by M J Engh
"The sun is very low, my lord," said Poal, and cast down his eyes.
"Look toward that sunset," said Lord Moon.
Now Poal gazed a while upon the westward sea, shading his eyes and squinting against the glare. "I see a shape upon the waves, my lord," he said at last. "But what it is, and how far distant, I cannot tell. Only it seems to make this way."
"Let us go back," said Lord Moon. "It were ill done did he see us."
When they came again to the edge of the shadow, they found Poal's wife already cooking a meal at a little fire of thorns. "For," she said, "the children are hungry."
"They shall eat," said Lord Moon; "but not thus tonight." And he scattered the fire with his foot, and trampled it swiftly out. "Smoke upon sea cliffs is a far-seen beacon."
"It is not our custom," said Poal, "to hide our camping places. Also it is pleasant to look upon the smoke."
"Then learn a new custom of me," said Lord Moon, "and a new skill." And he showed Lorn how to build the fire so that it smoked not at all, and burned low and steady. And presently they ate.
Now the sun had gone down into the sea, and as they ate a noise began as of rain upon leaves. The blue man trembled and hunched himself and pressed close to Poal. "It is the falling of the thorns," he said.
Poal sat very still, gazing. "Surely they do not all fall in a night," he said at last.
Lord Moon looked at the blue man, but the blue man was silent, save for his chattering teeth. "No," said Lord Moon. "Only those that ripen in the day past."
"They are very many," said Poal.
"Aurin Tree is very great," said Lord Moon.
So they sat. And after a time the hailing of the thorns upon the leafy ground lulled to a pattering shower, and died away; and it was night.
Now Lord Moon sprang up, and seized his horse's bridle. "Come," he said to Poal.
Poal stood up also, though slowly. But Lorn caught at his sleeve. "Where are you going?" she asked.
"Beneath Aurin Cliffs, as I think," said Poal sadly.
"But first beneath Noram Head," said Lord Moon. "For it is from the beach there that we must set to sea."
"My lord," said Poal humbly, "I am a rider of horses. I have never learned to swim."
"And need not, friend, if our skill or our luck holds," said Lord Moon. "We go by boat."
Now it seemed unlikely to Poal that any boat awaited them at Noram Head. "For," he thought, "there was none there when we passed." And he took his horse's reins.
"You will need someone to hold the horses," said Lorn, and she rose and gathered the children together.
"There is an ill night wind upon these bluffs," said the blue man, and he rose also.
Thus all together they turned back from Aurin Tree, and came by starlight to Noram Head. Poal looked down upon the darkness of the beach, and saw nothing but the little gleams of the waves. "It may be that your boat has not come, my lord," he said hopefully.
"It has come," said Lord Moon. And he opened his saddlebag and took from it certain things and spread them on the grass.
"What is this, my lord?" asked Poal, and he knelt beside him.
"It is a boat," said Lord Moon, unfolding a thing like a leather bag and thrusting into it certain sticks or rods. "Such a boat, or nearly so, as the people of Lorran use."
Indeed the thing had taken the shape of a boat, two-pointed like a double-ended dart, and no longer than Lord Moon was tall. Still to Poal it looked like a bag; for it was of skins sewn together, and all closed save for a mouth in the middle, with a drawstring.
"This boat, my lord," said Poal, looking upon it without favor, "will scarce hold one man."
Then Lord Moon rose, and opened his other saddlebag. Poal looked at him reproachfully. "You say that you journey alone, my lord," he said. "Why then do you carry two of these bag-boats?"
"You are a rider of horses," said Lord Moon. "Is it not well to have a second steed in readiness?"
"It is well," said Poal. And he sighed, and looked yearningly at the gray horse. For now the moon had risen, lightening all the land from Noram Head to Aurin Tree. But the beach and the sea beneath the bluffs lay in black shadow.
"Now is our time," said Lord Moon. He rose and shouldered one of the bag-boats lightly, and looked upon Poal. "Are you unwilling?" he asked.
Now indeed Poal was very unwilling; but his wife and children watched him with big eyes, and without a word he stepped forward and lifted the other boat to his shoulder.
It was a steep way down the bluffs of Noram Head, and very dark; and the boats, though they were light as so much seafoam, were awkward things to carry. But Lord Moon went easily as a mountain sheep. Thus they came presently upon the gentle slant of the shingle, and down it to the spreading edges of the waves, and cast their boats upon the sand. "Now spring in," said Lord Moon.
"My lord," said Poal, and stopped. For he thought it was little use now to say that he had never set foot in any ship or boat, save here and there to be ferried across a river.
Lord Moon laid a hand upon his shoulder. "I did not ask the blue man to come with me," he said, "though he knows every rock and channel and current of Aurin, and longs to come again to his home. Nor any of my sailors, though they serve me faithfully, and are familiar with the sea as with the air they breathe. Also," he added, smiling, "it were as easy to sink a whale as one of these boats. And if you can manage a horse at the gallop, be sure you can manage this."
Now Poal was a little heartened, and he thrust his legs into the mouth of his bag-boat, stretching them out before him. And Lord Moon tightened the drawstring about his waist, so that he sat snug as a swaddled baby, and put a little paddle into his hand, and pushed him off into the waves.
At first he rolled and floundered, and was driven back on the shingle. But with the next wave the boat lifted again, and by fierce paddling he got clear of the beach and headed cleanly into the waves.
"Now follow," said Lord Moon close beside him. His boat ran past Poal's as smoothly as a sea snake, and Poal followed, still somewhat wallowing. In a little they were out of the shadow, and Lord Moon turned his boat across the waves and led the way southward. Presently Poal saw that the bluffs upon their left shot by ever faster and faster, and knew that they rode upon the current. For a time he forgot all else, and took pleasure in the flying of his boat upon the waves, as he had seen birds fly upon the swelling wind. But soon the boat began to quicken and quiver, and like a beast pursued it sprang into the ragged shadow of Aurin Tree.
And now they flew like birds indeed, for tide and current together bore them straight for the Gullet of Aurin. They used their paddies only to steady their boats against the sideward thrust of the waves. Then the current spun them eastward, the breakers flashed before them, and Poal sang aloud for joy, for he found that the boat was very like a horse indeed.
With a noise like a waterfall the tiderace foamed through the Gullet. Poal saw Lord Moon rise on the flooding swell between the rocks and flash into the darkness; then he too was lifted like a bubble of foam. His shoulder brushed the righthand rock, his paddle blade struck the left, and he was through.
Now Poal shut his eyes and clutched the paddle to his chest; for there was nothing to see but churning glints that made him dizzy, and there seemed no place to put a paddle among the rocks. "At least," he thought, "I have come beyond Aurin Tree." And he bade farewell to his wife, his little children, his horse, and the silver horse of Lord Moon, while he felt himself flung round and round like a broken cork in a wine bottle. Then a hand grasped his arm, and he was pulled, boat and all, into some quieter place. He opened his eyes.
"We have done well," said Lord Moon. They floated in blackness, bobbing gently. Poal touched a swelling wall of rock and leaned his shoulder against it, wiggled his legs within the bag-boat, and blinked his stinging eyes until he could see again. There was little to be seen.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"Within the Maw of Aurin," answered Lord Moon. "Your shoulder is against
Aurin Cliffs."
All the Maw of Aurin resounded with the voice of the sea. Through the Gullet rushed the river of the tide; and within, the water swirled ever higher about the rocks that lay scattered beneath the cliffs.
"Where are the strangers?" asked Poal. "And where are the blue man's people?"
"Within those caves," said Lord Moon. And Poal saw, by the light of the waves that broke in flashes of blue silver, how the great curve of the cliffs was dotted thick along the base with black openings.
"What light is that?" said Poal. For within one cave mouth shone a light as steady as the sun.
"Be still," said Lord Moon softly, and with a hand on Poal's shoulder he gave him to understand that he should look toward the Gullet.
Now Poal felt his heart in his throat, as he watched a little boat like an arrow leap twisting through the gap. "Was it so that we passed through, my lord?" he whispered.
"Even so," Lord Moon whispered in reply, and his smile flashed white. "Though not so skillfully, I think. The lords of Lorran are not used to voyage far, but they are great masters of the sea."
Out of a smoke of foam the dark boat rose, and was lost at once in the darkness. But Poal fixed his eyes again upon the lighted cave; and presently he saw the shape of the man in the boat, black against its mouth. For a very little time he seemed to busy his hands with something, and then he rose upon his feet in the mouth of the cave and raised the boat upon his shoulder, and went with it into the cave.
"Now let us follow," said Lord Moon softly.
They loosened the drawstrings about their waists and crept out upon a rock that lay before them. It was flattish, but wet and narrow and as smooth as jasper.
"The tide is near its height," said Lord Moon. "Here our boats should await us safely." And as he spoke he snugged the bag-boats into a narrowing of the sheltered pool between their rock and the cliff-face.
"And if they do not?" said Poal, not over-courteously, for he floundered on the wet rock without comfort of body or soul.
"Then trust we in the Stars that are above even Aurin Tree," said Lord Moon cheerily, crouching beside Poal on the sleek stone. "And trust also in the friendship of your strangers, whom you left so well content; for they have once passed Aurin Tree, and without doubt have means to pass it twice."
Now Poal had neither heart nor voice to protest once more that the strangers were none of his, for a spume of salt spray had taken him in the face, and he was content to make his way behind Lord Moon from rock to rock, and rock to ledge, and along the ledge till presently they stood at the mouth of the lighted cave.
Those within sat in a crowded circle about the light. "Two others must join your council," said Lord Moon, stooping through the entrance of the cave.
Before the words were well finished, one was on his feet, weapon in hand. "Two?" he said. "I see but one."
The lord of Lorran was a little man to look upon, but stout and dangerous like a crossbow. He spoke the common speech of the South Road, though in an accent so barbarous that Poal was hard put to understand him. Nevertheless he understood, and stepped forth as boldly as he might from Lord Moon's shadow. "Well met," he said courteously, though he did not think it well.
Now the others had risen, in great surprise, looking some upon Lord Moon and some upon Poal. "Greetings, friends," said Poal cheerily, for the sudden sight of familiar faces at land's end was as a warmth against the chill of the sea. "How can I serve you?"
The leader of the strangers looked piercingly upon Poal, and beckoned him further into the light. "Have I not seen your face in the dominion of the Star of Wealth?" he said, and his voice was not soothing.
"Indeed I have journeyed in many dominions," said Poal uneasily. He sought and found the face of one who had been friendly to him among the strangers.
"In the history of our calamities," said that one gravely (for indeed he had been a historian before he was a merchant), "you were present from the first syllable to the last. Since we saw what we fondly believed to be the last of you, we have prospered within the limits of our circumstances. I hope, and wish I could trust, that your reappearance is not an omen of new troubles."
"To meet is good, but to meet again is better," said Poal somewhat reproachfully, for it seemed to him that he had striven ever to do good to these strangers, and had had but little thanks.
The lord of Lorran looked gloweringly upon all alike, saying to the strangers, "You have promised that I would meet none here who serve the Stars of this world."
Poal looked upon the strangers with surprise. "Do not you yourselves serve the Star of Wealth?" he cried. "And have you not prospered in his service?"
"Are not even the little waves that wash the Islands of Lorran servants of the Stars that are over all?" said Lord Moon lightly. "But we who serve the Star of Freedom go where we will, my lord, and await no one's bidding. Your friends are not to blame."
"Friends?" said the lord of Lorran scornfully.
"Among other uncertainties," said the historian, "I wonder how you came here."
"Even as this lord," answered Lord Moon; "by the Gullet of Aurin. And how came you hither, my friends?"
"Why should we answer your questions?" said the leader of the strangers.
"Because I have answered yours," said Lord Moon. "Also I can have my answer from other lips. Doubtless the manner of your coming was seen by those who dwell in these caves." And he lifted his voice, calling, "Come forth, friends, and join the council!"
Now from the farther depths of the sea cave, and from dark pits and alcoves in its floor and walls, came certain blue folk, moving shyly and blinking their large eyes. "These simple folk do not concern us," said the leader of the strangers. "For, until this night, none has ever left the Maw of Aurin."
"And this night few will leave it," said the lord of Lorran, looking darkly upon Lord Moon and Poal.
But Lord Moon smiled and said to the blue folk, "We are those who have journeyed this day with your kinsman."
The blue folk nodded, and one said, "We have had tidings of you." And another said, "We had thought you would come as these others, who fly like seabirds by the power of their art and of their belts."
Now the strangers, or the more part of them, looked with displeasure upon the blue folk, and Poal and Lord Moon looked with interest upon the strangers' garments. "How by their belts?" said Poal. But the blue folk shrugged and shook their heads. And the leader of the strangers said somewhat fiercely to Lord Moon, "What do you intend here? And who are you?"
"I am Lord Moon," he said, "who dwell beside the Purple River; one without dominion, but free. It pleases me to journey where I will, and to make trial of all things that may be. And it is my delight to seek into those places where few go and fewer far return, as this beneath Aurin Tree, or as the twelve thousand Islands of Lorran."
The lord of Lorran snorted, for it was known to all the world that none had touched upon those islands and come away again time out of mind. "And you," he said to Poal, "are doubtless such another great lord, a doer of mighty deeds and voyager into places impossible?"
Poal turned from where he spoke apart with the historian concerning the working of those belts (for in times past it had pleased them to talk together of many matters and devices). "Not so, my lord," he said. "I am a rider of horses, come hither but by chance."
"Speak not of chance, my friend," said Lord Moon. "All reins lie in the hands of the Stars."
"Never," said the lord of Lorran haughtily, "have the free Islands felt the pull of any rein."
"Those steeds are most skillfully ridden that think they run free," said Lord Moon. "But indeed I speak who should listen, for all the learning of him who rides for pleasure is nothing, beside the knowledge of him who rides for livelihood."
"My Lord Moon is gracious," said Poal. "But in truth I have found little livelihood upon the South Road, and less riding; for none in these dominions knows the custom."
"What custom?" said the lord of Lorran, who, for all his
grimness, seemed a man quick and eager in his dealings.
"The custom of my fathers," said Poal. "For we have journeyed ever in hospitable lands, visiting now one town and now another, and where we stopped we raced, the rider of my people against the town rider."
"For what stakes?" asked the lord of Lorran, with much interest, while the strangers stood grumbling behind him.
"It was the custom," said Poal, "that when our rider won the race, the townsfolk welcomed us, and we went about the town giving and taking gifts, and were well content. But if the town rider won, then must we camp as best we might in the open fields, and eat but wild things and what we had with us. It is a pleasant custom, to those bred up to it."
"Truly," said the lord of Lorran, "it is a pleasant custom to hear of."
Now Poal looked sharply upon that island lord, lest he mocked. But the lord of Lorran said again, "In the Islands we are not horsemen; yet we know somewhat of racing."
"Indeed I have learned," said Poal, "that there are other steeds than horses."
Now the lord of Lorran began to speak to Poal of the bag-boats of the islands, praising their grace and speed and strength, and telling, when Poal questioned him more closely, of races for pleasure and races for life and races for cash and for honor. And Poal praised as stoutly the bag-boats of Lord Moon and the horses of his fathers, and the custom whereby his people had lived time out of mind. So that presently the two of them went down to the cave mouth and drew forth each one his boat upon the rocks, and matched them length to length and seam to seam and paddle to paddle. And Lord Moon knelt beside them upon the rocks, with close and eager looks. "For," he said, "I have made this boat after the boats of Lorran, my lord, which I have seen afar off in a certain mirror; but to have your very boat under my hand is a better thing." And the strangers waited somewhat sullenly within the cave, while the blue folk crowded at its mouth.