Gorinthians (57 page)

“
Why?”
Captain Kerns demanded in a curt tone. “Why does the human race
need to be able to use their
yar
?”

“
Because
without it, you will lose your link to the planet,” Thistledown
studied Captain Kerns silently for a moment before continuing.
“Think of your
yar
as a messenger a general uses to relay messages to his
officers. In the war for continuing existence, you have to be able
to adapt to the new developments your general, the planet, is
telling you about through your
yar
. If you lose your link to the
planet, it will continue to change in one direction while humanity
moves in a different direction. The result will be that humanity
becomes extinct. Whether a plague or an environmental change
occurs, humans will be unable to adapt to it without directions
from the planet.”

“
How do you propose to use
the four from Chasel Ri’ Aven to change the rest of humanity?”
Princess Sentina asked, renewing her study of the three
youths.

“
They are
the result of an experiment started by the last members of the
Derinian Order,” Thistledown explained, also studying the youths.
“They are what we call Universal Links. They will infect every
person with which they come into physical contact, with a virus.
This virus is actually a cure, but it works the same way as a
virus. After being exposed to the Universal Links, people will go
through a period, perhaps a month or two, when they will feel odd
sensations. It will take them time to adjust to the new sensation
of using their
yar
, but after a couple of months, it will seem as natural as any
of their other senses. In addition, a connection is created with
the Universal Link that allows humans to use the planet’s
yar
through these
four.”

Lendel stared at
Thistledown in astonishment. He had infected everyone he touched
physically with the ability to use their
yar
? Cha’le and Celdic were also
staring at Thistledown in shock. The little man had obviously not
shared the details with Cha’le or Celdic before now. Princess
Sentina and Captain Kerns had both drawn back slightly from the
youths, as if they had yellow fever. Thistledown shook his head
when he saw their reactions.

“
It is not a bad thing,”
Thistledown told Captain Kerns and Sentina pointedly. “What’s more,
this is a matter of survival. If you want humanity to survive, you
are going to have to accept a little change in
yourselves.”

The two Shalilayans looked
uncomfortable with the idea, though they both stayed quiet. Captain
Kerns sat studying the tabletop in front of him with his lips
slightly pursed. “How do you propose to put every living human in
physical contact with these four?”

“
That is where you two come
in,” Thistledown nodded at Princess Sentina and Captain Kerns. “We
need to come up with a new title, something that will require all
of the citizens of the Southern Realms to meet the four Universal
Links.”

Princess Sentina and Captain
Kerns shared a dubious look with each other. Lendel guessed that
both of them found the story hard to believe. If Lendel had not
already seen enough evidence to support it, he would probably doubt
it as well.

Princess Sentina turned to
Thistledown, clearing her throat. “We will need to discuss it with
the high council before any decisions can be made regarding titles.
I assure you we will think carefully on what you have shared with
us.”

It sounded like another way
of saying ‘not a chance’ to Lendel. The princess was already rising
from her chair to signal an end to the meeting when Li quietly
entered the room, followed by the rest of their companions.
Princess Sentina recoiled slightly when she saw Morindessa enter
the room next to Ferrich. He was surprised to see Lochnar enter the
room. The silent assassin had remained invisible to his senses for
the last day of the journey to Shalilayo. Lendel could feel the
absence of his
yar
somewhere in his leg this morning. He stood slightly taller
than his daughter, Riah. The two of them towered over everyone else
in the room. Captain Kerns and the princess stared openly at Riah.
The beautiful giantess wore black trousers with a black shirt, both
garments hiding several weapons Lendel could sense with his
yar
. Her golden hair
seemed to glow with inner light, flowing over her slender shoulders
in luminous waves. Lendel knew better than to more than glance at
her with Cha’le close by. She sat in a padded chair watching him
coolly.

“
Hello, sis,” Ferrich said
to Princess Sentina good-naturedly. “I trust you’ve been
well.”

“
Tolerable,” she replied
with a smile that brought a small glimmer of beauty to her broad
face. “Plenty of scheming and intrigues to keep me
occupied.”

“
The usual amusements, I
see,” Ferrich commented wryly. He looked up at Captain Kerns. “Am I
still in trouble?”

Captain Kerns had been
watching Ferrich with a speculative glint in his eyes. “Nothing
immediate, you’re Highness. You seem to have changed in the last
week.”

“
Running for your life can
be a life-changing experience,” Ferrich said with a laugh. “I
handle confrontations a little better now.”

“
Who are all of your
friends, Ferrich?” Princess Sentina asked curiously. She still
seemed to be having difficulty taking her gaze away from Riah. Li
had moved over to sit next to Celdic.

Ferrich slapped his head.
“Forgive me; I seem to have misplaced my manners. The beautiful
lady next to me is Morindessa. She has saved my life more times
than I would care to count. The glowing lady with the strange eyes
is Riah, the lady who raised Morindessa. The tall fellow in black
is Riah’s father, Lochnar. The young lady with the distracted look
is Seranova from Laketown. She is quite the inventor. The small
Zeran woman is Jesha. The young man next to Seranova is Jalorm, a
Guardian from Chasel Ri’ Aven. Li is a student from the Tar Ri’ San
in Chasel Ri’ Aven. Everyone, this is my sister, Sentina, and
Captain Kerns.”

The small party nodded
politely as Ferrich introduced them. Captain Kerns and Princess
Sentina blinked when Ferrich told them Riah was the one who raised
Morindessa. Captain Kerns studied her speculatively, his gaze
flickering between her and Lochnar. Lochnar stared at Captain Kerns
with the same intensity he offered everyone else. Captain Kerns did
not handle the unsettling gaze noticeably better than Lendel
had.

“
And to what do we owe the
honor of this visit, brother?” Princess Sentina asked playfully. “I
do hope this is not another one of your experiments.”

“
We’ve got trouble brewing
on the horizon,” Ferrich told his sister gravely. “I know most of
you look at the Arcane Arts as an embarrassment most of the time,
but this is too important to be shoved under the bed. There is an
army moving toward the city of Chasel Ri’ Aven as we speak. There
is a good chance we will be attacked soon as well, though it may
not be an army.”

“
My agents have sent no
reports of armies on the move,” Captain Kerns interrupted. “I would
know the day after an army mobilized and began moving anywhere on
the continent.”

“
Your agents are dead,”
Thistledown told him bluntly. “Try to contact them if you want
further verification, but you will only be wasting time that you do
not really have.”

“
So you say,” Captain Kerns
said skeptically. “I think that I would be happier with a little
confirmation.”

“
I would rather be prepared
and be wrong than not be prepared at all should a serious threat
materialize, Captain,” Princess Sentina disagreed with him. “How
long would it take you to mobilize The Barracks into more than a
disorganized mob?”

“
More than twenty-four
hours,” Captain Kerns admitted reluctantly. “But the Active Guard
should be adequate for anything that can arrive at the gates before
we have time to mobilize.”

“
I wouldn’t be too sure
about that, Captain,” Thistledown suddenly vanished, appearing
behind Captain Kerns. “I am not the only one who can do this. It is
well within our enemy’s capabilities to move a large number of
people in a very short time.”

Captain Kerns spun around
when he heard Thistledown’s voice behind him, cursing under his
breath.

There was a knock at the
council room door, followed by a messenger in palace livery. He
looked at the oddly assorted group curiously before approaching
Captain Kerns.

“
You told me to inform you
immediately if we had any more attacks in the outlying villages,”
the messenger relayed quietly to Captain Kerns. “We just received
word that the village of Terna was completely wiped out. The only
evidence left behind were strange three-toed tracks.”

“
Completely wiped out?”
Captain Kerns repeated with a frown. “They haven’t done that
yet.”

“
What’s this?” Sentina
inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Captain Kerns waved the
messenger out before turning to Princess Sentina. “We have been
receiving reports of disturbances in the outlying villages for
several months. People are disappearing without a trace. Several of
the local trackers have found strange tracks in the vicinity of the
disappearances, but we still have not had an
eye-witness.”

“
I think
that we may be able to help you there,” Lendel remarked with a
glance at Lochnar. “We ran into some of these creatures to the
south of a town called North Fork. Until Lochnar killed them, I was
unable to see them with my eyes or sense them with my
yar
.”

Captain Kerns glanced at
Lochnar once more, his eyes calculating. “What did the creatures
look like after they were dead?”

“
Lizard men,” Lendel
replied. “They walked on two legs like humans, but they were scaly
and reptilian in appearance. They have three toes, with a large
claw sticking out on the middle toe. They also have a mouth full of
razor sharp teeth large enough to swallow my head in one
bite.”

“
Why were you unable to see
them?” Princess Sentina asked in puzzlement.

“
They are able to match
their resonance to the environment around them,” Thistledown
explained. “They also use a technique we call a light curtain to
bend light around themselves. It renders them invisible to the
physical eye. Like this.”

Thistledown disappeared
again, but this time he did not reappear. “The only way we could
detect them, was by using our
yar
to feel the impressions their feet were making on
the ground.” Thistledown materialized in the same place. “These are
new creatures to this world. I have never felt them here
before.”

“
New to this continent,
anyway,” Captain Kerns grunted. “It sounds like we are going to
need to do something about them soon.”

“
One more reason to
mobilize now,” Morindessa commented quietly. She was watching
Captain Kerns with a level gaze. She knew he was responsible for
the earlier attacks outside of North Fork and Lendel was sure she
still felt a strong desire to jerk his heart out. Captain Kerns
stared back at her with cold, dispassionate eyes. Her presence as a
guest obviously disturbed him.

“
We can return to the
subject of mobilizing later,” Thistledown told them briskly.
“First, we need to publicly proclaim Ferrich’s support for Sentina.
I suggest that we make the announcement at the same time that
Celdic is introduced.”

Captain Kerns slapped his
hand down on the table hard. “Who do you think you are, to come in
here giving orders the way you have been doing?” he demanded of
Thistledown angrily. “Against my better judgment, I listened to
what you had to say because you told me you were Terrance’s
brother, but this is ridiculous! You have no authority to be
commanding the Crowned Princess or her brother as if they were
stable hands!”

Almost everyone in the room
stared at Captain Kerns in shock. The small group of companions had
accepted Thistledown as the leader by default once Terrance was
gone. He was older than anyone in the room, with the possible
exception of Lochnar, and he had more knowledge than the rest of
them put together. As far as Captain Kerns knew, however, he was
just a wild-looking, half-breed human. Lendel looked to Thistledown
to see what his reaction would be. Princess Sentina was watching
the little man curiously, probably agreeing with Captain
Kerns.

“
I told Terrance that your
father would never produce a son as stubborn as himself. I have met
asses that are less stubborn than you are. In this case, I think
that they were smarter as well.”

Captain Kerns leapt out of
his seat with a snarl, his sword whipping out of its sheath in a
flash. There was a whistling noise as the sword whipped forward
toward Thistledown. Lendel was unable to follow what happened next
with his eyes. Thistledown was out of his chair like a striking
viper, kicking the sword out of Captain Kerns’ hand so hard that it
spun across the room to bounce off the far wall. As if the
broad-shouldered soldier were no more than a rag doll, Thistledown
flipped him into a complex knot that looked extremely painful.
Captain Kerns stood half-stooped and red face, gasping
painfully.