The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) (77 page)

Now the watcher had returned, lurking somewhere in the deep shadows, beyond the circle of firelight. Keris allowed her Keltar training to kick in. She cycled through various strategies, couched in the shorthand of shassatan. River and Dam. Channel the enemy down a single path, then close it in front of them. Bread and Dagger. Present them with a supposed advantage to draw them out, then take that advantage away. Variations on a theme. However, in this case, she wanted to test this person’s motivation, their reasons for following her. Bread and Dagger it was, then.

She rose from her haunches in a deliberately unhurried fashion and stretched, feigning tiredness.
I hope you’re watching my little performance.
She pulled her single blanket from her pack, freeing it with a flourish. Then she moved around to the opposite side of the fire, laid out the blanket and pulled the stopper from her canteen full of melted snow. Preparations complete, she shut her eyes tightly and began to count.

One…two…three…The intruder would wait until they could be reasonably sure she was asleep. Time enough to put her plan into effect. As they watched, light from her fire would have entered the tracker’s eyes, causing their pupils to contract, cutting down night visibility. Twenty-one…twenty-two…twenty-three…behind her eyelids, cut off from the light, her own pupils were dilating. Thirty-seven…thirty-eight…thirty-nine…allowing her to see and move in the dark; to enact her little subterfuge while the enemy would still be blinking away afterimages on their retina. She readied herself…fifty-eight…fifty-nine…sixty.

Keris sprang into action. She opened her eyes and quickly doused the fire with her canteen, plunging the area into darkness, then shoved her pack under the blanket and set off at a low run toward a broken down wall. In moments she had dived over the wall and concealed herself behind it. There was no movement from the amorphous shapes beyond the far edge of the camp where her quarry was hiding. Soon the intruder’s eyes would adjust to the lower light conditions and they would see exactly what she wanted them to see, the remains of a campfire and a blanket with a bulge beneath it. Bread and Dagger. The trap was set.
Your move.
Keris permitted herself a small smile of satisfaction and settled down to wait.

It occurred to her that there was something faintly ridiculous about two people skulking in the darkness, watching an empty blanket. She tried to speculate who her unwelcome guest might be. It seemed inconceivable that someone had trailed her here all the way from the house in the highlands near Kieroth. Most of the time she had been travelling through open country, with little enough in the way of cover. As a trained Keltar, she would surely have spotted any signs of pursuit long before this. She was quite certain that no-one had been following her before she had reached the ancient city.

Thork.
The avionic pilot she had encountered just outside the dead forest had offered to send someone to “rescue” her. She had declined, but maybe he had ignored or misunderstood her reply and dispatched someone to check up on her, regardless? No, that couldn’t be it. The flying machines were large and noisy. She didn’t see how one of them could approach without her noticing. Thork had warned her about Kynedyr, but she had told neither him nor anyone else that she actually intended to go to the ancient city. So how would they have known to follow her here? Then again, if it really was someone concerned about her welfare, why not simply walk up and announce themselves? Why hide in the shadows?

Across the camp, something was stirring. Perhaps some answers at last. A silhouette rose soundlessly and started to approach the extinguished campfire. Keris moved rapidly, sidestepping to her right and staying low. She skirted around till she could see the intruder’s back. His attention would be focussed on the unmoving blanket. As she crept up behind the shadowy figure, she drew her staff. The sinews in her arms knotted in response to the smooth feel of the darkwood. As the dark shape started to bend over, she exploded into action. One hand whipped out, grabbing the intruder’s arm and twisting it to the point of breaking; the other slid smoothly up the haft, bringing the diamond blade to bear against the throat like a dagger. Her quarry let out a gasp, then a grunt of pain. Finally she heard him swallow as he felt the keen edge pressing against his jugular. She might already be drawing blood. For the moment, she neither knew nor cared. “Did no-one tell you it’s rude to creep up on people unannounced?” she hissed into his ear.

He tried to speak, but seemed unable, possibly fearing that in the act of doing so, he might inadvertently cut his own throat. She subtly eased her pressure on the blade. At last he spoke. The voice was dry and cracked, but there was something about it…something familiar.

“Keris,”
it said.

~

Keris threw caution to the winds and spun the intruder around by his shoulders. Her eyes flicked over the long face, the sharp angular nose, the long dark matted hair. “Patris? In the name of the Three, what are you doing here?”

Patris put a hand protectively to his released throat and massaged it. “Making a fool of myself, apparently.”

“What did you think you were trying to do?” she pressed him.

The sailor-thief looked down at his boots. “I was just curious…I…” She glared at him. He looked up and met her eyes. “All right, I was trying to rob you. Are you happy now?”

“Why?” she demanded. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“It’s my trade, remember? It’s what I do for a living in Sakara.”

“Well, it may have escaped your notice,” she said acerbically, “but we’re no longer in Sakara.”

Patris’ voice was gloomy. “Don’t remind me. Look, I’m sorry. It was a stupid thing to do. But I was desperate.”

Keris remembered the staff resting in her hand. She sheathed the darkwood weapon. “Why not just come up and announce yourself? Why all this…this creeping about in the shadows?”

“I didn’t know how you would react to seeing me again,” he said. She retrieved her pack, located her tinderbox and set about resurrecting the fire, waiting patiently for him to elaborate. “At the beach, after I found out that Sakara had fallen and that everyone I knew and loved was now fighting for their lives, I…I guess something in me snapped. I blamed Lyall for stranding me here in this benighted place. All I knew was that I had to get back somehow. So I walked off on my own. For a while I simply wandered, not knowing what to do. I saw their strange flying machines from time to time, but there were no people, no roads, nothing to indicate what I should do or which direction to travel. Then I came across a narrow valley–a gap in the mountains.”

“The Meurig Divide,” she informed him.

Patris looked at her strangely, but continued. “Anyway, I noticed that a number of the flying craft took a line through that valley, so while I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet the people who inhabited things like those, I was running out of options, not to mention food. So I crossed the valley and carried on eastward, following the course of the flying machines. Eventually I reached one of their towns. It was…well, peculiar. Nothing like the towns in our world. Strange lights and weird floating carriages. I was scared, but I was also cold and starving. So I just knocked on one of their doors until they opened up. Their speech was strange and they didn’t understand me at first, but they must have taken pity on me because they took me in, gave me food and allowed me to stay. They told me their town was called Lechem. They were a kindly family, with three lovely children. Anyway, after several days–”

“You stole from them, didn’t you?” she interjected.

Patris frowned. “How did you know that?” Keris looked at him askance. “All right, yes, I stole from them. Redistribution of wealth is essential in any healthy society. It stops exploitation and counteracts poverty. I would have thought that any society as advanced as this one is supposed to be would appreciate basic economics.”

Keris looked up at him. One side of her face was bathed in the yellow-orange glow of the revived campfire. “Let me guess. They didn’t appreciate your reasoning.”

Patris huffed. “You’re right there. I tried to explain it to them, but it was hopeless. ‘Look’, I said, ‘I arrived here with nothing but the clothes I’m standing in, through no fault of my own, I might add. I have no money or whatever it is you people use for money. I have the same right to life as you do. So how am I going to live? Theft. Basic wealth redistribution. I set up a business and make so-called profits. Buy low, sell high. What’s that? Theft. I make someone work for me, pay them for a part of what they produce and pocket the rest. What’s that? Theft. It’s all the same thing, whatever you call it. It’s the way every civilised society works.’ I told them straight, ‘You should be thanking me,’ I said. But it was like trying to lecture a bunch of ignorant children. They were incapable of seeing the obvious.”

“Imagine that,” Keris said dryly.

“Exactly,” he continued. “Well to cut a long story short, they summoned a pair of their watchmen–drach, they called them. Surly fellows. No sense of humour
whatsoever
. There was a lot of chit-chat. In truth, I don’t think they knew what to do with me. Finally, they escorted me across town to a basement room–a kind of jail, I suppose it was. I’m not sure what they had in store for me, but I don’t think it was anything good. So I let myself out and escaped.”

“You stole the key.”

Patris shrugged. “Naturally. For all their advancements, they seem pretty slow on the uptake. During my discussions with the family, I’d learned of an ancient ruined city to the north. They seemed pretty irrational about it. Rumours of fearful sights and dire warnings to stay away. Sounded to me like the perfect place to go into hiding. So I headed here. Figured it would allow time for the hue and cry to die down and for me to work out what to do next. Then I spotted you moving through the ruins, and…well the rest you know.”

Keris pursed her lips. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure what I can do to help you. I am in the middle of a very important investigation right now. I can’t afford to take the time to straighten out your mess–assuming that’s even possible. I’m afraid you’re on your own.”

“You could take me with you,” he suggested.

Keris weighed the alternatives. Her first reaction was to turn him down flat. Leaving aside for the moment that she normally worked best on her own, he was by his own admission a wanted criminal in this world. If they ran across the drach, her association with him would mark her as an accessory after the fact, which could seriously compromise her mission. In a worst-case scenario, she might have to fight her way out of a situation and end up being branded a renegade by the people of this world. Then again, what would she say to Lyall and Alondo when she got back? “Did you see anyone on your travels?” “Sure, I ran across Patris.” “Where is he?” “Oh, I just left him out in the wilderness.”

She cursed under her breath. “Very well, do what you want. Just…don’t get in my way.” She set about reorganising her blanket and her pack.

“Have you heard any more about what’s happening in Sakara?” he asked.

“When I left, Oliah was still in daily contact. There is a strong resistance movement, headed up by the Thief Guild. They have the distinct advantage of knowing the city, with all of its nooks and crannies. According to Oliah, they’re running rings around the new administration.”

Patris grinned. “My people will make them rue the day they ever set foot in the free port.”

“Lyall appears to agree with you. He believes that taking Sakara may have been a tactical error on the part of the Prophet, that the Prophet’s forces may have bitten off more than they can chew. I hope he’s right. I need time to pursue this investigation.”

“So…what is it you’re investigating?” he asked conversationally.

“I am attempting to determine the whereabouts of the Chandara in this world,” she said. “I am also trying to find out where a certain ancient artefact is hidden.”

His black eyes narrowed. “You’re serious. Well, you lost the Chandara you brought with you. Although what you would want with those primitives is beyond me. An ancient artefact. Hmmm. Is it…valuable?”

“I don’t know,” she replied honestly.

“And after you find these things, you and the others intend to return to our world?”

Keris had to admit that she hadn’t given much thought to how they were going to get back. “That’s the general idea, yes.”

“Sounds as if you could do with my help,” he offered.

Keris forced herself to be polite. “I’ll manage. Thank you.”

“Are you sure?” He sat down across the fire from her and began laying out his bedding. “You know, in Sakara, most people who are in need of something unusual approach the Thief Guild. We specialize in securing those…hard-to-locate items.”