Lejikh looked around the circle, and as his gaze settled on Rielle she read from Baluka’s mind that they’d reached the time of night for conversation and discussion, beginning with their guest then moving on to the business of the family.
“Rielle Lazuli,” Lejikh began. “My son is your translator and guide. He will look after you while you are with us, and answer your questions as fully as he is able. I know there are some you wish to ask now. As it will be easier and faster, please use your own language. Baluka will translate our replies.”
Rielle considered where to begin. “I met an Angel in my world many years–cycles–ago. He is Valhan, the Angel of Storms. A few days ago he offered me a position among the artisans in his world. I accepted and he took me out of my world, through other worlds…”–memories of some of the landscapes they’d passed through flashed through her mind–“… and left me with an Angel named Inekera while he travelled on to check the state of his world. Inekera left a short while later, and when she returned she took me through many worlds so fast I began to lose breath. She stopped between this world and another and… well… pushed me so I arrived here.” Almost dead from suffocation, she added silently. “I thought I was home, as I grew up in a city near a desert, but the sand was different. I thought then that I was in my world but in a different desert until I saw the stars. Then I thought I was in the Angel’s world.”
Lejikh shook his head. “This world is unpopulated. There is not enough water here to support many people, and what is here is deep under the sands. I doubt that this is the world of your Angel.” He frowned. “I know of Inekera. She is no Angel, but a powerful sorcerer. It is unlikely she would not know this world, as it is close to hers, or that you couldn’t survive here. I cannot guess at her reasons, but she appears to have intended to thwart your… your benefactor’s intentions for you.”
Rielle sagged. If Inekera had meant to kill her it was unlikely she would ever tell the Angel what she’d done or where she had sent Rielle. There was no point waiting for him to rescue her.
“What do you wish to do?” Lejikh asked.
“Can you take me to Valhan’s world?” she asked.
His eyes closed slightly–a tiny wince. “We do not know where it is,” he replied. “I might be able to discover the location of Inekera’s world, but I would not advise you to return there.”
She nodded. “No, that would not be wise. Can you take me to my world?”
“Do you remember the way back?”
She frowned, trying to remember the sequence of landscapes. Inekera had been travelling so fast. “Perhaps if I started at her world.”
He scratched his beard. “Even if we were able to find your world, we may not be able to take you into it. We have seen in your mind that the Angel stripped your world of magic before he left. If any of us enter your world, we will never be able to leave again.”
She bowed her head. “I can’t ask that of you.”
“We would not do it if you did. However, if you learn to travel between worlds you could take yourself home.”
She looked up at him, wondering if he understood what it meant to her to learn any non-defensive use for magic.
“It takes time to gain that skill and use it safely,” he continued. “More time than we can stay in this world, or the next, or even several worlds hence. With us you would be travelling ever further from your home world, so you would be better off finding a teacher in one of the next few worlds we visit.”
“And if I don’t learn magic?”
“We will find you a new home.”
Rielle looked down at her hands. So I must learn to use magic or remain stranded outside my world. So much for becoming an artisan in Valhan’s realm.
“Either way, we will help you,” Lejikh assured her. “We will make sure you find a safe home among good people.”
Rielle nodded. “Thank you.” She opened her mouth to express her wish that she could offer them something in return, but into Baluka’s mind sprang a warning that it would be an insult to suggest the Travellers’ hospitality might have a price. So she groped for something else to say. “When do you leave for the next world?”
“We leave tonight, as soon as we are packed and ready.” As the older man looked around the circle of people, Rielle glanced at Baluka. He was frowning, and his thoughts were not so easy to read as before, but she picked up enough to know that this decision had only been recently made, nobody in the family was happy about it, and while he didn’t know why it had been made he was sure she was the reason for it. They would not usually hurry to find a stray a home. But then, they didn’t usually find lost people in uninhabited worlds.
Even so, he suspected something was being kept from him. That immediately made her uneasy. He looked at her and his frown vanished.
Don’t worry, Rielle. It’s probably nothing more than that they don’t want me getting too attached to you. The words were as clear as speech in his mind, but behind them she detected a quieter thought. Since I’m supposed to marry a Traveller…
She hid a smile and looked away. He was attracted to her. In a family like this it must be impossible to hide such feelings. It’s flattering, she mused. And he is handsome, in his way. Quite different to Izare… She quickly smothered that thought. It was inconsiderate to compare him to her former lover, though she wasn’t sure if she could ever consider a man’s looks without comparing them to her first love.
Baluka had turned his attention to the people around them, who were now getting to their feet and dusting off the sand on their clothes. All set about various tasks and responsibilities with no apparent instruction from Lejikh or anyone else. The canopy was taken down, mats were dusted off and stowed in the carts, and the fire doused with sand.
Yet she did not have to read minds to see the annoyance and tension in their gestures and faces, no matter how unhurried and practised their movements. As Baluka led her back to his mother’s wagon she resisted the temptation to reach out to them with her mind. Whatever the reason for the Travellers leaving tonight, it was clear they were unhappy about it.
CHAPTER 7
Huge, slow-moving animals had been brought from behind the far side of the ring of wagons. The beasts stood as tall as a man at the shoulder, short, thick necks supporting heads so large they could easily fit a human’s within their jaws. Their legs were muscular, their callused toes splayed wide to bear their weight. Hide the colour of dried water reeds contrasted with a line of trimmed dark hair standing up like coarse paintbrush bristles, beginning at the nose, parting where a stumpy, striped horn protruded from between the ears, and running along the spine to a comically small tail.
They were “lom”, Baluka told her, and while their main function was to pull the wagons, their milk was used in cooking and hair turned to good uses. The two lom Ankari had guided into place before her wagon were strapped either side of a central shaft. Together, their shoulders, bellies and rumps were almost wider than the wagon.
They smelled like earth and dung, and something else Rielle couldn’t identify. She kept her distance as the rest of the Travellers guided animals into wagon harnesses, noting that the children were unafraid but kept well clear of the animals’ huge feet.
The youngsters were in smaller groups now, parents keeping them close as they prepared to leave. Looking around, she noted which adults the children joined, and the groups assigned to each wagon. She counted four families, plus one young and two older couples, and a pair of young men who shared a wagon between them. A few of the older family members tended to a couple of wagons that did not appear to house anyone and two carts loaded with barrels and crates.
Once the lom were in place the Travellers tightened the ring of wagons until the nose of each lom almost touched the vehicle in front. Then all gathered in the centre in a circle around Lejikh. Rielle found herself standing between Baluka and Ankari.
“All are present,” Lejikh said after a slow turn to survey the whole group. “We travel to Kezel
next. Any questions or warnings?”
None answered. As Lejikh moved to join the circle each Traveller reached out to the person on their left side and placed a hand on a shoulder or upper arm. Rielle felt Baluka take hold of her arm. She placed a hand on Ankari’s shoulder. The woman smiled.
Now all were reaching back with their free hand to grasp some part of the wagon behind them or press a palm on a lom’s hide. The wheel of a wagon was behind her, so Rielle took hold of it and turned back to see what would happen next.
When all were still Lejikh looked around the group, then nodded. “The time to travel has come. Speak up if you are unready.”
Silence followed.
“Stay together, stay strong,” he said. The rest of the family repeated the words, only the smallest child–sleeping in a sling on the mother’s chest–not joining in. Then all began to sing quietly. It was as much a chant as a song and from Baluka’s mind she read the meaning of the words. They described the destination, a verse in a song that mapped out the path the family took through the worlds. It was a route that had no end or beginning, as it looped around the same collection of worlds.
In Baluka’s mind she saw memories of the next world: a forest of tall, slim trees that grew unusually fast, a wooden castle with high walls, many small groups of people living in communities no larger than a thousand and each ruled by a powerful family. The most desirable product on offer was “Tuk”, a resin, bled from the trees with many useful properties: flavouring, scent, medicine and an intoxicating drink. In exchange the locals craved spices, jewels, trinkets and exotic fabrics.
It was a very different place to the desert world they were leaving. Rielle lifted her head, taking a last look at the great spiralling mass of stars above. I wonder what the stars are like there.
“Take a deep breath,” Baluka advised. She obeyed.
And then she felt the world retreat.
It was a subtle sensation, and she could not remember feeling it when the Angels had moved her between worlds. Had she been too overwhelmed by their presence to notice? Maybe she was more sensitive to such movement now she had experienced it a few times.
The carts and Travellers remained vivid, but the desert was fading. The change was dramatic, since they were leaving a night landscape and entering the whiteness. Looking down was disconcerting, as the whiteness had no sense of dimension–her eyes couldn’t tell her if it was solid or not, and she felt no pressure on the soles of her feet. Though she didn’t fall, she decided to focus on the gaps between the wagons instead as she watched for signs of the next world.
Broken, vertical stripes of light and dark began to emerge. They continued far above, meeting in a confusion of shapes. Some were much closer to her than the wagons. One was so close she could have reached out to touch it, if her hands had not been occupied. She grew worried as she realised that they would arrive with trees growing through the wagons and lom–and even the people.
Then the lines shifted and blurred and a new sensation told her that they were travelling across the landscape as she and the Angel had in Inekera’s world. Their progress was slower, though. Then it suddenly sped up, and with equal abruptness slowed again, as if they’d passed a place that was easier to move through. The trees stopped rushing by, and they began to move backwards. Another jolt told her they had moved into an area of lower resistance again. This time the Travellers stayed within it and began to move in a new direction. No change of speed followed, and she began to imagine they were following some kind of straight, invisible channel.
An open area appeared and they stopped within it. The Travellers’ feet hovered above large slabs of flat stone, with numerous vines growing in the cracks between. As they descended slowly towards the ground their surroundings began to grow more distinct, then Rielle felt cool air touch her skin. She dropped the last distance–maybe half a step–to the ground and had to let go of Ankari and throw her arms out to catch her balance. Most of the Travellers did the same, and the wagons rocked violently. Only the lom did not appear disturbed, lowering their heads to sniff at the vines.
“Sorry about the fall,” Lejikh said, looking at Rielle and speaking slowly so she had plenty of time to read the meaning of his words in Baluka’s mind. “Sometimes it is the only way to ensure nothing arrives inside something else or, in this case, tangled with vines.” He looked around. “Is everyone all right?”
Affirmations came in reply.
“Looks like it’s been a while since the locals cleared the area for us,” Ankari observed.
“We’re arriving early,” Baluka said. “Everything grows so fast here they probably don’t bother tidying up until a few days before we’re due.”
Ankari turned to regard the wagon behind her, which was tilting sideways at an alarming angle, and shook her head. “I hope you’re right, and things haven’t changed for the worse in Zun.”
“Probably no worse than Chief Ghallan’s astronomer dying and his fool apprentice taking his place,” one of the older men muttered. “But that’s what you get when you choose noble blood over ability.”
“Ghallan has picked up some of our language over the cycles and may have people watching for our arrival,” Lejikh reminded them. “So keep opinions like that in your head and off your tongue.” He turned to the rest of the family, who were fussing over the wagons and animals. “Clear out the plants, but don’t break the circle until we’re sure of our welcome.” He looked up. Following his gaze, Rielle saw a rosy sky far beyond the foliage above. “It’ll be dark soon. Do I have a volunteer messenger?” One of the young men stepped forward. “Thank you, Derem. Skim between worlds, but do not appear within the gates.”
The young man nodded. He faded to a ghostly figure, then flashed away at great speed. Rielle wondered if this was what the Travellers had looked like as they’d moved through the forest earlier.
She looked at Baluka. “So many precautions,” she said in her native tongue. “Is there a chance you won’t be welcome?”
He shrugged, but his expression was serious. “Always. Worlds like these–well, the area within it that we are in–are very changeable. We are trading with the most powerful of the chiefs here, but kingdoms around here are small. Most of the time one or more are at war with another. Even in peaceful times there are squabbles between families that lead to assassination and death duels.”
“Death duels?” she repeated. The picture she was getting from his mind was frightening.
“Don’t be worried,” he added hastily. “All of us but the young children are sorcerers. We don’t let our guests come to harm.” He looked at her closely. “You know you can trust us, don’t you?”
She nodded. It was clear in his mind that he believed she could and he’d never known his father to break with Traveller custom concerning guests. “Yes.”
“Stay with me,” he told her. “I’ll look after you and let you know how to behave and speak here.”
“Will I be finding a teacher here?”
He shook his head. “There’s no local sorcerer knowledgeable enough to teach you what you need to know, as far as I know. It’s in the next world you’ll most likely find a teacher. The society there is peaceful and used to foreign visitors, though it’ll take some time for you to adjust to people doing things differently to what you grew up with, and you’ll have to learn the language.”
“I’ve adjusted before,” she told him, remembering her first months in Schpeta. “I’m sure I can do it again.”
“When you settled in a new land before it was not by choice, was it?”
“No.” She looked at him, wondering how much he had learned of her past from her mind. Nothing she hadn’t had reason to think of yet, she guessed. Thinking back to her meal the previous night… a few hours ago… she realised the Travellers had not asked her many questions. She’d assumed they didn’t need to because they’d read all there was to know about her from her mind. But if she hadn’t thought of something then perhaps they hadn’t learned it y
et.
If that was true, then asking her questions could make her think of things she’d rather keep private. Perhaps that was why they hadn’t sought more information.
Would a teacher be as considerate? Perhaps not. I guess I’ll have to learn how to hide my thoughts as soon as I can. A chill ran over her skin as she realised she was thinking as if she had decided to learn magic. But if I don’t I will never be able to go home.
But where was home? Was it Fyre, where she was tainted–a criminal and exile? The people there would never believe that an Angel had forgiven her for the use of magic, or told her she’d created more magic than she’d stolen. They would not know why all the magic in the world was gone. They might blame the tainted for the loss. No, she couldn’t return to Fyre.
Was home Schpeta, then? Betzi and the weavers might welcome her back, but she had known her friend would be leaving with Captain Kolz after the siege ended, and nobody in the town would ever treat her quite the same now they knew she had met an Angel. She had been and always would be a foreigner there. It did not feel like home.
Maybe I could make a new life for myself again, somewhere else. But if she was going to do that, why return to her home world at all? She could find a new world to settle in.
Perhaps even a world where using magic was not a crime.
Sensing exasperation from Baluka, she turned to regard him. He shook his head in apology and looked away. She saw then that, while he didn’t want to offend her by disbelieving her, he thought the Angels she’d met were sorcerers. Not sorcerers like the Travellers, but men and women who ruled whole worlds–sometimes several–and were more often feared than loved. Sorcerers who… no, don’t frighten her unnecessarily… Still, they had no right to deceive her into thinking they were higher beings, and that she couldn’t use magic. It was such a waste! But it was clear she couldn’t easily dismiss the taboos of her world, and it was unfair to expect her to.
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