Read Online Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms by Mark Whiteway - Free Book Online

can manipulate it;
even use their own power against them.”
    He leaned forward. “Shann, do you
know what lodestones are?”
    “No.”
    “Actually, you
do. I gave you one in Corte, so that you could be
recognised.” The disc . Alondo had returned it to her that morning, and she pulled
it from her pocket. She noted again a slight resistance as she did
so. She placed it on the table in front of her. “To be totally
accurate, what you have there is what we call refined lodestone. Just as iron is
smelted from ore, so this is what you get from lodestone
ore.”
    “Lodestone ore?”
    “Yes, it falls from the sky. You
have seen the meteor storms?” She nodded. Scores of fireballs
streaking across the heavens and winking out. They were visible
most nights.
    “Refined lodestone has powerful
properties. What you have there is one kind–a kind that is used to
power their flying cloaks and some of their other devices. But
there is nothing mysterious about it. The Keltar have been taught
by the Prophet how to use it, nothing more.”
    Shann frowned. “So what you are
saying is that anyone can use their power, even me?”
    “That’s right.”
    “How does it work?” Her voice was
eager.
    Lyall took another disc out of
his pocket. It looked exactly like hers; black but with an oddly
undefined surface that seemed to shift as she viewed it from
different angles.
    “Originally, lodestones were the
name given to a type of rock that would naturally attract iron.
They can be used to impart a force to the iron that makes it point
in only one direction.” Shann had heard of such devices used by
travellers to help find their way. “The same word came to be used
to describe the stones that fell from the sky, but they are in fact
quite different. You have two discs there; try to push them
together.”
    Shann picked them up and did so.
There was a strong repulsive force between them, getting stronger
the closer she brought them together. She frowned again. “I can’t
do it.”
    “That’s right. Now try this.” He
reached in his pocket again and brought out another disc, but this
one was white. “This is an ordinary metal. It’s coloured white just
to distinguish it from the lodestone. Try bringing it and the
lodestone together.”
    This time, the lodestone felt
pulled towards the white disc, but the white disc seemed to be
pushed away.
    “Lodestones repel everything,
including ordinary stones or metal. So they can be used to push
things; objects, people, anything really.”
    “They sound like the Kal
stones.”
    “You mean the account of the
flying stone, the one in the sacred texts?”
    “Yes. How is that
possible?”
    Lyall reached into his pocket
once more. He brought out two more lodestones, one a disc, the
other a small sphere like a marble. She watched intently as he
carefully arranged the three discs on the table in the shape of a
triangle. Then he carefully placed the marble in mid-air over the
three stones. It floated, seemingly without support, subtle shades
of darkness playing furtively over its smooth surface.
    Shann`s eyes were wide. “So it
really did happen.”
    “Possibly. I’ve never seen a Kal
stone myself and I don’t know anyone who has. No doubt that’s
because the system is inherently–” He knocked the marble with his
finger, and it fell to the table and rolled onto the floor.
“–unstable.”
    She bent down to retrieve the
marble from the floor and handed it back to Lyall. “Thanks.” He
placed it back in his pocket and gathered up two of the discs,
leaving one on the table. “Let’s try something else, shall we? Have
you noticed that lodestone feels a bit funny when you handle
it?”
    “It seems to pull against you a
little,” she noted.
    “Right. Try to give it a little
push with your finger. Shann did so, but to her utter surprise,
instead of moving away, it moved towards her. Lyall registered her
puzzled look. “Now pull it towards you slightly.”
    She reached out and pulled