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

it
back sharply with two of her fingers. It shot forward across the
table, hitting Lyall in the midriff and landing in his lap. She put
her hand to her mouth.
    “I said ‘slightly,’” he
chided.
    He put the disc back on the
table. “They move in the opposite direction to whatever force is
applied to them. When you understand how they operate, you can use
lodestones in various different ways. The Keltar`s flying cloak is
just one example.”
    “The flying cloak–tell me how it
works.” Her voice was insistent.
    “Is he trying to get you up in
one of those things?” It was Alondo, cap and all, smiling as ever.
He was standing at the kitchen door.
    “I gave you the
chance.”
    “The chance to break my neck.
Thanks for that.” He turned towards Shann and covered his mouth
conspiratorially, “If I were you, I wouldn’t go near one of those
things.”
    “Don’t you have anything pressing
to do?”
    Alondo looked at the backs of his
hands, pulled up a spare stool and sat down next to Shann, grinning
from ear to ear. “Not right now.”
    Lyall raised his eyes heavenward.
Then he addressed Shann, doing his best to ignore his friend. “The
power of the Keltar, the power of the Prophet himself–it derives
from the lodestones. I intend to take that power away.”
    Her expression was rapt.
“How?”
    “Do you know the fortress of
Gort?”
    Gort. Death and despair. The very
name was enough to send a shiver down her spine, even though she
had never set eyes on it. Raising itself up like a ravenous beast
from the desolate sands of the Southern Desert, it devoured those
who passed through its cavernous maw. Travellers spoke of it as
being built from the bleached bones of those who had expired from
heat and exhaustion.
    “I know that most of the
‘tributes’ are sent there.”
    “Do you know why?”
    Shann shook her head.
    “Lodestones.” Registering her
look of incomprehension, he continued. “The stones fall all over
the world, but how do you find them? If a stone were to fall in the
mountains, or even here in the valley, how would you distinguish it
from other stones? However, suppose you had a smooth, featureless
landscape. Any stone that fell from above would easily show up as a
dark shape on the surface.”
    “Like in the desert.”
    “Exactly. However, the Prophet
needs people to scour the desert and collect the stones. That’s
what the ‘tributes’ are there for. The fortress has a compound
attached to it, where they are kept and sent out, sometimes to die.
But the Prophet maintains his supply of the stones. I intend to go
there and free the ‘tributes.’ We will need others who are prepared
to join us. We will also be cutting off the Prophet’s source of
supply, so it will be a double victory.”
    “I want to go
with you, to help free them. I want to make it stop–the Keltar, the
Prophet–” Lyall and Alondo were looking at each other with amused
expressions. “You’re making fun of me .”
    Lyall’s face straightened. “No,
no, we’re not. Look, Shann, what we are proposing to do is highly
dangerous. There’s a good chance we won’t succeed.”
    “Shann, think about this.” It was
Alondo. “We can arrange to look after you, and return you home
after the hue and cry has died down. You shouldn’t risk your life
any further.”
    Her slight
frame and delicate face were resolute. “No. I’ve decided; I’m coming with you.”
    Lyall’s blue eyes were looking
directly into hers, as if locked in a battle of wills. After a
moment, his shoulders slumped. “Well…we’ll talk about
it.”
    That night she dreamed of flying,
soaring above Gort. The desert fortress reared up towards her,
soaked in Ail-Mazzoth`s crimson light. Far below her parents stood
with their backs to her. She cried out and her father turned, but
it was no longer her father. It was a tall man with sandy hair and
diamond blue eyes. She heard him speak.
    “I can make it stop,
Shann.”
     

Chapter
5
     
    Alondo