Read Online The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) by Mark Whiteway - Free Book Online

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 it back