Awakening Read online

  The riders’ access was a set of stone steps carved into one side of the wall. The steps went straight down to an arched doorway. A thin rail of wood was set into the wall on the left side, but on the other was only air.

  Jared put a hand on his shoulder, peering over to look down at the serpents in the pool. ‘They’re the size of mar rats from up here. And look – there’s more of them in the walls.’

  Ledges jutted out at staggered intervals all the way down, and resting on some of them were more serpents, dozing in the shafts of sunlight.

  ‘How many are there?’ Jared’s voice was strained.

  ‘Eighty-five live in the Dome,’ Attar answered from the step below. ‘But it can hold more.’

  They stared at him and he grinned.

  ‘Come on, clansmen, it’s a long walk down.’ He turned away, jogging easily down the stairs.

  The steps were thick and wide and two men could have walked abreast, if a little carefully, but they went single file and Tallis kept as close to the wall as possible. They emerged into a dim passageway that curved down away from them, following the line of the wall like a spiralling ramp. Bright yellow oil lamps were set at intervals, and there was a musky dry smell in the air.

  ‘This way,’ Attar said and set off down the passage at a quick pace.

  The floor was swept clean and as they continued down they passed openings in the wall leading to large caverns. Looking through them, Tallis saw the ledges he’d seen from above.

  ‘Those are the serpents’ crells,’ Attar said. ‘Each serpent has its own. Marathin’s is on the seventh level. They use them to rest.’ He swung out a hand indicating one as they passed.

  ‘How do they get in?’ Jared asked.

  ‘Through the opening above. Most riders will go with them, taking the fast trip to the bottom of the Dome, hitching a ride on their beast.’ He turned to them and grinned. ‘But I didn’t think you’d want to do that. It’s a straight dive and if you’re not used to it . . .’ He left the rest to their imagination.

  ‘Might have been worth it to save our legs,’ Jared muttered and Attar grunted a laugh.

  As they descended they passed more crells, some with serpents inside or on the ledges, and through the occasional openings they saw the blur of wings as more serpents dropped down from above. The air was full of the whump of air and screech of talons and the shouts of the riders calling to each other, but they saw few people in the passageways. Occasionally, workers of some kind jogged by carrying a broom, rake or basket, but they barely looked at them, hurrying by to attend to whatever task they had.

  ‘Do you feed the serpents here?’ Tallis asked.

  ‘Yes, but only as an extra to what they hunt for themselves. We give them little luxuries like fruit and grains. Mostly they like to bathe in the hot springs at the bottom of the Dome, just through here.’ He pointed ahead and Tallis saw that the passageway was finally flattening out. A few paces more and they emerged into a vestibule where an archway on the left led to sunlight, while one on the right provided access to the centre of the Dome. Directly across, the passageway continued and started to spiral upward again.

  ‘Through there is the pool and a gathering spot for the beasts.’ Attar pointed into the centre of the Dome. ‘But you can see that later, for now we go to the barracks. Come. We’ll find you a room and some food. I could eat a muthu!’

  Tallis and Jared hesitated, peering into the enormous cavern. Tallis glimpsed riders, serpents, and a tall stone urn alight with flame, but no more as Jared pulled on his arm and hurried him out into the sunlight.

  Squinting, they saw Attar already several paces in front of them, striding away across the grass.

  ‘Come on,’ Jared said and jogging they caught up to him as he hit a wide, red dirt path curving down a gentle incline between sparse trees and shrubs.

  Around them were several riders and ahead they could see Bren talking with another man. The riders sent curious looks their way, but none spoke or approached them. The sun was sinking quickly into the sea, spreading a soft pink light over the trees. It was still very warm though and both Tallis and Jared sweated in the unaccustomed humidity.

  ‘Does it not cool down here at night?’ Jared asked Attar.

  ‘Not much, and this time of year, just before the rains, you’ll sweat plenty, clansman, worse than in your desert.’

  ‘Rains?’ Tallis said.

  Attar grinned. ‘I know water from the sky is pretty unusual where you come from, but here we get buckets of it every year around this time. You’ll see.’ He looked at him sideways. ‘You won’t believe it the first time you see it. Just wait, it’ll run down this path like a river.’

  ‘I always knew wetlander was a good name for you,’ Jared said dryly and Attar laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.

  ‘Don’t worry, clansman, we’ll get some fine Cermezian wine into you and you’ll feel a bit better about us. Now come on, it’s not far now.’

  They walked on and presently rounded a bend in the path and began to descend to an open area and a cluster of long buildings and courtyards. Directly ahead the path opened out, leading to a square surrounded on three sides by long rectangular buildings, and it was there that most of the riders seemed to be heading.

  ‘The riders’ complex,’ Attar said pointing at the buildings. ‘The two closest are where we take our meals, and that building behind,’ he pointed across the square, ‘that’s the kitchens where all the meals come from. Beyond it is the barracks where we ordinary riders sleep. I’ll find you a spot to sleep there.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Jared pointed to a huge, open circular area on their right, surrounded by a low wall. A set of raised benches was situated at one end under a sparse stand of trees.

  ‘The arena,’ Attar said. ‘Every year we have a Freedom Festival and hold trials for Fledgling riders there.’

  ‘Like a test?’

  He nodded, and Tallis wondered if he would be made to do any of those tests.

  They followed him into the paved square. A young girl was lighting torches at the corner as they entered, and he could smell meat cooking somewhere. Groups of riders talking loudly were heading into one of the meals buildings, disappearing through several sets of open doors that stretched the length of the front wall. Attar cut diagonally across the square, heading for the building he’d called a barracks. Tallis and Jared followed, keeping their heads down, and feeling the looks of the other men on them as they passed. They had removed their haldars, but still they must look as foreign as they felt to these wetlanders. There was no disguising the darker colour of their skins, or the hunters’ braids which marked them as clansmen.

  Staying close behind Attar, they entered the barracks and followed him down a wide corridor past many rooms until he stopped at one and bade them wait for him inside.

  ‘Stay here, I won’t be long. I’ll report to my sept leader and see if the Commander wants to talk to you.’

  The room was small, containing nothing but four hard narrow beds, each with a chest at its foot. A small open window was set high in the wall and two oil lamps in small brackets on either side of the door illuminated the room with a soft yellow light. Tallis sat on one of the beds. He was hungry and a dull ache was starting to throb in the back of his skull.

  ‘Is there any water?’ He looked at Jared.

  ‘A little.’ He handed him the skin and he squeezed a few drops of the warm liquid onto his tongue.

  Jared’s face was pinched and dark with worry as he took the water skin back.

  ‘Do you think we shouldn’t have come now?’ Tallis said.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Jared rubbed the spot between his eyes then leaned his elbows on his knees. ‘This place is stranger than I imagined, bigger . . .’ He shrugged. ‘Perhaps the Guides have their reasons.’

  Tallis stared at the floor. They had not spoken of the Guides since leaving the desert. Or what had happened there. Jared was here because of him, because of Karnit’s hatred for
him. Whether the Guides played a part in that or not, he couldn’t help feeling that he deserved to know why they would make Jared suffer as well. He took a breath and clenched his fists. ‘Brother, I can tell you one reason the Guides want me here. It’s because here I am away from their lands and their clans.’

  Jared frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I am not Jalwalah, brother. My mother, you know, is from the Ice Lands, but my father . . . it was not Haldane. She told me she already carried me in her womb when they met. I’m sorry you shed Clan blood for a man who is not even your kind.’ He could hardly look at Jared, but he forced himself to. ‘I’m sorry, brother,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry you have ended up like this because of me, lost to Clan.’

  Jared’s face was like stone. ‘I see now why Karnit hated you,’ he said. ‘He cannot abide any who are not Clan.’ Then he leaned toward him, his mouth hard. ‘But don’t think to feel sorry for me, brother. The Guides are more knowing than our leader, and I will do what they deem necessary, not what Karnit chooses. I spilled Clan blood for them, because they asked it. And because it was necessary to save you. We are alone now and you are my Clan. We took hunters’ rites together and I will not have you throw that away because of Karnit’s poisonous hate, or accident of birth.’

  Tallis felt shamed. Jared was right. He had put his life in danger to save him. He had outcast himself from the Clan to save him, and in repayment he pitied him and himself. Self-disgust lay bitter on his tongue. He didn’t know what to say. Footsteps sounded and Attar opened the door, followed by a younger man with yellow hair.

  ‘Clansmen . . .’ Attar paused, picking up on the tension in the room. His gaze flicked between them. ‘This is Sept Leader Balkis. He’ll take you to Commander Rorc.’

  The younger man ran a measuring gaze over them. ‘Thank you, Captain. You may go to your meal now.’

  ‘Sir.’ Attar nodded at him; then, flicking a glance at the two of them again, he left, his boot heels clicking on the stone hallway.

  Tallis rose warily. Balkis was as tall as Jared and looked not much older, but it appeared he ranked higher than Attar. A strange thing. In the clans, the older a man became the more he was honoured.

  ‘So, you are the clansmen,’ Balkis said. ‘I have heard some about the clans, but have never yet met anyone from them.’ His gaze fixed on Tallis and he frowned, hesitating a moment before saying, ‘Attar says you have seen these rogue serpents.’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Tallis met his look. There was an arrogant tilt to the man’s head that irritated him and he was looking at him strangely, almost as if with vague recognition.

  Balkis indicated the door. ‘Come, follow me.’

  He left the room, not checking to see if they followed. Tallis exchanged a look with Jared who shrugged and followed the man out of the barracks.

  He led them quickly down the hall, taking a back door and following a path toward a large building. Lamps lined the path, lighting their way through low-lying shrubs, and they entered the building through a set of open double doors going quickly down a tiled passageway. Balkis stopped at a heavy wooden door at the end of the passage, then knocked loudly and pushed it open motioning them in. A dark-haired man standing at a window turned as they entered.

  ‘Commander,’ Balkis addressed him. ‘These are the clansmen.’

  The room was simply furnished with a polished stone table and four stools and a set of shelves on the wall, a thick red rug covered the floor and a damp salty scent wafted in from outside.

  The dark-haired man was a little taller than Tallis, and wide shouldered with a short beard that shadowed his jaw. He wore a jewel-handled hunters knife at his hip and there was a stillness about him that reminded Tallis of a desert cat watching its prey.

  He didn’t smile as he took them in. ‘Welcome to Salmut, please sit.’ He indicated the stools. ‘I assumed you haven’t eaten and have ordered some food. Balkis get them some wine.’

  ‘We’d rather water,’ Tallis said and sat down, Jared following.

  ‘If you like.’ The Commander sat opposite them.

  They sat silently while Balkis filled two glasses with water, and two with wine, and brought them over to the table, taking a seat beside the Commander.

  ‘You are Tallis?’ Rorc looked at him and he nodded. ‘And Jared?’ He picked up his glass and took a sip, regarding them over the rim. ‘You are Jalwalah.’

  It wasn’t a question and Jared’s hand stilled as he reached for his glass. The Commander smiled. ‘You see, there are some who know about the clans even here in Salmut.’ He watched them closely, the light from the lamps a pale glitter in his eyes.

  ‘Wetlanders only think they know things,’ Jared said with hostility and the Commander slid his gaze to him for a moment, before looking back at Tallis. ‘You are far from your Well. Why have you come?’

  Tallis hesitated, thrown by the man’s casual use of a term he thought none but Clan knew. And how had he known they were Jalwalah?

  ‘We came because we were worried for our people,’ he replied uneasily.

  ‘You sought wetlanders’ help to save your people?’

  ‘No, you have sought ours,’ Jared retorted and Tallis sent him a warning glance. They didn’t know enough about this man to antagonise him.

  ‘Well, what have you to tell us then?’ Rorc said. ‘What do you know that can help us defeat these rogue serpents?’

  ‘What has Attar told you?’

  Rorc put his glass down. ‘He tells me he thinks you have the ability to command the serpents, and not just the rogues, but all serpents.’

  Balkis stared at him. ‘But none of us can command them, only the F . . .’

  ‘Balkis!’ Rorc held up a hand, silencing the younger man with a look. ‘Having the ability and being able to wield that ability are two different things.’ He looked at Tallis. ‘Attar told me you did not seem to know how you do it. Is that true?’

  Tallis didn’t answer, looking down at the thick-stemmed glass in his hand, staring through the bubbled pale green at the water.

  ‘Is this ability the reason why you are so far from your Well?’ Rorc said quietly and Tallis’s stomach clenched. He looked up at the dark-haired man. He was watching him so closely, so much like the desert cat. This man seemed to know much about the clans.

  I know what you are. Karnit’s hissing voice ghosted through his mind and he had a sudden sharp vision of his mother’s face, twisted with grief at Haldane’s funeral pyre. His hand tightened on the glass and he made himself relax and let it go before he broke it.

  ‘I came here,’ he said, meeting the Commander’s gaze, ‘to help my people. Both of us did.’ He flicked a glance at Jared and saw him watching, tense as a hawk at prey. ‘And yes, I feel there is something with the serpents, but I don’t know what it is or how to control it, I can’t command them as Attar thinks I can.’

  ‘You feel it?’ Balkis leaned over the table. ‘What do you mean? Don’t they speak to you? Do you hear their voice in your mind?’

  Tallis gave him a silent stare and Rorc put a hand on Balkis’s arm.

  ‘Enough, they have only just arrived and have not eaten. There will be time tomorrow.’

  There was a knock on the door and a voice called out. Balkis rose and let in a slight young woman who quickly deposited plates of roasted meat and vegetables on the table with a basket of bread, then left closing the door quietly behind her.

  ‘Eat,’ Rorc said taking a crust of bread. ‘Tonight you will rest and tomorrow Balkis will show you the rest of the serpent yards. He will take you to a special mid-meal we are having for all the riders and Freelanders. It will give you a chance to meet more of the riders, ask them questions if you like. We will talk more after then, Tallis.’ He took a swallow of wine and turned to Jared.

  ‘So, hunter, how good are you with that knife?’ He pointed at the blade strapped to Jared’s leg. ‘If you’re as good as any clansman we would value your skills here. Tracking and hunting is not a skil
l that comes easily to many city men.’ As Jared cautiously answered him, Tallis ate and watched and began to wonder just where the dark-haired man had come from to know so much about their ways.

  21

  Shaan had overslept. When she awoke, the morning had almost gone and her room was stifling. Sweat coated her naked skin and she pushed the damp sheet off with a grimace. The woman Tuon had taken her to the day before must have given her a sleeping draught, because she barely remembered coming home and could recall no dreams. She had slept soundly all night, and yet still she felt weary. She rose from her bed.

  A full basin of water and a cake of rose oil soap were sitting on the top of her small cupboard. She smiled. Tuon had been in. Careful of her injured hand, she washed off the sweat, closing her eyes and relishing the cool water and the scent of rose. Her hand still throbbed dully, but most of the sting and heat had gone.

  Downstairs, the faint sound of voices came from the bar and, after dressing, she made her way down to the inn’s kitchen. Torg was pulling loaves of bread from the oven. He grunted and handed her a thick slice of fresh bread smeared with butter.

  She asked where Tuon was but he only shrugged. ‘Out.’

  Shaan couldn’t help wondering if she were out working for Commander Rorc.

  ‘You going to the yards today?’ Torg said.

  ‘Mmm,’ she mumbled around a mouthful of bread. ‘I have to serve the mid-meal.’

  ‘You better hurry then, it’s getting close to midday.’

  ‘What?’ She looked outside and realised he was right. Chewing hastily on her chunk of bread, she gulped down some water and hurried out of the inn, her muscles protesting wearily as she broke into a run.

  She made it to the yards with barely a moment to spare and was confused to see more workers than usual streaming between buildings and bustling around carrying trays. She was almost knocked over by a heavily built man as he burst out of the back door of the kitchen carrying a covered tray. He caught her on the shoulder sending her crashing back against the wall. Immediately, she wished she hadn’t come.