Page 46
She nodded. "There werent so many humans here then, I think. "
"And how long ago was that?"
"I dont know. "
"Years?"
She spoke to Maliki, "I was just a little girl when they put me on the lander. "
"A lucky girl," Maliki replied.
"Oh, I dont know. Id stay here if I could. "
"But you are only a dream. I know. I hope you can manage without my sympathy. "
"Thats wrong, what the Rajan and Cuoio have been saying. " Jahlee leaned forward, as sincere as I have ever seen her. "This is the real us. They talk like were really back on Blue, but thats just the thing you bury. Were here. "
"I believe the last part, girl. "
I had been considering the village, Malikis judgeship of it, and my sons part in it; and I asked, "Are most of you from Trivigaunte? You must be, since you employ its high speech for names and titles. Shauk and Karn must be Trivigaunti names-theyre certainly not names I was familiar with in Viron. Bala is probably a Trivigaunti name as well. "
Maliki nodded. "About two-thirds of us are, and the rest are from all over. Your son from Viron, for example. "
"Hes never seen the city; he was born on Blue. Still, I understand what you mean-hes of Vironese culture. "
"Right. When I first got to Viron, I knew it was going to seem very foreign, but I was surprised at how foreign it was just the same. So many things we took for granted at home nobody had heard of there. Now Sinew seems familiar. I mean besides being a friend, which he is. I spent a few months in Viron once and got to know a few of you. The other foreigners here in Qarya are from cities I never heard of at home. "
Jahlee sighed. "It must be a big whorl, the Long Sun Whorl, Do you think its too far for us, Rajan?"
"I doubt that its nearly as far as the place we visited with the Duko. " I turned back to Maliki. "I want to ask you about your lander and the people who came with you from Trivigaunte; but first, Id like to mention that Patera Quetzal was from this whorl. I know that now. Do you remember Patera Quetzal? He was our Prolocutor. "
"Oh, yes. "
"For years Ive wondered how he reached the Long Sun Whorl. We were told that no landers had left before we got to Mainframe. Were you with us on the airship when we went to Mainframe?"
Smiling, Maliki shook her head.
"That eliminates one of my guesses. I thought you might have been the lieutenant who was in charge of us while we were prisoners. "
Still smiling, she said, "Im older than you think, Calde. "
"Old enough, and wise enough, to tell me how Patera Quetzal reached the Long Sun Whorl from Green?"
She pursed her lips. "Before anybody got here? Youre saying he was an inhumu. "
I nodded.
"That explains a great deal. I never thought of that back then. In fact, I had never heard of them. "
"Neither had I, but I think the inhumi must have been one of the sources for our devil legends. If thats correct, he didnt come to the Long Sun Whorl alone. "
"They can fly through the emptiness between Green and Blue. Did you know that, Calde?"
I nodded again.
"Then they could have flown to the Long Sun Whorl the same way. "
Jahlee said, "Its too far. "
Maliki made a little sound of contempt. "You lived here as a child, so youre an expert. "
"No, Im not. But I know a few simple things and thats one. You asked about this once in Gaon, Rajan, and I told you I didnt know. "
I said, "I remember. "
"And I dont. But I do know this. He didnt fly like the inhumi fly to Blue and back. It cant be done, because no inhumu can do without air for that long. Are you sure no landers left before the time you were talking about?"
I shook my head. "On the contrary. That information was surely incorrect, though I think it was given us then in good faith. "
"Then thats the answer, and why ask us? The landers go down full and come back empty, if people let them. "
Malikis smile grew bitter. "That was my mistake, you see, Calde. "
"Call me Horn, please. "
She ignored it. "We knew that. The men who went on board had no idea, but our goddess had told the Rani. So I went with them, and the generalissimo and I thought I could report back in a year or two. I went as her spy, if you want to put it like that. But I have done my level best for this colony, and the reason I came originally is no great secret anymore. "
"I think Im beginning to understand. You said
Sinew was your general here, the rais-man.
Trivigaunte would never have accepted a male general. Was Bala born there, by the way?"
"With all that yellow hair? Certainly not. Her father was, but her mother was one of the women our men picked up here. "
"I see. "
"What I am about to say is apt to sound conceited, and I hate to sound conceited. " There was no hint of humor in Malikis voice or face. "But a good many landers have landed here, and the colonists in most of them have not done anything like as well. Their men fight the inhumi and their inhumans, and die, and their women scatter. Most die, too, in the jungle. But a few get into other colonies, and that was how it was with Balas mother. We accepted any women we could get in those days. "
"Your lander couldnt return?"
"It could and it did, without me. I should have set a guard on it, but I didnt think it was necessary. Not that we had anyone to spare, anyhow. "
"I have an idea," Jahlee said suddenly. "Youll both think its silly-"
She was interrupted by Bala, who told me, "Your son did everything, Horn. He really is Sinews brother. I knew it as soon as he started working and began talking to them. Hes wonderful, just like my husband. " Hide, coming in behind her, flushed and stared at his boots.
I thanked her, and Jahlee said, "He gets it from you, and thats what you ought to do, too. Talk to them. You want to find out how somebody got up to the Long Sun Whorl from here, and they might know. That was my idea, Rajan. "
"A good one, I believe. May I go into your cellar to speak with them, Bala?"
"I must come with you," Maliki told me. "In the absence of Sinew, I must. Bala ought to come too. "
Jahlee said, "And me. It was my idea. "
Hide coughed, glanced at Bala, and muttered, "Its not very nice down there, Father. I mean we did everything we could, emptied their pots and washed them, but. . . "
"I understand. In Blanko I had some people chained to the wall in a dry sewer. Theyve been freed by this time, I hope. "
"Theres one I sort of think you ought to talk to. "
"The leader?" I asked; and Bala, "The big one?"
Hide shook his head. "The woman. "
Maliki smiled. "Ah!"
"And it might help if we brought her up here. Instead of everybody going down there. Shes real weak, she couldnt do anything, and theres five of us. I dont think she can hardly walk. "
"Im sure youre right. Shes more likely to talk freely when the others cant hear her. Would that be-I wont say agreeable. Permissible, Bala?" I sipped my wine, which was far from good.
"If its all right with Maliki. "
Hide began, "She. . . "
"She what? The prisoner? What were you about to say?"
"Cant we talk someplace else, Father? Just you and me?" He looked significantly at Jahlee and Maliki.
"You recognized her? Who is she?"
He shook his head, and Oreb croaked, "Poor boy!"
"Then she recognized you, or told you something else you dont want the others to hear, although Bala must have heard it already. "
Reluctantly, he nodded.
Maliki said sharply, "Tell us, Bala. This is nonsense, and may be dangerous. Tell me!"
"It really wasnt anything. " Bala sounded apologetic. "It was while he was taking off the bandage on her leg. She said he reminded her of somebody she used to know. "
"Is that all?" Maliki snapped.
Bala
nodded.
Hide muttered wretchedly, "Horn, Father. She said his name was Horn, and I looked kind of like him. "
"Is that all?"
Oreb offered his advice: "No talk!"
"Yeah. I guess Bala didnt hear that last part, she wasnt paying much attention. "
Maliki leveled her forefinger at me. "Your name is Horn. So you say. "
"It is. "
"Your son doesnt resemble you much. "
Hide said, "He looks more like me here than back in camp. "
"No talk!"
Maliki gave Oreb a hard look before turning back to Hide. "His appearance changes from place to place? Is that what you maintain, young man?"
The blood rose in Hides cheeks, and he pointed to Jahlee. "So does she. Ask her!"
Maliki rose. "You people are crazy! Mad, absolutely mad, like Nadar. "
"In that case theres no point in listening to us," I told her. "Lets listen to this woman prisoner instead. She is sane, presumably. "
"Not from the way she fought," Maliki spoke with deep satisfaction. "It was one of the men who surrendered and made her surrender too, when they were cut off and Sinew had fifty all around them. "
I started to say that we owed such a brave woman a hearing, but Maliki interrupted me. "Changing all the time, you claim, like dreams. Do you still maintain that all three of you are just dreams?"
"Where is my sons slug gun?" I asked her. "You took it-very sensibly, I thought-when he went into the cellar among the prisoners. "
She looked around in some confusion.
"You were holding it on your lap, with both your hands on it, clearly afraid that my grandsons would want to play with it. Where is it now?"
"Gun gone!" Oreb announced.
I turned to Hide and Bala. "Bring her up here, please. I want to see her, and it may be important. "
Chapter 25
The God of Blue
Jahlee was gone for two days. She came back tonight and sat at our fire, looking so human that I had to remind myself again and again that she was not. She said, "Arent you going to ask what I want?"
"No. I know what you want, and I cant give it to you. "
"Temporarily, you can. "
"You dont want it temporarily. You want it permanently-something I cant provide. "
"I cant provide what you want either, Calde. "
"Ive asked you not to call me that," I reminded her.
"All right," she said.
"As for what I want, I want to go home. That is all I want, and Im doing it. I want to convene Marrow and the other leaders who sent me out, confess that I failed, tell them how I failed, and give them this to read. Its true, of course, that you cant help me with it; but its equally true that I-I should say we-dont need your help. I only ask that you not hinder us. We have silver and a few cards, and our horses. We-"
She interrupted me. "Horses I cant ride. "
"You cant, but then you dont need to. "
"Id like to ride with you, like I did on Green when we went to see the lander. I was a bad rider, I know. "
"Im a poor rider myself, even though Ive had to ride so much of late. Certainly you were a better one than I expected. "
"Your son, the big one, said we couldnt be ghosts. " She giggled. "Because his horses werent afraid of us. He thought he was making a joke, remember? And I said, oh, horses dont have to be afraid of me. He liked me, he really did. He liked me better than Bala fat. "
I did not reply.
"So if I could ride with you here the way I did there, you could say I was your daughter-in-law, Hides brothers wife. "
"I could. I would not. "
Jahlee seemed not to have heard me. "Ive got enough money to buy a horse. Money is easy for us. For me anyway. Real cards. We like cards, because theyre light. "
"Taking them prevents the landers from returning to the Long Sun Whorl, also. That means fewer prey for you. "
She gave me a tight-lipped smile. "Oh, there are plenty of you. More than enough for me. "
I was busying myself with my pen case, sharpening the little quill I am using. "You dont care about your race. "
"You are my race. You know that, why wont you admit it? Inside, Im one of you. So was everybody who fought for you at Gaon. "
"What about the inhumi who destroyed the Vanished People, Jahlee? Were they human too?"
"They were dead before I was born. "
We sat in silence for a time, listening to the wind in the trees and Hides slow breathing. From time to time he mumbled a word or two indistinctly; perhaps Jahlee could distinguish them or guess the content of his dreams from their tone, but I could not.
"Wheres Oreb?" she said at last.
"Nearby, I imagine. He flew after warning me that you were coming. "
"He doesnt like me. "
I did not reply; or if I did, merely muttered something noncommittal.
"Do you?"
I had never thought about it. After a time I said, "Yes. Ive been wishing you would go. But yes, I do. "
"I drink blood. Human blood, mostly. "
"I know it. So did Krait. "
"We dont kill you, though. At least, not very often. "
I nodded.
"When you were on the river with that little girl from Han, we all said we were going to kill you, that we had to. That was what we had decided. But none of us wanted to, not really. We kept hanging back, each of us hoping somebody else would do it. "
"Were you one of them? Yes, I remember now. There were so many of you-almost all of you had to be there. "
"But you thought I wasnt, because you like me. You hoped I wasnt, really. "
"Also because you didnt try to kill me when we met again. "
She looked pensive. "I kept thinking that youd be killed in the fighting. That way I wouldnt have to. Rajan-?"