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They went back down to ground level to find that the people of Zhan were heading back to their homes.
“Wait,” Zaine said, looking through the crowd. “Isn’t that your father over there?”
“It is,” Guyan replied in a tight voice.
The ailing king had just started to make his way up the stone steps that led to the throne room. The queen and Jelena were supporting him, but he looked very frail and weak.
“So we follow,” Davyn suggested. “We need to give him this potion as soon as possible.”
Guyan needed no encouragement. She was already heading for the stairs, with the goblet still in her hand. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, Guyan’s family had vanished into the tunnel.
Without even pausing, Guyan ran up the steps and along the tunnel, bursting into the throne room with Davyn and Zaine a step behind. At the far end of the room were Guyan’s family and her uncle.
They had come in during what seemed to be an argument between Guyan’s mother and the new self-proclaimed king.
“You of all people, Mya, know we’ve done everything these dragons have ever asked of us,” Eldric snapped. “On the other hand they’ve been promising to find our home land for a long time, but every new circle that is opened is never ours.”
“That’s not their fault,” Mya retorted. “If they could find it, I’m sure they would.”
“Well, I am sick of waiting,” Eldric stated flatly. “The dragons can tend the links. We will not.”
His black eyes, hard and cold, drifted over Mya’s head and took in the arrival of Guyan and her companions. At first he looked surprised, then irritated, and finally his cheeks flushed pink with anger.
“Why aren’t you back in that starlink?” he demanded. “Where are my sons?”
“Your new rules have destroyed every single world we had saved,” Guyan accused him, completely ignoring his questions.
“I told you the worlds were not ready to break free,” King Reko rasped, then collapsed into a fit of coughing.
“We have the others,” a voice said from the doorway. Zaine turned to see Sy walk into the throne room, prodding Maata and the others ahead of him. Dom followed behind, and looked apologetically at Guyan.
“Others?” King Eldric shrilled. “I told you to get rid of Guyan, not to bring others here.”
“There are no more links left,” Dom told his father. King Eldric looked annoyed for a few seconds, and then pointed to a small alcove to the side of the room.
“Put them in there and seal it,” he ordered.
Trianna, looking shocked at how she was being treated, stepped forward, and shoved Sy away when he went to push her towards the alcove.
“You cannot treat me this way! I am the personal weaver of royalty in my world,” Trianna said haughtily. She drew herself up tall and stared at King Eldric.
“You are a weaver – and a royal?” King Eldric asked, misunderstanding her explanation and looking sceptically at her clear skin. Even Zaine had to admit that his mother looked royal as she held King Eldric’s gaze. “Tell me of your skills.”
“I have fought the storm dragons to gain control of them,” Trianna boasted. Zaine would have laughed out loud had his mother not looked so serious. Yes, she had tried to take control of the storm dragons ... but she had failed. He watched, amazed, as Trianna then flicked back her robe and unclipped Maata’s crown from her belt. “And I have a crown.”
“Really?” Now King Eldric leaned forward and looked very interested indeed. “Bring her up here!”
Trianna shook Sy’s hand off and walked forward on her own.
“I’m with her,” Calard said, gulping and rushing up to stand next to Trianna. Calard shot her a desperate look. It seemed that he couldn’t take his fall in stature either. A look of pure triumph shone in Trianna’s eyes, and she waited a few seconds before replying.
“He is my ... faithful servant,” Trianna agreed, with a smile so genuine that it puzzled Zaine. How could she look so happy after losing her entire world?
Calard pressed his lips together, looking as if he would like to argue, but knowing he had no choice but to go along with Trianna’s story.
“I think we should talk more,” King Eldric said, waving his hand towards the spare throne.
“With pleasure,” Trianna replied. She sat next to King Eldric, looking around the room with a gloating air, and then placed Maata’s crown on her own head.
King Eldric leaned closer and seemed surprised at the designs carved into the crown. Zaine felt a hand on his shoulder, and he was pushed towards the alcove. There was no point in resisting. His runes were of no use here.
Guyan hurried forward, ignoring Sy who went to stop her. She took the pitcher of water from next to her uncle and tipped some into the goblet. She handed the goblet to her father and he drank it without question.
“Why haven’t the weavers been tending the circles?” King Reko asked. “What have they been doing?”
“The weavers have all been busy with a special job for me ... helping find a way to make this world habitable on the surface,” Eldric said defensively, eyeing the goblet suspiciously. “Their quest is for the good of all of us. If a few worlds have to make it on their own, that’s the price they have to pay!”
“What about our finding, Father?” Dom asked. “We cannot grow enough food here to feed everyone.”
King Eldric looked annoyed that his youngest son had not used his new title, and then answered shortly. “We can bring back a few worlds after the dragons agree to tend them. We will not back down.”
Guyan had remained next to her family, only a few paces from the throne, and Eldric looked at her uneasily.
“Get back with the others. I don’t like you being this close to the throne. You could destroy royalty and time if you touch it,” he said, making a shooing motion at Guyan, who ignored him completely.
“How would she do that?” Trianna asked, looking at Guyan as if she doubted what Eldric said.
“My niece had a star-chart done as a child,” King Eldric replied and signalled to Sy, who opened a drawer in a table by the wall then hurried over to his father with a tightly rolled scroll. “I have a copy of it here.”
Trianna took the scroll, unrolled it, and read it aloud.
Let Guyan ascend the throne and time will cease.
Stars will fall and Guyan will hold their fate in her hands.
With her the royal line will end,
Guyan and a Starweaver will breach the boundaries of time,
Destroying them forever and sealing the fate of all weavers.
Trianna looked up and her eyes settled on Zaine for a brief moment, but she seemed confused rather than angry or afraid.
“I have read something similar before,” she said quietly as she lowered the scroll. “This might not mean what it seems to say. I have seen time almost stop and I don’t think she caused it.”
“She is a danger to this world and she must not stay here,” King Eldric stated firmly, and he snatched the scroll off Trianna. Clearly he did not want to hear anything more about it.
A hissing wind swept past Zaine. The familiar sound filled him with dread for an instant. Were the storm dragons chasing him again, intent on destroying him and everything in their path?
The misty shapes of two dragons swirled into the room and settled just in front of King Reko and Queen Mya.
Your presence is requested in the basin, one of the dragons said simply.
“I am in charge here!” King Eldric shouted, stepping forward and pushing Mya aside.
The storm dragons turned their attention to the new king, and their calm manner suddenly became angry.
Very well. Come, the second dragon hissed, letting out a stream of moisture that soaked King Eldric in seconds. He stood there, trying to pretend it didn’t bother him, and glared at the dragons. As the dragons turned to go, they caught sight of Guyan and her friends. They paused; Friends, welcome.
The dragons flew around Guyan, almost humming with the pleasure of seeing her, and then flowed out of the room, leaving a wind sucking the air after them and a room full of stunned people.
“What are we invited to?” Maata asked Guyan quietly as she came over to stand next to Zaine and Davyn. King Eldric was trying to dry his robes by squeezing the water out of them.
“The dragons’ meeting,” Guyan replied with a puzzled expression. “I’ve never heard of them inviting humans to their meetings before.”
“Should we put this lot in the alcove and seal them in?” Sy asked, stepping forward to grab hold of Zaine.
The king stopped and seemed about to nod, when he put his hand to his chin instead and looked thoughtful. The edges of his mouth curled upwards in a smile that made Zaine shiver. “No, I have a better idea. Bring them with us. Come, Trianna. You can watch.”
King Reko followed them out, still supported by his wife but looking a lot stronger. A short keening cry echoed down the tunnel, and Guyan hurried ahead of Zaine. They followed a path up around the top of the cavern and then turned into another, darker tunnel.
“They don’t like to be kept waiting,” she told them as she vanished, sure-footed, into the darkness of the tunnel behind her uncle. Trianna swept ahead of them all, as if she had been a royal all her life. Calard, looking slightly resentful, followed a step behind.
Even though the tunnel was only short, it seemed to take a long time to reach the other end. Zaine could hear a noise that sounded like a rushing of wind or a flock of birds in flight. As he emerged into the light at the end of the tunnel, he stopped and stared. It wasn’t birds or the wind. They had emerged into what seemed to be the hollow basin of the top of a mountain. Sands raced past high above them, sometimes swirling down on the few people who stood at the bottom of the basin.
A dozen weavers had come up from the trees and followed their new king into the basin. They stood nervously near the entrance to the tunnel.
Perched around the rim of the basin, in full blast of the red sand, sat several dozen golden dragons. They looked agitated and their attention was directed at the humans.
Suddenly, the dragons keened loudly, splitting the air with a cry that hurt Zaine’s ears.
One of the dragons flew down over the heads of the people and then hovered directly in front of King Eldric.
You did not tend the starlinks, the dragon hissed at King Eldric. It blew a blast of air that almost knocked the king over.
“We have tended them for many hundreds of years,” King Eldric replied firmly. “We now need to spend our time finding a way to live on the surface.”
This seemed to anger the dragons and several more flew down to join the first one. They swirled around King Eldric furiously. For a brief second, Zaine felt sorry for him – he knew what it was like to have the anger of the dragons aimed at him.
Each one that broke free before it was ready has damaged Zhan. Time here has become unstable, just as it has in other worlds. We have been trying to fix it, but time is failing here.
Zaine felt a sudden jolt of fear. Time was not right here? Now several things seemed to make more sense. The long time it had taken to go up the steps to the castle and the journey from the throne room to the basin. Even now he noticed how much heavier his arms felt, how much more energy it seemed to take just to breathe.
“Rubbish!” Eldric retorted. “You’re making it up to force us to do all the work you can’t be bothered to do yourself.”
Every dragon perched on the rim of the basin took to the air and dived down towards the group of people in the centre. Eldric stepped back as the dragons landed. Mya, King Reko and Jelena remained in the centre, facing the angry dragons.
“We will tend the circles,” Queen Mya promised, and cast a glance back at Eldric. “We just have to return Reko to full health first.”
Eldric and the weavers had almost reached the edge of the basin, where Guyan, Zaine, Maata, Davyn and Tercel were watching from. Trianna was staying near Eldric, and Calard was next to her.
“Now!” Eldric yelled suddenly as he jumped backwards into the tunnel.
The weavers all stepped forward, brushing sand away with their feet to reveal a marked circle of runes with one small gap in it. One weaver bent closer and quickly drew in a final rune to join the circle, then stepped back. Zaine was busy trying to piece together the runes to see what they were for, but many of them were still dusted with red sand and were hard to read.
He felt himself pulled backwards out of the circle and fell heavily against the side of the basin. As he sat up he saw Davyn about to reach in to grab Jelena. A heartbeat later the circle began to glow and Eldric grinned broadly as he watched.
“What have you done?” Mya yelled as a golden glow flooded the circle. It was so bright Zaine had to look away for a second, and when he looked back his mouth fell open in shock.
“Ice,” Guyan muttered as she, too, stared at the scene before them.
All of the storm dragons, and Jelena, Mya and Reko were frozen in mid-motion. The dragons looked like golden statues.