An unexpected death
And getting closer to the rest of the universe
Chapter 24
Kallista slept until noon. She awoke with her mind still reeling with all the unanswered questions from the night before. When she entered the dining room, Deanilu handed her a steaming mug and a plate of fruit.
“Here, Thief Lady, wrap yourself around this before you start yammering. Bion and Greg went down to the dock area. They want to see if they can pick up any interesting tales before we talk strategy. Bion says you might want to look through his library while you wait. He said you might find something he missed in the older scrolls.”
Kallista nodded absently and took her food into the back room where Bion’s extensive library was housed. Although her past experiences there had often yielded interesting finds, today her confidence felt sorely inadequate.
I need to give myself a thorough mental kick in the behind, she thought. I’m no good to anyone like this.
“Well said, my dear. See if you can imagine some of those scrolls into the red room and I will assist you in your research.”
“That would be an interesting twist, wouldn’t it, pulling something real into the recesses of my own mind. Well why not, so much that seemed impossible has proven otherwise.” Kallista gathered a dozen scrolls and closed her eyes.
“Well, this opens up some interesting possibilities. I hope I can return them.” Kallista dropped the scrolls on the bed, and embraced Worrach. The embrace turned into a half-hour of much needed lovemaking. Spent and more relaxed than she had been in days, Kallista sprawled on the rumpled bed and handed Worrach a scroll before opening one herself.
“What should I look for?”
“First, discard any you cannot read and then scan the others quickly to get a sense of their content. Our task is as much intuitive as anything. Bion must feel that events recorded ages ago have some connection to what is occurring now.” Kallista started reading.
Neither made a sound for the next hour. Worrach was poring over the next to last scroll when he stiffened. “I think I have found something. Listen to this. An Elven scholar wrote it about three hundred years before the Battle of Farrow’s Pass. I always wondered how the pass got its name.”
“Meerquina Farrow was slain this day. The mage put up a valiant struggle in his ill-fated attempt to repel the ones from beyond the stars. Though he gave his life, it was not entirely in vain. He used the power locked within a dark ruby to bring destruction upon the battlements they had erected west of the hills. Several of their craft were destroyed in the ensuing maelstrom and many of the invaders were slain. Unfortunately, the effort left him unprotected and he was stricken by one of their green bolts of fire. As we braved their fire to rescue his body, we scavenged the odd map copied below from the wreckage of one of their craft. Perhaps it tells from whence they came. We will bury Meerquina in the pass he so loved and honor him by naming it for him.”
Worrach and Kallista unrolled the rest of the scroll. A finely drawn map appeared to depict some sort of star field. One near the lower left-hand corner was circled. They looked at each other.
“I wonder if we can match this to something in the ship’s navigation system. That might help us when we are ready to leave Ballicore.” Kallista re-rolled the map.
Kallista opened her eyes. She was back in Bion’s library and the scrolls were scattered across the table in front of her. She found the one with the map and replaced the others on the shelf behind her.
Bion, Greg and Deanilu were sitting at the kitchen table when she entered the room. Kallista unrolled the map while telling them how she had managed to take the scrolls into the red room.
“Hey Thief Lady, ya suppose the process works in reverse? You might have a lot more fun with that Worrach guy if he was real, if ya know what I mean.”
Kallista blushed. Deanilu’s thought mirrored one she had been very careful to shield from Worrach. She doubted if it was possible, but wasn’t ready to consider it seriously now. There were far more important things than personal freedom and pleasure to think about.
“We overheard two more captains tell stories of strange craft flying near the surface. Both saw them near the entrance to South Arm as their sailing vessels were making the turn for the Gallows. Their descriptions were of much larger and different craft than the one you fly.”
Kallista unrolled the scroll, carefully placing mugs on the corners to hold it open. “Bion, what do you think? We may be capable of flying this one ship about the surface of Ballicore, but I do not think it wise to travel beyond Ballicore’s skies without additional training and at least one of the other ships. Besides, how are we to go about finding Berek? If there are truly as many other planets as lights we see in the night sky, then the task is very intimidating.”
“I think you have another resource, perhaps the most valuable on the planet. Who besides your captured aliens knows what lies beyond the stars and remains in some form of contact? Have you thought about what must be said to enlist the aid of this mysterious Tarn? Have you forgotten that he must have come here by similar means? I would expect that he must have a fairly good understanding of technology and certainly has a vested interest in preserving the safety and privacy of Ballicore.”
Kallista nodded, slowly at first, then more vigorously as Bion continued. “What if he cannot or will not aid us?”
“Deal with that if and when it happens. It is a fool who lives beyond the day and you have never struck me as a fool, Kallista Wolfblood.”
Kallista and her companions spent the rest of the day poring over scrolls in Bion’s Library, but found little else of interest. Bion declined Kallista’s invitation to accompany them back to Tarn Estate.
“I will better serve the interests of Ballicore by staying here. I never know when some captain will make port with another scroll unearthed or traded for along a stretch of coastline just beyond where exploration was thought to cease. Who knows, I might learn the secret of travel beyond the stars before you and be waiting when you reach your destination. In any case, someone must remain behind and keep the flow of information going. You have my prayers and blessings, my young friend.”
Kallista turned quickly so her mentor wouldn’t see the welling of tears. Crying was more frightening than the idea of leaving her home world and she knew if she looked at him again she might lose any remaining self-control. She mumbled a goodbye and hurried after Greg and Deanilu.
Greg lifted off smoothly and climbed just below the thin layer of clouds. None of them had tried pushing the craft to go more than a hundred leagues per hour and Sereval had not yet shown them anything about flying beyond Ballicore. Greg advanced the control until they were moving at more than 300 leagues per hour. After ten minutes with nothing unusual happening, he turned to Kallista. “Shall we take a peek upstairs?”
“We have to start somewhere. How high do you plan to go?”
“I think we can try fifty leagues and then if that seems safe, I will double it.”
“Let’s go.”
Greg adjusted the control for manual flight and sent them upward. They shot past the clouds and sped toward the black canopy of cold white lights above them. He leveled off and reset the controls so the ship’s computer controlled navigation. All three went to the side windows and studied the nearly flawless view overhead. Nobody had ever seen the sky look so clear and forbidding.
“Wow, Thief Lady, I never saw this many stars, not even back home in the dead of winter. This is awesome. Hey Chameleon Man Let’s go higher and see what it looks like.”
Greg tore himself away from the view and resumed manual control. He ascended until they were just above 100 leagues from the surface. Their forward progress had taken them over land again and the thin layer of clouds had evaporated. They could see a very few faint spots of light far below. The sky above them was the real attraction. It seemed as though they could reach out and grab handfuls of light.
Their magic moment was abruptly shattered. Several red lights on the console began flashing as a shrill beep filled the cockpit. Greg reacted immediately, dropping into the pilot’s chair and sending them into a steep dive that sent their stomachs into near-nausea. The shrill sound ceased and he brought them back to a level flight.
“What in the name of sea lords was that all about?” Kallista swallowed several times to get the bile taste out of her mouth.
“I’m not sure. We were either on a collision course with one of the monitoring beacons or one of the other alien ships was homing in on us. In either case, we need a lot more practice before we are ready to get serious about leaving Ballicore. I think we had better hurry back to the estate.”
Half an hour later, they could see the welcome sight of the brightly lit main building in the distance. Greg landed just after midnight. After helping wheel the ship into the barn, the trio went in search of food and news.
The kitchen and dining rooms were empty. Hearing muffled sounds from the direction of Wordhin’s drawing room, they started down the hall.
“Uh-oh, Thief Lady, that sounds like big time sobbing to me.”
Kallista led her companions into the room where Wordhin, Omiden, Ozone, Simon and several of the long-term members of the estate staff were huddled around a strange crystal. Kallista noticed a distinguished looking man standing somberly by the darkened window. She turned her attention back to the group.
Ozone turned to her, his eyes red and teary. “Elspeth is dead.”
“Who…where…why…I don’t understand,” stammered Kallista. She bent over and studied the image in the crystal. Tiny images of a sobbing Berek bending over a lifeless Elspeth, blood staining the front of her tunic forced a chill over her. She slumped to the floor where a somber Simon put an arm around her for support.
“Tarn arrived a couple hours ago.” Simon pointed to the man standing by the window. “He brought the recorder with him. A member of the Loose Confederation named Marco Reedman contacted him yesterday and transmitted the picture you see before you. He said Elspeth’s death was a tragic accident that happened while she and Berek were completing a very risky attempt to heal Senbec, the planet where Berek’s uncle lives. The confederation suspects that the planet’s illness was a deliberate event, possibly an experiment by one of several groups interested in disrupting the stability established by the shadow government headquartered in COTU. Elspeth was buried on Senbec three days ago and Berek has departed for places unknown with a group of individuals known as the Lost Souls. Berek and Elspeth rescued them from the zoo in COTU and were going to try to return them to their home world.” Simon’s voice gave out as he started crying softly.
The dam of tears that Kallista had succeeded in holding at Bion’s home breached. She and Deanilu started sobbing in each other’s arms. Greg slumped down beside Ozone and buried his head in his partner’s shoulder, tears wetting the cleric’s shirt halfway to his waist.
It was nearly dawn before anyone felt like doing more than reaching for another handkerchief. Wordhin and Omiden seemed to have aged ten years overnight. Tarn had vanished during the impromptu wake.
“Come, good people. I have taken the liberty of waking the cook and having her prepare an early breakfast. Grief takes much from both the body and the soul. I expect that all of you can use something hot and filling to start you on the road to recovery.” Tarn beckoned them to follow as he left the doorway and headed back to the kitchen.
Kallista had to admit Tarn was right as she covertly studied the man over a steaming mug of tea laced with plum brandy. The crisp apple-filled cakes and syrup had taken the edge of her grief and, as she looked at the others, she thought they were having a similar reaction.
“I knew Elspeth from the time she was born. While I may not show my sadness as openly as you, it still hurts as much. I wish I had been able to prepare you more adequately for such tragic news. Unfortunately, circumstances are such that events far beyond Ballicore dictate action here and soon. Berek and Elspeth’s attempt to restore the Mana level for an entire world that was gravely ill was successful, but it cost Elspeth her life.”
Tarn paused to take a sip from his mug. “I would like to think that her death was not in vain. Most of you know little about me and how I came to your world. Like Berek, I discovered the planet where I lived for many happy years was allergic to my particular mage skills. Again, like Berek, I faced a choice; stay and eventually have the planet develop such a strong reaction to my presence that it would have to rid itself of me, or find another place to live. I chose the latter course. You might wonder why one who has lived with the benefits of advanced technology and forms of travel chose a world like Ballicore. After several years of exploration, I chanced to find your planet. As I was circling it and mapping the terrain, I fell in love with the range of mountains well west of the Tarnished Peaks. Few mountain ranges in the universe are more majestic and none exist on such a hospitable world.
“While my love for their remote and terrible beauty called me here and that is where I built my first home, that same remoteness wore upon me. I need contact with other intelligent folk, hence my building Tarn Estate and hiring Wordhin as my estate manager. I now have the best of both; time in the heights of the blue mountains where I can savor periods of beauty and solitude, alternating with time here at the estate where I can enjoy the positive energy of good people working together.”
“Kallista, I expect you and others in the room are wondering why someone with my experience and mage powers has not stepped into the current situation and offered aid. Part of my contract with the powers that be in COTU requires that I remain aloof from situations on Ballicore until certain conditions are met. I am a member of the Loose Confederation. As such, I have been kept informed of Berek’s progress after he and Elspeth left Ballicore. In fact, I was able to circumvent some of the constraints and help my friend Marco Reedman supply Berek and Elspeth with resources necessary for their travel through the universe.”
“The situation has changed. Events here on Ballicore and far across the universe free me from any constraints. I have an equal stake in the welfare and future of Ballicore. Nothing can bring Elspeth back, but I can help repair your damaged ships. I can also assist Sereval in getting all of you trained so travel beyond the skies of Ballicore is possible, and more important, I can integrate the star map on the scroll with some technology I possess, but is not installed in your craft. It will be hard, but I ask you all to get some rest. This afternoon, I will take you and the damaged craft to my home in the blue mountains.”