Why only one? The thought flashed up and Keris dismissed it immediately. No time to speculate now. “Well there seems to be no-one here. Let’s get to the top.” She turned and led the way up the spiral stairs.
The first flight led to a floor with various rooms and cubicles. Some doors were closed; others were carelessly left open as if the last residents had left in a hurry. The doors that were open afforded strange views of oddly shaped chairs and banks of instrumentation that reminded Keris of the mechanism that the woman from the past used, to communicate with them. She was starting up the second flight of stairs when she saw Alondo entering one of the chambers. She stopped and snapped at him, “What are you doing?”
Alondo was wide eyed like a little child. “Look at this stuff.”
“Forget it. This isn’t a sightseeing trip. The Prophet’s men will be on us if we don’t hurry. Now get a move on!”
Lyall came up behind him and put an arm around his shoulder. “Sorry, old friend. There’s no time.”
Alondo looked as if someone had just confiscated his favourite toy. He followed Lyall dejectedly. Keris resumed her passage up the stairs, holding her diamond tipped staff at the ready. She led them up a second set of spiral stairs and then a third. Part way up the fourth, Shann spoke up. “Lyall?”
“What is it?” he called from behind her.
“This tower, there’s…something peculiar about it.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Just blip the bronze layer in your cloak once.”
Lyall reached up to his neck control and did as he was bidden. He winced, “Curious.”
“What’s the matter?” Keris inquired behind her.
“Shann has detected a large source of what can only be refined lodestone.” Lyall wore a puzzled expression. “Oddly though, it seems to lie above us.”
Keris adjusted her control experimentally. “Curious indeed,” she commented. “Let’s get to the top, quickly.” Keris increased the pace. Five floors...six…seven. Alondo was starting to pant.
You need to rest?” Lyall looked at him with concern.
“No, no…,” Alondo puffed, “I’m fine.” He added, “How many more floors to this thing?”
“Keris?” Lyall directed the question to her.
“I’m not sure; ten maybe?”
“Will you be all right?” Lyall asked.
“Of course,” Alondo wheezed with his hands on his knees. “I can do ten…ten is good…eleven might be a problem, but ten…ten, I could do.”
Lyall smiled. He put his friend’s arm about his shoulders and started up once more.
The rest of the climb was conducted in silence, their entire concentration expended on the effort of putting one foot in front of another. Thus Keris was unprepared for the sudden feel of wind and the light from an open doorway which expelled them onto a stone platform, exposed to the elements. They were at the top. Dominating the centre of the platform was a huge silver globe, secured by clamps. They walked over to it and Keris put up her hand and touched its surface. It was perfectly smooth.
“It’s changed,” Shann was looking down at the grey stone. “The lodestone is beneath us now.”
“It’s this platform,” Lyall confirmed. “The whole thing must be virtually all lodestone… Remarkable.”
Keris was starting to walk around the massive orb. A quarter of the way round she stopped. “Over here.”
The others joined her. Keris pointed to a triangular indentation in the otherwise flawless surface. “This has to be it,” she declared. She stepped up and took out the access module she had stored in her pouch, inserting it carefully into the hole. The workings inside the transparent casing lit up with a yellow light, and a low humming sound emanated from the globe itself. The module turned red, and a door began to open on the globe’s curved exterior...and stopped. The gap was no more than a hand’s breadth.
Another sound intruded into the ensuing silence. Lyall ran to the entrance to the tower’s roof. “I hear voices,” he called out, “they’re coming.” He raced back and wrapped his hands around the gap in the door, pulling with all his might. Keris and Alondo both joined him. Strain showed on their faces and the tendons in their hands, but the door refused to budge. Then suddenly it was free. They pulled it open, and Lyall, Shann and Alondo scrambled inside. Shann reached out and pulled Boxx up and over the threshold. Keris grabbed the module and pulled it out of its slot. It went dark. Then she followed the others, ducking her head to enter.
She glanced around quickly, taking in the sphere’s interior. There was light emanating from somewhere, but she could not discern its source. The concave walls were the same silver colour, but otherwise featureless. At the centre of the floor was a raised dais with four levers, two red and two blue, just as the woman from the past had described. The dais was encircled by a handrail. There was no other furniture.
Keris went to the controls. They looked simple enough. She looked up. Lyall was struggling to try and close the door, which had jammed again. “Leave it,” she cried out, “there’s no time.” He pulled back and joined the rest. Keris placed both hands on the blue lever to her left. “Better hold onto something, I have no idea what will happen when I pull this.”
The others grabbed the handrail. Boxx curled neatly up into a ball.
Keris shut her eyes, clenched her teeth and pulled down on the lever with all her might.
Chapter 16
As the lever reached the down position, Keris felt a low rumble, followed by a faint downward pressure. She opened her eyes. Released from its mountings, the sphere was now rising into the air above the tower, under the influence of the lodestone platform. Keris moved to the handrail next to Lyall and held on. It was a thrilling experience and she could feel her heart beating faster. She was filled with awe at a people who could have fashioned such wonders–her ancestors.
The sphere reached its maximum height. Through the jammed open door, she could see blue lightning playing about the exterior surface of the great globe. It was spectacular. A low whine started up and rose in pitch. A massive concussion. They were all hurled to one side. Keris and Lyall held on to the handrail, but Shann and Alondo lost their grip and tumbled over and over inside the globe. The ball that was Boxx rolled around but seemed otherwise unaffected. Another huge bang. A sense of falling. The impact of the sphere against the stone platform. Keris was bounced around and fell with the others in a disoriented heap.
Her head felt muzzy. She put her hand to her temple. It felt wet. White blood stained the tips of her fingers. She forced her mind to analyse what had happened. The Prophet’s men had caught up to them. A petard. A larger version of the lodestone grenade. They had used petards to bring down the sphere somehow, maybe by destroying the mechanism that controlled it. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that the sphere was not going to rise again, and with only one exit, it would soon become a trap if they did not move. She looked over to one side. The globe had rolled slightly on impact, so that the doorway was lower down, but still exposed to the open air.
The tall figure of Lyall was suddenly looming over her. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, yes.” She waved a hand. “Get out of here, go, go!” Her voice sounded muffled, as if she were trying to talk with blankets stuffed in her ears. She shook her head with annoyance. As she got her elbows under her and struggled to a sitting position, she saw the backs of two cloaked figures and one gaily clad musician clambering through the threshold one by one. A distant voice in the back of her mind suggested mildly that she would feel so much better if she simply lay back down and closed her eyes. She thrust the thought away savagely.
There were sounds coming from outside; coarse shouts, animalistic grunts, the clash of weapons. I must get out there. She went to get up and felt a warm tingling contact at the side of her face. She turned her head instinctively. The Chandara was sitting on its hind legs next to her, three fingers of one limb touching the sticky smear of blood at her
temple. Its mouth rippled in a peculiar fashion, but no words came out. “Boxx, what are you doing?” Her voice still sounded odd in her ears.
“I Heal Keris,” it announced. Then its mouth reverted to the same rippling motion.
“Sorry, no time for that now.” She pulled away and got to her feet. Her legs swayed under her but she fought to regain control, forcing them to carry her towards the opening. Although it made no sense, she could still feel the Chandara’s touch. It was as if the whole side of her face were alive.
Framed in the entrance to the sphere, she could see Lyall sparring with four soldiers in iron studded leather breastplates. He was using the superior reach of his staff to fend them off, whilst they circled, weapons drawn, trying to outflank him. He flared his cloak and leaped out of their midst, the soldiers giving chase.
Keris clambered out of the silver globe, and from the corner of her eye she spotted Alondo to her right, crouched down. Bizarrely, he seemed to be adjusting the settings on that musical instrument he carried. At least he seemed to have the good sense to stay out of the fighting.
Her mind was starting to clear, and her tactical sense kicked in. In an instant, she registered the relative positions of friend and foe alike, as if they were pieces on a shassatan board. Alondo would correspond to “The Fool,” with no offensive role. Lyall was “The Wheel,” around which the other pieces revolved. She would be “The Dagger,” punishing each of the opponent’s moves with a counter-move. “The Dagger,” for the opposition would be the lone Keltar. She glanced around anxiously, but he did not seem to be within her field of vision.
She moved out onto the tower’s roof. The sound of clashing staffs, above and behind her. She wheeled around to see the Keltar battling another cloaked figure in mid-air above the ruined globe. Shann. The tiny girl was twisting and turning, parrying and dodging a furious array of blows. As Keris registered the scene, she could not help but be impressed by the girl’s tenacity. Wisely, she was not making it a contest of strength but was using her superior speed and agility to good effect. However, she was fighting a trained Keltar, and there was no way for her to avoid every blow. Already her arm bore what looked like a flesh wound. Sooner or later, a single vicious thrust or slash would fully connect, and she would go down.
Keris bent her legs, retracted the bronze layer of her cloak fully and shot into the air. The lodestone platform was a perfect base, affording almost infinite possibilities of movement in the air. However, the enemy had the same advantage. Overconfidence would be fatal. Twisting in the air, she altered her trajectory so as to land on the outer shell of the sphere near the top. She landed and pressed herself flat against the curved surface. Shann had landed on the platform and immediately taken off again in a different direction. Good girl. Don’t let yourself get caught on the ground. The Keltar gave chase. He was trying to anticipate the girl’s next move and trap her. He had not spotted Keris; she had the element of surprise. Just keep him occupied for a few moments more, girl.
Shann reached the apex of her leap. The Keltar was rising to meet her in the air, readying his staff once more to probe her defences, waiting for her to make a fatal error. His back was turned. Keris saw the opening. She flared her cloak and launched herself skyward. Reaching the top of her leap, she angled her body towards the Keltar, and slammed open her bronze layer. Instantly, she felt the downward pressure of the upper lodestone layer on bronze. She hurtled downwards, feet first. Air rushed past as the pair of cloaked combatants rose to meet her. Keris twisted at the last, feeling resistance, as her boots impacted the Keltar’s side. She heard an “oomph” as air was forcibly expelled from the man’s lungs. The massive blow sent him tumbling towards the platform out of control, and he landed hard. Keris partially retracted her bronze and slowed her descent, alighting directly in front of the sprawling figure. From the corner of her eye she could see that Shann had landed safely some way off. The girl was breathing hard, but watching the confrontation, intently.
The man turned his face towards Keris. He was young and wiry looking, with fair hair combed straight back. Keris had a flash of recognition. She had seen him at the keep, but could not remember ever speaking to him. He rose to his feet, clutching his side. “You–you are Keris, the traitor.”
The word stung Keris in a way she had not expected. It felt like he had somehow turned the tables on her and gained the advantage. She scrambled to maintain her moral footing. “You do not understand what is going on here.”
“I understand well enough,” the man sneered. “You have sided with these impostors against the Prophet.”
“The Prophet is out to destroy all Kelanni,” she countered. “You are being used.”
“Ridiculous!” the young man spat.
Keris was about to respond, when she felt a pressure wave pass over her. She whirled around just in time to see two soldiers come cart-wheeling through the air. They landed on the stone roof in a tumble of arms and legs.
She looked back along the line of their trajectory. Alondo stood with his boots firmly planted, the open neck of his musical instrument pointed forward. He turned to face two more soldiers who were advancing on him from the side. He adjusted a control and then struck the strings. Keris watched with disbelief as a shimmering ring rippled through the atmosphere and struck with a force that knocked them backwards. He tweaked the control once more, and commenced a rhythmic strumming. An aerial vortex emanated from the device, twisting in the air like a coiled serpent. The soldiers raised their hands in a vain attempt to resist the force now washing over them. Faces contorted, they turned tail and ran for the roof exit. The other soldiers got to their feet and stumbled after their companions. Lyall chased after them with his staff, completing the rout.
Keris was almost as shocked as the soldiers. She had never seen anything like the weapon that Alondo wielded. She gathered her wits, pointing the tip of her staff at the still prone Keltar. “Your men are defeated. Yield!”
“Never!” The young man got to his feet and rushed Keris. She sidestepped neatly, swinging her staff and striking him in the back with the darkwood. Shann was walking towards them. Keris held up her hand. “Leave him to me.”
Dark clouds were rolling in, obscuring the suns and casting the tower in a premature evenfall. The cloaked youth turned again to face her. He laughed mirthlessly “Others are coming after you. You will not escape.” He raised his hand to his neck and leapt away. Keris bent her knees, flared her cloak and jumped into the air after him. He twisted around to face her and she caught the look of pure hatred in his eyes as their staffs clashed.
As Keris parried a low strike, she heard Lyall shouting from below. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but she detected a note of urgency in his voice. Glancing to one side, she saw smoke billowing from the roof’s exit. I have to end this.
She blipped her bronze layer, dropping below her adversary and then pushing off again, to try and come up behind him. If she could damage his cloak’s mechanism and give herself a decisive advantage, then maybe he would be more inclined to reason. He appeared to read her intentions and swivelled in the air, holding out his staff in a defensive posture. Her staff met his with a crack that reverberated across the rooftop. Before he could respond, she shifted her grip and followed up with a succession of strikes. The Keltar was driven backwards and descended, landing on the platform with a slight stumble.
He backed up and as he did so, Keris could see that he was getting near the parapet. She touched down and advanced towards him. There was an acrid tinge of smoke in the air. “Don’t be a fool,” she cried out. “Come with us and let us explain what we have found.”
She saw the side of his mouth quirk into a half smile. He feinted to her left and then shifted position, coming at her from the right. The diamond blade moved in a vicious arc, aimed at her head. Keris pulled back as the staff sliced through the air in front of her face. Swinging low with her own staff, she took the man’s legs out from under him. The youth went down again, spr
awling on the hard stone.
He rose to a crouch, opened his cloak and sprang upwards. A massive detonation. The ancient tower rocked and the platform beneath Keris’ feet swayed slightly. The young Keltar instinctively shifted the direction of his flight away from the blast. Too late, the expression on his face registered his fatal mistake. He snapped open the bronze layer of his flying cloak in an effort to brake, but his forward momentum carried him out over the edge of the parapet.
Keris was running towards the youth across the stone roof . “Nooo!” She threw herself down at the parapet, hand outstretched, fingers extended into empty space in a futile attempt to grab him. The only lodestone this high up was the roof itself, which at the angle he was at, would only serve to push him further away. She could only watch in horror as he began to fall backwards, down the face of the tower, cloak fluttering uselessly in the wind. The image shrank rapidly, and in a moment was gone.
Keris sagged against the parapet in defeat. As she did so, the first large raindrops splashed against her head and against the stone. Lyall walked up to her as she lay there, with Alondo and Shann behind him and Boxx behind them, bobbing up and down like a child that was trying to get a better view.
Lyall looked down at her, his blue eyes seeming to acknowledge the depth of her pain and frustration. He extended a hand to help her up. “Let’s get out of here.”
~
The rain was falling in parallel streaks, pattering against the stone. Lyall stood at the roof exit, ripping up pieces of cloth and handing them around. He offered one to Boxx, but the Chandara only looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Soak these with rainwater and hold them over your mouth. Breathe through them.” He looked at each of them in turn.. “As we descend, keep close to the outer wall and try to keep low to the ground. Stay close together and above all, whatever happens, don’t panic.”