Читать книгу Hidden Enemies - Steve Reilly - Страница 8

“Bhata, this Camille,” Aiyu told his mate. “She come long way. People kill mother. Chase her.”

Bhata waved her huge arm toward the door. “Come eat.” She turned and led Camille into the cottage. It was a well-kept home with a stove to one side and a large table in the middle. A heavy ladder beside the door led up to a loft and she guessed that the sleeping area was up there. This is a doll’s house in reverse, she thought. Everything is too big. “Sit,” Bhata commanded, waving her to the table. Camille was forced to climb like a toddler to get onto the chair while Bhata moved to a covered pot hanging over the kitchen fire and served up three bowls of food. She placed one in front of Camille. “Eat,” she ordered. It contained what appeared to be a vegetable stew. Delicious aromas caused her stomach to rumble. The hot and spicy flavour bit her tongue and she wolfed down the meal, suddenly realizing how hungry she was. She had nearly finished her second bowl when two young auchs catapulted into the room. Aiyu barked at them to slow down but they had come to a halt as soon as they saw the human.

“Camille, this Agort, son of Aiyu, son of Yent, son of Avgar,” he said indicating the first of the children, “and this Paulk, daughter of Bhata, daughter of Mizq, daughter of Draal. Agort, Paulk, this Camille. Now sit eat.” Bhata filled two more bowls while they took their seats.

“Where from?” ventured Agort.

“From lowland,” Aiyu told the children. Agort and Paulk exchanged glances. They were not permitted to go to the lowland. They had been told that it was a place of danger and strange beings. Now one of them sat at their table. Aiyu’s stare warned the children as Bhata asked Camille to tell her story. All four remained silent as Camille remembered that night so long ago and her flight across the country while being chased the entire way. Bhata seemed to take special interest when she told of the raven and how its appearance had saved her from the hunters. When she had finished her tale, Bhata questioned her on everything she could remember of the raven, about the time and nature of its appearance and its every action. Finally Bhata sat back and pronounced with a smile, “Holdbori protect you. Holdbori like you so Bhata like you.”

Now that both her meal and her story were completed Camille excused herself and went out to the porch to enjoy the end of the day. She was joined by Aiyu and Bhata after the children were put to their beds. The stars seemed particularly bright in the clear sky and the sounds of the night helped to put Camille at ease. As they sat there enjoying the stillness of the evening Aiyu asked his mate what she had made of Camille’s story and the appearances of Holdbori but Bhata was forced to admit that she did not know the potent of the signs. “No able read meaning now. Wait and message come clear,” Bhata told them. “I fix bed in kitchen near stove. Camille sleep there. Aiyu and I sleep now.” With that they both rose and went inside, leaving Camille to enjoy a few more minutes of peace under the night sky.

When Camille awoke the next morning the cottage was quiet. The sun streamed through the kitchen window to play on the air in the room. A plate of sliced fruit sat on the table. She picked up a piece of green melon and ate it while looking out the window. She ate some more of the fruit before leaving the house and making her way toward the vegetable plot where Aiyu and Bhata were working in the garden. Before she had walked a dozen paces she heard squeals and the cracking of bushes. Fearing a pack of wild boar charging out of the trees beside her she was on the point of running when she saw Agort and Paulk racing towards her, and coming to a skidding halt. “Come play?” Agort asked. Camille looked across to where Aiyu and Bhata were working before laughing and agreeing. They took her by the hands and ran towards the trees and it took all her effort not be dragged over the ground by her enthusiastic new friends.

No sooner were they in the trees than Paulk called “Wrestle” before leaping on her brother’s back and driving him to the ground. Agort rolled and grabbed his sister, throwing her as far as he could but Paulk jumped to her feet and called to Camille “Come on. Wrestle” before diving and taking Agort’s leg out from under him. Still holding the leg she braced herself and swung, throwing Agort up against a tree with a crunching thud. He bounced back to his feet, shaking his head.

“What is matter?” he called to Camille.

“You’re too good for me,” she laughed. “I don’t know how to wrestle.”

“Not know how to wrestle?” Paulk asked. She stopped and thought. “What we play then?”

Camille thought back to her childhood with her mother. “I’ve never really played,” she said. “There was only ever my mother and me.”

“No wrestle?” asked an astonished Agort. “You play dodge or slapstick?”

“I don’t know what dodge or slapstick is,” confessed Camille.

“Play slapstick,” decided Paulk. “It easy. We show you how.” With that she began to look around under the trees till she found a piece of branch about half her height in length. As she picked it up Agort attacked with a bough of his own. His blow was aimed at Paulk’s ribs but Paulk anticipated the attack and raised her stick in a solid two-handed block before she spun it in a wide arc towards Agort’s head. The mock battle went on with solid attacks being deflected on both sides until Paulk swung a low attack at Agort’s legs. His defensive thrust drove down but at the last moment Paulk twisted her wrists and brought her attack straight up. Agort was taken by surprise and the blow took him across the side of the head. They both immediately stepped back.

“You win today,” conceded Agort, shaking his head. He turned to Camille and invited her to play but she told him that he was too good and would hurt her. “I no hurt you. Come, I teach,” he promised. Agort allowed her to get used to swinging the stick in attack while simply blocking the blows and showed her how to defend and switch her point of attack. After half an hour of being slapped, hit and thumped she called a halt and told them that they could continue without her. She told them she was going to talk with their parents, feeling lucky that she was getting away with only a few bruises.

Agort stood for a moment before yelling “Wrestle” and slamming into Paulk. Camille started to walk back to the garden with the sounds of crashing bodies behind her, but once she was clear of the children she turned away from the cottage. Finding a quiet bend in the river she removed her boots and walked into the cold water, took off her dress and rinsed it as best she could, then scrubbed her body with handfuls of grey sand. The water was icy but after weeks of walking and hiding it felt luxurious to sit and soak in the river, better than any hot bath with scented soap. Feeling cleaner she crawled out onto the bank and lay down to dry in the sun.

She woke later, surprised that she had dozed off, checked her dress to see if it had dried, slipped it over her head and started back. When she reached the cottage she found Aiyu sitting on the porch with Bhata. They were enjoying a cool drink of minted water. Camille smiled and joined them. She had not felt so comfortable for many weeks. They chatted for a time before Aiyu broached the subject of her plight and asked if she wished to stay with them for a while. He told her that there was plenty of space and food and that they would be happy if she were to live with them until Holdbori made his wishes known. She was about to thank them and take up their offer when a raven swooped over the roof and banked, landing on the handrail beside her. All three were stunned into silence. The bird stood looking at Camille. It almost seemed as if the bird were trying to decide if this girl was worth the effort. Having made up its mind, it broke the spell by raising its head and looking towards the mountains, turning back to look back and forth between Aiyu and Camille. It looked back to the mountains again before spreading its midnight-black wings and taking flight in a line directly towards the valley. “Holdbori speak,” Bhata declared. “Message now clear. Holdbori want Aiyu take Camille into mountains. Go see Obiri.”

“What is Obiri?” asked Camille.

“Obiri very wise,” stated Bhata. “Obiri elder of Aiyu clan.” Camille began to object. “Holdbori say, go,” repeated Bhata. She clapped her hands. “Go, Aiyu. Get ready. No time wait.” Aiyu went into the cottage and prepared for the trip while Camille sat dazed by the speed of events over the last few minutes. Just as she had begun to believe she had found peace and a place to stay, she was being swept up again in events seemingly beyond her control, beginning yet another journey.

By midday they were ready to go. “Night very cold in mountains,” Aiyu said. “Take this.” and passed her a rolled pelt to carry on her back. They set off, following the river bank towards the mountains, and by nightfall they had entered the valley. The mountains climbed on either side in steep vertical walls as if hanging from the sky, at the bottom the walls blended into the valley floor in a sweeping arc of rock and loose stones. Small trees and pockets of bush found footholds in the rocky slopes while the lush green lands of the high plains narrowed to a strip of green along the valley floor. Aiyu called a halt to their march and began to prepare for the night. From the sack he carried over his shoulder he pulled fruits and raw vegetables and a large pelt. They ate their meagre meal before Aiyu wrapped himself in his pelt and lay down to sleep. Camille copied him, only then realising how tired she was. She fell into a deep sleep on the rocky ground in moments. Next morning Aiyu woke her before light had entered the valley. Sunrise found them well on their way again.

By the fourth day the valley had climbed higher and grown wider as if spreading itself over the mountains. They had left the trees behind, the bushes became fewer, until even the grasses gave up their battle with the rocky ground. The wind blew constantly in its attempt to stop intruders by cutting them to pieces. Pockets of white began to appear in shaded hollows. “Snow,” Aiyu informed her, picking up a handful. Camille was shivering too much to appreciate her first sight of this strange powder. Aiyu took the sleeping pelt from her back and wrapped it over her shoulders. He showed her how to tie part of it up to form a hood. Camille realised that they had reached the top of the valley. They were walking on an uneven field of black rock scattered with pockets of white and blue. The white she now knew to be snow and the blue patches were hollows filled with water reflecting the clear sky. Ahead lay a field of white glaring in the morning sun. Camille hoped that they would not be going there. The cold had long since numbed her senses but she felt that travelling over the white plain would make the previous hours seem warm. He led her over the land, weaving between the water and snow before stopping at the top of another cliff.

Far below her another river wound its way along the valley floor, coming from somewhere up in the snow and weaving its way down to where it flowed into a deep green lake. Aiyu pointed to a smudge on the valley floor beside the lake. “Konungssonur,” he told her. “Clan city of Aiyu. Obiri live Konungssonur.” Camille tried to make out the details of the smudge without avail. Even though the air was crisp and clear, the city was too far away.

“Path close. Come,” said Aiyu. He had only gone a dozen paces when he stepped off the cliff. Before she had time to scream, his fall was stopped. He called for her to approach and she saw that he stood on a narrow ledge about six feet below the top. She stood trembling, not knowing if from fear or the cold. Surely he did not expect her to climb down the cliff face. “Come. Aiyu help,” he said. Before she could think, he reached across and picked her up, setting her down beside him on the ledge. “Come,” he said and began walking along the narrow shelf. He stopped when he realised that she was not following. “It safe to walk,” he encouraged. Camille looked down over the side of the ledge to the ground far below. “No look, just walk,” Aiyu told her. “Or you want Aiyu to carry?” he asked. Camille thought of lying over Aiyu’s shoulder and looking down to the ground so far below. “No,” she decided. “I’ll walk.”

She started slowly along the ledge, hugging the cliff face as she went. When she reached Aiyu he nodded and continued along the trail. It struck her that they were moving away from Konungssonur and that she could no longer see the lake. At the same time the trail had been dropping away from the cliff top as they walked. After about fifteen minutes Aiyu stopped. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“No wrong. Time to change trail,” he replied, stepping off the edge. This time he disappeared fully from sight. Camille froze. “Come.”

She stepped closer to the edge and looked down. Aiyu stood on another ledge about ten feet below her.

“I can’t get down there,” she told him.

“Jump. I catch you,” he encouraged.

She looked to the valley far below and shook her head. Aiyu reminded her that she had no choice. He could not come back up so she must come down to get off the mountain. She knew that the longer she waited, the harder it would be to step off the ledge so she shut her eyes and stepped out into the air. Aiyu caught her in gentle hands and set her down beside him. “Good,” he said before walking off along the ledge, reversing direction back towards Konungssonur. The trail was barely wide enough for Aiyu to stand on and below was nothing until the rocks at the bottom of the valley. She shut her eyes and, with an effort, tried to control the twisting knots inside her. She finally opened her eyes and with a deep intake of breath she began to walk. Aiyu nodded. Trail by trail they zigzagged their way to the bottom of the cliff until finally they walked out onto the rocky screed slope. Camille looked out across the valley, then up at the cliff standing so tall above her. Her stomach turned at the thought of what she had just done. “Is this the only way to Konungssonur?” she asked, finding it difficult to pronounce the city’s name.

“No,” replied Aiyu. “This is fastest way.”

She spun on the big auch. “Do you mean that we could have come to Konungssonur without climbing down that?” she demanded pointing up at the rock wall.

“Yes,” he answered “but it take two days more walk. Holdbori tell hurry. Say walk this way.” Camille stood silent looking at him, trying to understand. “Damned auch,” she mumbled, finding that she could not be mad at the big man that had done so much to help her. They set up camp for the night on the floor of the valley. She felt much better now that she was no longer shivering. Next morning after a breakfast of fruit and honey, they set out along the river towards the lake. The trees and scrub soon gave way to fields of crops, but something about the scene appeared wrong to her. She was used to the farms being fenced and fields dedicated to one crop. Here she could see no fences and the fields were randomly planted with crops of all types. Tracks seemed to meander aimlessly through a diversity of vegetables and fruit. There were a number of auchs working the fields and as they passed each of them stopped to watch the pair. They had walked for some time before Camille realised there was something else she had not seen. “Where are the farmhouses?” she asked.

“No houses,” Aiyu answered, without breaking stride.

“Then where do the farmers live?” she asked.

“Live Konungssonur,” he told her. “Everyone live Konungssonur.”

“But why not live close to the fields?” she persisted.

Aiyu spoke to her as if explaining the obvious to a small child. “Auchs live in mountains,” he told her. “No much land so no waste. No cover up good ground. Put house on rocky ground. No waste.” She kept her eyes on Aiyu as he led her through the maze of crops. When they reached the outskirts of the city, a smile split Aiyu’s face in half and his arms spread wide to embrace the buildings as he announced, “Konungssonur.”

Camille was amazed by what she saw. There were more buildings here than she could have ever imagined in one place: wooden structures with any number of sides and roofs of shingle, thatch or large wooden slabs, and some buildings that had no regular shape to either walls or roof. There seemed to be no order to their placement, as if some great being had thrown them out. The only things she could see that they had in common were the large doors and oversized shuttered windows. What Camille found most extraordinary was that they all stood on poles driven into the ground. The buildings before her were about ten feet above her and seemed to be interconnected by a maze of galleries and walkways. As she stared Aiyu laughed at her. “Welcome to clan home of Aiyu,” he said.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Come meet Obiri,” he invited as he walked to a nearby ramp leading up to the galleries.

They started to weave their way between the buildings. The galleries seemed very stable until she remembered they were built for auchs. They twisted left and right, crossing narrow bridges and wide boardwalks that lacked order, similar to the buildings and fields. Aiyu led her, always sure in the directions he took. Soon Camille was totally lost. They were passing an area of larger buildings with no windows when Camille called to Aiyu, “How do you know which way to go?”

“I just know,” he answered.

“But how?” she asked again.

Aiyu stopped and thought. “I just know,” he said with a shrug of his enormous shoulders.

He was about to start when Camille pleaded, “Wait. I need a rest.”

Aiyu looked at her. “You want Aiyu carry?” he asked.

“No, I just need a moment.” To give herself more time she asked, “Why don’t these buildings have windows?”

“They store food,” he said. “Auchs store for longnights. No can work on farms in longnights. Snow cover all farms.” Her memories of the snow made her shiver. She asked him why the city was built on poles. His simple response of “snow” still left her confused. By now she had caught her breath and allowed him to lead her further into the city. About twenty minutes later Aiyu stopped in front of a door to a small home. To Camille it appeared no different to any of the other doors they had passed.

“This home of Obiri,” he announced as his fist rattled the massive timber door. Camille heard movement inside before the door opened to reveal an auch of obvious years. He was much larger than Aiyu but the folds of loose blue skin hanging from his body suggested that he had been even larger in his prime years. One eye was clouded over and he walked with the aid of a solid cane. The blue of his skin was mottled with patches of white.

A broad smile lit the old auch’s face. “Aiyu,” he said. “Welcome home.”

Aiyu smiled back. “Good see Obiri again.”