The sun had not yet cleared the mists from the Grasslands when Korkungal awoke. He blinked, then rolled out from under Sora’s cloak and scrambled to his feet. The air was cool and fresh; the sky above was unbroken blue. He ran up and down the hollow to warm himself, beating his arms against his sides.
Sora awoke. She shivered, huddling in her cloak. Korkungal encouraged her to run with him, but she declined. She watched him run for a while and then climbed out of the hollow.
She returned not long after, bringing fresh milk and bread. Behind her trotted Uöos, red-eyed and blue with the cold. He slid down the incline and hunkered low.
‘You are leaving the Ka today,’ he said forthrightly to Korkungal. ‘It will be a good day for starting a long journey.’
He eyed Kandrigi’s old cloak, until Korkungal slipped it off his shoulders and gave it to him.
Sora shared out the food and the three of them sat in a circle and ate. When they had finished, Korkungal began to wipe the dew off his weapons. Uöos watched him for a while and then said:
‘Your stay in the Ka was short, Korkungal. And yet it was momentous, was it not? Little did you expect visions and slaughter here, eh? No matter, greater things are to come. I will tell you this in friendship – for whoever Sora loves I must also love: like a rock you are, impervious to water; but when the land twists and tears, the rock will shiver and lie as sand beneath the sea. Do not be frightened of what I say, for all things must come to an end.
‘Now, while you are busy I will take the opportunity to finish my tale. It is not long. You remember how Chorsa and Agnanna decided to share the orchard equally between Asta and the people against Asta’s will. Well, they went ahead and did just that. Asta was furious and threatened all kinds of revenge, but Chorsa easily quietened her by telling her that she would take the people away and so leave her without protection if the giant should return. The people, of course, were happy to get control of part of the orchard. During the years that followed they divided their time between working in Asta’s portion of the orchard and their own. And in time Asta became mollified and reconciled to the arrangement.
‘Now, as time passed Chorsa came to see that she was no longer needed. She was only too glad to get away, for the strain of seeing to the wants of the men and their families had been very great. Agnanna continued to play with the people, delighting in their happiness. But she soon recognised that there was a limit to the happiness and so she began to think of asking Asta to surrender part of her share of the orchard. She mentioned it to the men and they agreed to support her in this demand. Asta was furious and tried to resist, but it was of no use. Agnanna drew a new boundary in the orchard which cut Asta’s share in half. The happiness of the people increased in proportion and Agnanna basked contentedly in the warmth of their joy.
‘This arrangement remained the same for several seasons, when the men spoke among themselves and decided that they should own all the orchard. They said nothing to Agnanna and she knew nothing of the conspiracy until the men rose early one morning and drove Asta away. She cursed them and promised to inflict the most terrible punishment on them for their presumption. They laughed at her and told each other that an old woman could do little against the men who had driven away the giant, a creature she herself had been helpless against.
‘So Asta went and lived on a rocky part of the island, well away from the orchard. Agnanna did not trouble herself about the methods the men had used to get rid of Asta. Why should she when the happiness of the people positively overflowed? However, they came to her one day and told her to leave, explaining that they had need of her no more. Agnanna was heartbroken; even so, she left them. The men organised themselves for the proper government of the orchard. They elected a king and he created nobles, to carry out his commands and see to the welfare of the people generally.
‘Asta, meanwhile, had been brooding away to herself on her rocky patch. She made her plans. One night she crept down to the orchard and set fire to it. The men could not put it out and by morning nothing was left of the apple trees except charred stumps.
‘Afterwards, they called on Chorsa to come and help them. She felt obliged to come; after all, she had introduced them to the island. She showed them how to pick berries and roots, how to fish and search the shore for shellfish. Agnanna returned too, knowing that a little happiness, no matter how hard it is earned, is better than no happiness at all. Asta never returned, and nobody knows what became of her.
Uöos looked up when he had finished and grinned broadly.
‘Do you understand my tale now, Korkungal?’ he asked.
Korkungal continued to wipe his spears as he replied:
‘No, I do not, storyteller. I am a simple warrior. Tell such subtle stories to the priests.’
Korkungal spoke with a public tone; but he also glanced over at Sora.
Uöos noticed both facts. He grinned triumphantly:
‘Ah, but you do, simple warrior. You can’t hide that from me!’
Hepteidon spent his last night in the Ka among the soldiers camped between the corrals and the pond. These were the heavily armed troops who had confronted Korkungal on the previous day. They had not been used to quell the riots in the city during the night: their weapons were not appropriate.
In the morning, military patrols were sent out to locate Korkungal. It was not till noon that the report was brought, that he was in a hollow just outside the city, in the company of an old man and a girl.
Hepteidon took it upon himself to seize Korkungal. He requested and received a troop of the axe-men and he led them out of the city.
Using the old man as an interpreter, he commanded Korkungal to come with him to the beach, where he would embark on the ships sailing north. Korkungal refused and retreated to the far side of the hollow. He crouched behind his shield, one spear stuck in the ground at his back and the other at the ready, and offered battle to anyone who dared. Hepteidon had the axe-men surround the hollow and then ordered them to attack Korkungal from all sides. At the cost of one soldier wounded, not seriously, Korkungal was at length disarmed and subdued. Then Hepteidon had to take personal charge of Korkungal to protect him from the axe-men, who wanted to revenge the death of their comrades.
Before taking Korkungal away, Hepteidon, as though on an afterthought, ordered that the old man and the girl be taken to the ships as well. Korkungal would be more tractable if his woman remained with him. The old man could act as interpreter.
It was early evening before the two ships were finally under way, gliding smoothly out of the bay, their prows turning around the headland to point into the north.
**
The White City is the first volume of the Nothing Darker Than the Light trilogy, which chronicles the struggles of a diverse group as they face the total destruction of their world by a passing heavenly body
The full title list is as follows:
Volume One: The White City
Volume Two: The Land of Fire
Volume Three: The Field of Peace
All these novels are available for download on this site.
This trilogy is part of the opening section of a larger cycle of novels called Dark Liberation. A short Introduction to Dark Liberation is available for download on this site. Most of the novels of this cycle will be published here.
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