His next challenge required technique and strength. He needed to climb across the underside of the chasm bridge.
Before continuing, Kaydin checked his senses. The only sound was his own breathing. The smell of sentinel touched his nostrils, but only faintly. Focused back on the bridge directly above him, he reviewed his route. Kaydin closed his eyes and lit Reflect. He sent the turma to the back of his head.
Kaydin saw himself clinging to the underside of the chasm bridge. His movements were deliberate. Controlled. He moved one leg, then a hand, then a leg, then a hand. An obsidian anchor marked the halfway point where the bridge slanted slightly down in the other direction. Now the hard part. He cupped the anchor with his five-fingered right hand, then pushed with his legs, swinging them like a pendulum above the Abyss as he twisted, catching three holds at the same time with his left hand and both feet. Then he descended the opposite side of the bridge. He engaged his legs even more, despite the tendency in his leaned-back position to over-focus on his arms. Soon he reached the shelf on the western side of the chasm.
Kaydin opened his eyes to end the Reflect. He was glad to have Retained the route; because of the way his body angled, the holds were blind. If he didn’t know exactly where to reach, trial and error might sap his strength too quickly.
Here goes nothing. For a moment he saw Bel’s calmly smiling face, her brown hair, felt her fingertips on his stubbled beard. He hadn’t given her much attention lately, but he wanted to get back and see her again.
Before the halfway point, Kaydin looked over his head at the bridge which slanted downward. It seemed to rise, of course, given that he was viewing it upside down, but he noted the first few holds remained congruent with the Reflection.
He closed his eyes again, visualizing the memory. Visualizing was quite different from actually Reflecting, since Reflecting pulled one out of the moment to view a Retained memory. But, usefully, visualizing required no turma.
He pushed off, twisting as his body swung round. He purchased the three holds he needed and his grip was true. He breathed out heavily.
The most difficult part was behind him. He’d be back to Haven soon. He rested on the ledge and took in his surroundings. Now the Spire rose to his left, while the growing room entrances were square black holes across the chasm on the eastern side. Kaydin smelled sentinel again, and soon discovered why.
Yellow eyes poked out of the square black hole of Growing Room One. If Kaydin hadn’t used Heighten, he probably wouldn’t have noticed them all the way across the chasm and up the stairs. A shiver went through him. He didn’t know how good the sentinel’s vision was. Or if he had been seen.
Kaydin didn't mind the novelty of near misses with sentinels--life in this city was mostly a monotonous grind--but he could only smile at the memory if he survived. Not knowing for sure if he'd been seen, Kaydin nevertheless took the wall leading down the chasm’s western face more aggressively. He found the ledge he sought, propped the stone door with the secret levers, and slipped through the crack into the innards of the wall.
Chapter 8
Bel sprung from her stone stool to hug Kaydin as he entered Haven. Kaydin drew her close, breathing in her familiar floral scent. She brushed the dark hair from his eyes, traced his scar with a gentle fingertip. “I’m glad you're home."
“Me too," he said, taking in her delicately curved eyes, her heart-shaped face. He put a hand on her stomach and she smiled, then, with a brush of her hand on his foream she let him be.
“That makes three of us,” said a weary old man at the obsidian table. Ry, Haven's leader. Kaydin brought his satchel of earthlights for his inspection. The ceiling's green earthlight shard shone upon Ry's head of grey-flecked brown hair, worn down on the edges. He had no doubt been pulling at them as he tried to decipher the movements of the sentinels he so religiously tracked.
Ry sat up straighter on his stool, pretending not to inspect the take as he addressed Kaydin. "What took you so long?”
“Getting more of these.”
“You have the best technique. Tell me what happened.”
Kaydin hesitated, knowing Ry would chew him out for letting a sentinel see him.
“I don’t want to lose you,” said Ry.
Kaydin knew how important he was to their resistance. With the turma, others also gained the effects of enhanced senses, but he could do more. He could use Heighten, sharpening his senses further. He could look back with Retain and Recall…and perhaps more critically, he could look forward with Predict. “Look, there’s more you need to know about tonight,” said Kaydin.
“Go on.”
“The new director had his first meeting with the Rahz. I couldn’t hear much, but when I saw his smile I knew he was trying to get away with something.”
Kaydin reached into the satchel and pulled out the sixth turma bulb he had cut from the plant. “It all made sense not long after, when I found this.”
“You took one!”
Kaydin sighed. “You sound like the worker who suggested it was against the rules.”
“A worker saw you?” said Ry. "A worker talked to you?"
Kaydin enjoyed this. Having power over Ry. Too often it was the other way around. Holding up the turma bulb, Kaydin explained that this bulb was the sixth on the turma plant, something neither of them had seen before. The worker he had encountered had discovered it and stayed late to investigate.
Ry adjusted the amulet on his cloak and sat up a bit straighter. “Let’s have Mav examine the bulb tomorrow.”
“But what does it mean?” said Kaydin.
“You already figured the first implication,” said Ry. “That the new director wants to gain favor with the Rahz through a larger-yield harvest.”
“Yes, and?”
“The Rahz don’t yet know he’s doing it.”
"Strange behavior from a director, don't you think?"
"He's acting out. Maybe he wants to become a Rahz himself. With enough favor..."
Ry liked to discuss the Rahz's hierarchal methods as much as Kaydin liked using his abilities. But Kaydin didn't have the wits to do so now. Kaydin diverted his attention to his hands, where he found himself fingering his stump of a left pinky. Then he felt his entire body losing the ability to hold himself up. “I’ve got to rest before my head hits this stone,” he said, knocking on the table.
“That’s fine,” said Ry, “then I won’t ask you to Inspire me with the memory of what happened—you did Retain it, right?”
“Yes, but Inspiring you now would be too expensive anyway.” His turma allocation was running out.
“True enough,” said Ry, “but if this worker has curiosity like Gara, Mav, or Bel, then…”
Kaydin nodded, understanding the implication, while also noting how Ry left out Maryn, as he always did when discussing curiosity. Kaydin’s head started to droop from fatigue. “You’re right.”
“Get your rest; you’ll need it. Tomorrow night, you will watch that worker.”
Chapter 9
Next shift, the worker found another sixth bulb. When he did, the events of the previous shift slowly returned to him. It was the strangest thing, remembering. Images and emotions seeped into his consciousness. Indistinguishable shapes like the chunks in the soup he'd foregone again when he'd awoken.