The Standing Dead sdotc-2

by Ricardo Pinto

  'I am to command the right.'

  Fern gave a grim nod. 'I'll fight beside you?'

  The offer revived him. 'Like we did against the Bluedancing.'

  Their eyes met and Fern twitched a smile.

  They were riding side by side when they saw the ground before them fall away.

  'A cliff?' asked Fern, startled.

  The gulf opening up before them caused their aquar to flare their eye-plumes in alarm. Carnelian gaped at the opposite green cliff and, far below, the shimmer of water.

  'A river?' cried Fern, amazed.

  'You didn't know it was here?'

  Fern turned, his mouth still hanging open. 'We knew the lands of the Manila lay somewhere in the south.'

  'But this is so close to the Koppie.'

  This land is waterless, shunned by saurians, besides, we have always feared the Manila.'

  Fern looked down into the chasm. 'Do you think they live down there?'

  Carnelian narrowed his eyes. The river traced a narrow ribbon down in the chasm floor, reminding him of the Cloaca that came out of the crater of Osrakum and ran in the Canyon of the Three Gates. The chasm was all barren sand and rock.

  'Perhaps further downstream,' he muttered.

  'We're holding the line back,' said Fern.

  Carnelian turned from the chasm and saw the battle-line was tearing apart as he and Fern anchored its end.

  'Come on,' he said, and together they rode upstream along the chasm edge to pull the battleline taut.

  Carnelian's head lolled. He felt sick from the long, churning anticipation of battle. The slow uneven judder of his aquar's stride betrayed how much she was suffering from the heat. The shadows of the baobabs had grown long as they rode along the chasm edge.

  A whisper like the distant sea jerked his head up. The windings of his uba gave him a narrow window into the outer world. He was startled to see the wall of the Backbone rising before him. Its black rock ran unbroken to the chasm edge, dipped into it, then rose again upon the other side. Where it dipped, it formed the threshold to a wide and shallow valley that brought the river from the east in many channels. These braided into two feathery falls that had gouged into the Backbone, leaving a single buttress and island between them. This island tottering on the edge of the chasm was clothed by a dense grove of trees. Of an army of Marula, there was no sign.

  The baobabs here were not as lofty as before. What they had lost in height they made up for in girth. Some particularly massive specimens squatted upon a knoll which lay beneath the frowning Backbone cliff.

  At the edge of his vision, Carnelian registered the line of aquar buckling. Turning, he watched Osidian with Morunasa and Krow riding towards the knoll. He saw no further need to keep his station.

  'No battle then,' said Fern expressing the general relief.

  Carnelian looked to where Osidian was climbing the knoll.

  'You follow him,' said Fern. 'I'd better stay with the men.'

  Carnelian thanked him and coaxed his aquar towards the knoll. As they wound up its slope, the shade from the baobabs revived her a little. Breaching a ring of them that crowned the summit, Carnelian smelled charcoal and saw the trunks were fire-blackened. Round their roots the earth was littered with burnt wood. Morunasa was peering up at the baobabs and Carnelian saw openings high in the trunks.

  'Where are the Manila we were meant to fight?' Carnelian asked.

  Morunasa glanced at him, irritated. 'Manila? Pygmies.'

  Carnelian was startled. Pygmies? He looked around uneasily, fearful of why Osidian had brought them there with a lie.

  The Master was peering among the trees. 'Could they be hiding?'

  The Maruli raised his head and his nostrils distended. He shook his head and frowned. 'I can smell nothing but the burning.'

  'Perhaps they tried to set these trees alight before they fled.'

  Morunasa shook his head. They worship baobabs, which is why we used these,' he indicated the charred trees, 'as fernroot granaries.'

  Osidian let his aquar wander as he leaned over the edge of his saddle-chair examining the ground. Morunasa straightened in his chair and made his aquar turn slowly on the spot, searching for something.

  'It seems your problem, Maruli, has solved itself,' said Osidian.

  Morunasa continued to search as if he had not heard. Krow was watching the man through slitted eyes, perhaps considering that he was the only Manila left to kill.

  'Come,' Osidian said with an edge in his voice, 'fulfil the oath you made to me.'

  For a moment Morunasa regarded him with a look of barely suppressed rage, then, frowning, he led them down from the knoll. When they reached the edge of the chasm, the Maruli sat, motionless, gazing at the waterfalls. He waited until Osidian was at his side before he announced: 'Behold the Voice of God.'

  Emotion snagged Morunasa's voice and Carnelian was close enough to see the light of reverence in his amber eyes.

  'At the moment our Lord whispers,' Morunasa said without turning, 'but soon enough you'll hear Him roar.'

  Something in his tone sent a shiver down Carnelian's spine.

  Morunasa turned to Osidian with a fierce intensity. 'We must cross immediately to the Isle.' 'What isle?' asked Krow.

  The Maruli looked at the youth in irritation. His ashy finger pointed to the tree-capped rock which Carnelian could now see stretched upstream above the level of the waterfalls to split the river and its many streams in two.

  'Can't you see it there before your eyes?' Morunasa gave the youth a feral grin. 'Pray, boy, you never have cause to see it closer.'

  Krow's failure to control his unease turned to anger. He looked to Osidian for support, but the Master, unaware, was gazing at the island. The youth ducked his head so that his uba fell over his face.

  'First the other place, Maruli,' Osidian said and, for a moment, Carnelian thought Morunasa was about to erupt but again he brought his fury under control.

  'As the Master wishes, so shall it be done.'

  Carnelian recognized the traditional invocation of a legionary auxiliary but was more concerned by what Osidian might have meant by the 'other place'. He had not forgotten that Osidian had deceived them all.

  Morunasa dismounted and the others copied him. He leaned over the edge.

  'See, the pygmies cut the Ladder as I described.'

  Perhaps a quarter of the way down the chasm wall Carnelian could see a mess of ropes.

  'From here, the cables could be drawn up,' said Osidian.

  The land of the Marula lies down there, doesn't it?' asked Carnelian.

  Osidian looked at him. They call it the Lower Reach.'

  So that was it. This ladder was the only way up.'

  Morunasa glowered at him. 'Long ago we had every foothold smoothed away.'

  He turned to Osidian. 'New rope might need to be woven from baobab bark.'

  Krow touched Carnelian's arm to get his attention. 'Why would the Master want to repair this ladder?' he mouthed.

  Carnelian shook his head. He could not see how such a policy would do anything but increase the Marula threat.

  Turning his back on the falls, Morunasa led them along the cliff to where two cables, coming up over the edge, wrapped themselves in a girdle around the trunk of a massive baobab. As the Maruli ducked under the nearest rope, Carnelian followed him with the others. Standing with the cables on either side, he peered over the edge and saw they plunged down the rock and, between them, strands were woven into netting.

  'Down here?' Osidian asked Morunasa. When the Maruli gave a slow, ominous nod, Osidian turned to Carnelian and addressed him in Quya.

  'Wait for me here, Carnelian. Keep the savages under your control.'

  'Where are you going?'

  Osidian's smile was enigmatic. 'For now, it is best you should not know.'

  Annoyed, Carnelian said nothing more but watched Osidian and Morunasa lower themselves over the edge onto the netting and, slowly, begin to descend the chasm wall. He h
eard the rumble of approaching aquar and, turning, saw that it was Fern, Ravan and the other Plainsmen.

  'What's going on?' Ravan called, sullen.

  Carnelian shrugged.

  Fern dismounted. The men are angry and confused.'

  'So am I,' said Carnelian. He leaned over the edge and saw Osidian and Morunasa had disappeared. There must be caves down there,' Fern said.

  They gave up waiting and were glad to retreat from the fearful drop into the shadow of the anchor tree. A quivering in the ladder ropes brought them back to the edge. Osidian and Morunasa were climbing the netting. As they came up, Carnelian saw a new light in Osidian's eyes. Not wishing to be denied an explanation, he did not ask, but probed Osidian's face seeking the answer for himself. Feeling Carnelian's gaze, Osidian looked at him and smiled with a warmth that took Carnelian by surprise.

  'Was everything as the Maruli promised, my Lord?'

  Osidian's grin was like the sun. 'Better than he promised.'

  Morunasa's eyes had been looking from one to the other as they spoke, and perhaps it was the anger at not understanding that put the frown on his ashen face.

  'Now we must go to the Isle of Flies,' he rumbled.

  Osidian's eyes flashed. 'I've not forgotten the bargain we made, Maruli.'

  He gazed across the chasm to where the island lay black between the shimmer of the falls.

  Carnelian saw the light go out of Osidian's face. 'What lies there?'

  'An ancient banyan.'

  Carnelian regarded the island. 'Within that forest?' 'It is that forest.'

  Carnelian was appalled that so much earth should be captured by a single tree. He imagined how deep the shadows must be beneath its branches. 'A fearful place.'

  'Indeed,' said Morunasa, grimly. He ducked under one of the cables and Osidian followed him. Krow had to run to keep up. Beside them, his stature made him seem a child. Carnelian followed on behind with everyone else.

  Fern regarded the island. 'I don't like the look of it.' 'You don't need to come,' said Carnelian. 'Are you going?'

  Carnelian was struggling with the same unease, but he nodded.

  Then I will go with you,' Fern said with a determination that made Carnelian smile.

  They walked on, passing the knoll with its singed trees. Morunasa and Osidian were heading for where the Backbone butted onto the chasm. Morunasa bowed to something there before moving onto a ledge that ran along the chasm brink. He was quickly followed by Osidian and, more hesitantly, by Krow.

  When Carnelian came closer he saw a carving of a head, thrown back as if it were pushing up out of the earth. Its mouth, hideously agape, was rimmed with splinter teeth; its tongue a spike upon which the skeleton of a man was impaled. The idol's face was crusted brown with old blood that had pooled in the mouth and empty eye-sockets, then overflowed onto the ears and stained the ground black.

  Conquering dread, Carnelian peered past it and saw the path that squeezed between the sheer face of the Backbone and the shadowy gulf into which one of the waterfalls was tumbling. It was along this that Morunasa and the others were moving.

  Carnelian edged round the idol and was about to follow Osidian when he noticed the Plainsmen had come to a halt. Carnelian saw their terror. His eyes met those of Fern, who mastered his fear and crossed the bloodstained ground averting his eyes from the impaler. When he reached Carnelian's side, Fern grabbed his arm and pulled him away onto the path. They were some way along this when they became aware Ravan was following them.

  ***

  Gurgling, the river ran in many streams. Skeins of dark water parted by rock, reweaving together, tearing in rapids, churning in pools.

  Morunasa's smile with its ravener teeth was unnerving. 'So you've been brave enough to come this far?' His amber eyes slid round so that he was looking across at the Isle of Flies from their corners. 'Are you now brave enough to cross with the Master and me?'

  Ravan stood forward gazing at Osidian, his face sweaty, hopeful. 'I'll go with you, Master.'

  'No,' said Fern.

  Osidian ignored them and turned to Morunasa. 'Stop toying with them, Maruli.'

  Morunasa looked down at Ravan. 'But this one offers himself and we need blood. The Darkness-under-the-Trees has been unfed for years.'

  'In that case, Maruli, we shall give of our own blood.' It was Osidian's turn to smile. 'Unless you fear my fiery blood shall set your banyan alight.'

  Morunasa regarded the island with nervous eyes. 'All I fear lives there.'

  As the two men glanced at one another, Carnelian was dismayed to see how much they were alike. Morunasa might have been Osidian reflected murkily in a mirror of obsidian.

  Osidian turned to them. 'Wait for me here.' 'Don't trust -'

  Osidian choked Krow's protest with a flicker of his eyes and then he turned to follow Morunasa down towards the river.

  They watched Osidian and Morunasa pick their way across the river. The route they took wound back and forth over the rocks so that it seemed they were finding their way through a maze. When at last they reached the island, they climbed up through its skirt of driftwood, walked along its shore beneath the towering banyan, before suddenly being swallowed between its trunks.

  'How long do you think they'll be?' asked Fern. i hope the Maruli's god devours them both,' hissed Ravan through bared teeth.

  Carnelian was shocked to see with what bitter eyes the youth was glaring at the island.

  The Master knows what he's doing.' The anxious way Krow resumed his vigil of the island belied his words.

  Frowning, Fern watched as his brother went off to sulk on a rock. He leaned close to Carnelian. 'His behaviour has been steadily worsening. I can't understand, Carnie, why the Master tolerates it.'

  Neither could Carnelian. 'Your brother has good reason to be aggrieved.'

  Their eyes met and Fern nodded. Carnelian hoped for a return to their easy friendship.

  It was nearing dusk when Krow sprang up and ran down the bank to the river. Carnelian could just make out Osidian and Morunasa emerging from the tangle of the banyan. He watched them winding back from rock to rock. He was dreading their return.

  As they approached the shore, Krow went out to meet them. Carnelian saw the youth's dejection as the Master ignored him. Krow fell in behind him, snatching glances at his back as he picked his way among the boulders.

  All three reached the shore together. As they approached, Morunasa seemed disturbed and Carnelian detected in Osidian's face the ghost of some horror he had witnessed.

  'What was it you saw?' Carnelian asked in Quya.

  'Cannibalism in the Labyrinth,' Osidian answered, in a tone that seemed to be one with the dismal gulping of the river.

  Carnelian did not understand, did not want to understand. He noticed Osidian's left wrist was wrapped in a clot of leaves through which blood was soaking.

  Tomorrow I shall leave you, Carnelian. You will remain here. I would take you with me if I dared, but I need your Chosen face to instil terror and obedience into the Plainsmen that will be staying behind to garrison this Upper Reach.'

  'What's he saying?' Ravan demanded.

  'He's leaving us,' snapped Carnelian. His eyes met Fern's in a mutual glance of dismay.

  Krow leapt in front of Osidian. 'Let me go with you, Master.'

  Osidian looked right through the youth. The Oracle Morunasa shall be my only companion.'

  Of the two of them, the Maruli seemed now the taller as he regarded them all with condescension. Krow regarded him with unconcealed hatred. Ravan skulked in the shadows.

  'And where does my Lord intend to go?' asked Carnelian, already knowing the answer.

  Lifting his chin, Osidian turned the emerald fire in his eyes on the brooding chasm below the falls. 'Down there, the Lower Reach, land of the Manila.'

  RENDER

  A man's desires are the best hook to catch him.

  (a proverb of the Wise)

  In the dusk it was hard to see the Master on the knoll
against the baobab that rose behind him like the night. Morunasa's presence was only betrayed by the blinking of his eyes.

  The pale slit in the Master's uba scanned the Plainsmen he had gathered to hear him. Tomorrow, with your approval, I would go down to the land of the Manila.'

  Among the crowd, Carnelian was deafened as they rose in uproar. Osidian's pale hands lifted to calm them.

  'While I am away, the ladder down into the chasm must be repaired.'

  The men erupted again, so that Carnelian was carried a few steps up the slope in their surge.

  Fern pushed past him higher still. 'Why, Master, so that the murdering bastards can swarm up to destroy us?'

  'If that had been their intention, do you not think they could have done so long ago?' Osidian's contempt withered them to silence. Their attacks on the Earthsky were incidental; merely a way in which they sought to regain access to their shrine,' he pointed, 'the Isle of Flies.

  The Ladder is the only link between the Lower and this Upper Reach. When it was cut by a revolt of their pygmy slaves, they were forced to send armies through swamp and jungle up onto the Earthsky. There they killed for the water and djada that they needed to get here.'

  More men moved up to join Fern; among them, Ravan. The youth stabbed a finger at Morunasa.

  'If we kill the Maruli, no news will reach his people of the destruction of their expedition. They have tried twice already and failed. What makes you believe, Master, they will dare to try again?'

  A Darkcloud stood forward. 'Let's burn their Isle of Flies as they burned my tribe's mother trees.'

  Morunasa bared his teeth. 'Any man who crosses to the Isle will be devoured by the Darkness-under-the-Trees. Understand this, Flatlanders, you may kill me, but my brethren in the land below will never forsake the dwelling of our Lord.'

  'You see?' said Osidian. They will plague us until they have their Ladder back.'

  Carnelian thought it time he said something. 'Why do you need to go down there with the Maruli?'

  Osidian gazed at Carnelian for some moments. To make sure they believe that there is no need to send another force.'