Awakening Page 16

  ‘Believe what you like, but you cannot hide what is plain to all. You are two men alone with one water sac and two knives, one only a hunting knife. Tallis has no pack and there is dried blood on your clothes. You could not be on a hunt, and I don’t believe you are lost so . . .’ he looked at Tallis, ‘what are you then? Men still claimed by a clan would not be travelling like this.’

  For a moment Tallis could not speak. He had underestimated him. Attar had hit at the truth, whether he knew it or not, and when his eyes met Jared’s across the fire he saw his own anger and fear reflected back at him.

  ‘You speak of things you know nothing about,’ he said.

  ‘Do I?’ Attar narrowed his eyes. ‘I think not. I know that the clans would not tolerate a man who could touch a beast’s mind as you can.’

  Tallis’s guts lurched, but he didn’t reply.

  ‘The way you spoke to Marathin, Tallis, you tried to command her. I felt her waver, I felt her fear. You almost overrode her mind.’ Attar leaned toward him. ‘I could not do that. No rider can. We work with the serpents, we make requests, we cannot command them, but you . . .’

  ‘I did nothing,’ Tallis replied, his heart pounding. He glanced at Jared who was staring at them stony faced.

  ‘But you could communicate with the serpents and find out,’ Attar threw back. ‘Marathin knows what you uttered, but she will not tell me. But I think she would tell you.’

  ‘No,’ he said.

  Attar’s eyes narrowed. ‘You say no because you are afraid. Your ability to command the serpents could save lives. You could stop the beasts that are attacking your own people. What if these serpents are not the only ones? What if they are only the first of many? How will we stop them?’

  ‘You say you have a serpent army,’ Tallis replied.

  ‘And what if they turn on us? What happens when more of your people are savaged? When the children of your clans colour the sand red with their blood. Will you still say no then?’

  Shocked, Tallis stared back and didn’t reply, but his anger had started to fade. What would happen if there were more of them? How would the clans fight them? They had only spears, bows and knives, weapons made for hunting and hand fighting.

  His mind churned.

  ‘You could help stop the beasts from killing your people, Tallis. There’s something in you; you know it. Come back to Salmut with me, learn to train the power that’s in your mind.’

  Tallis stared at the warrior, then past him at Jared. His face was hard. He must be thinking about what the Dreamer had said: that they were to go toward the Black Mountains and their destiny would find them there. But what if their journey started here?

  ‘Come back to Salmut with us,’ Attar pressed him. ‘Your knowledge of the rogues would be of great interest to our Commander and there could be a place in the city for both of you.’

  ‘We have no interest in a Wetlander city,’ Jared said flatly.

  ‘How do you know when you have not seen one?’ Attar looked at him. ‘Would you not like to see the great water, the Sergessen Sea, the golden rooftops of the Guardian’s palace? Or the women?’ He smiled, baring white teeth. ‘There are many pleasing women.’

  ‘None as beautiful as clan women,’ Jared replied unsmiling.

  Bren sniffed. ‘That’s a matter of opinion.’

  Jared sent him a hostile stare.

  ‘The offer is open to you.’ Attar sat back, leaning on one elbow again. ‘We will leave for Salmut at dawn, it is your choice clansmen.’

  Tallis looked at Jared. Deep inside he felt the insidious feeling of something drawing him westward. Maybe the Guides had led them to these men on purpose. But could they trust them? Attar was too interested in what he thought he had said to his serpent. He would seek to prise it out of him. And they would have to ride the beasts. The coldness crept its fingers deeper. Uneasiness filled him, but he could not decide what they would do if they did not go. Where were they headed? They had no plan, just the vague guidance of Shila who had told them so little it was like walking through caves in the dark. A spiking pain seared his mind, making him wince. He blinked and rubbed at his temple. He couldn’t make a decision now.

  ‘We will let you know at sunrise,’ he said looking to Jared for agreement.

  After a moment’s hesitation, he gave a nod and Tallis looked back at the men. ‘Can we trust you not to slit our throats while we sleep?’

  Attar grunted a laugh, ‘We’re not Scanorians boy,’ he said.

  Tallis didn’t understand the reference, but believed he spoke the truth. Besides, if he had wanted them dead, he could have killed them already. They lay down with their backs to the fire, using their haldars to cover them against the cold desert night.

  ‘Perhaps in the morning the Guides will give us a sign,’ Jared whispered as they settled down.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Tallis shook his head. It was too hard to think, the pain in his skull was building and he only wanted to escape it if he could. He closed his eyes, trying to shut out his fears. Just before the dark took him, he heard the faint cry of the serpent echo again across the sands.

  18

  Sometime before dawn he opened his eyes to see Jared already awake, sitting up staring out across the desert. The air was cool and still and the sky’s blackness was starting to fade as far off on the eastern horizon a glow of light was beginning to halo the mountains. The two riders were asleep on the other side of the now cold fire, Attar snoring rhythmically. There was no sign of the serpents.

  He sat up and Jared turned to look at him, his eyes still in shadow.

  ‘Have you slept at all?’ he whispered and Jared shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Some.’

  He looked away again. The ache in Tallis’s head had abated, but despite what must have been many hours’ rest, he felt as though he’d barely closed his eyes. He looked out across the shadowed sands and sat silently for a time until Jared said softly, ‘We must make a decision’.

  He nodded, ‘I know.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ Jared whispered, ‘what you did, defying the serpents . . . what if the Wetlander is right? What if you could learn to do more?’

  Tallis stared at him. What was he saying? What he did was wrong, a sickness.

  ‘What I did is not right,’ he whispered roughly. ‘And didn’t Shila tell you the Guides spoke of our future laying east, beyond the Black Mountains?’

  Jared looked down sifting sand through his fingers. ‘Yes. But the dreams of the Guides are not always as clear as they seem. And since we . . .’ he stopped his fist clenching down in the sand, his arm quivering with tension for a brief moment before he let out a breath and lifted his hand. ‘They did not say there would be blood, they did not say . . .’ He shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts. ‘When Shila came to me, she told me the Guides had showed danger for you, a new land, and that I must ensure you survived to see it. And she said a different life would begin for both of us once we crossed the Black Mountains.’ He looked at him. ‘These men could be part of the dream the Guides sent her. Our future could lay beyond the mountains in time, but perhaps not right away. Perhaps the new land is the city of these men and a place we must go before we cross the mountains. The clan deserts are large, hundreds of leagues; how is it that these men have found us now?’

  Tallis wrapped the rough strip of his haldar about his shoulders, suddenly feeling a chill. Was Jared right? Did the Guides still direct them? He felt inside for the surety that the Guides still watched over them, that they cared for two clansmen with blood on their hands, but he felt only coldness right to his bones. ‘I don’t know, earth brother,’ he said. ‘I feel as if I don’t understand anything anymore.’

  Jared was silent for some time before he said, ‘They could help you, Tallis. I know you suffer. Maybe going to the Wetlander city could ease your pain.’

  Tallis looked at him. His earth brother’s face was turned away, his jaw set and Tallis was shamed by how much Jared
had lost, how much he had knowingly given up, to save his life. He owed it to him to listen to his counsel, to take heed. ‘All right,’ he said and Jared nodded once but said nothing more.

  The serpents had come back to camp at sunrise, disturbing the sand as they alighted, and Tallis told Attar then that they would go with them. The rider seemed unsurprised and had readied them all to leave without ceremony.

  He tied rough blankets across the serpents’ backs behind the saddles and fixed leather slings with foot stirrups to stop them slipping. He’d assured them it would hold, but still Tallis’s fingers convulsed on the bar whenever Marathin dipped, and his guts were a hard ball of tension. Even after several hours, it was still hard to believe he was clinging to the back of a serpent as it rode the thermals.

  As Tallis had walked toward Marathin to mount, the beast had looked down at him and he’d felt a jolting connection wrench the base of his spine. An awareness of the serpent had ghosted through him, bitter and unwanted. He’d tasted it, cold and metallic like vaporous blood coating his tongue, drying his spit. And the serpent had known it. Her iridescent eye had fixed on him as he’d climbed her broad back and settled into the harness. And as they’d lifted up in a whirl of dust and beating wing, he thought he’d heard a deep thrumming echo through his mind.

  Still feeling the tightening dread, Tallis looked down at the patterns in the waves of the dunes far below. Long lines of them ran parallel to the horizon and he felt a sudden deep ache inside. He might never see these lands again.

  They flew for two days on over the sands, rising before dawn and only stopping to rest as the sun fell below the horizon. Tallis was amazed at the distance the serpents were able to travel without water.

  At night they lit a small fire and roasted mar rats, if they caught them, and talked little. The serpents would fly off, to Tallis knew not where, and he didn’t ask. He assumed they were hunting. In truth he was glad to have some respite, for always when riding he could feel the steady thrumming of Marathin’s blood. It was unnerving and he didn’t know if he would ever become used to it.

  On the third day, as the burning sun slid into the red sky of sunset, Attar gave a shout and pointed ahead. They’d reached the end of the clan lands. Looking past him, Tallis saw a mass of low ranges before them. The rocky peaks were close. They would most likely reach them before nightfall.

  Clinging to the saddle, he stared at the mass of stone that marked the edge of his known world and felt that familiar tugging deep inside. Perhaps now he would finally discover what it was that drew him westward.

  They landed in a clearing in the lee of a rocky hill several hours after the sun had set. His thighs were aching by the time he slid off Marathin’s back. He had been able to see very little of the landscape as they approached in the gathering dark, but the smell of the earth and very taste of the air was enough to tell him they were far from home. There was more moisture in the air here and a certain sweetness on the breeze, but when he asked what it was, Attar only shrugged. The floor of the clearing was mostly sloping bare ground and rock, but here and there small tufts of shrub grew, most no higher than his ankle. Behind them the dark shadow of the ranges rose to the night sky and when he turned he saw the tall shadows of more rocks.

  Attar called to him to help unsaddle the serpents. They had fallen into the routine now: land, remove the saddles and then make camp. He made his way carefully under Marathin’s neck and around the far side. The heat from her hide warmed his wind-cooled face. She smelled of dust and musky oil. He glanced nervously at the talons on her forelegs as he passed under her neck. She settled down, stretching down on the ground so he could reach the saddle ties.

  The deep thrumming started again deep inside his chest as he touched her. She turned her head, watching him as he worked. He didn’t look at her as he fumbled to undo the straps and toss them back over to Attar.

  ‘How far is it now to the city?’ He heard Jared ask Bren as he helped him remove the saddle from Haraka.

  ‘A few days.’

  ‘We’re on the outer edge of the Pleth Ranges.’ Attar pulled and the saddle slid away from Tallis’s hands. ‘From here we’ll fly down into the valley to the river and then follow the coast to Salmut.’

  ‘Why not fly straight?’ Jared said

  ‘The serpents need water,’ Bren replied and Haraka suddenly let out a loud breath and rose from his haunches.

  ‘They’re hungry. Step back Tallis,’ Attar called, ‘she’s going to rise.’

  But he had already drawn away. He’d felt Marathin’s restlessness before Attar had spoken and he pressed himself back against a boulder at the edge of the clearing. Her eye glinted at him in the dark as she gathered her wings and with a powerful leap, launched into the air. Her wings opened just above his head and he couldn’t breathe for a moment as the force of the wind pressed him back against the rock. Dust and grit swirled and he squinted and held up a hand to protect his face, and then she was gone, a black shadow winging away in the night sky, Haraka following close behind.

  ‘Let’s light a fire.’ Attar began gathering what dry shrubs he could find.

  Dusting himself off, Tallis bent to help. After a search of the area they had a small fire going, the flames glowing within a circle of rocks. Bren set to cooking the last of the dried meat and Tallis sat next to Jared, his back to the hill, looking out past the flames at the darkness.

  ‘Are there many people living near here?’ Jared asked and Attar shook his head, tossing another bit of shrub on the fire.

  ‘Not a lot, a few small villages. There’s Scanorians in these ranges. The people live down in the valley, round the town of Shalnor on the river. Farmers mostly and wine makers.’

  ‘What are Scanorians?’ Tallis said.

  ‘You never heard of them?’ Attar squinted at him, one eyebrow raised. ‘Well no, I guess you wouldn’t. They wouldn’t venture into the desert, too much sunlight for their liking.’ He grunted and turning spat into the dark behind his shoulder. ‘Scanorians are stinkin’ little creatures. Live in the caves underground these ranges and more of ’em live in the Goran Ranges near the Free Lands. They’re small but they’ve got sharp teeth, and skin as black as night and funny webbed feet and they hate us. They come out sometimes and cause trouble for the farmers around here. Steal fruit, fish in the river, and sometimes attack people. Dead scared they are of us riders though.’ He smiled. ‘Run off like a pack of rabbits when they see us coming.’

  ‘Should we keep watch tonight?’ Bren looked up from stirring his pot. ‘They could be around here.’

  ‘Probably are,’ Attar said. ‘But I don’t think they’ll come close. They’d have seen the serpents; they’re more likely to just keep an eye on us and let us alone.’

  ‘Food’s ready,’ Bren said and served the meat into the three bowls.

  Tallis ate his share in silence, his neck prickling, wondering if any little eyes watched them from the darkness and feeling further from his home than he could ever have imagined.

  They rose at dawn after an uneventful night. If there had been Scanorians they had been silent as mist, for Tallis had heard nothing but the sound of the wind. Rising stiffly, he looked around and saw that they were higher up than he’d thought. The clearing sloped away to end at a tumble of reddish-coloured rocks and a long drop. Below and on either side of them were more rocky hills, some covered thickly with greyish-green shrubs, and many with plateaus and sharp drops, as though parts of them had been roughly hacked off with a giant blade. The hills became gradually lower as they continued away from them and beyond was flatter land, dotted with clumps of dark green and a long winding streak of brown that stretched to the purple haze of the horizon.

  ‘I think that’s a river,’ Jared said quietly beside him. Neither of them had ever seen one.

  ‘That’s right.’ Attar strode over to them. ‘The River Pleth, and beyond it is the sea.’ He grinned at them both. Above him, Tallis saw the shapes of the serpents spiralling down. �
�Ready to see the rest of the world clansmen?’ Attar slapped him hard on the back. ‘Let’s go.’ He turned and went to collect his saddle.

  They flew on, passing over the ranges and skimming down into a wide valley over an undulating landscape dotted with tall thin trees. The leaves were clustered together in the top branches like flower heads and the earth was a rich, dark red. Scattered intermittently were small dwellings and patches of earth planted with rows of greenery. But it was the river that held his attention. Never before had he seen a stream of water so wide, or so open to the world. All water in the desert was underground, buried deep in a well, or bubbling up in rare pools in the sand. To see so much water flowing so freely above the earth was astonishing. And it seemed to grow larger as they followed it. Starting as a narrow tributary, the River Pleth grew wider, its banks swelling, until both Marathin and Haraka, end to end, could not have spanned it.

  The water was brown and seemed to move barely at all in some places, while in others, collections of stones and the curve of the land forced it along in a rush of white froth and spit, sometimes trapping branches from the trees on its banks in its flow. For the first time since leaving the desert, Tallis felt a stirring of excitement and wonder. He had never imagined so much difference in the world.

  They stopped once during the day to refill their water sacs from a swift flowing bend in the river. The sun was high in the sky, the afternoon was hot and the four of them shed their clothes to wash off the stink and dust of the journey. Both Jared and Tallis shouted at the unexpected coldness of the water, and Bren found a handful of wild grapes in a nearby copse of shrubs. The skin of the fruit was thick, but the flesh sweet and refreshing compared to the drier berries of the desert.

  They camped for the night further upriver under a belt of trees and, the next morning, as the serpents rose into the air with the men on their backs, Tallis saw a dark smudge of smoke on the horizon.