‘Time travel is not possible,’ said Varuk’hat. ‘There is no chance that you have returned to a past you once experienced.’

‘Sarah did. She came to Eoth years before I did.’

‘That is not the same,’ said the imp. ‘She did not travel to the past, just an earlier present.’

‘Maggie then. When she went through the portal back to Earth she returned to the past.’

’You have mentioned this before, but she returned to her own present, and you to yours. No time travel occurred.’

‘It sort of did though right. I gave her information about the future that she took to the past. That’s a sort of…’

‘It’s not the same, though it is a puzzle,’ the imp fell silent. ‘The matter remains though. No time travel occurred within the frame of your own timeline.’

‘So what do you make of the forces gathering at Hatunqari?’

‘It is a crucial location. It is not…’

‘But the blackbirder skyship, Our Black Blood. I know it.’

‘Time travel is not possible,’ the imp said with force. ’Conservation of timelines removes the possibility of paradoxes. There is only one timeline, and it exists across the known universe, even between hypergraphs.’

Peter recalled the vehemence of Dr Leigh in his lab at the University of Canterbury. Causality could not be changed as the hypergraph that described the universe had a fixed structure. It resisted change like a sort of inertia.

Dr Leigh had also said you could not do-over your life. To have no regrets, to always more forward.

‘The remorseless arrow of time means we have to move forward and not look backward.’

‘Yes,’ said the imp. ‘That’s it entirely.’

Peter had not realized he had spoken aloud. ‘So this is not the past, and the Rebels don’t gather at Hatunqari?’

‘It is not likely,’ the imp said. ‘But it does not change what we must do.’

‘And the klaed?’ Peter looked to the rush of preparations. ‘Should I say I was mistaken?’

‘No. That would destroy the trust you have built up. Let events play out. It will not hurt to have the klaed at our backs if the blackbirders and Imperials arrive before us and prevent access to the portal.’

‘Why do you want to go to the portal?’

‘I want to go home too,’ said the Imp. ‘And the zharaqsa will be out of their reach forever.’

‘They know don’t they?’

‘The escaped blackbirder prisoner persuaded them too well. And we cannot risk those thraqanonkra spying further.’

‘I can’t believe…’

‘They are of the enemy,’ said Varuk’hat. ‘Do not trust them.’

‘And Grey is out there somewhere. Who knows what he really wants.’

The group now splintered. Some rode fast to call the klaeds to arms, the rest drew together around Varuk’hat and Peter who they began to call Vam’lama Liruq. He had won the klaed’s respect with the knowledge he had been close to the great Hamrabanarushi. They pestered him for detail but Peter found it uncomfortable to talk up the relationship from years before.

I’m lying to them. But what I say is true. I did fly with him and fight battles high in the sky against Imperials and blackbirders and…

But the insistence of Varuk’hat, and before him Dr Leigh, that time travel could not be possible meant that all he had thought of the build-up to battle in Hatunqari could be a lie.

Several times he almost told Khavuraqo he had been mistaken. But he didn’t. Varuk’hat might be willing to use them but Peter’s guilt mounted.

And the Clan followed where Peter and Khavuraqo led. The Clan’s grazing beasts and many of the herders and families filed off towards the klaeds with a core group of old manisaur militia who carried wounded home. The old manisaur shaman led them. He had stepped into his role of leader for real and as go-between. The manisaurs of the klaed, and human Clan could not directly communicate except through the shaman. Peter smiled at the thought of the reclusive Kituqarup as the center of attention. He and the greater mass of their company disappeared into the shifting heat that blew from the plains and Peter turned away.

The remainder of the Clan riders and their mounts now paced down the mountain intermingled with the manisaurs of the klaed. Something had been forged between the militia and Clan in the battles on the mountain. Peter hoped the respect and mutual appreciation between allies would last.

Even if I’m wrong about what’s coming. Especially then.

The air warmed as he and the hundreds of fighters descended towards the valley. Then he saw it, Hatunqari — the Eternal Peak the city had been named for. Their pass through the mountains from the south had shielded them from seeing the great mountain before. But now the white capped mountain rose high amidst the ramparts of the mountain spine. The large angled slopes directed the sun towards them like a mirror.

‘The city is close by now,’ said one of Khavuraqo’s officers. ‘We shall meet traders and Imperial patrols soon.’

As the higher parts of the city of Hatunqari became visible in the heat haze a rush of memories returned to Peter.

‘If the mounted Clan do not frighten them off. The like has never been seen here,’ said Khavuraqo. ‘Until now.’ And he bobbed his head as manisaur laughter rippled across the troupe. The Clan thumped their chests with one hand as they mistook the manisaur cries for defiance.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

‘Peter,’ Sarah said. ‘Going into battle like this. Why?’ She brought her mount alongside his.

Jan and Walt sat behind her. Tiz had taken a ride with Dusty. The old man refused to leave the fighting force as acclaimed Clan leader.

‘There is no need to involve the children,’ she said.

‘We’re not children,’ said Walt. ‘We can fight.’

Peter rolled his eyes but did not correct him.

‘You see what I mean. He’s been talking like this ever since we set off.’

‘We’re going to Hatunqari, and the Clan and klaed go there too. So of course we ride together..

‘But if what you said is true, and there is going to be a battle, that’s madness.’

‘We’ll turn away. We will not fight.’ Peter stared towards Ruthazuna the pass to the West. Naz’naska - the temple in the mountains lay there somewhere beyond the pass. It had been so different when flying The Jupiter with the landscape all laid out below him. He tried to recall the path but the memory remained murky.

‘It’s one thing to defend ourselves when under attack,’ Sarah continued. ‘But this is a battle of choice. Your choice. Couldn’t we have snuck past the city? Gotten away without a fight. Or just gone to the klaeds with the rest of them.’

‘Snuck past on mounts? We cannot abandon them. We need them. For later.’

A cry went up from the manisaurs at head of the troupe.

‘A watchtower. They see us.’

‘What do they say?’ said Dusty. He did not understand the manisaur’s cry but Peter understood them. His role had become no more or less important than Kituqarup’s.

‘The Imperials know we’re here,’ said Khavuraqo. ‘Be wary, be ready.’

Peter had not answered Sarah’s question about why they went into battle. Not at all.

But if I’m right, there will be a fight at Hatunqari, and the Clan and klaed will be vital to the rebels.

‘I’m sorry Sarah,’ Peter said. ‘We’ll get through this somehow. We and the children won’t have to fight. I promise.’

I hope.

The Clan took the watch tower and its barracks and ransacked it for food and water. Then they did not delay but pressed on as the day advanced. But the watch tower had served its purpose, Hatunqari had been warned of the army of klaed and ice warriors.

The Imperials would attack them as an invading force. In his heart he knew he used the Clan and the klaed militia to help him get to the portal. The pass above Hatunqari drew closer, but so did the blackbirders and Imperial forces who wanted to stop them.

He almost felt the weight of the store of zharaqsa catalyst in the saddle bags and panniers below his knees.

We have to return to Earth, and we have to destroy the zharaqsa. Put it beyond the blackbirder’s reach.

‘We’ve no choice,’ he said aloud. If Varuk’hat or Tiz heard him they did not say anything.

He heard it then. A blast from a deep horn echoed around the valley. The city rallied its troops and his heart thumped louder and the sky darkened and began to turn to gold with the setting of the sun.

The call for war sounded all the more strange as the troupe passed through an orchard of sweet smelling fruit. The mounts knocked many trees over as they barreled towards battle. Then they came to the great river that issued from the mountain pass of Ruthazuna.

‘Vam’lama Liruq,’ said Khavuraqo. ‘To cross this river is to enter Imperial lands. As invaders.’

Peter did not need to say anything. Mounts and zugulu moasaurs poured across the braided river and began to run. The vanguard had seen the first Imperial patrols on moasaur drawn carts. More troops lined up behind them. Again Clan and klaed entered battle together, this time as the aggressors.

Peter looked for a path to turn away from the fight, but the trail to the pass led through the city.

And I’ve already broken my promise to Sarah as he watch her draw a broken lance from its scabbard and loosen the her long blade. She shot him a look of frustration and anger. But also determination.

Then the fighting began as the Clan’s huge mounts ripped apart a cart and spilled its warrior before they could bring their blades to bear.

The action came thick and fast. The river ran with imperial blood even before the klaed joined the fighting. By that time the Imperial guards had fallen back from the shocking realization they had no way to match the Clan’s mounted attacks.

Sarah’s had not struck a blow, but she had cut off a feint from a flanking attack by the imperial guards who had a wide front to attack from. But when her mount reared up and screamed at her opponents they had fled.

The troupe formed up once more and pressed on following Khavuraqo’s zugulu with Dusty on his mount for the Clan by his side. By unspoken agreement the klaed leader took command. He knew the city and the forces they faced. The Clan followed where klaed led.

The city opened before them. The wide trade streets lined with warehouses and market stalls, abandoned at the height of the day as the force entered.

Then Peter heard the lowing of gharumal. He looked up. Skyships blew into the city on shaiyvaqara - the east wind. They had lowered gharumal to aid their maneuvers while their sails blushed red in the setting of the sun.

The klaed kept pace with the Clan mounts, but they could not stride through the stone lined canals like the huge carnivores could.

An Imperial skyship broke from its mooring in the navy vanukam when two rebel skyships dragged a chains through it’s rigging. The stricken craft broke upon its mooring and a gharumal fell to its death with a booming death cry.

Peter saw a skyship soar above the naval moorings and drop a load of stone boulders and he recognized it. Gan. That’s Gan’s skyship.

In a vertigo like rush everything came back to him.

I have been here. This is all happening like before.

Then he saw. The Jupiter towed at the rear of Gan’s great skyship. As the rebels lowered gharumal’s to the ground The Jupiter pulled at its tether like a unruly dog wanting to be released.

‘I didn’t want to be dragged that way into battle.’

He could not see who flew on the outrigger, but knew it carried Maggie, and Breeze. And Jupiter Drake. ‘I’m Jupiter Drake,’ Peter said. ‘That’s me.’

Varuk’hat turned to him. ‘What are you babbling?’

‘That’s me. On that flying craft. We’re in the past.’

‘We’re in the present. The time is always now, the past is a memory.’

‘Tell me about it.’

A smaller vanziyaq skyship hit the ground in an explosion of fire and debris. Then the klaed zugulu moasaurs rushed the gharumals that towed the imperial skyships that tried to leave the vanukam. Beside them the Clan mounts joined the attack. The screams of the beasts has they died joined with the cries and shouts of command from the tw sides as each tried to neutralize the other’s ground forces so their skyships could fly free.

From downslope came more klaed troops, this time infantry joined the mounted militia.

‘It’s too soon for the klaed to have been roused to action.’

‘Bergwash. He must have warned them, and brought them. Or that’s what we believed last time this happened.’

Varuk’hat stared at him without comprehension.

Then Sarah rode up.

‘Peter. We’ve got to get out of here.’

‘You’re right. We’re heading for the portal. This is not our fight.’

‘What do you mean? Not your fight. We’re Clan. I wish only to get the children to safety so I can fight alongside my Clan. They made me leader, I will lead.’

‘No. You have to help me get to the portal. There is a chance for us to escape back to Earth.’

Sarah’s face hardened as she understood.

‘You led the Clan to battle, only to abandon them?’

‘No. Look. The klaed fights already. Infantry, and mounted warriors that are not from the Lekliruq militia. This fight was always going to happen.’

‘But we did not have to fight it. What have you done? What are you doing?’

‘It’s simple. We turn from the fight like you want, and keep going. To the portal.’

‘But I cannot leave can I?’

Peter had no words but his reply showed on his face.

‘And Varuk’hat? What of you? You carry them to the portal? Is that your role in this. Agent of fate? To abandon us all.’

The imp could not understand her words. Tulanvarqa did not translate her words but Peter saw he understood, and he could not lie to Sarah any longer.

‘The imp will try to enter the portal. He has the zharaqsa catalyst from the blackbirder sksyhip and will take it from this world.’

Sarah’s mount reared up on its hind legs as she strode onto its head. She stared down at Peter.

‘You would take that wealth from the Clan? Wealth that would ensure our place in this land? How dare you?’

‘I dare not leave it here.’

But as he said this he saw the future in Sarah’s expression. He would have to fight her before she would let him go. But he knew too, they had no time for delay. The portal would close within the next few hours and they had to leave now or stay on Eoth forever.