The Circle Line (11 page)

‘You said that people absorbed some of the power from the lines.’

‘Yes, it seems that people in either world can, over time, absorb a little of the magic which the lines emit, more from those few man-made lines. It doesn't affect everyone but it means that some people in your world find they are able to move things with their minds, bend spoons, think of a friend a minute before he knocks on the door. This is presence. Where the barrier between our worlds is at its thinnest people can have an impression of the world on the other side and experience what they call ghosts. These are sometimes echoes as if the sights or sounds from the other world are travelling out of a long cave, but sometimes we create the illusions to keep people away from areas that are useful or dangerous. These are the legends of abandoned haunted houses!

Only a very few people in every thousand years show any real level of power, the ability to move enormous weights with the power of the mind, the ability to manipulate fire or to heal another by just touching him. You've seen that my presence is pretty limited but I am stronger than most. Those with real ability are often recruited into the Riven as children and brain-washed. It's like a cult. But, did you ever learn about King Herod and his bid to kill the babies who might one day threaten him? Same story. Different time. If you don't join you're as good as dead. The Riven King who rules from the Rivenrok Complex, wants to eliminate anyone with any significant power so that there can be no future challenge. He wants to rule a defeated, simple population, without the power to resist his authority. So, anyone with any power, or with little or no power but rebellious tendencies like me and Hadan, who don't join the Riven, are in for a visit from one of the Riven King's generals, like our friend Ferus. The Riven are also using the lines to infiltrate your world to gather slaves. There are very few people in your world with presence and so most are easily controlled. The other thing you should know about is the prophecy as it occupies the mind of many Riven. It is said that a mighty warrior, with a legendary presence, will save us from the Riven King  The King is taking no chances, although no-one seems to know if the prophecy is true. That is the one aspect of the unknown future that persists, and the part that worries the King the most. That someday he will be challenged. Which brings us to you, Sam.’

Weewalk turned and looked directly into Sam's eyes.

‘Sam, how was it that you were able to throw that garoul off me and hurl it through a wall?'

‘What?’ said Sam, ‘That wasn't me. You did that.’

‘How did you manage to hit Ferus with such a powerful block that he staggered and lost his hold on the flame? I've not seen people who've trained for decades be able to fend off that terrible sorcerer. He's being rather cautious around you, Sam.’

‘That was you too.’ said Sam, ‘It wasn't me, I don’t know how.’

‘Show me.’ said Weewalk.

He placed a sausage on the floor, out of sight, where no-one else in the church would be able to see it

‘Move it.’ he said.

‘Weewalk, this is stupid. I can't move it.’ said Sam.

‘Try.’

‘I don't know what to do.’

‘Put your hands out towards it. Then just concentrate on it and will it to move. Roll it into the corner.’

Sam sighed and shifted so he sat cross legged, his back to the people behind him. He stretched out his arms, and splayed his fingers. He concentrated as hard as he could. He thought he might be able to feel a strange heat running up and down his spine but nothing moved. He tried harder, but nothing.

‘I can't do it.’ he said.

‘Hmm, we'll see.’ said Weewalk.

Sam slumped feeling gloomy. For a moment he thought he might have managed it, that he might be special. Then suddenly he realised something and beamed.

‘I just thought.’ he exclaimed happily ‘My grandfather. He knew!’ Sam clapped his hands, delighted. ‘He knew. He wasn't going mad, ha! He knew about Mu. When he talked about other worlds he knew.’

‘Who was he?’ asked Weewalk, ‘What was his name?’

‘Adam Hain.’ Sam said happily and a weight he hadn't realised had existed seemed to lift from his shoulders.

‘Hmm, I don’t know him’ said Weewalk. He looked across to Hadan who creased his eyebrows but shook his head.

At that point a disturbance at the other end of the church drew their attention. Two men were pushing one another and raised voices could be heard.

‘It's you bloody foreigners startin' these fires.’ one shouted, ‘It's you bloomin’ Dutchies.’

‘I ain't Dutch, you idiot, I was at school with your sister.’ roared the other and gave the other man an almighty shove.

Others pushed their way between the men and hustled them outside where shouts could still be heard.

A woman sitting nearby looked over to Sam and the others. ‘I'd best be careful if I was you. People are nervous, they say the fire's spreadin' faster than it should, starting afresh in new houses. They say foreigners, French or Dutch, most likely, been seen sending firedrops out across the roofs. My cousin swears he saw a man throwing fireballs through doors, but then my cousin likes his ale if you know what I mean. Either way I'd say it were best if strangers like you kept themselves to themselves, 'specially if you're going to stare at sausages.’ She eyed Weewalk's dress and beard at this point before turning away.

‘She has a point.’ said Weewalk quietly. ‘We do need to get away from here and we have been getting some strange looks. We might have to try to get back to the same line if it's still there. Hopefully Ferus has moved on and his attention is elsewhere and the fire may have been put out there.’

‘Where do we go after London?’ asked Hadan.

‘Hmm, good question.’ said Weewalk, ‘How about The Island of the Pelicans?’

‘Too hard to get to.’ said Hadan.

‘Yonaguni?’

‘Underwater.'

They were silent for a while.

'What about the Mermaid?’ said Hadan.

‘Good idea.’ said Weewalk. ‘We'd be safe there and old Vallalar hangs out there sometimes. It'd be good to talk to him. See what he makes of our young friend. Actually, now you say it, I seem to think that it's exactly where we need to be.’

They quietly packed up and crept around the edge of the people and their possessions. They came out of the front door to find an official looking and portly man in discussion with other men on the steps.

‘We need action, Mr Bloodworth’, said one of the men nervously as they looked at the thick pall of smoke above the roofs ahead of them. It looked like the end of the world.

‘We need firebreaks.’ said another.

‘Pish!’ said the portly man ‘A woman could piss it out.’

The other men laughed nervously, but didn't look sure.

Sam and the others skirted them carefully and made off down a side street.

Aleksy smoothed out the grey tunic he had been given to replace the dirty ragged trousers he had worn below. The world above the dark mines could not have been in starker contrast to the pits below. The high echoing halls of the Rivenrok Complex were light and clean. The people who moved around above ground, both slaves and magicians, were orderly and neat. Aleksy was still struggling to see well after so many months in near total darkness but he stared at every detail, drinking in the space and freedom. For a moment his heart felt light but then the black-robed man who had taken him from the hell beneath his feet turned to him and Aleksy's mood darkened. His situation might be better but he was no more free than he had been before. As he had got closer to the surface he had felt another mind touch his own, interested, mocking, twisted and evil. The Riven King. Aleksy had felt his mind explored by the presence and had been able to hold almost nothing back in the way that he had with Grim. The mind pressed against his own like a blind man's fingers exploring a face. It did not see every detail but it had been able to explore closely enough that it had built a pretty good picture. Aleksy shuddered.

‘You will not speak unless spoken to.’ said the black-robed man in his smooth voice. ‘You will keep this section of this level clean. You will work until you are told to stop, then you will go to the slaves' quarters on the bottom floor. You will stay there until you are summoned. You will obey any command immediately. You will be watched.’

The man tapped a finger against his temple ‘We can see you. Always. Any mistake, any attempt to do other than I have told you, will be dealt with most severely.’

The black-robed man extended an arm casually to point at a slave who was carefully sweeping a corner at the end of the corridor in which they stood. The servant suddenly froze, looking around in terror. His eyes found them at the same time as his hands flew to clutch at his head. Then with a look of startled horror he dropped to the floor, blood trickling from his ears and nose. He twitched a few times and then fell still, his eyes unseeing. He had not made a sound.

The black-robed man straightened his sleeves. ‘Your first job is to clear that up. You
will
behave.’ He strode away leaving Aleksy alone in the corridor, anger coursing through his veins and the Riven King's thoughts at the edge of his mind, amused by the futility of his emotions.

Daylight allowed Sam a better look at the City as they moved through it, trying to track back the way they had come. The narrow streets were cobbled for the most part, packed earth in places, a muddy maze of narrow alleyways and tall thin houses that leaned out over the street, almost touching in places. The streets were clogged with people on the move, not necessarily going in the same direction. They pushed wagons and carts laden with goods and sometimes animals. Men shouted information to each other about the path of the fire. Several times Sam and the others had to divert around large areas that were aflame or places where the seething mass of people had ground to a halt unable to decide which way to turn. The haze of smoke was everywhere, its smell mixing with the stink of sewage from the gutters at the side of the street where dogs, cats and rats nosed through rubbish.

After having to detour around a particularly large fire they came to a wall which seemed to run around the City. They followed it until they came to a large gate but it was locked and barred by guards. A crush of people jostled and pushed before it, shouting and screaming at the guards to open the gate to let them through. But the guards only shouted that the people should go back to fight the fire. As Sam and the others stood trying to decide which way to go the crowd pressed more tightly and Sam saw an elderly lady fall, the crowd surged over, no-one sparing her a glance. Indeed, no-one seemed even to have noticed.

‘Hey, hey!’ he shouted and fought his way through the sea of people to the place she had disappeared, pulling at arms and clothing to get through. His foot touched her before he could see her beneath him. He looked down and was just able to see her hand poking up through the crush, an elderly hand with a ring bearing a red stone. Sam pushed and pushed at the people around him until he had made a little space. As he touched the woman's hand he felt like he'd had an electric shock but he managed to grip her arm as the crowd jostled him. He was barely able to haul the woman to her feet before the crowd surged back into the gap, threatening to crush them again. With one hand under her armpit Sam shoved his way back to where Weewalk and Hadan were moving people aside to let him through.

Sam and the lady came out of the crowd like a popped cork and all but collapsed as they suddenly cleared the edge. Sam sat the woman on a nearby step and crouched down beside her. He could see that one of her eyes was already starting to blacken and swell but otherwise she seemed unhurt, although she gasped for breath.

‘Thank... thank... thank you’ she managed. ‘I am … thank you.’ She gave him a weak smile.

A man hurried over a concerned look on his face. 'Mrs MacGuffin, are you okay? Thank goodness this gentleman was there to help.'

'Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you young man. You saved my life. Here.' she slipped the ring with the red stone from her finger and held it out to Sam. 'Take it as a thank you.'

Sam smiled. 'No, honestly. I don't need anything. I'm just glad you're not too badly hurt.'

The sudden caw of a large crow sitting on a roof nearby made them all jump and turn.

Weewalk patted Sam on the shoulder. ‘I think she'll be fine. We should move.’

People were again starting to notice them and, despite Sam's actions, angry mutterings could be heard here and there. Sam stood, giving the lady a nod and a smile as he stepped back, suddenly feeling shaky and wobbly as adrenaline coursed through him. He rubbed his hand where he had touched the woman, his fingers still tingly from the strange sensation of touching her. Perhaps she had a presence, he thought. As he turned to leave Hadan whispered into his ear.

‘Now, I wonder who she is, what she will become and whether she was supposed to die today. How will tomorrow be different, now that you have saved her? Or was she always going to make it out of there?’

Sam looked at Hadan in momentary horror.

‘Not much you can do now.’ grinned Hadan. ‘You can't throw her back in. Don't worry. You did the right thing.’

Sam rubbed at his forehead, the momentary elation at his good deed quickly lost in a whirl of confusing thoughts, the end of which he could not seem to reach.