. The official line is that a band of renegades led by a woman–a criminal from Chalimar–tried to set fire to the city and then escaped by ship. However, there are lots of rumours flying around about this woman–that the Prophet is in fear of her, that she has the strength of many men. They are calling her ‘The Heroine of Gort,’ saying that she attacked the garrison there single-handed. Chalimar has already tripled the bounty on her.”

“I’m sure Keris will be delighted to hear that.”

“When will you reach the Great Barrier of Storms?”

“Some time the day after tomorrow, according to Patris. If the wind holds, that is. We’ve been fortunate so far. Patris is worried about turbulence near the barrier, but I plan to have him on his way well before we encounter it.”

“Lyall?”
Her voice sounded suddenly fragile.

“Yes?”

“
I’m worried about what will happen to Alondo. We talked about what you were planning to do and I agreed he should go along but the truth is I…I don’t want him to go. I don’t want to lose him, or Shann. I know I’m being selfish, but–”

“It’s all right, Oliah. I already told them that they won’t be coming with us.”

“You did? But Alondo never said –”

“I only discussed it with them the night before we left. They were both still adamant about coming. I was going to insist when the news came about Keris’ disappearance and–well, there just wasn’t any opportunity for debate after that. I figured it didn’t matter, because I could still send them back with Patris when the time came.

“Do you think Alondo will agree to being sent back?”

“Probably not. But I’ll pick him up and throw him in the launch if necessary. I’m more concerned about Shann. She can be extremely stubborn when she wants to be. But I’ll deal with that when the time comes. They will have more than enough food and water, and Patris and Shann are our two best sailors. They should be safely back in Sakara in a few days.”

Lyall fancied he could sense the tension easing in her voice.
“I don’t know how to thank you. But…what about you and the others?

“Boxx is essential to Annata’s plan and it will only deal with Keris, so she has to come. Besides, I suspect that there’s nowhere in all of Kelanni that would be safe for her now. As for me–well I have my own reasons for doing this. Our method of traversing the Barrier is a good one–even Keris thinks it has a chance of success, and she is a born sceptic.”

“What does Shann think?”

“I haven’t told her the details, although it’s partly based on her idea. I didn’t want to worry her unduly. In any case, by the time we enter the Barrier, she will be on her way back to Sakara with the others.

“Remember, Oliah, if you don’t hear anything after we have crossed over, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there is anything wrong. It’s quite possible that the Ring may not work from the other side. These are untested–”

A creak on the deck timbers behind him.
Lyall tore the Ring from his finger and stuffed it into a pocket self-consciously.
He turned to see Patris.
How long have you been standing there?

“Who were you talking to?” Patris asked.

Lyall looked around; then smiled disarmingly. “No-one here but me.”

~

Shann found life at sea exhilarating. She revelled in the rhythmic rise and fall of the waves, the smell of the sea in her nostrils, the cries of the birds that wheeled overhead, seeking out scraps of food. She liked nothing better than to climb up to the tiny crow’s nest and view the ocean from far above. Whitecaps stretched to the far horizon on every side, so that it was easy to convince oneself that their little ship was the only thing left in the entire world.

She was sitting in her basket shaped perch atop the mast, when she saw it. A thin brown line between the blue-green sea and the blue and pink sky. She hollered down to the deck below.
“Land–I see land.”
Patris and Lyall were the only ones on deck. They both turned their faces up to her. She pointed towards the southeast.
“There.”

She hopped out of the crow’s nest and scurried down the rigging to join the other two. They were already at the gunwale, looking out at the direction she had indicated. Shann took a place beside Lyall. The brown line was a little less distinct from this vantage point, but was still visible. “What is it?” she asked.

“The Isle of Panna,” Patris announced.

Panna…
Panna
…that name rang a bell somehow–from the tale Alondo had told about Captain Arval. “That was where Arval went to tame the three giant perridons,” she recalled.

Patris chuckled. “You’re a fan of the Arval stories, I see.”

Lyall’s sharp glance reminded her that she shouldn’t give too much away. “Not really,” she said. “But I know someone who is.”

Patris lifted his head, sensing a change in the wind. He strode across the deck to the pillar which rose from the afterdeck and checked the binnacle into which the directional lodestone device was set. “I take it our course is still due east?” he called.

“Yes, if you please,” Lyall said.

“Then I will need to adjust our heading.” Patris began busying himself with the ship’s tackle.