Free Beyond the Wall of Time by Russell Kirkpatrick Page A

opened his mouth.
And a fool.
    The silence seemed even emptier after the priest finished speaking. There had been no noticeable reaction to his outburst.
     Nothing gained, plenty lost. Though it might be that Noetos simply failed to see the clues these Padouki provided; their ways
     seemed so different as to be impenetrable.
    Seren nodded off first. This did not alarm the fisherman. The miner had borne more than his share during the journey. The
     man wanted answers as much as anybody, but day after day of hoisting a heavy pack had taken it out of his broad shoulders.
     However, when other captives struggled to keep their eyes open, Noetos began to grow nervous. His eyes swung to the fire.
    “Put it out,” he said thickly. When no one moved, he screamed: “PUT IT OUT!”
    He lurched forward and snatched up a gourd, upending it over the flames. An acrid stench filled the hut.
    “Now that wasn’t the cleverest thing I’ve ever seen,” Heredrew observed, seemingly unaffected by the smoke. “Let us hope the
     patient can provide another specimen without too much trouble.”
    “We are in a physic’s room?” Noetos asked, confused.
    “I have no doubt. The wood used on the fire is coated with a mild narcotic, designed to calm nervous patients. Our people
     are tired, and those with no magical insight or experience at regulating their bodily responses have been taken into sleep.”
    “So why am I awake?”
    “I would have thought,” Heredrew said, “the answer to that was obvious.”
    He’s wrong, the fool Falthan is wrong. I could not touch the huanu stone if I had magical ability.
    The warrior leader moved a pace towards them. “The elders will see you now,” he said. “Leave the sleeping ones here. They
     would not have survived the questioning.”
    “I will not leave my friends unless you guarantee their safety,” Noetos said gruffly.
    The man raised an eyebrow. “Many hosts would construe such fear as an insult. But since you are completely in our power, I
     understand your concern. Your friends will be well looked after.”
    Noetos wanted to give this man nothing, but what could he do?
    Eight of the captives were taken to another hut: Heredrew, Stella and Conal were the three Falthans though Noetos was certain
     Phemanderac and Moralye, born and raised in legendary Dhauria—so intimately bound in the story of the Undying Man—would also
     have remained awake had they been here. Captain Duon led a bewildered Lenares. The cosmographer seemed half-asleep and responded
     feebly as Duon explained to her what was happening. Anomer and Arathé had remained awake and followed their father. It worried
     Noetos to leave Seren, Tumar and his two fishermen, Sautea and Mustar, back in the physic hut, but the warrior leader was
     right. They were completely in the power of the Padouki.
    The Hut of the Elders was some distance away across the Canopy. A rising wind set the bridges swaying and Noetos found his
     attention taken by keeping his balance. A man of open spaces, of sea and shore, he could not make sense of direction and distance
     in the tops of the great trees. This was further compounded when they were forced up narrow ladders consisting of nothing
     more than notched branches. Their guards climbed with nonchalance, some with bows in hand or bags of weapons and stores, while
     the captives wrapped themselves around the ladders and inched their way upwards.
    Finally the captives stood before the door of a hut almost identical to the one they had left.
    “Come in,” said a woman’s pleasant contralto.
    Lost, confused and almost completely off balance, Noetos ducked to enter the building, a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.
     He was made to line up with the others along the side wall of the hut.
    This time there was no doubt as to whom they would be speaking.
    “Siy tell me you taken on the plateau at door of Godhouse,” said a broad-faced woman of middle years. Her voice was like golden
     syrup poured