A Riddle of Green

by Isobelle Carmody

  Little Fur was about to say crossly that she knew very well what she was doing, until it struck her that she knew only that they were to go to the great sea.

  Crow landed and began scolding Little Fur:

  “What you are thinking, going over bridgeness without Crow to flying ahead?”

  Little Fur let him splutter into silence, then told him the new plan and introduced him to Wander. Slightly mollified, Crow flew off, insisting that he must make sure no humans lurked at the other end of the bridge.

  “The bird is bound to you,” observed Wander.

  “We are bound to one another,” Little Fur told him, surprised that he had been able to smell the link between them.

  By the time they reached the other end of the bridge, the sun was shining on them. Little Fur could see through the veils of morning mist that the river’s course was far from straight. “How far must we walk along the bank before the river leaves the city?” she asked Wander.

  “Will you go downstream or upstream?”

  “Downstream,” Little Fur said. “We are going to follow the river to the great sea.”

  “A full day of walking will see you clear of the city, and two days more will get you beyond human farms that surround the city where the river flows,” answered Wander promptly. Then he glanced at the lemmings flowing about the feet of the lemur. “But it is a long, wearisome walk from there to the great sea.”

  Little Fur’s heart sank. “We will have to find somewhere to hide until it is dark again.”

  “If you are in a hurry to get out of the city, you might travel in a road serpent,” suggested Wander. “There is a feeding station not far from here. You could even ride in one all the way to the great sea.”

  “A road serpent!” Little Fur said in astonishment. “But humans ride inside their bellies.”

  “They do, but there are always empty places. I ought to know, for I have traveled in them more than once, sometimes with a human and sometimes alone.”

  “You traveled with humans?” Little Fur said, shocked. Danger, walking on the elf troll’s other side, gave the wander a glare of mistrust.

  “Only with humans who can feel the earth spirit,” he said.

  Little Fur stared at him in disbelief. “I have never heard of a human that could feel the flow of earth magic,” she finally managed to say.

  “Humans do not feel it,” snarled Danger. “How could they?”

  “Well, they don’t feel it all the time, and those that do are always very old or very young,” conceded the wander, but absentmindedly, as if some new question were tugging at him. Then he said, “The road-serpent feeding station is downriver, so you won’t need to make up your mind until you get there. And if you don’t want to go in a road serpent after all, the feeding station will be a good place to hide for the day.”

  As they hurried along the river, keeping to the shadows as much as they could, Danger asked Wander how they could be sure the road serpent they rode in would take them to the great sea.

  “I know from experience which road serpent will go near to the seacoast and slow down enough so you can jump right off,” the wander replied.

  This sounded terribly dangerous, but the wander insisted he had done it before. “You just need to jump when I tell you.”

  Little Fur stared at him in surprise. “You will come with us?”

  “I have no choice, because meeting you and your friends has made me immensely curious,” he said comfortably.

  The sun was high by the time they reached the road-serpent feeding station. Fortunately, the metal web that surrounded it contained no sky-fire, and it was so old and buckled that all of them except Danger could easily creep under it. He simply leaped over it, with Ofred clinging to his back.

  Once they had got past the web and the lines of sheds, they all stopped in awe of the many sleek metal serpents that stood side by side on their rails. Even Ofred seemed to come out of his daze as Little Fur helped him down from Danger’s back, and he gave a soft whimper of fear. Immediately the nearest lemmings responded by moving closer and pressing themselves around him. As ever, he seemed unaware of their attention, though he did sit back on his haunches and begin to chew his paws.

  “The road serpents sleep,” Danger said, but there was a growl in his voice and his fur pricked and gave off sparks.

  “They do not truly sleep or live,” the wander told him. “They are machines made by humans. There are devices in them that force them to go or stop, which humans operate.”

  Crow flapped down to land at the top of a pole and asked crossly, “Why we are coming to this place?”

  Little Fur told him the wander’s suggestion, still trying to take in what the wander had said about the road serpents.

  Crow screeched and ranted until Danger snarled, “I will eat you if you do not be silent!”

  Crow gave him an affronted look and flew off in a huff, muttering that someone had to keep watch for humans, since everyone else was clearly mad or stupid. Little Fur sighed, knowing that he was being difficult partly because his role had been usurped by the wander, and partly because he knew he would not be able to fly fast enough to keep up with a road serpent.

  “I will show you the road serpent that goes toward the great sea,” said the wander. He led Little Fur, Danger, Ofred and the lemmings over several sets of silver rails laid on crushed stone, and around patches where no grass grew. The lemmings gave a wide berth to the rails, and Little Fur knew they could smell the poisons humans used to prevent plants from growing there. She stepped very carefully, having been stung by the poisons before.

  “This is the one we must take,” said Wander as they reached a massive yellow road serpent sleeping upon its rails. He continued along the length of the monster, adding, “This is not a road serpent for carrying humans. Only a few of them go in the very front. The rest of the serpent is filled with boxes and barrels. We have only to find a place that is not full.”

  There were great doors in the side of each section of the road serpent, which made the sections seem less like live beasts and more like human dwellings on wheels. Little Fur and Wander moved along the side of the road serpent, peering into the open doors, but the lemmings, too small to see in, remained clustered about Ofred. Danger drifted in the other direction along the same side of the road serpent, his tail snaking and coiling. It did not take long for the wander to find a section that was more than half empty with its ramp down.

  “We can ride right in here, comfy as fleas on a dog,” Wander said.

  Suddenly they heard a loud yowl and a guttural shriek coming from behind them. Little Fur and the wander hastened back along the side of the train to where the lemmings and Ofred were waiting, all of them gazing in the other direction.

  “Where is Danger?” Little Fur whispered.

  “He went into the shadows there,” said one of the lemmings, pointing at a pool of shadow between two shacks built between the rails.

  Then they heard a shriek of terror, which was abruptly cut off.

  “Troll,” said the wander thoughtfully. “I smell troll.”

  CHAPTER 8

  The Road Serpent

  Danger padded out of the shadows. To Little Fur’s surprise, Sly was with him! Then she saw that they carried a lumpy, unconscious body of a small troll between them.

  “It was following you,” Sly told Little Fur. “I had to hunt slowly, else it would have slipped down a cranny and away.”

  Little Fur looked into the twisted face of the troll, realizing that this was the reason for the purposeful look the two cats had exchanged earlier.

  “You hunted well, Emerald Eye,” said Danger approvingly.

  “We brought it so that you could see it,” Sly told Little Fur. “Now we will kill it.”

  “No!” said Little Fur. One part of her felt so angry at being followed that she wanted to strike out at the troll, but still, she had never hit anything in her life, much less caused death.

  The wander gave a poli
te sort of cough and said, “No goodly thing ever came of killing unless it protected kin or staved off starvation.”

  “I do not think the troll meant to hurt me,” Little Fur said, touching the green stone hanging from her neck. “It was trying to steal this for the Troll King, though I do not know why he would want it so badly.”

  “The troll was ssspying,” Sly hissed angrily. “It heard everything. If you let it live, it will return to the Troll King and tell all!”

  “Tie up troll and leaving it for humans to finding,” Crow advised.

  Little Fur shook her head. “That would be the same as killing it. But it must be held captive until I return from this quest.” She thought for a time. “I have some seeds in my cloak that will make the troll sleep for a day,” she said. “We can carry it into one of these huts, where the smell of human is old. Then Crow must fly back to Tillet and ask her to organize some creatures to fetch the troll back to the wilderness before it wakes up.” Little Fur looked at Crow. “Tell her the troll must not be harmed, but neither must it be allowed to escape. We will let it go after I return.”

  “Crow will not leaving Little Fur,” Crow said stubbornly.

  “Crow, I need you to let Tillet know about the troll. And Sorrow might need your help in finding Nobody,” Little Fur said firmly. “Besides, you must find Ginger and tell him that I have gone away in a road serpent.”

  “Why cannot Sly doing these tellings?” Crow cawed. Little Fur saw the alarm behind his sullenness.

  “I am a hunter, and I do not deliver messages,” Sly said haughtily. “Besides, I have some spying of my own to do. I will go to Underth and find out why the Troll King wants Little Fur’s own special stone.” There was a gleam of wicked daring in her green eye.

  Crow glared. “That being stupidest idea!” he said coldly. He clacked his beak and puffed up his chest as he always did when he was composing a very important message. “Crow will telling all things and doing what is needing to do. But when telling and doing are done, Crow will flying after yellow road serpent.” He gave Wander and Danger each a hard look, as if to make sure they understood that he did not trust them.

  Little Fur gathered Crow into her arms, even though she knew it would upset his dignity, and pressed her face to his sleek blue-black head. She sniffed up the feathery black smell of him before releasing him. He cried, “Nevermore!” and flew up into the sky.

  Little Fur watched until he was gone from sight. Then she turned to Sly. “You must not go to Underth. You told me yourself that the Troll King suspects traitors ever since we escaped from his dungeons.”

  “I am not afraid of the Troll King,” Sly said, her long tail lashing back and forth. There was no use arguing. The black cat stretched languidly, cast one burning look at Danger, and bounded out of sight.

  Sighing, Little Fur dug some seeds from a pocket in her cloak. Both Wander and Danger watched with interest while she ground them between two stones. The lemmings were grazing on weeds and grasses, while Ofred continued to sit, half dozing and muttering to himself, arms outstretched as if to embrace the sunlight.

  Little Fur looked down into the small troll’s face. Then she knelt and began to feed the powder into his wide mouth, rubbing his throat to make him swallow. While touching him, she realized, as she had the one time she had touched a human, that one sleeping creature was much the same as another. If she closed her eyes, she might have been touching a rough place on her own skin, or any animal.

  Little Fur coaxed the powder into the sleeping troll. Then she, Danger and Wander dragged it into a shed that was gray with age and festooned with spiderwebs. Ofred skittered after them to watch. Little Fur was just tucking a handful of valuable web into her cloak when another dreadful shrill scream filled the air.

  Danger and the lemur threw themselves to the ground. Little Fur cringed and clapped her hands over her ears. The wander did not react at all, save to start slightly. There was yet another dreadful scream; then the yellow metal road serpent began to groan and shudder.

  “The road serpent will go soon,” Wander announced cheerfully. “We had better get into it now.”

  “You can swarm up the planks,” Little Fur told the lemmings, but none of them moved. One of the lemmings stepped forward. She wasn’t a teta, for she was too young, but there was an air of certainty about her that belied her small, sleek dark form.

  “Healer, my name is Silk. I must tell you that some of the lemmings will come with you, but many will remain, for the territory of the old clan ended on the other side of the river. Some wish to start a new clan here.”

  “But there are humans here,” Little Fur said.

  “There are humans almost everywhere,” Silk said solemnly. “And where they are not, they will someday go.”

  “The Sett Owl said you ought to follow Ofred to your territory,” Little Fur said, worried for the small creatures, for surely a yard where road serpents slept was not a safe place for a territory.

  “Healer, the Sett Owl said that those who follow the lemur to the end will find a wondrous territory, but not all lemmings desire wondrousness,” Silk said.

  “Will you come?” asked Little Fur curiously.

  “I will follow the lemur to the end,” said Silk; then she bowed and went and tugged at Ofred’s paw, leading him to the place where lemmings were still swarming aboard. Those lemmings staying bowed low to Little Fur and to Ofred, and melted away. Little Fur sighed and went with Wander and Danger to board as well.

  Inside the section, a pile of barrels and boxes was lashed down, with quite a lot of space behind and beside them. Many of the lemmings found nooks and crannies to hide in. The rest, including Silk, made way for the lemur, who curled up to sleep, and then they settled closely around him.

  Little Fur went back to the opening, where Danger and Wander sat, gazing out. The road serpent’s groans and wheezes increased. All at once, Little Fur heard a human voice! Little Fur, Danger, Sly and the unhidden lemmings hastened into the shadows as the voice came closer.

  There was a long rasping sound, followed by a great bang. This sound repeated, and Little Fur realized that the humans were shutting doors in the side of the road serpent. She trembled with indecision, knowing that if they were locked in, they would not be able to jump out when the road serpent reached the great sea.

  Then a human appeared at the opening, lifted the ramp, and slid it into the floor with a bang. At that very moment, the lemur gave a loud moan.

  There was a listening silence and the human clambered inside, giving off a smell of suspicion and aggression as it moved toward them. Danger gave a low, savage growl. The human froze and began to impart the sharp stink of fear. But before it or Danger could do anything, Wander got to his feet and trotted out from behind the pile of boxes toward the human, wagging his tail.

  The human stared at the wander. Little Fur held her breath. All at once the human’s scent changed to surprise and relief, and it bent down and held out its hand. Little Fur watched in amazement as the wander sniffed the human’s hand and then licked it! The human gave a shout of pleased laughter and called out to another human. The new one put its head in the opening. When it saw Wander, it, too, held out its hand for Wander to smell and lick.

  The two humans began to talk earnestly. Little Fur could sense that they were trying to make up their minds what to do about the wander. Their words smelled of kindness and also impatience; then, slowly, came another scent. It was an aroma of calmness, mingled with something like the sweet scent given off by any animal mothering its young. It was coming from the wander. The talk of the humans slowed, then faltered, and then they simply left off stroking him and went on their way, leaving the door open.

  “What did you do to them?” Little Fur asked Wander.

  “I soothed them,” he answered, as if it had been nothing at all.

  The road serpent gave another long, tortured scream. It shuddered and began to move along its rails with a slow clackety-clack. The serpent gathered spe
ed, and the sound went faster, too. The wind blustered through the opening, tangling Little Fur’s hair and making her cloak flutter wildly. Rather than taking shelter, she wrapped her cloak tightly about her and went to sit closer to the opening, staring out at the strange sight of human houses and roads, and at clumps of trees flashing by.

  Soon the road serpent was racing through open country. Little Fur saw human farms surrounded by the maze of fences humans used to mark their territory. Then there were fewer and fewer of these until there was only a vast plain covered in tall grasses that bowed down at their passing. Above this marvelous flat green, the sky arched like an immense blue gourd.

  In the afternoon, the road serpent plunged into a valley where a dark forest grew. Little Fur sniffed with delight at the scents of so many trees, wishing she might commune with them. She felt a movement and turned to see Ofred beside her. She was fearful that he might speak of some dream that had come to him, but he only gazed out, as she was doing.

  After a time, the wander came to sit with Little Fur and Ofred. “The lemmings have told me that you are seeking the earth spirit,” he said.

  “Yes, I have been cut off from the flow of earth magic,” said Little Fur. “The Sett Owl told me that if I would rejoin the flow, I must follow Ofred’s dreams and they would lead me to the source.”

  “The Sett Owl,” murmured Wander slowly, as if he were tasting the flavor of the name. “Do you know, it was the Sett Owl who set me to traveling in the first place. There was a great restlessness of questions in me, and when I heard talk of a seer living in a beaked house, I went and made my offering. The Sett Owl said there was no cure for such curiosity. Indeed, she seemed to think it a gift rather than a burden. She said that I ought to try wandering while I wondered, because at least that would use up the restlessness. I have been wandering and wondering ever since.” He was silent for a while; then he glanced at Ofred, who had fallen into a doze again.