Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [6]
Luka Michelle Paree
January 30, 2054
05:55:23
151 W 13:23
33 N 52:11
She had guessed immediately it was not her ancestor’s birth data she was looking at. Although of interest, that information wouldn’t lead to the estate. The latitude and longitude would be of no help either, as all such coordinates had altered with the first plate-shift. But the data was there to find the Paree mansion. She was sure of it. Her ancestor wouldn’t have left a set of coordinates just by chance. It had to be the data for a horary chart, an effective horoscope map that would lead right to the front door, no matter how much the terrain had changed—providing whoever had written the coordinates had asked the right question.
She’d drawn up the chart using the Draconic zodiac—a system based not on the vernal equinox as in Western astrology, but on the lunar nodes—studying the rulerships and aspects before plotting a path that led, eventually, to the gates surrounding the estate of Dr Luka Paree. Because magnetic north had shifted by twenty degrees since the data was written, she had to keep recalibrating her alignment, but that fortuitous earthquake had shot them out of the canyons in the right direction. The fence line led to the gate and beyond the gate would be the manor estate. What condition was it in? By the sound of the Three Sisters’ cackling, it would be everything she hoped for.
As they wound their way down a steep grade and trotted up the next hill, the manor house came into view and her face lit up like a sunrise. ‘Rowan!’ She reached out to grip his arm.
There, in a shallow valley, was the Paree estate, a white sandstone manor in a red sea desert, an oasis frozen in time, immune to the beating suffered by the surrounding land. The two-storey mansion had a domed stained-glass roof over one wing and turrets rising above the balcony windows. Flowerboxes overflowed with trailing red roses, and smooth-branched gum trees swayed like guardians at the inner gates. The front entrance was paved with terracotta tiles. Wide steps led down from the front doors to a courtyard fountain which spouted crystal-clear water over a prancing black onyx stallion.
Kreshkali squeezed the Sword Master’s hand tighter. ‘It’s so like Diablai,’ she whispered.
‘Uncanny.’
A stone wall surrounded the grounds, graced with flowering shrubs and broad, shady oaks. On the opposite side of the courtyard were the stables, built for warm weather with open box stalls and breezeways. Stone-paved driveways led to and from other buildings. It was a storybook setting, a valley sleeping under a spell, waiting patiently to be awakened—vibrant in the afternoon light. And there were so many trees! Kreshkali’s eyes welled. Live trees on Earth! Oaks with dark green leaves and pale jacarandas bare of leaf but covered in purple blossoms, weeping willows and figs, paperbark eucalypts and yellow blooming acacias, all offered a welcome reprieve from the sun. Everywhere, flowers displayed their colours like strutting roosters—a view she’d never seen this side of Gaela.
‘It’s beautiful,’ An’ Lawrence said, bringing his horse to a halt. ‘Your Earth really is beautiful.’
‘I never thought I’d hear you say that.’
‘Me neither, but this is extraordinary. It reminds me of Timbali Temple in the spring.’
Kreshkali let the tears spill down her face. ‘There must be an underground water source,’ she said, wiping her eyes. ‘Look at the colour of the grass.’ She pointed to the rolling paddocks behind the stables and orchard.
‘Grass alone would be a marvel in this desert, but that’s as green as the Southern Cusca Plains, and there are acres of it.’
The horses tugged at the reins, tossing their heads. Scylla bounded down the lane, scampering in spite of the heat. Water! Mice! Joy!
‘It might be the last oasis on Earth,’ An’ Lawrence said, allowing his horse to follow Scylla.
The fountain water looked pure, and a trough next to the hitching posts ran clear and clean, the water flowing through like a stream, its source as yet undetected. Garden sculptures stood straight and regal as if the