The Power and the Glory

Book 4 Chapter XIII: More About Lian

"The best place to get a spaceship to Muirus 9436 is in Eldrin," Abi said, remembering her previous trips there.

"You can't go to Eldrin," Mirio objected. "Everyone will be looking for you."

"We'll go to the spaceport in Dhaldar instead," Lian said.

Abi stared at him. "Dhaldar? Why Dhaldar? It's so far north it's practically on the other side of the planet."

"Precisely. No one will expect you to go there. Where's that map?"

Mirio unrolled the map of Gengxin and put it on the table. The three of them studied it for a while. Lian pointed at a city.

"There. Sisheng is the closest port to Tananerl. We get a ship there, meet your Irímé in--" He examined the towns on Tananerl's coast and the railways that connected them to the rest of Saoridhlém, "--Rákövesd. Then we take the train to Dhaldar. Bad news: it'll take two days and our family will be looking for us. This would be so much simpler if we didn't have to meet up with Irímé. We could just get on a spaceship here in Tiansheng and be on Muirus 9436 by this evening."

Abi thought for a while. "I'll ask Ilaran to send Irímé to Muirus 9436 on his own. We'll meet up with him in Gradoné."

~~~~

Irímé looked around at his room with some regret. He'd spent ages finding places to put all his belongings, and now he didn't even get to live in it for a full week. He hadn't even had time to sort all of his clothes into his wardrobe.

He'd learnt his lesson from last time. For this trip he packed only one change of clothes, two pairs of underwear, and one pair of boots. His suitcase was much easier to carry than all the heavy luggage he'd brought when he first arrived.

There was a bathroom attached to his bedroom. Irímé left his suitcase open on the bed while he went to get his hairbrush. He didn't notice a small green snake dart across the room and burrow beneath his clothes. When he put the hairbrush in the suitcase he closed it without bothering to go through his clothes again.

~~~~

An hour after Irímé left, a very agitated Koyuki barged into Siarvin's room. "Have you seen Shizuki?"

Siarvin looked out the window. "Isn't he playing on the swing?"

The answer to that was only too clear. The swing was empty.

"He must have gone to the stables," Siarvin suggested.

Koyuki shook his head. "I checked. I also checked in the library, and the schoolroom, and Ilaran's office, and the kitchens, and everywhere else he might possibly be. No sign of him anywhere."

A horrible dread began to take root in Siarvin's mind. "You don't think--"

They looked at each other. Both knew what the other was thinking without having to say it.

"He wouldn't be so stupid," Koyuki said. "And Irímé wouldn't have allowed him to come with him."

"We'll search the city," Siarvin said, "and then..."

He trailed off. With an icy chill he realised that if they didn't find Shizuki, there was only one likely option and it was the worst one imaginable.

Koyuki's thoughts ran along the same lines. "At least he's with Irímé. Nothing can hurt him when he's with a dragon."

Siarvin wished he could share his optimism.

~~~~

Irímé watched with interest as the stars flew past the windows. They went far too quickly to be recognisable as any constellations he'd seen before. Placed in front of his seat was a star chart showing the ship's current location. He watched the little dot representing the ship move past the edge of the Gimgarn-Therrom Galaxy. Another little dot labelled Muirus 9436 appeared at the top of the chart. It drew nearer and nearer to the ship.