Nightpeople

by Anthony Eaton

  ‘Nightpeople?’

  ‘Or someone else.’ Dariand hesitated. ‘I’ve been thinking about what you said last night. About the Nightpeople and why they’ve kept us in here.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘You might be right, perhaps we’re more important to them than we think. But it still seems odd that they’d let us just get old and live like this for no reason.’

  ‘Unless their reasons are the same as ours.’

  ‘Eh?’

  ‘The first time I met Dreamer Wanji, he told me that everything in the Darkland’s past has been waiting for me. Waiting for the last child.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘What if the Nightpeople have been waiting for the same thing? Why couldn’t they be waiting for me too?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I have no idea. But why would they put in all this effort unless they had a reason?’

  Dariand didn’t answer. They walked on, lost in their own thoughts.

  ‘If you do get over, then what?’ Dariand asked suddenly.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘What if there’s nothing at all over there. What if you can’t come back again? What if you can’t find food or water? Have you thought about that?’

  ‘The Nightpeople live over there somewhere. If they can survive, I can too. I’ll reach through the Earthmother and find what I need.’

  SARIA!

  As if to reassure her, the call gave a brief surge.

  ‘I hope so.’

  She cast a quick glance at him. As usual, Dariand was working to keep his face implacable, but there was something in the tilt of his chin and the creases at the corners of his eyes that gave him away. ‘You don’t want me to go, do you?’

  ‘I don’t think it’ll matter. Nobody can get over that.’ He pointed ahead at the Darkedge.

  ‘But all the same, you think I might be able to, don’t you?’

  The question drew no answer.

  ‘Why don’t you want me to go? Dreamer Wanji thought I should follow this call. He thought it was important. I thought you believed the same as he did.’

  ‘I did. I mean, I do. But … I’ve got other reasons.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You don’t need to worry about them.’

  ‘Dariand.’ Saria reached out and touched his forearm, allowing a little earthwarmth and a tiny bit of the call to flow between them. ‘Why won’t you tell me?’

  But the nightwalker hadn’t heard her question. At the first contact of her skin against his, he’d stopped walking and stood stock-still, a shocked expression on his face. A whispered word escaped his lips, so soft that Saria barely heard it.

  ‘Jani!’

  ‘What?’ She went to pull her hand back, but Dariand caught her wrist and held it. He looked as though he’d just walked through a night spirit.

  ‘How did you do that?’ he demanded.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Jani! Where is she?’ He was gripping her wrist so hard that his fingers dug into her skin. ‘Where did that come from?’

  ‘Dariand! You’re hurting!’

  He eased his grip, but wouldn’t let go.

  ‘Where’s Jani? You know.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I heard … no, I felt her. Just then, when you touched me. I felt Jani. Where is she?’

  ‘That was earthwarmth. You just felt the Earthmother.’

  ‘No.’ He was adamant. ‘It was Jani. I know what she felt like, and she was here. She was in you. How did you do that? You have to tell me.’

  ‘I can’t. I don’t know what it is. It’s the call, that’s all.’

  ‘The call.’ He let out a long sighing breath. ‘I understand now.’

  ‘I don’t. What is it?’

  ‘Darri was right. About the call. It’s Jani.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because I knew her.’

  ‘You?’

  ‘We grew up together.’

  Saria remembered what Dreamer Wanji had told her about her mother, how Jani had been brought up in the valley by Darri. Dariand had told her that he’d also grown up there. Saria gently removed her wrist from Dariand’s grip and walked a few steps away, studying the distant Darkedge. The call seemed to fade for a moment, but then returned, as strong as before.

  ‘What was she like?’

  ‘Jani?’

  He studied her for a long time before answering.

  ‘When they took her, she was only a little older than you are now.’

  ‘And?’

  Dariand smiled. ‘She was just like you.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Brave. Strong. Bloody annoying when she wanted to be …’ He hesitated. ‘And one of the strongest Dreamers I ever knew, until I met you.’

  ‘She could reach?’

  ‘Like you wouldn’t believe. Not like you did last night, but she could touch the Earthmother well enough to outreach any of the other Dreamers.’

  ‘Why wasn’t she a Dreamer herself, then?’

  ‘She didn’t tell anybody. She didn’t want them to know.’

  ‘Not even Dreamer Wanji?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘She was afraid. Of what people would say. Of what they might do to her if they found out.’

  ‘Afraid?’

  ‘Look at what happened when people found out about you. And look at the way they treat old Darri when she talks about being able to reach. Jani didn’t want to bring all that down on herself, and you can’t blame her.’

  ‘But she told you.’

  ‘No, she didn’t. I guessed.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘It wasn’t hard. When you’re that close to somebody, you see them as they are. All of them. With Jani it was all over her Full of earthwarmth that girl was. It just seemed to pour through her.’

  When you’re that close to somebody.

  Dariand’s words reminded her of what Dreamer Gaardi had told her while they crouched outside Olympic: When two people get so close that they know one another’s spirit and can mix their spirits together, then they can make a new life, one that’s the best and worst of both of them. That’s parents.

  ‘Are you …’ Saria stopped, uncertain.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘That your mother could do reaching?’ Dariand held her stare evenly. ‘I didn’t think you should know. I didn’t want …’

  ‘No. Not about that.’ Saria cut him off. ‘Why didn’t you tell me about you and Jani.’

  ‘That I knew her?’

  ‘That you’re my father.’

  Dariand froze. The look in his eyes was something between horror and relief. Finally he broke from her stare to look nightwards, towards the distant Darkedge.

  ‘I … didn’t know how.’

  ‘All you had to do was say.’

  ‘It’s not that simple.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because … I didn’t know you. I never got to know you. I don’t know anything about being a father.’

  ‘You could have come and seen me while I was in the valley. Ma could have told me.’

  ‘No, I couldn’t. We decided, all three of us: me, Jani and Dreamer Wanji. Before you were born we decided that keeping you hidden was the most important thing, the only thing that mattered, and it wasn’t like I could go vanishing off to the valley all the time. People would have noticed. That was why we left you with Ma. She was already there, and she’d be your mother.’

  ‘But didn’t you care? Didn’t you ever wonder about me?’

  ‘Of course I bloody did. But this is bigger than just you and me. Sometimes you have to give up part of yourself for the good of everyone else, even if it tears you apart to do it. Jani understood that.’

  He turned his gaze back, meeting her stare with his own.

  ‘It doesn’t mean I never cared, Saria.’

  The two of them stood there, eyes locked. Then Sar
ia turned nightwards.

  ‘Come on.’

  She didn’t look back to see if he was following, and Dariand let her get a long way ahead before setting out after her.

  As the afternoon wore on, the Darkedge loomed closer and closer, filling the sky and blocking the horizon. It was easily four or five times the height of the Shifting House, but unlike that ancient structure this wall looked as though it might have been put into place just that morning. No cracks or fissures broke its smooth surface, not even the stains of age and weathering. The grey expanse drove into the sky as though it had always been there and always would. As though nothing, no force of the Earthmother or the people who lived on her, could even chip the surface of it, let alone scale it.

  It was just as Dariand had described it: a solid, final end to Saria’s world.

  ‘How far does it go?’

  ‘I told you – all the way around the Darklands. If you turn and start following it in either direction, you’ll end up back here. It’s an enormous circle, closing everything in.’

  ‘Have you followed it?’

  ‘Not all the way. Nobody has.’

  They passed into the shadow of the massive wall, and even though the call was still pulsing beneath her, Saria shivered. Below her feet, the ground felt suddenly colder.

  The size of the barrier was frightening. Even in the midafternoon, with the sun still relatively high in the dayvault, the shadow it cast out into the Darklands was deep enough to plunge the desert into a twilight gloom, washing the colour out of the stones and sand. Saria needed to crane her neck sharply backwards just to see the top. Dariand said very little, simply following her towards it.

  Finally, as the daylight was starting to fade, they arrived at the base of the barrier. When she looked up it filled more of her vision than the vault. To her surprise, the wall didn’t rise straight up from the sand but climbed at a sharp angle, growing steeper until it reached vertical somewhere well above their heads.

  Dariand stood back while she walked the last little way on her own. She reached out and rested one hand on the surface.

  It was made of the same cold, lifeless material as the Shifting House and the tunnels under Woormra. No earthwarmth flowed through it. The Darkedge was a dead grey mass which blocked and surrounded the world. Even when she reached into the Earthmother and tried to sense its boundaries, there was nothing. Just absolute, solid coldness, cutting deep into the living earth below, and slicing high above into the sky.

  Standing there, a horrible sense of futility washed over Saria. All this way, all those deaths – Wanji, the dog, even Baanti – for nothing. Dariand was right. She’d never be able to find a way over it. This close to the barrier, even the call was strangely muted and listless. Choking back a sob, Saria let her forehead fall against the cold hardness.

  ‘Come on.’ Dariand was behind her, pulling her away, but she resisted.

  ‘There must be some way.’

  ‘There isn’t. Come.’

  ‘But it can’t all be for nothing, can it?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ He let his hand fall from hers and looked upwards. ‘Perhaps it hasn’t been, but we don’t know it yet. Perhaps this is how things are supposed to happen.’

  ‘But Dreamer Wanji …’

  ‘I know. Come.’

  Now she allowed him to lead her gently back a little way from the wall, though still well inside its shadow. There they sat on the sand and shared some food and water.

  ‘We should get away from here before dark,’ Dariand was saying. ‘They’ll send a patrol along it sometime during the night. And after last night …’

  After last night …

  A sudden clarity washed over Saria. She turned to face her father.

  ‘No. We’ll stay here.’

  ‘Why? You’ve seen it now. You know there’s no way over. We’ll be wasting another night if we stay.’

  Saria studied him – his features, the angle of his nose, the sand-coloured hair and sun-darkened skin. He is half of me, she thought. But the call was strong again now, even through the barrier of the Darkedge. It was the only sign there might be anything beyond it.

  ‘You’re wrong. There’s one way out. Other people have used it.’

  ‘What are you talking about, Saria?’ His words were gentle, but his tone was alarmed.

  ‘I can go out the same way my mother did.’

  Dariand knew immediately what she was suggesting.

  ‘No!’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because …’ His voice caught. ‘It won’t solve any thing.’

  ‘It might solve everything. It might be the answer.’

  ‘You’ll be throwing yourself away.’

  ‘No. We know they need us – they need me. We know that or they’d have gotten rid of all of us long ago. Perhaps that’s what I need to do? That’s why I’m being called over there. Because they need me.’

  Dariand didn’t answer.

  ‘What did you think of Jani?’

  ‘You know what I feel about her.’

  ‘Well, she’s over there. You felt the call last night. You know I have to go to her.’

  ‘Not like that.’

  ‘Can you think of another way?’

  Dariand stood and walked a little away, turning his back on the massive wall and staring into the Darklands.

  ‘You could come.’ Saria moved to stand beside him. ‘I could make them take you, too. Or refuse to go.’

  ‘That wouldn’t work.’

  ‘We could try.’

  ‘No.’ He didn’t look at her. ‘This is my home, this is my land. I’m needed in here. Especially now, with Dreamer Wanji gone and Dreamer Gaardi … No, there’s no way I could leave the Darklands.’

  ‘But you know I have to.’

  Dariand didn’t answer her with words. The sag of his shoulders and the droop of his head spoke for him.

  Towards Woormra, the vault cluster of the Child shimmered low on the horizon. They watched it as the evening grew darker.

  ‘We could follow it all the way to the valley, you know.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘But you won’t.’

  ‘No. I can’t. Part of me would like to, you have to believe that. But I can’t. My call is over there.’ She pointed to the wall.

  Dariand nodded. ‘I didn’t think so.’

  They watched the vaultlights for a few moments longer, and then he walked back to their small pile of provisions and picked up his water-skin and food pouch.

  ‘Should I leave you anything?’

  ‘No. Take it all. You’ll need it more than me.’

  ‘What if they don’t come?’

  ‘They will.’ Saria didn’t know why she felt so certain, but in a rush she knew she was right.

  Dariand loaded himself up with the extra water, then turned to face her.

  ‘Be careful.’

  ‘I will.’

  They stared at one another for a few seconds, and then Dariand grabbed her. With the food and water slung around his shoulders, the embrace was awkward, but Saria felt herself relax into him, swimming in the security, the warmth and the protection of his encircling arms. Then, after one last tight squeeze, he released her and looked into her eyes.

  ‘If you do find her, tell her about me.’

  ‘I will. Tell Gan and Dreamer Gaardi I said goodbye.’

  ‘Okay.’

  And Dariand turned and walked daywards, back into the Darklands, fading quickly into the night.

  Alone in the shadow of the Darkedge, Saria slept a dreamless sleep and woke in the darkness of the small hours. The cluster of the Child was high in the nightvault now and she was thirsty. She wished briefly that she had kept a little of the water for herself, but dismissed the thought. Instead she let the call rush up and into her, abandoning herself to it and letting it flow completely through her in long, warm pulses.

  SARIA!

  Time seemed to stretch out and slip by as she sat, warm against the
cold of the night, the looming wall above a blank expanse of emptiness. Finally, the faintest hum echoed from somewhere in the dark off to her left, and she stood and faced that direction. It was moments later she saw it, a dark shadow against the silvery vaultlights, sliding though the air.

  She pushed the call and the earthwarmth away, building her mental barriers one last time, and letting her body stand alone against the landscape, unhidden and unprotected.

  The Nightpeople detected her when they were still some way off. She saw the hummer give a sudden lurch and change course. A nightsun exploded into life, catching her in its harsh whiteness.

  For a moment she had to fight back the urge to run, to flee after Dariand, or to reach her senses down again into the Earthmother, seeking protection. But even with her barriers in place, the call still glowed through her, and she stood, blinded and still, while the hummer slunk to the sand and its noise dropped away.

  The nightsun held her in its unwavering glare, until she made out movement, two figures coming towards her. Both wore the silver skins that the Nightpeople in the Shifting House had worn, and the nightsun cast a corona of darkness around them. A little way from her they stopped. Saria knew they were discussing her, but couldn’t hear any words.

  When one did speak, its voice was the same as the others; distant, inhuman, an alien buzz from the speaking box on its chest.

  ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Saria.’

  There was another pause while the Nightpeople talked silently to each other.

  They came towards her and Saria took a couple of involuntary steps backwards. As they emerged from the blinding halo, she gasped to see her own reflection mirrored in the smooth hardness of their faceplates. She looked tussled, dirty and tired. Sand clung to her skin and dust coated the tight black curls of her hair. But what grabbed her attention the most were her eyes. They were Dariand’s eyes.

  One of the Nightpeople reached for the side of her neck.

  ‘Don’t worry. This won’t hurt,’ it said.

  She felt a slight tingle of cold against her skin, and then nothing more.

  SARIA!

  The call thrummed through her, body and mind, and in an instant the entire Darklands were there before her – every last bright spark of life and energy, of warmth and belonging, all encircled by the cold finality of the Darkedge.

  ‘It’s beautiful!’ Saria exclaimed, and the two Nightpeople glanced at one another in consternation, but now the world was fading around her, and the last thing Saria was aware of was the vaultlights spinning crazily as she folded to the sand.