The Adventures of Benjamin Skyhammer (28 page)

Chapter 27

Countdown to ceremony: 1 hour

Skyhammer tilted his head back, almost knocking Mute on the forehead. Fortunately, the boy had leaned back to look at the same time.

"I know that voice."

Mute gripped Skyhammer's biceps, uncertain.

"I know that voice!" Skyhammer grinned and leapt off the horse, bringing Mute down as well. "Higgins! Higgins!" He jumped up and down and screamed and ran around in a circle.

The white and brown blob in the sky resolved into a hammock hanging from a cloud of Flyers. He ran towards them. Higgins slipped out of the hammock.

A smile lit her face as Skyhammer got closer. "I can't believe I'm rescuing you again, you silly man-" she began. "Oof!"

He raced up to her and lifted her up, hugging her to his chest. He never wanted to let her go. He smelled her hair, her neck and then realized she was batting him away and saying something. He put her down.

"What was
that
all about?" Her face was red.

Skyhammer stepped back to look at her. No sign of her illness, just a healthy glow and a red face because he'd squashed her.

"Higgins." He took her hand.

She went a deeper red and made as if to pull her hand from his.

"I have to say this now because-" He stopped and looked around, then shook his head. Not an appropriate place for what you have to say, his brain screamed at him. The Flyers and Mute watched them with curious eyes. And if he left right now, there was still a chance to save the people in Floatilla and Pingala's magic power. The sky darkened.

He dropped her hand. "Rescue me? I was simply waiting for you. You're late, by the way. This is Mute. Mute, Higgins." He walked over to the Flyers. "Can you take us three to the Tower? The Byndari tricked us - the ceremony will destroy Pingala's magic power, not increase it as they said. We have to get there and stop the ceremony." He looked up at Floatilla. "If magic is destroyed, Floatilla will fall and all those people will die."

The Flyers glanced at each other, horrified expressions on all their faces. With lightning speed they created a three-person hammock. Skyhammer, Mute and Higgins nestled in, Skyhammer lying in the middle where he couldn't see the ground. A few seconds later, they were airborne.

"So you found Spark."

Did he imagine the catch in Higgins' voice? He smiled, taking her hand again and this time kissing it. A bewildered look crossed her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Me? I'm great." He beamed. "So?"

"So what?"

"Your illness! What happened?"

"The Nasuchu." She told him in a few quick words about the poison found in her spear wound and how the Flyers had made an emergency trip to the Fungal Forest for a cure. "I owe them my life."

Then I owe them as well, Skyhammer thought, gripping her hand even tighter. He was so busy telling Higgins about his adventures that he didn't even feel scared by the height. When he reached the point in his story where he had found Spark dead, Higgins caught her breath and closed her eyes.

"That poor woman," she murmured. Skyhammer nodded. After a moment of silence, he continued telling her about the letter and finished recounting the tale.

"How did you get them to carry you here? They don't even carry their Queen anywhere," Skyhammer asked.

Higgins' eyes widened and she glanced up at the Flyers above. "If magic is gone. . ."

"What?"

She had learned a lot about the Flyer species while she was in Rainbowcloud, Higgins told him. "The Flyers need magic to reproduce. Their eggs are fertilized by the tree sap and it's magic that keeps the Flyers and the trees . . ." She swallowed.

"Like Floatilla." He nodded. The Flyer species would not survive. If Floatilla fell, at least there would be those few humans who didn't live in Floatilla to carry on the human species.

They sat in silence together for a while. Skyhammer wondered what magic properties the Aridizan, Nasuchu and Katipo species had that would affect their survival if he didn't stop the ceremony in time. The sky grew darker as the moon slid another step across the sun's face.

"Hey." Higgins' eyes narrowed. "What was the hand-kissing malarkey back there?"

"My dear Amanda," he said raising one eyebrow and putting his arm around her.

"Wrong again," she whispered.

He pulled her in close. "I've learned some things while you've been . . . away." A flash of pain crossed his face as he recalled how close he had come to losing her. "I've learned how important you are to me, for one." He dropped kiss on her hair.

Higgins laughed. "Oh! You've learned you love me at last."

Skyhammer's jaw dropped. "Must you always be two steps ahead of me?" he stammered.

"It's so easy," she said, chuckling, then cackled and wriggled with laughter as he tickled her in revenge. "But seriously, Spark had been in your heart for a long time. I've been waiting."

He dropped a kiss on her cheek. "Why didn't you just say?"

Higgins shrugged. "You had to get over Spark yourself. I wasn't going to force you to choose between us. And there was your magic problem."

"Problem?"

She gave him a sceptical look. "You know what I mean."

Cupping both her hands in his, he whispered, "Magic be damned. You love me as I am and even more importantly, I think I like me as I am."

Her lips felt even softer than he had imagined.

"We've arrived, Lady Higgins!" a Flyer called down to them.

Skyhammer and Higgins separated and sat up straight.

Only a sickle of sunlight lit the Kingmaker Tower below.

* * *

Countdown to ceremony: 3 minutes

Skyhammer climbed out of the hammock and stared up at the Kingmaker Tower. The pink-veined marble tower jutted up into the sky as though to pierce the heart of Floatilla looming high overhead. He shivered. It was uncomfortably close to the truth. He noticed the crowds of people on the flat plain. Jagged white peaks rose around the Tower, marching off into the distance. This high into the mountains, not many plants thrived. A ring of soldiers held the crowds back from the Tower. The Flyers had landed inside the ring.

He only had a few minutes left. If he didn't make it - he had to make it; three minutes was not enough to evacuate Floatilla and where would all the people go anyway? He had to succeed.

"Go." Higgins kissed him again, hard. "We'll be right behind you." She took Mute's hand. "Go!"

"Don't let any Byndari in." He touched her face and Mute's head briefly then took off for the small doorway at the bottom of the Tower. Before entering, he gazed up one last time. Cheering and waving black and orange flags, the residents of Floatilla waited for their King to perform the ceremony and extend magic across Pingala.

Inside, a staircase went up. No windows or balconies opened the Tower to the elements. He took the stairs two at a time. Finally, the staircase opened into a large room, lit by three floating orbs.

"Halt!"

The Queen stood on the opposite side of the chamber, close to the wall. A rim of yellow marble ringed the outside of the chamber floor while the inner section was white with rose-coloured veins. Odd. The white marble floor shifted when Skyhammer wasn't looking at it directly. Next to the Queen stood two Byndari. One of them was Rantama. Where was the King?

The Queen moved to her left. A small doorway appeared behind her.

Skyhammer advanced into the chamber. The King must have gone through that door.

"Stop!" The Queen waved her hands as she shouted. Skyhammer froze at once. "The center of the chamber on the rose-coloured veins is dangerous. If you step on a vein, it will crack open and suck you inside. Walk on the yellow marble around the edge."

Skyhammer let go of the breath he was holding. He walked around the outside, making sure he ended up next to the Byndari.

"Skyhammer! Rantama is pleased to see you." He leaned in towards Skyhammer. "Your mission was a success?"

Skyhammer's heart was torn. He didn't want to believe what Spark had said. He couldn't reply to his friend. "I need to speak to the King before this starts," he said to the Queen. "Where is he?"

She gestured to the doorway. His heart dropped. Too late. The ceremony had begun. But Floatilla hadn't crashed.

"You can't go in there. They're conducting the ceremony." The Queen looked at the staircase behind him. "You don't have the Retrograph Sorcerer with you as promised."

Skyhammer watched the two Byndari as he spoke. "I have news that affects the ceremony." He put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "The Retrograph Sorcerer is dead. At the hand of the Byndari!"

The Queen gasped. Rantama and the other Byndari glanced at each other.

"That's impossible, Skyhammer. You know the Byndari are against violence." Rantama's voice had an oddly cajoling tone. "Just stay out here and tell us what happened."

Rantama reached out a sandy white hand as though to soothe Skyhammer.

Skyhammer couldn't take a chance. His sword sliced through both Byndari. While the sand and amoebas were falling to the ground, he stepped through the doorway. "Don't trust any Byndari," he called over his shoulder. He found it hard to speak. His friend was dead and Skyhammer had killed him.

The Queen's mouth gaped open, then she began yelling for the guards.

The passageway was dark. He cursed his lack of light. He ran into a wall but didn't cry out. There was nowhere else to go. A rectangle flashed green. The wall was dense and soft, familiar. He braced himself then passed through the doorway.

When the doorway released him into a completely different location, Skyhammer was not surprised. At least this time the floor was at the same level as the one he had just left. But that was the only similar aspect.

The room in front of him was so enormous he couldn't see the other walls or the ceiling. He was no longer in the Tower, he was certain of that. Beneath his feet was a metal platform. Stairs led down to the main level below. Spaced with regularity along the wall to his left and right, copies of his platform and stairs dotted the walls until they disappeared into the darkness. Perhaps they led to other Towers? He started down the steps, eyes darting around, drinking in the sight before him.

An ordered field of enormous lanterns stretched away into the blackness below. Each lantern hung in the center of a hexagonal hole in the floor, the only sources of light in the room.

Five figures gathered around one of the lanterns. An Aridizan was shaking its finger in a human's face. He could also make out a Katipo, a Nasuchu, and a Flyer. No sign of the Byndari. The human was definitely the King. Skyhammer leapt down the rest of the steps with the intention of racing to the King's side.

The realization that the objects in the hexagons were not hanging lanterns stopped him in his tracks. He stepped close to the nearest hexagonal hole. There was a gap between the metal floor and the lantern. The gap was the length of his outstretched arms, left fingertips to right fingertips. Now he could see the lantern was a sphere, rotating. Skyhammer bent over to see what was holding it up. Nothing! The sphere floated exactly in the center of the hexagon. Its upper hemisphere reached to an inch above Skyhammer's head. Light from the sphere reflected its colours in the metal rim of the hexagon.

Leaning closer, he watched rust-red and grey clouds swirl around the spinning sphere, a sandstorm in a desert. What was the sphere for?

Time was short. He jogged over to the group consisting of three females - Nasuchu, Flyer and Katipo. The rest were males. Royalty of the other races, he supposed. How had they arrived in the human Kingmaker Tower? Where was the Byndari King? They were arguing so loudly that none of them heard his approach.

"Technology is simply a word for stronger magic." The Aridizan king let out an exasperated sigh. "That's why the Wall had no instructions on what we were supposed to do once we were in here. If the lever is on the Magic side then the only option is to pull it to the Technology side. That's what stronger magic means!"

The Flyer and the human were shaking their heads while the Katipo and Nasuchu nodded.

"Do you see any other solution?" The Aridizan turned his back on the group and noticed Skyhammer running towards them. "Who are you? Hey, human. Is this your son or something?"

The crowd of royalty looked over to Skyhammer. He bowed first to his King, then to the rest of them.

"How did you enter the Hall of Worlds?" the King asked. "This is Benjamin Skyhammer," he added for the benefit of the other royals. "He's the Keeper of the Retrograph Vault and a famous Relic hunter."

"Everyone knows Skyhammer." The Aridizan's voice was filled with disdain. "He's the one that will pay the most when the Moksha return and find their sacred Relics in the hands of collectors!"

Skyhammer rolled his eyes. "Actually, they may thank me for gathering the Relics in one place so they don't have to spend their time . . . anyway. That's not why I'm here. Hall of Worlds?"

"We've discovered that each of these spheres is a planet, a whole other world," the King explained. "Every few thousand years, the planet's residents get a chance to change their planet from location-specific magic to magic covering the whole world. The Nasuchu and Katipo queens have been kind enough to share some of their culture's knowledge with us. How did you get here?"

"Same way you came in. Kingmaker Tower. Via the Deadlands, Rainbowcloud, Endless Sands and the Fungal Forest. Not in that order." He pulled back his shoulders and lifted his chin. "My King, I have fulfilled my mission." Skyhammer cleared his throat and waited.

The King raised his eyebrows. "Well?"

"The Retrograph Sorcerer changed my Retrographs and yours in order to warn us of a plot by the Byndari to completely remove magic from Pingala," he said.

Skyhammer heard two gasps of shock and an involuntary chirp.

The Katipo queen snorted. "That's ridiculous." She adjusted the amethyst-encrusted crown on her bright red head, her only concession to her royal status.