David Gemmell - Wolf in Shadow

Soulstones.

Donna Taybard's life was to flow on Abaddon's Sip-strassi, and her soul would enhance its power. Ruth's anger became fury.

A shimmering glow began in the corner of her study and she turned as the image of Karitas blossomed. She relaxed momentarily as he approached smiling, but suddenly his hands became talons, his face demonic.

He lunged. . but Ruth's fury had not ebbed and in an instant her hands came up, white tire streaming from her fingertips. The demon screamed and burned. The form of Karitas became a mottled, scaled grey under the heat of Ruth's anger, and the beast within writhed and died.

The stench of decay filled the room and Ruth staggered back. Windows appeared all around her and a clean breeze swept the room. She sensed the presence of Pendarric and the king appeared, dressed in a black tunic with a single silver star at one shoulder.

'I see you have learnt how to kill, my Lady.'

Ruth sat down, staring at her hands. 'It was instinctive.'

'Like Shannow?'

'I need no lessons at this time.'

'The beast was not Karitas. It was summoned from a gateway by a great force and you had no choice but to kill it. That does not negate what you are, Ruth.'

She smiled and shook her head. 'Had I truly the courage of my belief, I would have let it kill me.'

'Perhaps. But then evil would have the victory.'

'Why are you here, Pendarric?'

'Only to help you, Lady. My powers in this world are limited to words — a punishment for wreaking havoc during my time here, maybe. But you have power, and you must use it.'

'I will not kill again. Ever.'

'That is your choice, but you can end the dream of Abaddon without taking life. The Sipstrassi works in two ways — it uses power and it receives power. It must be nullified.'

'How?'

'You can find the way, Ruth. It is important that you find it alone.'

'I do not need riddles.'

'It is time to know your enemy. Seek him out — then you will know.'

'Why can you not just tell me?'

'You know the answer to that, Lady. As with your students, you do not take a child and place the power of the world in his hands. You lead him, encourage him to grow, to seek his own answers -

to develop his talents.'

'I am not a student.'

'Are you not, Ruth? Trust me.'

'If I destroy my enemies, then my life's work will have been for nothing. Everything I have believed and taught to others, will have proved to be empty, devoid of truth.'

'I accept that,' said Pendarric gently, 'but only if you kill your enemies. There is another way to restore harmony, Ruth, even if it is only the harmony of the jungle.'

'And I can do that by dying?'

'It depends what manner you choose.'

Ruth's head sank. 'Leave me, Pendarric. I have much to think on.'

Lewis returned to the tunnel, summoned the elevator and stepped inside. At Level Sixteen he stopped and moved out into a wide corridor. Passing the living quarters of the field men, he saw Amaziga Archer playing with her son, Luke. She saw him and waved and he responded and walked on. He could not yet find the words to tell her that Shannow had gone — and with him the last words of her husband.

He approached Control and stood outside the steel door; it opened after several seconds and Lewis walked inside.

'You wanted me, sir?' he asked Sarento. The tall man was staring at a set of architects' plans and he nodded absently, waving his hand at a chair. Lewis sat.

'You know what these are?' said Sarento, passing the blueprints to Lewis.

He scanned them swiftly. 'No, sir.'

These are the original specifications for the Ark. In three days she will sail again.'

'I don't understand.'

'We are about to enjoy an influx of power, Lewis. With that power, to celebrate Rebirth, I shall transform the Ark for twelve hours to her original state.'

The power needed will be colossal,' said Lewis.

'Indeed it will, but we now have two hundred per cent more energy than at this time last month and it grows daily. The ship will be the last test. After that we will begin to rebuild the world, Lewis. Think of it — London, Paris, Rome all rising from the ashes of the Fall. All the technology of the old world visited upon the new, with none of the errors.'

'That is fantastic, sir. But where is the power coming from?'

'Before I answer that, let me ask you this: What do you make of Shannow?'

'I liked him. He is a strong man, and it took nerve to rescue Archer from Castlemine.'

'Indeed it did,' said Sarento, leaning back in his chair, his golden skin glowing, his eyes bright.

'And I admire him for it, make no mistake. I had hoped to save his Life — to use him — but he would have none of it.'

'He may still succeed,' said Lewis. 'I would not like him to be hunting me.'

'He will not succeed. I have alerted the Zealots and even now they are closing on him.'

'Why, sir?'

'Lewis, you are a fine soldier, a natural follower — a good man. But you are not involved in policy.

You do not have the mantle of responsibility for ensuring the survival of a lost race. I do. When I became leader two hundred and sixty years ago, how much of this. . wizardry around you existed? We lived in the caves below the Ark; we hunted for our food and we farmed, much like the other settlements to the south. But I brought Rebirth to the Guardians. I gave them purpose -

and long life, let us not forget that.'

'I don't understand what this has to do with Shannow.'

'Patience, Lewis. Archer showed the way with his records of Atlantis. The Sipstrassi was power, pure magic. But the Stones soon exhausted themselves. So how did the Atlanteans build their fabled structures? Not on tiny stones, fragments and chips. No, they had the One Stone, the Mother Stone. I searched for twelve years in the mountains, burrowing deep through hidden caverns. And I found it, Lewis — eighty tons of pure Sipstrassi, in one piece. It was the great secret of the Atlantean kings and they built a circle of stones around it, below ground. It was their high altar. Pendarric, the last of their kings, hacked a section from it and used that one broken piece to carve an empire. We will go one better. We are using it all. And now to your question, Archer.

What of Shannow?'

Sarento stood, towering over the seated Lewis. 'He plans, though unwittingly, to stop the power flowing to the Mother Stone.'

'Can he do it?'

Sarento shrugged. 'We will never know, for he will be dead within hours.'

'I asked you before where the power comes from,' repeated Lewis.

'Indeed you did, and I hope you are prepared by now for the answer. Every Hellborn soldier carries a Blood Stone and every time he kills — or even is killed — he transmits power back to the Mother Stone. When the Hellborn sacrifice their ESPers they use Sipstrassi knives, and much of the power returns to us.'

Then the Mother Stone is no longer pure?'

'Pure? Don't be a fool, Lewis! It is merely stronger. Too strong to create food, which is a drawback, but it can now fulfil our dreams.'

'It can't be right to use the foulness of the Hellborn.'

'Lewis, Lewis!' said Sarento, laying his Hand on the soldier's shoulder. 'We are the Hellborn. We created them from the dreams of the madman Welby. We gave him power, we gave him primitive guns and he is ours, though he does not know it.'

Lewis's mouth was suddenly dry. 'But what of the deaths?'

Sarento sat down on the edge of the desk. 'You think it doesn't grieve me? But our duty to the future is to keep alive the civilization of the past.

'You must try to understand that, Lewis. We can only keep our dreams alive for a short time in this vacuum of a colony. One natural disaster — or a plague — and it could all be wiped out. The past must be made to live again out there in the new world — cities, laws, books, hospitals, theatres. Culture, Lewis. . and technology. And even the stars. For what science could not achieve, surely magic can.'