"Thank you for your wise counsel," said Elemak gravely. "It seems to me that we don't have to choose one way or another. Those who want to return to civilization may, and soon enough those who want to go on into the desert on this errand for the Oversoul may do so as well. We can call it a rescue of my father or we can call it the beginning of a voyage to Earth—that's not at issue now. What matters is that all can be satisfied. We'll go south a little way and then come over the mountains and down into the Cities of the Plain. There we can leave those who can't bear to live under the harsh law of the desert, and I can take the stronger ones with me."
"Thanks so much!" said Mebbekew.
"I don't care what he calls me, as long as I have my freedom," said Kokor.
"Fools," said Nafai. "Don't you see that he's only pretend-
"What did you say?" said Elemak.
"He intended to take us back to civilization all along," said Nafai.
"Don't, Nafai," said Luet, for she knew what was coming next.
"Listen to your brideling, Brother," said Elemak. His voice was deceptively mild.
"I will listen to the Oversoul," said Nafai. "The only reason we're alive right now is because the Oversoul has been influencing a band of robbers to stay holed up in their cave not three hundred meters away. The Oversoul can lead us perfectly well across the desert, with or without Elemak and his stupid desert law. It's a game for boys that he's playing—who can make the boldest threats—"
"Not threats," said Elemak. "Laws that every desert traveler knows."
"If we trust in the Oversoul we will be perfectly safe on this journey. If we trust in Elemak we'll return to the Plain and be destroyed in the wars that are coming."
"Trust in the Oversoul," said Meb with a sneer. "What you mean is do whatever you say."
"Elemak knows that the Oversoul is real enough—he had a dream that led us back to the city to marry our wives, didn't he?"
Elemak only laughed. "Babble on, Nafai."
"It's as Elemak said. This isn't a matter for democracy. It's a matter for each of us to decide. Go on with the journey as the Oversoul has directed, and we'll take the greatest voyage in forty million years and inherit a world for us and our children. Or go back to the city where you can betray your spouse as some of you are already planning. As for me and Luet, we will never go back to the city."
"Enough," said Elemak. "Not another word or you're dead this instant." A pulse was in his hand. Luet had not noticed he was carrying it, but she knew what it meant. This was exactly what Elemak had been waiting for. He had set it up very carefully, and now he could kill Nafai and no one would dare condemn him for it. "I know the desert and you don't," said Elemak. "There are no bandits where you claim there are, or we'd already be dead. If that's what passes for wisdom in your fevered little brain, Brother, then anyone who stayed with you would surely be doomed. But no one will stay with you, because I'm not about to let this group split up. That would mean certain death for anyone who went with you."
"A lie," said Nafai.
"Please, speak again so I can kill you as the mutineer you are."
"Hold your tongue, Nafai, for my sake!" said Luet.
"You've all heard him, haven't you?" said Elemak. "He has proclaimed rebellion against my authority and attempted to lead a group away to their destruction. That's mutiny, which is far more serious than adultery, and the penalty is death. You are all witnesses. There's not one of you but would have to confess it in court, should it ever come to that."
"Please," said Luet. "Let him be, and he'll say no more."
"Is that true, Nafai?" asked Elemak.
"If you continue to head back to the city," said Nafai, "the Oversoul will have no reason to restrain the bandits any further, and you will all be killed."
"You see?" said Elemak. "Even now he tries to frighten us with these fantasies of nonexistent bandits."
"That's what you've been doing all along," said Shedemei. "Making us do what you want for fear of bandits finding us."
Elemak turned to her. "I never claimed they were a few meters away, hiding in a cave, only that there was a chance that some would come upon us. I've said nothing but the truth to you—but this boy thinks you're such fools that you'll believe his obvious lies."
"Believe what you like," said Nafai. "You'll see the proof soon enough."
"Mutiny," said Elemak, "and all of you—even his own mother—will be my witnesses that I had no choice, because he would not desist in his rebellion. If he were not my own brother, I wouldn't have waited this long. He'd be dead already."
"And if you didn't carry genes that the Oversoul regards as precious ones," said Nafai, "Gaballufix would have killed you when you failed to lead Father into his trap."
"Accusing me does nothing but compound your crime," said Elemak. "Say good-bye to your mother and your wife—from where you are, and no nearer!"
"Elemak, you can't mean this," said Rasa.
"You yourself agreed with me, Rasa, that our survival depends on obedience to the law of the desert, and what the penalty had to be."
"I see that you maliciously—"
"Careful, Lady Rasa. I'll do what must be done, even if it includes leaving you to your death as well."
"Don't worry, Mother," said Nafai. "The Oversoul is with us, and Elemak is helpless."
Luet began to catch a glimmer of what Nafai was doing. He seemed quite calm—unbelievably calm. Therefore he must be quite sure that the Oversoul would be able to protect him after all. He must have a plan of his own, and so Luet would do best to be silent and let it unfold, no matter how frightened she was.
It would be nice if you would share the plan with me, though, she said to the Oversoul.
(Plan?) answered the Oversoul.
Luet's hands began to tremble.
"We'll see how helpless you are," said Elemak. "Mebbekew, take a length of packing cord—the light line, and a good length, several meters—and tie his hands. Use the cinching knot, so it binds tight, and don't worry about cutting off the circulation in his hands."
"You see?" said Nafai. "He has to kill a bound man."
Don't! cried Luet in her heart. Don't provoke him into shooting you! If you let him tie you, then you have a chance.
Elemak glanced at Mebbekew, at which Meb took a few steps to one of the waiting camels and came back with a cord.
As he was tying Nafai's hands behind his back, twining the cords around and around his wrists, Hushidh stepped forward.
"Stay where you are," said Elemak. "I'm binding him and abandoning him out of respect for Lady Rasa, but I'll be just as happy to give him the pulse and have done with it."
Hushidh stayed where she was; she had what she wanted anyway, which was the group's attention. "Elemak planned this all along," said Hushidh to the others, "because he wanted to kill Nafai. He knew that if he decided to turn back, Nafai would have no choice but to oppose him. He set it up to provide him with a legal excuse for murder."
Elemak's eye twitched. Luet could see the rage building out of control in him. What are you doing, Hushidh, my sister! Don't talk him into killing my husband as we stand here!
"Why would Elya do that?" said Eiadh. "You're saying my Elemak is a murderer, and he's not!"
"Eiadh, you poor dear," said Hushidh. "Elemak wants Nafai dead because he knows that if you had the choice today, you'd leave him and choose Nafai."
"A lie!" cried Elemak. "Don't answer her, Eiadh! Say nothing!"
"Because he can't bear to hear the truth," said Hushidh. "He'll hear it in your voice."
Now Luet understood. Hushidh was using her talent from the Oversoul, just as she did when Rashgallivak stood in the foyer of Rasa's house, planning to use his soldiers to kidnap Rasa's daughters. Hushidh was saying the words that would destroy the loyalty of Elemak's followers, that would remove all support from him. She was unbinding them, and if she could just say a few more sentences, she would succeed.
Unfortunately, Luet wasn't the only one wh
o realized this. "Silence her!" said Sevet. Her voice was harsh and husky, for she had not yet recovered well from the injury Kokor gave her. But she could speak well enough to be heard, and the very painfulness of her voice brought her all the more attention. "Don't let Hushidh speak. She's a raveler, and if she says enough she can turn everyone against everybody else. I saw her do it to Rashgallivak's men, and she can do it now, if you let her."
"Sevet is right," said Elemak. "Not another word from you, Hushidh, or I'll kill him."
Almost she opened her mouth to speak again, Luet could see it. But something—perhaps the Oversoul—restrained her. She turned and stepped back to where she had stood before, on the far side of Rasa and Shedemei. It was the last hope gone, as far as Luet could see. The Oversoul could make weak-willed people stupid or afraid for a short while, but she hadn't the strength to stop a man determined on murder. She hadn't the strength to make the bandits turn suddenly kind in their dealings with Nafai, should they find him. She certainly couldn't keep the animals of the desert from finding him and devouring him. Hushidh's ploy had been the last possibility, and it was gone.
No, I will not despair, thought Luet. Perhaps if we abandon him here I can slip away from the party and come back and untie him. Or perhaps I can kill Elemak in his sleep and…
No, no. She hadn't murder in her, and she knew it. Not even if the Oversoul commanded it, as she had commanded Nafai to kill Gaballufix. She couldn't do it even then. Nor would she be able to slip away and help Nafai in time. It was over. There was no hope.
"He's tied," said Mebbekew.
"Let me check the knot," said Elemak.
"Do you think I don't know how to tie it?" asked Mebbekew.
"This computer they worship supposedly has the power to make people stupider than usual," said Elemak. "Isn't that right, Nafai?"
Nafai said nothing. Luet was proud of him for that, but still frightened for him. For she knew that the Oversoul's power was very great over a long period of time, but very slight at any one moment.
Elemak was now standing close behind Nafai, with the pulse pointed at his back. "Kneel down, little brother."
Nafai didn't kneel, but as if by reflex Meb began to.
"Not you, fool. Nyef."
"The condemned man," said Nafai.
"Yes, you, little brother. Kneel."
"If you're going to use the pulse, I prefer to die standing up."
"Don't make such a show of this," said Elemak. "I want your hands tied to your ankles, so kneel down."
Slowly, carefully, Nafai sank to one knee, then to both.
"Sit on your heels," said Elemak. "Or near them. Yes. Now, Meb, pass the ends of the rope down between his ankles, bring them up and over his legs, and tie them together—in front of his wrists—yes, like that, where his fingers can't possibly reach them. Very good. Can you feel anything in your hands, Nafai?"
"Only the throbbing of my blood, trying to get past the ropes around my wrists."
"Strings, not ropes, Nafai, but they might as well be steel."
"You're not cutting off my blood, Elemak, you're cutting off your own," said Nafai. "For your blood will be unknown on Earth, while my blood will live on for a thousand generations."
"Enough," said Elemak.
"I'll say what I like now," said Nafai, "since you've already determined to kill me—what difference will it make now, for me to say the truth? Should I be afraid that you'll kick me or spit on me, when I already stare death in the face?"
"If you're trying to provoke me into shooting you, it won't work. I promised Lady Rasa, and I'll keep my word."
But Luet could see that Nafai's words were having an effect. The tension in the whole group was rising higher and higher, and it was clear that in everyone's eyes the showdown between them was yet to come, even when Elemak thought he had already won.
"We'll get on our camels now," said Elemak. "And no one will turn back to try to save this mutineer, or whoever tries will share his fate."
If Luet had not been sure that Nafai and the Oversoul must have some kind of plan, she would have insisted then on dying beside her husband. But she knew him well enough, even after only these few days, to know that Nafai felt no fear at all right now. And while he was a brave young man, she knew that if he truly believed he was going to die, she at least would be able to sense his fear. His mother must feel the same way, too, Luet realized, because she was not protesting, either. Instead they both waited and watched as the little play unfolded.
Elemak and Mebbekew started to walk away from Nafai. Then Mebbekew turned, put his foot on Nafai's shoulder, and pushed him over sideways to lie in the sand. With his hands tied to his ankles, he could do nothing to cushion his fall. But now Luet could see behind him, could see clearly that instead of being tied tightly, the strings were only loosely gathered.
So that was what the game was. The Oversoul was doing all she could to influence Mebbekew and Elemak to see tightly bound ropes where in fact the strands were only loops. She normally did not have the power to make them stupid—or at least not enough to make Elemak so unobservant. But between Hushidh and Nafai, with their dangerous, infuriating talk, they had managed to make Elemak so angry that the Oversoul had more power to confuse him. Indeed, there must be others who could see that Nafai was not firmly tied, though fortunately those in the best position to see were also those least likely to point it out—Lady Rasa, Hushidh, and Shedemei. As for the others, with the Oversoul's help they no doubt saw what they expected to see, what Elemak and Mebbekew had led them to expect to see.
"Yes," said Lady Rasa. "Let's go to the camels." She strode boldly toward the waiting animals. Luet and Hushidh followed her. The others also turned and moved.
All except Eiadh. She stood motionless, looking at Nafai. The others, standing beside their kneeling camels, could not help but turn and watch as Elemak walked up to her, put his hand on her back. "I know this hurts your tender heart, Edhya," said Elemak. "But a leader must sometimes act harshly, for the good of all."
She did not even glance at him. "I never thought a man could face death with such perfect calm," she said.
Wonderful, Luet said silently to the Oversoul. You're making her love Nafai all the more? How helpful of you, to guarantee that we'll never have peace, even if Nafai gets out of this alive.
(Have a little trust, will you? I can't do everything at once. Which would you rather have, Eiadh out of love with your husband, or your husband alive and the caravan headed toward Volemak?)
I trust you. I just wish you wouldn't cut it so close.
"Hear me!" cried Nafai.
"Pleading will get you nowhere now," said Elemak. "Or do you want to make one last speech of mutiny?"
"He wasn't speaking to us," said Eiadh. "He was speaking to her. To the Oversoul."
"Oversoul, because I have put my trust in you, deliver me from the murdering hands of my brothers! Give me the strength to burst these cords that bind my hands!"
How did it look to the others? Luet could only guess. What she saw was Nafai easily pulling one hand, then the other out of the cords, then clambering without much grace to his feet. But the others surely saw what they feared most—Nafai tearing the cords apart with his hands, then springing to his feet with majesty and danger gathering about him. No doubt the Over-soul was focusing all her influence on the others, sparing none for those who already accepted her purpose. Luet, Hushidh, and Lady Rasa were seeing the facts of what happened. The others were no doubt seeing something, not factual, but filled with truth: that Nafai had the power of the Oversoul with him, that he was the chosen one, the true leader.
"You will not turn those camels toward any city known to humankind!" cried Nafai. His voice was tense and harsh-sounding as he strained to be heard across the broad expanse between him and the farthest camels, where Vas had been helping Sevet to mount. "This mutiny of yours against the Oversoul has ended, Elemak. Only the Oversoul is more merciful than you. The Oversoul will let you live—but on
ly as long as you vow never again to lay one hand upon me. Only as long as you promise to fulfil the journey we began—to join with Father, and then to voyage onward to the world that the Oversoul has prepared for us!"
"What kind of trick is this!" cried Elemak.
"The only trick is the one you used to fool yourself," said Nafai. "You thought that by binding me with cords you could also bind the Oversoul, but you were wrong. You could have led this expedition if you had been obedient and wise, but you were filled with your own lust for power and your own envy, and so you have nothing left now but to obey the Oversoul or die."
"Don't threaten me!" cried Elemak. "I have the pulse, you fool, and I've passed a sentence of death on you!"
"Kill him!" shouted Mebbekew. "Kill him now, or you'll regret it forever!"
"So brave of you," said Hushidh, "to urge your brother to do what you would never have the heart for yourself, little Meb." Her voice had such sting to it that he stepped back as if he had been slapped.
But Elemak did not step back. Instead he strode forward, holding the pulse. Luet could see that he was terrified—he absolutely believed that Nafai had done something miraculous by breaking free so easily from his bonds—yet terrified or not, he was determined to kill his youngest brother, and the Over-soul could not possibly stop him. It hadn't the power to turn Elemak away from his firm purpose.
"Elya, no!" The cry was from Eiadh. She ran forward, clutched at him, plucked at the sleeve that held the pulse. "For my sake," she said. "If you touch him, Elya, the Oversoul will kill you, don't you know that? It's the law of the desert—what you yourself said. Mutiny is death! Don't rebel against the Oversoul."
"This isn't the Oversoul," Elemak said. His voice trembled with fear and uncertainty, though—and no doubt the Oversoul was seizing on every scrap of doubt in his heart, magnifying it as Eiadh pled with him. "This is my arrogant little brother."
"It should have been you," said Nafai. "You should have been the one who made the others go along with the Oversoul's plan. The Oversoul would never have chosen me, if you had only been willing to obey."
THE SHIPS OF EARTH Page 5