The spirit’s voice was like an echo, wide and ringing, sounding as much in Thorin’s mind as it did in the dark chamber. Thorin wasn’t even sure it was sound at all. Like everything about the spirit, it seemed unreal. He nodded, acknowledging the Akari’s command.
‘We will go on,’ said Thorin, ‘but I don’t know where to start. I have tried, Kahldris. Without the boy to help me. .’ Thorin shrugged. ‘It may be impossible.’
Kahldris drifted closer to the machine, inspecting its odd construction. His people — the long dead Akari — had been scientists and architects, but Kahldris confessed he had never seen the like of the machine before. Its potential fascinated him. Somehow, according to Gilwyn Toms, it had helped to locate the Eyes of God. To Kahldris that seemed like a miracle. Surely, then, it could locate his brother.
‘I still cannot sense the boy,’ said Kahldris.
The news worried Thorin. He knew that Kahldris had lured Gilwyn north to the library, though the Akari had refused to explain how. But for days now Kahldris had been unable to feel Gilwyn’s presence, despite exhausting attempts. It was not at all easy for Kahldris to stretch himself across the dimensions, and he did so only reluctantly. Always weakened by the efforts, he had so far been unable to locate Gilwyn.
‘If he is dead. .’ Kahldris shook his white head in frustration. ‘Then this machine will be useless to us.’
‘He is not dead,’ grumbled Thorin. ‘He is blocking himself from you, surely.’
‘Such a thing would take great ability. Too much for the boy. He is not on this realm, Baron Glass.’ Kahldris moved his hands over the machine, caressing one of its long, peculiar rods. ‘This great puzzle might be ours to unravel. Alone.’
Thorin considered the enormous task. There was power in the machine but only Figgis had been able to use it, and he was long dead. He had passed some instruction on its use to Gilwyn, or so Gilwyn had claimed, and that was why Kahldris had lured the boy out of Jador. Perhaps to his demise. The thought wrecked Thorin. He loved Gilwyn like a son, had done everything he could to protect him. And he would not allow the demon to harm the boy; he had made that clear to Kahldris numerous times. But Kahldris needed Gilwyn, and because Thorin needed Kahldris he had agreed to the unsavoury plot. They would use Gilwyn and make him operate the machine. And then they would find Kahldris’ brother, the only Akari capable of destroying him and his invincible armour.
Thorin had seen Kahldris’ brother once before, in a vision when he had first stolen the Devil’s Armour. Kahldris had forced him to watch, to make him understand their bitter relationship. Kahldris had forged the Devil’s Armour for his brother, so that his brother might defeat the invading armies of Jador. And his brother had promised to wear the armour in battle — but never did. He had simply left Kahldris locked away inside the miraculous metal suit, unwanted, scorned by the other Akari, even while the Jadori slaughtered them.
Still, Kahldris’ brother lived on. Somewhere. Because he was an Akari he did not die like the last rose of summer. Hidden for millennia, he had survived.
‘Yes, Baron Glass, but where?’ asked Kahldris, easily reading Thorin’s mind. The demon grew frustrated, his old eyes sparking with rage. ‘I have waited a thousand forevers to find him, and now the means sits here before me. I must find the damnable key to open it!’
‘Gilwyn is alive,’ Thorin asserted. ‘And he will help me if I ask him.’
‘He will help us or he will suffer.’
Thorin rose to his feet. ‘You won’t harm him.’
The visage of Kahldris wavered under Thorin’s withering glare. ‘Baron Glass, we must have the means to protect ourselves. You are special now. The laws of normal men do not apply to you.’
‘I have already murdered for you, demon.’
‘And I have given you so much!’ Kahldris came to stand before the baron, his strange body rifling through angry colours. ‘Not just your arm, not just your manhood. A kingdom I have delivered you!’
‘You will not harm Gilwyn,’ said Thorin evenly.
‘Bah! He is already harmed.’ Kahldris turned his frightening face away, staring absently into the darkness. The long days of effort had made him sullen. ‘He holds the secret of this thing, Baron Glass — the only means to find my brother. I cannot stretch myself far enough to find him. Wherever Malator hides, it is beyond me.’ He came closer again, this time touching Thorin’s arm, the arm that had been missing for decades. Now encased in the fabulous armour, the arm held life again. ‘I will give you everything your heart desires. You worry about the enemies on the border but you must trust me. They are nothing. They cannot even nick you. But my brother can bring an end to everything, Baron Glass. You must not let fondness weaken you.’
Thorin stared into Kahldris’ imploring gaze. It was not like looking at a man. If one could see heaven and hell, that was Kahldris.
‘I will make Gilwyn understand,’ Thorin promised.
At last, Kahldris nodded. He surprised the baron by showing something like grief. ‘You do not know what it is like to be betrayed by a brother, Baron Glass,’ he said in a sanguine voice. ‘We could have saved our whole world.’
Thorin sympathized with the demon. It was why Kahldris hated the Jadori so much, and why he hated his brother, too. He wondered why the other Akari had feared him, when his motives seemed so pure.
‘But,’ added Kahldris, ‘we will not let the same thing happen to Liiria. We will save Liiria, Baron Glass. You and I together.’
‘Yes,’ Thorin agreed. Again he felt that inexplicable bond. ‘If this machine really works as promised, we’ll find Malator.’
Before he could return to his chair, a knock at the door intruded. Thorin hesitated before answering, watching as Kahldris dissolved from view. Suddenly alone, he went to the door, turned the lock and opened it a crack, just enough to see a trio of Norvan soldiers waiting there. The men looked nervous, as if they knew the stupidity of interrupting him.
‘What is it?’ Thorin asked.
The young man in the lead spoke up. ‘News, my lord, from Lionkeep. Jazana Carr has arrived. She awaits you at the keep.’
Thorin opened the door all the way, pleased at the news. ‘Then why look so gloomy? That is excellent news!’ He laughed delightedly. ‘Fetch my horse at once. Tell the queen I’m on my way.’
Happy to be dismissed, the three Norvans scurried off to do the baron’s bidding. Thorin waited in the threshold for them to go, then turned back to the catalogue machine. Tonight, at least, his work would have to wait.
The woman?
It was Kahldris again, this time speaking in his mind. Thorin felt his growing appetite.
‘I’m going to her,’ said Thorin. ‘We can return here tomorrow.’
The demon filled Thorin with lusty energy. Indeed, Baron Glass, he crooned. We are men, after all.
Jazana Carr waited more than an hour for Thorin to arrive, standing under a wall of torches near Lionkeep’s ancient gate. She had rested, briefly, but had not eaten or changed her clothes. She was too anxious to see her lover and nothing could keep her inside, not even the promise of food and a warm bed. Rodrik Varl waited with her in the quiet courtyard. The mercenary had already made arrangements for the fifty men that had accompanied the queen from Andola, and Jazana herself had dismissed Garen and her other protectors, preferring instead to wait for Thorin alone with Rodrik. Her stomach tripped like a school girl’s at the prospect of seeing him. It had been almost a month, corresponding through letters and the occasional messenger, promising each other in love notes that they would soon be together.
Interestingly, Lionkeep was much as Thorin had described it. When Thorin had been a true nobleman of Liiria — nearly twenty years ago now — he had spent countless hours in the keep, arguing with King Balak and later his son, Akeela. Once it had been grand, like everything else in the old city, but time had eroded its vaunted beauty, leaving a kind of sad ghost behind. Still, the keep impressed Jazana Carr, for despite neglect and the recent fire it remained oddly stupendous, a lovely relic of a bygone age. Now, Lionkeep would be Thorin’s home. When he was not with her in Andola or Hanging Man or Carlion or any other of a dozen conquered cities he would rule from this ancient edifice, the way he had always dreamed.