Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 (34 page)

ON KWAIDE, THE weather was reasonably good, and the shuttles came down into the Valley of the Skulls out of a clear blue sky on a chilly but bright day.

The first one hovered for some time, as its pilot tried to find a safe place to land, and it shone darkly against the sunlight that never reached all the way down into the valley.

At last the pilot seemed satisfied with his position, and the small pod gently descended until it touched the broken rubble which lay strewn over the floor of the valley. There was a pause, and then the hatch was opened from inside, and a tall figure stepped slowly out of the hatch, and negotiated the rungs down the fuselage and onto the floor of the valley. He sighed as he stepped from the last rung; he was the first Kwaidian ever to set foot here, but he didn’t feel that it was an honour. Ledin looked around at the dark and damp valley with disfavour.

Grace was the next down, and then she turned to watch as Diva and Six brought their shuttle in to land. The two newlyweds had tried to convince their friends not to come with them, but there had been no gainsaying them. Diva appeared to be under the illusion that the two of them would get themselves lost forever in the mountains up beyond the black peak, and Six was determined to pay homage to Ledin’s sister by helping his friend out in this.

“After all,” he had said, “we have had quite parallel lives, you and I. It could easily have been me who was being chased across the peaks, and it could easily be one of my sisters lying in the Valley of Skulls now. In a way I feel as if Hanna had been my sister too. It was a part of all of our lives, and I owe this to you, to her, and to that old Kwaide we were forced to live in.”

Ledin had stared at him for a long moment, and then clapped him on the back. It was true, he realized. Things had changed so much on Kwaide in such a short time, that this was a way to honour all the no-names who had perished at the hands of the wildest factions of the Elders.

“We will put her to rest wrapped in the flag of New Kwaide,” he said suddenly.

The others nodded. “Yes, of course,” said Grace. “She would have liked that.”

“They all would have.” Ledin’s eyes were far away.

Six pursed his lips for a moment, and then his eyes shone. “We should put up a monument to the previous generations of no-names,” he said. “Then they would never be forgotten.”

“Yes!” Ledin was pleased. “But what, and where?”

“That’s easy,” Grace told them. “The single most evocative thing of the hard life of the no-names on Kwaide is the waterfall over the black peak, the one which turns all objects hung in it to stone. That symbolizes the impossibly difficult life you all had to lead perfectly – even the water you drank was so hard it petrifies things. All we have to do is to add a small shrine to one side, and place one or two significant things inside the waterfall, where they will be petrified. The rest we can leave to time.”

They had all agreed, and spoken to the new president of Kwaide about it. He had liked the idea, and a volunteer group was already building what was to be the small shrine. The president had come up with an idea of his own: there was to be a cabin added close by, so that the New Kwaidians could go into retreat there for a few days, and live for that small time fasting and drinking only the rock-hard water. It would be a way of remembering past lives, past friends and past history.

They had left Cimma on Valhai. Vion had recommended at least a week’s complete rest before she resumed her duties on Kwaide, so they had asked Tallen and Petra to look after her, left Bennel to take care of all three of them, checked with the man who spoke to canths that the journey of colour could be shared with other people, and then left for Kwaide, transported to the space station by Arcan.

Now they stood, eyes narrowed, examining the floor of the Valley of the Skulls. There were crags all around, sheer black rock that glistened with moisture. It was imposing and overpowering, leading to a sensation of distaste, of fear.

Ledin pointed to the northernmost point of the valley, where the black rock seemed to crash together in a massive overhang, probably 600 metres above the ground. Grace bent her head forward again, and massaged the back of her neck. It hurt to crick her neck that far back. She breathed in slowly. There was an unpleasant odour about the valley. It was dank and musty and gave rise to a rather unpleasantly tart taste in the back of her mouth.

They began to pick their way across the rubble to the northernmost edge of the valley, Ledin and Grace leading the way, and Six following, talking to Diva.

Six gave Diva a sideways look. “You know,” he said, “I’m not sure I should go back to Coriolis with you, even for a few days. I’m feeling quite settled here. I might stay on Kwaide.”

Diva looked up quickly. “Oh?”

“It really is about time that we decided what we are going to do – with our lives, I mean.” He looked casually in another direction. “I thought I might stay around here for a bit. You know, see the shrine finished, give a couple of classes at the university; that sort of thing.”

She had become suddenly alert. “On … on your own, or … accompanied?” she asked.

“Do you care?”

“I—”

“Because you were the one who said that – even when we were consorts – we would be free to have relationships with other people.”

“Yes. I know I did, and of course, that is true, but—”

“You really ought to make up your mind, you know, Diva.”

“I thought you would come back with me to Coriolis. My mother is about to proclaim the new changes. I thought you would want to be there. After all, you will be reinstated at the same time. I will declare resumption of consort privilege.”

He stopped, and stared at her. “Ooh!” he said in a sarcastic voice, “what a treat!” Then he raised his eyes heavenwards. “And what will that give me?”

She looked confused. “You will become consort again. You will get your palace and your stipend back.”

Six gave her a pitying look. “I’m not a pet monkey,” he said. “I don’t
do
sitting around in luxury. You know that.”

Diva’s eyes flashed. “Well you won’t have to sit around in luxury for very long, no-name! I’m only suggesting you come over to witness the signing of the new laws. Just for a few days. And it was your idea in the first place. If you have too many … commitments … over here in Kwaide, then we’ll say no more about it.”

Six brightened. “Good. Glad that’s settled.”

Diva restrained herself from hitting him over the head. She counted up to ten, and then she brushed a few specks of invisible dust off her sleeve. “Of course, you would be playing right into Tartalus’s hands.”

He gave a frown. “What do you mean?”

Well, if you don’t turn up to reclaim consort privilege, then I will be declared officially single again, which means that there will be many pretenders to the post – like Tartalus.”

“That posturer!” Six was aware of the heat of an uneven anger, spreading out from somewhere in the centre of his chest. “So? What could he do about it – you wouldn’t have anything to do with him.”

“No, but one of our children is already an acknowledged future Elder, and by law requires a male consort to oversee his or her upbringing. If I am declared officially single, and refused to marry again, the meritocrats might assign a consort to me—”

“Over my dead body!”

“—Who would then assume the privileges of full consort rights – including the right to becoming legal father to all fifty children on Xiantha.”

Six turned white. “You are making that up!”

Diva thought quickly, examining her nails. “No. Why would I do that?” she asked. “Oh, look, I’ve chipped a nail!”

“I don’t give a bat’s ear for your nails!”

Diva opened her eyes wide. “Six!”

“—Or your cutis, or your white teeth, or your interminably long legs, or your terrible character—”

“—Excuse me? Terrible character?” Her eyes flashed.

He gave her a look. “Well, you have, Diva! You are cranky and overbearing and proud and haughty and generally totally impossible.”

She tossed her hair back, and faced him with her hand on her scabbard. “Take that back!”

“Why? It has the merit of being true.” He faced her head on, and they both glared at each other. “And now we’re on the subject, you can’t take criticism either. You come from a long line of meritocrats who throw anybody that doesn’t agree with them into the pit, and you are just like them.”

She gasped. “I so am NOT! How DARE YOU!”

There was a moment’s stunned silence, and then the sound waves carrying her last shouted word slammed into blocks of solid rock on all sides, and threw them back to the centre of the valley, echoing around again and again. “HOW DARE YOU! DARE YOU! DARE YOU! Dare you! Dare you! Dare you!”

Ledin and Grace turned back to stare, but then Grace caught sight of Diva’s expression and tugged at Ledin’s hand with what fingers she still had left. He looked down at her and smiled, and then they resumed their scrambling progress across the floor of the valley.

“There’s no need to shout,” said Six crossly. “I heard you the first time.”

“I’ll shout if I want to.” She put her arms on her hips, and fixed him with a steely glare. “If that is what you think of me, I’m not surprised you prefer to stay on Kwaide!”

Six gave a sigh. “After we find Hanna, I am going to make a life for myself here on Kwaide, and possibly find somebody to share it with me. When I was waiting to be blown up by you on Pictoria I suddenly realized that I shouldn’t waste any more time.” He was breathing rather hurriedly, but he didn’t notice.

“So now I’m a waste of time, am I?”

He narrowed his eyes. “You know perfectly well I didn’t say that, Diva! Stop twisting my words and playing with me – you aren’t a catumba, although you behave enough like one most of the time.”

She caught her breath. “I do NOT!”

“—I’m not going to throw my life away. You have always made it clear what you think of no-names like me. Well, guess what? Not everybody shares that opinion.”

“I don’t th-think that! You know that is not true. That was always just a joke!”

“Was it?”

Diva was looking horrified. “But … But we were going to leave Coriolis together, before … before we met Tartalus that day.”

Six was tempted to give way, but he was too cross to give her that satisfaction. “Were we? I forget.” And with that said, he marched in the direction of the others.

Diva stared after him as he strode away, suddenly feeling bereft. She stamped her foot and glowered. But there was nobody left to see it. For some ridiculous reason she felt tears coming to her eyes. She felt as if she were missing out on something really important. Something that nobody had ever explained to her. She dashed the tears away furiously, and began to walk slowly after Six.

THEY SPLIT UP into two groups when they reached the part of the valley directly underneath the overhang. Ledin took Diva around to the right, having decided that the atmosphere between the two would be helped by a little distance. Six and Grace started a grid search to the left.

Grace sent a sharp glance at Six, and decided to hold her tongue. There was nothing she could say just at the moment that would make things even a little bit better, so she would do well to keep quiet. She and Six began to search for Hanna in silence.

Ledin was watching Diva out of the corner of his eye. She was walking jerkily, her back rigid, her neck muscles taut. One incisor was visible biting down on her bottom lip. He half-raised one eyebrow and decided to keep his distance from her. She didn’t look safe. He began the search, but kept an eye on the Coriolan girl at the same time.

Diva was having some difficulty blinking away more tears. She was furious with herself. Coriolan meritocrats never cried! She was built of sterner stuff than that! And why on Sacras should she be crying for a Kwaidian no-name who was more stubborn than a Cesan donkey crossed with a vaniven? She would NOT give way to pressure like that! She should have blown him up while she had the chance! Her mind was whirling around and around the same words that echoed in her head, and she could barely concentrate on looking for Hanna.