by Tim Lebbon
“Who is it?” Noon said.
“Not me,” Beko said.
“But he's like us.” Nomi stepped forward, reached up and touched the wooden face. “Not like the things we saw. He's Noreelan.”
“Maybe there are human tribes up here as well,” Rhiana said.
Nomi stared into the dark eyes. The Serian was right, there could well be humans up here. Someone had written those parchment pages, after all. The humanoid figures they had seen that morning could well be capable of doing so, but there had been something wild about them that gave her doubt. Maybe they couldn't do it now, but what about in the past? A bird flitted by above them, and a shadow at the corner of the statue's mouth twitched.
Nomi blinked. She looked back at the others, then again at the statue.
“What?” Beko said.
Nomi shook her head. “Foolish.”
“What's foolish?”
She shrugged. “I feel like I know this face.” She was hoping they would laugh to diffuse her nervousness, but they looked more serious than ever.
“SO WHAT ABOUT the Sleeping God?” Beko asked. They had left the carving behind, though Nomi could still see it if she looked back. She was glad that its eyes stared northward.
“That would be amazing,” she said. “But even if it does exist, there's more to this place than that.”
“I agree,” Beko said. “Let's leave the myths alone. For all we know, this is a land as large as Noreela.”
Nomi looked to the hills in the distance and the red-tinged trees. “It could be,” she said. “That's what drives me.”
“Scares the piss out of me,” Beko said, but she heard the excitement in his voice, and she was so glad that he was there.
Nomi reached out for his hand. When she turned to speak again, Beko's face exploded and he went down.
She would never remember what she was about to say.
_____
HIS EYE WAS ruptured. Look at me, Nomi wanted to say, but he could not, because his other eye was already swelled shut from the bruising. His cheek and temple were wet with clear fluids and blood, and his left brow looked soft and sunken. He foamed at the mouth. Nomi wiped it away but he kept foaming, starting to shake now, and she could only wince as he squeezed her hand.
Something screeched and clicked, and she recognized those sounds instantly.
They emerged from a clump of bushes to their left, four of them rising on those long, thick legs until Nomi thought they would never stop. They were almost twice her height. They had the faces of people, though their faces were long and oval. And even their bodies, though elongated and impossibly tall, looked human.
But their viciousness and rage were unnatural. They spat and clicked as they came, spinning leather pouches loaded with heavy stones above their heads. One of them released another stone and Noon fell aside just in time. The creatures were fifty steps away.
Rhiana knelt, drew her bow, and fired. An arrow found a home in the lead creature's face and it went down, its screech pained, and painful to hear. The others paused as if amazed, standing like statues as their companion held the arrow with one large hand and scratched at the ground with its other hand and feet.
One of them clicked, the others answered, and they turned their attention back to the Voyagers.
Rhiana fired her last arrow. A creature turned impossibly quickly and the arrow bit through its arm, tip stabbing through its clothes and into its side, drawing a gush of bright red blood.
Rhiana threw her bow aside and drew her sword in one hand, knife in the other.
Noon had found his feet and was also bearing his sword. He swapped a brief glance with Nomi and she saw his fear.
The second shot creature lifted its arm and bit through the arrow's shaft, tugging the split timber through the hole in its wrist and hissing at the pain. It threw the weapon aside. The three started advancing again, more warily now, spreading out and crouching down in predatory stances.
Nomi was amazed at how human they looked, and how wild they obviously were. Their gray hair was tied in intricate braids, and their clothing was not as ragged as she'd first assumed. Some of it bore dyed designs.
Some of these designs reminded her of the images on Ten's parchments.
“Beko?” Nomi said. She looked down at the Serian captain— her lover—and he did not respond. He shook and foamed, blood leaking from his shattered eye socket. She was sure she could see his pulse through the softened patch of skull above his eye.
“How is he?” Rhiana asked without turning around.
“Bad.”
“Draw his sword.”
Nomi complied without question. Rhiana and Noon were no longer able to protect her, as they had to fight for themselves. She drew the sword, surprised at its weight, and crouched before the stricken Serian, facing the advancing creatures, ready to lash out should they come near.
Oh, for Ramus's cursed words right now, she thought.
The tall creature on the left darted for Noon. He feinted with his sword, then flipped out his left hand, launching two throwing stars at its face. One missed, the other sliced across its cheek and ricocheted away. The thing screeched but kept coming, and the spinning pouch went from being a slingshot to a club. It battered at Noon's head and he rolled to one side, striking with his sword and catching the thing across one knee.
The two other creatures launched their slings at Rhiana. She ducked one stone but another hit her on the foot, the impact flipping her over sideways.
Beko, still blinded but obviously not deaf, drew a knife from his belt. Nomi touched his shoulder and squeezed. He could not even sit up.
One creature snapped up another rock and loaded its sling again, swinging it at Rhiana, while the other darted in with hands outstretched. Rhiana rolled and avoided the rock, slashing up and around and catching the creature across the underside of its hand. It screamed, and three fingers flopped down, dangling by shreds of skin. Rhiana stood, and the thing backed away.
Noon screamed. His enemy had one of its big hands wrapped around Noon's face, arm extended to keep Noon's sword away from its body. The Serian swung, but the thing caught his arm and twisted, crushing his hand and forcing him to drop the weapon. It uttered something that may have been a laugh, and Noon's other hand thrust up, the spike of a throwing star protruding between his fingers. It struck the creature's underarm and blood misted the air. Noon drew his hand back to stab again, but before he connected, the thing kicked out with one long leg, heel connecting with Noon's chest.
Nomi heard the appalling crunch of bones, and the Serian flew back several steps before falling into the short grass. She wanted to shout at him to pick up his sword, to watch out, but then she saw the blood bubbles at his mouth and the dreadful wound in his chest, and she knew that he was dead.
“No,” she said, because everything was falling apart. They had overcome the greatest obstacle in Noreela for this? To be slaughtered by these things? “No!” she shouted, standing and hefting the sword.
While Noon's bleeding enemy bent low to sniff at his body, the other two again went for Rhiana. She ducked below one heavy fist and stabbed at the thing's gut, but its reach was too long. The other one struck at her with its ruined hand, screeching as its bloody stumps raked Rhiana across the side of the head, her own involuntary grunt of pain adding to the noise.
Nomi needed to help, but she could not leave Beko's side. Not while he was like this.
The thing that had killed Noon turned to look at her.
She stood and hefted the sword, and suddenly its weight was a comfort. It would give momentum to a swing and power to a thrust, and she stood astride Beko, ready to fight.
Rhiana shouted in rage. One of her attackers had entangled its fingers in her weapon belt, and as she swung her sword the other grabbed her arm and twisted. Her shout turned to a scream, but even above that Nomi could hear the bones breaking and her arm crunching from its socket.
The things kicked Rhiana to the ground and st
ood back as she tried to sit up. She managed to turn and look at Nomi, then her skin grew shockingly pale and she passed out.
“Piss on you,” Nomi said. “All of you.”
The three of them advanced slowly. They knew they had won, so they were taking their time, and Nomi wondered whether they would play with her before delivering the final blow.
“Like your dress,” she said to one of the things. Maybe it was female, maybe not; she really couldn't tell. It blinked at her, and for a beat she wondered if it understood. But they came on without pause. There was no sense of hope in their expressions, and absolutely nothing human in their eyes.
They struck the sword from her hands and a heavy fist hit her in the chest, driving her away from Beko. One of them stepped over the shivering Serian and kicked Nomi, sending her rolling even farther away. Then it squatted beside her. She could smell it, rank and sweet. It panted and spat as it stared at her. She tried not to meet its gaze.
The other two prodded and sniffed at Beko. Obviously satisfied that he was not a threat, they too squatted, and then the three things began to click in that strange language Nomi had heard earlier.
She blinked slowly, trying not to see the way Beko's chest was moving slower and slower. Blood still pulsed from his eyes and depressed skull. His left hand shook, still holding the small knife he had drawn. They had not even bothered to disarm him.
The clicking stopped and the creature squatting beside her suddenly reached out, forced both arms above her head with one hand and squeezed her breasts with the other. She cried out, cursing herself for showing the pain. It blinked at her, mouth working as if chewing the air. Then it bent low and sniffed at her chest, stomach and groin. She struggled, trying to kick out, but it had already let go and moved back. It clicked a few times, staring at her for a beat more before turning around.
One of the other things was performing the same strange examination on Rhiana. She spat and cursed, kicked and writhed, but the thing merely flicked her flapping arm and she screamed and fainted again.
None of them examined Beko.
Each of the creatures picked up one of the surviving explorers, slung them over a shoulder and started walking.
THEIR CAPTORS DID not tire. They marched northward, their long legs covering the ground faster than a human could run. If Nomi turned her head left, she could see Beko, bouncing on the shoulder of the thing carrying him, dripping blood. The other way, and Rhiana hissed and groaned as her dislocated and snapped arm banged against her bearer's back.
It was not long before Nomi could see the blankness of cloud cover beyond the edge of the Great Divide.
The things paused then, and the one carrying Beko dropped him heavily to the ground, cupped its hands around its mouth and bellowed. Nomi cringed against the noise.
“Beko,” she said, and the creature holding her pinched her leg so hard that she felt the skin rip. She bit her lower lip, breaking the skin there as well but holding in her scream.
She looked at Rhiana. The battered Serian was staring at her, and her expression was shocking, because it lacked any trace of hope. Nomi wondered whether she looked the same. She shook her head, but Rhiana closed her eyes.
A call came from the distance and their three captors clicked and clacked. One of them coughed what could have been a chuckle, and Nomi's fear was suddenly boosted. These were far more than the wild things she had taken them for.
She heard something approaching from the distance. When she saw movement, she was confused to begin with, but then the clicking sounds came in closer, and scores of the things were pouring over a small hill to the east. They spread out and advanced, and as they came she viewed them upside down. They were attired similarly to her captors and wore their hair in the same manner.
What is this? she thought. A sacrifice? A meal?
“Rhiana,” she said, “we can't just let this—” The thing squeezed her leg again, fingers sliding into the gash it had already made. Nomi screamed. “Piss on you, shit on you, fuck fuck fuck! Rhiana, we can't just be still and quit!” The thing moved its hand up her leg to the knee and started squeezing there, but one of its companions clicked quietly and it stopped.
The other creatures arrived and formed a rough half-circle about the captives. There were fifty of them, maybe more. They seemed excited, fidgeting and shouldering one another out of the way, but then they fell silent, eyes darting from one prisoner to the next.
Beko groaned. The thing picked him up again, holding him before it like a babe in arms. It muttered that strange language, and coughs of laughter rumbled through the crowd.
Then it started walking toward the cliff.
“No,” Nomi said. The thing holding her turned to let her see. This time it seemed unconcerned at her talking. “Beko!” she called. “Beko, fight!” But all the fight had bled from him.
The creature reached the edge of the cliff and threw him. Hanging upside down, the grass above Nomi and the sky below, it looked as though he rose into the ground.
She did not scream or shout, rage or cry. It was useless. She closed her eyes, and thought of Beko falling, and with every heartbeat she hoped that he was dead already. Three miles, they had said. We climbed three miles.
By the time they did the same to Rhiana, Nomi found it in herself to cry.
Chapter 18
WITH A WHOLE new world before him, Ramus could only rest. His muscles would allow little else. His body betrayed him, and when he closed his eyes he felt a moment of vertigo, so profound that he thought he'd walked through his exhaustion and tumbled back over the cliff. When he opened his eyes again he was spread-eagled on his front, hands grabbing on to the world.
Something eased the pain. It was inside his head, separate from the illness, and bleeding its agony. Perhaps it was simply elation.
Lulah sat beside him. She was looking away, and he saw several small flies crawling in her beaded hair. He waved at them and she turned, glaring. The stud in her eye patch caught the sun.
“We made it,” he said.
Lulah nodded, her expression softening. “You look ready to drop dead.”
“You don't look much better.”
She began massaging the muscles in his calves and thighs as she scanned their surroundings. “We should find somewhere more sheltered to rest,” she said. “We're high, the air's thin.
Hopefully we'll adjust.”
“Rest? No rest. Get me on my feet.”
“Ramus—”
“I need to see,” he said. “Just a little, maybe. But I need to walk. This is a new place, Lulah. Somewhere unknown. Do you know what that means to a Voyager?”
She actually looked a little hurt. “Of course I do.”
Ramus nodded and held out his hand. Lulah helped him up, and she was still holding his arm as they walked away from the cliff.
DIDN’T YOU GUIDE me here? Ramus thought. Isn't this the place you wanted me to climb? But as ever, his silent entreaties went unanswered.
They walked south, and to begin with Ramus thought they could reach the edge of the plateau and see the other side. But as the breeze grew stronger and whisked away the haze, he saw the first signs of wooded slopes far to the south. This was more than a narrow ridge or a plateau.
His initial idea that he would have to collapse and rest before moving on soon evaporated. His muscles burned, but walking prevented them from cramping. It felt good being able to move without worrying about the wind sweeping him from the cliff face, fingers failing or ledges crumbling beneath his weight. Below him now was the solid immensity of this new place, not the astounding nothingness of the drop.
There were trees and plants he did not know, insects and birds that defied categorizing, and by the time they'd walked a mile in from the cliff, Ramus was convinced that this was a place totally separate from Noreela. For all he knew, it went on for hundreds of miles to the south, and if he kept walking he might find new civilizations and societies, all believing that they existed alone, and all existi
ng with the same introverted outlook as the majority of Noreelans.
What will this do? he wondered. This could change everything.
But much as there was plenty to explore, there was only one thing he had come up here to find.
Didn't you guide me here? he thought, again and again. He issued pleas to the Sleeping God, inviting It into his mind, but Its only response was silence.
“Maybe It's dead,” Ramus muttered, and Lulah turned from where she had walked on ahead.
“No,” she said, misunderstanding. “The whole place is alive. Look!” She pointed at several huge butterflies that had lifted off a hundred steps away, their wings easily as wide as a man's reach, bodies thick as an arm. Lines of bright yellow ants marched past Ramus's feet, a beetle the size of his thumb fought with several tiny serpents and something scurried through the undergrowth, squealing and whistling as it disappeared.
And then in the distance he saw the first square edge, a corner of stone peering above a slight rise in the ground. “There,” he said, pointing. “There . . .” His voice failed him, and he was not sure whether it was the altitude or shock that took it away.
FROM THE TOP of the slope, it was obvious that this place was dead.
It had once been a large settlement, and even from his slightly elevated position, Ramus could not make out its extremes. No building was more than a single story high. They were built mostly of carved square stones, though he could see the remains of a few timber buildings intermingled here and there. Roofs had rotted and fallen in, walls had collapsed and plants obviously held dominion here once more. Walls were covered in swathes of a small-leafed creeper, its stems twisting between stones and forcing cracks through walls. Taller shrubs and trees grew around the village, many of them erupting through buildings, pushing down walls and taking the homes for themselves.