Arul and Keeran retraced their steps to the fallen tower, scrambling up the gravel slope, then jogging downhill through stands of pine trees. They found Guru Pari sitting where they had left him, looking a little better. He waved to them with a cheerful smile. ‘See anything interesting?’
‘You might say that!’ Spluttered Keeran.
Arul put his hands on his knees and caught his breath. ‘There was a river of light under the mountain.’
‘And why did you try and kill us with your disk?’ Keeran added.
Guru Pari raised an eyebrow at Keeran. ‘I wasn’t trying to kill you. I may have saved you, if the disk worked and restored the energy flow. I’ll tell you more when we make camp tonight.’
Arul unsheathed his knife and fashioned a crude walking stick for his Guru, leaving the fallen tower and crossing the meadow under a late afternoon sun. The butterflies had vanished, leaving an empty field, yellow in the slanting mountain light. Before Arul stepped into the ravine, he gazed back at the meadow and its masses of wildflowers, now fading into shadow.
I’d like to come back here someday. It must be the most beautiful spot on earth.
Yet deep inside he had a feeling that he would never see this place again. He didn’t know why, but a sense of dread swept over him. He followed Guru Pari through the cliffs, around the giant pine tree, and into the glade. They camped overnight, enjoying mounds of berries collected from the meadow, Keeran cramming great handfuls into his mouth and giggling as the purple juice streamed down his chin.
The light faded around the glade, fingers of sunlight trickling through the pine trees in deep orange hues. When night fell, they sat around the campfire listening to the wood pop and crackle, firelight pressing back the dark. ‘You promised to tell us about the river of light,’ Arul said to Pari, trying not to sound impatient.
‘Yes! Tell us, Guru!’ Keeran chorused.
‘What else do you know of the tower?’ Arul asked.
‘Well, actually this isn’t the only tower. They are found all over the Meeru Ranges, along the west of Kumari Kandam. The thing is, we don’t know why they were only built along the mountains.’ Pari sighed. ‘Alas, one of many ancient secrets we don’t understand.’
‘So we used to know about this stuff?’ Keeran asked.
‘Yes, well our ancestors did,’ Guru Pari said. ‘So Arul, what do you make of the marvellous work of your forefathers?’
‘My forefathers?’
Guru Pari reached for his pendant. ‘Your amulet, like mine, mark us out as descendants of the Navigators.’ He fixed his eyes on Arul. ‘In the old language it translates as, those you seek a way through the stars’.’
Arul pulled out his amulet, almost dropping it as a beautiful silver glow began pulsing from its gem.
I’ve never seen it do this before.
‘The who?’ He said.
‘The Navigators, dummy!’ Keeran whispered.
Their Guru tilted his head back and laughed. ‘The gold pendant has been changed many times, but the stone is thousands of years old.’
Keeran and Arul stared at Guru Pari in awe. Finally, Arul spoke up. ‘So what is this gem?’
‘Your stone, like mine, were instruments of the Navigators who used them to manipulate great energy, far beyond my own abilities.’
‘So you can use your stone!’ Arul cried out. ‘Can you teach me how to use mine?’
‘Have patience, Arul. In time I will.’
‘Are these Navigators the same people that helped our ancestors reach Kumari Kandam from the ocean?’ Keeran asked.
‘I never heard of them!’ Arul said.
‘You don’t read as much as I do!’ Keeran replied smugly.
Pari smiled and warmed his hands near the flames. ‘What else can you tell us, Keeran?’
‘Um…that these Navigators found a way across the ocean for our people after the Gods destroyed our homeland of three kingdoms…or three suns. I can never get the translation right. The writings are similar to ours, yet quite different. Ancient and full of complex mathematical symbols.’
Guru Pari stood up and stretched, gazing at the stars, clear and bright as crystals. He looked down at the boys, face half-shadowed. ‘They didn’t find a way over the ocean. They found a path through all of that.’ He pointed into the night sky.
Arul and Keeran were silent for some time. When Keeran spoke, his voice quivered. ‘How can that be, Guru? What chariot can cross all of that’?
‘Vimana,’ said Arul. ‘Great Vimana. Ships that could cross the stars. They’re not made up stories, are they, Guru?’
Pari smiled. ‘No, Arul, they’re not fables. What’s more, beings that could cross the stars could certainly build rivers of light energy. And towers to do who-knows-what.’ He fingered his pendant. ‘Even make this stone.’
‘How come I don’t have a stone?’ Asked Keeran.
‘Because your bloodline does not come from the Navigators,’ Guru Pari replied, his eyebrow arching.
‘Oh, I see,’ Keeran said, his voice falling.
‘Don’t worry! Your ancestors might have been priests out there!’ Arul said. Keeran’s face brightened.
Arul looked up into the sky. ‘I wonder why the Gods destroyed our home in the stars?’
Pari sighed. ‘That Arul, is a question with a terrible and unknown answer.’
Arul imagined all those people fleeing some tragic apocalypse. Crossing unimaginable distances on star-voyaging ships. His people. A wave of profound sadness overcame him, washing over his heart like something half-forgotten and unimaginably ancient.
Are the Gods so cruel?
Keeran stared up at the sweeping constellations glittering overhead. ‘Do you think we’ll ever get to go back there?’
Pari had a wistful, faraway look in his eyes. ‘I wonder about that, Keeran, I really do. Perhaps one day.’
A soft wind sighed through the branches of the giant pine tree, silence blanketing the trio, each deep in his own thoughts. So many questions seethed inside Arul that he felt like bursting. ‘So the river of light feeds the towers?’
‘It and others like it. They’ve been feeding an inexhaustible energy supply to the coastal cities. Far too much for the light-lanterns that still remain in Ailas. We can only assume that in the distant past, our people used great machines of some kind,’ Pari said. ‘The scriptures also mention a sister continent to ours that lies on the far side of the world. Ancient vimana landed there, while others came here. We do not know the land’s name, nor have we ever found it, although I wish we had.’
‘And the animals fleeing the mountains? How does that fit into what’s happening?’ Arul said.
Pari adjusted his cloak. ‘That interruption in the flow of energy you described is, I think, the cause of the tower failing. The infernal noise it made drove the wildlife mad. Now that this tower has fallen, the animals will return. Sailem is safe for now. But…’
‘But what?’ Arul said, his face tense.
‘These earthquakes occurred at the same time as the tower malfunctioned. It’s just one tower of many. What happens when the river of light ceases to flow and all the towers fail? I feel that something worse than animals attacks will happen. Something far worse.’
That sent a chill down Arul’s spine. Great and ancient forces were at work here. Forces that he didn’t understand. ‘All that effort to supply light and heat? Nothing more? That doesn’t make sense.’
‘In ancient times the energy conduits were probably used for other things, but we don’t know what. When I was at the Royal Academy, no one knew its source, except that it is somewhere in the far south,’ Pari said
‘What’s the Academy? Is it a school in the capital?’ Arul asked.
‘No, it’s not in Ailas. It is actually in the mountains to the south, where our greatest minds study. I lived there for decades, studying mathematics, philosophy, science. You name it, we studied it.’
Arul stared at his Guru poking the campfire with a stick, gradually working up the courage to ask the one question that he really wanted to ask. Now was that time. ‘Guru Pari, did you know my Amma?’
Keeran gasped. At first, Arul thought that Guru Pari wasn’t going to answer him. The three of them stared into the fire silently. Nearby, the ancient pine tree sighed in the wind and seemed to be waiting with timeless patience.
‘Yes, I knew her.’ Pari’s voice was thick with emotion. He took a deep breath.
‘And?’ Arul asked. He stared at Pari, feeling his chest tighten. ‘Appa does not speak of her. He says I must wait until I’m older.’
‘I must respect the wishes of your Appa, Arul. It’s only right.’
Arul gazed at his feet, tears forming in his eyes. He thought that Guru Pari of all people would tell him the answer he craved. Pari fixed his eyes on Arul and thought for a long moment. ‘Both Seri and I knew your Amma.’
Arul wiped his eyes. Pari took a deep breath. He looked so very sad. Old memories seemed to be ebbing and flowing across his face like an ocean tide. ‘Seri and I brought her up to Sailem when she was pregnant with you, all those years ago.’
Arul swallowed hard. ‘Brought her? From where? Where was she from?’ He tensed, waiting for some terrible secret to be revealed. The trees creaked under a gust of icy wind, raining a shower of pine needles around them.
Guru Pari tilted his head. ‘You always believed she was from the village, didn’t you? Well, she wasn’t. She was from Ailas. On the coast.’
‘You mean the Royal City? But why come with you to live in Sailem? It’s so far from everything and so…nothing.’
Guru Pari stoked the fire again, struggling with his next words. ‘That part I cannot tell you without your Appa’s permission, Arul. I…simply cannot.’ Then he was silent again, the campfire hissing as sparks showered into the night like tiny suns.
Arul hung his head in despair, clenching his hands into fists as hard as rocks. He could feel the truth about his Amma fleeing from his grasp. He knew that his Guru had nothing more to add. Arul lay down, his heart full of sadness. Keeran quietly put his hand on Arul’s shoulder, close to tears himself.
The stars wheeled overhead as the night deepened, the fire burning down into a heap of glowing coals. Arul watched the ancient pine tree long after the others went to sleep, grief like a dark river inside his heart. As he dozed, he heard a voice heavy with age reach into his mind.
Patience, Child of the Mountains.
Arul opened his eyes and raised himself on one elbow. ‘What was that, Guru Pari?’ But his Guru was fast asleep. All he heard was the soft creaking of the giant tree’s branches. Puzzled, he lay down again and continued to stare into the night sky.
Overhead, the planet Chevaai, abode of war, gazed unblinking at him. Arul gazed at the red planet for hours, as if in a deep trance. Then the descendant of the star-voyaging Navigators cried himself to sleep.