by Lara Morgan
He smiled at her and laughed. ‘Don’t you know?’ he whispered. Then suddenly he turned and lunged. Shaan tried to recoil, but he was too quick. He grabbed her hand and she screamed as he touched her. It was like the brush of fire and ice together under her skin. Her stomach lurched and her vision wavered. A sound like a great wave roared through her head, and then it was as though she were breaking apart. She was nothing. Blackness engulfed her and then a blinding light flared and she was back in the room and Prin had hold of her still.
She sucked in a deep breath and staggered against him. The burning ice sensation was gone, and the small blonde woman was lying on the floor next to Morfessa, her eyes closed, and for a terror-filled moment she thought she was dead. But then her eyes opened and she stared at her as Prin dragged her to the door.
‘Azoth,’ she said, holding Shaan’s gaze. ‘Beware!’ And then she was gone as Prin pulled her from the room.
28
Tallis crouched low in the saddle behind Attar and gazed ahead into the winds. Marathin’s wings stretched out on either side like veined rafts, skimming through the air. Below, the town of Shalnor spread along the shore, the dwellings like a scattering of pebbles thrown forth from the river.
They had been flying since morning and it was now past noon. His legs were aching from gripping the serpent’s back and his fingers were cold and curled hard around the steel back of the saddle. The riders had given both him and Jared sturdy coats of cured muthu hide to cut the wind, leather leg coverings, and a leather helmet that protected from the wind and rain. The clothes stopped the wind threshing his skin, but still his back ached from holding the same position.
He pushed the pain away and thought instead of Shaan. He had not been able to tell her he was going. He hadn’t wanted to leave, but Rorc had given them little choice. He had told them that if they wanted to stay, to learn, they had to give him something in return: they must prove their worth and potential as warriors. It had struck him as something a clansman might say. And it was something he understood. A test, an initiation. They would go with Attar and Bren across the Black Mountains to the small village of Faro and find out if any had survived.
He could still feel Shaan’s presence: a dull pulse, like a second heartbeat, that told him she lived and a vague awareness of where she was. It gave him little comfort, though; he still worried for her.
Attar made a hand gesture to Bren on Haraka, and the serpents wheeled then dropped down toward the town. They swooped low over the dusty streets heading for the riders’ outpost on the hilltop, the same place they’d stopped before on their way to Salmut. Tallis held tight as Marathin tucked her wings close to her body and dove straight down toward the land, like a hawk diving for prey. The wind whistled in his ears and whipped tears from his eyes and he felt the deep thrumming of the serpent’s life force in his chest, like a great drum buried deep. At the last moment, she opened her wings with a sound like a great sheet of canvas snapping fast, and sailed down to land, her talons and tail clashing on the hard stone of the courtyard. Her sides heaved and Tallis felt a glow of satisfaction emanating from her as she turned her head and eyed the man waiting for them in the shadow of the buildings.
Vilan, the man with the red-haired daughters. He recalled what had happened the last time they had come here; he had tried to reach Marathin with his mind and she had swept him off his feet with her wing. He wouldn’t try again. He swung his leg over and jumped off as Haraka landed in the courtyard with a thud that shook the ground.
‘Here, take this.’ Attar handed him two empty water skins then turned to address the man in the shadows. ‘Vilan!’ he shouted and waved a hand in greeting. The stocky man came out from the walkway to shake his hand.
He nodded at Tallis. ‘We meet again clansman,’ he said before turning back to Attar. ‘You have a message for me?’
‘Yes.’ Attar pulled a thin leather envelope from under his vest. ‘From the Commander.’
The older man eyed him. ‘More attacks across the mountains?’
‘It seems that way. We shall see, though, we go there now. No time to stay for wine this trip. Is your boy around to fill our water skins?’
Vilan nodded and, turning, hollered across the courtyard. He was answered a moment later by a young boy who came running out from one of the nearer buildings. Tall and gangly with red hair, Tallis wondered if this was another of Vilan’s offspring. The boy took the skins from him with a grin and disappeared again.
‘He won’t be long,’ Vilan said.
Jared came over to them and grinned at Vilan. ‘Your son?’ He raised his eyebrows and Vilan snorted and spat on the ground.
‘Yes, and his mother’s favourite.’
Judging by the fact he was already taller than him, Tallis wondered if Vilan was indeed the father. The amused look Jared sent him told him he shared his opinion. Attar laughed and clapped Vilan hard on the shoulder.
‘Well at least it keeps her out of your hair, so to speak!’ He laughed and Vilan gave him a sour smile. ‘You always did think you were a funny one, Attar.’ He rubbed his balding head. ‘I’ll pray to the gods those serpents you seek scare some of it out of you.’
‘Aah, but you’d miss it.’ Attar clenched the man’s shoulder and Vilan gave him a sideways look.
‘Like I miss having sand in my eye.’
Attar laughed and the two men exchanged insults until Vilan’s boy returned with the water, and then they were back up on the serpents and leaving Shalnor behind.
They flew on into the afternoon, keeping the River Pleth on their left. They would not be stopping until the serpents tired. Below, the reddish earth sped by and he began to recognise landmarks from their previous trip. A bend in the river here, a copse of trees there, but it was all still so foreign and strange. He watched the deep gash in the ground made by the river with no less wonder than when he’d first glimpsed it.
The day waned and the sun dropped like a ball of flame, painting the sky a dusky pink. They drank sparingly from the water skins and chewed on dried meat while sitting on the serpents backs as the light faded to darkness. There was no moon and brief flickers of yellow light shone in the black landscape along the river’s edge. Every so often there was a soft gleam as the water reflected starlight, but mostly there was only the cold blue light of the stars and the constant roar of the wind in his ears.
His fingers and toes started to numb and Tallis found himself wavering in and out of sleep. His head nodded forward and he was lulled into a dream by the deep thrumming of the serpent in his chest. It was night and he was standing in a street. Around him loomed many buildings, the windows dark and shuttered, and from somewhere ahead came the sound of running feet. It made him wary. The sound echoed off the walls. He knew he had to go towards it, but he was afraid and he stood still staring into the dark. And then suddenly he was running and a great cacophony of sound was all around him: voices called, people screamed. He rounded a corner and the buildings disappeared. He was in the dark, he could smell dank water and then a wall of flame blazed up in front of him and he saw Shaan silhouetted before it. She turned to him, screaming, her hands outstretched.
He jolted awake, his heart pounding. He’d slipped sideways from the saddle and with shaking hands he pulled himself up. Wind streamed past his face and he took a deep breath of the rushing air.
Something was wrong. Something had happened to her. She was still alive, he could feel the pulse of her, faint as a whisper in the dark, but it was different now, there was an edge to it. Fear laced his insides. The feeling that she was in danger was insistent. But what could he do? He looked down. The river was no longer below them. He could see nothing but a featureless darkness. He flexed his fingers on the steel bar and clenched his toes, wincing at the needlepoints of pain as the blood rushed through. He took a swallow of water, glancing at Jared on Haraka gliding along beside them.
They stopped to relieve themselves at daybreak at the edge of a large cluster of trees. The landsca
pe was similar to the lands past Shalnor. The tall trees grew close together on a slight rise, the clusters of leaves at the top forming a thick canopy and the ground was covered in tufts of pale green grass, sprouting from the red earth. Below them the land was mostly flat, stretching away, dotted with trees and scrub. Far off was the hazy shape of a small town Attar had called Ressina. The day was warm and damp and a thick band of cloud covered the sky to the west.
Jared came up beside him, chewing on a stick of dried meat. ‘You smell that?’ He cocked his head to the side and Tallis frowned, sniffing the air.
‘What?’ He couldn’t seem to clear the musky scent of the serpent from his nostrils.
‘The earth: smells like rain coming,’ Jared looked up at the band of cloud moving slowly across the sky. ‘Bren calls it the Season of Rain. He says water falls from the sky, thick as sand in a windstorm, for days at a time.’
Tallis stared up at the grey sky, palely lit by the early morning sun. It was very quiet. There was no wind and the earth felt still and watchful.
‘He thinks we’ll outrun it.’ Jared looked away from the cloud to the northeast, toward the clan lands. ‘Wonder if it will make it to the desert?’
His voice was quiet and low and Tallis’s guts ached hollowly. It was unlikely they would see those lands again.
‘Jared, I think something has happened to Shaan,’ he said.
His earth brother was silent a moment, looking at him. ‘How do you know?’ he said finally.
‘I feel her, like the serpents, in here.’ He touched a hand to his chest. He had not told Jared before how he had found Shaan that night. He wondered if this would be too much for him to accept. The ways of the Clan ran deep in him and always they had been taught that men did not, should not, be capable of such things. But still Jared had accepted him.
He waited, his throat dry, as Jared watched him, still and pondering. But all he said was, ‘You think you should go back?’
‘I don’t know.’ He shook his head, relieved.
‘You know Attar will never agree.’
He was right. And if they did not complete this task they could not stay in Salmut, Rorc had made that clear. They could not go back, but he could not stay still.
‘I fear for her.’ He looked at Jared. ‘I fear for her, and I don’t know why.’
‘But she is alive?’
‘She is alive, but there is something different, it’s as though she’s hidden from me.’
‘And you are sure it’s not because we are further from her?’
‘No.’ He was certain that was not the reason. Her presence was fainter here, but still he could tell there was another cause of this strange fear that gripped him.
‘Then we will have to hope she stays safe until we return.’
‘Clansmen!’ Attar’s rough voice jolted them. ‘Let’s go.’
Jared clasped his hand on his shoulder, then turned away. For now there was nothing they could do.
For another day and a night they cut through the air without stopping, and Tallis fed anxiously on his worry. Bren was proved right. They outran the clouds, flying under a clear hot sky as they came nearer to the desert lands.
The closeness of the clan lands disturbed him. He couldn’t help but think of his mother: was she still alive? Had Karnit returned from the Gathering? His fear haunted him and yet he dreamed only of his sister. Always it was a confusion of strange lands, and screaming voices, and serpents swooping down upon her, and when he woke he felt as though he had had no sleep at all.
Still they flew on. As the sun rose on their fourth day, the land became flatter and the air lost its damp tinge and took on a harsh dryness that sucked the moisture from their breath. Trees were replaced by tumbles of rocks and low cliffs, the sides sheared off as though by a giant blade. They were on the fringes of the desert.
This land belonged to no clan, but not far in was the Baal’s territory. Allies of the Jalwalah, Tallis had visited their lands once. The Baal were a large clan, larger than his own, and the people lived in a catacomb of caves deep in a ravine that split the desert floor like a gateway to the earth’s core. They sealed their braids with fat stained red by the earth, and all men were tattooed with the symbol of Kaa at the base of their spine to show the guide of the dead they did not fear him.
The thought of the clan so close pulled at his heart, but the Baal would not accept him – none ever would again. He was not Clan. I saw what you did, I know what you are, Karnit’s words haunted him.
Attar suddenly gave a shout, and pointed to the horizon. Ahead, a long dark shadow rose up from the earth, jagged peaks biting at the sky: the Black Mountains were back in his sight again. The peaks spread out, a shadowy haze. Tallis thought of the last time he’d seen them; he’d still had blood on his hands. His heart beat fast and he felt for the thrumming of the serpent inside him, cleaving to something now so familiar. How his world had changed.
As the day bled into night they came upon the mountains, the serpents arcing up into the sky to wing over the first summit, heading into a cold wind that came up from the dark canyons below. As they crested the peak it was as though they passed the boundary between shadow and light. Night fell fast, like a shroud dropping upon them. The air was bitterly cold, and stretching before them was an unending vista of sharp peaks and black ravines.
A sliver of new moon was high in the black sky by the time they landed to make camp on a wide platform of rock. Jutting out from a jagged wall, and with a sheer edge, the plateau was protected from the worst of the cold winds by the high wall of rock at its back; but toward the lip icy winds scoured the rocks bare.
As soon as the men had dismounted the serpents took flight again and disappeared into the night. With no fuel for a fire the men settled for dried meat and shared what bread they had in silence, the mountains oppressing any inclination for talk.
After they had eaten, Tallis approached the edge and looked down, but was met with only blackness and freezing air that blasted the hair back from his face. Before him stretched the shadow of a crevasse which seemed to swallow light, and further away sharp peaks, glinting blackly, reached up to the sky like the open mouth of some great beast.
‘The Black Mountains are aptly named,’ Attar said, coming to stand beside him. ‘I’ve never seen anything but darkness and cold here, no life at all. Or, if there is, it’s something dark and shadowed that I don’t want to know.’
Tallis folded his arms against the cold and glanced at the warrior. ‘You’ve been here before?’
He nodded. ‘A few times. The serpents say that once, long ago, these mountains were covered in jungles and were warm and wet. Hard to believe isn’t it?’ His grin was a flash of white in the dark.
Tallis nodded, but didn’t smile back. He shivered as another blast of air dried his eyeballs. ‘I will be glad when we have left these peaks behind.’
Attar grunted in reply and folded his arms across his chest, widening his stance against the wind as he stared out into the night. He stayed like that for some time and Tallis was about to turn and leave when he suddenly spoke.
‘Can you feel her?’ he said quietly. Tallis turned, knowing he spoke about the Marathin. He hesitated, but then nodded and pointed above them and away to the west. ‘She’s somewhere over there.’
Attar nodded. ‘Did you feel them?’
His heart skipped a beat. ‘The rogue serpents?’
‘Yes, did you feel them when they attacked you?’
He hesitated. ‘Do you expect me to find them for you; is that why I am here?’
‘If you can.’
I saw what you did. I know what you are. A surge of anger took him.
‘I came only to prove my worth as a warrior, Attar, that was the deal I made with your Commander. Not to use whatever it is inside me against them. I don’t know how to wield it, I told both of you that already. I cannot control it and I do not know what it is.’
‘You are afraid to try,’ Attar accused him.
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Tallis gritted his teeth. ‘I will do only what I said I would do and no more.’ He turned and went back to the camp, anger and fear roiling around his insides like rotten meat.
‘Tallis?’ Jared rose up on his elbow as he approached, but he shook his head.
‘It’s nothing.’ He avoided his gaze and lay down, staring up at the stars in the black sky.
But Jared remained tense and silent, his eyes still on him, waiting. After a while Tallis sighed. ‘They want me to try to find the rogue serpents. To try and feel where they are.’
‘And can you?’
‘I don’t know. Perhaps.’ The anger had gone now, leaving him weary. ‘I can feel Marathin up there . . . and Shaan, I can still feel her inside but . . .’
‘You’re afraid.’ Jared echoed Attar’s statement and Tallis looked at him.
‘Aren’t you?’ he said softly. ‘You were there Jared, you saw them . . . you saw me.’ He shook his head. ‘I barely remember what I did, what I said. It seems impossible to repeat it. What if I cannot control it? There is a wrongness in me and if I let it loose . . .’ The thought of opening himself to those words and that rage – it was too terrible to contemplate. But if he could control it, who could he save?
‘Perhaps it is the Guides’ way of testing you,’ Jared said and Tallis gave a bitter laugh.
‘The Guides have abandoned us, brother, we are no longer Clan; we’ve become something else.’
Jared didn’t reply and Tallis watched as Marathin sailed like a black shadow across the sky. She dropped down and with a graceful folding of wings landed on the edge of the platform. She swayed forward a few paces then lay down with her back to them, her long spiked tail curved around her body.
Jared remained silent a long while, and Tallis thought perhaps he had drifted of to sleep, when he suddenly spoke.
‘Shila gave me the choice, you know,’ he said. ‘I didn’t have to come. I could have stayed and hoped the Guides would find another way to save you. But she told me if I chose that path I had to be prepared for the consequences. To be Outcast is the consequence of our actions Tallis, but it does not mean we are abandoned. I will not believe that. In our hearts we will always be Clan.’