Between holding onto her wrists and dodging blows, he stood amazed at her outburst. Never in his life had he seen anyone, male or female, explode like that. Was this fiery temper an Aqinas trait? He better watch his step around these people from now on. At least Frieda was human. He could relate to her.
"What's the matter with you?" He asked. "All I said was..."
"You said forget about it and forget about you," she screamed.
"What's wrong with that?" He asked.
She redoubled her efforts, and in the end, he cut bait and let go of her so he could retreat farther into the clearing. She rushed him again, but he evaded her. She couldn't keep up with him. Any minute now, she would tire of attacking him and leave, and then she would never come again. He could talk to Frieda and forget all about Sooss. She was someone else's problem.
But she didn't leave. She scowled at him across the clearing with her arms crossed and waited for him to come back into speaking range.
He stole a glance at her clouded face. "I guess I better leave."
She spun around, but she didn't attack again. Black fury darkened her face. "Don't you understand by now?"
"Understand what?" He asked. "You said the exit was right over there. Show me where it is and I'll go. Then you'll never have to see my ugly face again."
Her eyes snapped to his face. "You can't just walk away. You have to do what you came here to do. You won't be able to leave until you do."
"And what is that?" He asked.
"How should I know what you came here to do?" she demanded. "You should be telling me what you want from me instead of wasting my time with all this claptrap about forgetting all about you."
His eyes narrowed. "If you don't want to talk to me, all you have to do is leave. You don't have to stick around if you hate me so much."
She glared at him, and he braced himself for another attack. "I told you a thousand times I came here to talk to you, and you keep insulting me by saying I should forget all about you."
He sighed and shook his head. "I don't understand you at all."
She opened her mouth. Then she shut it with a snap. "You're new here. You think things work here the way they do on land, where you can walk away whenever you want and never see a person again. Things don't work that way here."
Her tone calmed him. "Why don't you explain to me the way they do work?"
"Frieda already explained that to you," she told him.
"But I obviously don't understand it," he replied. "Explain it to me again."
She frowned. "Maybe I shouldn't bother."
He waved his hand. "Then leave. If talking to me is so miserable for you, no one is making you do it."
She frowned one more time. Then she burst out laughing. "You're right, Ari."
He stared at her. "What's the matter with you now?"
She couldn't stop laughing. "I'm an idiot. I should have thought of that."
He pursed his lips. Maybe she wasn't dying at all, but had some nasty mental imbalance that made her shift from one extreme emotion to the other in a split second. He wanted nothing to do with that. She'd already tried to smash his face in, and now she was laughing hysterically. He backed away.
She took a few rapid steps to catch up to him. "Don't worry, Ari. You're right. I shouldn't be mad at you for something you didn't know."
He tried again to get away from her, but she patted his arm as if nothing had happened. "Listen to me, and I'll explain it to you the best I can. The water brought me to you because I wanted to talk to you. We knew you arrived here from the land, and no one but my mother dared come to see you."
He frowned again. "Why not? I'm not exactly dangerous."
She waved her hand. "I wanted to see you, so I came, but the water wouldn't have brought us together if you hadn't wanted to talk to me, too."
"But I didn't want to talk to you." He shook his head. "I mean, I didn't want to talk to you because I didn't even know you existed. How could the water bring you to me?"
"The water gives you what you want," she replied. "Some part of you must have wanted me, and I wanted you, so we came together. That's how it works."
"If that's true," he countered, "I must have wanted to talk to Frieda, too. How do you explain that?"
She cocked her head to one side. "Do you remember what you were doing before you met her for the first time?"
"I was sitting by that pool," he replied. "I thought I was at home, and I was happy."
"Anything else?" She asked. "What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing," he replied. "Like I said, I was happy. Oh, wait a minute. I was thinking how different it was being alone without Aeifa, and then I tried to listen for the noises of the village. I can usually hear babies crying and people shouting and laughing from....well, from that pool if I was at home."
She waited for him to say something else. When he didn't, she murmured, "So you wanted to hear their voices."
"Sure I wanted to," he replied. "They're the sounds of my home village. Those sounds always make me feel better." He lowered his eyes to the ground. "At least, they used to."
Sooss nodded. "So you were listening for the sound of voices, and you were missing company. That explains why the water brought you someone to talk to."
"But I didn't ask to see Frieda," he pointed out. "I didn't even know her."
"But you wanted someone to talk to," Sooss told him. "You thought you were at home, and Frieda was the only person who could explain to you that you weren't. She was probably the only person who could explain it in a way that you could understand."
"Why her?" He asked. "You could have, or anybody else."
She shook her head. "She had a connection with you back home. She's your friends' aunt, and you heard about her from your mother and Marissa. You knew she was a real person, and she came here from the land, just like you did."
Ari raised an eyebrow. "How do you....?" He stopped himself.
"Everybody here knows about you," she told him. "The water tells us the same way it tells you about me."
He waved his hand. "I know, I know."
She smiled and touched his hand again, but no massive transfer of psychic information knocked him off his feet this time. It was just the gentle touch of a kind young girl. "Come on. Let's go for a walk."
He fell in silence at her side. He didn't pay any attention to where they were going until he noticed the same pool at his feet. He shook his head. "Let's go somewhere else. I'm sick of the same country over and over again."
She peered up into his face. "I thought you wanted to come here. I thought you were comfortable here."
"I am comfortable here,” he told her. "That's why I don't want to stay here. I want something new."
A brilliant smile broke across her face. "Then come with me. I'll take you to the village."
He hung back. "You said I couldn't go there until I was ready."
She shrugged. "So you're ready. If you want to go there, you will." She set off through the trees. He trailed along at the end of her arm, still reluctant to find out what this mysterious village contained. She smiled at him over her shoulder. "I can't wait for you to see it. You're going to be so surprised."
Ari frowned and tried to stop walking. "I don't want to be surprised. Whatever it is, tell me now, and don’t surprise me."
Her pearly laughter twittered through the trees. "You'll want to see this. It will make you so happy; you won't know what to do with yourself."
He followed her—what choice did he have? He followed her through the trees, but there was nothing to see. He'd seen it all a dozen times. Nothing could surprise him here. Then he noticed something else. The trees looked different. The moss on the ground changed to a different color he hadn't seen before. His steps slowed, but she towed him after her, laughing all the way.
Then he stopped with his eyes and mouth gaping open. A huge wide open field spread out before him in the sunshine. The warm
breeze rustled the grass, and the perfume of wildflowers wafted into his nostrils. He stared and stared, but he couldn't believe his own eyes. A field like that couldn't possibly exist under the ocean.
The sunlight glinted through the water's surface, and the different colored waves of light washed over the golden grass. The forest hedged the field on one side, but in the far distance, a wall of white stone cut the field off from the horizon. "What is this place?"
Chapter 5
Sooss skirted the field by the line of trees and turned a corner. The path curved around the edge of the forest. They hadn't gone all the way around before Ari happened to notice it was a path. He hadn't found even a footprint in that forest in days, and now they followed a well-worn foot path marked with many footprints of all sizes. Some even limped....and then he froze in his tracks.
Sooss tried to pull him forward, but he yanked his arm out of her hand with a growl. "What are you trying to do to me?"
She took a few hurried steps. "Come on! We're almost there."
He darted forward and grabbed her by the wrist. He whirled her around to face him. "What kind of game are you trying to play with me?"
Her eyes flew open. "What do you mean? I'm taking you to the village."
He raised his hand to strike her pretty face, but he managed to control himself in time. Murderous rage burned in his eyes. "Who are you, and what is this place?"
She gasped out loud. "You know who I am, and we told you where you are. I thought you wanted to go to the village."
"I don't know who you are or what you're trying to do," he fumed. "You're trying to manipulate me, and if you don't explain yourself pretty quick, I swear I'll break your neck where you stand."
"Ari!" she cried. "What's wrong? You said you wanted to go to the village, so I’m taking you there."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," he bellowed. "I don't want anything to do with you ever again, so you better tell me exactly what's going on before I do something drastic. Don't think I won't."
"What are you talking about?" she whimpered. "At least tell me what I did to make you so mad."
He pointed down at the ground. "Do you see that right there? That's what I'm talking about, right there."
She glanced down at the path at their feet. "I don't see anything."
He jerked her closer by the arm so she cried out in pain. He bellowed into her ear, and his saliva spattered her face. "Look at it. Look right there. You can't tell me you don't see that. Do you think I'm stupid?"
Sooss whimpered in terror and tried to shrink away. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and shoved her head down to within inches of the ground. The moist black soil hovered before her eyes, and a tear dropped onto it. "Please, Ari, I didn't do anything...."
"Do you see that footprint right there?" he growled. "No? Well, I do, and do you want to know something else? I've seen it before. I've only seen it once before, but I would recognize it anywhere. Would you like me to tell you why I would recognize it anywhere? Because it's an Ursidrean track. I've seen thousands of Lycaon tracks, but not very many Ursidrean tracks, and that one is totally unique. No one could mistake that track for any other."
Sooss gave a soft sob that brought him back to himself. He let her go, and she slipped away. She glared at him through damp eyes from out of his reach.
"That's Faruk's track," he murmured. "He's the Ursidrean ambassador to my father, and he and the rest of our village disappeared without a trace, overnight. The last place anyone saw that track was outside our village, walking away toward the river with my parents and all our people."
She sniffed, but the fear and disgust faded from her eyes. She waited for him to finish.
"Now these tracks turn up here," he went on. "How do you explain that?"
She threw back her head and took a step toward him. "Come to the village with me, Ari. I can explain everything much better there."
He frowned, but he let her take his hand and lead him on again. He didn't trust her anymore. He would never trust her again. He couldn't explain this unaccountable world, but he had to put all the puzzle pieces together. He couldn't let this mystery go until he did.
She went on around the forest. The path rolled up hills and down into grassy glades, and all the time the fragrant wind caressed everything it touched. The trees swayed in it, the grass and flowers nodded their heads to it, and Ari turned his nose into it. It gave him no answers, but it soothed his fevered brain. He could accept that wind. It wouldn't trick him, anyway.
After crossing the bottom of a glade and climbing the knoll on the other side, Sooss tugged his hand to draw him to her side. “You see? There it is.”
Ari surveyed the landscape before him. More rolling knolls and grassy dells followed one behind the other to the forest in the distance, and the sun shimmered and the wind whispered over all of it. It wasn't Honor's Mansion. It was some other country even more beautiful and captivating, if that was possible. His heart went out to it. The Lycaon never liked open country with an unbroken line of sight to the far horizon. They preferred the protection of forests, but the forest stood right there. He could duck into it and disappear whenever he wanted.
Just in front of the forest, in the shelter of the tallest trees, low dome houses dotted a long hill. He'd never seen anything like them, but the whole scene presented such a comforting and pleasant aspect he couldn't help but like it. People he didn't recognize moved between the houses. Women hung wet clothing on the sides of the houses, and the men talked in clumps. No one paid any attention to him and Sooss.
She urged him forward, and he didn't hesitate to follow her. The few people who noticed them at all smiled and went back to their daily activities. Sooss stepped between the houses with practiced confidence. She climbed to the top of the hill until only one little house separated them from the forest.
They approached the door. Frieda stepped through it and glanced from one to the other and back again. Questions raced across her eyes. Then she smiled. “Welcome to our village, Ari. I'm so glad you came.”
He swept the hill with his eyes. “It isn't what I expected.”
“What did you expect?” she asked.
“I don't know,” he replied. “Maybe I expected you would be living in caves or something like that.”
“Like the Ursidreans?” she asked.
“No, not like that,” he replied. “Somehow I knew you wouldn't have grand cities or powered vehicles. I just thought you would be living in holes in the rock like some kind of sea worms or something. I know it's stupid.”
Frieda and Sooss exchanged a knowing glance. Then Sooss put out her hand. Her fingers barely grazed his knuckles, but the flood of images came back with such force he moaned out loud. Dozens of strange people acted out every imaginable scenario before his eyes until he couldn't focus on them anymore.
Then, out of the morass of images, the same village scene emerged, with the same hill rising to the forest of waving trees beyond, but instead of houses dotting the hill, black spots pocked the surface of rough rocky reefs. Indistinct shapes swam in and out of the holes. They didn’t even look like people.
Ari blinked, and the vision dissipated. He stared at Frieda and Sooss. Sooss’s face broke into a radiant smile. “You haven’t seen the best of it yet.” She pointed over his shoulder. “Look.”
He turned around. The field stretched to the golden horizon below the village. The sun played on the waving grass, and the wall stood still and brilliant beyond it. He couldn’t make out anything beyond the wall, but dozens, maybe hundreds, of people played in the field. Children ran about at their games. Men and women danced to music drifting down from the sky. Men clustered under the trees in the shade and talked. Young girls gathered flowers, and from the hilltop, Ari saw their colors adorning the girls’ hair. Young men wrestled and ran races in the distance.
The scene brought back that tranquil feeling and melted Ari’s anxiety. He could put aside every reservation
, every unpleasant memory that plagued him since he came to this place. He could join these people and enjoy their utopian existence.
Then he saw it. Among the heads of black hair and the flowing white dresses, different colors, different shapes, different gaits, different bodies emerged. A group of men walked abreast through the field, observing the activities and discussing something. Ari locked his eyes on them, and the watery vision magnified them so he saw them clearly. “It can’t be.”
Chapter 6
Ari’s nose detected a million smells in the forest, even though his eyes couldn’t see in the dark. The water rushed through the waving seaweed tops. His hand tightened around Sooss’s fingers. “We’re there.”
“Did you have a good time today?” she whispered.
He stopped walking and faced her. “You know I did. I never thought your village could be so beautiful.”
“Do you really think so?” She giggled in the dark. “You should have seen your face when you saw that we really do live in holes in the rock.”
He had to smile with her. “Your people are full of surprises.”
“Now you understand why we only want peace with the other factions,” she went on.
He nodded. “I hope they can understand that.”
“I think they can,” she told him.
“I think so, too,” he replied. “But you’re right. Only someone who has seen it for himself can truly understand.”
She drew closer to him in the dark. “You love it here now, don’t you? You love it as much as your own home.”
He turned his head. He couldn’t see a thing, but his other senses brought him as much information as if he did see it. “It will never be the same as my own home, but I’m ready to stay here now. I can be happy here. It’s enough like my own forest that I can be comfortable, and now that I’ve seen the other people in the village, I don’t need to go back.”
She closed the gap between them. Her sweet breath tickled the sensitive hairs on his face. “I’m glad.”
The New Angondra Complete Series Page 23
