Читать книгу Rise to the Rahz - Erik van Mechelen - Страница 16

Abyl did another round of watering up and down the stone pillars. He wondered how things were going in Growing Room One. When the first toll sounded, he nearly fell off. The familiar memory struck him. A white hillside, stark light peeking from his periphery, then the shadow attacking him. What these people liked to call sentinels.

“Hey Abyl,” said Maryn. “Getting lost up there?” She pointed to her head.

“Guess so,” said Abyl.

“You’re not thinking of leaving are you?”

“Ry said it didn’t hurt to think about it.”

She laughed. “True enough. Just be mindful of your actions. After all the trouble we went to get you out, I don’t think the others would be so pleased to lose you.”

Abyl met her at the base of the stone, unhooking a thorn from a vine that wanted a little more to drink. He quenched its thirst with a tilt of his pot.

Maryn smiled. “I don’t think I can get you back in, but I can at least get you a glimpse of Director Dimah. What do you say?”

Abyl stood, facing Maryn. “Okay, I’ll go.”

“It’ll be fun,” said Maryn.

Abyl was pleased to get out of Haven's growing cave, to do something different. It was odd, but for half his life he’d been a grower and hadn’t cared a bit. He’d just gotten to do much of the same work, but hadn’t really enjoyed it. Maybe it was the climbing bit. Up and down the stone pillars was annoying. Or maybe...Maybe it was because I never remembered the shift before. Each day was genuinely new.

They started down the hall toward the main room, passing a dark doorway on their right which Abyl had not seen before. “What’s in that room?”

“That’s the training room,” said Maryn. The light from the hallway shone in just enough for Abyl to make out a wall rising into relative darkness.

“What do you do in there?”

“Climb, fight, test new tools. It’s usually where you’ll find the boys before and after supper. Sometimes Bel and I will watch if we’re not preparing the food or minding the plants. These days, with Bel carrying a baby, I have more to do.”

“She’s with child?”

Maryn made a curving gesture across her stomach. “Can’t you tell?”

Abyl wanted to have a look at the training room but Maryn pulled him along. “So you help Bel with her jobs?”

“Did you already forget what Ry said about being a family?”

Abyl frowned.

“I’m only joking.”

“What is joking? Is it like lying?”

“Yes, but in a friendly way.”

Abyl considered the new information. These Haven people did not speak as plainly as the workers. Even Director Dimah was direct.

“So you mean Bel’s child will be as much yours as it is Bel’s.”

“I wish, but I still help as she progresses through pregnancy. No other women around here. Hard for the men to understand.” She sighed. “We all need to pitch in where we can.”

They took the main entry stair out of Haven. Maryn explained that Abyl should pay close attention to how she opened doors and to which pathways they were about to take. With a twist of handholds Haven was closed and secure. For a moment, there were in near darkness as the door cut out the light from Haven’s entryway.

“You’re pretty calm,” said Maryn.

“I’m with you,” said Abyl.

“That’s nice of you to say,” said Maryn. She raised a necklace of small stones to her mouth and blew turma across them. They lit up.

“When do I get one of those?” asked Abyl.

“I thought you weren’t sticking around,” laughed Maryn.

“I’m not, but that seems useful,” he grinned.

“Ha ha. I see you’re catching onto our games. You’re right, they are.”

Maryn pointed along the corridor to their right. “If you follow that route and cut up to the left you’ll find the western main chasm walkway.”

“That’s the way I came with Kaydin and Gara.”

“Exactly, there’s also a few other routes that way. One goes down several levels then hangs a left to the western chasm ledge—that’s Kaydin’s route to collect earthlights from the growing rooms.”

“You mean it connects to the eastern walk?”

“No, he climbs across the chasm on the underside of the bridge.”

“Oh.” Under the bridge?

Maryn pulled on Abyl’s arm, turning him to the left. As they walked the corridor, Abyl felt the unevenness of the limestone against his feet and nearly fell. Maryn caught him when he stumbled and asked him to please keep his feet under him. They came to a passage that forked. “That way goes down to another western chasm ledge. It’s the closest way to a view of the Rahz Spire from the chasm, although the upper western lookout is closest—it looks out on the Rahz balcony.”

The Rahz balcony. Abyl remembered the red glow from his first night out past the first toll. That is where the Rahz watch.

They came to a short wall, which despite its inversion Maryn easily scaled.

“You’re stronger than you look,” said Abyl.

“There’s more to me than meets the eye, Abyl,” grinned Maryn. “Come on then,” she said as he struggled up. “For your first time, you’re not a bad climber. Kaydin and Gara will want to teach you a few things, though. Actually, I could teach you a few things myself.”

“That would be fun,” said Abyl. “I’d like to learn more from you.”

“I haven’t been, but you’ll need excellent strength and technique to navigate the chasm walls.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“Ry doesn’t let me out there.”

“Why not?” asked Abyl. “The shadows? Er, sentinels?”

“I’m not scared of them.” She didn’t say more. They came to a place where the tunnel forced them to crouch and eventually crawl. Maryn explained that they were on other side of the city's walls, how they still shared the system that Ry claimed Haven was no longer a part of. But if that was true, how could someone be re-inserted?

Abyl listened intently. Maryn spoke as quickly as she made fun of Mav for doing. The possibility of returning to the system grew in his mind. He could see himself going back. She went on to talk about the equilibrium the Rahz had created, and its necessity as they searched for the Source.

They reached a faint light poking up through the floor. Lying on their stomachs, Abyl and Maryn peered through into the directors quarters.