by Julia Gray
'Put your blade away, Mitus,' Farazin commanded. "There's been enough bloodshed already.'
'This is madness!' Cutter yelled. 'The boy's a sorcerer. What other explanation is there for my own dog to turn against me?'
No one had an answer to that. Even Ysatel remained silent, looking up from her stepson to glance at the dog.
'Even if he is,' Farazin replied eventually, 'he's caused no harm here. All he has done is protect himself.'
'But the quake—'
'You've no proof that was anything to do with him,' Kerin interrupted. 'None at all.'
'Put your knife away,' Farazin repeated. 'Kerin, on behalf of the elders, I accept your offer of responsibility for the boy, for tonight at least. We will meet again in due course, but this gathering is over.'
Some of the crowd muttered at this, and Cutter looked as if he were going to voice his outrage, but eventually thought better of it. Sheathing his dagger, he turned and marched away, soon followed by most of the other villagers as they began to return to their own homes. The dog trotted back to sit peaceably beside the stranger, while Aylen joined Ysatel and helped his brother to his feet.
'We must bandage that,' Ysatel said. 'Aylen, put some water on to boil.' As she spoke, she glanced at her husband, with a small smile that said, 'Don't worry, he'll be all right.'
Kerin nodded gratefully, knowing that his son was in good hands, and went to speak to Farazin.
'Thank you,' he said quietly.
'You may not thank me if he really is a sorcerer,' the sky-watcher replied.
'I'll take my chances on that.'
'You know this isn't the end of the matter? Cutter's not going to let it rest now.'
'I know,' Kerin said heavily, 'but at least it gives us some time to consider.'
'Did you mean it? About leaving the village?'
'I don't say things I don't mean,' Kerin answered. 'But I hope it doesn't come to that.'
Farazin nodded.
'Go and tend to your son,' he said. 'We'll speak again in the morning.'
Dusk was closing in now, the sun hidden behind the bulk of the mountain's southern flank, and Kerin was only too happy to rejoin his family. Farazin shuffled away, taking the last of the curious onlookers with him.
'How is it?' Kerin asked.
'Not too bad,' Olandis replied, but his face was pale from shock and loss of blood. 'What happened to Scar?'
'I've no idea.'
'One moment he was a raging monster, the next he's like a friendly puppy,'
Olandis said, glancing suspiciously at the dog. It seemed quite pleased with itself, and was watching what was happening around it with happy curiosity.
'I think Terel may have a way with animals,' Ysatel commented. 'Hold still while I wash your arm.'
A little while later, once Olandis's wound had been bandaged and he'd been helped inside to his bed, Ysatel and Aylen returned to bank down the fire.
'I've a bone to pick with you, young man,' she said.
'I only did what I had to,' Aylen replied, knowing what was coming.
'In future, please let me make my own decisions. I don't appreciate being dragged about like that.'
'I didn't want the boy to be harmed,' he said, 'but he's Dot worth sacrificing you for.'
He spoke so seriously that Ysatel had to turn away to stop him seeing the tears in her eyes. 'Besides,' Aylen added, 'how was I to know Scar was going to switch allegiance? Look at him. He doesn't look at though he'd harm a flea now.'
They glanced at the boy and the dog, who seemed to be absorbed in each other's company and quite at ease. Without realizing it, they both found themselves smiling at the sight.
'I wish we could talk to him,' Aylen remarked quietly, 'He must have some tales to tell.' Ysatel nodded, but said nothing. 'Do you think Scar will let us near him?' Aylen asked. 'There's only one way to find out,' she replied.
These are friends? Terrel allowed himself to be lifted into Aylen's arms and carried towards the hut. Stay with me, he said urgently, but he needn't have worried. Alyssa was trotting behind the young man, watched closely by Ysatel.
Once inside, both Kerin and Olandis eyed the hound narrowly.
Terrel was laid on his own pallet and Alyssa curled up next to him, provoking a comment from Aylemirana which made Ysatel laugh. After that they were left alone while the family gathered in the other room of their home. The sound of their discussion drifted through the doorway, but neither Terrel nor Alyssa could tell what they were saying and, in any case, they had more than enough to talk about themselves.
It's been so long, Terrel began. I thought... He shied away from completing the sentence.
It took me a long time to find you, Alyssa explained. Do you still have the ring?
For answer, Alyssa bared her teeth and Terrel saw the 'ring' wrapped around one of the canine fangs. He had not thought to look for it before now, and laughed at the choice of hiding place. The ring was made of twine, a length of thread, and a strand of his own hair. It had begun as a joke between the two friends, but was now more precious than any jewel because it acted as a beacon, enabling Alyssa to find Terrel wherever he was. By a process that Terrel had given up hope of ever understanding, the ring left Alyssa's own finger and transferred itself to whichever animal she chose to 'borrow' when her spirit went wandering.
Then why couldn 't you find me?
All that magic.
Terrel was about to ask her what she meant, but then the answer came to him.
You mean the ocean?
Alyssa had always regarded water with a certain amount of dread. She had never been able — or willing - to explain why, but their adventures on Vadanis just before Terrel's exile had reinforced her belief. The elmental had feared water too, regarding it as a magical substance.
The sea, Alyssa confirmed. The moat. I never thought you'd be outside the palace.
Given her phobia, it was not hard to explain her long delay in finding him. He was overseas, after all, divided from her by a vast, moving bulk of water. She would have found it hard to believe at first - and hard to deal with later.
The fact that she was there at all was testament to her loyalty and determination.
I looked and looked, in every room, she went on, but you weren't there, so I found another window. Terrel was used to Alyssa's occasionally oblique way of expressing herself, and knew what she meant - that having determined he was not on Vadanis or any of the other Floating Islands, she had gone on to look further afield.
That 's when I felt a faint echo of you, she added. I've been ill, Terrel said, wondering if the weakness of his own spirit and his lack of faith might have hindered her search. I know. I can smell it on you. Taste it too.
Really?
Being a dog has some advantages. You are recovering though,. aren't you? I think so. Now that you 're here, I'm sure I will. It seemed km that the timing of her arrival could not have been a mere coincidence. I'm glad you arrived when you did.
I think I must've known you were in danger, she said thoughtfully. As it was I was nearly too late. She shuddered at the idea. This hound would've torn you to pieces.
Why did you bite that man? Terrel asked. He's one of my friends.
That wasn't me, really, she replied. I'd only just arrived, and it took me a few moments to get control of his instincts. Once I was used to him, it was easy enough. Dogs are simple compared to horses or cats. She spoke from hard-won experience.
You only just made it in time, Terrel said, grimacing at the thought.
But I was in time, she replied, sounding smug now.
You saved my life.
You 're not ready to be a ghost yet, she told him. Neither of us is.
Terrel thought about that for a while, his spirits recovering, until he was able to grin at another memory.
Did you see the look on his owner's face when you turned on him? he asked eventually.
Serves him right, Alyssa commented. The problem is I'm going to have to lea
ve this beast sooner or later, and then he probably going to revert to type. You won't want to be around when he does.
Terrel hadn't thought of that, and the prospect dismayed him.
You don't have to go yet though, do you?
I'm fine for a while, she assured him. As I said, dogs are simple enough. I'll stay as long as I can, then get him well away before I go.
Terrel recalled the last time Alyssa had been forced to stay in one particular creature for a long time. The
stonechat's mind had, if anything, been even simpler than the hound's — but even so, the prolonged confinement within one frame had led to problems for Alyssa, both mental and physical. She needed to return to her own body to
'rest', and anything that prevented her from doing so only exaggerated the oddities of her own mind. Alyssa was one of the inmates of Havenmoon who - at least by the standards of the outside world — really was mad. Your own body .
. . Terrel asked hesitantly. It's ..
Still at the haven, she replied. Still sleeping. I've come to no harm, Terrel.
I told you before, I'm being protected.
He had not seen Alyssa in her own form since he'd fled Havenmoon, leaving her comatose in a dungeon cell beneath the house that had been his home for the first fourteen years of his life. And he knew that if he did see her now, it would mean that she was dead. This thought was too appalling to contemplate, so he took comfort — as always — in her varying presence and in her voice. It renewed his determination to return to Vadanis so that they could be reunited in both body and spirit. He was
ashamed of his earlier pessimism now. I will come back for you, he vowed.
I know. And I'll wait for you. But you have other— She broke off then, and half rose to her feet as the candlelight from the adjoining room flickered and changed. A figure appeared in the doorway.
It's Ysatel, Terrel reassured her, and the dog sank back down again.
Ysatel set a dish of water and a bone next to the hound, then went out again, only to return a few moments later with a bowl of soup. She began to feed her patient, but Terrel surprised her by reaching out and taking the spoon, and beginning to ladle broth into his own mouth. Ysatel smiled, and said something that was evidently intended to be encouraging. Terrel's movements were shaky, but grew more certain as he went on. By the time he'd emptied the bowl, Alyssa had lapped up the water and was gnawing contentedly on the bone.
So there's kindness even among barbarians, she remarked as Ysatel carried the empty dishes away.
They've been very good to me, Terrel said. Ysatel and her family, I mean.
Perhaps land doesn 't have to move. It ought to, but . . . Terrel shrugged. He was being forced to reconsider many of his beliefs. You should rest, Alyssa told him. But Terrel did not feel like sleeping. He had never felt less like sleeping.
Are the others with you? he asked. They're close, she answered warily, but—
She fell silent as a faint glimmer appeared in a corner of the room. Terrel was delighted when this resolved itself into the spectral form of Elam, his boyhood friend. The ghost looked around, appraising his new location.
At least you've got a roof over your head this time, he remarked.
Chapter Seven
There ought to have been so much to say, but for a few moments Terrel found himself speechless. He had not seen his friend - or rather his friend's ghost
- for what seemed like a very long time. Even before his enforced exile they'd been unable to meet, because none of the ghosts had been able to come near Betancuria. That in itself was one of the mysteries none of them could fathom, and it had meant that Terrel's sense of isolation had begun even before his long and lonely journey on the raft. But now, with Elam's reappearance, his typically sardonic comment and apparently offhand attitude, it seemed that nothing had changed — and there was nothing to be said, The three of them were together again — and that was all mattered. When I said we 'd have some adventures, Elam remarked eventually, I didn 't expect you to go this far. I didn't exactly have much choice in the matter, Terrel replied, with a slight grin.
I'm not sure which of us was more careless, Elam added. Me for getting killed, or you for getting chucked in the sea. Terrel was about to respond that neither had been a matter of carelessness, but the memory of his friend's murder stilled his tongue. The fact that he had been - at least in part —
responsible for Elam's fatal confrontation with Havenmoon's warden still distressed him.
You survived, at least, Elam went on.
Only just.
So I see. Where is this place?
Somewhere in Macul. That's all I know.
It feels wrong, doesn't it, Elam commented.
What do you mean?
Not moving. Can you imagine? This land's always been here, always fixed in the same place. Elam shuddered theatrically.
I don't feel that way. At least not any more.
But you 're among barbarians. You 're lucky to be alive.
I know, Terrel admitted, though he was beginning to feel irritated by his friend's attitude. But if it hadn't been for the people here, I'd have died.
They—
They're probably just waiting to fatten you up before they eat you.
You don't know what you're talking about.
Most barbarians are cannibals, Elam persisted. Everyone knows that.
This was the sort of bigoted remark that Terrel, like all the inhabitants of Vadanis, would have believed — without thinking — until recently. Now it made him angry.
That's rubbish!
Elam was obviously startled by his friend's vehemence.
All right, there's no need to get so worked up. I thought Nobody thinks. That's the problem, Terrel cut in.
I'm sorry. Elam sounded genuinely contrite, and Terrel regretted having been so harsh. Not so long ago, he would have believed everything the other boy did.
It's just that the people here have been very good to me, he explained. They saved my life when I was about ready
to give up, and they 've looked after me ever since — at some cost to themselves. I've been treated better by these barbarians than by most people at home.
Have you ever wondered why land not moving should be a bad thing? Alyssa asked. She had been listening to their exchange, and had grown increasingly uncomfortable as the argument developed. Who says it ought to move?
Neither of her companions answered. It was simply one of those basic beliefs that everyone on the Floating Islands took for granted. Questioning such things would never have occurred to the friends if they hadn't been forced to leave their homeland.
If the tunnel has twists and turns, Alyssa added, you may not be able to see light at the end of it.
Even as a dog she still says the most bizarre things, Elam remarked, grateful for the diversion. At least I don't have to sing this time, Alyssa commented.
Elam looked nonplussed, but Terrel laughed, recalling Alyssa's bravura performance as a singing cat in the tavern on Vadanis.
Just be thankful you weren't there, he told his friend. If this creature's howl is as painful on the ears as her cat's yowling was, then you'd be better off keeping your distance. I'll take your word for it, Elam said.
They were silent for a while. Although the atmosphere had been restored to one of good humour, there was still a little tension between the two boys. They were not used to having to deal with such an awkward situation.
Do you think you 'II be able to get back home? Elarn asked eventually, his tone uncharacteristically serious.
Of course I will, Terrel stated emphatically, but right now I don't see how.
The Empire must be miles away, and getting further all the time. He had not considered the practical difficulties of fulfilling his promise before that moment. It suddenly seemed like a daunting task.
They 'II come closer again, though, won't they? Elarn asked doubtfully.
I suppose so. But that might not be for a year or so, Terr
el replied, remembering the charts that had shown the islands' complex course within the vast expanse of the Movaghassi Ocean. The reality of his situation was beginning to sink in even as he spoke. Until this point ha concerns had simply been about surviving from one day to the next. He had not dared wonder about the future. it would have seemed like tempting fate. Now he'd been forcibly reminded of the extent of the disaster that had befallen him. A whole year?
Even then, you 'd have to find a boat willing to make the voyage, Elam said, adding to Terrel's growing sense o unease. Vadanis doesn 't get many visitors from Macul - or anywhere else for that matter.
The truth was that Vadanis didn't get any foreign visi-tors. Nor would the inhabitants have wanted any. They were more than happy with their isolation.
I'll deal with that when the time comes, Terrel said, not wanting to dwell on such extra difficulties. I've got to get my strength back first, before I can think of going anywhere.
Elam nodded, sensing his friend's mood and deciding not to pursue the point.
Is everything all right on Vadanis? Terrel asked. I mean, are the islands back on course?
Not yet, Elam replied, but they will be soon. And the rotation's slowing down.
If it weren 't for the fact that the Dark Moon still isn't doing what it's supposed to, everyone mould be happy. Even Betancuria 's getting back to normal mow that the central section of the mines has been sealed off.
So the Ancient's kept its side of the bargain? So far, Elam confirmed.
Thanks to you. Muzeni and Shahan were really pleased with what you did.
It wasn't just me, Terrel said, glancing at Alyssa. Well, I suppose my advice did help a bit, Elam said, grinning.
'Maybe not all rivers run downhill,' Terrel quoted, remembering. What made you send that message? I'm not sure. It was just something I felt needed saying at the time. I'd've loved to have been there to see the water flowing uphill!
That was the elemental's doing, not mine. But you gave it the idea. Alyssa told us all about it. Of course. the seers are taking the credit. Apart from—
He broke off abruptly, and Terrel only caught a diminishing echo of the thought that was to have followed. Elam? Alyssa said, a warning note in her voice. One of your barbarian friends is coming, Elam said, sounding unaccountably relieved, and Terrel, who had been about to ask his friend what he'd stopped himself from saying, was distracted by the appearance of Ysatel in the connecting doorway. She was holding a candle, one hand cupped around the flame to protect it from draughts.