Lands of Nowhere

by Shannah Jay

  'Hmm.' Kerem's face showed that he wasn’t appeased.

  Robler left the com-room and went back to his quarters. He was making the preliminary studies of Those of the Serpent himself - he wasn’t squeamish like some of the fools on the satellite. In fact, he had a good deal of sympathy with Those of the Serpent and was delighted with the way they’d got rid of that ridiculous Sisterhood - well most of it, anyway. And those temples that Davred had placed under stasis could be left there for ever, as far as he was concerned. Only Confex Central possessed an override for the stasis control.

  CHAPTER 22 TRADERS AT REST

  Only when the birds started to herald the dawn on the day following her rescue did Soo regain consciousness again. When she began to make drowsy noises and move her head restlessly, Nyris went to fetch Giff, who was over on the lake shore staring at the stranger's goods, which seemed to fascinate him.

  'I think the girl's waking up now, dear. Try not to ask her too many questions. And mind you don't let her use that arm. It's a clean break and should heal straight, but it'll be very painful for a day or two. Poor thing!

  Look at that yellow tinge to her skin. She's not been well. We'll have to nurse her back to health.'

  Her eyes were filled with such pleasure at the prospect that Giff stifled a sigh. Once Nyris got people under her wing, it was difficult to get them away from her, even when they represented danger - and if he'd ever seen danger lying there staring him in the face, it was this stranger. Though maybe she represented a fat profit, as well. It was too early to tell.

  Within a few minutes, Soo had regained full consciousness. She stared up at Giff's massive jowly face and Nyris's soft plump features. Both of them seemed like com-screen ghost-images in the soft half-light of early dawn. She opened her mouth to say something, remembered where she was, and re-framed her questions in careful, stilted Sunril.

  'I think I didn’t make much sense - last night, was it?' She stirred, as if to sit up, and gasped at the pain in her arm.

  'You've broken your right arm, dear,' said Nyris. 'I had to set it for you, did it while you were asleep. It's a clean break and should heal nicely, but it'll hurt for a day or two. I'm afraid your clothes got a bit torn, so I borrowed a shift for you from my daughter-in-law.'

  Nyris found it strange that a woman should have been wearing trousers like a man and she’d been tempted to burn them, except that the material was unusual and it wasn’t in her nature to be wasteful. She decided to wash the garments clean of blood and sand, and then see if they could be used for something. The stains came off so easily she called the other women to see, which brought Giff over to find out what the matter was. After that, he appropriated the garments and no one saw them again for a long time.

  Nyris didn’t let that worry her. She knew the stranger would get into serious trouble if anyone else saw her dressed like a man, and had already decided to provide her with suitable clothes. After the years under the control of Those of the Serpent, women had grown accustomed to wearing voluminous skirts and garments which covered every inch of them in public. Soo should have something similar from their stock this very day.

  Townsfolk weren’t as broadminded as traders, villagers were even less tolerant, and Those of the Serpent were ruthless with any who transgressed their smallest rule.

  'What's your name, dear?' she asked.

  'What? Oh, Soo. I'm called Soo.' She stared down at her arm. 'Is it really broken?' She tried to move it and winced again. 'I have a medipack - a blue box. Oh! The transcap!' She clutched Nyris with her left hand. 'Is it all right? Are my things safe?'

  Giff nodded. 'Your things are quite safe. We unloaded them from the transcap for you. Didn't want the water or rain getting into them if it turned stormy.'

  Nyris sighed, but refrained from pointing out that it was unlikely to get stormy at this time of year.

  'Everything is covered with tarpaulins on the lake shore. Blue box, you said you wanted? Pheelo! Fetch that little blue box! The one we couldn't open!'

  His second son detached himself from the circle of interested spectators and hurried to obey.

  'Is there - did you see another transcap?' asked Soo. 'Mak was with me in another - er - flying wagon.'

  'Ha!' shouted Giff, punching Ivo in the arm so hard that even that strong young fellow winced. 'Didn't I tell you? Didn't I? It is a flying wagon!' He puffed out his chest and nodded smugly, delighted that his own astuteness and superiority had been proved yet again, then turned back to Soo. 'I'm sorry, young woman, but we only saw the one transcap flying across the sky. The other must've landed somewhere else.'

  Tears filled Soo's eyes. 'Oh, no! Oh, Mak! Where is he?'

  'Your friend - or maybe your husband, is he, this Mak?' asked Giff delicately.

  'My - yes, he's my husband. We were supposed to land together. What if Robler's recaptured him? Oh, Mak!' She felt strangely weak and tearful.

  'Robler?' Giff probed. Was she, then, a fugitive? If Those of the Serpent were looking for her, she would be too much of a liability, whatever Nyris said. Those suspicious devils were always ready to think the worst of an honest trader.

  Soo hesitated, not knowing what to say, then decided to tell the truth, or as much of the truth as these primitives - no, she mentally corrected her discourtesy, these people - would understand. Like Davred before her, she struggled to find the words to explain how she had got to the planet.

  'I come from - from far away - outside the Twelve Claims. We - my people - can fly across the sky. I was with a group who were obs - er - exploring the Twelve Claims. Our leader was - is - a man called Robler. But he's grown evil. Like Those of the Serpent. He wanted to separate me from Mak.' She blushed hotly. 'He - he wanted me for himself.'

  Nyris clucked sympathetically and patted her arm. 'Some men are like that. Cause nothing but trouble, that sort do. Like racing nerids in rut, they are. It's that sort who founded the Serpent cult, if you ask me.'

  'Stop interrupting her, woman!' Giff hissed. 'Let her get on with the tale.'

  Soo took a deep breath and struggled to find suitable words in Sunril. 'So we had to flee, Mak and I. We took two of the transcaps - you can only fit one person in each - and Robler tried to force us to go back, but we wouldn't return. What was the use? Better to live among strangers in the Twelve Claims than to stay with him. He - he wouldn't leave me alone.'

  'No one'll touch you against your will in our camp!' said Nyris, much moved. 'I hope we traders are more civilised than that!'

  Giff groaned aloud as he realised how much Nyris had taken this woman to her heart. And without even finding out the facts! His wife looked at him, silently daring him to deny the stranger asylum. Oh, he knew that look of old. Trouble, that's what it boded. Trouble.

  'Mak and I must have got separated. Oh, Mak!' Soo broke down and wept into Nyris's copious bosom.

  'Where is he? I need him.'

  'Now, don't you go a-pestering her with any more questions today, Giff Bel-Nathryn! She won't be herself for a day or two. Had a shock, she has and needs a good quiet rest.' Nyris patted Soo's heaving shoulders and murmured comforting nothings to her.

  Pheelo came up and proferred the blue box.

  'He's got your box for you, dear,' said Nyris.

  Soo gulped back the tears and wiped the back of her hand across her cheeks. 'Thank you.' She took the box awkwardly in her left hand. Giff, though watching intently, could not figure out how she opened it, and blinked his eyes in bewilderment as the lid flew back. Inside were small pouches and phials, recognisable anywhere as medicines.

  'I'll hold it for you, dear, then you'll be able to find what you want,' said Nyris in her low, soothing voice.

  Everything about Nyris was soft and comfortable, from her face to her plump white hands, of which she was inordinately proud. Not until she was clasping the box did she realise that she was touching one of the stranger's pieces, and by then, it was plain that there was nothing to fear from it, so the feeling of panic died still
born.

  Soo fumbled among the molecule-film wrapped sterile packages and found a painkiller. She pressed the air-jet against the skin of her broken arm and sighed with relief as it took effect. She wasn’t used to enduring pain.

  Giff's piggy eyes nearly popped out of his head and his hands twitched with the effort not to snatch the box away from her and explore its wonders for himself. 'What's that stuff?'

  'A painkiller.'

  'You mean, it stops things hurting - without putting you to sleep?'

  'Yes.'

  'Do you have any more like it?'

  'Some. Not many.'

  'Enough to trade?'

  'No. We may need them ourselves - Mak and I, that is. But if you have someone in pain who needs a shot, I'd be happy to share what we have with you.'

  'No, there's no one hurt at the moment. In fact, we're all fine. It's just - well, we're traders, as you can see.

  And new goods fetch high prices.'

  Soo shook her head. 'I'd rather not be noticed. These things are obviously not of the Twelve Claims. I just want to find Mak and make a new life with him. In one of the newer claims, perhaps, if there's one where the Serpent isn’t as strong.' She didn’t dare mention her need to find Herra and the others, and the thought of Mak made tears well in her eyes again.

  'I told you to leave her alone, Giff!' snapped Nyris, sure of herself when one of her patients needed protecting. 'Pestering her like that won't do no good to any of us. Give the lass time to recover. She's hurt and she's had a bad shock.'

  Giff's lips tightened, but he said nothing more. He could see for himself that the stranger was still in a state of shock. Thin, she was, and with sallow yellowish skin, like she'd had jaundice when she was young and never recovered. And her eyes were very slanted, a bit like people in Dyandra. He wouldn't fancy a bag of bones like her himself, though she did have nice hair, now that Nyris had brushed it out, smooth and blue-black in colour. Cut a bit short, mind. Perhaps she'd been ill and her people had cut it off. No one would notice that, though, because she'd have to cover her hair up with a snood whenever they got to a town. Those of the Serpent didn’t approve of respectable women flaunting their attractions - except on those hard black altars in the shrines.

  Moodily he left Soo to rest and went to survey yet again the mysterious packages they’d pulled out of the transcap. It was frustrating not to recognise them, yet the prospect of discovering a whole new range of trade goods was exciting as well. Mind, they'd not make him much profit if Those of the Serpent got their hands on them. Greedy, those snake-lovers were. Take your last crust, they would, and then laugh as they watched you starve.

  His eyes narrowed still further. He'd have to find a way to conceal the goods before they arrived in town.

  His family were to be trusted, of course, that went without saying. They were all of trading stock, even his daughters-in-law. Blood was thicker than water, though the girls had been brought up a bit soft, living in one place. What a come-down for an honoured trading family to settle down in one place! Some did, though he could never understand why. Still, it helped to have links you could trust, especially in these troubled times.

  He and Nyris had other relatives here and there, but even if they stayed with them, this secret would have to remain within the immediate group. He'd make sure they all realised that, even the children. And he'd better think of making some false bottoms to his wagons to conceal these things, or better still . . . a grin stole over his face. If you want to hide something, put it where it shows, he thought, looking at the side of the wagon. If he painted the transcap, he could use it to display and store goods.

  Humming tunelessly, he beckoned to Ivo, and told him to take a couple of the grandchildren and go find a nice mature raas tree or two. They were to chop them down and bring back some good big pieces of trunk.

  And they were not to forget to replant bits of the trees in the earth, so that they'd regrow. Raas trees were one of the most precious plants that grew in all the Twelve Claims, and they were never to forget that. When they were young, the trees grew like bushes and every part of them was useful: roots, fruit and leaves. And they could regenerate from any fragment of the tree. Pull one out, plant two or three, traders always said.

  'Yes, Pa,' said Ivo, who had heard this little lecture more times than he could count.

  Giff didn’t bother to explain why he wanted the wood and Ivo didn’t ask him. Pa enjoyed his little secrets and the more you tried to pry, the less he’d tell you. The best way to find things out was to pretend you didn't care. That always got Pa in the end because he loved to show people how clever he’d been.

  Nyris helped her patient to wash, fed her some more broth and persuaded her to lie down and rest. Soon she had the satisfaction of seeing the poor lass fall asleep again.

  When Soo awoke it was evening, and the sun was setting in a glory of gold and orange. She lay quietly watching it, until she realised someone was sitting beside her. It was the large young man with the sunny smile, the one who so closely resembled the old one they called Giff.

  'I'm Ivo,' he said. 'Giff and Nyris are my mother and father. Are you feeling better?'

  'Yes, thank you.'

  'I can fetch the blue box if you need another of those painkiller things.'

  'Maybe later. I'm all right just now.'

  'The others are eating. That's why I'm sitting with you. We didn't want you to wake up and feel frightened.

  Are you hungry? Shall I tell Ma you're awake?'

  'In a minute or two.' She sighed. 'I wonder where Mak is? Do you think he'll be safe?'

  Ivo shrugged. 'Who knows? He'll be best if he keeps out of the way of Those of the Bloody Serpent - beg pardon for my language, but you know what they're like - or perhaps you don't?'

  'I've seen a little of them.' She shivered. 'I must try to contact Mak. We said we'd only try after nightfall - in case anyone saw us.'

  'Contact him? How can you do that if you don't know where he is?'

  'I have a - a machine. It lets you speak to people across distances, but only to someone who has another machine like it. Mak has one too. Or at least, he did have.'

  Ivo swallowed hard. 'That doesn't sound possible.' But flying without wings wasn’t possible either, and he’d seen her transcap with his own eyes flying across the sky.

  'Oh, it's just a machine,' she said casually. 'Not hard to make. But - but Mak can only speak to me if he's all right.' Her lips quivered.

  Ivo patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. 'Maybe he'll be all right. You are, after all. Maybe someone found him, like we found you.'

  'I hope so.'

  Giff came over to join them. 'Awake again, are you?' he said heartily. 'Nyris heard you talking. She's getting you something to eat. She likes to feed people up and she thinks you're too skinny. Are your people short of food?'

  Soo smiled and shook her head. 'No. It's just me. I've always been thin.'

  'Pa, Soo's got a machine for talking across distances,' blurted out Ivo. 'She's going to try to speak to her husband as soon as it's properly dark.'

  Giff's eyes turned involuntarily towards the pile of equipment that was still tantalising him. 'Useful, that,' he said. 'Wouldn't mind one of those myself.'

  'You can only speak to people who have a machine like it, not just to anyone,' said Ivo self-importantly, delighted, for once, to know more than his Pa did.

  'You going to trade in them?' Giff demanded, asking the important question first.

  'No,' said Soo. 'I told you - I didn't come here to trade. I came to - to join some friends who've been here a while. We've arranged to meet.'

  'Oh, yes? And where would they be living?'

  Soo fell silent in confusion. She wasn't used to lying and was a stranger to guile. 'I - I'd better not tell you until I know you properly,' she said awkwardly. 'I don't mean to offend you. I just - well, it might be dangerous. For you as well as for me.'

  Giff shrugged. 'Who's offended? You're right to be cautio
us nowadays. And though you may not have come here to trade, there might still be a few things you don't need that I could use. I help you, you help me.

  We both win. And we don't tell Those of the Serpent about anything. Agreed?'

  'Oh, yes! Giff, you and Nyris have been so kind to me. I don't know how to thank you properly for all you've done!'

  Giff, who liked to feel magnanimous, puffed out his chest. 'Least we could do! We traders and travellers always look after each other.' He didn't allude to her mysterious destination again, but he didn’t forget, either.

  'What about that transcap thing?' he asked. 'What do you want to do with that?'

  She shuddered. 'Bury it! I never want to ride in one again.'

  Giff's face brightened. 'Well, if you don't want it, do you mind if I have it? Never seen anything like the material it's made of. Bound to be some use for it.'

  She frowned. 'I'm afraid - if people see it - they'll want to know where you got it from.'

  He smiled condescendingly. ' If they notice it, that is. I rather think I'll be able to hide it - and your other things, too. We can't have Those of the Serpent knowing about you. They'd lock you up in one of their shrines and pinch everything you brought with you. Yes, and probably burn everything, too! Terrible wasters they are, forever burning things or killing people. They think nothing of taking a man's life or livelihood away from him.'

  'Are they - are they close by?'

  'Next town.'

  'Oh, what am I to do? I daren't be seen by them! They'll know that I'm not of the Twelve Claims.'

  Giff puffed out his chest again. Nothing ventured, no profit gained, traders always said. 'That's easy, my dear. You can travel with us. We can pretend you're one of our nieces. Among so many of us, no one will notice you, especially if you keep in the background. We're travelling towards Fen-Halani, then across to Mer-Halani. That way any use to you?'

  She tried to picture the map of the Twelve Claims. 'Not really, but it won't take me much further away from my destination than I am now. It all depends where Mak is, really. I might have to backtrack to find him.'