01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
"I haven't got a lifetime to spare! Forget it! I shouldn't have mentioned it - put it down to
one of my stupid undisciplined thoughts!"
The smile was gone, replaced by the grave mask.
"Do you see how easily you lose your peace?
They came to the end of the walkway. A smooth grey wall confronted them, there appeared
to be no other way out of the enclosed courtyard. Steve felt mildly irritated.
"Whoever designed this place certainly made it difficult to move around - how do you get
from one part of the city to another?"
Danyk eyed the top of the wall.
"Perhaps you jump over."
"Ask a stupid question and get a stupid answer!"
"There is no need to get angry over such a trivial matter. To answer your question - it is an
illusion which is created to make you think that there seems to be no way to the other areas of
the city. The only visible access is at the point where we entered from the forest, the only
road open to us is the one that leads here, the only building is the one we have used and this is
the extent to which we are permitted to go."
"Permitted?"
Danyk turned and started to walk back. Steve persisted, gripping his arm.
"Permitted?"
"This place is very old, so old that the history of it is hidden in legend. It is said that when
the inhabitants left - fled from the city, driven by their inability to live in harmony, the Elders
of the Clans secured the city in some way, so that none could enter and dwell here. They left
the one means of access, and the road we followed and the building we have used. The rest
they - locked."
"How - locked?"
"By mental power - The Gift is the residue of far greater mental powers which our people
once possessed. We have lost more than we retain."
He laughed without humour.
"It's ironic isn't it - even the Gift is dwindling, just as our potency to procreate is
dwindling. The Lynxe are falling back into barbarism!"
Steve let him wallow in his racial self pity for a moment, then:
"How did we get through the wall - some sort of trick gate against attackers?"
Danyk laughed again, it sounded bitter.
"Those who are especially Gifted among the Adepts, together with their Master, are able to
concentrate mental effort in such a way that something happens to the substance of the wall at
that point and an entry is held open long enough for us to pass. It takes a great mental effort,
that is why Zayez is so exhausted. That is another irony - at one time, a child could use that
power to pass through - a child! Now it takes the combined effort of a Master and his most
skilled Adepts."
Steve stirred uneasily.
"What happens if Zayez and the other two are unable to reopen the entrance for us to go
back?"
Danyk shrugged.
"The Adepts will need a new Master - and we will stay here until we die!"
Steve swallowed and said no more.
They had re-entered the room where they had left Zayez, he had been taken away by his
attendants. Danyk looked concerned.
"I have never seen Zayez so exhausted - it's clear that we won't be leaving the city until he
has recovered."
"Where have they taken him?"
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