Return To The Whorl Part 6

He recalled Pig's chance remark about drinking, and added, "Drink water, I should say. I thought I had learned that on Green, where there was rarely any water that was safe to drink except for what certain leaves caught when it rained."

"Bird find," a harsher voice even than Pig's announced.

"Oreb, is that you? It must be. What have you found?"

"Find thing. Thing hear."

"Did you? Good. Where is it?"

"No show."

"I don't want you to show it to me, Oreb, and I couldn't see it if you did. I want you to tell me how to avoid it. We were going to Viron, or at least I certainly hope we were. Is this thing, this G.o.dling, standing in the road waiting for us?"

"No stand. Thing sit."

"But it's in the road? Or sitting beside it?"

"On bridge."

Pig broke in. "H'oreb, me an' Horn's partners. You an' me, H'oreb, why, we're partners ter, h'ain't we? Yer h'allow such?"

"Good man!"

"Not too loudly, please, Oreb." He drank again.

"So, H'oreb, Pig needs yer ter tell where we're h'at. Will yer? 'Tis h'another road, wi' this trickle across?"

"No road."

"A medder, H'oreb? Might find coos hereabouts, would yer say?"

"No cow."

"Huh!" Pig sounded impatient. "How can Pig get him ter tell, bucky? Yer know him."

Oreb answered for himself. "Say woods."

" 'Tis where we h'are, H'oreb? H'in a wood? Canna be."

"In woods," Oreb insisted. "Silk say."

"My name is Horn, Oreb--I've told you so. I believe he's correct, Pig. We're in a wood, perhaps on the edge of a forest." He paused to search his memory. "There was an extensive forest north of Viron when I lived there. A man named Blood had a villa in it, as did various other rich men. This may well be the same forest."

"Felt yer trees h'all 'round, bucky. Could nae touch 'em, an' such could nae touch me, h'or would nae."

"No doubt they're large trees, widely separated."

"Ho, aye." Pig's rough voice contrived to pack an immense skepticism into the two words. "Big trees hereabouts, H'oreb?"

"No big."

"Not close, they be? Ane here an' h'other h'over yon?"

"All touch."

"H'oreb can tell where they're h'at an' where they hain't. Do yer h'object ter lendin' him h'out, bucky?"

He rose. "I suggest we follow this stream instead. Streams frequently go somewhere, in my experience. Are you coming?"

"Bird come. Go Silk." Oreb settled upon his shoulder.

"Pig ter, H'oreb. We'll gae h'along wi' Horn."

He heard the big man's knees crack, and said, "Then let us go in silence, if you won't tell me about the G.o.dlings."

"Dinna hae naethin' ter tell yer, bucky. 'Struth. Pas sends such ter make folk gae ter yer h'outside places."

For some time after that they walked on without speaking. Now and then the tip of the k.n.o.bbed staff splashed water; now and then the end of the leather-covered bra.s.s scabbard rapped softly against a trunk or a limb; but for the most part there was silence, save for the rasp and rattle of gravel beneath their feet and an occasional warning uttered sotto voce sotto voce by Oreb, who at length offered, "No see." by Oreb, who at length offered, "No see."

"The G.o.dling, Oreb? Are you saying you no longer see it?"

"No see," Oreb repeated. "Thing watch. No watch."

Oreb's voice had sounded strangely hollow. The tip of the k.n.o.bbed staff, exploring left and right, rapped stone. "We're in a tunnel of some sort."

"Aye, bucky." Those words reverberated slightly as well.

He stared into the darkness, half convinced he could make out a lofty semicircle of lighter black before them. "There are tunnels everywhere, do you know about them, Pig? Tunnels of unimaginable length and complexity underlying the entire Long Sun Whorl."

"Huh." Nearby in the darkness, Pig's softly re-echoing voice sounded understandably doubtful.

"I was in them long ago. One must pa.s.s through them to reach the landers, which are just below the outside surface. The first Oreb was down there as well, with Auk and Chenille."

"Bad hole!"

"Exactly. But I certainly hope you're right when you say the G.o.dling can't see us in here."

"Dinna harm folk," Pig muttered, "h'or nae h'often."

"We may be in those tunnels. If so, we're approaching a cavern such as the sleepers were in. Look up ahead. I can see something there, I swear." Without waiting for Pig, he hurried forward--then halted, stunned with wonder and terror.

To the north and south, the skylands spread in splendor far greater than he recalled. Against their magnificent display, above the bridge under which he had pa.s.sed, he saw silhouetted shoulders like two hills, a smooth, domed head that might have filled the farm woman's kitchen and sundered all four walls, and b.e.s.t.i.a.l, pointed ears.

3.

JUSTICE AND G GOOD O ORDER.

N at has sent troopers from Dorp, who have arrested us. Dorp it appears has a standing horde (as Soldo did) which it calls its leger. There are three legermen and the sergeant. I gave him two silver cards, and although he will not let us go, it has put us on a friendly basis. I am paying for our rooms at this inn as well, one in which the sergeant, a legerman, and I are to sleep tonight, and another in which Jahlee is supposed to sleep, with Hide and the other two legermen. at has sent troopers from Dorp, who have arrested us. Dorp it appears has a standing horde (as Soldo did) which it calls its leger. There are three legermen and the sergeant. I gave him two silver cards, and although he will not let us go, it has put us on a friendly basis. I am paying for our rooms at this inn as well, one in which the sergeant, a legerman, and I are to sleep tonight, and another in which Jahlee is supposed to sleep, with Hide and the other two legermen.

Dinner and a bath! The sergeant--his name is Azijin--has been given money with which to buy provisions; I told him he might keep it, at least for tonight. He and his men, I said, could join us at dinner. There was wine, and food that seemed very good to Hide and me.

Nat is a person of importance in Dorp, it seems. We are likely to be fined and whipped. I have tried to convey to my daughter that it might be well for her to leave us, but I am not sure she understood. If she did, she may not agree; and if she tries to escape now, she may be shot.

I will not stand idly by and see her stripped, no matter what some judge in Dorp may say.

As I was writing, she came in to ask for a larger fire. The innkeeper wanted an additional payment for the extra wood, and we began to bargain over the amount. Sergeant Azijin told him to supply it, cursing him and pus.h.i.+ng him into the corner. Jahlee got her fire and went away satisfied. I looked in on her just now, and her appearance has improved greatly.

During our argument, the innkeeper stated that he "always" made an extra charge for extra wood. I asked him how long his inn has stood here, and he said proudly, "For six years." We are so new to this whorl that we have not worn out the clothes we brought from the other, some of us; yet we talk and act as if it has been ours from time immemorial. Once I wept when I told Pig what the Neighbors had said. He must have thought me mad, but I was only tired and weak, and oppressed by the stifling darkness. A sorrow, too, pressed upon my heart. It is still there; I feel it, and must keep busy.

Azijin lets me write like this, which is a great relief to me. I have worried that he might read it, but he cannot read. So he says, and I think he is telling the truth. He seems ashamed of it, so I a.s.sured him that it is not difficult, and offered to teach him, making large letters on the same paper I took from the bandits and use for this journal.

The wounded bandit Jahlee drained told us we might take whatever we wanted if only we would spare him, which I rashly promised to do. I can see him still: his thin mouth below its thin mustache, and his large, frightened eyes. Jahlee said she had never killed before, but I know it is a lie--she killed for me when we fought Han. We flatter ourselves with our horror of them, but are we really much better?

Rereading that above, I was aghast at my candor. What if the judge in Dorp should read it? I might destroy it (perhaps I should) but what about the other two accounts? How much labor I expended on them, dreaming that someday Nettle might peruse them, as she yet may. I must hide them.

I have done what I could, but the best solution would be to see to it that our baggage is not examined. I must question the sergeant about legal procedures, and ask his men as well--for all I know, they may have more and better information, or be more willing to part with it. Although we chatted together at dinner, I do not recall their names.

Before I sleep I ought to record the notable fact that I have bathed, for which I--and all who come near me, no doubt--am most grateful. On Lizard we washed in summer in the millpond or the sea. In winter, as I washed myself here after dinner: by heating water in a copper kettle hung over the fire and scrubbing everything with soap and a rag.

When I was a boy in Viron, we had tubs for it like washtubs, but longer. Those of the poorest cla.s.s were generally of wood, those of the middle cla.s.s, such as my mother and I, of iron covered with enamel. In Ermine's and the Calde's Palace, and I suppose in the homes of the wealthy generally, they were stone, which seemed very grand. Still I have washed myself in them, and it is a finer thing to bathe in the millpond. I intend to pray for an hour or so when I lay down my quill. But if the Outsider were to grant my every wish, I would bathe always in our millpond; and whenever I wished to bathe, it would be summer.

Oreb is back! Drawing the whorls between this paragraph and the last makes it look as if a week at least had pa.s.sed, I know. It was only a night, but a great deal has happened. News enough for a week, to say nothing of dreams. I will do my best to take everything in order.

I had asked for more firewood, curious to see whether the innkeeper would try to collect for it after what had pa.s.sed between himself and Azijin. I got it without additional payment, this room became quite warm, and when the sergeant returned I asked him to open the window. He did, and came very near to receiving a cold, tired, and very hungry night chough full in the face. It was Oreb, of course; and he had come to present me with a ring set with a peculiar black gem. I will describe it in greater detail in a moment, if I am not interrupted.

Just now I said that the sergeant was nearly hit by Oreb, who had, I believe, been pecking at the shutter for some time, although I had failed to hear him above the crackling of the fire. I must add that it was snowing hard, myriads of tiny flakes flying before a whistling west wind. "Them at sea Scylla help," said Azijin.

I got a fine fresh fish and a cup of clean water for Oreb. He ate and flew into a corner near the chimney--there is a wooden brace for it there on which he perches--and has not moved from it since. Azijin and Legerman Vlug were dumbfounded, and asked more questions about him than I was able to answer. I expected them to demand the ring; so I suggested they might hold it for me until we reached Dorp, when I would explain the circ.u.mstances under which I had received it to the judge and ask that it be returned to me. They examined it very curiously but showed no desire to keep it for me.

It is too large for my fingers, so I put it in my pocket, thinking I would look through the jewelry when I could do so at leisure, find a chain, and wear it around my neck. I was afraid I would lose it, however; it is on the thumb of my left hand as I write this, which answers well.

There is a picture cut into the black stone. I took it to the window, and although the day is far from bright I was able to see that there are lines graven on it, a picture or writing. I suppose it is a seal ring, and the thing to do is to imprint it on wax so the seal may be read.

I talked about Oreb for some time, explaining that he is a pet, that he can speak after a fas.h.i.+on, and that he often goes away for purposes of his own. Before I could get to bed, I had to tell them a bit about Silk and the original Oreb, saying I supposed he must be dead. "On that you must not count, mysire," Azijin told me. "A parrot older than her my great aunt had, and ninety-one she was when on the lander we went. About the old bird often my mother tells." So perhaps this Oreb is the very Oreb that Silk owned after all. It is such an interesting idea that I am glad there is no way in which it can be tested. How disappointed I would be if I found it were not true!

After that I went to bed, as did the sergeant and Vlug. I can only guess how long I slept before I was awakened by a soft hand stroking my forehead--an hour, perhaps.

It was Jahlee. "My fire's dying, Rajan, and the room's getting colder and colder. Can't I come into bed so you can warm me for a minute? I don't dare get in with Hide, he's sound asleep and would kill me when he woke, and you wouldn't want me to get into the troopers' beds would you? But I'm freezing, and I'm afraid I'll freeze to death. Please, Rajan? I'm begging for my life!"

I consented, and it was a remarkable experience even before we went to Green. I put an arm over her and held her so that she could warm her back against my belly; and it was exactly as though I embraced an actual woman, one more slender than Nettle and less voluptuous than Hyacinth, but beyond question a young and attractive woman, soft, clean, and perfumed.

I have been trying to recall what it was like to sleep with Fava, there amid the stones and snow; and I was very conscious then that she was not at all what she pretended to be, that I was in fact embracing a reptile capable of changing its shape in the same way that the little lizards I caught in the borage outside my window or the honeysuckle along our fence could change color--that my position was not much different from that of a snake-charmer sleeping in a ditch, with his serpent coiled under his tunic.

I woke and sat up, determined to dress, wake Jahlee, and tell her she had to go. As I got to my feet, yawning and blinking, the room was transformed in a way I would have said was quite impossible. The shutters became a circular opening through which showed a sky of the most ethereal blue. The knife-scarred wooden walls mended themselves and petrified to soft gray stone. Jahlee rose and wrapped herself in one of the blankets, being careful to let me see that she was beyond doubt a slim human woman with flawless white skin, a slender waist, and hemispherical pink-tipped b.r.e.a.s.t.s I longed to caress from the moment I glimpsed them. She embraced me and I her, while within two steps of us Azijin and Vlug slumbered on, sleeping on the same beds they use in this inn, and under the same rough blankets.

When we parted, I asked where we were.

"On Green. Can't you feel the warmth, and the dampness of the air? If I were the way I was the last time you saw me, they would feel wonderful to me. Here I am as I am." She paused to smile and let the blanket slip a trifle. "And they still feel wonderful. I exult in them!" Azijin's eyes opened. He blinked and seemed to stare about him in a dazed fas.h.i.+on; then he shut them again and slept once more.

I crossed the room to the window and looked out, expecting to see Green's jungles. Clouds such as I had not seen since Saba lowered us from her airs.h.i.+p spread below me, not the black-tinged rain clouds that had oppressed us through unending months on Green, but pearlescent clouds s.h.i.+ning in the sun, a sea greater and purer than the keels of men have ever parted, and a new whorl fairer even than Blue and more turbulent.

To drink it in, I leaned as far from the window as I could, and at last stood barefoot upon its gray stone sill, and grasping the inner edge of the opening with the fingers of one hand looked out and down, then up, and left, and right.

We were in a slender tower, standing in a niche in the face of an immense cliff of the dark red stone. Above, the red stone rose until it was lost in the glory of the sky, an infinite wall of congealed blood. To my left and right, it extended without limit, lined and eroded. Below stretched the tower, taller than the tallest I have seen on any of the three whorls, a sickening height that made me shut my eyes and step down again into the room in which Jahlee and I had awakened--but not before I had glimpsed its mighty base and the cliff below it falling away into the restless sea of cloud, sheer, black with damp, and dotted with splotches of the most brilliant green.

"I wanted to be a real woman again," Jahlee said softly, "a real woman for you and Hide, and for everyone else who wants me to be what I really am. It was why I joined you. You must have known that."

"I should have driven you away, but the bandits would have killed us both if I had."

"You foresaw that?"

I shook my head.

"Our bodies are asleep in that wretched little inn on your frozen whorl. If I were to die there . . . I've overheard you and your son talking about the other one, a woman like me he meets in dreams. He's afraid of her, but he wouldn't have to be afraid of me."

"Do you want me to kill you? I can't. My own body is sleeping, just as yours is. If I were to kill you here, you know what would happen. You saw Duko Rigoglio."

She went to the window and stood upon the sill as I had, and a wind rose that stirred her blanket and set her sorrel hair fluttering behind her. "If I could be like this forever, I would jump," she told the sky.

"Before you do, will you answer a question? You've been a good friend to my son and me, and I hesitate to put us further in debt to you; but I'm curious, and it may be important."

She stepped down and turned to face me.

"We've been to various places on Green, and to the Red Sun Whorl, to the very spot on which the Duko's house once stood."

"Yes." Her eyes were bright blue now, as though they were holes bored through her skull and I were seeing the sky behind her; for a moment I wondered whether she could control their color, and then if they had drunk so much of that sky that they had taken on its very hue.

"Most of the places to which I've gone have been places where I've already been, and the street of ruins in the city they called Nessus was certainly the street on which Rigoglio had lived. I very much doubt that either Azijin or Vlug have been to Green at all, and I have certainly never been to this strange tower in this mighty cliff. Have you?"

She nodded without speaking, and I asked her when.

"When I was very young. When I'd just learned to fly, and before I'd decided to hunt your frigid, hostile Blue."