Chenda and the Airship Brofman (31 page)

“Go!” Ahy-Me ordered, pointing up the tiny tunnel. As the other women crawled as best they could through the narrow passage, Ahy-Me used her short, powerful legs to shove loose stones over the opening they had just crawled through, blocking it. They crawled for a short while and the passageway opened up into another tunnel. Chenda and Candice could stand up there, and they waited for Ahy-Me.

When she arrived, the effort of shifting the heavy stones was apparent on her sweaty face. “Whew,” she said as she leaned against the wall. “Forgive. I rest,” she panted.

“Tell us,” Candice said. “What do we do now? Where are Verdu and Fenimore?”

“Du boys defend Pranav Erato,” Pant, pant. “He find dem and run. He see de spies and soldier come.” She tapped the side of her head. “Pranav Erato call in my head to come here. He see your mudder bring. Yes,”Ahy-Me said. “Ve go. Up.” She pointed along the passageway, and started along it, holding the lantern high. They trotted along, moving slowly upwards for several minutes. Up ahead, Chenda saw dim light.

“Are we coming to the surface?” Chenda asked.

“Shh...” Ahy-Me waved her hands at Chenda. She crept along now on tiptoe. Leaning her chest against the wall, she looked through a series of tiny holes. Curious, Chenda did the same. Through the gap, she could see down into the same glowing cave where Ahy-Me had left them to rest the day before. Soldiers filled the cavern below now. They formed a circle around a small man laying face down on the rocks. Three officers circled around the little fellow, and Chenda could hear them taunting him as they circled.

“What's going on? What are they saying?” Candice asked. She too had pressed her eye to one of the peep holes.

“Dees soldier says You say de Republic girl come to this place? Why she no here?'” Ahy-Me gasped, “De man is Taboda!” Ahy-Me hissed a Tugrulian curse. Chenda closed her eyes, feeling again that all of the lives she had touched recently had suffered, and it was all her fault. Ahy-Me listened some more and relayed what she heard. “Now day say de spies follow you from de Vest. But dey lost you ven you entered de caves, but some in de Resistance cough out. Say Pramuc comes, very soon.” She made a little growl at that information, clearly annoyed to hear that there were spies among the Resistance, the people she trusted.

A scuffle started on the far side of the chamber and the crush of soldiers parted to let another group pass to the center of the ring. The newcomers dragged a small person along with them. Chenda held her breath as she recognized her own flight coat and aeronaut boots on the limp ragdoll of a person. With a tone of gloating pride, the soldiers tossed the person in Chenda's clothes down next to Taboda, who turned his head to examine his new neighbor.

Ahy-Me spoke again. “De new soldier say dat he got you. He boasting.”

Taboda wheezed out a little laugh, which grew until one of the soldiers dragged him up by the hair.

“'Vhat so funny vile one?' des soldier say. Taboda say, 'dat not du Pramuc, dat nobody he see on de
Tjalk
. Not even Kiter nohow.'”

The soldier below holding Taboda by the hair threw the captain against the rock floor, where he giggled weakly. The soldier grabbed the impostor Chenda by the back of the coat and flipped her over, straddling her limp body. Chenda needed no translation to understand the demand the soldier was making of the pretty serving girl from the bathing pools.

“'Vere is she?'” Ahy-Me said. “De girl say, 'I know not, and I never say.'”

The boasting soldier flew into a rage and grabbed the girl by each side of her head and began smashing it on the rock floor, again and again.  Chenda saw it as a sacrilegious perversion of the holy greeting. Chenda watched in horror as the girls arms whipped around, violently spasmodic, until her delicate hands fell limply to the floor. She watched as the blood puddled around the girl's head like an expanding halo.

Chenda's knees began to shake. She was unprepared to deal with the brutality she witnessed. She crumpled against the wall behind her, pinching her eyes closed trying to stop seeing the quivering fingertips, the cracking bones, the blood. Even behind her closed eyes she could see it. She felt powerless and weak, responsible for yet another life snuffed out.

Candice grabbed Chenda under the arm and hauled her up, giving her a quick slap on the cheek. “No time to wither now,” she said in a whisper. “Run.”

The word moved through Chenda and started her feet without actually passing through her brain. Mindlessly she followed Ahy-Me as she trotted silently up the passage. They moved steadily upwards for several minutes, until they reached another small chamber.

“Oh, thank the gods!” It was Fenimore's voice. Chenda's heart leaped with hope. Waiting there, were Fenimore, Verdu and Pranav Erato. Chenda threw her arms around Fenimore and Verdu's necks, tears of relief flowing down her cheeks. They both patted her on the back at the same moment, in the same way, then kissed her on the top of the head. Even now, they worked as one.

“I was so scared for you!” she said. She stepped back from them and noticed the bloodstain on Fenimore's shirtfront, hands and sleeves. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

“The blood is not mine,” he whispered, “mostly. We just had to knuckle our way through a tight spot, but we're all going to live.”

“Looks like whoever followed us finally caught up,” Candice said. “They had Taboda, but I can honestly say what he told them about us was not given up willingly. I don't think he is going to survive this.”

Everyone stood silently, fearing Taboda's fate. Ahy-Me broke the strained silence, “Pranav Erato asks ve all join hand.” The group turned to look at the wispy man and grasped the hand of the closest person. His voice appeared in each of their heads.

I am sad that we have been discovered so soon. I must ask, Chenda, have you made your decision?

“
Yes,” she said, new resolve in her voice, “I will accept the power of the Pramuc, I will do it.”

Very well. We have a ways to go, and we will need to move quickly. We will run now to a chamber that rests below the Dia Orella. From there we will all have a role to play. Focus on your tasks alone.
Chenda felt a sensation like a cue ball slamming into a rack of billiards. Several complex thoughts shot out of Pranav Erato and scattered into the various people around the circle. The thoughts bounced around and fell into each man and woman as if they were pockets on the table. Everyone staggered back except Chenda. Pranav Erato held her hand solidly and pulled her toward a tunnel. The others, shaking their heads and blinking, followed.

As they ran along, Pranav Erato spoke with Chenda.

I've had twenty years to work out my theories on how the power will fill you. I hope that what I learned about the stones from Edison's curse will help. I believe it will be necessary for those people who helped you, stood nearest to you as you absorbed the four elements, to stand with you as you achieve your power. I think that when Edison stole the stones from the chamber above, when he stood there alone, the stones overloaded him. He absorbed only a fraction of their power, but it was all wrong within him. He was never meant to stand in the place of the Pramuc – and no one was ever meant to stand there alone. Of course, I am not totally sure, but I think it will be better if your companions are there to buffer the experience.

“But Daniel was the person closest to me when I absorbed the fire, and he's dead. Am I one man short?”

No. His body is gone, but you still carry part of him with you, do you not?

Chenda thought about it for a minute and recalled the feeling she had in Chenda's apartment, the feeling that she would always be entwined with Daniel Frent. “Will that be enough?”

We shall see.

They ran for several more minutes, until they stepped out into open air. They were on a hillside overlooking Kotal. The heat of the sun hit them like a hammer, and the city shimmered and danced as they looked through the rising waves.

Pranav Erato pointed to the largest building in the city – an imposing facade of carved marble towers topped with golden spires.
The Dia Orella.
 The glittering stone spoke of the building's age and stability. Its hugeness reminded everyone in the city that there truly is only One God, and don't you forget it.

Quickly, we need to cross over to another tunnel system. Once inside, we will run directly to the tunnel below the Chamber of Singing Stones. From there, we are all but done. GO.

He ran across several hundred yards of scrub plants and boulders, dragging Chenda along behind him. It still mystified her that, even at this rushed speed, he looked as if his arms and legs all worked independently, as if taking orders from very separate controllers.

They plunged down a tunnel and into darkness again – the blazing heat traded for the chill of deep earth. Chenda looked over her shoulder and saw her companions racing behind her. They all rushed onward, steeply downward again.

“How much longer?”

Not far now. Are you ready?

“
Not one bit,” she said.

Oh, well, I hope you can cope with the surprise of it all.

The tunnel narrowed and the sides were now rougher, looking like they had been recently excavated. The tunnel came to a sudden end. Pranav Erato looked gleeful. The culmination of a lifetime of waiting, Chenda's lifetime, was about to resolve; the Pranav was about to fulfill his purpose.

Wanna see why I don't talk? Well, not in confined spaces anyway...

“
Huh?” Chenda asked.

Pranav Erato dropped Chenda's hand and pushed her back several feet.  He cupped his hands around his mouth as he turned his hear toward the ceiling of the carved tunnel.

“Boo!” he shouted upwards. There was a resounding crack and a shower of sand and pebbles rained down into the cave. The hole above Pranav Erato was straight and smooth. He smiled at his handiwork, and took Chenda by the hand again, sending his thoughts through to her brain.

Up you go. This is where all the magic is going to happen.

Chapter 17

INVESTITURE

Pranav Erato laced his fingers together and cupped his hands to give Chenda a leg-up. It surprised her that the willowy mystic was strong enough to launch her straight up and through the hole. She landed face down on a cold, marble floor that was smooth as glass. She sat up smartly, frightened that there could be more vicious Tugrulian soldiers waiting for her, but quickly assessed that she sat alone in silence in the most beautiful room she had ever seen.

Apart from the ragged hole beside her, the floor stretched away in all directions in slick, bright marble perfection. Every few yards, a stout column of intricately carved stone rose into the air. Every inch of the 40 or so pillars around her contained row upon row of human figures, lizards, plants, fish and birds. Some columns featured giant statues of what Chenda guessed to be past Emperors. All of the images around her on the massive columns held up an intricately carved ceiling, dripping with delicately carved willow plants, flowing waterfalls and flying birds.

Gemstones accented all of the carved columns and the walls. She followed the glittering images, taking in the beauty of this chilly hall until she came to an area of the floor that opened up under a domed ceiling. In the carvings above her, perfectly formed and shimmering white, she saw tiny flakes of color: dull reds, yellows and blues. She could see they were tiny bits of pedradurite, chips of Singing Stones.

This must be the place,
she thought.

She sighed, and the sound amplified to a near roar under the dome of the Singing Stones. A bony hand pulled her away from the rotunda.

Ah, ah, ah! No starting early. Not until we are all here.
Pranav Erato smiled benignly at Chenda. Candice, Verdu and Fenimore stood behind him.

“Where's Ahy-Me?”

She stays below, in the tunnel, ready to warn us if soldiers discover our passageway. But let us not worry about what is below. Focus only on what lies ahead of us here. Pramuc, your companions know what they are to do, you now need to make ready. Have you the Great Singing Stones?

She turned to Verdu, who held the velvet bag out to her. “Yes,” she said, taking the bag and clutching it to her chest, as if it were her long lost child.

Marvelous. Put the necklace on so the stone touches your skin, then hold each of the other stones in your hands.
Chenda opened the bag and followed Pranav Erato's directions.

Take care not to speak as you assemble your companions under the dome. You will know exactly what to do as you begin. No worries.

He touched her cheek with his free hand.
Be calm, my child. You are right where you are supposed to be. You will not be alone, for those you love are near. Quickly, go.

With a small push toward the dome area, he let her go. She took a hesitant step forward, and then another. She saw Verdu reach his hand out toward her, and she took it, instinctively. He pulled her to the very center of the dome, where Candice and Fenimore waited. The three joined hands around Chenda facing away from her. They circled around her, adjusting slightly so Chenda and Candice stood back-to-back. Fenimore and Verdu settled at her left and right, their hands holding the wrist of the other. She could feel them all, so close to her, shielding her from the whole of the world, leaving her free to focus on the matter at hand.