12
THE SHIP
Not until an hour later was Rorden able to escape from the Council Chamber. The delay was maddening, and when he reached his rooms he knew it was too late. He paused at the entrance, wondering if Alvin had left any message, and realizing for the first time how empty the years ahead would be.
The message was there, but its contents were totally unexpected. Even when Rorden had read it several times, he was still completely baffled:
“Meet me at once in the Tower of Loranne.”
Only once before had he been to the Tower of Loranne, when Alvin had dragged him there to watch the sunset. That was years ago: the experience had been unforgettable but the shadow of night sweeping across the desert had terrified him so much that he had fled, pursued by Alvin’s entreaties. He had sworn that he would never go there again…
Yet here he was, in that bleak chamber pierced with the horizontal ventilating shafts. There was no sign of Alvin, but when he called, the boy’s voice answered at once.
“I’m on the parapet-come through the center shaft.”
Rorden hesitated: there were many things he would much rather do. But a moment later he was standing beside Alvin with his back to the city and the desert stretching endlessly before him.
They looked at each other in silence for a little while. Then Alvin said, rather contritely: “I hope I didn’t get you into trouble.”