19. Past and future visions

Fureva-Yung was helped out of her constricting black rubber prison by Ounas (the uninjured Warden militia) and Cyanna (a High Redoubt worker) as Risina waited patiently for Jaden’s reply. Jaden had just about had enough of this woman. After Marius, discussing anything with this insufferable woman was the last thing Jaden needed. She took a deep breath in and sighed.
 
“Look, Risina, we’ve lost a lot of good people. We’ll never fill all their places in our lives. I think we can give people a little leeway to find what their place is.” She then remembered something had bothered many people before the attack on Cerelon.
“Yes, we’ve all lost someone. I noticed your son, Marikan wasn’t with you. Do you know if he escaped?”
 
This change in subject gave Risina pause. The health and wellbeing of the youngest Keris had been open gossip in Cerelon as he hadn’t been seen in public. His mother quickly assured potential search parties that her son was ‘just fine.’
“He’s a resourceful lad. You never know where he’ll turn up, “ She said smoothly, but Jaden felt she’d been caught off guard at the mention of Marikan. Jaden also felt that his mother wasn’t too concerned for his welfare.
 
"It was high time we were out of here and reunited with our fellow survivors. Move out!" Marius’ voice called across the crowd, and the caravan stirred to life.
“Nice chatting, Jaden,” Risina farewelled and returned to supervise the packing up of the caravan.
 
Travelling across the empty plains with the caravan was pleasant for the first half of the day. Scutting clouds defused the sun, and only the lack of water made the travel anyway unpleasant. Marius drove the aircraft pulling the two wagons behind as most people rode or walked beside. Fureva-Yung, constantly aware for danger, walked behind the group while Jaden and Nox walked side by side, close in conversation.
 
You’re not really angry at him, are you? Nox asked telepathically, enjoying the moment of intimacy it created.
“No, just frustrated,” Jaden replied, knowing exactly the 'He's they were referring to, “He's having too much fun being the hero.”
Good thing. Would you want to do it? Nox replied, knowing the answer. Jaden wanted good companionship and her iotum to create with. Sometimes she’d forgo the companionship.
“Great heroes get killed. Or get others killed,” Jaden said, serious, aware she was echoing Risina’s sentiments just a moment before.
Yeah, Nox agreed with a serious expression of her own, I’m going to help with that. I’ve asked Marius to teach me about first aid, and when we get back, I’ll ask Temila to teach me about potions and stuff.
“Oh, so you won’t be coming around to my shop anymore?” Jaden turned to catch Nox’s eye.
 
They had needed each other in Cerelon. The lonely old woman with no family and the lost little girl without a place. Now she looked at the girl and saw for the first time a young woman with plans and ambitions of her own, ones that did not relate to her or her workshop. Jaden never considered herself Nox’s parent, but the pang she felt at that moment was surely the same as a parent felt when their child first left home.
I was never very good, Nox replied, unaware of Jaden’s sudden pang of loss.
“It wasn’t why I let you,” Jaden said, forcing the words through a suddenly constricted throat.
It wasn’t why I stayed.
 
They walked in silence for a moment as Nox considered her future plans, and Jaden considered her life with a little less Nox.
“Well, you know my tent flap is always open.”
 
It was Marius who spotted the movement in the ground first, an undulation where the ground rose and settled behind like a wave heading straight for them. Only Marius’ quick reflexes meant he could turn the aircraft away from the mystery rise.
“Heads up! Underground!” He yelled as the one-metre-wide blunt head of an enormous worm broke through the earth's surface and crashed into the spar connecting the craft to the wagon Jathis the devotee, Risina, and Cyanna were sitting. The whole wagon reared up like a startled animal throwing Risina and Jathis from their seats to the ground.
 
Closest to the attack, Marius pulled his shortsword from its scabbard and hit the armoured hide of the worm, clanging off uselessly as it dove down back into the hard-packed soil as easily as water. Fureva-Yung’s chain did little better as the links skimmed over the disappearing worm. Having broken the connection between the wagon and the craft, the worm now circled underground, looking for its next opportunity to strike its disabled prey.
 
“To me! To me!” Marius called, helping Risina off the ground, and Fureva-Yung bodily lifted Jathis. Dazed and confused, Risina could do little more than grasp Marius’s offered sword as he lit up his hands, “I have a feeling you’ll do better with this than me, though I don’t have a lot of experience boxing either.”
 
The head of the worm broke the surface once more, this time revealing a circular maw of sharp inward, facing spines-like teeth. Side by side, Marius and Risina attacked the worm, her sword stroke catching a gouge in the heavy armour, his unarmed strike harmlessly bouncing off the rubbery lips. Cresting like a wave, the worm dove towards Marius, trying to engulf him in once move. Instinctively, his hands caught the mouth of the beast, and he somehow held it up as his feet sunk inches into the dirt.
 
“Stab it! Stab it between the plating!” He cried, straining to keep the worm from overwhelming him.
 
Risina slashed another gash in its side as others from the caravan came to their aid. Fureva-Yung’s chain hit, denting armoured plating as Nox climbed up on the disabled wagon for a better view. Risina, in a sudden and surprising action, now leapt out from the wagon and onto the worm. There she poked and prodded the sharp point of a sword under the tightly fitting chitin plates on the worm hide. Seeing Risina’s thinking, Nox tried sending a crystal shard into the same gap with her sling, but the crystal skidded off the worm's hide and away. Ounas of the Wardens Militia tried wedging the head of his axe, but it was far too big for the task, and he also had to give up in frustration.
 
Meanwhile, Marius was looking down the creature’s throat. Past the rows of teeth, he thought there might be something back there he could get a hold of, but he knew that doing so would mean letting go of the beast’s mouth. With a mental shrug, he dropped the mouth and reached up. The worm engulfed Marius and quickly started diving back to the safety of the soil with its prize. Everyone present watched on in horror as it looked like the worm was gone, Marius with it as segments disappeared into the ground. Then the worm stopped diving, and the loop of worm above ground writhed for a moment, flinching and shivering away from some sort of pain. Eventually, it stopped moving altogether.
 
Risina was first to jump in, stabbing the worm and creating a small hole in its side. From it, Marius’ heavy breathing could be heard.
“Thanks, it was getting stuffy in here,” He joked as the rest of the group attacked the worm’s armour to get inside. Risina tried prying up a plate. Nox came in alongside her and, with her smaller blade, started cutting away the connective tissue. Fureva-Yung also grabbed the edge of a plate and pulled. The worm’s hide was resilient, and it struck back, dragging her with it onto the worm’s back and down onto the trapped Marius below.
 
A short sharp, OOPHH! Came from Marius’ breathing hole.
“I am on top!” Fureva-Yung said, a little surprised at how she’d got there.
“Yes, you’re riding a huge worm, “ Came the muffled reply from inside, “Do you think you could get off now?”
“Stupid embarrassing worm! “ Fureva-Yung grumbled as she moved back to her position and tried again to tear the armour off. Weakened flesh, Fureva-Yung’s frustration and embarrassment tore the worm in half. From the gaping hole, Marius’ head peaked out into fresh air, and the whole caravan cheered. He was quickly pulled out as Fureva-Yung ripped the worm to pieces.
 
Risina stepped up, cleaning the sword on a fistful of grass and handed Marius his sword back, pommel first.
“Ah, well used,” He said, accepting back his mother’s sword and carefully resheathing it, “I might need to brush up on my lessons,”
“Yes, you must,” Was her reply, and she began to walk away.
 
Nox, who had been watching the interaction between the two usual antagonists, now stepped up.
“Thank you,” She said simply to Risina, also putting away her dagger.
Risina gave Nox an appraising look, a nod and walked on.
 
“Do you think this looks like a really big chain link?” Fureva-Yung asked from over at the worm where she’d been able to pull the chitinous rings off the worm segment. In discussions with Jaden, she set to work pulling the worm up from the hole and cutting away the rings for use in repairing the wagon. As Nox collected the broken pieces of metal for reuse, she watched Fureva-Yung put her arm into the dead worm’s mouth, pull out a tooth, and begin chewing it.
“Could you pull one for me too?” She asked, a plan of her own brewing. Fureva-Yung tore out another tooth and held it out for Nox. At about thirty centimetres long, the curved tooth was long and thin, ending at an impossibly sharp point. The outside curve of the tooth was smooth, giving little resistance to anything that found its way into the mouth, while the convex curve was sharp and serrated. Nox tried the blade in her hand and found it to be just as light as her metal blade, though maybe a little longer. With a good hilt for grip, she thought it would make an excellent new weapon and carefully put it away.
 
Now over the excitement of being eaten, Marius was looking over the damage the worm had done to the wagon, especially the coupling to the craft.
“Sure need to fix our rig here,”
“Already on it,” Jaden said as she dragged over the first of the worm rings, “Or at least Fureva- Yung is on it. Instead of a heavy solid connection that provides no give, we were wondering about one of these.”
She placed the ring on the ground between the stubby wing of the craft and the wagon, “I also think the body of the Hover Horse could be made a little more streamlined with a few of these rings. Fureva-Yung also thought they could make a great limb for a long bow.”
“Hover Horse? Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“Got a better name?”
He didn’t, and Jaden and Fureva-Yung set to work putting their plan together.
 
The work took time, but the now christened Hover Horse and its two outriders were better for it. The ring softened any movement from the craft, while the extra rings around the chassis smoothed out any bumps or missing pieces. Soon the caravan was travelling again, and by early afternoon they’d made it to the carcass of the giant bird.
 
The early scavengers had already found it, and the brown grey feathers of the bird were covered in hundreds of black and iridescent beetles. Nox slipped in, avoiding the bugs, which were the size of her head, and grabbed a smaller flight feather before fleeing with her prize. Fureva-Yung, on the other hand, did not hesitate to grab a beetle as it trundled over the wing and bit its head off.
 
Fureva-Yung stood looking out over a starscape through a large curving window. Visible through the window, just moving off to their starboard, was a space station like the one they’d seen at the pyramid. Looking around her, Fureva-Yung took in the array of workstations, computers, control panels and information screens, all being used by dozens of people from just as many races. They all wore the same uniform, a well-fitted two pieces, slate grey with navy blue accents and trousers. She looked down, and she too wore the same uniform, hers decorated with extra bits around the collars and sleeves. Beside her stood an insectoid creature also wearing the uniform of the day to fit their unusual six-legged form.
 
Everything was new and strange, yet Fureva-Yung felt utterly assured and in control. This was how things were meant to be, up here amongst the stars captaining a spaceship. She turned to ask her second, the insectoid, a question as the vision faded and dissolved around her.
 
Fureva-Yung? Are you still there? Fureva-Yung heard in her mind the small insistent buzzing of Nox. Fureva-Yung focused on the girl in front of her, who looked up with a confused and worried expression. You okay? You went away for a bit, and I couldn’t find you.
Yes, She replied, a little irritated to have been pulled out of her vision, Excuse me. And she threw the rest of the bug into her mouth and began chewing. She felt an electric jolt go through her teeth, but disappointedly, the vision did not return.
Good? Nox asked, assuming Fureva-Yung’s interest was only gastronomic, Should we take some more?
Fureva-Yung nodded enthusiastically, Crunchy and psychoactive. She started collecting bugs and stuffing them into a sack. When the bugs started chewing through the sack, she found an empty box in a caravan and filled that with the bugs. As the caravan moved on, Fureva-Yung stayed close to the wagon carrying the box and was seen various times helping herself to her latest favourite snack. By the time the caravan was looking for a place to stop for the night, the box of bugs was empty, with only the memory of tasty treats and the vision remaining. Was it a vision of what had been? Fureva-Yung was unsure.
 
The plains the group had travelled so quickly in the aircraft were an empty and uninviting stop for the night. No water except the few drops left in salvaged bottles and canteens. There was no shelter beside the wagons and nothing between them and the empty night. It was only as the sun left the sky for the night that the caravaners noted the ground under their feet glowing. It wasn’t just the sand and dirt. Hidden in cupped hands, it did not glow. Instead, the light seemed to well up from underneath the ground. A luminous spring that marked the ground only now the sun had gone.
 
Initially, they packed up the camp and moved a few hundred metres away, then a few more. Still, the ground glowed eerily beneath them. Fureva-Yung tried her echolocation but found only sand with nothing noteworthy that could make the light. At half a kilometre from where they first noticed it, the light seemed to fade noticeably. When the caravan was sure they were at the edge of the light, they stopped and set up camp again. Curiosity had the group questioning what the source of the light could be? As the caravan settled in for the night, Fureva-Yung, Marius, Nox and Jaden huddled around a hole in the ground. Fureva-Yung dug down into the last of the lighted area to see if there was anything different.
“It couldn’t be the spaceship…”
“Lighthouse…” Nox interrupted Marius, more sure the tall structure embedded in the crystal had been a glass building for shedding light than a spaceship.
“...that we lit in the crystal caravans. I guess not, it's a long way from here in…” He looked around to orientate himself and pointed in a direction, “...and a long way underground.”
 
At that moment, Fureva-Yung’s hand hit something solid, and she stopped throwing handfuls of sand out of the hole for a sweeping gesture, exposing the thing beneath. Out of the sand came a large wheel encased in multicoloured crystals. As she lifted the discovery from the ground, it was clear that it also was not the light source. Placing it down at the hole's edge, Nox scanned the discovery and found the crystal was the same as that found all through the crystal caverns, supposed kilometres from their location. The wheel was of a dense metal, solid, but by the way, Furvea-Yung had lifted it, lighter than Nox expected. Nox scanned the bottom of the hole, still glowing faintly in the darkness. Under the sand, she identified a few items of interest. As Fureva-Yung gave up on the hole, Nox jumped in and claimed a few loose crystals with devices embedded inside.
 
“Here, can you get these out?” She asked Fureva-Yung handing up the half dozen crystal. Without a thought, Fureva-Yung put all the crystals together in her two huge hands and smashed them together. A flash of blinding light and a wave of energy rolled through the group. When their eyes adjusted, they stood on a cliff edge, looking out over a snow-covered mountain range. A blizzard was stirring the snow, making whirlwinds of white. In the sky, fragments of a planet floated streaking the sky with colour in front of a starscape that no one recognised.
 
“Not cold,” Fureva-Yung stated, and the others realised it was true. Despite their surroundings' bleakness, none of the group felt cold. Nox crouched down and picked up a handful of snow. She scanned it to see if it was water snow and found nothing. Nothing was there.
“Maybe it's something from the datasphere….” Jaden suggested grasping for ideas, “...like a recorded illusion.”
 
As they stood, not daring to move from their perch on the cliff edge, the scene of the blizzard faded and was replaced with a view of the same mountain on a calm night. Time passed between the two scenes as the broken world was gone from the sky, and the star patterns had changed once more.
 
Beneath their feet, a deep rumbling began. Loose rocks fell down the slope, and cracks started appearing at the cliff's edge. Quickly they stepped away from the edge as powerful cracking sounds vibrated through the ground. Many miles away, the silhouetted outline of a mountain slipped away as a chunk of mountainside nearby detached from the mother rock and started floating away.
 
The image faded, and all four found themselves around the hole in the ground. Lying in Fureva-Yung’s hands were two cyphers. An illusion? A transportation like the one created by the crushing of the crystal dust back at the pit?
“I wonder if those floating mountains were related to the stone around the pyramid?” Nox mused as she took the two cyphers from Fureva-Yung’s and identified them. The wheel was added to the now bulging Bellyache, and the group returned to the caravan, offered their services for the watches that night.
 
Risina Keris was offered the first watch again, leading to more grumbles. Curious about Risina and her thinking, Nox volunteered to spend the watch with her and sat beside her on the wagon.
 
“I don’t understand why I need to do this,” Resina said, more to herself than the young girl beside her.
“Is there something wrong with you that you can’t?”
Risina glanced sideways at Nox, her assessing eyes taking in the scruffy girl beside her.
“That’s not the point. Anyone could do this. It’s beneath me employing my time as little more than a security guard.”
“Looking after people is not beneath you. You’re a leader,” Nox replied simply and without guile, “It’s not hard, and it can be fun. Fureva-Yung and I often chat through our watches.”
Nox couldn’t see Risina’s face, but she heard a hard little laugh from the older woman.
“Leaders need rest so they can make good decisions,” Risina said, feeling like she’d made her point.
Nox shrugged, “Well, it won’t be long, and we’ll be replaced, “ Desperate for something to engage Risna with, Nox looked out into the night’s sky, thankfully full of the familiar constellations.
 
“We’re so lucky to be here. I’ve learnt so much since leaving Celeron, seen so many wonders I couldn’t imagine.”
“Hmph, lucky you. All we saw was the Endoval Forest from the barge and then crashing. Since then, it's been a constant fight with margr.”
“We met them too. You don’t need to worry about them anymore. We found their village and killed all of them…well, Fureva-Yung did. Saw for Ironhorn too.” Nox’s energy picked up as she recounted her friend's daring at the margr camp, “Fureva-Yung was the distraction, while Marius flew in and saved Binna Mayes….”
“You saved Binna?”
Nox nodded, “And Jaden, Orv, Yitti and Alton were fighting on the ground, bish-bash!” She now stood, demonstrating the moves of the fighters that night.
“And Alton too…I thought them both dead!”
“Nah, we’d rescued him from margr earlier that day,” She said simply, all their heroics just a matter of fact.
“And Yiti and Orv survived the attack on Cerelon?” She added with equal incredulity, “Those trouble makers showed they were good for something then.”
“Everyone is good for something, “Nox sat back down, “Even me.”
 
Through the telepathic link, Nox heard Marius, If she says they're only miners, you can punch her in the face.
“In my experience, they’re nothing but troublemakers.”
“Troublemakers that saved most of the Buckles,” Nox defended the rough and tumble hangers-on of Marius, “Orv and Yitti did what Marius told them and got stuck in and helped. They kept people safe.”
 
The conversation lulled for a moment as Nox’s words gave Risina pause. Eventually, Risina shifted her seat, “That one takes risks. Marius, I mean.”
“Yeah!” Nox exclaimed in an exasperated whisper, pleased to have someone to talk about Marius and his escapades, “He drives us crazy throwing himself into things. Like with the worm. Who thinks to grab its tonsils?!” She contemplated all the stunts he’d pulled and why, “But he’s never put us at risk,. Not once.”
 
Once again, Risina was silent, and as a last stab at defiance (she was enjoying talking to Risina), Nox listened in on her thoughts.
Well, that’s going to be great for my anxiety.
Without another word, Nox snuggled up to the woman only the night before she’d been throwing sticks and stones, and they sat in companionable silence for the rest of the watch.
 
Jaden and Fureva-Yung took the next watch not long after. They sat on opposite sides of the fire as the familiar stars spun above their heads.
“Tell me about Marius’ mother?” Fureva-Yung asked, her voice seemingly booming in the silence that had grown between them.
“I can’t say I had the pleasure of knowing her,” Jaden replied after a moment’s thought. Cerelon was a small town, but even after forty years there, Jaden couldn’t claim to be a local.
Fureva-Yung gave Jaden a confused look and spent a moment or two staring into the fire's dying light, “I was curious.”
Jaden sighed, “I’m sure she had the patience of a saint.”
“Quite right.”
The silence stretched out between them.
“The rubber from the nodule trees is very protective,” Fureva-Yung commented.
“Yes,” Jaden replied enthusiastically, “Now to find a way to make it into shaped armour.”
She pulled out her notes and showed them to the baffled Fureva-Yung, “I think it should be relatively simple. I do need an extensive list of parts,” She showed Fureva-Yung her shopping list of parts.
“Do you think you could put a symbol on mine?” Fureva-Yung found a stick and drew the symbol of lines and circles that the group had found in the pyramid into the dusty ground. It was the same symbol she’d seen in her vision on the bridge of the starship. She knew it was important, even if right now she wasn’t sure how.
Jaden nodded thoughtfully, contemplating the different techniques she’d need to try to mark the rubber, “I’m no artist, but we could certainly try.”
 
Their mutually interesting topic exhausted, Jaden and Fureva-Yung let the silence stretch between them companionably until they were replaced by Marius and Ounas of the Warden Militia.
 
“Nice night,” Marius commented, also enjoying the view of a familiar sky.
“Yep,”
“Got a deck of cards?”
“Funny enough, I think I do,” Ounas shuffled around and found the desired game. It was dog-eared and worn. An experienced player could use their scruffy nature to his advantage.
“Probably should keep an eye out, “Replied Marius, changing the subject.
“Sure,” Ounas put the cards back in his pocket.
“So, during your flight from Cerelon, how was Risina?”
“Demanding,” Ounas replied quietly, even now unsure he was safe to speak his mind, “I don’t know why we put up with her. Habit, I guess.”
“Ever consider mutiny?”
“Nah,” Ounas quickly shook his head, “We were all too busy staying alive.”
“Well, I hope to soften her up. We can’t go on with how things used to be.”
“No, the old ranks don’t mean much out here.”
“Right.” Marius said, feeling better about how this caravan would fit in with the group made chiefly of dritmen and workers of the Buckles, “You said you had cards?”
 
With the dawn, the underground light faded from sight. They ate a cold breakfast, cooked meats with a mouthful of water with ill-grace. As they packed up, Marius once more found a high place on one of the wagons and spoke to the crowd.
“I know you’re thirsty, and that’s likely to have tempers up, but I ask for your patience as today we will make our destination. Moving out.”
 
Risina stepped alongside him as he jumped down, “You’re quite the accomplished adventurer. A whole camp of margr?”
“Oh yeah, that was fun,” Marius thought back to one of the most intense nights of his life and smiled fondly.
Risina was not impressed with his bravado. “Be careful. Taking big risks like that, people will follow your bad example.”
“I was with people I could trust had my back, and I had theirs. We’re family….” He said and realised he meant it. Not just Orv and Yitti, but Fureva-Yung, Jaden and the kid. They were all his found family, and he could do the crazy stunt because they were there to catch him if he fell. He shook his head and brushed away her concerns without another thought.
“It all ends fine.”
“I had to pull you out of a worm. It nearly didn’t work out fine.” She reminded him, a rueful smile fighting through her more severe expression.
“I had to get back my mother’s sword. It’s very precious.” He replied quietly, and her smile broke through.
“I’m sure your mother would be glad to know you take good care of it.”
 
In sheer good humour, Marius started singing, and his clear tenor rolled out to the beat of their march. It was a joyous and determined sound that soon had the caravaners picking up their steps. From behind, a deep voice, guttural and throaty, joined in. Layers of harmonies sprang from deep in Fureva-Yung’s chest and throat, giving the song depth and breadth.
 
 
It was mid-afternoon when the two caravans finally met in the campground near the small stream. While the group had been gone, two more dritmen, a Buckles resident, another warden militia member and two peddlers from the Buckles markets had joined the caravan with Ghans, Orv, Yitti and the others. Nox realised with a sudden blush that she’d…acquired… the occasional piece of fruit or other treats from time to time back in Cerelon from one of the merchant's stalls. She considered as she shook hands with him that if not for his carts of tempting treats, she would not have had a way to practice her stealth and Hedge Magic of old. She welcomed him and all the new arrivals as old friends returned.
 
As the caravans merged and old friends and new acquaintances met, Marius pulled Risina to one side.
“Look, we’ve got a few dritmen with us. This caravan has got as far as it has because we’ve all worked together, understand? We’re classless. All I’m asking is that you pull your head in, and we can make this work.”
A flash of something self-righteous and mutinous appeared on Risina’s face for a moment before she sighed in ill-tempered agreement, “O-kay.”
 
After greetings, the question of water and supplies was discussed. Along with what was left of the giant bird, the muddy if edible mole-bear meat, the first caravan had had luck hunting and were well supplied with the remains of a stag as well as half a dozen rabbits, squirrels and other smaller game. With the water from the stream, all wagons filled up barrels and boxes with food and drink for the next leg of their journey together.
 
Nox wasted no time in seeking out Temila and asking to become her apprentice, as well as another favour she’d not known she’d wanted until spotting the stream. After asking around the women of the now enlarged caravan, Nox gained a new dress (new for her) and took herself downstream for a long afternoon soak. When she returned, her hair was clean and brushed straight, her skin showed the freckles that dirt and grim had hidden. Her dress, with its pins and tucks, showed the figure of a young woman no longer hidden in the sack-like skirt and pinafore of her childhood. When her new look drew attention, she didn’t slink away as she would have of old but turned, smiled and (tried) to accept the compliments.
 
The next day, there was one last task Fureva-Yung wanted to do before they finally left the area for good. As the light started returning to the world, she entered the pyramid with Marius, Jaden and Nox following. She was frozen in place by the view of the first room. The cylinder in the centre of the room was completely empty.
I was hoping to see him get home, Lamented Nox as she and the others came beside Fureva-Yung.
 
Fureva-Yung just stood staring at the empty space that held the only living link to her past. It was a bitter blow after the vision given by the beetles, the small flashes of recognition she'd received while in the pyramid the first time. She'd have liked to have asked the ancient being what it had all meant. While Fureva-Yung contemplated her loss, Marius walked around trying to gather what he could from the space. Had the being found a way to go home? Had it found a way to the datasphere and was now one with all knowledge or had the very old and injured being finally given and dissolved in the green gas? The response he received was disappointing. All he could say with any sense of confidence was that he didn't believe the impressive being would have given up. No, either by their tinkering in the pyramid or by their waking up his sub-conscience, the being had finally found a way out of his self-induced prison.
We'll find another datasphere portal like that one in the forest, Nox assured her big friend, We'll find your people, I'm sure of it. Fureva-Yung, we'll find a way to get you home.
 
Without a word, Fureva-Yung left the antechamber and climbed the stairs to the alcoves where she'd first contacted the entity in the cylinder. Just as they'd left them, the alcoves were dark and lifeless, but it didn't stop Fureva-Yung from thrusting her head into the alcove. Her spirit lifted for a moment as she felt the world around her slip away, her consciousness entering the floating space. She reached out to feel that other being's mind alongside her when she was torn back to her body . She could hear a motor somewhere behind the walls wind down to silence. As before, there wasn't enough energy in the system. Once more, Fureva-Yung was left feeling on the brink of connecting to understanding. The pent-up frustration, the loneliness and fear she had felt since awakening to this world ill-suited to her kind, surged through her. She slapped her fist into the wall of the alcove, buckling the metal and breaking something beyond. It was the last disappointment the pyramid would give her as she turned and left, the others silently following in her wake.
 
 
The thirteen refugees that had escaped the ruins of Cerelon almost two weeks before had swelled to more than thirty individuals from both the Buckles and High Redoubt. Some had been as close as people can be before the attack, others had never spoken to each other. All now set course North-East together. They had no real idea of what to expect, just a hope that with a little hard work, they could rebuild their lives into something they could all be proud.
 
For three days, they crossed the hilly grasslands to the west of the Endoval Forest. Nox, as promised, set to work learning what she could from Temila and Marius about how a body can be hurt and how it can be healed. Her quick mind devoured facts and was soon applying salves and herbal remedies she learnt from Temila to the bandages and stitches of Marius. She was also pleasantly surprised to discover that sometimes all people in pain needed was another human being to sit and listen.
 
Marius handed over his mother's sword to Risina, and together they practised sparring. She flicked the sword back and forth as if born to it, he sparred unarmed, taking advice from Risina on where he left himself unprotected or how to move to make the best of a strike. The practise sessions became so commonplace the dritmen were heard to wonder about their leader’s intentions with…The Boss.
 
At the same time, Jaden started planning for a future where she woke up in the same place day after day. She would not have admitted it out loud, but she missed her workshop where her ideas became reality. Looking at what she'd been able to bring with her and what they'd found along the way she started drawing out the layout for her new workshop. She had plans, just waiting for a space and time. First off, the self-equipping rubber armour inspired by the nodule trees. Her first prototype was only a reality in her mind, a plan on paper, and even now, she knew it would not provide the strongest of protection, but it was a start and may save her or one of her friends from grievous harm.
 
Fureva-Yung borrowed Jaden’s tools and asked her advice about the carving and shaping of all her souvenirs into links of chain. Some, like the vine or the crystal links provided by Sharavellen and Mamma, only needed adding to the chain. Other materials like the tusk of the mole-bear and the diamond glass from the pyramid needed skilled hands that Jaden was only too happy to provide. She worked diligently at the horn she'd pulled from the ancient margr that they'd called Ironhorn. It was slow work as she was unskilled and had only their rest times to work. After three days, she had a link she connected to the others. At the same time, Fureva-Yung noticed a blue flashing on her forearm. As before, in the tunnels deep underground, a dot at the centre of her tattoo began pulsing with a blue light. Throughout the day, she checked it regularly, the pulses growing long, the breaks in light shorter until that evening, the dot was a solid blue against her skin.
 
By the end of the third day, the caravan stopped as a new vista opened up to them. The rolling hills finally led up to a tower, tilting drunkenly to one side against the northern sky. The land of those distant hills was blue, so lush was the land encircling the tower.
 
“Ha, someone got the foundations wrong on that one,” Jaden commented, and those around her laughed as a joyful feeling of hope spread through the caravan.
And yet it stands, Nox replied in awe of the distant building. The crystal compass, the one the black hooded figure had put into her mind, had led them…where? Suddenly Nox was excited to find out.
“Can we get there by tomorrow?” She asked aloud to the group around her and was pleased when those around laughed at her exuberance and nodded.
“But first we rest,” Jaden chided her, unwilling to give up old habit quite so soon, “We have the rest of our lives to explore that Tilted Tower.”