Caldason saw it too. ‘Stay with Kutch!’ he yelled, racing off.
‘Like hell! Come on!’ She dashed after him, dragging the boy with her.
Caldason sped into the tunnel, with Serrah and Kutch pelting in close behind. They ran headlong, navigating twists and tunnel splits. Their giant shadows were grotesque against the craggy walls.
Serrah could hear Kutch breathing hard behind her. She saw Reeth’s back, some distance ahead, but he was drawing away. She was losing sight of him.
Caldason wasn’t sure what he was chasing. The figure was lithe, and moving fast. It obviously knew these tunnels well, judging by the fluidity with which it traversed them. He began to think it was going to get away.
No sooner had the thought occurred than the figure came to grief. It tripped, tumbled, fell. He put on a burst of speed, hoping to get there before it found its feet.
There was a collision. A tangle of limbs. He was struggling, fighting with something wild, feral. Something that scratched and spat with sharp teeth and raking nails. A mass of black hair.
He had hold of a girl. He thought it was a child at first, then realised she was a young woman. Slimly built, perhaps half-starved. And she had a knife. Its curved blade flashed. He caught her wrist and arrested its arc. Although her frame was slight, she was strong, but no match for him.
Further along the tunnel they’d been running down there was a stirring. Pinning the frenzied girl, Caldason looked up. Someone approached in shadow. A voice sounded. He couldn’t make out what was said, but the girl heeded. She let go of her knife and went limp.
Caldason hardly noticed. He could see the figure clearly now as it slowly approached, and was transfixed.
Serrah and Kutch arrived, panting. She had her sword drawn. He clutched his dagger.
‘What is it?’ she said. ‘Who…?’
Caldason wasn’t listening. He was staring at the new arrival.
He had no recollection of ever meeting him, but he knew him well. He’d seen him a thousand times before.
It was the old man who lived in his dreams.
24
An observer could have mistaken them for a tableau of wax mannequins.
Then Serrah said, ‘What the hell’s going on, Reeth? Who are these people?’
Caldason said nothing.
The old man took a hesitant step forward, a look of consternation on his face. ‘Reeth? Can it be?’
Caldason slowly rose, ignoring the girl he’d been pinning down. She scuttled away, scooping up her knife, and dashed to the old man. Blueberry-eyed and her hair bedraggled, she stood defiantly at his side, blade at the ready. She was scrawny and dirty, and dressed in brown rags.
The old man was no better outfitted, in tattered, rough-woven cloth. He was liver-spotted, and his beard was white. ‘Reeth?’ he repeated. ‘Is that really you?’
‘Don’t you recognise me?’ Caldason whispered, finding his voice at last.
The old man gently shed the girl’s protective arm and moved into the light.
His eyes were milky and disfigured, and unmistakably blind.
‘My gods,’ Kutch let out.
‘There are three of them,’ the girl explained, glaring at the outsiders. She addressed the old man exclusively, as though the others couldn’t hear or understand. Her voice had a surprising purity, despite its harsh tone.
‘Thank you,’ he responded. To the rest, he added, ‘You must excuse Wendah; it’s been a very long time since either of us knew company.’ He took another few paces until he stopped by Caldason’s outstretched hand. ‘May I?’ he asked. Taking the Qalochian’s silence as consent, he reached up and touched Caldason’s face, his fingers gently tracing its contours. ‘It is you. I thought…I feared you were dead.’ He threw his arms around him.
Awkward in the embrace, Caldason replied, ‘And I was never sure you actually existed.’
The old man backed off, his ruined eyes moist. ‘Being muddled about the past, not remembering, that’s only to be expected, given what you’ve been through.’
‘One thing I do seem to know is that you looked exactly the same. You haven’t aged a day. What are you doing here? And what happened to your sight?’
‘We have much to discuss, Reeth. There’s a great deal to be explained, and your friends, these people with you, they must be confused.’
‘You bet,’ Serrah assured him. ‘This particular friend wants to know what the hell you two are talking about. Starting with where do you and Reeth know each other from?’
‘From my dreams,’ Caldason told her.
‘Your what?’
Kutch and the girl looked no less taken aback.
‘As I said,’ the old man intervened, ‘there’s a lot to be explained. And I’ve been expecting someone to come, looking for answers.’
‘You have?’ Serrah said. ‘Why?’
‘For the last couple of years there have been disturbances in the essence powering the Clepsydra, and in the device itself. In recent months it’s grown much stronger. Something had to happen.’
‘Is there someplace we can discuss this?’ she asked. ‘Somewhere out of these tunnels?’
‘Of course.’ He addressed the girl. ‘It’s all right, Wendah.’ His hand unerringly found the blade she held, and gently turned it aside. ‘We must offer our guests such hospitality as we can.’ After a second’s hesitation, she put the knife away. To them all, the old man said, ‘Come. It’s not far.’
He set out, lightly clasping the girl’s shoulder. She glanced back, scowling at them, and it seemed to Kutch that she paid particular attention to him.
The procession negotiated a series of tunnels, with attendant sets of perplexing bends and twists, then they entered a low-roofed grotto. Within, a large, cleverly placed flat stone concealed the entrance to a hollow. They squeezed inside.
The cave was ample in size and lit by wax and oil. Sufficiently so that Caldason, Serrah and Kutch disabled their glamour orbs. What the light showed was an ordered jumble. Mismatched bedding, and crates used as furniture. Crab shells for dishes, and chipped pots. A crudely made bow, propped in one corner, along with a bundle of coarse arrows. Driftwood and cast-offs, adapted to the necessities of survival.
‘Our abode,’ the old man announced, ‘such as it is. Try to make yourselves comfortable.’
‘You live here?’ Kutch exclaimed.
‘If you can call it living.’ The old man seemed breathless. He put a hand to his brow and looked pained.
Serrah was concerned. ‘What’s wrong? Can we do anything?’
‘Thank you, no. I’m constantly…in discomfort.’
The girl, still eyeing their visitors suspiciously, helped him to a chunk of rock vaguely resembling a throne. He sank onto the makeshift seat with a relieved sigh.
She took a cracked cup and fetched some water from a nearby cask. Then she squatted beside him, watchful.
‘Do take your ease,’ the old man repeated. He drank, his hands trembling slightly.
Kutch and Serrah perched amongst the clutter. Caldason sat on a barrel.
The old man said, ‘I never thought to-’ He stopped himself, smiling thinly. ‘I was about to say I never thought I’d see you again, Reeth. Not in this world. It seems I was right about that.’ A fleeting reverie occupied his face. ‘I’m a poor host,’ he decided. ‘You must think me ignorant for not even asking your friends’ names.’
‘No,’ Caldason replied. ‘Nobody’s slighted. This is Serrah Ardacris; and our friend, Kutch Pirathon.’
The ‘our’ told the old man all he needed to know about Reeth and Serrah’s relationship. ‘Wendah,’ he introduced, squeezing the girl’s arm, ‘friend and dependable companion. She acts as my eyes, in a very real way. Been with me here since she was a child.’
‘How did that come about?’ Serrah wondered.
‘She was the sole survivor of a shipwreck. Most vessels avoid this place; many of those that don’t, come to grief. Everything you see here was salvaged from wrecks.