The World of a Lesser God Ch9

9 - The Wagon1

Two more days of the very steady journey brought them most of the way across the corner of Veenor. Yane and the twins had practised both days and Yane was feeling better. She hadn’t been able to beat them again but nor had they been able to score on her and she considered that good enough. Slyne had watched them for a while but had not commented or offered to join in. Yane still looked forward to a contest with him but didn’t press it.2

As the daylight began to fade below the lead filled skies, the day’s occasional showers turned to a steady fall and they were still not within sight of Harpen.3

"We'll have to camp for the night," Yane said, riding up along side the wagon. "Not that it's going to be very pleasant in this." she wiped her hand across her sodden hair and flicked it at Slyne.4

"Time we used the wagon." Slyne replied.5

Yane turned and frowned at him. "What all of us?"6

Slyne smiled. "You don't want to be my friend any more? Don't worry it's bigger than it looks."7

They found an area by the road that had good grass and the twins tethered the animals.8

"Open the back if you would Cleo." Despite the rain dripping from his hair Slyne was grinning broadly.9

Cleo unfolded the steps and pulled down on the handle then swung the door open. Yane leaned forward and looked at the clutter in the back of the wagon; there were all sorts of boxes and packages, but room for only one person and then not laying out straight. Yane turned and looked at Slyne. He was trying to look shocked but Yane could see the smile in his eyes. "Oh dear Cleo, you didn't open the door properly, here let me try." Slyne closed the door and did something with the handle which Yane could not quite follow, then opened the door again. There was a gasp from the group.10

Yane closed her eyes and then opened them again but it made no difference. She took a step back and peered under the wagon. It looked normal but when she looked into the back of the wagon the spiral staircase was still there. Yane stared at the black stone stairway, even apart from the fact that the stone stairway could not be in the back of the wagon - there was something not quite right about the symmetry of the view.11

"I know, I know." Slyne said, as if she'd criticised him out loud. "It's the interface of the portal. I've tried everything but that's as good as it gets. Why don't you lead us down Yane? I'll bring up the rear - make sure the door’s properly closed."12

Yane looked at Slyne then nodded. She felt a brief shiver, like ice cold water dripped on her neck, as she stepped onto the stair. Then warmth surged around her; still, warm air, as thick as soup. Yane glanced back and gasped. The stair continued upward but there was a shimmering square in the stone wall that she could see the others faintly through.13

"Downward Yane - not up!" Slyne's voice seemed to come from great distance.14

Yane started downward. The light came from small squares that glowed with a cold white light, set at regular intervals on the wall. They were just like the one Slyne had used at Fairwell. Yane looked for blocks but the wall appeared to be seamless, black polished rock. Yane continued downward. There were no intersections, nor features to mark the stairway, just the lights at the same distance apart. "How much further Slyne?" Yane called over her shoulder.15

"About another ten turns, keep going Yane." Slyne called back.16

The end came suddenly, a short flat area at the foot of the stair and a wide Gothic arch. Yane stepped through and for a moment thought she was outside at night but as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could make out pillars and one wall that disappeared into the gloom. Yane turned to look at the others and gasped as Salom came down in front of a grinning Slyne. Almost as Yane saw her she seemed to realise herself and stumbled on the last step, gapping at her hands. All around her was a shinning white aura; her brown hair glowed like embers in a fire. As she put her hand on the wall to steady herself, the glow blazed out. Startled she quickly snatched it away and the air was filled with tiny motes of light that swirled for several breaths before they winked out. 17

      "I told you." Slyne chuckled.18

      "What's happened to me!" Salom gasped.19

      "Nothing, you are exactly the same - it was you that said you were nothing special."20

      The entire group was now staring at Salom. The glowing aura altered her whole appearance; she looked angelic, glowing with an ethereal radiance. Her hair seemed flecked with silver that made the red glow like a live fire.21

"Dim and dusty - dim and dusty." Slyne muttered, ignoring the gaping crowd.22

"This is some wagon you have here Slyne." Yane nodded.23

"Looks better in the light," Slyne replied, "and Salom might feel more comfortable." He went over to the first pillar and started fiddling with something.24

"We'll have a long wait for the sun." Haag said.25

"That you will," Slyne laughed. "We are twenty thousand steps below the level of the ground and forty thousand below the top of the stair – ah, got it." 26

Squares began to light along the wall and then the roof. The chamber was vast; it took Yane's breath away just looking at it stretching into the distance. The vaulted roof so high above them that it looked like the night sky, the lights like stars.27

"Welcome to my lower workshop." Slyne bowed to the group.28

"Why was I like that? What is this place?" Salom demanded, clearly more confused than the rest. Only Darg seemed more comfortable – he stood his arms spread wide and his head tipped back – like a farmer in the midst of a drought, now standing in the rain.29

"Come this way, there is food and more. Once, long ago it was the home of… others.” Slyne grimaced as if the reminder was disconcerting. “When they were gone magicians took it and after them, it was a temple - of sorts. Not a very nice place but they passed away a long time ago as well and it was deserted and shunned. Ages before the Day Wars, the people here were dust.30

There were many artefacts in theses niches." Slyne waved a hand at the wall they were walking along side. There were arched recesses, ten paces high, three wide and a pace deep in the wall. "It was very sad, I had to destroy them all - they were tainted. You spoke of black magic a few days ago near Linton, Karon; well theirs was as close as you can get, it was based on pain and sacrifice, a perversion of night and earth magic.  When I first worked here the echoes polluted everything I did and I was not sure they would be safe elsewhere” Slyne sighed, “So there was no alternative… a shame, some of them were very striking."31

"Where are we Slyne?" Yane asked quietly.32

Slyne looked over at her; he could see she was very serious. "We are in the basement of my castle - in the lowest chamber.”33

      "Slyne!!"34

      "How can I tell you when you have never heard of the place?" Slyne gestured. "When it was the magicians it was called Lightning Mountain, but they didn't build this place, they had some power but no where near that magnitude. The temple was the Sect of Warg, after them it was called, Gorgertinfell and now it is called by most, Sorcerer's Mountain. It stands on the edge of two countries, Tartarfall and Flange. Any the wiser?"35

      Yane gave him a wry grin. "Okay, how many days march from Harpen?"36

Slyne snorted. "You can't march across the sea, but if you could it would over two years, if you could full march every day without rest."37

     There was a long pause while they all tried to imagine how far away from home they suddenly were.38

     "So why is Salom glowing like that?" Yane persevered, feeling that Slyne was still being evasive. 39

     Slyne smiled at Yane. "That is two questions in one. This place was built here because it is a node of magic, the most powerful nexus on this world. Salom glows because she is a null, probably the only person alive who is impervious to magic, her glow is her protection." Slyne paused.40

    "If we can really travel distances like that in the blink of an eye - and I don't for a breath believe you - why didn't we just nip through to Harpen or Gargarfell?" Cleo asked.41

    Slyne nodded. "Good question, but I'm afraid it doesn't work like that. I have to prepare this end, that's mainly done, I have many of these niches set but then the connection has to be made from the other end. I opened one in the Larg near Saptor, we could go there but I haven't been to Harpen or anywhere in the three countries, recently, so…." Slyne gestured open-handedly. "Ah here we are."42

    Even with the lights on across the room, the far wall was no more than a dark shape in the far distance but they had now reached the end of the room. There was a vast semi-circular staircase leading to a plinth as high as a man and at least ten paces wide, it was fluted and ornate but the top was empty.43

    "It had a wonderful statue, Yazzax, Goddess of the Earth. I've been meaning to remake it, I have drawings, but there never seems to be time." Slyne laughed, although the others could see no joke.44

    "This way." Slyne led them around the bottom of the stairway, to a normal size door, almost invisible in the shadow of the stair. Inside was a long thin room that had benches with an amazing array of apparatus. "It would be best not to touch anything; some of this stuff can be very unpredictable. Through here, we’ll go up stairs, there are baths and food.45

    Slyne had opened a door in the wall, which appeared to lead back the way they had come, but Yane could see clearly the haze in the opening.46

    “So where does this one lead Slyne? Onto one of the moons?” Yane asked, putting a hand on Taag’s shoulder to make him wait.47

Slyne shook his head. “Very good Yane, you’re getting better all the time. No, just upstairs, it’s a very long climb and I have the stairs bobby trapped. You could spend the rest of your life climbing them and never reach the top.”48

    Slyne gestured and walked through the door.49

    “I just wondered.” Yane said, to no one in particular.50