The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) (59 page)

A smile played about his lips. “Of course you were. Anyway, phaetons are used for local transit. However, the lodestone tracks only extend to a few locations outside the town, like this observatory for instance. If we want to travel to the next town or for any distance, then we take an avionic.”

“Are those things…safe?” Shann felt foolish as soon as she asked the question.

“They’re pretty reliable. I’ve never heard of a serious accident involving one.”

“Don’t you use roads?”

Rael extended one of his long arms, taking in the surrounding vista. The valley in which the town of Kieroth nestled was bounded to the west and south by jagged peaks and sharp ridges–forbidding grey stone poking through the covering of snow like the helmets and axes of an army of giants. “Roads would be difficult to build in terrain such as ours, and impossible to keep clear in winter. Not to mention the fact that there are dangerous and aggressive creatures in the hills.”

“I know,” Shann said. “I came across some of them on my way here.”

It was Rael’s turn to look shocked.
“You did?”

Shann nodded. “Large beasts, about half my size–grey fur, with horns.”

“Valthar…you encountered valthar?”

“A pack of them, yes.”

“And you fought them off?”

“I was forced to kill one of them. The rest fled.”

Rael shook his head. “Remarkable. Are all of the women in Kelanni-Drann fighters like you?”

Shann laughed. “Of course not. I have had a little training in the flying cloak and the staff. And at the time, it was a question of survival, so I did what I had to do.”

Rael looked thoughtful. “Your flying cloak is a fascinating piece of equipment. I would love to take a look at it some time.”

Shann was not about to entrust this boy with the last thing of value that she possessed in the entire world. However, she didn’t want to appear rude, so she diverted the request. “I can’t imagine why a people with flying machines would be interested in my cloak.”

“Because it’s an application of lodestone technology we never considered,” he explained. “You also mentioned devices that allow you to communicate instantly over long distances.”

“There are the Speaker Rings, as well as Vision Spheres,” she confirmed.

Rael’s faraway look reminded her of Hannath. “I would love to know how they work.”

“Well, I can’t help you there. Those devices are used exclusively by the Keltar. Keris is one–if we find her, I’m sure she could explain them to you.”

They walked on in companionable silence for a while, broken only by the sound of their boots trudging through the snow. They were an odd pair–the tall boy with gangly limbs, and the slight girl half his height. Birds cawed and chittered in the rolling white fields. Dark bulbous clouds appeared over the peaks to the west, a presage of late afternoon or early evening snow. By morning, their footprints would be obliterated by fresh snowfalls, with nothing to indicate that they had ever passed this way.

It was Shann who finally broke the silence. “Hannath said that the two halves of Kelanni–yours and mine–were once united.”

“Before the Goratha–the dark time–yes, we believe so.”

“Then how is it that everything is so different here? How is it that you have so many things that we do not?”

“Separate parallel development,” Rael said, looking down at her frowning face and smiling. He seemed to enjoy confounding her with odd words, a trait of his that Shann found mildly irritating. “Imagine twins who were separated at birth,” he continued. “What would happen to them?”

She stopped and faced him. “How do you mean?”

“Well, if they grew up in different places, they would have different experiences–different ideas–wouldn’t they? They would no doubt develop in different ways. We have machines that fly through the air; you have ships that can traverse the sea. We have devices that measure time; you have ones that can communicate with people far away. But when the twins finally met…”

“They could share all of that knowledge,” Shann completed the thought.

There was a gleam in Rael’s eye.
“I know. Exciting, isn’t it?”

~

It was ten days later when Rael asked Shann if she would like to accompany him to the launch site.

Shann’s heart leapt. She had scarcely ventured beyond the observatory grounds since she had arrived with Boxx some fifteen days ago. Then she had been in the company of Byrdach, and under drach guard; now she was free and unsupervised most of the time. The servants and officials who visited from time to time hardly noticed her. In fifteen days, she had gone from being the centre of attention to being invisible. Escape would have been a simple matter–if she had had anywhere to go.

There had been no news of Lyall and the others. Shann could not shake the nagging dread that they had perished in the storms. At night she had dreamed she was back aboard the Reach. Lyall, clad in a flying cloak, was yelling at her from the forecastle. Wind and rain scrabbled at his words with long bony fingers and tossed them away. She ran and climbed the ladder, but when she reached him, he was no longer Lyall, but Roanol, the boy she had met in the compound at Gort. She awoke bathed in sweat and confusion.

Now she stood in the middle of the guest room that had become her home, savouring the prospect of a trip that would take her away from these four walls and the feelings of grief and loss that were threatening to overwhelm her, even if only for a few ornahs. Then she remembered. “But…Hannath said I wasn’t allowed to go there.”

Rael raised his eyebrows. “Well, that’s true. But he only said that because the Scientific Directorate has insisted the Master keep the diametric drive a secret for now. However…since it turns out that you already know the principle behind the drive, there seems little point in barring you from the site. The master doesn’t like to travel, so it’s a part of my job to monitor the progress of the work there and report back. With everything that’s been happening of late, I haven’t been out to the site in days. I am also responsible for looking after you, but I can’t be in two places at once, so…I think you should come with me.”

Shann was not at all convinced that Hannath would agree with that fine piece of reasoning, and she had no desire to see Rael, her only friend in this world, get into trouble. However, she desperately needed a release from this place. Before she realised it, she heard herself say, “Thanks, I’d love to.”

A short while later, she was standing next to Rael at the outside gate, watching a phaeton drifting up the snowy hill toward the observatory. The carriage came to a stop next to them and settled gently to the ground. A young face poked out of the window. It split into a cheery grin. “Hello, Rael. Where to today?”

“Hello, Solvi. The avionics field, please.”

Rael boarded the carriage, followed by Shann. Solvi seemed to notice her for the first time. “Nice…very nice. Hey, it looks like excellent flying weather today. A great idea, taking your young lady up for a spin.”

“She’s not my…”

Shann looked over at Rael. He was staring into his lap, looking distinctly uncomfortable in the plush leather seat. Solvi’s smile was unapologetic. “Hold on now.” Shann felt the carriage rise smoothly into the air and start down the hill. The countryside filed past, and soon they were entering the outskirts of the town.

It was the district she had travelled through before, lined with artisans’ shops and strange machines. She wanted to ask Rael what they were exactly, but there was a more urgent question; one that had been dominating her thoughts since her first meeting with Hannath, but that she had repeatedly thrust away because she was afraid to face the possible implications. Yet there it was, like a persistent gundir, yelping and snapping at the fringes of her consciousness. Whatever the outcome, she had to know the truth. She addressed him in hushed tones. “Rael, I need to ask you something.”

Rael looked as if he has just been bashed on the head. She pressed on. “I wanted to ask you about the war.”

Rael’s expression morphed from shock, to relief, to confusion. “The war?”

“Yes,” she said. The war between you and the Chandara.”

“The Chandara?”

“Hannath said there are two intelligent races in this world, and that the Chandara originated first. He also said there was a war on your side, after which the Chandara disappeared.”

Rael shook his head. “I think you must have misunderstood, Shann.”

“You mean there wasn’t a war?”

“No, there was a war, but it wasn’t with the Chandara. It was with the Unan-Chinneroth.”

Shann’s eyes widened. She had not mentioned the name of the Prophet since she had arrived here.
How could he possibly know it?
“At least,” he continued, “that was the name given them in ancient. They have another name in their tongue…

“Hu-man.”

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Chapter 6

The stately stone edifices of the town of Kieroth slid past the windows of the phaeton. It was still early in the morning, and the fur-clad townsfolk hurried about their business, paying little attention to their carriage as it sailed through the wide streets. Shann looked without seeing as she listened to the boy sitting next to her.

“It was thirty-six turns ago. The hu-mans came to our world in three great vessels. At first they offered friendship. However, it soon became clear that what they really wanted was power over the lodestone…and us. There was a war. It lasted only a short while, but at the end, the hu-mans surrendered. Their ships had been destroyed in the conflict, so they could not return to where they had come from. So an agreement was reached.

“There’s an island in the Erigone Sea called Helice. It lies over 200 met-ryns off the mainland–far beyond the range of avionics. The island was given over to them on the condition that they not venture from there. The hu-mans left in vessels they had constructed.”

Shann struggled to take it all in. “That seems overly generous to me.”

“There were women and children in their camp,” Rael continued. “It was highly doubtful that they could be integrated peacefully into Kelanni society, and we were not prepared to just slaughter them. So segregation was the only viable option.

“Since that time, there has been no contact between us and the hu-mans. We do not even know if they made it to Helice.”

It felt like there was a stone in the pit of Shann’s stomach. “They made it,” she said quietly.

Rael looked at her strangely. “How could you possibly–”

“Because they have come to my side–the side of the world that you call Kelanni-Drann.”
Shann caught Solvi glancing at them from the driver’s seat.
He thinks we’re having some sort of lover’s tiff. Let him.

“I don’t think that’s possible, Shann,” he replied.

“Look, I’m not lying
. The Unan-Chinneroth–the Prophet–rules my side of the world. Thanks to you, he’s enslaving people and building a weapon to destroy the Kelanni.”

She took a deep breath. It didn’t make sense for her to be angry at this boy. His people may have been short-sighted and naïve, but the decision was made long before he was born.

He looked as if she had just slapped him in the face. “I…I don’t understand how one of them could reach your side. Besides, the peace treaty specifically forbids them to leave Helice. If they have done so…” His voice trailed away as the full implication hit.

Shann saw the terrified look in the boy’s eyes and felt a twinge of sympathy.
“…It would mean war,”
she said.

~

Their phaeton arrived at the avionics field, and Rael and Shann disembarked in silence. Solvi gave a brief wave before turning the carriage back toward town.

The field was a circular flat area covered with close-cropped yellow grass, which poked through the overlaying snow. At its centre, a low grey building with smooth sides spewed forth a series of long tenticular tubes. The sleek machines were parked haphazardly, like a collection of discarded child’s playthings, some connected to the tubes. A few individuals moved purposefully between them, but they took no notice of Rael and Shann. Rael walked unhesitatingly to a machine near the edge of the field. It looked identical to the others–a slim pencil shape, flanked by bulges set with large fans beneath an open cockpit.