Escape from the Drowned Planet

by Helena Puumala

  *****

  She came awake to the granda’s internal prodding. The prodding was very effective; her node provided an alarm that she could not ignore. She mentally slipped out of Chrys’ tent to search for Sany who was sharing with her brother; their parents were well-off enough to bask in the luxury of having a tent to themselves. A prerogative of married couples, Kati understood, something that even the austere Children of the Survivors did not frown upon for those who wanted it, and could afford it.

  “It’s to do with procreation, securing the next generation,” was how Matto had explained this departure from the usual austerity that the Children demanded of their membership.

  Sany was asleep, of course; her dreams weaving a tapestry around her mind, her consciousness hanging about her physical body, attached to it tenuously. Apparently she could have left it completely while dreaming, but had chosen not to do so. Sany was making herself available and accessible to Kati, and the older woman was pleased to note that. It bode well for when the girl would truly be needed. But then, Kati mused, Sany wanted to be a part of the excitement. She would be there, when her presence was necessary.

  Kati plunged into the ephemera created by Sany’s dream, but did not allow herself to become involved in it. She did not want to join Sany’s dream; she wanted to awaken her from it.

  “Sany,” she called mentally, “Sany, Sany, wake up! I need you to wake up, Sany!”

  “What?” The girl loosened herself from her dream. “Oh, Kati, it’s you. Time for me to wake up already? Oh yeah, this is the practise run.”

  Sany let the dream slip away and retreated into her body; Kati sensed that she was opening her physical eyes in the dark. “You’re in Chrys’ tent, right, Kati? I’ll come and talk to you there. You can go now, if you want to.”

  “Sure. See you in a sec.”

  Seb was snoring slightly as Kati withdrew her consciousness from the youngsters’ tent. Sany seemed fully awake, even though she had not made the least bit of noise.

  *****

  “You did that very well,” she whispered to the girl who had crowded herself into Chrys’ small tent.

  The tent was of a size to accommodate the occasional customer of a nightlady, and could just hold two people; nevertheless, there was no extra room in it, with Kati and Sany both inside. It had not been designed for leisurely sex, that was for sure, Kati thought wryly; with Taxom it seemed that making money was always paramount, and comfort a minor consideration.

  “Thanks. I hope I do as well when it’s for real,” Sany answered in the dark. With their shared sensitivity to everything mental the dark did not matter.

  Nevertheless, they chose to speak physical words during this conversation, although they easily enough might have not. Both seemed to have a need to keep a little bit of distance between them, to each assert her independence. Kati vaguely remembered feeling the same way when she had first started communicating with Murra, but she had had no choice but to use mind-speak with him, since they had not had a common language the time. But Murra had had a very delicate mental touch and he had made sure not to crowd her; Kati was sure that she was not able to be quite as thoughtful. She did not have his training. Thus, she was perfectly happy to allow Sany to keep her distance through voice communication.

  “This is the first time in my life that I’ve gotten to do something really interesting and important,” the girl was saying in a low, but intense, tone. “I know that if you hadn’t discovered that I could do what we did, my family would have stayed out of this business altogether. I don’t understand it; it’s like they want our lives to be as boring as possible, and I hate it.”

  “Hey, didn’t you just come from Oasis City?” Kati protested, also in a low voice. “That can’t have been boring, surely.”

  “Oh it was,” Sany sighed. “Yes, you’d think it couldn’t have been, but it was. We stayed at my parents’ kinfolks’ house, we did our business, and we left to come back. Can you imagine? No sight-seeing at all, other than the afternoon my second cousin snuck me and Seb out for a couple of hours, while my parents were busy shopping for some rugs that now take up most of the space in my saddlebags.”

  “So where did your cousin take you on your clandestine tour?” Kati queried, curiously.

  “Oh, we walked down streets filled with shops, and we went down to the port and looked at the ships. She took us down the street that’s got all the Madames’ Houses, brothels, I think they’re called. We looked at restaurants and alehouses, but we didn’t dare go into any since we had no money and not much time. It was interesting, yes, but it was over almost before we started, we had so little time. Someday I’m going to go back, and I’m going to stay there. I’ll find a job, and stay there, and lead an interesting city life.” She sounded animated.

  “Trouble is,” she added, “that I can’t really talk about it with anyone. Not much even with Seb, because if our parents hear us talking about something excitedly, they’ll want to know what’s up. And naturally we can’t let them know, since we left the house without permission.

  “I wish they didn’t try to keep us so ignorant about the world. I want to have a life.”

  “The trouble with being a parent,” Kati said softly, “is that you want to keep your children safe, and with you.”

  “But I don’t want to be safe,” Sany protested, “and I am going to leave home as soon as I’m old enough to do so.”

  “Yeah, I know it doesn’t work,” Kati agreed, her tone still soft. “However, the impulse is there, and I can understand it because I’m a parent. It’s hard to lose a child, Sany, no matter that, eventually, a parent always has to let the children go.”

  “But you’re awfully lucky. You get to wander, oh I don’t have any idea where, and have adventures galore. You’re going to be in the middle of this one,” Sany whispered intently.

  “Yeah, Sany, I get to be tied up and gagged, and wait for rescue. I could easily pass up on it, except that it’s better that I’m doing it instead of Chrys.”

  “My parents can’t understand how you can be so kind and helpful to Chrys. After all, she’s just a whore.”

  Kati gritted her teeth. Sany was a mixed bundle of rebellion, and attitudes internalized from her parents. That, on top of her bubbly, pleasant personality. She was going to have a confused life until she sorted out her mess of viewpoints.

  “Chrys is a human being just like you are, just like your parents are,” she said shortly.

  Sany was quiet for a few moments. Kati let her think her thoughts without trying to influence her any more. Instead she dug inwards, asking the granda if it was yet time for her to get up.

  “You have a little more time,” was the node’s response. “I’ll let you know when you have to get moving.”

  “I think you’re probably right,” Sany said finally. “I guess I should try to think of every person as deserving of respect. Does that include those guys who are coming after her, and will be tying you up and gagging you?”

  Kati burst into low giggles.

  “That’s good, Sany,” she whispered between the cackles. “You caught me fair and square! Actually I do think the desert louts deserve the respect due to every human being, oh yes! But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to defend myself against them, when they trample on my rights—or Chrys’ rights for that matter.”

  “Why do you call them louts? That doesn’t sound very nice,” Sany wanted to know.

  “Oh, I happen to think that kidnapping women, whatever their profession, is terribly loutish behaviour. I’d call them gentlemen if they were planning to act like such.”

  “All right, Kati. I promise to stay alert every night for as long as is necessary.” Sany started crawling out of the tent. “I think I better go and start my morning chores. My mom’ll be up in a minute.”

  She left the tent, leaving the entrance lacings hanging loose. That made sense; Kati, too, had to get up in moments.

  “I do think that the mother and daughte
r have mental contact of some kind,” she muttered to herself. “How else could she have known so precisely that her mother was about to get up?”

  *****

  The Caravan reached GreenWater without incident. No-one slept much the last night on the trail. Chrys told Kati in the morning that Mikal had spent part of the night outside prowling.

  “I don’t think he could sleep,” she sighed. “I think he’s used to having you in the tent, with him and Jocan, and I make him uneasy.”

  “I think he’s just tense, worrying about when the louts are going to show up,” Kati responded. “We all are. He slept okay the night before, didn’t he?”

  “I guess. I slept well then, so I don’t know how anyone else slept.”

  GreenWater had an Inn and Kati, Mikal and Jocan decided to take advantage of it. They engaged two rooms with two beds, and Kati invited Chrys to spend the night with her. It meant that Taxom would have to forgo Chrys’ earnings for the night, since Kati was not about to sanction that sort of business in her room, but under the circumstances Taxom did not argue. Instead, he went with Yarm to find a Town Elder, who might be able to pass the word around that Taxom was willing to provide the men of MuddyWater and YellowWater with a few freebies the next time they were in GrassWater, if only they would leave his prized nightlady alone while she was travelling. Matto, Cay and Jess promised to spread the same word at the local alehouse that evening; not getting much sleep the previous night did not seem to affect their desire, or ability, to drink beer.

  It was already past the supper hour when Mikal and Kati registered their foursome at the GreenWater Inn, and Kati and Chrys rushed off to the bathing facilities and to drop off their laundry as soon as they got in. After washing they met Mikal and Jocan, also clean from a trip to the baths, and the four ate a quick supper at the Inn restaurant. The only one of them with the energy to go and meet Matto, Cay and Jess at the alehouse was Jocan; he did that while the other three returned to their rooms to crawl into their beds.

  The next morning when they met at the GreenWater campground Matto, Cay, Jess and Jocan were bleary-eyed, but everyone else appeared well-slept. Taxom and Yarm reported that both of them had woken up before sunrise to sounds of people tramping through the campground, but neither of them had investigated the noise, since it had not lasted long enough for either one to shake himself fully awake. They did not know if it had anything to do with the trouble that they were expecting.

  “If those were our louts,” Yarm said as he got his Narra ready to be ridden, “I certainly hope that they hear about Taxom’s offer, and decide to take it, instead of pursuing this idiocy.”

  Matto, Cay and Jess had, after their evening at the alehouse, slept through any noise there had been, and likely would have slept through much more. Rober, Kaina, Seb and Sany had bunked with local friends, once again, and had not been around to hear anything.

  “So nothing’s been resolved,” Kati muttered to Mikal as she nuzzled Ceta before climbing up on her back for the first leg of the day’s ride.

  “Well, either things happen tonight—or they don’t,” Mikal responded. “Whichever it is, it’ll all be over by sometime tomorrow.”

  “At least we were able to get a good night’s sleep last night,” Kati sighed. “That helps a lot.”

  Mikal winked at her and glanced at Jocan.

  “You lucky woman,” he said. “You weren’t woken up by a drunkard crashing into your room in the wee hours, like I was.”

  “I didn’t crash in,” protested Jocan, “and I certainly wasn’t drunk. You may be right about the late hour, however.”

  “Hey, Matto,” Mikal shouted behind them, “was Jocan drunk last night when you guys left the Alehouse? He claims that he wasn’t.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Matto called back. “I was too drunk to tell! And don’t yell at me; my head’s hurting something awful!”

  There was a general burst of laughter as they departed the campground, and Kati was glad that she had been tired enough to have wanted to sleep, instead of joining the young lads in the tavern. Even though the granda could do a lot with her physical self—something she was discovering bit by bit—there were times when relying on it was just foolish. Last evening she had had a choice but the coming night she would likely have no choice but to count on the granda to keep her body alert for action.

  She tried to keep her anxieties at bay by joking and laughing with whoever was in the mood to share jests. The first break she razzed Matto, Cay, Jess and Jocan mercilessly about their hangovers, real or imagined. The youths were happy enough to bask in female attention and play along. Mikal watched her thoughtfully but said nothing; she was sure that he could sense the tension growing within her, tightening up her gut, as the day slid by.

  After the morning break Kati ignored Mikal. He, too, was tense; she could sense the tautness in him and she shied away from it, since it increased her own unease. He did not like the fact that she had offered herself as bait for the kidnappers; yet, as she kept telling herself, he had not had an alternative to offer to her plan. He couldn’t think of one, she had told herself again and again, defiantly proud that she was the one who had come up with a workable idea. Even if it put her in the middle of things—or perhaps because it put her in the middle of things. Did she like riding the whirlwind, she asked herself; then decided that this was not the time to ponder a question like that. Maybe some quiet evening in a quiet alehouse she and Mikal could explore the issue—but not now, while she was waiting to ride the said whirlwind.

  During the second rest stop Chrys cornered her as she was leaving the outhouse.

  “Kati, I’m not sure that you should do this thing you’re doing for me,” the blond girl said to her, her lips trembling.

  “Have you got a better idea?” Kati asked, using her usual counter to objections.

  “Well, no,” Chrys whispered. “But it seems really cowardly of me to hide behind your back. Maybe the Children of the Survivors are right and I should accept what’s coming to me. Being what I am, maybe I deserve punishment like that.”

  “Gah!” Kati sputtered! “I don’t believe what I’m hearing! Don’t tell me you’re starting to internalize the Grasslanders’ attitudes! Look, I have some defences against those louts, while you have very few, or none! I have a decent chance of getting through this little adventure unscathed, while you’re bound to get hurt if we let them get hold of you! Don’t go all self-effacing on me, wanting to throw yourself to the wolves! That sort of thing is not pretty, and it’s useless, absolutely useless! No-one ever thanks anyone for being a doormat!”

  “Okay, I’m sorry.” It was a whisper.

  “Gah! Don’t be sorry!”

  Suddenly Kati’s annoyance and frustration melted into laughter. She took hold of the shorter girl’s shoulders and giggled at her uncontrollably. Chrys stared at her in silence, clearly trying to figure out what was going on.

  “Oh dear, the tension is getting to us all,” Kati said at last, when she had gotten her giggles under control. “You do realize that neither of us is behaving normally. You haven’t been much of a doormat the whole time I’ve known you, and believe me, I’m not normally a screaming harridan. I don’t really care how this thing plays out, whether those louts show up or not; I just want it to play out, be over and done with.

  “As Mikal said to me this morning: by some time tomorrow, this will be all over, one way or another. Let’s try to hang in there until then. And stick with the one plan we do have.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Whether it was because they were very quiet, or because Kati finally had fallen into a deep sleep towards the morning, the kidnappers did manage to totally surprise her. The hand over her mouth, the arms and a body squeezing her into the meagre padding on the floor of the tent, shocked her more than she had expected them to; part of that shock had to do with the disturbing familiarity with which the fellow who was attacking her was dealing with her. For one awful moment before she came fully awak
e, she thought that the lout was going to try to rape her then and there, considering the way his hands were exploring her fully-clothed body, but of course he was not that big an idiot. One of his accomplices handed him a gag which he stuffed into her mouth and tied on with a scarf, and moments later he trussed her up with rope, so quickly and efficiently that she could not help but wonder where he had gained his expertise.

  By this time she was alert and tried to relax into her role, although it was hard to keep her bile in check, since the lout dealing with her had no respect for her person, or her privacy. For once, she found herself in accord with the granda’s killer lust; as the man in the tent with her shoved his knee between her thighs, and fondled her breasts, while he ran the rope around her, she desperately wished for a piece out of Guzi and Dakra’s Sickle Island arsenal, so she could have blown him to kingdom come. However, she had volunteered for this role, she reminded herself grimly, and besides, it was time to do her thing with Sany.

  With a supreme effort, she closed her mind to what was going on with, and around, her body, and concentrated on shifting her consciousness out of that body, and into the herder tent which Sany shared with her brother. Sany, too, was fast asleep, but Kati wasted no time or effort worrying about her dreams; instead she gave the girl a determined mental poke.

  “Sany,” she yelled—or at least it felt to her like she was yelling. “Wake up! Wake up right now! I need you in the worst way!”

  “What, What?” The girl physically rolled from her back to her front; her words were a physical mumble.

  Kati reached into Sany’s sleeping mind, and gave it a good shake.