Bryan Davis by Starlighter (v5)

Author:Starlighter (v5)
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: a cognizant original v5 release october 26 2010
Published: 2010-10-26T04:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Koren hugged Arxad’s neck, staying low on his back as he flew in tight circles toward the Basilica’s ceiling. He had warned her to stay quiet and out of sight. The ride to the Zodiac would be rough but quick, so she just had to hang on.

Arxad shifted upward and zoomed in a near vertical angle through an opening to the starry sky. Koren tightened her grip to keep from sliding down his scales. Then, when he whipped back to level out, she lifted from her seat for a moment before snapping down and banging her chin against his armor-like skin.

Seconds later, Arxad dropped suddenly, making her rise even higher. Interlocking her fingers, she barely kept her body from being ripped away before they entered a hole in the Zodiac’s roof. His plunge eased, and as she settled to his back again, he sailed along a corridor, his wings rising and falling with only the slightest sound of whipping leather interrupting the silence.

Flaming torches lined the walls. As Arxad passed by, each oil-filled cresset flickered, making the dim orange light waver along the stony passage. The fuel-tinged air tickled her nose and pinched her throat. She held her breath, willing herself not to cough or sneeze.

Soon a massive set of double doors swung open, and, dipping under an arch, Arxad glided through and landed in a flurry of wings. “You may get off now,” he said in a low tone. “You are safe here, but keep your voice level at a minimum.”

Koren slid down. Her legs wobbled for a moment, but, as she took in a deep breath from the cleaner air, her muscles strengthened. She looked around. Exposed to the sky, the room was like a courtyard—at least five dragon-lengths wide, bordered by river-stone and cactus beds, and floored with dark slate. Stars spread out over the black canopy above, and the three moons shone clearly, but the cathedral’s spires were nowhere in sight, nor was the belfry at the Basilica.

“We are in the Zodiac’s observatory,” Arxad said. “The ceiling is a dome that projects the heavens for us, so I can watch the nightly dance under any weather conditions.”

She squinted at the display. Now the scene came into focus. It was, indeed, a curved ceiling, several times higher than Arxad’s body length. Clear and crisp as the sky itself, it seemed too real to be a copy. “How do you get the image up there?” she asked.

“With the Reflections Crystal.” Arxad set a clawed hand on a sphere sitting atop a head-high crystalline column embedded in the floor. The moment he touched it, a shadow darkened the room, as if a cloud had drifted overhead. “We have a series of scopes on the roof, similar to the one you saw at the Basilica, that sweep the sky and send their images to this sphere. It puts those pictures together into one blended view of the heavens. As you can see, when I touch the crystal, I block the projection, and if I move away…” He took a step back, and the shadow disappeared.

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