Dragonfly: A Tale of the Counter-Earth at the Cosmic Antipodes Read Free Page A

never broke them, Uncle?”
    “Your mother thought it was the starglass that tainted your father.”
    I weighed this in my mind. “Be that as it may, we’ll go.”
    “Today? Now?”
    “Are you fit, Uncle?”
    “For this I am fit,” said Gyges. “Let’s go.”
    We gathered some supplies into a scrip and set out for the Pillar. I led the way. In and out of weathered folds we mounted the dreadful stair, past deep-carved letters too large to read, past wind caves where crabs hung in clusters from the ceiling. Evening draped itself across the flats.
    At a place where a crevice opened beside the path, I felt lightened of my sword. I turned. Gyges held Deinothax in his hands. Madness blazed in his bulging eyes. “The secret is mine, youngling. There are only two of us in the world now. With you gone I shall do as I please. It’s I who was meant to be Phylarch of Arras, steerer of the world’s fate. So your father learned, to his undoing.”
    “Would you murder me, Uncle? The seraphim see all that you do.”
    “Seraphim, ha! I deal justice, not murder. You lust after the secret of the chamber. I know it was your ambition to put me out of the way as soon as I had served my purpose. But now the sword is in the other hand.”
    “Give it to me, Uncle. If there must be bad blood between us, let’s separate. I’ll go out into the desert and find a place where the springs are still sweet. You go up to the house and see what there is to see.”
    “And let you fall on me unawares when I come back down? Ha! I know your mind better than you do yourself.”
    The sword was glowing brightly now. Gyges looked down. His hands were smoking. “Hot!” he shrieked. His terrified eyes met mine, but there was no recognition in them. I lunged for the blade. He drew back. Then everything went dark.

    *          *          *          *          *

    I awoke in the crevice where we’d been talking. Night had fallen and the air was cold. My head ached. I felt it gingerly, afraid my skull had been laid open. My hair was matted with dried blood, but the sword had dealt me only a glancing blow. I was thirsty. I felt around for the scrip, but Gyges had taken it. The sword I found on the ledge.
    There was nothing to do but wait until it was light. I grew thirstier from moment to moment. I discovered a flask of mescat in the pouch that hung from my harness. It helped a little.
    When silver lucidity crept over the plain I began to go up again, moving warily, afraid Gyges would leap out from behind a turning and throw me off. The sun was high in the sky when I gained the summit. I looked all around. Gyges was nowhere to be seen.
    The sun-bleached crown was wrinkled and scored like a behemoth’s hide. A ring of standing stones surrounded the domed observatory at the highest point. The seals, I saw, were broken, the door ajar. I cautiously pushed my way inside.
    Gyges swung from the ceiling. He had launched himself into space. His face was livid and his hands were black where the sword had scorched them. The rope creaked gently with his swinging. The starglass sat on a table below him. Beside it was a clay tablet.
    I took it up and began to read. “The word of Brandobrabdas, Phylarch, Custodian of Sephaura,” it said. “Behold, the curtain is torn. On the seventeenth day of the third moon of the nine hundredth Year of the Crab, I looked into the starglass and saw a thing. We are not alone.” Not alone. The tablet went on to explain how to use the instrument and where to look. My mind reeled. Not alone!
    I cut my uncle down and dragged the body outside. The desolation sank in slowly. I nursed the mescat while I waited for nightfall. The shadows lengthened. I was sick to my stomach and my eyes felt gritty. At some point I dozed off. It was dark when I woke up.
    I positioned the table, opened the shutter, and looked through the glass eye. High over the western horizon was a tiny ellipse of light, with glowing corpuscles moving