by Payne, Lee
Their equipment had been separated into small packs and stowed carefully behind the saddles of the five beasts that had been brought out from town by an old man Ohan recognized from the tavern. On seeing the horses, Leahn had shouted with joy, leaped aboard and ridden off across the fields with the skill of a practiced rider.
Ohan feared the Commodore would be furious at the loss of his 80 coppers. To his surprise, he had received nothing more painful than a sharp nudge in the ribs, a wink and a mumbled comment about good value for the money.
For her part, Leahn seemed determined to continue in her self-appointed position as his bodyguard. After her bloodcurdling performance in the tavern, Ohan was more apprehensive about his protectress than about any potential danger. Even the twins seemed to welcome her into their little group. One had ordered a new pair of boots for her while the other arranged to have her sword sharpened.
Both Leahn and the sword had become objects of considerable interest to everyone in the tavern. The innkeeper left a couple of scullions to clean up the mess and took them to a nearby smithy. A great deal of discussion was ended by the smith himself, who firmly declared that since he was going to do the work, he would do what needed to be done and nobody else knew what they were talking about anyway.
Whatever he did proved effective. Leahn was able to split several substantial fence posts both through the middle and lengthwise with what appeared to be little effort on her part. The crowd was pleased. Several of its older members declared that they hadn't seen such a weapon since their boyhoods.
The day ended with a party. The, by then, considerable crowd returned to the scrubbed-down tavern. There the cobbler made the final fitting on Leahn's boots and the liquor flowed freely. Even Ohan was allowed to drink more than he ought—three beers. He counted them several times before giggling off into an alcoholic slumber.
***
Morning dawned early indeed. Ohan's head and stomach felt very odd, far worse than he thought possible. The Commodore's guaranteed hangover remedy made him throw up. That helped a little. Death seemed a far more practical solution.
Now he faced a legendary beast several times his size who was obviously not being deceived by his attempt to conceal a great deal of well-founded fear and a throbbing head. Nor was Ohan deceived by the old horse trader's contention that this was "the gentlest of the lot". He clearly saw the twinkle in the old man's eye as he said it. That twinkle turned to awe as Leahn thundered up and reined to a halt in a cloud of dust. The bargain was sealed. The old man went his way shaking his head and muttering about forest tree climbers, white warriors and foreign serpents all going off to play among the giants' cities.
Now it was Ohan's turn. One twin held the horse's great armored head, stroking it with his long fingers and speaking softly in a sibilant whisper. Ohan could feel the beast going quiet as the other twin boosted him into the saddle and adjusted the footholds to his short legs.
They were well into the coolness beyond the dusty edge of the trees before his mount seemed to shake off its drowsiness and began to argue about who was in charge. By then Ohan had started to get the hang of it and was willing to put up a fight. The horse's three-toed gait was surprisingly smooth though Ohan knew he would be sore for days to come.
The first trees offered some relief from the morning sun. By mid-afternoon a leafy canopy had formed overhead and the ever-present dust of the outlands was left behind. With his head still throbbing, his stomach churning and every muscle in his body protesting, Ohan was in no condition to hunt for supper that evening. This had apparently been anticipated. Though the Commodore proclaimed loudly his joy at once again being one with nature on the open road, he and everyone else soon followed Ohan into exhausted sleep.
***
He awoke startled to find the sun high above the treetops. His headache was gone, his stomach seemed interested in food again and his muscles were sorer than he had ever suspected they could be. The others were already up. The Commodore and Leahn seemed to be moving rather more slowly and carefully than usual.
"Are you still alive?" Leahn asked solicitously as she brought him a cup of hot tea. "That's a good sign. The Commodore says that was probably your first hangover. It's best not to do that on the same day you go for your first horseback ride. I think everybody's a little stiff."
Ohan sat up and drank.
"There you go," she said. "You may survive."
She looked up at the leaves, bright in the morning sunlight. "God, I love it out here. I think you saved my life, sport."
She took his empty cup, gave him a large kiss on the forehead and left him feeling much better.
The others greeted him heartily as he slowly made his way toward the fire. The Commodore forced another potion on him, this for "strengthening the blood and relieving undue commotion in the alimentary canal." At least it wasn't as bad as the big man's hangover remedy.
"The great secret of travel, my boy, is to survive the farewell party. Once that hurdle is surmounted, the rest is downhill."
The Commodore glanced over to where the twins were removing the horses' hobbles and adjusting their packs. "Even I find that riding these armor-plated rocking chairs requires getting used to. We'll take it slower today. Now that we're away from the corrupting influence of civilization—if that's what you call that dingy dustbowl back there—you'll begin to feel better. Men against nature. That's the ticket, eh lad?
"It will also be easier to operate without a pack of slack-jawed locals getting in our way."
As they rode through that day and into the next, Ohan noted with pleasure the thickening of the branches overhead and the lifting of the forest canopy. True forest giants began to make their appearance. The thicket of bushes and young trees that had hindered their progress on the first day disappeared. There was little direct sunlight here to nourish undergrowth, only a cool gloom. It brightened to deep shade at midday then trailed off imperceptibly to night.
The underbrush was replaced by a thick leaf mold and the far-reaching roots of the great trees. Each thick wide-buttressed trunk stood apart from its fellows. The intervening spaces were filled with long parasite vines. They hung from the branches high overhead groping tentatively for the ground and their chance to root and grow as trees. The party rode silently, single file, winding among the root systems. Ohan breathed deeply of the rich warm scent of life and decay and knew he was home.
***
"My father was a scholar and an amateur scientist," Leahn said to the Commodore as they lunched beside a small ruin. "He had a collection of old things he'd found or traded for. My uncle has it now, of course. But he has no interest in it. I'm sure he would be happy to show it to you."
Ohan, sitting nearby, started to speak but Leahn shot him a dark look of such intensity, he choked on the bread he was eating. He fell into a coughing fit and the conversation passed him by.
Later when he tried to tactfully explain to the Commodore that Leahn and her uncle weren't on the best of terms, the big man said, "I make it a rule never to mix in these little family squabbles, my boy. Besides, whoever ends up with the collection she spoke of—either Leahn or her uncle—I'm sure they won't mind if we have a peek at it."
Ohan left the conversation wondering if he had made himself entirely clear. Murder and rape seemed rather more than a "little family squabble".
After lunch the twins set up their machinery and scanned the nearby ruin. It appeared to be little more than a tree-covered mound rising from the forest floor. But the scanner probed the tangled roots and decaying vegetation to find the fallen facade and solid core beneath. Then the computer, noting the position of each fallen stone, traced its probable path back to its original resting place. It reconstructed the original structure based on the data they had gathered in their excavation of the first complex at the edge of the forest. It produced a three-dimensional drawing of the way the little temple looked before it fell into decay. With the drawing as a guide, Erol and Ohan made a narrow laser burn thr
ough the structure from top to bottom to establish the time when the temple was built and used.
"This is a relatively new one," Elor reported after analyzing their data. "The organic material beneath the foundation is only 850 years old while the vegetation on top began to be laid down 420 years ago. We may well find that the final construction phase is contemporary with the road."
"Road?" Ohan was startled. "There are no roads here."
"Roads there are, my boy." The Commodore pulled a sheet from Elor's map case and unfolded it. "We're going to show you a few things about your ancestors that may surprise you."
Ohan had studied geography in school. He was familiar with the northern and southern oceans and the four equatorial continents but the Commodore's map was not like any he had seen before. It lacked color and appeared to have been drawn by a machine using only straight lines of varying lengths.
"Naturally we made a complete aerial survey before we landed," the Commodore explained. "We found traces of significant archaeological sites in several places. Most have been badly weathered or are overlaid by modern settlements. But here," his sweeping gesture took in the silent forest around them, "here in this dark and gloomy place, an ancient people decided to create an empire. These trees, the same that sprout as seedlings in the cracks between the stones, then grow until they force the whole building apart, these same trees have protected the temples and pyramids from the wind and rain as well as from inquisitive men and grazing animals. Here is where we think we might find something . . . interesting.
"Unfortunately, the same forest that kept these lost cities safe from farmers and ranchers also did a pretty good job shielding them from our aerial probes. The best we could get was this radar image." He stabbed his finger at the map. "It shows this little temple complex and the road running beside it." He folded the map and handed it to Elor who put it back in his case. "Mount up, children. We have a highway to catch."
***
It's a wall," Ohan exclaimed as his horse picked its way carefully over the tangled roots and fallen stones. "We always called these the giants' walls. I never thought of them as anything else. I know where there are several. They're perfectly straight and . . . "
"And twenty feet wide," the Commodore shouted from the top of the incline. "They're raised four to six feet above the surrounding countryside, level and straight as an arrow. Travel will be easier up here."
Looking anew at the structure he had known since childhood, Ohan was filled with wonder. This was not like the little meandering trails at the edge of the forest. Those were narrow and rutted. They bathed the traveller in a constant cloud of dust. This was built of large stone blocks topped with a smooth layer of crushed rock. The edges had been broken apart by insistent tree roots. But except for some smaller trees that sprouted there, the center remained relatively smooth and intact.
With a firmer surface and fewer roots to maneuver around, the party made better progress. They could ride two and three abreast rather than in single file. They set up camp that evening on the road. Ohan and Leahn went off to hunt for supper.
It had taken three days for Ohan's muscles to adjust to the business of riding. Two more days had been required for his senses to become fully attuned to the life of the forest. As a boy he had hunted for enjoyment as well as necessity. When food was not required, he would stalk small game just to see what they would do, which way they would turn, where they would head for cover. When it was time to hunt in earnest, he knew well the habits and preferences of his prey.
Now for the first time since he had gone off to school, he felt himself once more a part of the living forest. He smelled, heard and felt the life around him. He was again at home. For the first few days of their journey, he and Leahn hunted with a bow and arrows borrowed from Erol. These had never been Ohan's weapons and Leahn had outdone him in bringing down small bright birds from the lower branches. He spent the time watching. Now he saw again the all-but-invisible paths of the burrowers on the forest floor and the aerial roadways favored by larger skydwellers. He saw again with the patient eyes of his childhood.
"Leave the bow and arrows," he told Leahn. "Our companions deserve more than a few small bony birds. This evening we will try for bigger game." Leahn looked at him doubtfully. He knew he had gained little stature in her eyes so far. He was the native but she had out-hunted him. Tonight he would have to do better.
She left her sword behind and they set off into the gathering twilight. They had gone some distance from the road before Ohan found what he was looking for. They circled around so as not to leave a scent. He sat Leahn in a crevice between two root ridges and showed her the path to watch. Then he climbed back up the trunk and ran out across a low branch into the darkness.
***
The deep loam of the forest floor concealed a rich menu of succulent roots, tubers and tasty grubs. All that was needed to seek them out was a sensitive snout and a couple of sharp digging tusks. Their owner, somewhere between a pig and a large rat, had several paths he liked to browse. This was one of his favorites, rich in worms just beneath the surface. But tonight he sensed something subtle in the air, something not quite right. He turned off his accustomed route. His hearing was acute, his nose the best in the forest. He turned again and began to get annoyed. He should be eating. He was running instead. He turned to the left, then to the right and the right again. He was surprisingly agile on his short legs and tiny hoofs. Something flashed at the corner of his sight—an arm. And Leahn's dagger was in his brain.
She was impressed. Ohan happily dressed the tusker. He buried its entrails near its favorite forest path, said a brief prayer of apology for his need, gave thanks for the animal's cooperation, wished it success in its next life and thanked the forest for nurturing them both.
The Commodore usually showed a great deal more interest in eating than in cooking. But for this special occasion he took over the supervision—if not the actual preparation—of the feast. Ohan gathered some aromatic leaves and a number of theories were advanced on how best to prepare the beast. The Commodore, being the loudest, won.
"It's best to overeat every once in a while," he burped happily as he stirred the dying embers of the cook fire, "if only to show your stomach who's boss."
"Would you like to see the stars?" Ohan whispered to Leahn as they sat beside the fire. It had taken him a while to gather his courage. The successful hunt and a full stomach made him bold.
"Could we?" she asked enthusiastically. "We've only been in the forest for a few days but I already miss seeing the sky."
They crept away from the firelight and were soon lost in darkness. Ohan had noted a young water tree earlier in the evening. Once away from the fire, their eyes adjusted to the gloom. In the daytime, sunlight never made it to the forest floor. As if in compensation, the darkness of night was also absent here. Only when the Eye of God was turned away did it become truly dark.
They moved silently through the night. Its sounds closed in around them. Ohan was amazed at how much at home Leahn was in the forest. Her childhood, he knew, had been spent largely in the outdoors. She adjusted far more quickly to the forest than he ever would to the saddle.
They scrambled up one of the big aerial taproots to the trunk of the water tree, then used vines to pull themselves up into the lower limbs. From there it was simply a matter of selecting the best route from the maze of branches, vines and climbers that were the foundations of the aerial world. There was little sense of vertigo. Though the ground was far below, everywhere one looked was a reassuring, though deceptively fragile, network of greenery. Several times Ohan paused and they listened to the furtive footsteps of a night creature scurrying away.
Once they came upon a tiny pool of water formed in a hollow by the morning mist. Leahn peered into the water and saw several pairs of eyes looking back a her, tiny amphibians evidently too unpalatable to worry about being eaten.
They entered a final layer of dark leaves that obscured the branches and left th
em feeling carefully for each foothold. They emerged suddenly from the tangled leaves to confront the blaze of heaven. Both stopped and stared. Their water tree continued on above the forest canopy in a perfectly formed half-sphere of widely spaced and narrowing branches. They climbed a little higher. The tops of the other trees stretched to the horizon as a gently swaying sea of leaves. Every breeze was traced in wandering ripples across its living surface.
They clung to the branches. The smooth bark was still warm from the lost day's sun. They let the sighing of the leaves wash over them. Ohan was delighted to be again in his beloved forest. But Leahn found herself shivering beneath the Eye of God's silent gaze. Her thoughts were in the distant highlands, her hopes of bloody vengeance.
Chapter 5
When at last they roused themselves and started to descend, their sudden movement startled a forest cat who had been inching up to investigate these two intruders in its realm. It gave a blood-curdling shriek and bounded off through the leaves.
As soon as his heart stopped pounding and he could speak, Ohan laughed and explained what had made the dreadful noise. Leahn put the knife back in her gauntlet. She pressed her body close against his as he tried to climb past her to lead the way to the ground. She laid her head next to his and whispered in his ear. "Thank you for sharing this lovely place. In my homeland I too, had secret corners where I was sure no one else had ever been. If we ever get back there, I'll show them to you." Ohan almost missed his footing on the branch.
They climbed to the ground and raced laughing back to camp. There they found their companions engaged in mild debate over a device Erol was setting up. "What is it,?" Leahn asked.
The Commodore replied. "That, my dear, is a piece of bulky nonsense the twins insist we drag along over hill and dale just to prove some nutty theory of theirs."
