The Islands of Chaldea

by Diana Wynne Jones

  “Listen now,” Gronn was saying, when I brought my mind back, “we have this lady Beck who has been unfortunate with the Red Woman of Bernica and needs some healing help.”

  Rees gave Aunt Beck the same sort of professional, summing-up look that Aunt Beck normally gave other people. “A spell, is it?” he said.

  “Indeed, yes,” Gronn said. “A spell she has half resisted. Do you think Wenda could handle it?”

  “My mother can handle most things,” Rees said, grinning.

  “Well then,” said Gronn, “this is what I’m suggesting – that you take them all back with you to the Pandy, introduce Aileen to her aunt and her Uncle Bran and so forth, and see what your mother can do for Beck.” He said to me, “Wenda is my second cousin and there is no one more capable of lifting spells than she is in all Gallis. If you set off now, you can avoid the crowds at the way stations. Will that suit you?”

  “Oh yes, perfectly,” I said, flustered. “Thank you.” I saw that Aunt Beck was sitting there in the cart not attending to anything, with a crab roll still in her hand. “Eat your lunch, Beck,” I snapped half-heartedly. I was so sick of shouting at her.

  “Well now,” Gronn said, brushing crumbs off his rounded front, “I shall go back to my duties and leave you with my blessing.” He smiled and made gestures in the air, which I supposed was his blessing, and then wandered gently away. He seemed to be down on the greensward and in the distance near the white building before he had taken three steps.

  The magic of Gallis again, I thought.

  “No need to hurry,” Rees said amiably. “Anyone care for some more lunch?” He held up the cloth bag he was carrying.

  “Yes, please,” Ogo said. He was always hungry.

  Plug-Ugly was always hungry too. He advanced on Rees, tail swinging, and stood on his hind legs against Rees’s knees with one large paw stretched towards the cloth bag. Rees laughed.

  As Plug-Ugly’s paw touched the bag, there was the tiniest hissing. I saw two bright red eyes staring from the cuff of Rees’s sleeve.

  “Oh, have you got a pet rat?” I said. My cousin Donal had a rat when he was younger, which he used to let climb about inside his clothing. And the truth was, I was prepared to be interested in anything to keep my mind off Ivar and Riannan.

  Rees laughed again. “No, not a rat,” he said. He shook his arm a little and a tiny red lizard ran out, long and thin, and raced up his sleeve to his shoulder, where it coiled around and glared down at Plug-Ugly.

  “Oh!” I said.

  “Her name is Blodred,” Rees said. “She’s a dragon-lizard.”

  “They’re very common here in Gallis,” Riannan said. “A lot of people make pets of them. Rees has had Blodred since he was five years old. Don’t you have them in Skarr?”

  “No,” we all said.

  Finn added, “Nor in Bernica, but I’ve heard of them. I think it may be too cold for them north of Gallis.”

  Ogo leant above me to look closely at the lizard. It really could have been a tiny dragon. It had a sort of frill that looked like wings on its faintly pulsing red sides. “Does she fly?” he asked.

  “No, not really,” said Rees. “Those are not proper wings – just skin she can spread a bit and glide on. And,” he added proudly, “they come in all colours, but red is the very rarest.”

  We all sat down again and had more lunch. Ivar and Riannan sat close together and talked to each other in little broken sentences. As far as I could tell, she was asking about Ivar’s life on Skarr and he was trying to compliment her on her singing. In between, they stared at one another as if they were seeing the most marvellous thing in the world. And they both blushed a lot.

  All in all, I was quite glad to concentrate on making Aunt Beck eat. Then I was pleased that Plug-Ugly was behaving rather badly and trying to take crab away from people. I don’t think that there had been any crab in his life before this and he discovered he had a passion for it. I had to shout at him – not that it made much difference. After that, I kept my attention on Blodred, who was eating tiny shreds of crab she held in her delicate red fingers. I even watched Green Greet pecking away at an apple turnover.

  It was a relief to me when Rees said we had better get moving.

  “Aileen, you drive,” Ivar said.

  So I climbed into the cart and took the reins, while Rees went ahead with Ogo and Finn to show the way. We went through uplands of perfect beauty, where streams poured musically over rockfalls covered with wild flowers, while blue peaks towered behind; and all I could think of was Ivar and Riannan walking behind, talking in murmurs and laughing. There were gaps in the peaks we went through, where I could see the sea, blue as Riannan’s eyes, or lakes in valleys or, on one occasion, a huge golden view of Gallis stretching away southward, full of fields and distant orchards. Moe did not like this. She shook her ears and made it plain she was not used to mountains. But all I could think of was Ivar and Riannan walking behind.

  We stayed that night at a way station. It was a sort of barn with wooden bunks and a hearth in it. There was another hearth outside where you could cook any food you had brought with you and a well for water. We sat outside and ate crab again. Gallis is so beautifully warm that we could have slept outside if we’d wanted to.

  There are no inns in Gallis, Rees told us. There are wine shops and drinking places down on the plains, all carefully regulated by the priests. You can only drink within certain hours, he said. “But it’s much more relaxed than it used to be, now Gronn is Holy High Priest,” he told us. “Gronn’s long talks with Gareth made quite a difference to his outlook.” Then he told us other customs of Gallis which I now forget. I was trying not to notice Ivar attending only to Riannan. Aunt Beck simply sat. Finn yawned. Ogo was the only one who really listened to Rees.

  We went on next morning through more lovely mountain scenery. The way was steadily uphill and Moe was not happy. Ogo and I had to take hold of her bridle on either side and positively haul her along. Rees and Finn drew further and further ahead. Ivar and Riannan, though loitering, were well in front too.

  “Oh, come on!” I told Moe crossly.

  “I’m doing the best I can,” Aunt Beck said from the cart.

  “I didn’t mean you!” I snapped. Then I found I was crying. Big tears ran down my face and I gulped as if I were choking.

  Ogo said, “Don’t be unhappy, Aileen.”

  “I can’t help it!” I snarled. “Here’s my aunt gone back to childhood and left me to manage everything, and we keep travelling and journeying, and I haven’t the least idea how we’ll get to Logra, and I don’t think I’ll find my father! Ever!”

  “Oh, we’ll get there,” Ogo said. “Somehow. After all, we have the Beast of Skarr on our side and the Great Bird of Bernica. And now we even have a Dragon of Gallis too, though I admit she’s a bit tiny.”

  I stared at Plug-Ugly plodding ahead of me up the track, long legs, small head, ugly markings and all. Not to speak of smelling of crab. I shoved my sleeve across my wet eyes and stared again. “You don’t mean—”

  “Yes, I do,” Ogo said. “You can’t deny he’s fairly magical. And Green Greet talks sense, not like other parrots. Green Greet knows what he’s saying.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” I said, beginning to feel rather awed. “We might have at least two of the Guardians with us then.”

  “So we’ll get to Logra and find your father,” Ogo said, “if he’s still to be found. And I had a feeling you were quite enjoying being in charge—”

  “Not when I couldn’t dance at the fair,” I said.

  “But most of the time,” Ogo said. “Come on. Admit it. And you shouldn’t make yourself miserable over Ivar, you know. He’s not worth it.”

  I hadn’t realised my feelings had been that obvious. “I’ll have you know, Ogo of Logra,” I said, “that I chose Ivar long ago to be my husband!”

  “I know,” Ogo said. “But you were small then and he seemed quite grown-up. I’ve been hoping for years yo
u’d see your mistake.”

  “Mistake!” I almost shrieked.

  “Gran always says you make mistakes,” Aunt Beck said from the cart.

  “Be quiet, Beck,” Ogo said. “Yes, a mistake. You have brains, Aileen. Ivar’s really quite stupid. You’d be bored stiff if you had to be with him all the time. I know I am. He seems to think that being a prince makes him perfect.”

  I thought about this. I suppose I had never credited Ivar with brains. Donal was the one with brains, and I had always known this was the reason Mevenne preferred Donal to Ivar. But she gave Ivar anything he wanted, all the time. All the children at the castle knew there was no point having a disagreement with Ivar. He would go to his mother and she would punish the person who disagreed with him. Thinking about it, I saw that this was Mevenne’s way of making it up to Ivar for the fact that she was not very fond of him.

  My earliest memories of Ivar were of being faintly sorry for him. Mevenne spoilt him rotten, but she never hugged him as she hugged his brother. Aunt Beck, who was not a hugging kind of person, hugged me whenever I needed it and, when I was small, she even used to take me on her (very bony) knees. Mevenne never did that to Ivar. But I believe Ivar thought he was her favourite. How silly!

  “But Riannan is so beautiful!” I wailed.

  “So are you,” Ogo retorted.

  I stared at him. “She has hair like ripe oats,” I protested.

  “Your hair,” said Ogo, “is just the colour of the toffee the castle kitchen makes on feast days. You should let it go loose oftener because it’s all curly.”

  “It would get in my way,” I said. “And she has big blue eyes.”

  “Your eyes are quite as big,” Ogo said, “and they are green most of the time. I’ve never seen anyone else with eyes your colour.”

  “But I’m so short,” I said. “Riannan’s nearly as tall as you.”

  “Quite a beanpole,” Ogo said impatiently. “If you’re determined to think of yourself as an ugly midget, go ahead. But don’t expect me to sympathise.”

  I found I was laughing. “All right, all right,” I said. “But there is one thing. I can’t sing. And you heard Riannan.”

  “Yes, she can sing,” Ogo said, “but she’s not a Wise Woman, is she? And I don’t suppose her voice has much to do with the way Ivar’s feeling.”

  I laughed again, a little. We walked on. We must have gone nearly half a mile before it occurred to me to say, “Thank you, Ogo.”

  He grinned down at me. “You’re welcome, Aileen.”

  He had made me feel so much better that I even began to look at the scenery. It was all rugged rock. There didn’t seem to be a bard around to sing it beautiful, so it was as plain as Plug-Ugly and as gaunt and grey. I found it very comforting. It reminded me of Skarr.

  Shortly, however, we came into an upland that was nearly level, where the grass was a normal kind of green. There were sheep grazing it everywhere. They wandered on to the road and stared at us and bleated. Around a bend there was fencing with cows behind it, and around the next bend there was a large rock. For some reason there was a rope wrapped around this rock with what looked like a small ship’s anchor spliced to the end of it.

  “Are they afraid the rock will fly away?” Ogo wondered.

  “You never know, with all the magic in Gallis,” I said.

  As I said it, we came around the rock and saw that the rope led to a small shed uphill from us.

  “No, it’s the hut that might fly away,” Ogo said.

  Rees and Finn were waiting just beyond the hut. Ivar and Riannan joined them just as we saw them. They all turned and watched us coming.

  “Welcome to the Pandy,” Rees said when we drew level. He gestured uphill to the left.

  There was a big old farmhouse there, surrounded by more sheep and nestled most comfortably among rocks and stone buildings. Someone in one of the doorways saw us coming and shouted and went dashing to the back of the house. By the time we arrived, the farmhouse door was open and Rees’s mother and father were coming out to greet us, with, behind them, quite a crowd of farm workers and serving women.

  “She won The Singing!” someone shouted. “I knew she would!”

  Riannan’s mother rushed to embrace her. Then we were all introduced and a massive cowman reached into the cart and picked Aunt Beck out of it. She was carried into the Pandy sitting demurely across his great arms, just as she had been carried to the boat in Skarr. Indoors, we were all made very welcome. I think I have never felt so much at home as I did in that house.

  The main room downstairs was a vast kitchen, very light because it was whitewashed. The wide windows looked out to the south-west. There was a fire in the big hearth, despite the warmth of the day, and the cowman installed Aunt Beck in a cushioned chair beside it before going crashing out through one of the several outside doors. There were big black beams in the ceiling with things hanging from them – Green Greet flew up there at once, where he sat gravely inspecting a string of onions. Plug-Ugly made straight for the fireside. Four sheepdogs and a whole crowd of cats instantly made room for him, most respectfully. He threw himself down in the best place and, in my memory, the rest of the day was filled with his rumbling purr.

  I saw all these things in snatches because I was being passed between my uncle and aunt, who kept saying, “Really Gareth’s daughter! You have quite a look of him!” and, “You have your father’s eyes, did you know?” and so forth. It made me feel quite tearful. Wenda, my aunt, was almost as lovely as Riannan, except she was older of course and her hair was darker. My uncle’s name was Bran. I kept looking to see if he resembled my father, but it was hard to tell because he was very tall and had a full beard besides. I think he had the same slight air of majesty that I remembered in my father, as if he were above most people without meaning to be in the least. Rees’s younger brother Brent had the same air.

  It was very strange to find so many unknown relations. And shortly there were more. People came flocking in from the houses down the other side of the hill, all on purpose to meet us. Each one would say to me things like, “I’m your father’s second cousin twice removed, see,” or, “I’m your grandmother’s niece, you know.” There were so many of these that I am quite unable to recall them all. The only ones I remember were the Dominie and the priest, who stayed to supper, and they were relatives too. The Dominie was Wenda’s sister and very learned, even more erudite than the priest, who was Bran’s cousin. Really, it reminded me of Skarr, the way everyone was related, and I had to struggle with another attack of homesickness.

  All these visitors caused a great bustle of hospitality. Wine was brought out and tea was made, and Wenda and the two maidservants became very busy handing around olives and salty biscuits to go with the drinks. Ivar’s face when he first tasted an olive was a picture. His cheeks sucked in, his mouth and eyes screwed up and he said desperately, “Where can I spit this out? Please!”

  Riannan collapsed with laughter, but managed to say, “In the fire of course, silly!”

  Ogo said, “Oh, I remember these!” and took handfuls. He really loved them. And so it seemed did Aunt Beck. Ogo sat on a stool beside her chair and carefully took the hard little pipstones out of olive after olive for her. The fire hissed with a bombardment of olive stones. I think Ogo ate two for every one he gave Aunt Beck.

  Finn sat quietly in a corner, eating everything that was offered. Well, I always thought Finn could eat anything. Me, I preferred the salty biscuits, although I imagined I might just acquire the taste for olives in time. Green Greet came down from the beams to share the biscuits with me.

  In the intervals of all this, Finn, Ogo and I were at the windows, fascinated. Bran’s farmland stretched away downhill into the sunlight in gentle shelves. The grey-green trees nearest were where the olives grew. But there were vineyards and orchards of more normal fruit beyond, and field after field of crops of all kinds – I recognised barley and hay, but many were plants I had never seen before. The most fascinat
ing things, though, were teams of little fat horses pulling carts of produce to the barns. They were not exactly carts. They had no wheels. Each one seemed to float ponderously behind the team pulling it.

  “How can that be?” Finn wondered.

  I wondered too. But mostly I was thinking that Bran in his way had a kingdom out there, full of distant relatives, rather like my distant cousin King Kenig.

  When all the visitors had gone except the priest and the Dominie, there was supper served around the huge table. While I was busy bullying Aunt Beck to eat, Ogo got very bold and chatty and kept asking questions. One of the first things he asked was what were the astonishing carts without wheels.

  “Oh, those,” Rees said, “are a magical invention of my father’s. Neat, aren’t they?”

  I looked at my uncle, thinking, So he’s a magician too!

  Bran grinned. “Took me a while to think them up,” he said. “They’re easier on the horses. But I still haven’t found a way to stop them swivelling about.”

  “They need careful driving,” Riannan said. “I can’t do it.”

  “No, my girl,” Bran said. “I’m still shuddering at the way you crashed my first one into the big barn.”

  Riannan went very pink and said nothing more. Ivar, who would have laughed loudly at anyone else, looked at her sympathetically. “I can see it’s an art,” he said. I found I still seethed a little at that.

  Ogo went on asking things, but the question I chiefly remember was when we were eating piles of pancakes covered with jam and honey for dessert. Ogo said, “Do you ever get snow here?”

  “Not often,” the Dominie said and, typically of a teacher, went on, “Gallis lies in a warm air current from the southern ocean, you see.”