Beyond the Wall of Time by Russell Kirkpatrick Read Free Book Online

with Captain Duon. And, as you can see, I am helping him bear an unpleasant burden.”
    “You are by no means the only one with an unpleasant burden. But if you don’t listen to me now, you’ll be continuing north
     on your own.”
    Ahead, Duon stumbled on a slope of slippery, worn rock reduced to the consistency of glass. They were in a room of rippled
     blue stone with a steaming pool set in the rocky floor.
    “Steady, there,” Noetos called, and the southern soldier grunted some answer he failed to catch.
    There was no doubt the House of the Gods was beguilingly beautiful. Each room had its own hidden or obscure function, and
     every room contained a numinous feel: the sense that someone immense had just left or was about to step in. Noetos prided
     himself on his practical bent, but even he found himself distracted by the shapes, the colours, the way the light pooled or
     rippled or reflected. Others of the party ran from one side of the room to the other, exclaiming over this strange relic or
     that incomprehensible artefact.
    “I thought we had worked our way through this,” Noetos said with a sigh. “I agree with you: I have acted selfishly and did
     not consider my family’s needs during this affair. Cylene helped me see the truth in your words. What more, son?”
    Noetos could see that for some reason his words had angered the boy, but Anomer kept his temper in check.
I had such hopes for him. But unless he matures, and swiftly, he will not be able to assume leadership of the family, let
     alone Old Roudhos. As he is at present, I could not even mention the possibility to him.
    “What more? Has Arathé mind-spoken you of late?”
    Noetos had to think for a moment. “I’ve overheard one or two of her thoughts, but nothing directly. I thought it a result
     of her increasing ability to communicate with her hands and voice. People are working hard to understand her, you know.”
    Anomer ought to be pleased at that, but it appeared he wasn’t.
    “You didn’t think to question why she has been silent? She’s at the end of herself, Father, can’t you see that? Two years
     of abuse at the hands of the Recruiters, then home to Fossa and safety for a matter of hours, followed by the loss of her
     family. Did you think how that might have affected her? The journey north, battered by supernatural storms. Hearing about
     the death of her mother and not even being able to travel to the grave. The events in Raceme, when it seemed we were to be
     snuffed out by the fingers of a god at any moment. How much did her magical rescue of you and her part in the defeat of the
     Neherians take out of her? And then the walking, the weeks and weeks of it, followed by a month or more of starvation on board
     ship. All the time she’s been plagued by voices and battling to come to terms with what’s been done to her. Father, she’s
     worn out. She needs a rest.”
    Noetos heard the implied condemnation in his son’s voice. Anomer might as well be shouting it in his ear.
    “I saw you and her talking earlier, before we left the Throne Room. Is that when she told you all this?”
    “She… yes.”
    “So, before you spoke to her, you didn’t know how seriously she has been affected by events? If so, why are you angry at me
     for not knowing until I was told?”
    “When I learned this is not at issue. Father, we must do something for her sake. Leave off this path of revenge. Let’s find
     somewhere to make a home.”
    The party entered a room none of them had seen before. According to Lenares, the rooms were not fixed, changing order at random.
     This room had something resembling blood trickling from pocked walls, and it pooled in small depressions on the sand. It felt
     far more sinister than any of the other rooms. One of the crimson rivulets seemed more recent than the others: it had not
     yet worn a channel in the wall, and its pool was less than a handspan across.
    The red pools exercised a strange fascination on