by Gene Wolfe
Page 9
The householder stepped back, evoking a terrified squeal from his wife. He held a candle in one hand and a butcher knife of substantial proportions in the other, and seemed inclined to surrender neither one.
"Thats much better. May the Outsider, Pas, and every other god bless this house. " Smiling, their visitor traced the sign of addition before turning back to Pig and wincing at his first real sight of that exceedingly large face, all dirty rag, straggling hair, and curling black beard. Pig was preparing to enter the house on his knees, ducking under the lintel and working his shoulders through the doorway.
"Were looking for eyes. " It seemed a happy inspiration under the circumstances. "Eyes for my friend here. Do you know of a physician capable of replacing a blind mans eyes?"
"In the city," the householder managed. "In Viron, it might be done. "
It was progress of a sort. "Good. What is his name?"
"I dont know, but-but. . . "
"But they might have someone?"
The householder nodded eagerly.
"I see-though my unfortunate friend does not. We must go to the city in that case. "
The householder nodded again, more eagerly than ever.
"We shall. But we must rest first. " He tried to recall when he had last slept, and failed. "We must find a place to sleep, and beg food-"
Oreb lit on his shoulder. "Fish heads?"
"Something for my bird, at least, and something-Im afraid it will have to be quite a lot-for my friend Pig. Were sorry to have frightened you; but we could hear you inside, and when you wouldnt come to the door it made Pig angry. "
The householder muttered something unintelligible.
"Thank you. Thank you very much. We really do appreciate it. "
Loudly enough to be overheard, the householders wife whispered, ". . . doesnt look like an augur. "
"I am not. Im a layman, just as your husband is, and have a wife of my own at home. Does it bother you that I blessed you? A layman may bless, I assure you; so may a laywoman. "
"Im Hound," the householder said. "My wifes Tansy. " He tried to give his butcher knife to her, and when she would not take it, tossed it onto a chair and offered his hand.
"My own name is Horn. " They shook hands, and Pig extended his, the size of a grocers scoop. "Sorry ter a scared yer. "
"And my bird is-"
"Oreb!"
Tansy smiled, and her smile lit her small, pale face. "Ill get you some soup. "
"You can sleep here," Hound told them. "In the house here, or. . . Would you like to eat out back? Its going to be a little cramped in here. Theres a big tree in back, and theres a table there, and benches. "
There were. Pig sat on the ground, and the other two on the benches Hound had mentioned. "Weve beer. " Hound sounded apologetic. "No wine, Im sorry to say. "
"Hows yer water?"
"Oh, weve a good well. Would you prefer water?"
"Aye. Thank yer. "
Hound, who had just sat down, rose with alacrity. "Horn, what about you? Beer?"
"Water, please. You might bring some sort of small container that Oreb could drink from, too, if it isnt too much trouble. "
Tansy arrived with bulging pockets and a steaming tureen. "I try to keep fire in the stove, you know, so I dont have to lay a new one for every meal. Ill bet your wife does the same thing. "
He nodded. "Youd win that bet. "
"So when we have soup, why not keep it there so it stays warm? That way I can have some hot quickly. It-it really isnt any particular kind of soup, I suppose. Just what Hound and I eat ourselves. Theres beans in it, and potatoes, and carrots for flavor. "
"Guid ter smell hall ther same. Ham, ter. Pig winds hit. "
The tureen received a place of honor in the center of the table next to Hounds candle. Four large bowls clattered down, followed by rattling spoons. "Ill get some bread. Whats her name, Horn?"
He looked up, surprised.
"Your wifes?"
"Oh. Nettle. Her name is Nettle. I dont suppose you knew her as a child? Years ago in the city?"
"No. Its not a common name. I dont think Ive ever known a Nettle. " Tansy backed away, paused for a hurried conversation with her husband at the well, and retreated to her kitchen.
"Shell bring cups or something," Hound explained, setting his water bucket on the table beside the soup tureen, "and beer for me. I hope you dont mind. "
"Not at all. " He paused, trying to collect his thoughts. "May Imight we, I ought to say-begin by telling each other who we are? I realize its not the conventional way to start a conversation; but you see, I need information badly and hope that when the three of you know why I need it as badly as I do, youll be more inclined to give it to me. "
Tansy set a bread board, a big loaf of dark bread, and the butcher knife on the table, and handed pannikins around. "I can tell you who Hound and I are, and I will too, unless he wants to. Shall I?"
"Go ahead," Hound said.
Pig found his pannikin and pushed it across the table. "Better hif yer fill hit fer me. "
"You know our names," Tansy began. "You wanted to know if I knew your wife in the city when I was a little girl, and I didnt. I grew up right here in Endroad. So did Hound. We did live in the city up until about five years ago, though. There wasnt any work out here then. "
Hound said, "There isnt any now, or very little. "
"So we went to the city and worked there till my father passed away, and then my mother wrote and said we could have the shop. " Tansy began ladling out soup.
"Mother lives next door," Hound explained, "thats why it bothered Tansy so much when you said youd kick in her door too. "
"So thats what we do now. Hound goes into the city, mostly, and tries to find things people want that we can buy at a good price, and hes very good at it. Mother and I stay in the store, mostly, and sell the things. We have hammers and nails, we sell a lot of those. And tacks and screws, and then general tinware, and crockery. "
Hound added, "We have drills, planes, and saws, all of which my wife forgot to mention. I did cabinet work before we got the shop. We own our little house. Mother owns her house and the shop. We give her so much each week from what the shop takes in, and she helps Tansy there sometimes. So thats who we are, Horn, unless you want to hear about brothers and sisters. "
He shook his head. "Thank you. By rights, we strangers should have gone first. It was gracious of you to give the example yourselves. " He returned the pannikin, which he had filled with well water. "Here you are, Pig. Its good water, Im sure. When we met, you told me you were journeying west, I believe. "
"Aye. "
He ladled water into his own, then held the ladle so that Oreb could drink from it. "Are you willing to tell us anything more? If you arent, that should be sufficient, surely. "
"Ho, aye. Dinna like ter snivels hall. What yer want ter know?"
Tansy ventured, "What happened to you? How. . . ?"
Pig laughed, a deep booming. "How come yer nae sae big has me? Freaks what Ma said. "
"How you. . . " Tansys voice fell away. "We-wed like to have a child, and I worry, you know, that something might be wrong with it. Not. . . Not that it would grow up big and strong. Id like that. "
Hound said, "Without offense. Could you see, when you were a boy? "
"Ho, aye. Was a troopers hall. Got caught, an they dinna like me. Seen a dagger comin hat me een, an twas ther last. Took me round hafter, honly Pig canna see em nae mair. Heard em, though. Threw things hat me, ter. Twas hin ther light lands, ther mountings. Doon heres flatlands. " Pig spooned up more soup and swallowed noisily. "Yer nae eatin naethin, bucky. Whats wrong wi yer?"
"I-" He picked up his spoon. "Because you would have heard me, I suppose, if I had been-though I try to make as little noise as I can, eating soup. You came here seeking new eyes, Pig?"
"Aye. Yer knows a ther wee folk, bucky?"
"Children, you mean? Or us? We must seem very small in
deed to you. "
"Smallern yer. Hereabout folk dont know such, but hin ther light lands tis different. They comes, an they goes. " Pig held out his hand, scarcely higher than the table. "Little bits a men, an morts small ter them heven. Fore me eens took, they dinna hardly never come. Not manys never seed such hup close, like. Hafter, they come round lots, knowin twas safe wi me, lang has they stayed hout a me reach. "
Pig paused, his big fingers groping his beard. "Theyd nae been afore, maybe. Canna say. Ane name a Flannan come particular hoften. Still nae eatin yer soup, bucky?"
"I suppose Im not especially hungry-" he began.
"Bird eat!"
"Besides, I was listening to you with rapt attention. " He dipped up soup, and sipped. "This was in the mountains, in the light lands, as you call them?"
"Ho, aye. Na braithrean was takin care a me, after em what had me give me hup. Settin Nall ter meself hin ther sun. Settin hon a stone, knew twas hin the sun by the warm a hit hon me clock, an heres Flannan. Hin ther west, he says, they gie new een. Gae ter tother hend a ther sun. Tis Mainframe says hit, Flannan says. What fashes yer, bucky?"
He had dropped his spoon into his bowl, and Tansy asked, "Yes, what is it?"
"I understand! I-what a fool! You talked about little people, Pig, and I ought to have understood you at once. They fly, dont they?"
"Do they fly, bucky? They do. "
"We call them Fliers here," he said, "and I used to know one. The mountains you mentioned, are those the Mountains That Look at Mountains?"
"Aye, bucky, but tis lang hon ther tongue sae Pig says mountings, mostly. "
He spoke to Tansy and Hound. "The Mountains That Look at Mountains surround Mainframe at the East Pole. I went there once. We flew over them. "
Wide-eyed, Tansy asked, "Can you fly, too? Like a Flier?"
"No. I was a-a passenger, I suppose I should say, on the airship of the Rani of Trivigaunte. Auk and Chenille and Nettle and me. And Maytera, too, and Patera Remora. A lot of people. We went to Mainframe and spoke with the dead. I know how that sounds, how incredible. You need not believe me, and I wont blame you in the least if you dont. "
"Bird go!" Oreb declared.
"Will you, good bird?" He fished a slice of celery from his soup and offered it.
"This is. . . " Tansy pushed a lock of her long hair from her eyes. "You really are extraordinary people, Horn. Both of you are. "
"Everyone is an extraordinary person," he told her solemnly. "I havent profited from life as I should. I havent learned very much at all. But I have learned that, a fact I know beyond all doubt and question. Thats something, surely. "
He turned back to Pig. "But you dont want to hear about me, and I certainly dont want to hear about myself. My mind keeps talking to me about myself all the time, and to confess the truth, Im heartily sick of it. This Flier, Flannan-he said that they could give you new eyes at the West Pole? And that Mainframe had told him it was possible?"
"Did he say sae? He did. Soon has hes hoff himself, tis ther road fer Pig. Tis a lang un, though. "
Hound asked, "To the West Pole? Ive never heard of anyone traveling anything like that far. Have you, Horn?"
"No. Its hundreds of leagues, Im sure. If memory serves, Sciathan-that was the Flier I knew-said once that it would take months for a mounted party to reach the East Pole, and I believe were considerably nearer the East Pole than the West. It might easily take Pig years to walk to the West Pole. Or so I would imagine. "
"Tis been a year fer me halready, bucky. " Pig inclined toward him, his great, homely face, banded with its soiled rag and lit from below by the flickering candle, desperate and resolute. "Honly ter me, hif een can be put back there, een can be put back somewhere helse, like Was nae. Sae why nae hask halong yer way?"
"Why not indeed?"
"Gae ter tother hend, though, hif theres nae help fer hit. Yer need nae come wi me, hif yer finds yer hown short a there. "
The man Pig called bucky smiled, sipped his water, and smiled again. "Which brings us to me, Im afraid. Shall I recount my tale?"
Pig grunted, and Hound and Tansy nodded, while Oreb bobbed his approval. "Silk talk!"
"My name is Horn, as you know. I was born in the city; I lived there until the age of fifteen, when a group of us boarded the lander that carried us to Blue, where we founded the town we call New Viron. My wife, Nettle, and I settled outside the town, on Lizard Island. We manufacture paper there and sell it-or we did. " He took another sip of water. "Its so hot here. I had forgotten. "
Hound said, "Lately. Hot summers and short winters. "
"Yes, I remember now. Mainframe is losing control of the sun, and Pas is trying to drive all of you out. "
Tansy nodded. "Thats what the augurs say. "
"Gae hon, bucky. "
"As you wish. New Viron has grown-I wont call it a city, yet that would be only a slight exaggeration. Others have come, of course, and some have joined us, coming to live in New Viron or working land in its territory, or fishing or lumbering. Some have been from Viron itself, some from Limna and the other villages, no doubt including this one, and some from foreign cities. When a group from a foreign city lands, they are not permitted to establish a town of their own where they landed, for reasons that should be apparent. They must either join us in New Viron or leave our territory. Most choose to unite themselves to us. "
Hound said, "I understand. "
"Some are forced to stay and labor for us, Im sorry to say, and are bought and sold like cattle; in any case, they too swell our population. There has been natural increase as well, as one would expect. Nettle and I have three sons, and ours is not considered a large family. Families with eight or ten children are by no means uncommon. "