“I?” she asked, astounded. “A whore? No, you’re wrong. What can you tell about mankind?” .
“More than ye might think,” he said gravely. “Frae time tae time I hae entered your world, and not always been cast right oot; for though I be bad tae see and smell, I’m a strong, steady worker. Hoo else might I hae learned the tongue or the sailor’s craft? I’ve had feres amang men, and certain women hae made me welcome in their hames, and a few-can ye believe?-a very few hae gi’en me love.”
“I see why they would,” she breathed.
Pain twisted his visage. “Na wedded love. Hoo could a monster
like me hae a kirkly wedding? ‘Tis been but for short whiles. Langer amang men, aye; we’d make voyage after voyage. In the end I maun leave them too, ,0’ coorse, syne they were growing old and I na. Tens 0’ years wad pass on my skerry ere I had courage tae seek out mortals again. ‘Twas langer yet if there had been a woman’s kiss.”
“Must I too hurt you, then?” Ingeborg stood on tiptoe and drew his neck downward. Mouth met mouth.
“’Twill be worth it, dear,” he said. “Wha’ dreams I’ll weave
in the clouds, wha’ songs the wind will sing 0’ ye! And every
calm, starlit night will bring back this, till the day 0’ my weird,”
“But you will be so alone,”
He tried to ease her: “’Tis as well, When my death comes, ‘twill be because 0’ a woman.”
She stood back. “What?”
“Och, naught.” He pointed aft. “See hoo shining wheels the
Wain 0’ Carl,”
“No, Hauau,” she urged, and shivered beneath the cloak she had cast over her before leaving the forepeak. “Say forth, I beg you.” She paused; he gnawed his lip. “We’ll be, . . mates, . . for this journey. I’ve seen more witchiness of late than I dare dwell upon. Another mystery, that may touch me-“ He sighed, shook his head, and answered, “Nay, na ye, In-geborg, fear na that. I. . . by mysel’ the most 0’ my life, brooding over the deeps. , . hae gained a measure 0’ the second sight. I foreknow summat 0’ my fate.”
“And?”
“The hour will come when a mortal woman bears me a son;
and later I will tak’ him awa’ wi’ me, lest they bum him for a
demon’s get; and she’ll wed a man wha’ shall slay us both,”
“No, no, no,”
He folded his arms, “I’m na afeared. Sad for the bairn, aye. Yet in those days Faerie will be a last thin glimmer ere it fades oot fore’ er. Thus I can believe ‘tis a mercy for him; and myseJ’, I’ll be at one wi’ the waters.”
Ingeborg wept, quite quietly, under the stars. He did not ven-
ture to touch her,
“I am barren,” she gulped.
He nodded. “I know full well ye’re nae my doom. Your ain
fate-“ His teeth snapped air, After a moment: “Ye’re weary frae all ye hae suffered. Come, let me tak’ ye below tae sleep.”
It was still dark when the hourglass called time for a change of watch, though dawn was not far off, The crew had agreed that two Faerie folk should always be on duty at night, and laid out a scheme of shifts, On this occasion Hauau took over steering and Tauno went aloft.
Eyjan, freed, swung lithely down a hatch to the quarters rigged in the hold. Enough light for her came from the constellations framed in that opening; had the hatch been on, she could have found her way by touch, odor, a mermaid’s sense of direction and place. Niels and Ingeborg slumbered on pallets side by side, he stretched out, she curled like an infant; an arm across her eyes. Eyjan squatted beside the youth, stroked his hair, said low into his ear: “Come, sluggard. It’s our time now.”
“Oh. . . oh.” He jerked to wakefulness. Before he could speak aloud, she stopped his lips with hers.
“Softly,” she cautioned. “Disturb not that poor woman. Here, I’ll guide you.” She took his hand. Rapturous, he followed her to ladder and deck.
Westward the stars glittered, but eastward a horned moon had risen and the sky beneath was turning argent. The sea shimmered ever more bright; Eyjan stood -forth against shadow as if a lamp glowed cool from within her. Wind had freshened, it strummed on the rigging and bellied out the sail, Herning heeled over a bit, aquiver. Waves whooshed.
Niels halted. “Eyjan,” he c~ed, “you’re too fair, your beauty burns me.”
“Soft, soft,” she said, with a hasty glance up the mast. “This way, to the forepeak.” She danced ahead, he bumbled after.
Blackness no longer dwelt under the bow deck: instead, a twilight wherein he could see her clearly, till she cast her body against his and he was caught in the whirlwind of her kiss. Trum-pets, drums, and exploding flames burst loose in him. “Get those stupid clothes off,” she soon commanded, and plucked at them herself.
---They lay resting for the next passage. “I love you,” he said into the fragrance of her hair. “With my very soul, I love you.”
“Hush,” she warned. “You’re a man-yes, a man, however young-and christened.”
“I care not!”
“You will. You must.” Eyjan leaned on an elbow to look down
at his countenance. Most gently, her free hand descended on his breast. “You have an immortal spirit to ward. Need has made us shipmates, but I’d not be the means of your ruin, darling friend.”
Blinded by sudden anguish, he groped at her bosom and gasped, “I can’t leave you. Never can I. And you-you’d not leave me, would you? Say you won’t!”
She calmed him with kisses and embraces till he could listen to her: “We’ll not fret about the morrow, Niels. What can that do save spoil the today that is ours? No more talk of love.” She chuckled. “Rather, good, honest lust. You’re a most rousing fel-low, did you know?”
“I, I care for you-“
“And I for you. We’ll share in many ways, at work, at talk, at song, at gaze over sea and sky. . . close comrades. . . .” Again she laughed, deep in her throat. “At this hour, though, we’ve els~ to do, and I feel that you-how marvelous.”
---In the crow’s nest, Tauno heard the noises they made. Hi~ mouth grew tight; he beat fist into palm, over and over.
Easy weather prevailed, and Herning limped south faster than might have been awaited. When she passed near craft plying be-tween England and the Pale, Hauau, clad like a man, shouted in the English language that she was whatever he and Niels deemed would be plausible at a given encounter. Since they were clearly on no mission of war or robbery, that sufficed. Once they did heave to and wait for night in order to steal past a royal ship which Hauau took a near look at in his seal form. She could have stopped them on suspicion of spying or smuggling.
On a cloudy eventide Tauno came back with a fine big salmon
in his grip. He swung himself up the rope ladder that trailed from
the waist and cast the fish onto the planks. “Ho, ho!” boomed the
selkie from the dark in the aftercastle where he steered. “Will ye
cut me a chunk 0’ that the nooT’
Tauno nodded and brought it to him. In the dull light of a lanthom which illuminated the floating compass needle, Hauau bulked less human-looking than by day. He snatched the raw meat and tore at it greedily. The siblings did not care for cooked fish either, and Ingeborg prepared it only for Niels and herself. Yet a touch of disgust passed across Tauno’s face before he could check it.
Hauau noticed. “Wha’ ails yeT’ he asked.
Tauno shrugged. “Naught.”
“Nay, summat, and tae do wi’ me, I’m thinking. Spit it oot.
We canna afford tae let angers rankle.”
“Why, I’ve no plaint against you.” Tauno’s voice remained sullen. “If you must know my fancy, I’ll say that we were more mannerly about our eating in Liri.”
Hauau studied him a moment before he said in chosen words:
“Ye’d na let that itch, save tae tak’ your mind off a pain. Wba’s the matter, lad?”
“Naught,
I told you!” Tauno snapped, and turned to go.
“Hold,” the selkie called out. Tauno did.
“Is it that there’s nae wench for ye, when Niels and I hae ‘em?”
Hauau probed. “I believe Ingeborg wad mak’ ye welcome, and sure I’d na begrudge ye the pleasure.”
“D0 you imagine she-“ Tauno broke off. This time he did leave.
Dusk was thickening outside. A dim shape slid down a shroud and reached deck with a thump. Tauno trod close. Niels must strain to see, but the halfling easily recognized confusion upon the other.
“What were you doing there?” he demanded.
“Why, why, Eyjan has the crow’s nest, you know,” Niels
replied in a voice that trembled the least bit. “We were talking till she warned I’d better leave while I can make out what’s around me.”
Tauno nodded. “Yes, you’d miss no chance of her company, would you?”
He stared onward. Niels caught him by the wrist. “Tauno . . . sir. . . I pray you, hear me,” the youth pleaded.
The Liri prince halted. “Well?” he said after a partial minute.
Niels swallowed. “You’ve grown aloof. Cold to me-to every-
body, it seems, but most to me. Why? Have I wronged you in any way’? I’d not do that for the world, Tauno.”
“What makes you suppose you could do me harm, landling?”
“Well, your sister-your sister and I-“
“Huh! She’s a free being. I’m not such a fool as to judge her.”
Niels reached out in the gloaming that separated him from
Tauno. “I love her,” he said.
“How can you? We’re soulless, she and I, remember?”
“You can’t be! She... she’s so wonderful, so wonderful. I
want to marry her.. .if not in sight of man, then sight of God . . . abide with her, cherish her, till death comes for me. Tauno, I’d be a good husband. I’d provide well for her, and the children. My share of the gold, I know how to make that fruit-ful-Will you speak to her, Tauno? She’ll not let me talk of it, but will you, for my sake-and hers? Why, she could be saved, even-“ The babble strangled as the halfling took Niels by the arms and shook him, back and forth till teeth rattled. “Hold your mouth,” Tauno snarled. “Not another word, or I’ll smite you flat. Enjoy your little romp while it lasts. That’s what it is to her, you un-derstand, a romp, the latest of dozens. Naught else. Be glad for what she has a whim to lend you, and pester us not with your whining. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, forgive me, I’m sorry,” sobbed Niels. When Tauno let go, he sank to the deck.
The merman’s son loomed above him for a span, though it was aloft that his glance sought. Nothing stirred yonder save a wind-tossed lock of hair. He opened his lips to form speech in the Liri tongue, but closed them.
Slow resolve came over him. “Stay topside, Niels, till I say you may come below,” he ordered.
Swiftly, then, he sought a hatch. He did not trouble to put cover on coaming, which would have muffled sounds. Straight to Ingeborg’s pallet he went and roused her.
Rain blew soft from Ireland and blurred the world into dove color. It whispered louder than the breeze as it struck the waves and dimpled them. Through coolness and damp, each breath one drew carried a ghost of green fields.
A masthead lookout being useless, Tauno and Eyjan swam ahead, scouts. The cog was dim in their sight; they were together by themselves for the first time in a long stretch. At the pace of sailing today, they moved easily, well able to converse.
“You were cruel to Niels,” she said.
He chopped a splash out of the water. “You heard us?”
“Of course.”
“What have you told him?”
“That you were in a bad mood and he must not take it to heart.
He was grieving. Speak kindly to him, Tauno. He worships you.”
“And adores you. Young dolt!”
“Well, I am his first, his very first, did you know?” Eyjan
smiled. “He leams quickly and well. Let him gladden many more in his life after we’ve parted.”
Tauno scowled. “I hope he’ll not brood over you till he mislays what wits were ever his. He and Ingeborg-who else have we to deal for us on Yria’s behalf? You and I could scarcely pass our-selves off as earthfolk, let alone Danish subjects.” “Yes, we’ve spoken about that, he and I.” Eyjan was likewise worried. “At least he knows he must be careful, him a mere sailor finding his way through laws that are meant to bind him fast in his lot.” Earnestly: “I’ve hopes, though’, for he is clever, and with depth in him for growth.” Her tone sank, “On that account, maybe he’ll not ease me out of his breast as he should-“ Briskly:
“Well, besides, he’ll have Ingeborg’s counsel, and she’s seen
every kind of man, I suppose,”
“She’s a strong creature,” Tauno agreed without eagerness.
Eyjan swirled herself to a sideways position, that she might
regard him. “I thought you were fonder of her than that,”
Tauno jerked a nod. “I like her, aye.”
“And her, about you- There in the crow’s nest, I could
hear from down in the hold the joy wherewith she awakened to
you. She was never loud, but I still heard.” Eyjan winced and
paused before she went on: “Next day we talked, she and I,
Woman talk. She wondered, against all reason, if we might settle
near her-the gold would buy a shoreside place-and not fare off
afar in quest of our people, When I told her this was impossible,
she looked away from me. Afterward she looked back and chat-
tered on, very lightly. But I had been watching her shoulders and
hands.” Eyjan sighed. “Indeed it is not well for mortals to have
doings with Faerie,”
“Nor for us,” Tauno rasped,
“True. Poor Ingeborg. And yet how could we abide as the last
two merfolk in Denmark? Can we not find our father, we must seek to join a different tribe. Hard enough will it be for us to search across the world.”
“Yes, , . hard,” Tauno said. They stared at each other. He went pale, she flushed. Abruptly he dived, and did not broach for an hour.
Herning rounded Wales, passed by the white cliffs of England,
followed the Lowlands on toward home,
IIV
THE ship of the Liri people had come better than halfway up the Dalmatian coast when the slavers espied her.
At first none of them, not even Vanimen, feared evil. On their passage from the Gates of Hercules they had spoken many vessels; these were busy waters. Since he took care to keep well away from land, nobody challenged them. Likewise he ordered that everyone on deck wear clothes by day, taken out of sailors’ chests, and that swimmers be submerged until after dark. The Northern craft, plainly storm-battered, drew curiosity and sometimes-he thought-offers of help. He would gesture off those who steered nigh and shout in what Latin he had that nothing was needed, he was bound for a nearby port. It served, though he wasn’t sure whether that was because his language was near enough to the vernaculars or because skippers grew leery of as ragged and odd-looking a gang as they saw. Notwithstanding, the presence of females and young, whom he purposely had in view, said they were not pirates; hence no warcraft lay alongside.
Had that happened, they would have abandoned ship. He was reluctant to do so otherwise. Despite her poor condition, slowness, clumsiness, incessant labor at the pumps, she remained their shel-ter-and a disguise, in a narrow sea divided between Christian and Mussulman with naught of Faerie surviving. Therefore he drove her onward, day and night, day and night. When wind failed, and the sun was down or humans absent, he had his folk tow. Thus she made better speed than any mortal crew could have gotten out of her. Still, the weeks grew weary before she entered the Adriatic mouth. Without the waves to seek for hunt, frolic, renewal, the wanderers mig
ht well have perished of despair.
Now travel became even more creeping and cautious, because they must hug the eastern shores in order that parties be readily able to search these out. Such a route much raised the likelihood of being investigated by a naval patrol of whoever ruled on land. Just the same, hearts lightened, song broke forth, for here was lovely country, steep, full of woods, rich in fish. Vanimen would keep sailing while he was able, unless he found the perfect place first, but having to flee the hulk should not be catastrophic.
So he thought.
Indeed the halfworld lived yet along this littoral, and surely
too in the mountains which reared behind it. Swimming thither, emerging on a strand, he sensed magic as a thrill in his blood, after the barrenness through which he had lately fared; he glimpsed creatures shy or sinister which were not of ordinary flesh. Strange they were to him, and when they did not flit off as though in dread, they threatened and he withdrew. But they were his kin in a way that Agnete had finally known she could never be.
Some spots had been interdicted by exorcism. He cast what questioning spells lay in his power and learned that for the most part this had happened in recent years. A new faith seemed to have appeared among men, or rather a new sect-since he ob-served naught but the Cross anywhere-which disdained the easy-going ways of earlier Christians. Oftener he simply observed too much cultivation, or a thriving town, which by its mere presence would ban a colony. Well, the dolphins had told him he must seek further north.
As he did, he began to come on the multitudinous islands they had bespoken, and no eternal curses laid by priests. The creed that actively hated everything smacking of joy in life-for after all, Vanimen reflected, that was what the Faerie races who would fain be friends to men brought them, no doubt at peril to their souls but nevertheless joy-the new creed must not have penetrated this far. Somewhere here, he dared to hope, lay the goal of his dreams.
Wryness added: It had better. The hull was coming apart be-neath him. No longer could pumps hold the water at bay. Daily deeper sunken, crankier, less movable by any wind, his ship would soon be altogether useless.. True, then his band could search on-ward by themselves. . . .
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