Song for a Scarlet Runner

by Julie Hunt

  ‘What magic is this?’ he breathed. ‘Fifty Siltboys. Almost an army!’

  ‘Haven’t you ever seen yourself in a mirror before?’

  ‘Only in the eye of my battlebird. I is daunted, Peat. And whelmed,’ he said.

  ‘It’s all right, Siltboy. Stay close. I’ll look after you.’

  ‘Glowbirds,’ a man with a bare shiny head cried. ‘Glowbirds, to light your way!’

  Siltboy stopped and stared at the cages. The birds inside sat hunched with their heads under their wings.

  ‘They look like sparrows, but in the dark they glow like torches!’ the man cried.

  ‘Don’t believe a word he says,’ a woman beside him yelled. ‘He’s a bald-faced liar.’

  ‘Truth?’ Siltboy asked the bird-seller.

  ‘Cross my heart and hope to die,’ the man answered. ‘If it wasn’t for the lights above I could prove it.’

  Siltboy looked up at the lanterns suspended from the ceiling, then he took back his bag and pulled out his slingshot.

  ‘I’ll shoot down them hanging flames,’ he said.

  ‘No, Siltboy.’ I grabbed the slingshot and the bag and hauled him away.

  As we approached the waterfall the clamour grew louder.

  ‘Everyone bragful and boasting their wares.’ Siltboy had to shout above the noise. ‘My head rings, Peat. And them birds back there is sad.’ He sat down under a table laden with melons and put his hands over his ears. ‘I’m getting wore out.’

  ‘Wait here and have a rest,’ I said. ‘I won’t be long.’

  I left Siltboy and pushed my way through the crowds towards the main entrance. There were many boats on the little shore inside the waterfall, but Eadie’s was not among them. When I got back to the melons, Siltboy was gone.

  ‘Did you see a small boy?’ I asked the melon-seller.

  ‘The boy in the breastplate? He ran off.’

  I looked about in panic, wondering if I should try to find Siltboy in all the confusion of the vast night markets, or whether it would be better to wait by the melons and hope he came back.

  A cry went up from somewhere in the crowd. ‘Catch them! Stop them!’ A few minutes after that Siltboy dived under the table and sat there panting and hugging his knees.

  ‘Siltboy, I told you to stay put!’

  He didn’t answer. A flock of birds swooped overhead, moving as one, heading towards the light of the main entrance.

  ‘Catch them!’ screamed the bird-seller, but the sparrows were gone in a flash, flying over the boats and out through the waterfall.

  Siltboy gave a little smile. ‘Freedom is everything, Peat,’ he said.

  ‘Did he see you?’

  He shook his head. ‘Siltboy learn from the sleek.’

  ‘Food! Food for the road!’ A new voice rose above the din and a sweet, spicy smell drifted past.

  ‘Come, Siltboy. I’ll show you how they cook the food.’

  I didn’t know the way, but I followed the smell until we arrived at a giant cooking pot. The cooks were stirring a bubbling stew with paddles. One large man in an apron was using a ladle as big as a bucket. He dipped it in, scooped up a load and poured it back, releasing clouds of fragrant steam. People were sitting on mats on the ground, eating from flat leaves. A woman with braided hair and long seed-pod earrings waved us towards her.

  ‘You two look hungry. Why don’t you sit here next to me?’

  We sat down and the cooks ladled out two steaming helpings of lunch.

  ‘You look familiar, young redhead,’ the woman said. ‘Maybe I once told your fortune.’

  ‘You did!’

  ‘Ah, yes. I remember you. The story waif. I saw you a year ago – or perhaps it was two.’

  Two years. How strange. I felt I hadn’t been gone more than a week.

  ‘No, it was only a few days ago,’ I told her.

  She laughed as if I had made a joke. ‘Let me pay for your meal.’ She pressed some coins into my hand. ‘Time flies,’ she said. ‘Come and see me. I’m still in the same spot.’

  After we had eaten, Siltboy and I headed for the fortune teller.

  ‘I’m mazed,’ he said. ‘I’m glad you know the way.’

  We wandered past stalls full of hanging sausages and people selling bowls of painted eggs. We passed a man with a plate of flat biscuits that were stamped with the same wheel symbol I’d seen above the entrance to the tunnel.

  ‘Wheel-of-the-World biscuits,’ he cried. ‘None better in the whole of Hub.’

  When we passed a stall selling round cheeses, my eyes filled with tears. They were just like the ones Marlie and I had used to make at the Overhang.

  ‘Ah, there you are!’ said the fortune teller. ‘Let me tell your future, boy.’

  She poured some seeds onto the ground and asked Siltboy to stir them.

  ‘I see sleeping dogs,’ she said. ‘Let them lie. Stir again.’

  Siltboy moved his finger.

  ‘A long and happy life!’ she declared. ‘Now you, little swamp waif. People are still talking about your performance that day in the Undercavern. Ask a question, any question.’

  I put my finger into the seeds but held it still. I didn’t want to know my future. I wanted to know about Marlie. Was she all right?

  Before I had a chance to ask, the fortune teller spoke. ‘I see your auntie. She is on the Plains.’

  Eadie was nearby! I remembered the Plains as one of the names on the signpost.

  ‘How far is it?’ I asked.

  ‘Not far. And your sister is closer than you think.’

  Just then something caught Siltboy’s eye. ‘Peat, a forge!’ He dashed away and I had no choice but to follow him.

  There was a blacksmith’s stall at the end of the row. The air was thick with smoke and everything around it was slightly blackened.

  ‘Oh, wondrous work!’ Siltboy cried.

  The blacksmith was a big man with a long black beard that was slightly singed in places. He wore a leather apron and he wielded a hammer, beating a sheet of metal with it. A fire glowed behind him on a low brick box with a tin chimney above it that disappeared into the gloomy reaches of the ceiling.

  ‘Are you making armour?’ Siltboy cried.

  The blacksmith roared with laughter. ‘No, it’s flat iron, the base of a boiler. Did you see the cooking pots?’

  Siltboy nodded.

  ‘It’s the bottom of one of those.’

  The blacksmith paused and wiped his brow. ‘You’re an old-fashioned-looking lad,’ he said. ‘What’s that you’re wearing on your chest?’

  ‘Breastplate.’ Siltboy opened my wool vest so that the blacksmith could get a better look.

  ‘What the blazes!’ the big man cried. He leaned forward and tapped on the breastplate as if he was knocking on a door.

  ‘It rings true,’ he said, staring closely. ‘But I can’t make out the emblem.’

  ‘That’s ’cause it’s half wore off,’ Siltboy told him.

  The blacksmith stepped back and looked at Siltboy with his head on the side. ‘Would you like to strike a blow?’ he asked, handing over the hammer.

  There were a couple of thin boys standing near the forge. One was working a big pair of bellows. He didn’t look much older than me, but he wore a leather apron like the blacksmith’s.

  ‘Bit young, isn’t he?’ he said, looking at Siltboy.

  ‘I’m nine hundred years old.’

  When the boy laughed, Siltboy took offence.

  ‘You think I lie?’ he asked. ‘I challenge you!’ Siltboy held the hammer above his head.

  ‘No fighting, Siltboy. This is not the battle for us.’ I took the hammer from his hand and dragged him away. ‘Eadie is nearby. We have to get to the Plains.’

  LONGREACH

  Leaving the night markets was harder than arriving had been, as the back tunnel was now full of people. They were streaming out of the Great Hall, talking excitedly.

  ‘He’s magnificent. He comes from the old world.�
��

  ‘He’s one of the ancient breed. A noble hound. He’s probably the last one left.’

  We had to push our way through the crowd to get outside, and once we were there we couldn’t see for the people. I climbed some rocks near the entrance to get a view.

  Shadow was sitting on the track and he was surrounded. His head was low and he was glancing uneasily from side to side. He had a hunched look, as if he was trying to make himself small so he wouldn’t be noticed. When he saw Siltboy making his way through the crowd, he stood up and welcomed him. People screamed and leapt back, and the great booming sound of Shadow’s bark echoed through the tunnel. The sight of the huge dog towering above was too much for one man, who fainted and had to be carried off.

  ‘Keep away!’ someone shouted. ‘Don’t crowd the hound!’

  Siltboy pushed his way to the front and Shadow wagged his tail, sweeping the people behind him off their feet.

  Some boys climbed up on the rocks beside me. ‘He’s a Great Hound,’ one of them said. ‘He’s like the dogs we saw in the Undercavern, remember?’

  ‘How could I forget!’ another boy answered. ‘That storytelling was incredible. I was so scared I had to keep reminding myself it wasn’t real.’

  A man who had put himself in charge of the crowd began giving directions. ‘Place your gifts at his feet. Keep your heads low, and don’t touch him.’

  People edged forward, cautiously putting packages in front of Shadow, who sniffed the parcels then tossed each one into the air and gulped it down without opening the wrapping. When he had devoured all the offerings, he shook his great head. His ears flapped, and a few long hairs fell to the ground, where they were immediately picked up by people who dashed forward then disappeared back into the crowd.

  Somewhere in the throng I heard the voice of the woman who sold sayings. ‘Our hands are empty but our hearts are full!’

  ‘His presence is a gift,’ someone else said.

  ‘Amazing! The world is full of wonders!’

  I knew that voice. I couldn’t ever forget it.

  A tall man stood at the front of the crowd, staring up at Shadow. His hair was long and fair, and he’d spoken in the western tongue. It was the stranger. And next to him was . . .

  ‘Marlie!’ My heart leapt in me.

  She turned in surprise. ‘Peat?’

  I was on the ground in an instant, pushing and shoving my way towards my sister.

  ‘Wait your turn,’ people grumbled.

  ‘Marlie!’ I yelled, and I heard her yelling back, ‘Peat, is that you?’

  I squeezed through a solid wall of people until I was next to her.

  ‘Peat, it’s you! It’s really you!’

  I hugged Marlie so tight that I must have squeezed the breath out of her, because when she tried to speak, the words were small and crushed.

  ‘Oh, Peat. I was so worried about you.’

  ‘And I was worried about you!’ I looked up and her tears splashed onto my face. ‘Did Alban Bane take you, Marlie? How did you get away?’

  She stepped back and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

  ‘It’s a long story,’ she said. ‘Peat, I didn’t expect to see you ever again.’

  She cupped my face in her hands, and now I was crying, too. ‘I went to the marshes,’ I sobbed. ‘I got caught in the snare of a marsh auntie. Oh, Marlie, it’s so good to see you. I can hardly believe it. What are you doing here?’

  ‘You remember the traveller, Peat? He came back. He wanted to help.’

  I looked over Marlie’s shoulder. The stranger was right there, standing behind her. His hair was longer now, and his eyes were as clear as ever.

  ‘You did help!’ I cried. He gave a quiet smile and looked as if he was about to say something when Siltboy pushed in front of us.

  ‘Peat, what ails you?’ he cried. ‘Why do you keen? Where is the trouble?’

  The stranger raised his eyebrows and stepped back.

  ‘No trouble,’ was all I could manage to say.

  Siltboy turned to the stranger. ‘Untie your tongue,’ he demanded. ‘State yourself!’

  ‘I’m Longreach,’ the stranger said softly.

  ‘Friend or foe?’ Siltboy demanded.

  ‘Friend!’ the stranger replied, and he laughed his high, windy laugh. He held out his hand and Siltboy took it. ‘What a grip!’ he exclaimed. ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Siltboy.’

  ‘I have travelled the wide world, but I have never met anyone like you before.’

  Siltboy nodded. ‘I is rare,’ he said. ‘And so is my hound.’

  ‘The Great Hound is yours?’

  ‘He is mine, and I am his.’

  ‘Wonders never cease,’ breathed Longreach. ‘Tell me, my curious young man, how did you come by that thread around your neck?’

  Siltboy pointed to me. ‘A gift from my friend.’

  Longreach scratched his head. ‘I gave that thread to a marsh auntie who saved my life.’

  ‘You gave the thread to Eadie, and she gave it to me,’ I told him.

  ‘You know Eadie?’

  ‘I was her apprentice.’

  Longreach turned to Marlie. ‘Eadie is a healer who can work a marvel,’ he said. ‘She cured me when I was at death’s door. I am so grateful to her. Sometimes the world is smaller than you think!’

  Marlie was looking from one face to the next as if it was all too much for her to take in. She hugged me again. ‘Wim will be so relieved to see you,’ she cried.

  ‘Wim is here?’

  ‘Yes. She’s minding the cows on the slopes beyond Outer Hub, at a place called the Plains.’

  So the fortune teller hadn’t been talking about Eadie – she’d been talking about Wim! And the cattle were here as well!

  ‘We’re herders now,’ Marlie said. ‘We’re taking the cows to the high pastures in the mountains beyond Hub – and now that we’ve found you, we can all go together!’

  ‘Stay away!’ yelled the man in charge to some boys who’d gone too close.

  Shadow yawned, displaying the roof of his mouth, purple and ridged. There were cries of alarm and the crowd drew back. Shadow licked his chops and lay down, resting his head on his paws.

  ‘Marlie, what happened to you? How did you get away from Alban?’

  ‘It was hard.’ Marlie let go of me. She seemed to be searching for the words. When Longreach took her hand, she smiled through her tears. ‘But I’m now safe, and you are, too.’

  The thought went through my head that I wasn’t actually safe, and that I wouldn’t be until I had delivered the flower to Eadie.

  ‘So much has happened, Peat,’ Marlie told me. ‘There was sickness in Skerrick. Many people died.’

  ‘I went back for you girls,’ Longreach said. ‘I wanted to ask you if you would come with me. When I returned to your country, I found that things had changed. Alban Bane had sickened and died. The settlement was in ruins, almost abandoned. There weren’t many people left.’

  ‘It was the catching disease. Those who had worked with the cattle were safe, so I was all right. And Wim was as well.’ Marlie shook her head. ‘You’ve changed, Peat. You’re taller.’

  ‘You look different, too. You’re not thin anymore.’

  Marlie’s long hair was tied up in plaits and she looked grown-up. She was wearing a dress made of cloth that changed colour in the light – some of it was green and some was blue. She had a bag over her shoulder like the one I had carried the night I left the Overhang, the stranger’s bag. And she was wearing soft leather boots.

  ‘You’ve still got the cow charm!’ she cried.

  ‘Your most precious thing. If it wasn’t for this charm, I might not be here.’ I slipped off the cow charm and put it over Marlie’s head. ‘Thank you, Marlie. I always hoped I could give it back.’

  Just then, someone in the crowd behind us cried out, and we were jostled forward. ‘Ouch! It bit me!’

  ‘Ah! Me, too!’

  ‘Well, wil
l you look at that!’ Longreach exclaimed as the sleek padded into the open space before Shadow. ‘This truly is a day full of wonders. I have heard of such creatures, but I’ve never seen one. I believe it’s a firetail swamp rat.’

  The sleek had a large biscuit in his mouth, and his ears were flat against his head. How he had managed to get through the mob without being trampled I didn’t know, but I had seen him in worse moods. He sat down and crunched the biscuit, then he stood upright on his hind legs and scanned the crowd, his sharp gaze moving from face to face until it landed on mine. He gave a hiss and sprang through the air, landing on my chest. Marlie jumped back.

  ‘Don’t be frightened,’ I said. ‘He’s a friend, although sometimes you wouldn’t know it. He’s also our guide, and he’s impatient to get away.’

  ‘Away? Away where?’

  ‘Marlie. I have to go.’

  ‘Go? We’ve only just found each other.’

  I took the flower out of Siltboy’s bag. The leaves were drying, and some of the petals were crushed and broken. The stem was squashed in three places.

  ‘It’s hard to explain, Marlie. But I have to deliver this flower.’

  ‘To the marsh auntie?’ Longreach asked.

  ‘Yes. How did you know?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘It’s just that I last saw a flower like that in Eadie’s hut.’

  ‘I don’t understand . . .’ Marlie began.

  ‘I’ve got a long story, too,’ I said. ‘I’ll tell you as soon as I get back. Will you wait for me? Can I meet you on the Plains?’

  Marlie reached into her bag and handed me a cheese. ‘I was bringing this for the Great Hound, but I’ll give it to you instead,’ she said sadly. ‘Oh, Peat, do you really have to go?’

  Siltboy took Marlie’s hand.

  ‘Sister of Peat,’ he said. ‘We is not true free. If we was free, Peat would go the cow way with her kith and kin.’ He looked down and kicked the dirt at his feet. ‘And I would stay here in the Wheel-of-the-World. I could work with that man-of-metal and wield the hammer better than them weed boys.’

  Shadow sighed and lifted his head. ‘Stand, Shadow!’ Siltboy said. The Great Hound rose to his feet and there were cries of awe from the crowd.

  I hugged Marlie goodbye, although it hurt my heart to do so. ‘I’ll see you soon,’ I told her. Then I hugged Longreach as well, because he felt like my family.