by Shannah Jay
'We'll take that turning when we come to it,' Giff said soothingly. He had another piece in the jigsaw puzzle. She could only be going to the Fifth Lands, if she didn't mind a trip to Mer-Halani. Now which of the newer claims was she making for - Nulandra, Dyandra or Kelandra? Or was she laying a false trail? He considered briefly the way she’d flushed when asked about her destination and the way she couldn’t tell lies.
No, she was too ingenuous for such deceits. He’d only to wait and he'd find out all about her and her intentions.
He looked at her again and shook his head. Wherever she came from, the people must be the biggest softies he'd ever met. It'd be one of those groups that had broken away and founded their own settlement.
These isolated groups could grow very naive after a generation or two away from the rest of the world. Ideal to trade with! Just gave their goods away. Soo's group must have done well for itself, though, judging by the things they produced. And it must be a sizeable group, too, to produce things like flying machines.
Giff stayed on beside Soo, listening with half an ear to the others talking near the fire. He felt good about the world. He had fallen into real luck this time, or he might be lucky if he trod the new path carefully. Soo wouldn’t last long in Netheron without his help. And afterwards, especially if they managed to find her Mak for her, she’d be grateful. He could scent the profits already. You couldn't beat novelties for tempting people to loosen their purse-strings, even under Those of the Serpent.
And he'd need bigger trade routes eventually for the grandchildren. You had to think ahead and have faith that Those of the Serpent wouldn’t blight the land for ever. Maybe he should leave Chand and Pheel to keep these trade routes going and take some time off to help this stranger. His eyes brightened at the thought. He hadn't gone exploring in years.
'You just concentrate on getting better, Soo, my dear,' he said in a fatherly tone, so unlike the usual way he addressed strangers that both Ivo and Nyris, who'd just brought some food across for Soo, gaped at him openly. 'When you've eaten, you can try to speak to your husband. Then, tomorrow, when my dear wife had sorted out some proper clothes for you to wear, we'll set off travelling again. They like women to cover themselves up. Not very sensible in the summer heat, but who are we to argue, if it keeps them happy?'
Soo shuddered at the thought of being raped and abused on the altars of the Serpent, as women without protectors so often were. She'd had to view such loathsome practices from the satellite and her biggest fear about coming down to the planet was that she might fall into the hands of Those of the Serpent. Only the direst emergency had forced her to risk that.
'You're very kind!' She smiled at Giff, but the smile was more than a bit wobbly.
He nodded, accepting her gratitude as his due. 'And we'll tell everyone that you're one of our nieces, shall we?'
Ivo frowned and stared at Soo. After a moment or two, he shook his head. 'Pa!'
'Yes?'
'Pa, they won't believe it.'
'Who won't believe what, you idiot?'
'No one'll believe she's one of our family. She doesn't look like us, not a bit. Her skin's a different colour, and her eyes are different - and well, she just doesn't look like us. And she's too little, as well.'
Giff bit off a sharp retort and studied Soo himself. 'What d'you think, Nyris?'
'I think Ivo's right. No offence, Soo, dear, but you're a funny-looking little thing. And we're a big-built family, even the daughters-in-law.' She spoke complacently, looking across at her children and grandchildren.
Pink-cheeked, plump and tall, every last one of them.
The three of them sat and stared at Soo, then Giff slapped one hand down on his thigh. 'I've got it! She'll have to pretend to be Ivo's wife. We'll say he met her in Tenebron, and that she's been ill, lost a baby.' He turned apologetically to Soo. 'It'll have to be Ivo, I'm afraid, fool that he is. The others are all married. He should be married by now, only he's over-picky! Could have had a nice rich widow in Setheron, he could, and owned his own wagon straight off, but no, not Master Ivo! Said he didn't fancy her. Said she was too old. I'll give him too old next time I find him a likely prospect for a wife! It's the older ones who have the money!'
Nyris nudged him. 'You've said all that till we're sick of hearing it, Giff. We're talking about something else now. Would you mind that, Soo dear? Pretending to be Ivo's wife, I mean? He's a nice lad, if I do say so myself. Much too good for a scraggy widow with two bawling brats! You'll be quite safe with him.'
Soo looked around helplessly. 'I - I'll do whatever you think best. I don't want to get you into any trouble.
But it's just pretend. I'm married to Mak, happily married.'
'That's nice,' said Nyris. 'Real nice, that is. I like to hear a young woman say that. I felt like that once.'
Giff snorted. 'So did I! You don't notice how stupid someone is when she's young and pretty. But you find out later.'
'Nor do you notice how bad-tempered someone is, not when he's courting you and hiding his real nature by acting all sweet and generous,' Nyris countered, tossing her head.
The two of them glared at one another, and Ivo grinned at Soo's embarrassment. 'Don't mind them!' he whispered. 'They always talk like that. They don't mean anything. And - I know it's only pretend, us being married. I won't touch you. But I will look after you till we find your Mak again. See if I don't! Now, you have a go at speaking to your husband on that box thing.' He nodded at her encouragingly.
She smiled up at him. Such a nice young man! But her smile soon faded. Though she tried several times, she could get no response from Mak. In the end, Nyris took pity on her and slipped something into a cup of hotbrew to make her sleep. Poor lass! All alone in a strange land. She must be worried sick about that man of hers.
In Nyris, the pity for Soo warred with a certain amount of worry about their safety in Pinderak. Not one of her favourite towns, Pinderak. It was run by a trio of real fanatics. If Those of the Serpent thought Soo was too different, there'd be real trouble and they'd be lucky to escape with their lives! But Giff never thought of things like that when he was on the trail of something new to trade in. Men didn't! Just rushed in pig-headedly, men did!
And what about Ivo? If Nyris was any judge, he'd rather taken a fancy to Soo. And that would lead only to unhappiness. Give the stranger her due, she hadn't tried to flirt with any of the menfolk and she seemed genuinely fond of that husband of hers. Tears in her eyes when she talked about him. Nyris just hoped the poor man was still alive. Flying through the sky sounded a risky sort of business to her. You'd not catch her going up in one of those transcap things.
It wasn't until Nyris was nearly asleep that a dreadful thought made her sit bolt upright in bed and poke Giff in the ribs. 'What about Chand? He's gone ahead to register the family in Pinderak. He'll have everyone listed at the Shrine for travellers' tax except Soo!'
Giff groaned and rolled over. 'I'll think about that in the morning. Just let me get to sleep now, will you, woman!'
CHAPTER 23 THE GATEWAY
The Kindred had slept all through the short night in the Tanglewoods, lying in an untidy circle where they’d sagged to the ground near the great tree. Luckily for Jonner, who’d been the only one to stay awake, the night lasted just an hour or two. As soon as it was fully light, the undergrowth started creeping back across the clearing. Jonner, who had been dozing by the fire, jerked awake as Nim started whining and moaning in her throat. When he didn’t respond, she butted him with her head.
'Hey! What's the matter? Get away from me, Nim! Stop it, I said! I don't want to play.' He suddenly caught sight of the approaching undergrowth. 'Oh, no!' After staring frantically around the clearing for a few seconds, he scrambled to his feet and rushed across to shake Benjan. 'Wake up! Benjan, wake up!'
Benjan just made sleepy groaning noises and rolled over again. Jonner cast a desperate glance over his shoulder. The plants were still creeping forward. He moved to Quinna, who was
lying next to Benjan, and shook her shoulder, trying to wake her, only to be pushed away by a large muscular hand. She snuggled down into the dead leaves and sighed loudly.
Jonner stood up and stared at them both. 'Think, you fool!' he muttered, but no idea came to him so he raised his eyes heavenwards and began to pray more fervently than ever in his life before, 'Brother of the World, I know I'm not important like Herra, but please, can't you help me wake them!' He crouched down and shook Benjan's shoulder again. 'Benjan! Wake up!'
This time, after shaking his head groggily, and mumbling something under his breath, Benjan jerked to a sitting position, stared around and said, 'What's the matter?' He sighed with relief as he saw Herra and the others lying nearby, and only then did he turn to look at Jonner. 'What's the matter? Why did you wake me?'
He was obviously still half asleep, Jonner thought, or he'd have noticed the greenery. 'Look! It's coming back! We have to move.' He pointed to the slow tide of green.
For a minute Benjan just stared, then he took a deep breath, struggled to his feet and stood swaying groggily. 'Unh!' He shook his head, trying to clear it. 'All right, Jonner. I'll not go to sleep again. You try to wake the others. Brother, what's wrong with my head?' Benjan took some more deep breaths, jogged on the spot to get the stiffness out of his limbs and then did a few of the wake-up exercises used by the Sisterhood.
By the time Jonner had managed to shake Cheral awake, Benjan had reached for Quinna's shoulder, then Davred's, and had shaken them roughly until they sat up. It was as hard for them to wake as it had been for him, but eventually they struggled through the mists of sleep and stood staring at the approaching undergrowth.
'We'd better wake the children,' said Katia. 'We can't stay here. No, leave Herra until last. She looked very tired yesterday. I think the tree used a lot of her energy in the transformation.' She stared for a moment at her two sons, each as tall as her now, then went over to help them.
Sometimes, Jonner thought, watching her, he was glad he was just an ordinary fellow. All this magic must be very wearing.
Within minutes, everyone was awake and had gathered on Jonner's side of the tree. As soon as they managed to shake off their strange lethargy, they started grabbing packs and belongings in feverish haste.
The three young people stood together, each nibbling on a piece of journey biscuit and staring around wide-eyed at the others as if they only half understood what was going on.
'How can we stop the plants coming back?' Jonner asked Katia. 'Surely we haven't got to start hacking our way through the undergrowth again?'
'I don't know how we can stop it any more than you do, Jonner. The Tanglewoods seem to have their own natural laws.'
'How long has this been going on?' rumbled Benjan, one eye on Herra, who seemed a little slow in coming to herself.
Jonner shrugged. 'Just since dawn, I think, only a few minutes. Nim saw it first and gave me a nudge. It's not growing as quickly as the stuff we had to hack our way through.'
Narla stared at it and shivered. 'It's as if it's giving us time to get ready.'
'What's happening on the other side of the tree?' asked Benjan.
Jonner was still watching the tide of slow-moving green. 'How should I know? I haven't got eyes in the back of my head, have I? I've been too busy waking you lot up to go exploring.' He was back to his old self now that his feet were firmly on the ground, but when Quinna glared at him, he snapped, 'Oh, all right, I'll go and look!' and vanished around the other side of the tree. Within seconds, the others heard him yelp in shock.
When Jonner neither shouted an explanation of what he’d found nor returned, Quinna stopped packing to roll her eyes heavenwards and yell, 'Well, what did you find? We're in no mood for guessing games, Jonner.'
'There's a path starting to open up here. Shall I just go along it a bit and see where it leads?'
'No!' Cheral's voice had regained something of its old tone of command. 'Just come back here this minute, Jonner. If there's ever been a time when we needed to stick together, it's now!' She jerked her head in a signal to Narla, who ran round the tree trunk and came back pulling a reluctant Jonner.
'There is a path there,' said Narla, 'and quite a wide one, actually. The plants are creeping backwards, then pressing against the edges as if there's a wall being formed between them and the path - though there isn't anything that you can see. Jonner was just starting to walk along it when I stopped him.'
'What's got into you today?' demanded Quinna, glaring at him.
Jonner glared right back at her. 'I just wanted to see how far it went, that's all. I don't want to go up in those trees again.'
'And what if the path went on for kloms? Did you think of that?'
'I was only going to walk a little way along it. It looked so nice and new. I'm getting fed up with trotting along behind everyone else. And fed up with you ordering me around, too!'
Herra intervened. 'Let the subject drop, Quinna. I'm sure Jonner meant no harm. And we owe him our thanks for keeping watch through the night.'
Jonner shot a triumphant glance at Quinna, who snorted and went back to finish her packing.
By now, the undergrowth had crossed the clearing to within a pace of the group and it was beginning to grow upwards in great looping tangles. Flowers opened and died within seconds, seeds fell to the ground and started new growth, tendrils fought for a grip on the nearest stem and leaves unfurled to form layer upon layer of green barriers. Again the world had narrowed to a small area around the Kindred.
'I think we should be making a move now.' Benjan put his arm around Carryn's shoulders. 'Are you ready for another walk, little one?'
'I suppose so.' She kicked away a green tendril that was starting to climb up her leg. 'It's no use staying here, is it?'
'What about your child?' he asked gently.
Carryn looked guilty. 'I forgot.'
'Forgot!'
'My child is now taller than I am and feels more like an older sister.' She saw his disapproval. 'I'm sorry, Benjan. I just - I never have felt much like a mother, and now I feel even less like one. Come on, Lerina. We have to leave now.' To her confusion, she found her large daughter putting a hand trustingly in hers. Benjan grinned down at them and a wry smile crept across Carryn's face. 'We've got a long way to walk,' she tried to explain to the girl, unsure how well the children could speak or understand.
Lerina nodded. 'Yes. Through the Tanglewoods. The tree told me.'
'When did it tell you that?' Cheral had been watching this exchange with a frown creasing her brow. How had the three youngsters learned to speak?
'Last night, after we grew up.' She stared down at her arm and chuckled delightedly. 'I'm bigger than you now, Mother.' But she still kept hold of Carryn's hand.
'Well then, my friends,' said Herra, 'once again, we seem to have no choice but to follow the path provided for us.' Brother, she thought, I'm weary of feeling so helpless!
You will soon be taking charge of your own destiny again. The voice echoed in her head and it took her a minute or two to realise that no one else had heard it.
'Are you ready to travel, my young friends?' she said, smiling at the three young people. Alaran and Lerina beamed back with the sunny smiles of children, in spite of their near-adult size. Erlic stared solemnly, his silvery eyes seeming to carry their own light in that dim green place. A strange child, this one, but there was no evil in him, just a strangeness. She gestured to Benjan to lead the way past the tree.
* * *
Within an hour, the sun was directly overhead, as if it were noon, and the Tanglewoods were so steamily hot that everyone was sweating and uncomfortable. They stopped for a brief rest and drink, but no one except the youngsters wanted to eat. The three of them had been ravenous ever since their transformation.
Nim stayed with the group, as near to Katia as she could manage. She’d seemed very subdued ever since they entered the Tanglewoods, and hadn’t attempted to range ahead exploring, as she usually
did. This place must seem very alien to her, Katia thought, patting the furry head.
Within another hour, the sun had tracked downwards across the sky, and dusk was falling. There seemed to be a faint luminescence on the pathway, so they were able to continue walking even when it grew dark.
They stopped again for refreshments, and that was mainly for the sake of the children. All the adults shared a great, though unspoken, desire to get out of the Tanglewoods.
Presently the sky started to lighten again and, with the dawn, they could see that the undergrowth around them was starting to thin out.
It was Carryn who dared to voice everyone's hopes. 'Is it possible - is it really possible that the Tanglewoods are coming to an end, do you think, Elder Sister? I feel as if we've been shut in here for ever.'
'I hope they are, child. I feel the same way.'
A wind blew towards them along the path, a cool morning breeze that dried sweaty faces and carried a sweet grassy tang of meadows and wildflowers with it.
'I think the woods are definitely coming to an end,' said Katia, sniffing the air. 'That breeze smells of a village, somehow.' Her voice was wistful. 'It would be nice to get back to the real world again, wouldn't it, Davred?'
'Your real world will seem rather alien to me and will be utterly strange to our sons.'
'Oh, Davred, I'm sorry! I always forget that you're a stranger to our planet. You seem so much a part of us.'
'I feel a part of you in most ways, but I've spent most of my time in the temple or here, in the Lands of Nowhere.' He too sniffed the breeze. 'The air does smell nice, though. Natural plants and flowers seem so different from the artificial constructs and perfumes which people use in the Confederation. Fainter and yet more enduring, somehow.'
'That smell could be another trick to lure us on,' said Jonner, shaking his head. 'In fact, it's almost bound to be. Everything we've met so far has twisted round on us. Why should this be any different?'
