The Inner Circle: The Knowing (41 page)

The corridor echoed with thunderous
explosions as it collapsed around them. Ilgrin found himself
standing on the edge of a great, cavernous abyss where rooms and
corridors had stood not long prior.

‘
Come on.’ He threw
his arms around Seteal.

‘
No, I can’t!’ she
cried. ‘Just leave me.’

‘
Sorry!’ Ilgrin
shouted over the din. ‘Can’t do that.’

He tightened his grip and leapt into
the open air. Ilgrin searched for a safe place to land on the far
side of the immense space, but could only see rooms and corridors
crumbling to the screams of Elglair men and women meeting their
deaths.

Pillars and unrecognisable bits of the
structure rained down in every direction. Ilgrin did his best to
manoeuver around the worst of it, but occasionally clipped a
wingtip or was struck on the leg.

A thick white pillar tipped at such an
angle that Ilgrin was certain he’d be unable to avoid it carrying
the added burden of a second person. He beat his wings more
furiously, but knew it was too late. He grabbed Seteal around the
waist and threw her screaming into the dark. Ilgrin punched his
wings and missed the pillar by a handswidth. He snapped shut his
wings and dove sharply, arms outstretched. He grasped Seteal’s
hands and spread his wings.

‘
Do that again and
I’ll kill you,’ the woman panted furiously.

‘
At least wait until
we find somewhere to land,’ Ilgrin called back over the
wind.

‘
There.’ Seteal
pointed when a wall on the far side of the cavern loomed up ahead
of them. ‘You see that? That’s a corridor.’

‘
You’re right.’
Ilgrin adjusted the direction of his flight and a moment later the
two landed safely. This part of the dome had even fewer lanterns
remaining than the side they’d come from, but at least for now it
seemed stable. As the two made their way through gloomy corridors,
aside from an occasional shudder brought on by distant explosions,
they soon found themselves accompanied by an eerie
silence.

‘
All right, that’s
enough,’ Seteal said quietly, pulling at Ilgrin’s arm so that he
came to a stop. ‘We’re safe here for a minute. I have to find a way
out.’

‘
You mean . . .
?’

‘
Yes.’ Seteal nodded.
‘I’m going to leave my body, but I’m warning you--’ She waved a
finger beneath Ilgrin’s nose. ‘--if you so much as touch me, I’ll
know! And the last time someone tried that, this is what resulted.’
She indicated around herself at the crumbling dome.

‘
You did this?’
Ilgrin said in disbelief.

‘
Just don’t touch
me,’ Seteal repeated her warning.

‘
I hope someday
you’ll know you can trust me,’ Ilgrin said sadly.

‘
Don’t count on it.’
Seteal laid down on the floor. ‘But you’re okay.’ She gave him a
half-smile before closing her eyes and pushing into
eternity.

Ilgrin paced nervously to the rise and
fall of Seteal’s chest. The deep moaning sounds were getting closer
and the woman looked too unconscious for his liking. Still, if he
ever wanted her to trust him, he’d have to start trusting her.
Maybe all was not lost for their two peoples, Ilgrin couldn’t help
but muse. If El-i-miir’s feelings were sincere and Seteal felt that
he was 'okay,' surely other humans and silts could get along as
well.

Ilgrin looked at Seteal’s face.
It seemed like a lifetime since he’d wanted to go to Old World to
see if there was any truth to what he’d been taught about silts.
Now he realised he had to go there for an entirely different reason
. . . that was, if he managed to survive the day. After all, the
truth was, Ilgrin was neither human nor silt. Not really. And at
the same time
,
he was both. Wasn’t he obligated to take this unique
perspective and educate those who lived in ignorance?

‘
Got it.’ Seteal
opened her eyes and stood up. ‘We’re not too far from the exit, but
we’re still too deep underground. There are stairs at the end of
this corridor. Come on.’ She set off at a run.

Ilgrin followed
several strides behind, which was why he was in
a perfect position to catch her when she stumbled. Seteal’s knees
buckled as she misplaced her feet. Ilgrin swooped in to lessen the
impact.

‘
Seteal? Are you all
right?’ But the woman’s face was vacant, her eyes
glassy.

‘
Ilgrin,’ Seteal
whispered after a few drawn-out seconds. She stumbled back and hit
the wall.

‘
What’s happening?’
He asked worriedly. ‘Are you okay?’

‘
El-i-miir is here in
the dome.’ Seteal covered her mouth. ‘She came for us, but she’s
trapped back the way we came.’

‘
I have to go.’
Ilgrin turned around, but Seteal stopped him.

‘
I’m coming with
you,’ she said determinedly. ‘El-i-miir came back for us. I’m not
going to abandon her now.’

The two stared at each other for
a silent moment, each realising for the first time that they were
on the same side, united in saving the life of someone they cared
about. Ilgrin and Seteal raced back along the corridor and were
plunged into total darkness, accompanied only by the deafening
rumblings that surrounded them.

*

Far-a-mael stood in silence as he
watched the Dome of the Sixth become nothing more than a pile of
slowly melting rubble caving into an immense sinkhole. He’d been
close to the exit when the lightning struck and had wisely
abandoned the place. ‘You see now, don’t you?’ He turned to the
somewhat shorter man standing solemnly to his right.

‘
Indeed,’ Gez-reil
murmured breathlessly. ‘And you’re certain she’s
responsible?’

‘
I’m quite familiar
with her Way, my dear old friend.’ Far-a-mael nodded, glancing at
the sky where a giant black ball of cloud swirled menacingly. ‘You
and I . . .’ Far-a-mael continued. ‘We’re able to read the Ways.
Seteal . . . she is able to write them.’

‘
What do you plan to
do?’ Gez-reil’s voice shook as an entire section of the dome fell
in on itself.

‘
I will bring war to
Old World.’ Far-a-mael shrugged.

‘
I was talking about
the girl,’ Gez-reil corrected him.

‘
Seteal?’ Far-a-mael
frowned. ‘I intend to do nothing.’

‘
Nothing?’

‘
Absolutely nothing,’
Far-a-mael confirmed. ‘When she is ready, she’ll come for
me.’

‘
How can you be
certain she won’t return to Gor Narvon?’ Gez-reil
pushed.

‘
She
won’t.
’ Far-a-mael chuckled. ‘The girl’s
greatest weakness is her anger, her lust for revenge. She’ll never
let go of what happened to her. It’s quite simply a matter of time
before she comes looking for me.’

‘
I wonder where she
got those characteristics from.’ Gez-reil squeezed Far-a-mael’s
shoulder and gave him a sarcastic glance before making his way
through the mourning crowds.

‘
Perhaps she is like
me,’ Far-a-mael muttered to himself. ‘That’s how I know her every
thought.’

Far-a-mael stared at the
crumbling building. He knew Seteal was in there somewhere and he
knew she wasn’t dead. She would survive if only to seek him
out
,
and when
she did
,
he
would once again find a way to make her do his bidding. If she did
happen to die, however, it wouldn’t matter terribly. Her mere
presence had gained him the office of War Elder and no one could
take that away.

CHAPTER
Twenty-Eight

Thaw

‘
El-i-miisser.’ The
unusual sound bounced off the walls of the underground confines.
‘Miish Miish. El-i-miish?’ Seeol bounced across the wet floor and
rubbed his beak against the woman’s pale cheek. ‘It’s not sleepy
times yet.’ He squeezed her nose softly between his toes. ‘Wake up,
Miish Miish.’

Water spilled underfoot, coming
together to form small pools. The cave-in had left them trapped,
surrounded by steadily melting, icy debris. ‘El-i-miish!’ Seeol bit
her nose, but the woman’s eyes stayed shut.

Bouncing back along the ice, Seeol
found the water to have risen halfway up the length of his legs. By
human standards, it was scarcely a puddle, but such was not the
case for Seeol. Just a few moments earlier El-i-miir had been
rushing through a trembling corridor. The ground gave way and the
two fell to the level below. Now they were buried beneath
precariously balanced sheets of ice, trapped in a space no longer
than a stride in both height and width.

Between the melting masses that
composed the structure were gaps only large enough for an elf owl
to pass through, but as anxious and confused as he was, Seeol
refused to leave. A droplet splashed against his beak and he
glanced up to see where it’d come from. But the droplets were
raining down from every surface.

‘
El-i-miish.’ Seeol
alighted on El-i-miir’s chest. ‘We’ve got to find some happier
place,’ he cried. Her face had never looked more peaceful. Her pale
complexion had become the more permanent colour of those who took
the journey into death. El-i-miir’s long wet hair clung miserably
to her neck and clothing. ‘Pleases waked up,’ Seeol begged. ‘I’ll
give you a lizard. We can get the green ones! They’re
deliciousness,’ he said excitedly, noticing the hollow feeling in
his crop. ‘For Making your sake,’ the bird cursed, ‘waked up!’ He
bit her nose as hard as he could.

‘
Ouch,’ El-i-miir
moaned, her eyes opening to slits. ‘What happened?’ she gasped,
giving in immediately to shuddering fits and rubbing her arms
without any real hope of warming them.

‘
We have fallen,’
Seeol replied, his heart having come alive with joy. ‘We is trapped
but you’re a big girl so you can break us through this naughty
trap.’

‘
I’m not a big girl,’
El-i-miir uttered defensively as she sat up to examine the
situation. ‘Torrid,’ she murmured, realising their predicament.
Stumbling to her knees, El-i-miir put her weight against one of the
walls, but it wouldn’t budge.

‘
That’s silly,’ Seeol
shook his head. ‘If you pushed that one into another way, then the
other ones will crashing on top of the top of our
heads.’

‘
You’re right,’
El-i-miir replied through chattering teeth and she sat back, ‘I
wasn’t thinking.’

‘
I can go,’ Seeol
said, puffing out his feathers. ‘I can find our
friendlies.’

‘
It’s the only
way
,’ El-i-miir murmured. With a deep
rumbling sound, the building shuddered, emphasising the urgency of
their plight. ‘Hurry
,
Seeol!’

Seeol launched into the air and wove
his way through the sheets of ice. Once free, he found himself in a
small room. There was a broken desk supporting El-i-miir’s
confines. She would be safe for now.

After shooting along the length of the
corridor, Seeol landed atop a small shelf. There he froze and
tilted his head this way and that. He didn’t have the gifts of the
Elglair and he was only very small. If he was to have any hope in
finding the others, he’d have to use the gifts that came naturally
to him.

As Seeol rotated his head he was
able to piece together an image in his mind. The northernmost parts
of the dome were collapsing first, with the majority of the
commotion coming from that direction. If Ilgrin and Seteal were up
that way they’d be dead by now and seeing as though Seeol wasn’t
willing to entertain that outcome as a possibility, he set off
toward the south.

Every now and then he stopped to
listen, intent on picking up any signs of life, but Seeol found it
difficult to pinpoint the exact direction of the sounds he heard
due to the echoes bouncing about in the steadily collapsing
structure. Continuing south, he came upon a cavern whose immense
proportions disregarded him as little more than a speck of dust.
Across the great expanse, few of the corridors resumed their
original paths, having crumbled in on themselves. Finding an
opening, Seeol shot through, retracted his wings and landed
softly.

He’d heard something. There were
voices . . . back the way he’d come. Seeol flew out into the cavern
and landed on a lump of ice protruding from one of the walls. There
it was again. He flew a little higher.

‘
Seteal?’ Seeol
called.

‘
Was that Seeol?’
Ilgrin’s muffled voice enquired.

The voices came from within one of the
caved-in tunnels. Seeol flew up to the entrance. Large bricks
filled the opening, allowing only the sound of voices to travel
through the gaps in between. ‘Seteal? Ilgrin?’

‘
It
is
you,’
Seteal replied. ‘Are you with El-i-miir?’