The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One' (47 page)

‘Looks like its
choice time Gid,’ said Jed loudly, referring to the one-way
conversation he had witnessed between Gath and Gideon.

‘The life of
your love for your own life boy, you were stolen away from me and I
want back what was always supposed to be mine. Come to me Gideon,
her life for your life.’ Gath had said.

‘Time to choose
bro…,’ Jed said again and as Gideon hesitated, his father stepped
through to the other side of the barrier to join the others.

‘Me blood ain’t
near as strong as yorn boy, but even a thimbleful could ‘elp ter
stop the world from dying!’ He shouted over the noise of the
dreadful hiss, kneeling on the dusty earth and joining his voice to
the others, his fingers digging deep into the soil beneath the
frail wall.

With tears
coursing down his face Gideon made his decision, he crossed the
barrier and knelt beside the wall.

‘Forgive me
May,’ he whispered, tears beginning to roll down his face and his
heart full to bursting with pain as he reached once more for the
roots of the magic.
This is part of my sacrifice then
, he
thought as Jed joined him, knowing the decision Gideon had made
would now condemn his sister to die. Jed hummed tunelessly thinking
of his sister, pain deeply embedded in his heart, pain for himself,
for both his sister and his best friend and blood brother.

Gideon felt the
barrier begin to fail as he placed his fingers into the dust. It
was so weak, so fragile and they were only just in time and as the
old barrier died the new one began to live.

Gideon’s soul
soared along the lifelines surrounding the valley; he could feel
Thaddrick singing his greatest harmonies mingling with his fathers’
humble murmur and he could see everything. From Jed’s lifeline, he
could see a light travelling toward Lemba, who was shining in the
ether almost as brightly as he was himself. On the power surged, on
and on, and in wonder he realised how everything connected, a giant
web of life with everything linked in some way to everything else
but also as individual as grains of sand on a vast beach, each
grain with its own Journey mapped out and disappearing into the
future. The colours sung in their brilliance and strength as the
vast barrier continued to establish and fortify, continued to
absorb the power of the one.

He felt the
essence of a life as it fluttered past and died.
Mayan,
he
thought, believing at that moment she had died. Gideon felt the
candle in his mind burn brightly as he again thought of his failure
to protect her, his condemning her to death, as his candle
flickered and went out, Gideon roared in pain as he thought of her,
her death on his hands.

He screamed his
hurt, releasing all he was into the great barrier, his heart
overflowed with grief once more as he melded and bonded the strands
of life within the wall and forbidding it to fail. His suffering
was evident as tears fell from his eyes unashamedly. At last, a
loud bang reverberated around and around inside the now sealed dome
and the wall shone, vibrant with life once more. With the hissing
now stopped, the silence itself was profound and Gideon fell
forward, tired to the point of exhaustion.

‘It is over,’
he said. ‘Mayan is dead!’ As the silence eased, Gideon sobbed
quietly. Mayan, his beautiful Mayan was dead and Gath was going to
pay. He sat up slowly, a fierce determination on his face.

‘Where do we go
Thaddrick?’ He asked, pulling himself up to his feet quietly and
looking across to where Thaddrick knelt over Jacob, Jonus was
beside him and tears were falling from his eyes.

‘What is it?’
Rhoàld called as he too sat up, exhaustion clearly written across
his now, not so gaunt features.

‘Jacob is gone
from us, his journey has begun.’ Thaddrick said closing the man’s
eyes.

‘Why him
Thaddrick, why him?’ Gideon asked, bewildered and feeling guilty as
he realised with relief it meant Mayan was still alive.

‘He gave
himself up for sacrifice to the void. Thaddrick answered, adding,
‘to satisfy the balance needed, Jacob has died. I believe it was
why he wanted to accompany us.’ He crossed the dead man’s hands
over his body noting Jacob’s mouth was set in a small smile. ‘I
pray on the journey he finds his family,’ Thaddrick said with
finality before bowing his head in respect.

Lemba sadly
remembered the story Roidan had told her of Jacobs’s family. Of how
his wife, at the last moment before the gateway had slammed shut on
the colonies arrival had pushed him through saving him whilst
trapping her and their sons’ on the wrong side. His wife had saved
his life, whilst forever keeping them apart.

Gideon, stunned
to silence stood before the smiling corpse, again feeling guilty at
the wash of pleasure that the death he had felt had not been
Mayan’s

‘He hated me,’
Gideon whispered, I pray his journey is not long... I’m sorry...’
he finished, touching the old man’s forehead in respect.

‘No Gideon, he
hated to be alive when his family were gone.’ Thaddrick answered,
adding, ‘we cannot bury him here, this ground is contaminated. He
spoke quietly to Varan and Sonal and began to sing. The elder twins
joined him with their voices slowly followed by Jonus as he watched
one of the first funerals he had ever seen. Lemba took his hand
humming quietly as Rhoàld and Jed joined them. As the company sang,
Jacob’s body seemed to shine, it grew lighter and lighter becoming
as thin and as translucent as the great dome it laid beside,
nervously Gideon joined in the song, his voice in perfect sorrowful
harmony. The body lifted off the ground and rose up toward the
heavens, and as it reached the great barrier, it turned into a
blaze of light and joined as one with the power protecting the
world from the void.

The singing
stopped and the dome returned to its quiet beauty.

‘Come on now,
Gath will be waiting for us as sure as the barrier is whole once
more,’ Thaddrick said hoarsely as he walked on into the fog.

‘No Thaddrick,’
said Sonal, ‘the barrier... it’s not just whole, it’s new and
stronger than I have ever seen it,’ he whispered in awe. Even from
the inside and through the fog the great barrier dome could be seen
shimmering and dazzling with life and strength.

All day the
small group walked and always downhill, the fog was thickening
continually and at times, they had to hold on to one another as it
became too dense in patches to see through. Death seemed to
surround them on every side and evil felt forever near. Darker
patches of fog would loom at them only to fade away before they
came to close. At these times, Gideon’s father felt as if they were
being followed, his woodsman’s skills coming to the fore in the
barren landscape, he took to walking at the rear of the group
watching their backs. Having the least magical blood in a place
full of magic he kept his wits about him and prayed on the journey
his own was not about to start quite yet. He kept his thoughts on
his parents, Jayse and on Dotty, the way she had smiled at him and
the sidelong glances he had witnessed as they drove homeward the
first time they had met
. Does she like me, even though I’m too
old fer ‘er?
He wondered as the darkness continued to close in
and breathing became difficult.

Eventually the
ground began to rise once more; Sonal and Varan looked exhausted as
they finally sat down calling a halt. Unnoticed by the others the
elder twins had erected a bubble of air around them as the void was
now sucking the last of the air from within the dome, breathing
normally was almost impossible.

‘Stay within
the bubble,’ called Varan leaving his arm firmly clasped around
Sonal’s wrist.

‘Outside the
bubble the lack of air will kill you.’ Sonal explained. ‘The void
has long since taken the air from the valley; the hissing noise was
the air being sucked away from the rest of the planet. Thaddrick
held up his hand and extended a magical light from his fingertips
illuminating the small domed bubble surrounding them all. The
bubble was filtering the air and keeping them all alive, as twins,
Sonal and Varan needed no balance but kept hold of each other for
moral support.

‘They will be
waiting at the temple.’ Varan said suddenly, as his eyes glazed
over slightly and his head dropped on one side as if listening to
something.

‘Can you hear
that too then Varan?’ Gideon asked in surprise as he looked toward
man who looked so like his father’s friend.

‘The crystal
calls us,’ answered Varan in lieu of an answer. ‘You forget I was
once a priest.’ As the light shone illuminating the yellowing fog
outside of the air bubble, Thaddrick glanced over at Gideon’s
father sitting with his knife in his hands, he had intended to
speak quietly, but sudden shock at Jed’s changed appearance
forestalled him.

‘Great
Journeys!’ he began but seeing the surprised look on Jed’s face he
spluttered and began to cough, the light from Thaddrick’s fingers
fading slowly as he held his hands over his mouth.

‘Ere we go
again,’ said Jed, in an exasperated tone, ‘will someone please tell
me what ‘on the Journey’ be going on?’ Thaddrick raised his hand
once more and the light reappeared. Sonal also turned to his old
friend, his jaw falling wide.

In the hurry to
re-establish the wall no one had noticed how Jed had changed, the
yellow darkness of the cloying fog had prevented anyone seeing the
man they all knew so well, how Gideon’s healing spell had not only
healed Jed’s ankle but had strengthened his bones and
re-established the elasticity in his skin. The muscle tone was
improved and his heart, lungs and other organs were in prime
condition, his once greying hair was now full, thick and dark,
shining with youth and vitality, even in the magic yellowing light
reflected by the fog. In short, Jed’s body clock had reversed; he
looked old enough to be Gideon’s older brother, not the father he
was. Sonal smiled knowing Jed’s argument over the Dotty situation
was now probably invalid
. If we ever get out of this
, he
thought. Jed himself, still unaware of the changes wrought during
the healing scowled at the smiles and glances.

As the time
wore on and the company rested, Gideon, under instruction from
Thaddrick took control of the bubble allowing the elder twins to
rest. The candle principle worked on the bubble just as well as it
had worked on the healing and he kept the small candle burning in
his mind as the magic filtered the air needed to sustain their
lives, protecting them from both whatever could live outside the
bubbles embrace and the dangers of the void.

After the
company had rested and not knowing what time of day it was the
small group began to move off once more, always now travelling
upward. Still Gideon heard the call in his head, Varan cautioned
Gideon not to listen to the hypnotic sequence of words and cadences
but despite Varan’s warnings, Gideon did find himself listening out
for the new notes as they moved and occasionally he found himself
singing the beat as he walked, no harm in singing, surely? He
thought.

Within the
confines of the small bubble, Thaddrick constantly sought for
danger through the ether, worry making him less cautious than he
would normally be. He felt Gath as they drew near to him; soon, he
thought, we will be upon him soon, there’s something else too, the
feeling shocked him to the core, something strong, powerful and
evil, he withdrew from the ether once more urging Gideon to more
caution and took control of the bubble allowing the boy to
rest.

They had been
travelling for hours with hunger gnawing at their bellies when at
last the water ran out.

‘The lad can’t
last much longer Blue,’ stated Jed who was carrying young Jonus who
now, for all his new found youth, looked as tired as the rest of
the group.

‘A little
further,’ Thaddrick replied as he began climbing a much worn
staircase once cut from the living rock. As they climbed, Gideon
thought he could see the bodies of men and women, soldiers lying in
the dust beside the pathway each in varying stages of decay.

‘Look,’ he
called pointing at the body of an officer dressed in green and red,
with the heavy gold piping of Derova lying face down in the dirt.
Thaddrick turned the body over and Lemba gasped as she realised the
body had been bled dry. Varan recognised the signs of a ritual
killing and said nothing, having taken part himself in many
killings just like this one. Young Jed refused to look, not wanting
to see the face of a man who may have served, or even trained with
him.

‘We have
arrived,’ Thaddrick said, as the small group walked into the
confines of a large cave and passed through a warding. Thaddrick
shivered recognising the author of the spell. ‘I’m releasing the
bubble as Gath also needs to breathe air,’ he whispered and
muttered a word as the protective bubble around them
disappeared.

Although their
bodies felt tired and heavy, they were able to breathe with some
difficulty and Thaddrick smiled weakly. ‘The air will sustain us
for a time...’ he said as he glanced around him noticing what
everyone else was looking at. Misshaped bodies were lying asleep
around the edges of the rock-hewn room, all with heavy limbs and
fur coverings and their breathing fast and shallow as they
attempted to fill small lungs. Again, Varan said nothing as he
recognised the menial workers fed on blood and body parts of the
dead, their devotion to the crystal more meaningful than anything
else in their lives.

‘They are in a
spelled sleep, come, quietly...’ said Thaddrick as he made his way
stepping over the sleeping bodies and through into a stone corridor
remembering the last time he had been in this place so long ago. At
that time, he had been carrying his nephew’s body and he had
watched as Dèvin’s body turned to dust releasing the captive evil
into the crystal.
Is Dèvin’s soul still within the crystal?
He asked himself, remembering the way his brother’s son had
sacrificed himself to hold the entity trapped safely within the
confines of flesh and blood.
Surely not, not after all these
years
... he answered his own question, hoping and praying he
was right.