Tymon's Flight

by Mary Victoria

‘A father, a brother and a son,’ the second would reply.

  A tall woman standing on the spur sang in response to Samiha. Their voices echoed backwards and forwards between the branch and the ship.

  ‘Why does he come here, sister?’

  ‘He departs on the long journey, sister.’

  ‘He goes in peace then, with the love of many.’

  ‘He goes in beauty, to join the Mother.’

  ‘In the beauty.’ Tymon breathed the familiar refrain as the Nurian words faded on the breeze.

  There was nothing left to do but bid a final farewell to the old judge and the young guard. The biers were dragged to the brink of the gutted limb and tipped over into emptiness. They made no sound as they fell. Tymon thought of the tales of the World Below, the second Tree beneath the Storm. Perhaps his friend’s journey would end there.

  ‘Sav vay, Solis,’ he murmured, his throat constricting.

  He imagined it would be over then. But other villagers walked out to the edge of the branch, throwing garlands of white bean-flower and little straw effigies into the wind. There was nothing more of their loved ones to lay to rest. After a time nobody else came forward. But still the Freeholders stood on the spur, and waited in silence.

  ‘Now what happens?’ Tymon muttered in Samiha’s ear.

  He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The cool air had chilled his bones, only recently knit, and he could not venture outside or walk for extended periods. The signature ceremony had already tired him out. Besides, he was anxious to return to the hold to check on Galliano’s condition.

  The Kion took a deep breath and tore her eyes from the mists. ‘Now, we go home,’ she said.

  There was to be no checking on Galliano for the present. As Samiha spoke, two of the guards on the ship, young men from Solis’ regiment, pushed the gangplank out onto the edge of the spur. Several other villagers secured the dirigible’s moorings and the crowd on the branch parted, opening up the path to the heart of the promontory. Laska and Gardan descended the ramp.

  Samiha held her hand out to Tymon.

  ‘Can you do it?’ she asked.

  He understood that she wished him to accompany her down the spur. He stood up experimentally, taking her arm.

  ‘I think so,’ he said. ‘If we go slowly.’

  They shuffled down the ramp behind the two older judges. Before Tymon could set foot on the spur, an unexpected sound caused him to falter on the gangplank. The Freeholders were clapping. Slowly, rhythmically, they clapped their approval, their eyes fixed on him.

  ‘Why are they doing that?’ he hissed to Samiha. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘I believe,’ her mouth twitched with sober amusement as she helped him down the last step, ‘I believe they want to show their appreciation for what you’ve done. Someone must have told them the story of what happened on the Envoy’s ship. The gist of it got about, in any case.’

  Laska and Gardan moved to the rear, leaving the way open for them, and Tymon limped along with Samiha at the head of the procession, embarrassment flooding him in a tingling rush. The clapping grew louder and whistles and cheers followed them down the spur. Syon! cried the voices. Syon o Sav!

  ‘What are they saying now?’ he asked.

  ‘“Sign of the Sap”.’ Samiha’s whisper was exultant. ‘Your coming here is a fulfilment of prophecy, Tymon, whether you like it or not. You are a prophet. Everyone sees that.’

  He stopped so suddenly that she clutched his arm in consternation, fearing that he might fall.

  ‘I’m no prophet,’ he protested. ‘I’m not anything. Not until I learn how to use my gift. I might as well call down lightning on this place for all the good I’ll do you till then.’ He searched her face intently. ‘I’m an ignorant fool,’ he reiterated. ‘I don’t know what’s out there, but It knows me. You know better than I do things like the Envoy don’t just die. Or if one dies, there’s another somewhere, ready to take its place. I can’t rely on ghosts and spirits to help me out. I need to learn more.’

  She gazed at him in growing wonder as he spoke; he had humbled her for once, rather than the other way around.

  ‘You’re right,’ she admitted. ‘Now that it’s clear to everyone you’re a Grafter, I’m sure the judges will want you to start your studies as soon as possible.’

  He allowed her to lead him on, through the ranks of cheering villagers, though a further, problematic thought had occurred to him.

  ‘There’s no one here who can teach me, is there?’ he whispered to her.

  She shook her head. ‘Only a full-fledged Grafter is qualified to train new students. We lost most of ours when the five Focals were killed. There’s only one left: the Oracle of Nur.’

  ‘Where does he live?’

  ‘She lives in Cherk Harbour, in the South Fringes.’

  ‘It’s just as I feared,’ he sighed gloomily. ‘I haven’t come home at all. I’m stopping on my way to somewhere else. Again.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she assured him, pulling him close as he leaned on her arm. ‘We can make this a good, long stop. I’d like that.’

  His heart leapt at the admission. ‘I’d like it too. But then, you knew that already.’

  He wanted more than anything else at that moment to stay and share her life in peace, on the Freehold. But he also understood that this could not happen. Not yet. Not before he had stepped up to the mark.

  ‘It’s odd, now I think of it,’ she remarked after a pause. ‘There was a death on board the tithe-ship when I arrived in Argos city all those months ago. A pilgrim. I didn’t know him. They didn’t give him any rites. They just threw him overboard before we docked. Now here we are, welcoming you with a proper funeral. We’ve come full circle, I suppose.’

  Tymon grunted with horror. ‘That’s a terrible omen. A ship bringing a dead body to harbour without rites is bad luck for seven years, so they say.’

  ‘I shall not weep for Argos,’ she replied.

  ‘Not many people do,’ he observed thoughtfully.

  They continued down the solitary path together, hand in hand.

  GLOSSARY

  Amu: ‘mother’ in the First Tongue, term commonly used in Argos.

  Apu: as above for ‘father’.

  Argos city: capital of the Argosian state, seat of the Priests’ Council and largest city in the Central Canopy.

  Bark-brick: dense sections of high quality Tree bark cut to form building blocks and used for durable housing or roads.

  Bark-fibre: low quality Tree bark pounded into long strips and used to make rough paper, clothing etc.

  Barley-mushroom: mildly hallucinogenic fungus.

  Barley-vine: grain crop used for bread.

  Blast-poison: semi-mythical explosive substance said to unleash a ball of fire so destructive it can reduce buildings to rubble and gouge sections out of the World Tree. Outlawed for many generations, the secret formula is known to a handful of scholars.

  Bound-boy: recipient of the seminary’s charity. Typically a boy from the poorer sectors of Argosian society, officially adopted by the Priests’ Council and expected to pay off his masters’ investment over a period of indenture.

  Bread-Giving: traditional charity event occurring before the spring festival in Argos. Intended to demonstrate seminary’s generosity to the less fortunate.

  Central Canopy: the largest agglomeration of twigs and branches in the World Tree. The Eastern Canopy is only slightly smaller, but the term reflects the mindset of the Argosian cartographers who changed the name from Western to Central Canopy about five hundred years ago. Physical canopy corresponds to the borders of the Argosian state.

  Choir-rat: pejorative term for a novice at the seminary.

  Clinker-built: built with a system of overlapping planks.

  College [the]: a section of the seminary reserved for the higher education of those taking priestly orders. Also the seat of the Priests’ Council, governing body of Argos.

  Colonies: sections of the Eastern
Canopy under the rule of two major imperialist powers, Argos and Lantria. The Argosian colonies are called the Eastern Domains.

  Council [the, or Priests’]: supreme governing body of Argos, an authority in all religious and secular matters. Father Fallow, Dean of the College, is currently head of the Council and its most influential member. In times past the Dean did not hold such a position of authority, but Fallow has gradually whittled away the political and religious safeguards that kept power in Argos from falling into the hands of one man.

  Damned-to-root: oath. Hell according to Argosian religious doctrine is supposed to exist at the roots of the World Tree.

  Demons: denizens of Hell, malevolent creatures said to torment the spirits of sinners. Sorcerers are thought to be in league with demons.

  Dew-fields: method of farming in drought-ridden Eastern Canopy. Cloth sheets are stretched between twigs of the Tree and used to collect moisture from condensation. Some sheets are also filled with compost and sown with crops.

  Dirigible: common means of transport in the Central Canopy. These flying craft are fitted with multiple floatation sacks filled with buoyant Tree-ether. They use sails to capture wind-currents and steer with poles, parachute-like cloth breaks, or directional streams of ether.

  Divine Mother: name given by Argosians to the World Tree, which they consider to be both Creator and creation. According to legend, the Divine Mother gave birth to all the plants and animals in the Storm, including human beings. Seeing that they needed the sun to live she stretched her arms and head above the clouds, lifting her children to the light.

  Divine Mouth: name of a deep cleft or ‘Tree-rift’ in the trunk above Argos city. The Mouth is the site of an annual spring sacrifice in which a man is driven into the hollow chasm as an offering to appease the wrath of the World Tree.

  Eastern Canopy: agglomeration of twigs and branches piercing the clouds eastwards of the Central Canopy. The Eastern Canopy has suffered a long-term climactic catastrophe over centuries, gradually losing first its leaves, then its Tree-water and Treesap, and finally its rainfall. The chronic drought that followed was probably the single most important factor in the fall of the Nurian Empire and Nurian loss of independence.

  Eastern Doctrine: religion practised by Nurians and considered a heresy by Argosians, particularly in its modern form. Though the two schools actually originate in the same ancient belief system, there have been radical departures in dogma on both sides. Nurians do not believe in the divinity of the World Tree. Instead, they maintain there is a divine and invisible Tree of Being, a source of the mystic Sap that gives life to all things. Nurians also believe that the art of Grafting, or prophecy, is still practised in the world today.

  Eastern Domains: name given by Argosians to their colonies in the Eastern Canopy, former states of the defunct Nurian Empire.

  Eaten: a term used when referring to someone who has or will meet their demise in the Mouth.

  Elder: Nurian term of respect for older or wise person.

  End Times: eschatological period of reckoning foretold by prophets from both the Nurian and Argosian traditions. There are various Signs the faithful will be able to discern pointing to the advent of the End Times. See also ‘Year of Fire’.

  Eternal Maelstrom: another name for Hell, the

  whirlwind that whips about the roots of the World Tree, in which the souls of the damned are forever tormented.

  Ether: see Tree-ether.

  Explorer Sect: faction of Argosian priests interested in exploration beneath the Storm. They were disbanded a hundred years ago after allegedly being found to worship demons. Their theories have been declared heretical by the Council.

  Festival: there are three main holidays or festivals in the Argosian year, corresponding roughly to seasonal events. The first is a spring festival which sees the annual Sacrifice. This is also the time when Argosian boys in their fifteenth year celebrate their Green Rites, or official initiation into adulthood. The second is a harvest festival in late summer. The third is the Tree Festival, a mid-winter holiday celebrating the demise of the old year and the beginning of the new. It includes both religious and secular festivities.

  Fireflax: vine plant with chafing thorns, used to perform self-mutilation as a form of penance. Also boiled and peeled to make scrubbing brushes for use in the bathhouse.

  Fire-sticks: thin shards of wood coated with a flammable gum and rubbed together to provide a spark.

  Fire-watch prayer: special ritual liturgy said to protect from the ravages of fire.

  First Tongue: language which predated both Nurian and Argosian and gave rise to both. Names in Argos often have a root in First Tongue (such as ‘timon’ for ‘Tymon’, meaning navigator). The First Tongue is also used in some Nurian Grafting rituals.

  Fly-fever: infectious sickness resulting in high fevers and death in infants or those who are physically weak.

  Focals: name given to the five chief practitioners of Grafting in the Eastern Canopy.

  Four Canopies: the habitable parts of the world, namely the Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern sections of the Tree.

  Freehold: remnants of independent states in the Eastern Canopy. The Freeholds have treaties of non-violence with the Priests’ Council, however, this does not stop the Argosians from conducting periodic raids, or some Nurians on the Freeholds from fomenting rebellion.

  Friend [star]: bright star visible in the Argosian night sky for much of the year and used as a navigation marker. The Friend is traditionally associated with good luck.

  Frogapple: vine-growing fruit and a bumper crop in Argos. Frogapples are oval with a pointed end, have thin green skin and a light, sweet flavour when ripe. They are used in a wide variety of Argosian dishes.

  Gap [the]: the region of empty air between the Central and Eastern Canopies where no branches are visible and only the Storm clouds stretch to the horizon. Most Treeologists accept that the trunk uniting the canopies continues here under the clouds, though some maverick thinkers deny there is any connection at all between the East and West sides of the Tree.

  Grafter: a seer or prophet supposedly able to foretell the future from visions gained in a trance. The Grafters of legend claimed to communicate with a mystic force known as the Sap, literally the will of God according to Argosian tradition. Nurian tradition holds that the Sap is a life-giving energy flowing through the Tree of Being.

  Grafting: the practice of conducting a Grafter’s trance.

  Greatship: the largest dirigible vessels, equipped with three masts and multiple ether sacks. They are used as merchant ships to carry cargo over long distances (i.e. between the Central and Eastern Canopies) and to conduct large-scale military operations.

  Green Lord: saviour figure actively awaited by Nurians who will appear during the ‘End Times’ and pass judgment on the inhabitants of the Four Canopies.

  Green/Divine Mother: names given by Argosians to the World Tree.

  Green Rites: initiation ceremony taking place during an Argosian boy’s fifteenth year and conferring the rights and responsibilities of full citizenship. Those who have not been to their Rites in Argos may not hold high positions in government or in the trade and artisan guilds. All applicants for entry to the Priests’ College must have completed their Rites. No women or foreigners are eligible. These ceremonies take place in the ‘Divine Mouth’ and witness the death of a Nurian tithe-pilgrim.

  Green Year: period of an Argosian boy’s fifteenth year.

  Guild Fair: event organised by the various Argosian guilds in order to interest students at the seminary in an apprenticeship with their organisation. Entry to the Guild Fair is only available to those students completing their Green Rites, or those with families rich enough to buy them a ticket.

  Hardwood: a type of very dense wood mined from the inner sections of the World Tree’s trunk.

  Hell: a mythical region at the foot of the World Tree, sometimes referred to as the Eternal Maelstrom. This whirlwind gives birth to the S
torm clouds. The shrieking winds are said to be inhabited by demons who torment the souls of the damned with flaming broomsticks.

  Hunter [the]: well-recognised star constellation appearing near the Friend.

  Impure/Impurity: Argosian concept associated with spiritual worth. Some activities are ritually unclean and must be avoided while engaged in particularly holy activities, such as preparing for the Green Rites. Whole segments of society are considered Impure in Argos, including women, foreigners, homeless vagabonds and travelling entertainers called Jays. Even touching such a person might incur a penalty for someone preparing for their Green Rites, for example.

  Jar-pipe: device used to smoke jar-weed.

  Jar-weed: mildly stimulant, addictive herb cultivated in Argos both for medicinal and recreational purposes. Side-effects with long-term use include lung disease and various other ailments.

  Jay: a travelling actor or entertainer, outcast from settled Argosian society. Jays often live in extended family groups with a strong sense of internal identity. They travel the Central Canopy in dirigible convoys and generally convene once a year in Argos city during the Tree Festival, when rules of Impurity are relaxed.

  Juno and Lyla: tale of star-crossed lovers. Lyla is a beautiful maiden and Juno her young suitor. Lyla’s family refuses the match and forbids her to see Juno, shutting her away in a high tower. Driven mad by grief, Juno wanders the canopy.

  Kingdom of Light: title of the Nurian Empire (‘Nur’ meaning ‘light’ in the First Tongue).

  Kion: title of the Nurian monarch, once a constitutional ruler of the Nurian Empire. Though the monarchy still exists it has been outlawed by the Priests’ Council, forcing members of the royal family into hiding.

  Kush: strong liquor distilled from tubers and bark and found primarily in the Eastern Canopy.