The Hidden Relic (The Evermen Saga, Book Two) (51 page)

64

E
LLA
breathed a sigh of relief when she found him. She had Jehral to thank; in the maze of Seranthia's streets, she never would have located the prince on her own.

Prince Ilathor was the centre of a flurry of activity, with messengers and warriors rushing up to him and then leaving as he gave them orders.

"The Alturans have captured the Imperial Palace, Your Highness," a Hazaran rider called above the din, pulling up his horse beside the prince's, "and the Tingaran High Lord, Moragon, is dead, but there is no sign of the Primate."

"They are welcome to the palace," Prince Ilathor said, "it's the Primate I'm after. He cannot be allowed to flee. This will not be over until he has been destroyed, and his evil with him. If he isn't at the palace where will he be?"

"How about the harbour?" one of the tarn leaders said. "Between the two armies, we have the city surrounded on all landward sides. They say the imperial fleet is keeping the harbour in the hands of the enemy. It is the only route of escape left."

"My prince!"

Prince Ilathor turned when he heard the cry, and then drew back in shock when he saw Jehral. "Jehral, Lord of Fire, man, you need to see a healer."

Ella rode just behind Jehral, her arms around his waist, and he was covered in blood from head to toe. A shallow wound on his neck seeped red, and he held his left arm awkwardly. Ella felt terrible asking him for help, but she had no one else to turn to.

"You need to hear what she has to say," Jehral said.

Prince Ilathor scowled. "There's a battle going on, Jehral, and I have to find…"

"Ilathor," Jehral said, and the prince's eyes widened at the use of his first name. "I know there's a battle going on. I've been at the front of it. Listen to her."

"Prince Ilathor," Ella said. "There's a statue on an island, just outside the harbour. It's called the Sentinel."

"I know what it is. What of it?" the prince demanded.

"I believe there's a great magic there, something very powerful, and our enemy is prepared to use it. I need your help. Please."

"Explain to me. I don't understand."

"I don't have time to explain. I need you to help me."

The prince tilted his head for a moment. "No," he finally said. "Jehral, you may help her, but there is too much here to do."

Ella's heart sunk.

"My prince…" Jehral began.

"Ilathor, if the Primate reaches his goal, none of what you are doing here will matter!" Ella cried.

"The Primate?" the prince asked. "You know where he is?"

"Yes," Ella cried. "That's what I'm trying to explain! He's on his way to the Sentinel. He may be there by now."

Prince Ilathor issued swift orders.

Ella breathed a sigh of relief. She just hoped they would be in time.

65

"
T
HE CRUISER
ahead, heading for the Sentinel, it is flying the Primate's flag." Sailmaster Scherlic pointed.

"Can you get closer?" Miro asked.

As if in answer, a boom sounded as one of the imperial warships fired a warning shot across the bow of the
Infinity
, a gout of water erupting from the sea as the orb exploded. Miro could see a catapult mounted on a swivel on the warship's deck.

"This is as close as I will take you," said Sailmaster Scherlic.

Miro fumed as he saw how close he was. The wide mouth of Seranthia's harbour lay in front of him, and here the Primate was, most likely fleeing the city, about to pass the Sentinel and make his escape under the protection of the imperial fleet.

Miro could see smoke rising from the city in several places. He didn't know if the Hazarans had taken the city, or if Rogan had led his men to victory, but he knew that momentous events were occurring there. Yet Miro also knew it wouldn't end until the Primate himself was taken. He couldn't miss this chance.

Miro turned to the stocky loremaster of Raj Buchalantas.

"Every house has fought in this war," Miro said. "The terror, the bloodshed; it has touched all of us. I have lost those I loved, and I have fought this enemy with every bit of strength I possess. I have sent men to their deaths, knowing that their sacrifice would save a larger number, yet knowing that it was my decision that ended their lives."

Sailmaster Scherlic looked at Miro impassively, his expression unreadable.

"Every house has fought in this war," Miro said, "except yours. House Buchalantas is neutral. That's what you say, isn't it?"

"It is not our fight," Scherlic said in his deep, accented voice.

"When does it become your fight? How do you think the Buchalanti would fare under the single rule that the Primate desires? Do you think you'll keep your much-vaunted independence?" He thrust his finger at Scherlic's chest. "We've given a lot to get to this point. More than you'll ever understand. Now it's time to make a choice, Sailmaster."

Scherlic looked out at the warships, and then back to Miro.

"The time for neutrality is past," Miro said. "This ship is a Buchalanti storm rider. Those Tingaran-made ships over there? They're just ships." Miro gestured at the glowing runes that covered the sails, the silver symbols that coated the decks of the
Infinity
. "Why have this power if you aren't prepared to use it?"

"One ship, against, what, twenty ships of the fleet?" Scherlic finally spoke.

"One Buchalanti storm rider, fighting for freedom."

Six of the Tingaran ships were coming towards them, sails unfurled as they gathered speed and attempted to head the
Infinity
off.

Sailmaster Scherlic made a choice.

"Battle stations," he called. "Run out the ballistae. Prepare to increase to ramming speed."

"Thank you," Miro said.

"Now get out of my way," Scherlic said.

The Buchalanti Sailmaster raised his voice and began to chant.

Miro was blinded by the flash of runes and the deck trembled beneath his feet, as the
Infinity
came to life.

66

P
RIMATE
Melovar Aspen stood on the wide circular base of the statue, looking up at its leg and wondering how to get in. He tilted his head back until high above he could make out where the leg bent at the knee, then even higher until he could see where the two legs met. Melovar turned back to the book of the Evermen, swiftly turning the pages in his hand.

"Try looking down, rather than up," Melovar heard a voice behind him say. Turning, the Primate saw the last person he expected to see.

Dain Barden stood watching him, the muscles in his arms tense as he stood with his legs apart and the head of his war hammer on the ground. Behind the leader of the Akari, two revenants looked on with their white-eyed gaze, silent and impassive. Melovar looked for more of the Akari but with the exception of the draugar, he and the Dain were alone.

As the Dain's words finally sunk in, Melovar looked down at the smooth stone of the Sentinel's pedestal, a single piece of marble so wide and expansive that a thousand men would not have been crowded were they to stand on it.

At the Primate's feet, directly under the statue's centre point, was a circle of runes.

"Well?" Dain Barden said. "Is it what you're looking for?"

Melovar allowed the arm that held the book to drop to his side. "I don't know," he said. "I've only been able to glean fragments of knowledge from the book."

"I gathered as much. Is it a weapon?" Barden asked.

"I don't know."

"Can you open it?"

"I can try," Melovar said. He examined the circle of runes for a moment and then flipped through the book, turning the pages one after the other.

The Primate felt his heart race when he recognised the circle of symbols on the page in front of him.

He called out in a clear voice. "
Mulara-latahn. Sunara-latahn. Sumayara-sulamara-latanara
."

The runes that had been carved into the stone, still looking as fresh as if they had just been inscribed, lit up with a slow fire of green light that travelled from one symbol to the next.

A seam appeared on the inside of the circle of runes, and Melovar heard Dain Barden draw in his breath. Then there was a grinding sound, as if one stone was moving against another, and the seam flared with a golden light.

The stone disk moved downwards, falling into a rapidly-opening hole. A moment later the grinding ceased and Dain Barden stepped forward to stand with the Primate, so that the two men were staring down into the glowing opening in the ground. As he squinted against the bright light, Melovar saw that there were stairs inside the hole, and he took a step forward.

"Wait," the Dain said, holding Melovar back with his arm. "Let me send in one of them."

Barden motioned, and one of the revenants took clumsy steps down into the opening, before disappearing down the stairway.

With a sound like the roar of forge, the golden light turned to red, and both Melovar and Barden looked away, shielding their eyes. When they looked back at the opening and the stairway revealed within, only a pile of ash stood where the draug had been.

"I don't think we're welcome here," Dain Barden said. "It's warded."

"Send in the other one," Melovar said.

The light had shifted hue back to soft yellow. The second revenant stepped forward, taking the steps down one at a time, walking for the count of twenty steps without coming to harm, and with a shrug Dain Barden followed, the Primate close on his heels.

The light seemed to come from the very walls, with no obvious source. The two men and the revenant descended only for a short way before the passage levelled out. Melovar felt both trepidation and anticipation. The battle for Seranthia was inconsequential now; it was what happened here that would determine the fate of Merralya.

At the base of the stairway there was a short corridor, tall enough that Barden didn't have to stoop and wide enough to enable the two men to walk side by side behind the revenant. The corridor was made of the same white marble as the Sentinel, smooth to touch and unblemished by runes or artwork.

"I don't know how they built this," Barden said. "Look at the walls. Those aren't blocks of marble; it's all of one piece. It doesn't even look like the floor is made of a separate piece from the walls."

"There are chambers within Stonewater like this," Melovar said, "but nothing on this scale."

Ahead, the corridor ended in another set of stairs, spiralling upwards this time. Once more, Barden sent the revenant ahead, but these twisting stairs didn't appear to be warded.

"One of the legs," the Dain said as they climbed the interminable steps, eyes carefully watching the draug ahead of them. "We'll soon be in the body. I suppose it might open up then. Why build inside a statue?"

"The Evermen work in mysterious ways," the Primate said.

"Save me your cant," Barden said. "We're somewhere ordinary men may have never set foot. The last who came this way could have been the Evermen themselves. You must be burning to know what it is."

"And wondering whether what we'll find is something that can be shared?" the Primate asked, glancing sideways at the Dain.

"You need me, Primate," Dain Barden said. "If there's another of those traps only my draug will find it."

"Just as you need me," the Primate said. "I have the knowledge, and I am the representative of the Evermen in this world. The Evermen will not allow harm to come to me."

Barden grunted as he put one foot in front of the other; the spiral stone staircase went on and on. Melovar knew that without the elixir coursing through his veins, he himself would never be able to ascend as quickly as he was. The burning fire in his blood gave him strength. The pain told him he was alive.

At the top of the stairway a steady blue light revealed a chamber beyond. The revenant emerged without pausing, while the two men followed more cautiously.

A cavernous hall opened up in front of them, so large that it must have taken up the statue's entire torso. A stone gallery, tiered with steps on the left and a low wall on the right, spread in a crescent shape ahead, a curve that followed the wall. Each tier was perhaps wide enough for five men to walk abreast, and the winding stairway they'd crested opened onto the bottom tier. Even from their low position the two men could easily see over the wall.

In unison, Primate Melovar Aspen and Dain Barden Mensk turned their heads and gasped.

67

E
VRIN'S
eyes opened weakly as he heard the sound of footsteps break the silence. Dread hit him in his chest as he realised someone had made it past the first of his wards.

Three men stood on the lowest tier of the gallery, facing the pool. No, Evrin realised: two men and a revenant. So that was how they had passed his ward.

The Primate in his white robe stood beside a huge man with wide shoulders and a narrow waist, a commanding figure in blood-splattered armour of bleached leather. The pair walked forward slowly, gazing at the shimmering pool with both lust and fear. A single drop of the essence would kill them, yet they were looking at more wealth and power in one place than any man had seen before.

As they grew closer, Evrin saw that the huge man wore the
raj hada
of a Dain of the Akari. Of all peoples to get mixed up in this war, the last Evrin had wished to see join the fight were the Akari.

"What is the oval mirror?" the Dain whispered to the Primate.

"It's a portal," Evrin spoke up, answering for him.

Both men jumped when they heard him, while the revenant showed no reaction. Evrin watched them turn to him, knowing what they saw: a broken old man, unable to stand, unable to move, lying prone across the tiers in the far corner.

"You," Melovar said. "The old pilgrim. What are you doing here?"

"Protecting the portal from men like you," Evrin said, his voice weak, but clearly audible. "Stop, please. While you can." He tried to move, but the pain was nearly too much for him, and Evrin closed his eyes momentarily.