‘I see,’ said Theuli. She passed it on to Pran.
‘It reminds me of something,’ Malina said, thoughtfully. ‘But I can’t place it.’
‘It is very much like the Ulssar stone,’ Pran said in disbelief, shaking his head. ‘And yet, not so. How is this possible?’
‘So . . . ?’ Ralph prompted. ‘Does it do something?’
Three pairs of eyes turned to his with a knowledge he felt acutely lacking in himself.
‘Ralph,’ said Theuli quietly, ‘an Ulssar stone can be used to communicate directly with the Earth Mother. But this is not an Ulssar stone. In truth, I do not know what this periapt is, or what it represents. It has the feel of . . .’ she took several moments to find the words . . . ‘it has the feel of a device. Yet there is something . . . something incomplete about it, as though it requires something to impel its purpose.’
Ralph looked and felt completely blank.
‘I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me.’
The others watched Pran as he bent all his powers of concentration upon it. As he did so, it began to glow, and started to make a dangerous sound somewhere between a buzz and a hiss. He suddenly dropped it in surprise. Landing on the table, it began spinning around until the glow went out of it and the noise stopped.