Nightpeople

by Anthony Eaton

  ‘And one of them’ll be Gan. Another’s probably Dreamer Gaardi. That leaves four at most.’

  ‘Dreamer Gaardi’s helping Slander track us?’

  ‘He’s probably not helping, but someone like Slander would need a Dreamer to track easily, and he’d be a fool to leave Dreamer Gaardi back in Woormra on his own. He was Dreamer Wanji’s closest mate. No, he’ll have Dreamer Gaardi with him, you can count on it.’

  Without another word he set off nightwards, and Saria followed.

  Reaching, it had seemed to her that Slander and his group were only a few minutes ahead. As they walked, though, the morning stretched on around them, the rising heat adding further discomfort.

  ‘You certain you felt them?’ Dariand asked for the umpteenth time.

  ‘They’re ahead,’ Saria snapped back. ‘Just further than I thought.’

  After a much longer walk than she’d anticipated, the first of the low ridges shimmered out of the horizon and, as they crept slowly up the gentle slope, a familiar groan echoed across the sand from somewhere off to their right.

  ‘The camels,’ whispered Dariand. ‘Tethered. They won’t be far away.’

  At the top of the ridge he gestured her to keep her head down, but Saria ignored him and poked her head up alongside his, peering into Slander’s campsite.

  At the bottom of the slope, six figures slumped asleep beneath small, collapsible sun-shelters. All lay with their heads swathed by their robes, in deep shade, so it was impossible to discern one person from another.

  One of the camels groaned again, and Dariand smiled as he rolled to face her

  ‘Do you reckon you can unhobble the camels?’

  ‘How?’

  ‘It’s not hard. Find them and get their fetters off. Try and do them all, but even if you can only do one or two, it’ll give us a start.’

  ‘What about you?’

  ‘I’m going to check that everything’s clear around here, and then I’m going down to have a quiet word to a couple of people.’

  Saria nodded and Dariand quickly vanished along the ridge in the other direction. He was still slow and tentative, favouring the right side of his body, but now she detected some traces of his old self in his movements.

  She found the animals hobbled in a small, sandy hollow. There were eight of them, downwind from the camp so their smell wouldn’t disturb the sleeping party. They stood here and there, a couple chewing absently, their faces implacable. As she approached, one swung its long neck in her direction and regarded her balefully with dark eyes. She thought it might have been one of the ones she’d ridden from Olympic with Gan, but it was impossible to tell.

  Skirting around the edge of the group, she manoeuvred herself until she was close to the smallest one. Then she walked towards the beast, holding one hand out to take the halter that hung over the creature’s neck and back.

  The animals were hobbled by rope and leather bindings, which lashed their front and back legs together and allowed only a little give, certainly not enough for the camel to take a complete step. Nervously, aware of the enormous bulk of the animal towering over her, Saria knelt by its right foreleg, and reached for the hobble with hesitant fingers.

  The camel gave a sharp grumble and Saria jumped back, startled, sprawling in the dirt while it cast an unpleasant glare at her before resuming its chewing. She stood again, took a deep breath, and tried once more.

  The knot was small and tight, and Saria fiddled for some minutes before the binding came free and dropped into the dust. Immediately, the camel snorted and stamped its foot, a shuddering blow crashing into the dirt and causing Saria to jump away again.

  Next she turned her attention to one of the rear hobbles, careful to stay well out to the side. This knot fell away more easily and Saria slipped around to the other side.

  The third knot was locked firm and the more she struggled with it, the more agitated the camel became. With two legs already freed, it lurched forward, trying to escape. The remaining hobbles brought it up short, however, and it made its unhappiness clear, keeping up a constant low groaning.

  She took a deep breath, and started to draw the earthwarmth into herself. She decided to reach into the camel’s mind, to try and calm it with her own awareness.

  Then someone grabbed her.

  A thick hand pressed over her mouth, muffling her scream. The grip was firm and her captor began to squeeze, forcing air from her lungs until spots danced across her vision. Desperately, she raised her foot and brought it down as hard as she could and the man swore but didn’t release her, just squeezed even harder.

  A grey mist crept across her mind, and her arms and legs started to become heavy, making it harder and harder to kick and strike. When the black fog had almost completely engulfed her she went totally limp and he finally let her go.

  Her legs buckled as she sucked in an enormous lungful. Before she could fall to the ground, the man grabbed her and spun her about to face him. Before she had time to recover her breath, Slander swung a fist back and buried it in her stomach.

  What little air she’d managed to suck in left her again in a rush, and this time she doubled up on the ground.

  ‘Good of you to save us having to spend another day lookin’ for you.’

  A leather hobble like the ones used on the camels was slipped first around one of her ankles then the other Still gasping, Saria was unable even to struggle while Slander used more straps to bind her wrists tightly.

  ‘We’ve been killin’ ourselves trying to catch you. That bloody Gaardi led us all over the country.’ The man stopped tying the hobble long enough to throw a sly grin at her. ‘Still, he won’t be doin’ that again. Get up.’

  He hoisted her to her feet.

  ‘Don’t think of tryin’ a nything between here and the camp, eh?’ He gave her a shove towards the ridge. The hobbles caught her legs, and instead of making her walk his shove sent her tripping back to the ground.

  ‘Bugger.’ Slander reached down again, but to Saria’s surprise he didn’t pull her back to her feet. Instead, he slipped his arms under her and lifted her easily, gathering her to his chest.

  ‘If I make you walk with those things on it’ll take all bloody day, eh?’

  The man’s smell washed over her He stunk of sweat and camels. His breathing grew heavier as he laboured up the dune, and Saria could smell the rankness of it. She twisted her head, looking for Dariand. She had to try and warn him.

  ‘Stop wrigglin’ or I’ll drop you and leave you tied out in the sun all day, right?’

  Obediently, she went limp in his arms and closed her eyes, trying to form some kind of a plan. Immediately, despite herself, she was aware of him, of his mind. Right there in front of her. She couldn’t fail to feel it, but there was no control; she couldn’t stop herself. Slander’s consciousness glowed like a beacon, pulsing with earthwarmth and energy. Without thinking, without even trying to find the will to resist, Saria pressed into the outer levels of Slander’s mind, pulling earthwarmth through him and into herself as she did so.

  SARIA! The call surged through the man, radiating power.

  Stop! You have to stop, some little part of her brain screamed, but it was swamped in the savage wave of energy that connected her mind to Slander’s. There was so much there, so much anger, pain, fear, strength. Saria drove herself deeper, down through the layers of Slander’s mind, seeking out that burning, that distant, buried spark that she’d felt in every creature she’d ever reached. She sought it out so she could suck it away, destroy it with her own burning, so she could unleash the growing pressure of earthwarmth inside her.

  Slander stopped, paralysed, blinded and gasping at the sudden force of Saria’s mind jamming itself through his own. She was dimly aware of him trying to fight it, trying to start his own futile struggle against her, but his mind was weak, not even aware of his own connections to the Earthmother, let alone able to control them.

  Control.

  The thought rocked throug
h her, causing her to shudder in Slander’s arms.

  She had control. She could stop.

  If she wanted to.

  But now, it was there, the flickering, burning spark, right at the centre of Slander’s being. It glimmered, tantalisingly close, vulnerable. And the walls of earthwarmth in her own mind pressed towards it, hungrily, ready to swamp and devour this untrained, arrogant flame.

  But Saria had control. She had to.

  Slander had fallen to his knees, but his arms stayed locked around Saria’s skinny body, a deathly embrace. His mind, focused entirely on trying to drive out Saria’s probing consciousness, wasn’t sending signals to muscles or nerves and so he slumped on the sand still clinging to the very force that was killing him.

  Seconds grew to minutes; each seemed eternal.

  The spark that was Slander’s mind flickered once, twice, growing weaker, and in her mind Saria saw Dreamer Baanti standing over them, smiling his cold, pale smile.

  With a scream, Saria drew back, pushing the earthwarmth down and down, sliding out through the layers of Slander’s mind, opening her eyes.

  Above her, the dayvault was pale, a distant blue. Spots and sparks danced across her vision as, freed, Slander’s arms went loose and she slipped to the ground, lying prone and gasping, while he fell away, his body twisting into a foetal curl against the hot sand.

  Saria lay staring into the immensity of the dayvault, calming the surging, unsated hunger that had almost taken her. She pushed it back until eventually all she was aware of once again was the call. The distant, reassuring pulse of it was sliding through the earth to her from somewhere nightwards.

  Dariand loomed over her, blocking the light.

  ‘You burn him out?’

  He crouched and she felt a water-skin pressed to her lips. She sucked greedily before answering, savouring the coolness snaking across her tongue and down her throat.

  ‘No. Came close, though.’

  ‘You should have. Nobody would have cared.’

  ‘I don’t kill people.’

  Beside them, Slander moaned, a long, thin sound.

  ‘Is he gonna be alright?’

  ‘Don’t know.’

  Dariand’s fingers fumbled at her ankles and the hobbles fell away.

  Slander uncurled slightly and tried to lift himself off the ground, but Dariand struck with snake-like speed and shoved him back down roughly.

  ‘Slander, if you know what’s good for you, you won’t move a muscle, right?’

  His question drew no response from the prone figure, and Dariand returned his attention to Saria, cutting loose the rest of the bindings and offering her a hand. ‘Here.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  He pulled her to her feet, then knelt and dusted the sand and dirt off her. His hands were gentle and he worked with careful thoroughness.

  ‘Hold still. There, that’s better. You up to walking?’

  ‘I think so. What about him?’ Saria nodded at Slander, still lying motionless.

  ‘We’ll deal with him.’

  Now it was Slander’s turn to be hobbled. Dariand fastened the bindings around his wrists and legs in just a couple of minutes. Next he tore a long strip of dirty fabric from the hem of Slander’s robe and used it to gag the man, tying it so that Slander could manage little more than a faint grunt. Finally, he slung the man over his shoulder and set off towards the encampment.

  ‘Are we taking him back?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Why? He’ll just keep chasing us.’

  Dariand stopped and faced her

  ‘We can’t take him with us.’

  ‘We could just leave him.’

  ‘Saria.’ Dariand’s gaze was unblinking. ‘I don’t kill people, either.’

  They continued into the encampment, where Dariand dropped Slander unceremoniously right in the middle of the sleeping group. Nobody stirred as Dariand knelt and whispered in Slander’s ear.

  ‘You make a sound and you’ll regret it, okay?’

  Slander nodded, and Dariand set about arranging the man’s sand shelter so Slander was lying in shade. Then he checked the bindings once more, until, satisfied, he whispered again into the bound man’s ear.

  ‘I reckon it’s time you gave up this chase, eh? If I see you lot behind us again, believe me, I won’t be so nice.’

  ‘Dariand’ One of the sleepers sat upright, pushing his sun-shelter aside. ‘That you, mate?’

  Dariand and Saria whirled at the sound, and Slander twisted onto his side. Dreamer Gaardi was sitting perfectly still, not looking at them but with his head tilted as though listening intently.

  ‘Dreamer Gaardi? What’s …’ Dariand began, but at the sound of his whisper the old man turned to face them, and Saria gasped in shock.

  Dreamer Gaardi’s face was gaunt. For a brief moment it reminded Saria of Dreamer Baanti – the almost skeletal effect of skin stretched tight across the ridges of his skull. Worse, it was stained with crusted streaks of dried blood, running down his cheeks from empty eye-sockets.

  ‘Dreamer Gaardi!’ Dariand was beside the other man in an instant. Saria just stared.

  ‘Dariand.’ The Dreamer’s voice was incredibly calm. ‘You found her, then?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Dariand knelt beside the blind man and brushed a fingertip lightly across the bloodied cheeks. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Slander. When he finally spotted that I’d been leadin’ him all wrong.’

  ‘He did this?’

  ‘Him and a couple of his mates here. They jumped me in the middle of the night.’

  ‘He took your eyes?’ Dariand was struggling to keep the disbelief out of his voice. ‘What about Gan?’

  ‘Ent she here?’

  The men were speaking in whispers. Saria took a couple of steps towards them, and Dreamer Gaardi turned his sightless eyes to face her.

  ‘Come ‘ere an’ let me take a closer look at you, girl.’ He offered a grim smile.

  Slowly, Saria walked over and knelt before him. He stretched his hand towards her, and when his fingertips made contact with her neck, a shiver of earthwarmth connected them immediately and she felt the gentle press of his mind into her own.

  ‘You’re reaching again, girl. That’s good.’ Even though he was obviously in pain, there was still approval in Dreamer Gaardi’s voice.

  ‘How can you tell?’

  ‘I can feel it. I can feel the Earthmother through you …’ He hesitated. ‘And something else there now, too. There’s something … nightwards. That’ll be this call you’ve been talkin’ about, eh?’

  She didn’t reply, and as he pulled his mind back, she stared again at the old man’s ruined face. His wounds were horrible. Where his eyes had been were only bloodied’ empty hollows.

  ‘How could he do this?’

  ‘He reckoned I don’t need them to do reaching and tracking, and thought it might keep me a little more under control. Gotta admit, he was right ‘bout that.’

  ‘Bastard.’ Dariand drew Saria aside, whispering quickly. ‘This changes things. Find out which one of this mob is Gan, wake her up quietly, then both of you get to the camels and meet us there, okay?’

  Saria nodded.

  The first of the sleepers was a man, heavily asleep and snoring gently. Saria crept around him as quickly as she could and across to the next shelter, where she was relieved to find Gan, eyes intact.

  ‘Gan …’

  The old woman woke immediately, her bony hand seizing Saria’s wrist in a tight grip.

  ‘Night spirits, girl! What’re you doin, here?’

  ‘Shh.’ Saria nodded in the direction of the camels. ‘Dariand’s got Dreamer Gaardi. We’ve got to go.’

  Gan slid from under her awning, folded it, and they started up the dune. Halfway up, the old woman stopped.

  ‘We leavin’, then?’

  ‘I think so. Dariand didn’t say.’

  ‘What about Slander?’

  ‘He’s tied up and gagged.’

&n
bsp; ‘Good then. Hang on here …’

  The old woman retraced their steps back to the campsite, where she crept from sleeper to sleeper, taking all but two of their waterskins. They sloshed quietly as she hurried back to Saria.

  ‘Take a couple of these.’

  Saria obligingly slung two of the bulging skins across her back.

  ‘Won’t they die without water?’

  ‘Not if they’re careful. I left ‘em a bit, but they’ll have to head to Woormra now. Won’t find any more out here.’

  Dariand carried the blinded Dreamer out to the camels and sat him on the sand while he untethered the creatures. As Saria and Gan approached, Dariand stopped what he was doing. If he and Gan were glad to see one another, neither gave any indication.

  ‘We takin’ all the animals?’ Gan asked.

  ‘We should, but this mob’ll be properly stuffed if we do that, and there’s no sense in killin’ them. I reckon we take five, leave three.’

  ‘Three camels for four people.’

  ‘We’ll be taking Slander with us.’ Dariand’s eyes were hard.

  ‘Right, then.’ Gan didn’t question further, but simply gestured at the water-skins dangling around her neck. ‘I left ‘em two skins.’

  ‘You’re more generous than I would’ve been.’

  Dariand and Gan exchanged a grim smile, then Dariand turned back towards the encampment.

  ‘You do the hobbles, eh? I’ll be back soon.’

  Gan turned to her camels, while Dariand trotted back over the sand ridge.

  ‘We should get there by morning.’

  Dariand slowed his camel until it fell into step alongside Saria’s, the beast grumbling against the harness.

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘Then you’ll see what a waste of time this is.’

  Above them, the nightvault was as alive as Saria had ever seen it. All night, while the five made their way across the empty landscape, hundreds of tiny vaultlights had been rushing across the sky, showers of them, each leaving a bright trail. Three of them had watched, entranced. Dreamer Gaardi could only listen as Gan and Saria described the sight, and Slander was slung face down across the back of the fifth camel, still bound and gagged. All he could see was the monotony of passing sand.