Free The Blood Line by Ben Yallop Page B

are destined for such a long life. Time in the mines seems too often to be fatal. And Allende must succeed in destroying our world, after all here we are in Mu, the future result of his actions. Whatever he is going to do and whenever he is going to do it, he must manage it. Unless stopping him would mean that this future will disappear. Ah, it is too hard to think about. I cannot follow it.’
    ‘What else is the Riven King planning?’ asked Sam.
    ‘Hmmm, two more things which seem important that I can tell you. He is planning to make a final push here, in this time, to rid himself of the last of the resistance to his rule. He is sending out the Riven ever more frequently to pick off those with presence. He is planning for war too. And the last thing, he talks about finding two things. A box and a line which will make him even more powerful. This is connected to a search he has the Riven doing under London. The Blood Line he calls it. He searches for it even more hungrily than he seeks the crystals. The search is everything to him and he is sure that it will make him unstoppable. He talks about boxes. He says when the last box has gone then the location will be revealed.’
    ‘Thank you, Aleksy. I’ll pass the information on. You’ve been watching Allende. Can’t you attack him when he isn’t suspecting it?’
    ‘He is much too strong for me. I may have this presence but it is nothing compared to his power.’
    ‘Is there any clue as to where he came from? With the lines linking around through time I wondered whether we could do what he tried to do to me and kill him when he was still a child.’
    ‘No,’ said Aleksy, shaking his head and standing up. ‘Nothing I have heard. So, shall we get you back to London? It will be dangerous, the line is very well guarded, but I have an idea about what we can do.’

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TEN
     
     
    Somewhere in Mu near the Rivenrok Complex
    The future: date unknown
     
    A s they walked Sam could feel a malignancy in the air which became stronger the further they went until it was almost a rumble, barely there at the edge of hearing.
    ‘You can feel it can’t you?’ said Aleksy softly. ‘The nearer we get to the Complex the more it drags you down. I hadn’t realised it was there until I left and got away from the building. It was like fresh air after being trapped underwater. I think it is having so many with presence in one place, or perhaps it is just the presence of the King himself.’
    They were properly moving uphill now, away from the plains, along ridges which stretched like crumpled corduroy. The land became rocky and forested. The hum in the air became ever more palpable as they climbed. Most of the time they walked in silence but when they stopped, which Sam needed to do several times, they talked in hushed tones.
    ‘What tricks have you learnt with presence?’ asked Aleksy on one such rest. Sam described the basic leaping, pushing and pulling he had done. Aleksy nodded at this but gave a look of surprise when Sam showed him how to send his presence inside another’s body to heal injuries. Sam was not able to do much, not even cure his own fatigue, but Aleksy was quick to grasp the concept. Sam also described how he had learnt to grasp flame, a technique copied from Ferus, and how he had used it to fight the terrifying beasts called wendigo, blasting them away like dried leaves in a wildfire.
    In return Aleksy showed Sam how to use presence to create lightning.
    ‘As well as pirates I was always interested in the weather as a child,’ he said. ‘Storms fascinated me. When I began to learn how to use this presence I had an idea. Lightning is a bit like friction. Air rubbed hard together, so I had a think and, with a little practice I was able to do it. You can even do this, look.’
    Aleksy moved into the shade of a pine tree and held out a hand.
    ‘By rubbing the air a little more gently you can make it glow rather than sparkle.’
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