It didn’t run straight from one aperture to the other. On the way, the pewter stream fed itself to the Clepsydra, as water pours through a mill. Sluggish, glutinous, it made a pulpy sound as it slipped into artfully carved ducts.
‘No wonder it’s stood for so long,’ Kutch said, awestruck. ‘It draws directly from magic’s chariot. The amount of power involved-I wouldn’t go too near, Reeth. This level of energy’s really dangerous.’
Caldason didn’t reply. He looked distant.
‘Reeth?’
Serrah went to the Qalochian and grasped his arm. ‘Reeth!’
He came back into focus. ‘What?’
‘You were away there.’
He shook his head to clear it. ‘It’s hot down here, and the magic…’
‘It’s pretty overwhelming,’ Kutch agreed.
‘All I can feel is the heat,’ Serrah said. ‘Here.’ She handed Caldason her water pouch.
He took a long drink and seemed better for it. Then he turned to Kutch. ‘So what do you reckon? What is this thing?’
‘I think the scholars were right; it’s a timepiece.’
‘Measuring what?’ Serrah asked. ‘Hours? Days?’
‘You have to think on a much larger scale than that.’ He was gazing up at the thing. ‘Look at the symbols.’
‘You understand them?’
‘Mostly, no. But one or two are in remaining Founder fragments, and we think we know what they mean.’ He pointed. ‘See that one? At the beginning of the pendulum’s track?’
‘The one that looks like a figure eight with a billhook through it?’
‘Yes, the green one. It means…well, it means a lot of things, but chiefly something like birth or beginning. One interpretation is “seed”; another’s “Spring”, or “a well”.’
‘Not too difficult to interpret, then,’ she said.
‘No. It’s fairly obviously a starting point. All those other symbols the pendulum’s passed on its journey presumably mark important stages or events.’
‘Events in what? Somebody’s life?’
Caldason had been taking this in silently. Now he spoke. ‘All of our lives.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Kutch is beginning to understand. Aren’t you, Kutch?’
The apprentice nodded. He was pale, despite the heat.
‘Don’t keep me in suspense,’ Serrah complained. ‘What is it?’
‘That symbol right at the top, in black and orange,’ Kutch explained hesitantly, indicating an image the size of a wagon wheel. ‘It’s the Founders’ glyph for all. Everything.’
‘And by everything…’
‘Scholars believe it meant just that; the whole thing. The world.’
‘I still don’t-’
‘Look where the pendulum is now,’ Caldason said. ‘You see? Where the tip of the arrow’s pointing? I’d put money on what that symbol means.’
‘It’s end,’ Kutch confirmed. ‘Not death exactly, because the Founders didn’t seem to have a symbol for that. But “cease”, “expend” and “ultimate” all fit. It’s a symbol we always see in relation to the Founder concept of the Last Days.’
‘Oh, great,’ Serrah exclaimed. ‘We come looking for help and find the world’s about to end. Assuming the Founders knew what they were talking about.’
‘They were an extremely perceptive race,’ Kutch replied.
‘It doesn’t follow that they were right about everything. I mean, if they were so clever, how come they aren’t still around?’
‘I suppose even the Founders weren’t infallible. But they had the most advanced civilisation the world’s ever seen. They could have been right about this.’
She sniffed dubiously and studied the pendulum. ‘What do you think that means in terms of time? How long do we have left?’
‘This thing was designed to measure eons. So who can say? Centuries? Weeks?’
‘More likely weeks than centuries,’ Caldason said.
‘How do you figure that out?’ Serrah asked.
‘Because we’ve arrived here at just this time.’
‘That sounds very mystical for you, Reeth.’
‘It…feels right.’
Kutch nodded in agreement.
‘You’re saying we were somehow meant to be here at this time?’ she pressed.
‘I don’t know what I’m saying, only that being here now seems a kind of…fit.’
‘Getting here as the world’s due to end is good timing?’
‘As you said; maybe they were wrong about that.’
‘But you think something’s going to happen?’
‘I’m hoping we’ll find the Source.’
‘We’re all hoping that. It’s why we came, remember?’ She took in the vastness of the cavern. ‘So where is it?’ There was a trace of mild derision in her voice.
He shrugged. ‘Perhaps Kutch’s spotting talent…’
‘I don’t think I can,’ the boy confessed.
‘I thought you were trained to filter things out,’ Serrah said.
‘I was. But this place is so saturated, it’s impossible.’
‘We don’t have a plan then.’
‘Yes we do,’ Caldason corrected. ‘The oldest one in the book. We search.’
‘Where?’
‘This cavern might not be all there is down here.’ He nodded towards the rock wall furthest from the Clepsydra, where shadows were deepest.
‘Fine by me. This thing gives me the creeps; I’ll be glad to get away from it.’ She turned her back on the dreadful, pulsating mechanism.
They set out. As they neared the wall, they activated their glamoured orbs. The outlines of several tunnels could be seen, darker than the surrounding gloom.
‘Which one?’ Kutch asked.
‘We could split up,’ Serrah suggested.
Caldason shook his head. ‘Not wise.’
‘Hey,’ Kutch said, ‘look at this.’ He was scraping at the dusty ground with the sole of his boot. ‘I hadn’t noticed it before.’
Serrah gazed down. ‘What is it?’
‘A marked energy line.’ He’d revealed part of a dark blue stripe, still vivid after an eternity.
‘Here’s another.’ She exposed a patch of yellow.
‘Nothing surprising about that,’ Caldason decided. ‘The Founders started the tradition, didn’t they, Kutch?’
‘Hmm, it’s thought so.’ He was preoccupied with clearing the dirt.
Between them, shuffling about, they uncovered half a dozen or more. Red, green, orange, purple, criss- crossing the cavern’s base and slicing into the Clepsydra.
‘At least three run straight from that tunnel,’ Kutch pointed out.
Caldason took a look. ‘So let’s go that way.’
‘As a system for finding something,’ Serrah protested, ‘this is crazy. You do know that, don’t you, Reeth?’
‘Got a better idea?’
She hadn’t.
They moved towards the opening, orbs held out and weapons ready. The entrance they’d chosen was generously sized, easily wide and tall enough for them to pass through comfortably, but they felt no ease as they
