Rachel knew at once that she hadn't been taken to the Heart, but her relief was short lived. She sank to her knees as a feeling of nausea struck her stomach like a punch. When she looked up, she saw the Dome Shield buzzing a couple of metres above her head. She gasped, holding onto her stomach with both hands. She wanted to put her hands over her ears to stop the buzzing, but she realised that the sound was just as much inside her head as it was outside.
Lord Hades stood beside her. 'Don't fight it,' he said. 'It will subside in time.'
Rachel groaned. Her face itched as though it had been covered in insects, but when she raised her hands to knock them away, her fingers found nothing but smooth skin.
'Where is this?' she said, gasping for air. 'Why is the shield so close? I can't bear it.'
'Take my hand,' Lord Hades said.
'No.' Rachel closed her eyes. She sat with her hands in her lap, breathing hard.
'I can help ease the pain.'
Rachel shook her head but he reached down and took her hand anyway. The pain subsided at once, giving way to a dull ache at the back of her skull.
'What did you do to me?' she said, wiping a tear from her eye.
'The pain is always there,' Lord Hades said. 'I'm just helping you contain it. In time, you will learn to do this for yourself.'
His hand felt strong as he wrapped his fingers around hers. Rachel wanted to pull her hand away from him. She wanted to tell him that she didn't need his help, but at the same time she didn't want the pain to return. With his help, the pain had subsided enough to allow her think. She would tolerate his touch for now, but she would never let him to touch her again.
Strong winds swirled around her as she knelt on the ground. Rachel held onto her racing thoughts. 'I'm sorry, mother,' she whispered to herself. 'I was never as strong as you.' She hadn't meant to speak the words aloud. She thought that Lord Hades might mock her for what she had said, but he gave no sign that he had heard her.
Lord Hades stood beside her, his robe rippling in the wind. Rachel tried not to look at the scars on his hand. His skin looked older than she remembered. His scars gave him the appearance of an ancient rock. She was sure that he had been weathered by more years than she could ever imagine.
'We're standing on top of the White Spear,' he said.' This is where the Dome Shield begins.'
'Begins?' Rachel said. She didn't think the Dome Shield had a beginning or an end. She had never thought about it like that. When she glanced around, she saw that she was kneeling on a flat stone roof. A high stone wall ran around its perimeter, blocking the worst of the wind, but an icy cold breeze still swirled around her. In the centre of the roof, she could see what Lord Hades was talking about. A thick white spear stood taller than both of them. The spear appeared to be made from some kind of massive bone. Many symbols had been etched along its length. Some glowed with a soft golden light. The bottom of the spear had been moulded into the building's roof, and its tip was connected to the Dome Shield. Bright white light pulsed along its length.
'The White Spear,' Rachel said, understanding for the first time.
Lord Hades nodded. 'It provides power for the Dome Shield.'
Rachel followed the pulsing light up towards the Dome Shield and saw white shapes darting back and forth around it. The shapes were inside the shield. Lord Hades raised his hand towards them and they darted away from his fingers. Rachel tried not to show her fear. She had seen such things in the Dome Shield before, but only from a distance. She had always told herself that it couldn't be true. She had tried to fool herself that the patterns in the sky were just her own imagination. She realised now that she had been right all along.
She had never understood the Dome Shield. It had always been a mystery to her. Now that she was so close to the powerful forces within it, it only served to confirm her greatest fears. It wasn't just an energy field. There was something disturbing about it, something that she didn't want to think about at all. As she watched the white shapes swimming in circles, a tingling sensation flowed through her mind. Her whole body ached in a way that she had never felt before. It felt like a yearning had woken inside her, one that was tainted by her fear of the unknown.
'What are those things?' she said. 'It feels like they're crawling inside me. I can't bear it.'
'Those are the Lasrecon. You will adjust to them, in time.'
'I won't. I hate them.'
'How can a being that depends on the existence of life hate the essence that provides it?'
Rachel frowned. She didn't know what he was talking about.
'You know the word Lasrecon, don't you, Rachel? It's from the Language of the Kings. You've spoken it before, when you fought with Lord Goran.'
'I don't know what it means,' Rachel said. 'I didn't fight Lord Goran. I just had to stop him. What he was doing wasn't right.'
A thought came to her unbidden, even as she tried to push it away. Memories stirred from a place that she didn't understand. The Language of the Kings felt closer now. Parts of it bubbled up inside her mind. Lasrecon meant the essence of life.
Lord Hades smiled and pulled her onto her feet. 'Good,' he said. 'You are remembering.'
Rachel pulled her hand away from him and winced as the nausea returned once more. She wrapped her arms around her waist and refused to give in to it.
Lord Hades' piercing green eyes stared towards her as she struggled to control the mixed feelings inside her.
'It will reduce in time,' he said. 'It is worse now than it has ever been. The Lasrecon have been disturbed.'
Rachel wondered what kind of thing could disturb the little white shapes that swam above her head. She kept her thoughts to herself.
'Raise your hand towards the shield.'
'No. I'm close enough to those things already. Why are they inside the shield anyway? What are they doing in there?'
'The clerics brought them. They were not part of Lord Wembern's original design for the Dome Shield, but they became a very necessary addition. They serve a vital purpose for us all, but that's a story for another time. Raise your hand.'
Rachel didn't want to raise her arm, but it was clear from his expression that he wasn't going to let her go until she did what he wanted. She raised her hand part way and was amazed to see the Lasrecon gathering around it.
'They'll bite me,' she said, pulling her hand away again.
Lord Hades laughed in a deep booming laugh that sounded more brittle than joyous. 'They will not bite you,' he said. 'They have no mouths to bite, and no bodies to feed. The Lasrecon are life energy, nothing more.'
Rachel raised her hand again, but she kept it well short of the surface of the Dome Shield. More Lasrecon gathered around her, making the shield appear unfocussed around her hand.
'Why are they doing that?' she said.
In answer, Lord Hades reached out towards the Dome Shield on his right. The Lasrecon scattered away from his hand. Rachel could see a circle of clear blue sky in the void they had left behind.
'I don't understand,' she said.
'Not all lords are born equal. The Lasrecon were drawn to Lord Wembern too, but not so much as they are drawn to you. They have always avoided me.'
Rachel moved her hand from side to side, watching the schools of Lasrecon following her hand. She noticed a pattern in their movements. As they approached her hand, they shook their small fat tales, wriggling in a series of small, overlapping circles. Once their dance was complete, they darted away a short distance before returning and starting the same movements again.
'There's something wrong with them,' Rachel said. 'They're afraid of me.'
'They're not afraid of you.'
'What then?'
'They're afraid for you.'
'What do you mean?' Rachel lowered her hand and shivered. She felt so cold and alone.
'The Lasrecon know you're in danger,' Lord Hades said, 'and they know why.'
'Why am I in danger? You keep saying that, but I'm in no more danger than anyone else in the security forces. We all put our lives at risk every day.'
'It's more than that, Rachel. The Lasrecon are drawn to you. You've seen it for yourself. They're attracted to your hand but repelled by mine.'
'How does that make any difference?'
'In the old days, the Lasrecon were used as a test of worthiness. The effect is not just here. It happens everywhere, even at larger distances. When you go out on patrol, the Lasrecon follow you. When Thompson sent you to Beacon Station, they followed you there too. They went with you to Havers Compound, and they followed you back to Cinnamon City when you returned. The shield is always at its most opaque when you are near. The Lasrecon follow you, wherever you go. All I need to do is look to the sky and I know where you are.'
'That's ridiculous,' Rachel said. 'I've never seen the Dome Shield change.'
'You wouldn't,' Lord Hades said. 'Not unless you were looking for it. The Dome Shield is too high for most people to see clearly. The effect is diluted when you are moving around. You need to train your eyes to see it.'
'It doesn't make any sense,' Rachel said. 'Even if it was true? How would that put me in any danger? It doesn't make any difference what they do.'
'It does make a difference. For those who know what to look for, the Lasrecon are a marker, visible all across the Dome Shield, from inside and out.'
'Outside the Dome Shield?' Rachel said. 'There's nobody out there. Even if there was, why would anyone care about the location of one woman? Why would anyone care about me at all? I'm just a commander. I was a major for most of my career. People are interested in the lords, not me.'
Lord Hades reached out and took Rachel's shoulders in his large firm hands. 'You're a Sand Lord, Rachel, just like Lord Wembern.'
Rachel laughed. 'You're more crazy than Willow. He's always babbling on about things that don't make any sense. I'm just Rachel, nothing else. Why does everybody want me to be something I'm not?'
'That's why the Lasrecon are drawn towards you.'
'My father was a businessman.'
'Your mother was a Sand Lord. That's why I had to take her, to keep you both safe, so the Dome Shield wouldn't give you away.'
'You're lying. You didn't have to take her away. How would taking my mother away make any difference if you left me behind? If what you said is true, the Lasrecon would have followed me too. Why do you have to play with people's lives? I needed my mother. You had no right to take her away.'
'The Lasrecon followed Eleanor because she had come to her full strength. I had to remove her so she couldn't be seen from outside. You were too young. You hadn't yet developed your full abilities. Your strength has grown slower than I had expected. The Lasrecon didn't start following you until Thompson sent you to Beacon Station. The Lasrecon didn't notice you until then. Now you're getting stronger. Now they seek you out, just as they sought out your mother before you. It's too late to stop it. They want to be near you. I cannot hide your presence within the Orange Zone any longer. The others know you are here. They will come for you now.'
'What others? Who will come for me? Stop filling my mind with lies.'
'The war lords will come. The Lasrecon have betrayed your presence. The war lords know I have a sand lord with me. I didn't want it to be like this. I had other plans for you, but the war lords will not rest until you are dead. There isn't much time. You must prepare yourself.'
Rachel shook her head. 'You're not making any sense. Why would the other lords want me dead? They don't even know who I am. If they wanted me dead, they would have killed me already, wouldn't they?'
'They live outside among the Blasted Lands. The Dome Shield is designed to keep them out of the Orange Zone, but they will find a way through now that they know you are here. They already probed the shield to try to find you. I can feel it. The Dome Shield suffers fluctuations. Its energy fields are all wrong. The Lasrecon are agitated because they know that the war lords are coming. They know it was them that gave you away. They grieve for what they have done to you.'
'You're saying these things are conscious? How do you know that? They're just shapes swimming in the shield.'
'Yes, they are conscious. They were here on Megarothia even before the sand lords arrived. The Lasrecon know what they have done. They are frightened for you. They want to keep you safe but they are powerless to help you. You need to hide somewhere where even the Lasrecon can't give you away. They don't want to expose your position, but they can't help themselves. They are driven by forces beyond our understanding.'
Rachel stared at the swirling shapes above her head before gazing into Lord Hades' deep green eyes. None of it made any sense to her, and yet, somehow, she knew it was all true. She could feel the wrongness in the Dome Shield. She could feel the fear and agitation of the Lasrecon. She could feel something else too, something terrible.
'He's already inside,' she said. 'I can feel him. He's looking for me.'