[Lanen Kaelar 01] - Song in the Silence (17 page)

Still, habit kept me back, and
obedience to the laws of our Kindred. I remained in hiding and waited.

Lanen

We had a fair walk north after we
landed, through thick stands of lansip trees. A gentle breeze blew towards us
from the north and the smell was glorious, spicy and invigorating. There seemed
almost a holiday air among us all; I think it must have been the wonder of
filling our lungs with that rare perfume not smelled in a hundred years. It was
a marvelous sensation—at least, for those of us walking ahead of the cattle.

After about an hour we reached a
small clearing, one of three. I was amazed to see that there were old cabins
still standing, two of them, made of a dark red wood I had not seen before. As
if they had known what to expect, Marik’s men directed the Harvesters to the
next clearing, which held no structures and was no more than a large open space
among the trees. I could only guess they had old Merchant’s tales to guide
them. The place had an ancient feel to it, and lonely, as if it had been
waiting faithfully for men to return and bring it once again to life.

The tents we carried were soon
raised. There was room for four in each, but since we had lost so many in the
passage I managed to get a tent for Rella and myself alone. We were all given
our duties immediately, some to fetch water from a nearby spring, some to start
a fire, some to see to the cattle. We noticed that most of the sailors who had
helped carry supplies stayed on as well, and why not? There were fortunes
literally on the trees here, no need to pass up such a chance of wealth.

I barely noticed what we were doing.
I fancied I could smell Dragons on the air, feel their presence in the trees
beyond, watching and waiting.

For me, of course.

Ah, Lady bless us. Was lever truly
that young?

Kantri

When I had tracked them to the Gedri
camp and it grew clear that the one I watched so closely did not mean to call
to me yet, I turned over the watch to Hadreshikrar. It was nearly time for the
renewal of the treaty, if the Gedri remembered. More than a hundred years had
passed. I knew from my studies that in their brief lives such a span
encompassed three or four generations. Few of my people had even noticed.

Thus I was pleased to find at the
appointed place and time a new Speaker. This one was tall for their kind, with
hair of golden red—from the little I had seen I guessed he must be the leader
of this Harvest. He waited but a moment before he called out, “Very well,
it is noon and I am here. Show yourself, Dragon, I pray you; I have much to
do.” There was an insolence in his voice that surprised me. The Gedri are
seldom so arrogant in the face of my people.

When the sun stood directly overhead
I moved into the gap in the trees, where I might be seen, and answered him.
“Greetingss, childt off the Gedri. Hwat bringethh thee ofer ssea to the
landt of my people?” I make certain that my man-speech is archaic and a
little rusty when the Harvesters renew the treaty.

The Speaker started violently when he
heard my voice. “You’re real,” he said, his voice much lower and
shaking now. “Forgive me—I was told—I thought you were legend.” He
stood in a cloud of fear.

“It hathh been many a yeear
ssince thou hasst come for the hlanssif. Knowest thou sstill the termss off the
treeaty?”

He managed to speak at last.
“I—no, your pardon, Lord Dragon, I knew not even that there was a
treaty,” he said. I was struck by his voice. Despite his fear he sounded
much like one of the Kindred—it was pleasing to hear a Gedri voice musical.

“Thou art hhere for the hharvest
nonethelesss?”

“Yes, Lord Dragon. But—what
treaty—forgive me, lord, I didn’t think you would be here.”

“It iss ssimple, childt off the
Gedri. The Boundary iss well sset to north and far away west, a ffence off
woodt between thy people andt mine. Ssouth iss thy landing place, easst iss the
ssea. Keep thysself and thy kindred on thine own sside the ffence, hwere the
hlansif trrees arre, andt for ourr part we sshall not cross the Boundary to
interffere with thee. An thou or one of thy kindred dost cross oferr, thy
livess are fforfeit and we sshall ssslay thee on ssight. Sshouldsst thou
require to sspeak with uss, be heere at noon and thou sshalt be ansswered.
Thou hast until dawn off the sseventh day from thiss moment to gatherr hwat
hlansif thou willt. On that day thou sshalt meet with me here to ssay farewell
when the ssun riseth ofer the rim off the worldt. Ffail not off that meeting,
ffor it iss the assurance that thou art departing. Shouldsst thouremain
affterr, thy departure will be assissted. Dost undersstand?”

“I—yes, yes, I think so. We stay
on this side of the Boundary, we have six days to gather and I must meet with
you before we leave at dawn on the seventh day. If we need to talk come at
noon. Is that it?”

“Hyu lissten well, merchant.
Hwat issthy name?”

“I am Ma—Master Bors of Trissen,
Lord Dragon. How should I call you?”

I smelt the lie and put a low growl
in my voice. “Truth, Merchant. I assk only thy ussename, but I will have
the true one.”

“Marik. Marik of Gundar,”
he said swiftly. “And you are?”

I hissed my amusement. “I hight
Hlorrd Drragon.” He seemed disconcerted by my laughter. “Know that thou
andt thy people arre watched alwayss,” I told him. “Ssendt the cattle
through the gate at ssunsset. Sshouldsst thou have needt to sspeeak with me,
come to thiss place andt call for the Guardian. Barring ssuch a meeting, we
sshall not sspeeak again until thou art ready to depart.”

He bowed shakily in my general
direction and left, far more swiftly than he had come.

That was the extent of the prescribed
contact between our peoples, save a formal farewell when they left.

For me it was not enough.

There is among the Greater Kindred a
longing which we call
ferrinshadik
. It may be, as some believe, a racial
memory from aeons past, for it is felt to some extent by us all—but to some, as
to me, it is a bitter pain to be borne. It is the deep longing to speak with
another species; to converse with another Kind, to learn, to see the world
through different eyes. It has been my burden all my life. I have learned all
that is known of the Gedri among my people, thus trying to ease the pain, but
it only grew worse.

How should I describe a deep longing
of the heart for that which cannot be? There is a ban against our races
meeting, for the dangers to both sides are too great. Since the coming of the
Demonlord, there is too deep a temptation for my people to desire the death of
the Gedri. That is why we first came to live on this island. The Great Ban has
been in place for three thousand years, a long time even by my people’s
reckoning, and we could not see a way to end it without grave danger to both
sides.

Some have tried to speak with trees
to ease the
ferrinshadik
, but that slow ponderous speech takes a
lifetime to learn, even one of our lifetimes; and it knows only wind, water,
earth and tire, sap rising and leaves falling. The true
ferrinshadik
is
for speech with a sentient being. The Trelli have all gone, as far as we know;
we do not speak with our life-enemies the Rakshasa; there remain only the
Gedrishakrim. Our old fear and loathing is hard to overcome, and most of the
Kindred believe that it is foolishness to try—but the
ferrinshadik
is
not to be denied, and I had it in greater measure than any I knew. Hadreshikrar
knew it as a scholar, but that is the lesser kind. My blood ran with it, my Weh
sleep was plagued with dreams, and every year I waited for some sign that the
time had come.

The one who laughed. My heart was
full of her. I longed to speak with her, but I must not. I myself had helped
establish the Harvest laws, and a king cannot act against his own decree. So I
must wait and hope, and see if she also felt the longing.

She must come to me.

Lanen

After the tents were set up and we
were more or less settled I had to fight my instinct to hide myself. It was not
possible, of course. Marik knew I was here and there was no way to avoid him,
so I decided, perversely, to seek him out. I asked Rella if she knew where I
might find him.

“He’s gone to talk with the
Guardian, I hear,” she said. “If he’s uneaten yet he should be back
soon enough.” She seemed to have a hearty contempt for Marik, which made
me feel a little better. At least it helped balance the fear.

But even as she spoke I saw Marik’s
long figure emerge from a gap in the trees. He seemed terribly excited as he
strode along, and my good intentions vanished like smoke in a high wind. I
ducked back in the tent and tried to keep hidden.

I might have saved myself the
trouble. The Master called out to the company and told us all to assemble in a
wide clearing just north of the one where we had set up camp. I realised that
that was the direction Marik had come from.

I put up the hood of my old black
cloak and wandered over to the gathering, despite all sense frying to walk
hunched over and with bent knees. Marik stood nearby, but it was the ship’s
Master, he who had signed me on back in Corli, who spoke to us.

“Here it begins,” he said
simply. “Lord Marik has spoken with the Guardian of the Trees and learned
the terms of the treaty. That old fence along the trees—” He pointed
behind him to an obvious line of trees with an overgrown but still visible path
alongside it and a decaying fence before. “—is the Boundary. The fence
runs for some miles to the west, and according to our records bends south to
meet the coast. The sea is the Boundary east. We are allowed to collect any
leaves we find on this side of the line, also any fruit, but there’s no sense
bringing back trees, they just die. Ifs leaves you’re after. The more the
better, we’ve sacks enough to strip bare every lansip tree on this island.
Fruit still on the tree is to be brought in person by the finder back to Marik,
who will occupy the larger cabin. The finder will be credited with the weight
of the fruit in silver.” Here his mask cracked slightly and the Master let
loose his gap-toothed grin. “I hear the things weigh as much as a melon.
Guard them with your lives.”

That got an appreciative murmur.

His voice grew louder. (I was
impressed despite myself; I knew how hard it was to make that kind of noise.)
“But believe me when I tell you—you will not pass over that Boundary and
live. I heard some of you on the way here saying the Dragons were something we
Merchants had created to keep lansip to ourselves. “He grinned again,
briefly. “I wish we had, ifs a wonderful idea. However, they beat us to
it.

“No matter what you heard or
didn’t aboard ship, Lord Marik has now spoken with one of the beasts. The
Dragons are real. They live here, this is their island, and you Cross that
Boundary on peril of instant death. All the records we have of the old voyages
say that they will slay on sight anyone who tries to cross over, and the
Guardian has said it again not five minutes past.

“Keep on this side, work like
fury for the next seven days, and you should all be disgustingly rich when we
get back to Corli. Cross that border and you die, simple as that. Any
questions?”

Silence.

“Leave your gear in your tents,
get as many sacks as you want from the quartermaster after the midday meal.
Dismissed.”

The rest went their ways, leaving me
staring still into the dark wood ahead. I could see no farther than a few feet
through the thick branches, thinned though they were by autumn nakedness. I
nearly spoke out then and there when the Master called to me.

It was not the time, I knew that
perfectly well; yet I turned away reluctantly, staring over my shoulder until
the clearing was out of sight.

VIII

VOICES BY MOONLIGHT

Lanen

By nightfall reckoned I’d made back at least what
I’d spent in Corli before the voyage. I had a feeling for weight, and the
leaves I’d carried even in half a day came to a decent amount in silver.
Tonight and thereafter we’d have to go farther afield, but even I had already
seen thicker groves farther off and I wasn’t paying much attention. True
enough, I wouldn’t object to the silver my efforts would bring me, but there
were other things on my mind.

I still hoped that by the morrow I’d have found a
Dragon to talk to. Marik had not sought me out nor sent for me—I began to hope
that now he was here his mind was on lansip, not on me. But ever in my inner
ear I heard a small voice whisper that this might be my father, and I long
promised to demons.

The evening meal was warm and plentiful, and the
moment ii was over most of the others collected more sacks and went hack to the
trees. A few, with whom I remained, went into their tents, planning to start
again as soon as they were rested. Most planned to rise after only a few hours.
I was surprised to find that no watch was set on the camp and asked Rella about
it as we were preparing for bed.