Azra of the Burning Sands (Genesis Project) (9 page)

Fatty fell backwards, as the snake let go and slithered back.

Shorty, quivering a little, brought his sword down on his companion’s foot, cutting it off. The man cried out in pain, but didn’t seem to be dying from the venom as the other men had.

He might still bleed out though,
Kia thought.

Kia darted out the door, and the snake followed. Fatty pushed himself out of the way away, with Shorty’s help. The Raiders, wide eyed, watched Kia leave, but didn’t try to stop her. Shorty seemed more concerned with stopping Fatty’s bleeding.

That would be just fine for Kia.

‘You don’t think I know how thinly stretched we are in our war, or that our enemies will take advantage of this? I know! But what would you have me do? This is my daughter!’

-King Hadrian Minna, to his war council, concerning the planned attack on the Raider’s fortress

K
ia had struggled to stay out of sight for some time. The Raiders were combing the fortress, but it was huge, and many passages didn’t even have the glowing crystals. It was as if the Raiders themselves hadn’t even known everything about this place.

Kia stopped for a moment and pulled out the map. Looking at it carefully, she got her bearings and took off down the hallway again. The snake was still following her, but seemed content to let her move freely, so long as no one tried to lay their hands on her.

The fortress seemed empty.

It unsettled her.

Following the route on the map, she kept going deeper and deeper. She had no way of knowing where she was, but she felt she was probably far underground by this point. The walls had become less and less smooth as she descended.

Kia came across an old rusted iron door. She pushed on it lightly, and it didn’t budge. Making sure it wasn’t locked, she leaned against it and pushed hard. It opened slowly, grinding and screeching on long unused hinges.

In a moment Kia found herself in what looked to be a cave, with passages branching in every direction.

The map hadn’t shown
this
.

Kia walked slowly around the room, thinking hard. She
didn’t
want to go back to the fortress, but being lost in a cave system didn’t seem like a good way to end her adventure either.

She was still mulling over how to decide when she heard the snake hiss behind her.

She turned around, and froze. The Sorcerer, Shakla, knelt in the doorway, the black snake crawling up his extended arm, and coiling itself around his shoulders.

Pointing at one of the passages, Shakla said, ‘That’sss the one that leadsss to freedom.’

Kia didn’t move. She tightened her grip on the sword, but didn’t lift it into a fighting stance.

‘Why would you tell me that?’ she asked, warily.

‘I’m letting you go,’ Shakla said, his features twisting into his version of a grin.

‘I heard what you told my Uncle. You won’t let me go,’ Kia countered. Her muscled began to tense as she prepared to run. The black snake raised its head off of Shakla’s shoulders and looked at her.

‘Your Uncle will be too concerned with your sssaftey to be usssfull if I keep you here. We’ve already ssseen that thessse Raidersss aren’t the bessst of hossstsss.’ Shakla reached up and placed a free hand on the snake, letting out a soft hiss. Then he said, looking at Kia, ‘Ssso I will let you go.’

Kia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She took a cautious steep backward. ‘But if I’m not here, my Uncle won’t do
anything
for you.’

Shakla, looking at his snake and raised one hand towards Kia. The end of his finger flashed, and Kia felt her breath leave her suddenly. She fought for breath, her chest moving heavily as she tried to draw in air, but none came.

She began to shake and fell to her knees. He lungs began to burn.

The snake uncoiled itself from Shakla, and slithered to floor, towards her. Kia felt a pain in her chest. She felt the snake coil itself around her leg. Suddenly she found air again. She inhaled great gasping breaths, and fell to the ground. Her head hurt and she was shaking.

‘I ssstole your breath from your lungsss. I asssure you, the pain will sssubssside. My Mahgic will heal you just asss quickly asss it could kill you.’

Kia didn’t bother looking up. She just lay there, breathing heavily, waiting for the pain to stop. She was covered in a cold sweat.

‘In anssswer to your quessstion, I have decided that Amahl’sss sssugessstion wasss not without merit. The sssnake will ensssure your uncle’sss loyalty. If he defiesss my will, it will kill you. If he triesss to remove or kill the snake, it will kill you. If anyone touchesss you, it will kill
them,’
Shakla said, his voice twisting with malice. ‘It will keep you alive, and be the caussse of your demissse if he crosssesss me.’

The Sorcerer turned to leave, walking slowly out of the cave. He stopped at the door.

‘I would limit your joyful reunion when you get back. The sssnake
will
kill all who
touches
you. I wasss not making an idle threat. Your isssolation will ssserve asss an extra incentive to Asssra. You will be alone, even though you are sssurrounded by friendsss and family. Now go,’ he said dismissively, and continued walking away.

Kia lay on the ground in silence for some time. When her breathing steadied, she got up. She pulled one of the glowing crystals off the wall, prying it off with the sword, and started down the passageway the Sorcerer had indicated.

She felt numb, but was happy to be gone out of this place. The snake uncoiled from her leg and slithered along next to her. She tried not to look at it.

‘It’s not just the heat of the desert... ancient stories say that long, long ago, there were parts of the desert that actually burned, great pillars of fire spewing into the air, creating tails of inky, black, smoke... the burning sands...’

-Azra, teaching his apprentice, Jahnyz

SALLOCK – BAZRA DESERT – HALLI CONTINENT

A
zra walked quickly through the dusty, stone, streets of Sallock, working his way to the great library. Sallock was built around the grand tower, with main streets coming away from it like the spokes of a wheel, eventually terminating at the wall. At the four cardinal points, the city had the
other
four grand structures, those being The Great Library, the Vault, the Observatory, and the University.

Azra had been to each of them – as had
all
Mahgic users on the planet Antia.

Almost all of them
, Azra thought to himself, thinking of Shakla.

The mystery of this Sorcerer’s goals and appearance on this closed world still plagued Azra, but the thought of his Niece in the Sorcerer’s possession demanded his immediate attention.

He hoped
that
would be solved soon, and that she had managed to use the map to her advantage.

Azra’s trip to the library was as much to answer his questions about Shakla’s goals as it was to keep Kia safe.

He came up to the doors of the library. The building wasn’t the largest building in Sallock, nor was it the grandest, but it was probably the most valuable. Not because of the building itself – its stone walls and drab grey pillars weren’t particularly valuable. It didn’t even have windows. All in all, the building was rather plain. Among the exotic creations of the Wyzards who lived in Sallock, it seemed rather boring. Its immense value came from what it contained.

As a result, it was one of Azra’s favourite buildings in Sallock. It stood in contrast to the architectural impossibilities, with no merit or purpose, which stood all around it.

Azra pushed open the tall, arched, wooden, doors of the library and took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the light. The inside of the building was larger than the outside suggested – supernaturally so. The Library had been constructed by the Zhakim when they built Sallock. They’d also built the Vault, the Observatory, the Tower, and the University. The important parts of Sallock had been built long before the cataclysm that had claimed the Zhakim Empire.

As most information on them had been lost when their Empire collapsed, no one was really sure how the Zhakim had managed make the insides bigger than the outside. It was the only one of the five buildings constructed by the Zhakim in Sallock to have this feature. None of the other buildings had the same properties.

Of course, when one wandered the halls of the Library, one could be forgiven for thinking there were two buildings like that.

Azra looked around the lobby. People in robes could be seen between rows of books. There weren’t as many as Azra had been expecting, but that suited him just fine.

He didn’t much feel like talking to anyone anyway.

Azra walked to the wall next to the door, and reached into a cubbyhole cut into the stone. He pulled out a small, metal, ring. It could fit in his hand, but he couldn’t stretch his fingers across it from side to side.

He held the ring in his hand, and lifted it closer to his face.

‘Azra Hemnoth,’ he said.

The ring began to vibrate in his hand, and then it began to twist and turn. Finally, it floated up, out of Azra’s hand. Suddenly, it wasn’t just one ring, but a
series
of rings all linked together to form one ring. They began to detach from each other, and turning around within the space of the largest ring. Soon it was moving so fast as to be a translucent ball. It floated in the air next to Azra. The space inside the rings glowed with a faint, golden, light.

‘Find me any books mentioning the Nehhom,’ Azra told the floating ball.

The light in the ball flashed red, then an emotionless voice said, ‘Specify: Nehhom. Term not in index.’

Azra sighed, ‘Nehhom... an aquatic race that supposedly came to Antia three thousand yehvs ago.’

The ball flashed red again, saying, ‘No mention of aquatic races in index.’

‘What about really big fish?’

The ball flashed blue, and replied, ‘Many references to large fish exist in index. Please refine query.’

Azra ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes. He appreciated what useful tools the Seekers were, but they could be painful to operate some days. Still, he didn’t much relish the thought of attempting to navigate the library himself.

Nevertheless, they only worked if someone bothered flagging a term for the Seekers to add to the index. Many people in Sallock spent time just roaming the library and adding terms and keywords to the index as a service to the other Mahgic users.

‘Are there any historical events that occurred three thousand yehvs ago?’

The Seeker flashed blue, and said, ‘Many references found. Please refine query.’

Azra thought for a moment,
If they came to this world three thousand yehvs ago, then the question of how they got here might give me some clues to where they are now.

‘Refine the search for historical events of an astronomical nature, discounting reoccurring events such as returning comets or astrological cycles. Only look for single, non-repeating, occurrences.’

The Seeker flashed blue, and offered, ‘Two such events are listed. Each occurred within twenty yehvs of each other. Each is located approximately three thousand yehvs in the past. They are listed in one book.’

‘Good, lead me there,’ Azra smiled.

‘Follow.’

The Seeker began to move, floating along an unerringly straight line down one of the aisle of books. Azra followed after it. The other people in the library didn’t bother looking away from their own study as he walked by.

The Seeker stopped at a set of stairs and waited for Azra. When the Wyzard got close, the Seeker floated up to the next floor. Azra took the stairs, and then two more sets as the Seeker went higher and higher. He caught up with it again, and it set off down another aisle of books.

The Seeker stopped next to a shelf, and then nestled up against a book and began to glow blue. Azra walked forward and placed his fingers on the spine of the book. The Seeker moved back so he could pull it out, and then floated to where the book had been. It stopped spinning, and folded back up into a ring. It then slid itself into the spot where the book had been.

Azra walked a little ways to one of the many reading tables. He sat down and looked at the book. It was big, bound in dark brown leather – almost black – and written in a language Azra could read. It was an older form of the common language of the races in this part of the galaxy.

The book appeared to be a catalogue of astronomical phenomenon from the Observatory in the city. It was about three thousand yehvs old and contained a compiling of a hundred yehvs worth of observations. It didn’t look old though. Another one of the properties of the library was its ability to preserve and restore the books within its walls.

Azra flipped through the table of contents, looking for something that might be promising. The problem with the Seekers was they could only
find
you the book, they couldn’t
read
it for you.

Still, they did have a lot of the index information in them... I mean they found the book after all
, Azra thought.

Azra sighed. What he
really
wanted was someone to bounce things off of. Internal rumination was one thing...

‘Baron?’ a voice said behind him, and he turned to see a young man, in his early twenties, standing just to the left of the table. He was dressed in long, red and black robes, unlike any from the Kingdoms that Azra knew about. The boy was tall, handsome, with black hair that was combed neatly, and solid, red, eyes. Blue triangles of scale ran down from the bottoms of his eyes like strange tear drops and stood out on the otherwise fair skin of the Wyzard.

‘Do I know you?’ Azra asked.

The boy glanced over his shoulder and then looked back at Azra. ‘I’m here with my girlfriend.’

‘Your robes are not familiar to me. Who is your teacher?’ Azra asked.

‘The robes are of the Royal House of my lands. I am a Prince... my teacher here is Meridon.’

‘Of Hallon?’

‘He hasn’t lived there in a long time, but yes,’ the boy agreed quickly. ‘He’s not involved with the war, he-’

‘I know, boy,’ Azra said patting the air with one hand, ‘I wasn’t accusing you.’

The young man smiled. Then he stepped forward and held out a hand to Azra, who took it and shook it.

‘I’m Dykyn Rahva,’ the boy said, ‘of Paltia.’

‘Prince Dykyn Rahva of Paltia... I’ve never heard of it... or
you
,’ Azra assured.

‘I wouldn’t expect you to have... Paltia is a world
far
from here,’ Dykyn assured. ‘I didn’t mean to bother you, sir, I just wanted to... well, I heard what happened in Jarridon, and I’ve heard stories about Azra of the Burning Sands... I wanted to meet you.’

‘Well, it’s
always
nice to meet a promising, young, Wyzard, and-’

He stopped short as Jahnyz stepped up beside Dykyn. She had a book hugged to her chest and she nodded at her teacher.

‘Jahnyz?’ Azra asked. Then he grinned. ‘Jahnyz, you are
exactly
who I need right now.’

‘I
am?’
the girl wondered, and she glanced at Dykyn. ‘Erm... Dykyn and I are.’

Azra’s eyebrows shot up.
‘You’re
the
girlfriend
?’

‘You said that with such shock?’ Jahnyz frowned.

Azra moved his mouth trying to make a response, but instead turned to look at the book. ‘I need someone to bounce things off of here... Maybe you can meet up with Dykyn later.’

‘Would you mind if I stuck around?’ Dykyn asked, smiling, drawing Azra’s attention.

The Wyzard hesitated, but decided there would be no harm.

‘Yes... two heads are better than one.’

Jahnyz was still frowning, her grey eyes narrowed.

‘You’re lucky he idolizes you,’ she grumbled and set the book on the table. ‘What are you looking at?’

‘I told you about my meeting with Shakla... well, I’m looking into those Nehhom. You know.’ He looked at Dykyn. ‘You ever heard of the Nehhom?’

‘No, sir, I can’t say as I have.’

‘Hmm,’ Azra responded.

Jahnyz examined the tome Azra had on the table.

‘This is a catalogue of astronomical phenomenon from the Observatory,’ she commented.

‘Dating back, three thousand yehvs,’ Azra agreed.

‘What are you looking for precisely?’ Jahnyz asked.

‘Not sure,’ Azra responded and looked back at the contents, ignoring Jahnyz’s sigh.

‘Here,’ he said pointing at the heading, ‘planetary impacts of comets and asteroids.’

‘Why?’ Jahnyz asked.

‘I have a
feeling
it might be something worth checking,’ the Wyzard responded.

‘Astounding,’ Dykyn whispered in awe.

Azra flipped through the book and found the listings.

Two caught his eye.

‘Here,’ he said, ‘two listings look promising, one that occurred out in the ocean, and another...’ He frowned. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘I should have remembered
that.’

‘What?’ Jahnyz asked.

‘Basic history,’ Azra responded, ‘you do know, of course that the continents of Halli and Milla used to be one continent.’

‘No,’ Dykyn said.

‘Oh,’ Azra responded with a frown. Then he said, ‘The southern continent, Milla, was separated from the rest of Halli by a meteor impact some three thousand yehvs ago.’

‘Right,’ Jahnyz agreed, ‘the Dark Days of Peril.’

‘The impact crater broke the continents into two separate landmasses,’ Azra said to Dykyn, as if he was teaching in a class. ‘The fireball killed many around the impact site, and anyone in the impact area itself had been killed instantly.’

‘Obviously,’ Jahnyz sighed.

Azra ignored her and went on, ‘So much dust was thrown into the air that the planet had started to cool. The Kingdoms of that age had to come together, and, using void ships and Mahgic, they had fixed the air and prevented widespread famine and ended the long winter.’

‘Wow,’ Dykyn said, ‘I never heard that story.’

Azra cocked an eyebrow at the boy. ‘How long have you been training with Meridon?’

‘Just a month, sir,’ Dykyn responded.

‘Oh, of course, you’re quite green... anyway, after things were fixed on Antia, things went back to business as usual, except that one of the Old Kingdoms had been utterly destroyed by the impact, and a few new ones had risen on Milla.’