Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Chapter 39i

Sir Kralaford stared east, his brows lowered.

"They will doubtless avoid the farms and ranches, but that is not a certainty. I will ride to the deeps with Sir Beddingvale and Sir Hogan. Send your people to scout the other crossings and see if they have passed that way."

"Yes, sir."

"You ride on ahead and see if a trail can be found beyond the deeps bridge."

The scout nodded and went to give her orders. Sir Kralaford turned to one of the messengers waiting on the road behind.

"Return to Klinberg and inform them that I am heading east."

The messenger saluted and wheeled about.

"We cannot cross into Solridge," said Sir Hogan as the messenger urged her steed away.

"Unless you wish to provoke the Free-clans," added Sir Beddingvale.

"I will go where I must," answered Sir Kralaford, and urged Hakansa forward into the dawn shadows of the grassland.

* * * * *

When Dak passed through the high hedge that marked the boundary of the fortress gardens, she foundthe place beyond to be surprisingly light. The strange brightness she had seen from below came from spherical glass glow lights, set on poles among the plants, spaced at intervals along the garden paths. Everything was ghostly and damp, and the odd silhouettes of plants stood immobile, because no breeze moved them or disturbed the clinging mist.

She could still feel her heart pounding in her chest after her encounter with Tasker, and now she was wary of the misty dark. She tried to remember the layout of the gardens from her last visit with Maddock, when he had showed her the hives and the spectrum-fly houses. She knew that the long low shapes lying away to her right were the sheds of the Growers, and that on the terrace above her was the compost distribution yard, and above them were the pits themselves. A good deal of the mist seemed to be cascading from up there. She knew the hives lay somewhere up the hill behind the sheds of the Growers, and began to make her way towards them. The layout of the gardens came to her mind quite clearly, but all her previous visits had been in the light, and as she climbed, she hoped her memory would still serve her well in the darkness.

She was breathing heavily when she reached the hives. There was only a single glowing globe of light at the edge of the wooden walkways that criss-crossed between the tall pyramid shapes. The carpet of plants beneath was shrouded in the mist, so it seemed as though the walkways were suspended above the clouds. She stood close to the single globe of light and peered into the shadows. She could see no sign of Tahlia and Grifford, and feared they had not made their escape from the Infirmary. She felt the fear rising in her stomach as she considered what to do next.

A voice suddenly hissed at her from the shadow on the far side of the hives.

"Over here!"

Dak crept across the walkways towards the voice, making their woodwork creak.

"Tahlia?" she hissed back.

The back of the terrace was bordered by tall rows of olap vines.

"Quick! In here!" said the voice.

Dak ducked between a row of vines to find Tahlia and Grifford hunched in the shadows.

"What took you so long?" said Grifford abruptly.

"Tasker," replied Dak hurriedly. "He is looking for you, and he was not on his own. And he had a sword! A sharp one. Not just a training sword."

"So Zemrossa has not found him," said Tahlia.