The Stolen Child (52 page)

“
I don't know.  Nowhere, I guess,
”
h
e said.

Closer to, just between themselves and the bridge, was a smaller platform, more like a lectern.  Like everything
else
it was made of rusted iron, seeming less like something crafted and more like it had grown from the floor.  The top spread
out like the branches of a tree,
and the base melded into the floor
just
like
roots
.  At the centre was a crystal, small enough to hold inside your palm, every facet a deep black.

“Gods but isn't it beautiful?” Manindra said, spreading his arms out to encompass the whole chamber as he strode towards the centre.

For a moment, the old man seemed content to simply revel in the magnificent decay that surrounded him.  Then his eyes settled on Justin.

“
Well my boy, shall we begin?
”
h
e said, smiling broadly.

Justin nodded.  Rachael found herself wondering if she only imagined his apparent uneasiness.

“You're going
with
her, aren't you?” Rachael s
aid
, as Justin turned towards her.  “To your Lady...
To h
er mother.”

Again that silent nod.

Arsha looked at them both with a frightened expression
.

“
I don't want to go, Rachael.  Not without you.
”

“
It's OK, Arsh.  You're going to be OK.  He'll look after you.”  She turned to give Justin a cold glare.  “He promised.”
 

“Children, my patience has its limits,” Manindra
said
.

“Sure.  Whatever,” Rachael snarled.  She turned
back
to Justin.  “So
w
hat do
we
do?”

“The
Seed,
” Justin said, nodding in the direction of the lectern like shape.  “
It's waiting for you.
”

Slowly, she
approached the lectern, looking down into the heart of the black stone as she set her hands to either side of it.  
He was right, she could feel something inside it.  A
sense of something, vivid and powerful.  Like a heartbeat.
 

Manindra
turned to look out
across the
narrow gap
.  H
is
back was turned to her, and his hands moved in front of his chest.  It took Rachael a moment to realise that he was unbuttoning his coat.  Rakesh stepped forward to take the long garment.  Calmly, without any sign of apprehension, Manindra continued to unbutton and then remove his shirt.

As the
garment
fell away, Rachael's breath caught in her throat.  The whole of Manindra's back had been covered by a single massive scar.  It was a circle, bisected by a single line.  
T
he flesh of the scar was an angry red, and she was sure that the pattern must have been burned in.  She wondered how it could possibly have happened, how painful it must have been.  The shape could only have been deliberate.

“Thank you, son,” Manindra said, gently patting Rakesh's arm as the younger man stepped to one side.

Sensing that it was her cue, she tore her eyes away from Manindra's mutilated skin and looked down at the stone again.

“
Alright,
”
she whispered, “let's see if you're listening.”
 

Almost instantly she could feel the pulsing
energy
within the stone respond, seeming to reach out to her.  She pictured a
doorway opening.  
A
flicker of light appeared over the platform in the centre of the pit.  It was only for an instant before it vanished again.  
Even that tiny flicker seemed to draw something out of her.  Suddenly her whole body felt numbed with cold.
 

“Yes.  That's it,” Manindra said, the excitement in his voice breaking through her concentration.

“I don't know where it should go,”
s
he gasped, her breath
seizing
in her throat.  She could feel herself shivering, the iron lectern under her hands barely keeping her upright as her knees shook.

“You know the place,” Justin said.  “
I
magine it, just like I
told you
.”

Her hands still shaking against the lectern, s
he closed her eyes and pictured the place he had described to her
when they had sheltered
in that burned out building, what seemed like years ago.  Open fields,
leaves
turning
golden
.  High mountain-tops in the distance.  She pictured a white horse running through the forest.  She could almost hear the hoof-beats.

Her eyes flicked open as the sound suddenly became all to
o
real.  Over the platform the shimmering haze had become a swirling storm of fallen leaves that burst apart as the head and shoulders of a sleek white stallion burst through.  Manindra threw himself to one side as the horse cantered across the narrow iron bridge
, which shook
under the creature's hooves.  It ran a circle around the chamber as everyone stared, aghast.  Nearing them once more, the creature raised its head and whinnied as its body burst into a swirling cloud of dead-leaves that scattered across the chamber floor.

She looked around and saw that the light in the chamber had taken on a faint
ly golden hue
.  The black glass above them seemed to flicker with light.  
She saw wisps of smoke rising up from deep within the chasm
.

Eyes bright with a kind of awe-struck wonder, Manindra took
one hesitant
step towards the bridge.  She saw that the old man was trembling with excitement.

“
Gods... How long have
I
waited for this?”
h
e whispered.  He almost seemed to forgotten that he was not alone.  
Rachael wondered if she only imagined the uneasiness on the faces of his guards.
 

“
Come on Arsha.  Your mother is waiting for you,” Justin said, reaching out to take the girl's hand.  When she pulled it away, he caught her by the arm instead.  Rachael could see how tight his grip was as he walked her towards the portal.  
Suddenly
Rakesh turned, drawing his sword in one smooth motion that ended with the tip of the blade hovering at Justin's throat.
 

For a moment Justin just stared at the two men, aghast.
 

“You were going somewhere?” Rakesh said, raising an eyebrow.  The old man didn't even turn to look.

“Manindra, we had a deal,” Justin
snarled
, veins standing out in his neck.

For a moment the old man said nothing, as his son regarded Justin with a cold and contemptuous glare.  Then Manindra spoke with an eerie calm.
 

“Wait until my son and I are through the gateway, then kill them all.  Leave the bodies for Rishi to find when he gets here.  Return to the Jyoti and inform Commander Korban that his work is done for now.  He is to rejoin with the rest of his forces and wait for contact from Dayaram.”

An unearthly silence followed.  Even the two guards seemed subdued
as they acknowledged their orders
, a grim silence settling on them both.  Rachael felt as if her head was swimming.  It was like someone had kicked out a stool from under her feet, and she was just waiting to hit the ground.  Then Justin broke the silence.

“
You crooked old bastard.  You swore yourself to her service.  We had a deal,” Justin roared.  Arsha recoiled, but his grip on her arm didn't falter.
 

Manindra whirled to face him.

“A deal?  What kind of deal did you imagine that was then?  
What made you think that you could dictate terms to me, boy?
”
the old man bellowed at him, a colour rising in his face.
 

“What will you do?  
Kneel before my Lady
with her daughter's blood on your hands?”
Justin spat back at the man.
 

“Which one,
my boy?
 
T
he bastard spawn, or the poor
imitation
you so nobly tried to protect?  Which of these two broken creatures should I cast at her feet as my offering?  I do not mean to return to her court a servant.  I mean to be her king.  And I will not walk into her
castle
with the child of her false lover at
my
side,”
Manindra roared, his face crimson.
 

“That's what this is?” Rachael gasped.  “This...
All this... It's
because you got turned down?  Because she chose him instead of you?”

His eyes flashed livid fury as he turned to stalk towards her.  
She took a step back, only to feel a hand clamp down on her arm, as the nearest of the guards caught her in a steely grip.  Then Manindra was upon her.  Barely seeming aware of what he was doing, the old man snatched the pistol from the holster at the guard's hip, gripping the weapon by the barrel as he smashed it into her face.
 

She reeled back, the whole room spinning end over end as red flashes of pain blurred her sight.  She felt something wet
on her cheek
.  Her arm felt numb, where the guard held her tight, not letting her fall.  Through the one eye that was not covered by a stream of blood, she saw the old man raise the pistol again.

Arsha appeared from nowhere.  She caught
Manindra's
arm with both hands.  Then
he
struck her across the face with his free
hand
and she fell to the ground.
 Justin barely caught her in time.  He dropped to one knee, easing her weight down with him, a look of outrage on his face.
 

“Do you have any idea, any idea what that man has cost me?  What he stole from me?” Manindra bellowed, spitting
out
his fury as he looked over the
three
of them.  “Can you possibly imagine what it is, to stand before the realisation of all your dreams... To stare upon the face of a goddess, to feel her loving touch, to see her eyes as she looks upon
you
... And then...
And then
to have all of that snatched
away
?  I watched from the shadows as she took him in, as she let
my own adopted son lay
his hands upon her perfect form, as she gave herself to him, utterly dec
ei
ved by his liar's tongue.  I saw
the boy I had raised over my own blood
steal from me everything I had dreamed of.  And then, when that was not enough, when even to be allowed to stand in the shadow of perfection was more than I could ask for, he tires of her love, of her perfect devotion and we are forced to flee her courts.  The most divine place you can imagine, and I was torn from it by Rishi Chandra's hands.  And after all is done that man has the gall to tell me that he has 'rescued' me.  That I should be grateful to him.  Grateful for crushing everything I have struggled for.  And you…
You mewling infant
, you
wonder
why I hate him?”

The sound of hard footsteps on the iron floors caught everyone's attention.  Eyes flickered towards the arched entrance-way, and in the shadows of the darkened tunnel three figures could be made out, approaching with swift strides.  Though barely visible in the gloom, there was enough to make out the professor's long step, Micah's pony-tail flicking out, and the shape of Ilona's c
loak
.

Manindra's guards turned to raise their rifles, but before any of them could bring a weapon to b
ear
a shot rang
out
and a blinding flash filled the darkened tunnel.  Manindra's cry of pain was loud and sharp as a crimson spray erupted from his leg.  He fell forwards and his son barely caught his arm in time to support the old man.  Rakesh looked up,
furious
, as Rishi stormed towards them
with
a smoking revolver clutched in one outstretched hand.

“You will never touch my daughter again!” Rishi roared, face twisted in fury as his voice echoed through the chamber.  Already Manindra's men had their weapons trained on him, but they were being watched
in turn
.  Micah held the lightning ballista tight, the
stock
tucked into the crook of his shoulder, one eye closed as he kept the weapon levelled.  Ilona had the other man covered, her gauntleted hand outstretched in what seemed like an almost contemptuous gesture.  
But
looking closely, Rachael could see the strain on their faces.  
There was sweat on their brows
and a nervousness in their eyes.

Gasping for breath, Manindra's face twisted into a crooked mockery of a smile.

“My lost son returns to me.”

Rishi ignored him as he went to help
his daughter up,
but Arsha fixed him with a furious glare.  He stopped, all his assuredness vanish
ing
in the face of his daughter's accusing eyes.  
She stood up, a little unsteady.
 

“
He told us what you did,
”
Arsha said.  “He told us everything.  About my mother.  About how you used Rachael to protect me.  Is it... Is it true?”
 

He was silent.  It took him a moment to meet her gaze, and when he did
Rachael
saw a sadness in his eyes that seemed as if it had been there for many years.  Like an old wound, scarred over now, but still there underneath it all.

“Yes,”
h
e said, heavily.  “It's true.”

Rachael heard the coldness in her own voice when she spoke.  

“Why me?”  Why did it have to be me?”

“It was chance.  Just chance.  I took
Arsha
to a Fateworker I knew...  Not one of the
Order,
a
shaman, from the Skivir tribes.  
I knew there was a way to
take Arsha's Fate and bind it to another.  One other person, alike enough to fool the weave of Fate, but entirely unconnected to my daughter.  What would you have done in my place?  To know that all this misery would fall upon the one person you loved more than any other... And that you had the power to take that misery away, if only you would give it to someone you had never known in your life, and never would.”