by Maurice Gee
‘Yes,’ she said.
‘How’d he do it?’
‘I don’t know. Freeman Wells – I think he was the greatest person who ever lived. He wasn’t a scientist, or a magician. He made magic a science and science magic. He saw more than anyone had seen. And understood it.’
‘It didn’ stop ’im gettin’ ’is neck busted,’ Jimmy said.
‘No, it didn’t. He was just human, like you and me. But as well as seeing what had been, and is, he saw what might be. So, in a way, he’s still alive.’
‘Don’t go makin’ too much of him, Susie.’
‘I don’t. He’s done his part. There’s nothing he can do any more. It’s up to us.’
‘Susan, you must tell us,’ Soona said. It was plain she meant her and Aenlocht. The others did not exist for her now. She walked across the room and sat on the couch by the Hotlander boy. He shifted and made room.
‘Yes,’ Susan said. She went into a workroom and came back with a plaited basket, which she put on the table. She opened it and set the lid on one side.
‘There are several things in here. Some I haven’t touched yet. I can only take them out with Soona and Aenlocht. This one though’ – she lifted out a white stone, polished smooth. It filled her palm. Nick saw traceries of blue and silver, like veins of precious metal – ‘this one is for all of us. Freeman Wells made it a long time ago, more than a hundred and thirty turns.’
‘Before the Halfmen?’ Nick whispered.
‘Yes, before that. Do you all know the story of Freeman Wells and Otis Claw? How Otis Claw stole the Halves from the Motherstone and humans became only half. They were good or evil, and evil won. But Freeman Wells took the Halves from Otis Claw. In his hall. And made a dome of light about the Motherstone. What Nick would call a force field. And then his strength was gone. They hunted him. He hid the Halves and came to Earth, and found me. He put the Mark on me – ’ she showed her wrist – ‘and then they captured him, and killed him, the Halfmen. And they found Jimmy and used him to capture me and send me to O.’
‘Yeah,’ Jimmy said, ‘what a bloddy no-hoper I was.’
‘But Nick and I, and Jimmy too, we found the Halves where Freeman Wells had left them, and put them back on the Motherstone – ’
‘It wasn’t that easy,’ Nick said. ‘And it was you.’
‘– and humans were whole again.’
‘Didn’ do no good. They give it all away to them priests.’
‘Yes,’ Susan said, ‘but that’s over.’
‘Tell us what to do,’ Soona said.
‘Freeman Wells will tell you. In the days before the Halfmen, when Otis Claw was Otis Hand and O was happy, Freeman Wells came to Furthermost with Marna, his wife, and they made this house, and Freeman Wells lived here and made – science magic, and magic science.’
‘Tell us.’
‘Yes.’ The eyes of the fishergirl and the Hotlander boy were fixed on her. The Pale One and the Red One, she thought. How clever he was to know, and how right it is. She smiled at them, then looked at the stone. The veins of blue and silver grew bright. ‘Freeman Wells,’ she said, ‘speak again. Let everyone hear.’
For a moment there was silence. Nick seemed to hear the thump of his blood, he heard the sound of Jimmy scratching his jaw, and a soft mew of anticipation from Thief. Then the air in the room began to hum. The voice, when it spoke, did not come from the stone, it came from all around them. It croaked and lurched, like the voice from someone waking from a long sleep.
‘If you hold the stone, you are One who knows, you are the Knower. If you hear my voice, the last days are come.’
‘A cheerful bogger,’ Jimmy said.
The voice grew more even and came with a faint echo in the room. ‘There is no mystery in my knowing. There are ways. And last is a fearful word, but words can change. And times with them. There is a path. It is a hard one. But last can be changed into first, if all is right.’
‘’e takes ’is time gettin’ to the point,’ Jimmy said.
‘Shsh, Jimmy.’
‘Listen! Here is what I have found. The fire that consumes the world. The fire that eats up stone, that swallows O. I have made it – and shall unmake. I shall tear all knowledge of it from my brain, I shall carry all the work of my hands to the deepest place and bury it, and no one will ever find it again. I shall do that. But – what I cannot do is tear it from the brains of those who follow. I cannot. And one day some clever human will find it – and then, be he good or evil, the last days are come.
‘Listen again! Because the fire destroys, humans will destroy. That is their nature – to increase, to dominate, to be master. Destruction follows. In their present shape, that is the law governing Humankind. I see the means to change it, but these are not last days – these days I speak in – and I have not the right. Yours is the right.
‘Listen. I will tell you about the fire …What it touches, it consumes. In itself it is not evil, it is simply fire refined to its purest state. But of its nature it does certain things. I need not tell them. Only this – that when it meets itself it meets a foe, and the foe is equal, and the battle between them never stops until the thing that feeds them is consumed.’
Soona had begun to sway. ‘O feeds them,’ she whispered. Aenlocht locked his hand on hers.
‘Humans control the fire when it is one,’ Freeman Wells went on. ‘They turn it on and off like a tap – even though the smoke of the burning poisons the air, and in time will poison O. But when two meet – and there will be two, where one Weapon is another will follow – and fire fights fire, then they are no longer Humankind’s to control. Humans are nothing. The Weapons have no master, but fight and feed, unstoppable. And did I hear the Pale One say, they feed on O? That is the truth. You have heard old songs and prophecies. O is a cinder, turning in space. The fire has eaten her. All is dead.’
Thief was whimpering softly. He had sunk down by Susan’s legs and lay against them for what comfort he could find. The Varg were moaning. They swayed in unison, in a grieving for their planet, for their kind. Soona wept silently. But Susan stood straight, holding the stone. Her face was pinched and stern.
‘There’s more,’ she said. ‘We’re waiting, Freeman Wells.’
‘That is the first thing,’ said the voice. ‘Now I will tell you a second. I hear the question. You have a question in your minds. Can the makers of this Weapon not be told? The answer is yes. They can be. They must be. They have made it, now they must be told what it is.’
‘Then they’ll stop,’ Nick cried. ‘They’ll destroy it the way you did.’ But as he spoke he remembered Osro, and remembered the fat councillor and the thin one, who controlled Kenno.
‘And then they’ll stop! I hear you say it. I cannot see, I do not know who has come with the Knower, and the Pale One, and the Red One. But I can hear that one cries, “They will stop!” Well … it must be tried. You must go and tell them. Perhaps, perhaps … And it will give you something to keep you busy. Try. And hope. But do not hope too hard. Man is man.’
‘Get to the bloddy point,’ Jimmy snarled. ‘We know we’re ratbags.’
The stone was silent. Then it spoke, the air spoke, in a voice uncompromising, hard – yet grieving too, and mortified. ‘Let me speak about Humankind. About us. We are new. Of all the kinds of O, the thinking kinds – Woodlanders and Stonefolk, Birdfolk and Seafolk, and Varg too – humans are newest. The origins were one, but the ways were many, and the times of starting various. Humans came last – but they made up for it. Theirs was a headlong rush through the tale of kinds. The others – they stopped and rested, they came to places where nature cried, “Enough!” – and there they stayed through millenia, through aeons, and when they were firm in that place, they moved on. And so today they are what they should be – harmonious beings. Not so humans. Not so Humankind. We are discordant. I cannot say what we are. We travelled too fast – we made no rest – gave ourselves no time. The swamp is in us still. The swamp beast overcomes us,
and when we should think we bellow, we strike and tear – and so fall back into that dark place where self is all. And the thinking, loving half can make no sound. Yes, it is there. But cannot speak. For we are out of balance, and the Halves on the Motherstone, equal once, weigh differently. Fault not in their making, but in us.’
The voice said no more for a time, and spoke tiredly when it spoke again. ‘Yes, go and tell them. They must know. There is one who thinks locked in with the swamp beast. Let them confront each other. The chance is worth taking. But now I must speak to those who travel another way. To the Knower, and the Pale One, and the Red One. What I have to say is for them alone. And I promise nothing easy.’
The stone in Susan’s hand seemed to die, the veins of colour went out.
‘’e’s a cheerful sod,’ Jimmy said.
‘He tells the truth.’
‘It ain’t the sort of truth I like ter hear. There’s nothin’ I can get me meathooks on. Fightin’ with bloddy shadders is no fight.’
‘Jimmy, please. Go outside. Nick, you too. I’m sorry, but you heard him. Dawn, you can’t stay. I wish you could. But it’s only for the three of us to hear.’
‘And Thief?’ Nick said.
‘Yes, him. He won’t leave us.’
‘Will you tell us what he says?’
‘If I can.’ She went to the stone wall and put her hands on it and the door swung open. Nick and Jimmy and Dawn and the Varg climbed the stairs to the ante-room. Susan slipped by, with Thief at her side, and opened the door to the island. Nick stopped beside her. ‘How long will you be?’
‘I don’t know. As long as he takes.’
He looked back into the larger room and saw Soona sitting on the couch with Aenlocht. Their hands were still clasped. He felt jealous, and said, ‘I always get left out.’
‘No you don’t, Nick. You brought them here. That was an important thing.’ She put her hand on his arm and Thief growled. ‘You’re making him jealous now. Go on. I’ll tell you what happens – if I can.’
‘Yeah. Good luck.’ He stepped into the open and the door closed with a sleek sound. He could not see the place where the joins were made. The smooth mound rose as high as a house. Dawn and the Varg had climbed to the top and Jimmy was going up, using his axe as a walking stick. Nick scrambled after him.
‘I don’t like it.’
‘Nor do I. But there’s nothin’ ter do.’
‘What do you think he’s telling them?’
‘Somethin’ bloddy dangerous, that’s fer sure.’
They sat down with the bears and the Woodlander girl and the afternoon passed. The islands lay all about, locking Furthermost in. The barge on the beach was clear of the water, but the tide did not rise and fall much here. On the nearest island the Seafolk slept in the sun.
‘How long?’ Nick said.
‘It’s like waitin’ fer a baby ter get born.’
‘Were you ever married, Jimmy?’
‘Yeah, once. Had a good wife. And a kid. But I treated ’em bad. So she up an’ left. Can’t say I blame her. I hope they’re doin’ O.K., wherever they are.’
‘Do you miss Earth?’
Jimmy shrugged. ‘Sometimes. I’d like a jug of beer. An’ a feed of fish an’ chips. I’d like ter have an afternoon at the races. Never had much luck with the gee-gees though.’ He thought a while. ‘No, I don’t miss it. Ole Ben here, he’s the best mate I ever had.’
The Varg nodded wisely.
‘What about you, Dawn? We could use the Shy and get you to Earth.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I cannot run. And outside of Wildwood I would die.’
‘Woodlanders didn’t make the Weapon. Do you hate humans?’
She thought about that and did not answer him directly. ‘Freeman Wells was human. Soona and Aenlocht are human. And Susan, and you, though you come from another world. All I know is – if O dies Humankind have killed her. And if she lives, Humankind save her.’
Nick thought she was being too generous. He lay on the sun-warmed rock and tried to sleep, but his mind would not let him. Down there, in the room of stone, Freeman Wells was telling Susan – the Knower, he thought, with a sneer – and the Pale One, and the Red One, what to do. But he could not be disdainful for long. The importance of it kept on flooding through him. He banged his fist softly on the stone. ‘Hurry up,’ he whispered.
‘Look,’ Dawn said, ‘over there.’ She was pointing eastwards over the islands. He peered but could see nothing. ‘Silverwing and Yellowclaw.’ He made out distant spots on the sky. ‘And two more. Warrior Birds.’
They came in low and fast. Nick and Dawn and Jimmy climbed off the mound and met them on the grass by the beach.
‘Where is Susan?’
‘She’s in the house talking to Freeman Wells.’
‘Listenin’,’Jimmy growled. ‘No one else can get a word in.’
‘We have flown over Osro’s army,’ Yellowclaw said. ‘And these Warriors of Morninghall come from the south. Sundercloud and Snowflier are their names. They have watched Kenno’s army gather. He moves north, Osro south. Each has the Weapon. Osro has it mounted on a sled which Hotlanders pull – ’
‘And the Freemen have theirs on a giant cart,’ Sundercloud said. ‘Oxen pull it. There are five wheels on each side, each as tall as a man. The Weapon is a monstrous machine of wood and iron. It has a snout that spits out yellow fire, straight as a bowstring. They try it on the cliffs and trees and streams. It eats them all. And smoke boils up and poisons the sky.’
‘And the same with Osro. He tries his machine. It melts and boils, devours, and nothing is left. We took boulders, Silverwing and I, and dropped them to smash this evil thing, but he has a roof of iron built over it, sloping steep, and our boulders bounced away and did no harm. We cannot fight it. He turned the snout into the sky and tried to burn us. It moves slowly, otherwise we would not be here.’
‘What can be done?’ Sundercloud said.
‘We must ask Susan.’
‘She’s still inside,’ Nick said. ‘But Freeman Wells told us about the Weapon. If two are made, and they fight, they start a chain reaction that burns up O. It’ll be a cinder. Everything dead. That’s what he said.’
‘And even without that,’ Dawn said, ‘the smoke from one will poison all of O. Nothing will live.’
‘That’s the message,’ Jimmy said. ‘So we better hope the second part sounds good.’
‘But that’s not all,’ Nick cried. ‘I’ve got to talk to Osro and Kenno. He said it was worth trying.’
‘He said it would keep yer busy, that’s what he said. It’s likely ter be the last thing yer ever do. This Osro geezer will see ter that.’
‘I’ve got to try.’
‘How will yer get there?’
‘The Birdfolk will take me. Yellowclaw, you can carry me. I know I’m heavy. But we can make a sling and two of you can lift it.’
‘It can be done. But it will be dangerous. Jimmy’s right. Osro will try to kill you.’
‘An’ maybe Kenno too, if his mates ’ave a say.’
‘Yes,’ Nick said, ‘but all the same … ’
They made their plans. Nick would leave in the morning with the three Warrior Birds. Silverwing would stay with the others as messenger.
‘Now, this sling. There’s plenty of stuff in the house.’
‘How do we get in, knock at the door?’ Jimmy said.
They looked at the mound of stone. As if she had been waiting, Susan walked out. She came alone, leaving the door open. She walked very straight, though her face was stricken with some kind of grief. She had been told; and it had been almost too much for her. Nick saw the effort she made to walk down steadily through the blueberries.
‘Susan? Where’s Thief?’
‘He’s with Soona and Aenlocht. He’s friends with all three of us now.’
‘What happened, Susan?’
‘Freeman Wells told us what to do.’
‘What? What is it?’
‘Where are we going?’
She swayed and he jumped to hold her up. ‘Where, Susan?’
‘To the Motherstone. Me and Soona and Aenlocht. And Thief. To the Motherstone.’
Chapter Nine
Face to Face
The barge was ready and the house was closed. The stone mound grew pink in the dawn light. Jimmy and Dawn were already aboard, and Silverwing turned overhead, with her feathers shining. Aenlocht and Soona came to the beach side by side. The boy moved slowly. Soona helped, an arm about his waist. Her black hair was braided and hung to her waist. They looked like Red Indians, Nick thought. He stepped forward to say goodbye. Aenlocht bared his teeth, he held up his hand with fingers clawed. ‘Stay back, Nick,’ Susan whispered. Soona smiled at him – a tiny smile – and passed on. He wasn’t sure she knew who he was. Jimmy helped them into the barge.
Thief was at Susan’s side. He too bared his teeth when Nick went close.
‘You know where to meet us?’ Susan said.
‘Yes. In two days.’
‘Good luck, Nick.’
‘You don’t think it’ll do any good. None of you do.’
‘He said you had to try.’ She put her hand on his arm and Thief growled.
‘Tell your pet I knew you first.’
‘Don’t be jealous, Nick. When it’s all finished we’ll go home. Just the two of us.’
She went to the barge and climbed in. Thief jumped up beside her, and the Varg, their fur alight with blue and pink, heaved the barge into the open water, where the Seafolk guided it away. Susan did not wave. Jimmy waved. ‘Take it easy, young feller.’
‘I will, Jimmy.’
He watched until the barge went from sight behind an island. Then he walked to the three Warrior Birds at the end of the beach. Yellowclaw had his wings raised to Silverwing, circling over the barge. He sighed and lowered them and turned to Nick. ‘It is always goodbye. And never any certainty of meeting.’