Chapter 7: The Sunstone
Leila sat in the dark, sheltered underneath a low, leafy shrub as the rain poured down around her.
Lightning flashed, and through the roar of the deluge she could discern voices, and see lit torches moving about like giant, horrid fireflies. The glow from the tips lighting up the forest. She knew that getting away from her dogged persuers last time hadn't been dumb luck, someone had helped her - was helping her - and that thought comforted her somewhat. But she also understood that to count on some unseen helper to ensure that she survived would be foolish.
The torches dimmed into the surrounding foliage. The voices quietened. Leila breathed again.
Anywhere else in the world and she would have been freezing right now, but the mix of adrenaline and the warm temperature here, wherever here was, was more than enough to keep her warm. Now she just needed to find a way back.
Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew a soggy sheet of paper. Writing, now blurred by the rain, covered it's surface. The activator.
"Dammit." She quietly cursed, wondering how she had been so stupid. How many times had she heard her Aunt tell her about exactly this situation? How many times she had been warned about being careless? But, she reasoned, she'd never seen an activator before, not in the flesh. It was a simple mistake which she'd just have to deal with and hopefully rectify when - and if - she had the chance.
Suddenly the voices returned, but were fewer. She could discern that there were just two of them now, and they were sweeping the forest for her with urgency.
Leila gently folded the parchment and put it back in her pocket, if the stories her aunt had told her were correct, she would need it later when she found her way back into the city she had escaped from. The city back across the desert. Running here had been an act of desperation. She had used up time and energy in the escape, and hiding in the town would have been much more effective. But the town was foreign, and she needed somewhere to think without the risk of being caught.
It had happened so quickly. One second she was in the city, the next she had stepped onto the sunstone and had been deplaced, arriving here at what seemed to have been the exact moment the stone had finished being carved. In actual fact, she was hit in the face by a small chip of rock as the stonesmith took the final stroke.
Looking around in the few seconds she had to do so, she saw that where she had appeared was some kind of official building with rich red, yellow and green fabrics hanging on the smooth, mudbrick walls.
The stonesmith, an elderly, scrawny man in a green tunic, had fallen back off his seat with shock. Having a girl in bizarre clothing materialize on top of your masterwork un-announced was clearly not common practice in this city, and naturally he had yelled out in shock. The guards were prompt, but Leila was quick, and darting out a back-door, she ran through what seemed a maze of small houses, through dusty, cobblestone streets and through empty marketplaces until she came to the edge of the city and had no choice but take to the desert. Had it been midday she would have baked to death on the scorching sands, but the sun had set, and she ran until her lungs couldn't carry her further, then kept running anyway.
A flash of lightning woke her from her reverie, and as she snapped back to the present she heard a loud noise like a gigantic bone snapping.
Strange ... she thought.
The sweeping torchlights grew nearer, the voices louder. They would find her if she stayed here, so she thought quickly about which way she would run, took a deep breath, and stood up. The moment she did so, the light washed over her and the guards' heads snapped around, then they advanced, spears raised and faces serious while yelling words at her in a strange language.
Another loud cracking sound filled the air. The rain pounded onto her forehead as she turned her face skyward, drawn by a strange sense that something was moving above her. The guards were poised to attack, but just then something happened. Another flash of lightning illuminated the canopy, and as Leila watched it appeared the sky itself was falling.
With a roar like nothing Leila had heard before, she fell back against the trunk of a massive tree behind her and watched as the canopy came crashing down in a blur of black. The guards glancing up for a split second before their startled yells were muffled by a gigantic tree branch and vines pounding into the forest floor.
For a moment Leila couldn't move, frozen with shock by what she had just witnessed. Then she smelled smoke.
The giant tree-limb lying before her had been struck by lightning and the flames on the ruptured bark were dying in the downpour, leaving a cloud of smoke dissipating into the sweet forest air once again.
She shook herself, glanced around and saw nobody, then doubled back, through the thick foliage, across the small stretch of grass to the desert between the forest and the city, where she would now have to go if she ever wanted to get home, and back to her own time again. Her lungs heaved as she ran, but as tired as she was, she knew that stopping would leave her exhausted and unable to continue. Better to press on and use the rain's cooling drops to give her energy until she couldn't take another step.
Soon enough, in the distance firelight twinkled from beyond the sand. She would work out how to get out of this place, but first she just had to concentrate on the glittering cityscape that lay beyond the desert before her.
* * *
Brandon stood on the tower's uppermost balcony, staring at the glittering cityscape that lay beyong the sea before him.
"Quite something, isn't it?" Ninian said, enjoying the reaction from Brandon with a smirk.
Lizebeth stepped forward and looked Brandon right in the eyes. "Brandon, I must apologise to you. There is so much we wanted - needed - to teach you before this. But we are running out of time, and unfortunately-"
"Unfortunately we're wasting more of it now." Ninian snapped, "the guild is onto us and they'll figure out a way to get in here soon enough, and then we really will be in trouble, oh yes."
"I'm aware of the situation, Ninian." She said, and then Lizebeth was silent for a moment, as if turning something over in her head, before she turned to Brandon and continued. "But we had to show you this now. To prepare you for what needs to be done."
"What n-n-needs to be done?" Brandon asked, feeling a little nervous.
Lizebeth went on, "As I told you before, the city you see before you over the ocean is one of three, hidden in ancient times by the ten greatest concealers ever to walk this Earth. At the request of one of the ancient kings, ten men and women were selected, ten extraordinary people with incredible gifts, and those ten people shrouded the three cities from the rest of the world. It was the single most incredible feat performed by man, in my honest opinion."
She closed her eyes now, as if she were seeing what happened.
Perhaps she is, thought Brandon, still unsure of what her abilities could do.
Lizebeth continued, "The seers saw what needed to be done, the concealers performed their task, and the marvels covered up all traces of it in the minds of those living in that time. The trappers … well let's just say there were disagreements at the time, and they were almost eliminated in the ensuing war. But it ended in the Seers' favour. The war was won, the cities were hidden, and since those times each generation of concealers has maintained the protective cloak around them and kept them in obscurity." She paused as if considering not to say the next few words.
She closed her eyes now, as if she were seeing what happened.
Perhaps she is, thought Brandon, still unsure of what her abilities could do.
Lizebeth continued, "The seers saw what needed to be done, the concealers performed their task, and the marvels covered up all traces of it in the minds of those living in that time. The trappers … well let's just say there were disagreements at the time, and they were almost eliminated in the ensuing war. But it ended in the Seers' favour. The war was won, the cities were hidden, and since those times each generation of concealers has maintained the protective cloak around them and kept them in obscurity." She paused as if considering not to say the next few words.
"So why n-not just let the city stay hidden."
This seemed to be the question she had been waiting for. "If it were that easy there would be no problem." was the answer. Then, with an unusually caring smile Lizabeth explained, "But the problem is that the sheild is ... well cracking, I suppose would be the word." Her face then turned a little more serious. "And we have nobody to repair it."
Brandon glanced to the city hovering, surreal and indescribably beautiful in the clouds.
"You can't see it, nincompoop!" Ninian blasted, knocking Brandon on the side with his cane. Brandon's painful protest was lost as Lizebeth continued.
"The good news is that we can prevent the protection from failing, but we need you to help us." She said. "Here in this library, we are safe for a time, and in this library we must school you, teach you to use your ability the best you can."
Brandon nodded, excited and scared, and still not quite sure if everything so far had been a dream. "How long will it t-take?" he asked.
"One night." Lizebeth answered, "It will take one night, because we only have one night."
"Come along come along!" Ninian then said irritably, "that's enough history for now. Actions, not words!" he cried, and with that, the three of them left the sunlit rooftop, the secret lookout, and descended back into the hatch and into the library, leaving the city glowing like fire in the sunrise.
* * *
Fire glowed in a torch mounted to the wall of a kitchen as the noise of thousands of excited voices and hurried footsteps filled the air. Leila crouched in the shadows and struggled to keep herself together. The smell of meat, corn, and woodsmoke wofted from the windows and was unbearable. She was almost considering the scraps of food lying here and there in the muddy ground around her, but remained as focused as she could, watching the activity ahead of her.
Shifting slightly, she slipped a little in the smooth clay under her feet. The rain had stopped a while ago but the ground had by no means dried up again.
Something was happening in the city tonight. As torchlight lit the streets people wandered in droves towards some central destination not far away, adults, children, guards with their spears and even some animals, llamas and pigs, were caught in the flow.
They were dressed in what must have been local finery, ladies in beautiful soft cloth robes and tunics, jewellery draped across necks, around arms, and hanging from ears. Colourful garments everywhere. It would have been a beautiful sight if the circumstances had been better, but hunger, fatigue, anxiousness, and the damp clothes hanging off her were chilling her to the bone now that the night had become cooler and killing any aspect of appreciation she might have had for it.
The flow of people began to ebb, and Leila moved.
Stealing across a street and then a large, empty square with a single tree at the center, she made her way towards what appeared to be a cluster of dwellings in the darkness. Mud brick walls, thatched roofs and wandering animals surrounded her as she carefully slipped through the alleys and streets, and entered one of the houses to find just what she was looking for.
The fabric was rough once the tunic was hanging on her shoulders, but it was dry, and she immediately felt warmer when she had at last pulled her wet socks off and stepped into the pair of leather sandals sitting near the door. Then, gathering her belongings, it was back into the streets, with not a moment to lose. She had to get to the stonesmith's hut, back on the other side of the city, right where the mass of people had moved to.
First she found a torch, and heaping her old clothes into a pile, she set them on fire - to risk them being discovered and altering something would be foolish. Then she found a clean patch of the clay and covered her arms, face and legs with the cold, smooth mud. In the daytime this trick wouldn't have worked, but at night the thin coating could be mistaken for dark skin, if she was careful and avoided being caught in too much torchlight it would get her where she needed to go unnoticed.
Soon enough, Leila reached the crowd, but before she came in sight of them she could hear yelling, drums beating, and people cheering in unison.
A festival perhaps? She thought.
Moving closer to the building, one or two people glanced her way, but her disguise seemed to have worked, and they soon turned back to whatever they were all looking at.
The stonesmith's building was right ahead. She snuck into the doorway.
The light from her phone blinked on once again, and she swept the room for the sunstone. There were the tools, right where she had seen them before, and the chips from the carved rock still on the floor. But on the pedestal where the sunstone had been, there was nothing.
Nothing. She thought, defeatedly. All this way, for nothing.
She was going to be stuck here, in this time and this place, stuck here until she could find it.
Just then a chorus of cheers and yells suddenly erupted outside, and Leila edged to the window to see what was happening. From this vantage point she had a pretty good view of the space outside, and she could now see that directly across the square there sat a tall, stepped pyramid with a steep stairway leading up it's front. At the base, thousands of the city's citizens crowded around, and at the very top on a platform overlooking the city, Leila could see more official looking people dressed in feathery garments, guards by the masses, and a woman in a long, flowing gown standing patiently, all waiting for something.
Leila soon saw what it was, as a group of men emerged from the doorway behind these officials carrying something. It looked like a table, and must have been heavy, as it took six of them to carry it. They set it down in between the important looking woman, and a man in a large tunic with a staff, and stood back.
There was silence as the man held up a hand. He waited for a moment, then in a deep voice yelled to the crowd "¡Ima sumaq llaqta!" to a roaring response.
While the cheering continued, the officials began to tilt the table, and at this moment the sun broke the horizon behind them all, and the next moment the top of the temple blazed with bright golden sunlight. Now Leila could suddenly see that the table the officials were holding was not a table at all in fact, but the beautifully carved, round sunstone.
Leila's brow furrowed. "That's a problem…" She said to herself, and the crowd's cheers muffled her next word.
Luke Davidson
April 17, 2010 at 10:02 PM
Nice work me/James/Dale! (I'm being cryptic so Brenton and co won't be able to tell from our comments who wrote this chapter.) ;)
I think my favourite parts that you/I/we wrote were the sections with Leila - you/we/I did a great job with the descriptions as usual, making it very easily to visualise. And some interesting revelations to boot! (I think I'm being slightly less generous in my praise because I feel arrogant when I add the I to the I/we/you statements. lol)
PS. I'm liking the development of Leila's character and how she contrasts to Brandon. :)