Steph Bennion - Paw-Prints of the Gods

“Actually, it was Fenris who saw your daughter,” Jizo remarked. “But he could not make up his mind about what to do, so I went to Taranis and took all the credit.”

“Taranis?” asked Momus. “Who the bloody hell is he?”

“Our beloved father!” announced Jizo. “The founder of the Dhusarian Church!”

“Oh, that crappy nutcase,” mused Momus. “Isn’t he dead?”

“I did hope so,” Quirinus admitted. “Yet I’ve received a holovid that shows some of his entourage in Newbrum, preaching about some stupid prophecy of Falsafah. Would you care to comment?” he added icily, looking at Jizo.

“I object to this man’s description of our exalted priest!” she declared.

Exasperated, Quirinus opened his mouth to argue and paused. Jizo trembled, not with fear but anticipation, for her gaze had not moved from the drink in Momus’ hand. Quirinus saw her tongue again run across her lips and he smiled wryly.

“Bar steward!” he called. “A beer for our guest!”

“What?” exclaimed Momus and Jizo in unison.

“At once sir,” replied the robot.

Jizo tugged at her bonds, mesmerised by the automated bar tender as it poured a schooner of lager and deposited it before her. Condensation formed on the glass.

“Where is Ravana?” Quirinus asked her gently. “That’s all I want to know.”

“Untie my wrists,” she murmured.

“Tell me about my daughter!”

“I will tell you what I know,” replied Jizo coolly, “when my hands are free.”

Quirinus gestured to Momus to undo the bindings securing the nurse’s wrists. No sooner were her hands free when a brown blur shot towards his face and poked him squarely in the centre of his eye patch.

“Ow!” cried Quirinus. “You little piece of…!”

“That’s for being rude about Taranis,” Jizo said smartly, reaching for her beer.

“It was Momus who called him a crappy nutcase!”

“You didn’t disagree with him,” she pointed out. Putting the tumbler to her lips, she took a long, slow sip and gave a satisfied burp. “That is good beer!” she agreed, addressing Momus. She turned back to Quirinus. “Where were we?”

“I was just deciding which of your eyes to poke in return,” he grumbled.

“Be thankful I didn’t go for your good one,” she retorted, then shrieked as Quirinus snatched the drink from her hands. “Give that back!”

“Tell me about Ravana!” Quirinus roared angrily. “Or I’ll shove this where…”

“Fine!” interrupted Jizo. She gazed longingly at the drink in Quirinus’ grip and sighed. “I was rewarded for my loyalty on the night you described. I am one of a select few, chosen to guide the twelve along paths Taranis has foreseen. We did not expect to find Ravana with the archaeologists. Your daughter was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Quirinus frowned. “But the dig has something to do with it all?”

“Oh yes,” she replied. “Great things are afoot. And Ravana knows too much.”

“Where is she?” pleaded Quirinus. “What have you done with my little girl?”

“We had her brought to us,” Jizo replied simply. “Then she escaped.”

“Escaped?”

“There’s nowhere to frigging escape to on this crappy planet,” said Momus.

“Thanks,” muttered Quirinus. “You’re not helping.”

Jizo smiled and eyed the tumbler in Quirinus’ hands. “My mind needs lubrication,” she hinted. “Talking to you is such thirsty work.”

Quirinus glowered and shoved the drink back across the bar. Jizo grabbed it with both hands and took a long sip, holding the tumbler tight.

“Well?” Quirinus snapped.

“She stole a transport and crashed in the desert,” the nurse replied flatly. She grinned at Quirinus’ look of alarm. “Don’t worry! An acquaintance of ours happened to be following and Ravana is quite safe. My friends in that fancy spaceship detected their vehicle in the mountains and we know they’re on their way.”

“She’s safe!” exclaimed Quirinus. “Are you sure? Somewhere in the mountains?”

“A couple of days away. Didn’t you spot it from your own ship?”

Quirinus pursed his lips and frowned. The damaged visual scanners had left them unable to run a broad scan when the Platypus was on its final approach. Yet Jizo’s news was the first ray of light since that dark day on the Dandridge Cole . His daughter was somewhere out there and she was not alone. Quirinus slumped back in his stool and leaned against the bar, his mind buzzing with a tentative wave of relief. A thought struck him.

“You’re here in case she turns up at this depot!” he realised. “Who’s with her?”

Jizo gave him an unpleasant leer. “Now that would be telling.”

THE SHAKING OF THE TRANSPORT worked better than any alarm. Within moments, Ravana and Kedesh were out of their bunks and in the cockpit of the parked transport, frantically scrutinising the console and the rugged landscape beyond the windscreen to see what was happening. In the cabin behind, the greys picked themselves up from where they had fallen onto the floor. Artorius slept on, making Ravana wonder just what it would take to disturb the boy from his slumber.

“What was that?” she exclaimed. “Some sort of earthquake?”

“Falsafah quake,” Kedesh corrected her.

“Thraak thraak!” Nana shrieked excitedly. “Thraak thraak!”

“Fwack fwack,” agreed Stripy.

“How could you possibly tell?” retorted Ravana. She cast a puzzled stare across the readings on the console, but the transport’s basic seismic sensors were not up to pinpointing the origin of the tremor. “Arallu is on the other side of the mountains!”

“All hail the wisdom of the greys,” Kedesh intoned solemnly.

“That’s not funny,” muttered Ravana.

She countered Kedesh’s grin with a scowl and scratched the scar upon her arm, feeling tense and irritable. They had driven almost non-stop since they left Missi in the ruins of Falsafah Alpha over two Terran days ago, which as far as Ravana was concerned was way too long for five sweaty bodies to be cooped up in a vehicle of this size.

They had made good progress and by following the ancient coastal plain to the mountains had covered almost three thousand kilometres in just over fifty hours. They reached the foothills of the peaks during another long Falsafah night, whereupon the path became increasingly hazardous, leading Kedesh to call a rest until daylight returned. Ravana’s temper was starting to fray by this point and she had vehemently argued to keep going. Now it was dawn she was more grouchy than ever, for not withstanding their rude awakening, her restless sleep had been plagued by some very disturbing dreams.

“Breakfast?” asked Kedesh. She held up a carton of rice pudding liberated from the Falsafah Alpha storeroom. “There’s a tricky wicket to play today and it won’t do to step up to the crease on an empty stomach.”

Ravana frowned and returned her gaze to the view outside. During yesterday’s drive, the landscape had become noticeably darker, the red dunes pushed aside by outcrops of black volcanic rock. The breaking dawn revealed the full scale of the treacherous terrain before them. The mountains between them and Arallu were the remnants of an ancient outpouring of magma that had left behind a line of jagged peaks, running from north-east to south-west for thousands of kilometres. The stiff equatorial wind, laden with desert sand, carved crater rims and lava flows into a myriad of fantastic shapes that bore a bleak twisted beauty. Kedesh had identified a possible route through the mountains but the satellite image showed a summit peppered with huge calderas masked in dark shadows.