The Adventures of Benjamin Skyhammer (25 page)

Only now as he ran, blindly following the boy through the alleys and streets of the moonlit city, did he allow himself to wonder exactly what the Byndari were trying to hide. Spark had hit upon something quite important to them. So important that she was killed for knowing it. Killed for trying it share it with the rest of the world. Something to do with the ceremony, if she was the one who had changed Retrographs. Mute was the key now. Skyhammer kept his eyes on the boy. He had a letter from Spark. Mute must have heard Skyhammer say his name as he entered Spark's room. Smart kid. Would they ever stop running long enough for him to read it? He was thirsty. And hungry. And he missed Higgins. Now he wouldn't know if she was alive or dead. Okay, he thought, stop dwelling on the past. Focus on the positive. It's just as likely she's alive as is she's dead, and she would be the first to tell him that. Right now, we have to get back to the King. Skyhammer felt even more confused now. The Retrograph Sorcerer, Spark, was dead. So was the ceremony safe? He didn't think so. She was dead because she was attempting to expose the Byndari. They were the real threat. How, Skyhammer still didn't know. He hoped the letter would explain.

The boy stopped. They had run across a park, Skyhammer realized, and were in front of some kind of low building.

"This isn't the city wall," he whispered. "I thought you said you knew how to get us out of the city."

Mute nodded then put his finger in front of his lips. The building had the peaceful, dignified air of a temple. But it was like no temple Skyhammer had ever seen before. It was built from cacti.

The kid led him to the entrance. Skyhammer looked behind them but saw no movement.

Mute put out an arm to bar Skyhammer from entering. There was no door, just a passage leading into darkness. Skyhammer was intrigued to see how entwined the cacti grew. None of their spikes appeared to grow inside. Despite the fear of a Byndari attack, he was very curious about this temple.

"What is this place?" Skyhammer whispered.

Mute dropped his arm and wrote. "Dragon temple. Do not touch
anything
or you die. Everything covered in poison dust. Kills."

Skyhammer's jaw dropped. "Dragons?" he squeaked. Then he clamped his mouth shut. He wondered if the dragon cultists had travelled to the continents rumoured to have dragons.

The boy led him inside as night began to recede.

Skyhammer followed Mute deeper into the darkness of the dragon temple, sand shifting under his feet. The cactus walls were indeed lacking spikes on the inside. They headed to the right in what seemed to Skyhammer to be a very large circle. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed that the walls had tiny pinpricks of light at eye and ankle height. The points were small but cast just enough light for him to see the boy ahead of him. He wondered how the cactus emitted light from inside and decided he didn't need to think about it right now.

They walked in silence for a while, passing gaping dark voids off to the left every so often. Skyhammer peered through the door-sized gaps but saw only blackness.

His mind wandered, the faint yellow light putting him into a kind of trance. Had anyone seen them come in here? The Byndari at Spark's place were quick. They could have followed them here and now have them trapped in this temple. It was a little hard to trust such a young boy. The dragons were a myth and no one had any information on them besides rare primitive art on rocks. No one talked about dragons these days. They talked about the Moksha instead. Could they be the same thing? He focused on the boy's heels ahead of him.

Should he trust this boy so much? He did work for Spark after all. Spark, who had been killed, he reminded himself, a wave of sadness washing over him. He had expected her to be beautiful still, to be bitchy and fun like when they were at the Academy. He wondered what else the boy wasn't telling him. How would Mute have found out about this exit? Was he a member of the cult?

The passageway opened up into a room. Now just the ceiling was covered in larger points of light and he could see the whole circular room, which extended about ten feet in diameter. His eyes locked on the centrepiece of the room. A huge egg rested on the sand, as if it had fallen there then tipped over. An iridescent powder covered the egg, adding to the brilliance of the shell. It looked like water, like the blue water of Pingala's warmest seas, a brilliant, soothing, ever-changing hue. Enticing.

The kid jiggled his arm and dragged him around the egg. Skyhammer couldn't tear his eyes away from it. He needed to touch it. If he just reached out his hand and dusted off some of the powder with his sleeve, surely-

The boy shoved him and Skyhammer scowled.

"Don't push me!" he hissed.

Mute pointed at the egg and waggled his finger.

Skyhammer sighed. "If I brush the powder away with my sleeve on one spot," he whispered. Just one touch. One tiny part of his brain screamed NO but the egg filled his mind; he could think of nothing but falling into that warm blueness.

The kid grabbed Skyhammer's hand and dragged him to another dark passage on the opposite side of the egg. Skyhammer allowed himself to be pulled away. He could come back without the kid now that he knew about it; no one was here anyway.

They went through the black gap, Mute pushing Skyhammer ahead of him. They walked about five steps into complete darkness. No points of light here. He yanked Skyhammer to a stop.

Skyhammer faced him the place where he thought Mute stood. A glimmer appeared on his left. The wall pulsed with green light, framing the boy.

Mute stuck his skinny arm into the wall's light, one hand still grasping Skyhammer's hand.

Skyhammer stiffened. Mute's arm had disappeared. His body was going too and dragging Skyhammer along! He baulked. He had no idea what was through there.

A faint clattering arose far behind them. He heard voices calling to one another. The Byndari? Maybe he could hide inside the spiral and kill the Byndari through surprise attacks. He tried to let go but Mute was stronger than he appeared. Skyhammer was pulled into the green light.

It was like going into the Retrograph Vault, Skyhammer discovered, like walking through thick mud. Then he stood on the other side, blinking in the light and gazing around.

"Where are we?" he asked Mute.

Chapter 25

Countdown to ceremony: 3 days

Most striking was the sky. Or lack thereof. It was more like a ceiling, very high above but close enough that Skyhammer could make out bubble-like formations. It looked, he thought, like the Deadlands. But upside down. Or, and now he squinted even more, as if they were under the Deadlands, looking up at the boulders from below.

Still staring up, he asked, "Hey kid, are we under the Deadlands?"

Chalk squeaked across the writing board. Mute marched up to him and held the board above his head with two hands. "My name not kid. My name Mute. Yes under Deadlands." He had underlined the word Mute twice.

"Are we safe?" Skyhammer turned around. A towering granite wall shot up to the ceiling. No door in sight. Although he could make out a faint green shimmering right in front of him. The door was still there. Relieved, he turned around again. A field of purple and blue flowers stretched out over rolling hills away from them. No bushes or trees grew, at least none Skyhammer could see from where he was standing. The door was some kind of portal, like the entrance to the Retrograph Vault.

"We safe," Mute scratched on his board. "They not know how get in unless dragon acolytes. They not."

"So how did you find out about it?" Skyhammer spotted a well-trodden path heading out across the fields.

Mute smiled and shrugged. "Hear a lot. When you not able speak, people assume you stupid and not understand what they talk about or you not tell anyone. Only those that seek The Eye's wisdom . . ." Tears trickled down his cheeks.

"She was your friend too, wasn't she?" Skyhammer squeezed Mute's shoulder.

Mute nodded, sobbing.

"I'm sorry that you had to see her like that."

Mute wiped the tears away, reached into his pockets and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

"Spark's letter?"

He nodded.

Skyhammer looked around then walked over to a patch of grass and sat down. Mute squatted a short distance away.

He took a deep breath, steeling himself, then read the letter.

* * *

Dearest Skyhammer,

The Byndari are closing in on me. If you get this letter then I am dead. Please take care of Mute. He is very dear to me. He is bright, as I'm sure you've already discovered.

Skyhammer, I have many regrets to write about but I'm trying to put those behind me. Let me say, however, I was wrong to run away and not tell you anything. I know it hurt you and I would do anything to take back the pain I caused you. I have no excuse, except fear.

When I discovered I could also enter the Retrograph Vault - I was so scared. No female had ever been a Keeper. I couldn't tell anyone. I was afraid that if I told someone, they would take me to the Royal Circle and experiment on me. After hearing your own stories of that experience, I vowed never to let it happen to me.

But hiding my secret from you was getting harder and harder. One day I unhooked a piece of the Retrograph Vault and tried to take it out with me. It worked but Hermit the Byndari saw me. I had to kill him, so he wouldn't tell anyone. Then I ran away.

The black box allowed me to view Retrographs from anyone, anywhere, but only recently did I discover I could move objects around in the Retrographs too - when I saw the Retrographs of the poor people who the Byndari had kidnapped and taken down to their ship deep in an ocean canyon. I saw the horrible things the Byndari did to them.

They are aliens, Skyhammer, not a Pingala species at all. Rantama, he did it too, he hurt those defenceless men and women. I'm sorry to have to tell you that. I know he is your friend.

Watching the torture, I was so shocked that I reached out to touch the woman's Retrograph and actually moved the image of her body.

The Byndari did move the Wall to their ship, briefly. They forced the woman to help them interpret the panels. That's how I saw the Wall before they changed it to display what your drawings show. The Wall really shows that the ceremony will remove all magic from Pingala.

You're probably wondering why I didn't tell anyone earlier, why I just flipped Wall drawings in Retrographs. But they are everywhere, Skyhammer - the Byndari have ears everywhere. I feared they'd take me too, down to their watery ship, to their cruel instruments.

But they found out anyway and they'll be here, maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Now it's too late for me to do anything. Fear kept me from saving magic.

Despite the pain I caused you, please do one last thing for me. Stop the Byndari. If magic disappears from Pingala, Floatilla will fall. The human race could go extinct. You can't let that happen. I know you won't. Unlike me, you are fearless.

I have always loved you.

Spark.

* * *

Skyhammer rested his chin on his knees. His heart soared. She
had
loved him. She had just been scared. He frowned. She had been scared and Floatilla would crash, the hundreds of thousands of people living there would die, if he didn't stop it. But only three days remained. He jumped up.

"Mute, we need to to get moving. Fast. Do you know where the exit is?" He'd focus on the task at hand and deal with the emotions later.

Mute pointed down the dirt path.

"No, I meant where does the exit out of here go?"

"Somewhere in Quasianti," Mute wrote.

"Excellent then, let's go."

Mute's stomach rumbled loud enough for Skyhammer to hear.

"This is where my pack would've come in handy. Can we eat any of these plants or drink the water? If there is any?" Skyhammer strode off down the path, Mute beside him.

"Not eat or drink here. No water. Plants poisonous."

"It's daylight now. How long will it take to get to the other side?"

Mute shrugged. "A day? Not really sure."

A day without water. They'd be exhausted at the other end. But they had no option. If the Byndari were lurking in the dragon temple, Skyhammer couldn't go back there anyway. The Byndari might even stumble on the entrance to this place. He increased his pace. How was Higgins? Was Jessup taking care of her? She had been so weak and white when he'd left her. He missed her smile, her laugh. She wouldn't have left her pack behind. He sighed.

Time moved like a slug. The scenery never changed. Off to the right and left of the path, the fields just went on and on, no end in sight. It was the same in front and soon the granite wall through which they had arrived disappeared behind them. They were alone in a field of flowers, only the path to lead them through. No wind and no animals. The only sound their footfalls.

So the Byndari were aliens. Even his friend, Rantama. Skyhammer found it hard to reconcile his image of Rantama with that of an alien torturing humans. Rantama the Byndari was a consummate actor. Hadn't Skyhammer figured that out last time he was at the Academy? What information did the Byndari need so badly that they had to torture humans? Or maybe Rantama had been forced by other Byndari. He hoped for that, in his heart.

The presence of magic must be an issue for the Byndari somehow. Skyhammer tried to imagine a world without magic. A world where he would be the equal of any human, accepted as normal. He wanted it, wanted that to happen. Then he thought of Higgins and her joy in magic. He wanted her to be happy. A twinge of discomfort pricked him. A tiny part of him existed that wanted no human to possess magic. Then they could all see what it was like to be magic-less, to be sub-human. He imagined all the humans in Floatilla forced to live on the ground. For a moment, the thought made him feel good. Then he felt appalled - thousands people would have to die for that wish to come true. He couldn't let that happen. Spark's last request must be fulfilled.