Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

We sailed across the sands and over a few orphan dunes toward the towering obelisks. Nothing existed out here save for a few small oases where wild qasi drank up the crystal-clear waters beneath the shade of a few struggling divine trees.

That changed as we approached the Thaqiba. I found myself tilting my head back as we drew nearer to the towers. The white walls of the towers turned as I had seen them move from the steps of the palace, but to be face-to-base with those huge spinning columns was something else.

The Thaqiba stretched some five hundred feet above the desert floor and their long shadows stretched across the sands. The countless grains of sand that made up their bodies turned at a slow pace, never wavering even an inch out of shape. A complete rotation of the two columns took only about thirty seconds, and every moment was completely silent. One could have heard a pin drop at the bases of the sand towers.

The very roots of the sand towers sank into the desert, but a large stone platform sat atop the sand some twenty feet in front of the columns. The six-inch high platform was made of some deep-black stone, and the weathered edges of the rectangular rock denoted its great age.

I gaped up at the impossibility presented to me. "These towers are made out of magic?"

Ben, too, admired the columns as a gentle smile graced his lips. "The strongest kind. There's no greater magic than that created from a noble sacrifice."

"You said some magicians gave their lives to create it?" I recalled.

His attention fell on me. "A trio of the most powerful on the island. Legends say they were the most powerful the great families had ever produced, and wiser than the wisest. The men gave all their magic to create the Thaqiba and protect the island from the storm."

"So how can it keep going so long after they died?" I wondered.

Ben shook his head. "Now that's a question nobody's been able to answer. Its creation is as mysterious as its current failure which is no doubt why the king has few ideas on how to fix it."

We would have had clear sailings to the base of the Thaqiba had it not been for a crowd of some two hundred people that stood some hundred feet from the spinning columns. They were prevented from getting nearer the Thaqiba by two dozen soldiers with spears. The guards used their weapons to press the crowd back.

We parked a few yards shy of the group and Ben helped me down. We received more than one curious look from the locals. I couldn't blame them. Our attire and Ben's height made us stand out like a pair of sore thumbs.

I leaned toward Ben and lowered my voice to a whisper. "The king has everything blocked off now, doesn't he?"

Ben only nodded as he swept his eyes over the crowd. There was an uneasy murmur among them, and at the front stood a woman whose bloodshot eyes told me she had been crying. She was surrounded by a small crowd who grasped her clothing, and all their attention lay on a small tent some twenty yards from the stone.

I nodded at the platform. "I guess that must be the Kneeling Stone."

Ben zeroed his attention in on the rock and he narrowed his eyes. "So it would appear."

I cocked my head to one side to study him. There was a tension at the corner of his eyes that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. "What is-"

Our attention was captured by the swish of wagon sleds across the sand behind us. We turned and watched a large wagon slide toward us. Two burly men sat in the front, and behind them was a long, narrow box with high sides. Two other men were seated on the bench seats situated in the box. One had his head bowed while the other looked around with wide eyes and trembling hands. Both had thick manacles wrapped around their clasped hands and their ankles.

The wagon slowed to a stop just shy of the crowd. The driver and his passenger hopped down and moved to the rear of the box. They dropped the tailgate and one of them climbed aboard.

"Come on," he growled at his prisoners as he roughly grabbed their arms.

He yanked them to their feet and the pair hurriedly shuffled over to the back where the other man waited. He helped them down and his fellow captor joined them, where they each took a man and half-dragged them toward the crowd.

"Get out of the way!" the driver snapped at the people.

Most of the crowd scuttled back and the soldiers used their spears to handle the rest. A wide path was thus created and the pair dragged their prisoners to the edge of the Kneeling Stone where they shoved them to their knees. The man continued to shake like a leaf as he twisted his head around and his eyes darted to and fro. His pleading look fell on me and squeezed my heart. I made to move forward, but Ben caught my arm.

He leaned down and whispered into my ear. "Not now."

I knew what he meant. The flap of the tent was flung outward and a slim young woman in a simple brown dress slipped out. A fluffy blanket was draped over one arm while she used the other to hold open the flap for the woman who followed her. The second female ducked her head as she exited because she wore a large billowing hood on her head. Her attire was more elaborate, with glistening sparkles on her long dress that had been arranged to resemble shimmering scales. She straightened and I saw that her flared hood looked like that which belonged to a snake.

The woman was followed by another maiden who held an aqara in her hands. The trio solemnly walked one in front of the other to the stone platform where they stopped and turned to face the crowd in a neat little row.

One of the wagon drivers grabbed the quivering man and dragged him onto the stone. The guard stepped back, but he received a scolding look from the snake-like woman. "His manacles, sir."

The guard gave her a dark look but undid the chains and stalked off the platform with the manacles rattling against his sides. The captive's wild eyes flitted over the smooth, pale faces of the trio of women who faced him.

The leader of the women smiled down at him. "You needn't be afraid, sir. We shall see if you are worthy."

The man shook his head. "P-please do not do this, miss! I beg of you!"

The snake woman shook her head as she used a hand to gesture to the woman on her right. "But it must be done for the good of the people, sir."

The attendant with the aqara stepped onto the platform and raised the sand ball above the quivering man. The ball glowed softly in her hands and the snake woman raised her hands.

"He is worthy," she announced.

There was no jubilation from the crowd, only a terrible silence. The man's body shook so badly that his clothes almost rattled. He let out a quick gasp before he stood and darted off the platform. The two wagoners leapt on top of him and pinned him to the ground.

"Please let me go! I beg of you!" the man pleaded even as they wrenched him to his feet.

The priestess was all smiles as she watched the man be dragged back to the stone. "There is no need to be afraid. The process is but a moment in your life."

The quivering man was dragged back onto the platform and the guards stood by holding his arms, though even they looked a little worried. The priestess closed her eyes and raised her hands into the air. She spoke in a quick mumble of words in a language I couldn't understand.

Something evidently did, however, as a dark light emanated from the Kneeling Stone. Tendrils of deep darkness rose from the platform and wrapped around the man's arms and legs. The guards dropped their hold and scrambled off the platform. The tendrils began to glow, and at the same moment the captive jerked his head back and a terrible cry burst out of his open mouth. His whole body became illuminated with the same light and shook with such force that I had to look away. Ben wrapped his arms around me and drew me close against him even as he watched the terrible sight with a stiff, silent fury. The glow around the man was absorbed into the stone beneath him.

The agony lasted a half a minute and the glow around the man faded. The priestess stopped her chanting and dropped her arms to her sides. The tendrils vanished and the man, his eyes open but staring blankly ahead, dropped face-first onto the blanket. His body twitched for a moment longer before he lay still. For a moment I thought he was dead, but a shallow movement of his back told me he still breathed.

"Prepare the next gift!"