"One ship, against, what, twenty ships of the fleet?" Scherlic finally spoke.
"One Buchalanti storm rider, fighting for freedom."
Six of the Tingaran ships were coming towards them, sails unfurled as they gathered speed and attempted to head the Infinity off.
Sailmaster Scherlic made a choice.
"Battle stations," he called. "Run out the ballistae. Prepare to increase to ramming speed."
"Thank you," Miro said.
"Now get out of my way," Scherlic said.
The Buchalanti Sailmaster raised his voice and began to chant.
Miro was blinded by the flash of runes and the deck trembled beneath his feet, as the Infinity came to life.
66
PRIMATE Melovar Aspen stood on the wide circular base of the statue, looking up at its leg and wondering how to get in. He tilted his head back until high above he could make out where the leg bent at the knee, then even higher until he could see where the two legs met. Melovar turned back to the book of the Evermen, swiftly turning the pages in his hand.
"Try looking down, rather than up," Melovar heard a voice behind him say. Turning, the Primate saw the last person he expected to see.
Dain Barden stood watching him, the muscles in his arms tense as he stood with his legs apart and the head of his war hammer on the ground. Behind the leader of the Akari, two revenants looked on with their white-eyed gaze, silent and impassive. Melovar looked for more of the Akari but with the exception of the draugar, he and the Dain were alone.
As the Dain's words finally sunk in, Melovar looked down at the smooth stone of the Sentinel's pedestal, a single piece of marble so wide and expansive that a thousand men would not have been crowded were they to stand on it.
At the Primate's feet, directly under the statue's centre point, was a circle of runes.
"Well?" Dain Barden said. "Is it what you're looking for?"
Melovar allowed the arm that held the book to drop to his side. "I don't know," he said. "I've only been able to glean fragments of knowledge from the book."
"I gathered as much. Is it a weapon?" Barden asked.
"I don't know."
"Can you open it?"
"I can try," Melovar said. He examined the circle of runes for a moment and then flipped through the book, turning the pages one after the other.
The Primate felt his heart race when he recognised the circle of symbols on the page in front of him.
He called out in a clear voice. "Mulara-latahn. Sunara-latahn. Sumayara-sulamara-latanara."
The runes that had been carved into the stone, still looking as fresh as if they had just been inscribed, lit up with a slow fire of green light that travelled from one symbol to the next.
A seam appeared on the inside of the circle of runes, and Melovar heard Dain Barden draw in his breath. Then there was a grinding sound, as if one stone was moving against another, and the seam flared with a golden light.
The stone disk moved downwards, falling into a rapidly-opening hole. A moment later the grinding ceased and Dain Barden stepped forward to stand with the Primate, so that the two men were staring down into the glowing opening in the ground. As he squinted against the bright light, Melovar saw that there were stairs inside the hole, and he took a step forward.
"Wait," the Dain said, holding Melovar back with his arm. "Let me send in one of them."
Barden motioned, and one of the revenants took clumsy steps down into the opening, before disappearing down the stairway.
With a sound like the roar of forge, the golden light turned to red, and both Melovar and Barden looked away, shielding their eyes. When they looked back at the opening and the stairway revealed within, only a pile of ash stood where the draug had been.
"I don't think we're welcome here," Dain Barden said. "It's warded."
"Send in the other one," Melovar said.
The light had shifted hue back to soft yellow. The second revenant stepped forward, taking the steps down one at a time, walking for the count of twenty steps without coming to harm, and with a shrug Dain Barden followed, the Primate close on his heels.
The light seemed to come from the very walls, with no obvious source. The two men and the revenant descended only for a short way before the passage levelled out. Melovar felt both trepidation and anticipation. The battle for Seranthia was inconsequential now; it was what happened here that would determine the fate of Merralya.
At the base of the stairway there was a short corridor, tall enough that Barden didn't have to stoop and wide enough to enable the two men to walk side by side behind the revenant. The corridor was made of the same white marble as the Sentinel, smooth to touch and unblemished by runes or artwork.
"I don't know how they built this," Barden said. "Look at the walls. Those aren't blocks of marble; it's all of one piece. It doesn't even look like the floor is made of a separate piece from the walls."