Chapter Four - The Hive, Part Three
By Peeling

Reprinted with permission.
Added 08/09/2002.

"Wake up, wizard. You have work to do." Thomas awoke to a hefty nudge in the ribs. He tried to sit up and groaned; a night spent on bare stony floor had left him feeling bruised from head to foot. He massaged his aching back for a moment, blinking tiredly into the light streaming through the cave entrance – and then the memories of the day before crashed over him.

"Tanya?" he pleaded weakly. Choth's face was expressionless as he stood over him.

"You will find her; find where your precious trinkets sent her." Choth squatted down and stared balefully at him. "You will do it soon. And you will not fail."

"Come now, Choth, she was as dear to Thomas as to you. No threat of punishment could be worse than failure itself." Tokah spoke from the shadowy recesses at the back of the cave. Choth did not reply, but eventually stood and walked away.

Thomas climbed painfully to his feet and dusted himself down, then bent and retrieved his backpack. The three artefacts were still inside, bundled hastily in linen as he had left them. He took them out, careful to place the wrapped zigzag of metal some distance away before unwrapping the others. Choth sat near the cave entrance and watched, bright sunlight and deep shadow carving every line of his body into sharp relief.

"Tanya... she mentioned seeing something in this crystal. A doorway, she said." Thomas held up the banded gemstone and peered into it, turning it this way and that. "I cannot see anything, but surely if she has been transported away..." he did not give voice to the alternative. "That must be the key. Choth, you watch over her like she was your own daughter – how was she holding it?"

Choth thought for a moment.

"I could not see the engravings as she held it to the light. They are on opposite sides, so I think she must have held it so:" he held up his thumb and forefinger. "Touching the stars."

Thomas moved so that he was bathed in the early-morning sunlight. He held up the crystal again, gripping it as Choth had described. Nothing, just smudges and flaws, all broken up in the facets of the stone. He flipped it over - and caught his breath.

"Yes! My word, she was right! A doorway – a stone doorway – and... steps, I think, leading downwards." Choth came over. Thomas held it up for him, and watched eagerly as the lugian squinted through. "Do you see it? It is very clear in the daylight; I do not think I would have seen it by candlelight though. Tanya always did have good eyes." Choth touched his arm, adjusting its position slightly, and nodded.

"Yes. But the light beyond the door, what is that?"

Thomas frowned and looked again.

"What light? I see only darkness."

Choth took the stone.

"Strange. I thought there was a light. Perhaps it was not quite aligned when you held it for me. But what does it mean?"

"I believe I know," said Tokah, emerging from the shadows. "It is a portal gem – perhaps the very first ever made. The prototype, if you will."

"A portal gem? Ah, I have read of these! In the days before the Cataclysm hunters used them to travel between places they were not attuned to; they were the pinnacle of Isparian magic. And this could be the first?" Thomas gazed through the gem again in awe, everything else forgotten in his excitement.

"A prototype, as I said. A step on the road, hence the crudity of its production." Tokah reached out for the crystal, but Choth plucked it from Thomas's fingers. Tokah frowned but said nothing.

"And the others?" Choth said. "What is their purpose?"

"Well," said Thomas, thinking feverishly. "What if magic alone were not enough to power this device? Perhaps... perhaps it required the power of lightning to function. Yes, and a channel for that power, to safely guide it." All three looked at the wrapped bundle on the floor a few feet away.

"And the bracelet?" asked Choth. "What of that?" The question hung ominously. Thomas's face fell. "Protection for the traveller?" demanded Choth.

"I... I don't know," said Thomas miserably. "Perhaps. But surely, even without it the lifestone's hold could not be broken."

Choth laughed harshly. Thomas rounded upon him, furious.

"Yes, I know! Choth the Clanless. But your clan-stone was destroyed – Tanya's still stands, and that means there is hope. The portal gem did not travel with her – perhaps the bracelet was intended to provide a means of return. Or it could have been a locator, so that the wearer could be found if the gem malfunctioned."

"What next, then?" asked Choth. "How can your theory be tested? I hope you do not intend to repeat the experiment."

"Of course not!" snapped Thomas. "Just let me think for a moment."

The three stood in silence. Eventually Thomas nodded abruptly and spoke:

"We must find this doorway. A portal gem must lead SOMEWHERE. And if I were making a prototype transportation device, I would arrange for the destination..."

"To be somewhere nearby, of course!" Tokah finished, clapping his hands.

"Exactly! Now, we don't know where this was made, but there is a chance – slim, I suppose, but a chance – that it was somewhere near where I found these artefacts."

"That's foolishness," said Choth in disgust. "I have carried treasure the length and breadth of this land – who knows where it could first have been found?"

"True, true, but consider: three pieces, all found together, and with no other artefacts present. If they had travelled greatly, surely they would have been divided, or been found with other valuables. Why would all three have been left in one place, alone? That location MUST have significance!"

Choth considered this, and grunted.

"You do talk sense on occasion, old man. Very well; where is this place you speak of?"

"It is a good distance north of Arwic, near the plateau ridge. If we push hard we should reach it in two days."

"Then we leave now. The traders in Arwic will provision us." Choth strode to the cave entrance.

"We should follow quickly, my friend," said Tokah, tugging Thomas's arm. "There really were banderlings here, before HE came. It would not do to anger him unduly."

Thomas carefully re-wrapped the crystal and replaced it in his backpack, then picked up the other bundle from the floor.

"I will find her, Auri Tokah – I will. If it takes me the rest of my life."

"I know you will, Thomas. I can feel it." Tokah attempted a smile, but as always it looked more like a snarl. Thomas laughed tiredly and clapped him on the back.

"Then I have little option but to succeed. Come, before we really do make our large friend angry with us."

____________________.o0o.____________________

The weather was fine and dry as they journeyed north that day. They spoke little, each occupied with their own thoughts, and that night they made camp by the road beneath a surpassingly clear sky. After they had eaten, and the fire had died to embers, Thomas alone lay awake, gazing up at the stars and listening to the night-insects chirp and whistle. He thought about Choth's words that morning – unintentional, but eerily apt.

"Touching the stars," he murmured. "Where are you, Tanya?" He waited, but there was, of course, no reply.

It was a long time before he slept.

____________________.o0o.____________________

"Are you sure this is the way?" asked Choth for the third time.

"Of course I'm sure," replied Thomas.

"You were sure the last two times."

"Oh, be quiet, or you'll have the shreth upon us." Thomas snapped, trying to swipe another dripping branch out of the way without falling in the mud. The back of his robe was already filthy.

The weather had held until late in the second day's travel, whereupon a second storm front had moved in, clouds piling blackly into the heavens as the hot humid air tried to scale the towering face of the northern plateau. The downpour, when it finally came, was phenomenal.

Now the forest was awash; a thousand rivulets becoming streams, even rivers as the rain lashed the trees and yet more water cascaded down from the plateau. Thomas knew their destination was close by, but visibility was practically zero and the deluge had made nonsense of any landmarks he remembered.

"Thomas!" called Tokah suddenly. "Over here – I think I see something!"

Thomas and Choth fought their way towards the tumerok's voice. When they reached him he pointed off through the trees.

"I see nothing," said Choth.

"Bah! Your eyes are made for snow and high places. This is like home to me!" Tokah bounded away, and indeed it seemed second nature for him, picking a route through the trees. Thomas followed as best he could.

"If he is wrong," said Choth, gritting his teeth as the treacherous ground tried to tip him headlong into the twisted trunk of an Ironwood, "I will..." his voice trailed off. Thomas wasn't listening anyway, just standing and staring upwards.

A sheer cliff of stone glistened blackly before them; rising up, up to where clawed fingers of it scratched at the bleeding clouds. Even Choth, who had walked the ruined halls of Linvak Tukal itself, was awed.

"How could we not have seen THIS?"

Thomas shook his head.

"I do not know. I think perhaps magic hides it from a distance." He felt light-headed, and his voice sounded remote to his own ears.

"You found the artefacts HERE, and you did not think to TELL us of this place?"

"I... I don't know. I don't remember it being so..." Thomas puffed out his cheeks, lost for words. "Big."

"You don't remember? You ARE insane, old man."

"Perhaps," admitted Thomas. "Or perhaps there is more magic here, to cloud the minds of those who stumble across it."

"Over here!" called Tokah, off to the left. "I have found the entrance!"

'Entrance' turned out to be an understatement. Three flights of steps rose from the forest floor to converge in front of a door large enough for the three to walk through abreast, or indeed atop one another's shoulders, and still not touch the massive stone pillars or lintel with outstretched arms. As they drew closer, Thomas could see the steps were not of simple stone, but were covered in an intricate mosaic of oddly shaped tiles.

Above the door the wall rose, featureless and black, to perhaps another twenty times Thomas's own height – and beyond in some places. Some of the wall and the whole of the roof had evidently collapsed some time in the past – it was impossible to tell how tall the building had originally been. There was not a single window, nor scrap of decoration. Tokah started up the steps.

"What are you doing?" hissed Thomas, grabbing his arm. Tokah spun round, and for a split second Thomas actually thought he was going to lash out. Then he seemed to relax.

"Forgive my haste. I simply wish to find your granddaughter – and get out of this cursed rain!" Tokah's expression was invisible in the shadow of his hood, but his tone was light. "We should take shelter inside. I sense no danger here."

Thomas looked doubtful.

"Tokah is right," said Choth. "The longer we remain out here the worse our condition will be if we do need to fight. But we go no further than the entrance until we are dried and rested."

Again Thomas felt a strange tension from Tokah, as if he was going to argue further. Then the old tumerok nodded.

"As you say. Quickly then!" He turned away and scampered up the steps, not waiting to see if they followed.

"What's gotten into him?" whispered Thomas to Choth.

"I do not know. I do not trust him, either."

Thomas was taken aback.

"What do you mean? Tokah is my oldest friend – you do not know him as I do..."

"Perhaps not," broke in Choth. "But I do know him."

"How? When..."

"This is not the time," said Choth flatly. He strode up the steps after Tokah, who was waiting anxiously for them at the top. Thomas had little choice but to follow.