Noman (20 page)

"Still crazy, Wildman," she said.

"Crazier than ever, Princess!"

He waved to his people and they streamed forward and clustered round the Orlan warriors, reaching up friendly hands, calling on them to dismount.

"We love you!" they said. "Share the joy!"

Caressa saw her army disintegrate into a laughing, hugging melee, and she no longer cared.

"I'm going to nail your ears to a door," she said to the Wildman. Then she kissed him long and hard on the lips.

Night had fallen by the time Seeker and Echo reached the summit of the last hill. Now below them Seeker saw the great gathering that was his destination. Fires and torches lit up the wide valley from side to side. The jangle of music and the shouting of thousands of voices echoed in the night air.

"He's down there somewhere," said Seeker.

"What will you do?"

"Find him. Finish it."

Echo leaned forward and stared intently down into the valley, as if she could see the one man they sought in all that distant crowd.

"So many people," she said. "He must be strong now. Stronger even than you."

"We'll see."

"And if you do kill him, what then?" She turned on him, her eyes glittering. "Will you kill me?"

Seeker said nothing. He kept his eyes on the gathering in the valley. From the sound of the music and the waving lines of torches, it seemed the people had started a mass dance.

"You know, don't you?" said Echo.

"Yes. I know."

Her face changed. Hard lines furrowed her cheeks, and her voice turned husky.

"I can't let you do that," she said. Then her voice rose to a shrill scream. "Assassin! Destroyer! I won't let you kill me! I won't let the knowledge die!"

She swung Kell round and rode off at great speed. Seeker let her go. He had work to do here.

When Morning Star and the children reached the hilltop, they found Seeker alone, kneeling on the ground. His head was bowed and his eyes were closed. The valley below echoed with music and the stamp of dancing feet.

"Whoa!" said Burny. "Big dance!"

Morning Star touched Seeker, thinking he must be asleep.

"We're here," she said. "Let me take you to meet the Beloved."

Seeker was not asleep. He spoke without opening his eyes.

"Soon," he said. "When I'm ready."

"Ready?"

Then Morning Star understood what he was doing. He was gathering his lir for combat.

"This isn't a battle, Seeker! You don't have to fight anyone!"

"I'm sorry, Star," he replied. "This is what I have to do."

"Why? Why do you think the Beloved is your enemy?"

"He's deceived you," said Seeker. "His name is Manlir. He's a savanter."

"No! No, Seeker, you're wrong! He's young, younger even than us! He's good, and kind. Meet him for yourself. You'll see."

"I will meet him," said Seeker. "When I'm ready."

The children were eager to be going on down the hill, to rejoin the Joyous.

"Come on, lady. I'm hungry."

"There's dancing. I like dancing."

"I'll tell him," said Morning Star to Seeker. "Then he'll know what to say to you."

She thought Seeker would try to stop her. She thought he wouldn't let her go ahead without him. But he seemed not to hear her.

"Seeker? I'm going to the Beloved now."

"Go," he said, his voice very low.

He had gone into the stillness. There was nothing more she could do.

"Come on," she said to the children. "Let's go and join the dance."

A
T THE VERY CENTER OF THE
J
OYOUS, AT THE STILL
point of the dancing throng, the Joy Boy sat on the ground, cross-legged and smiling, sipping a mug of juice. Round him swept a ring of linked dancers, capering first this way and then that, to the squeal of pipes and the hammer of drums. Beyond this inner ring danced a second, bigger ring, and beyond that, a third; and so on, out farther and farther, until the outermost ring numbered many hundreds of dancers.

Caressa Jahan was holding tight to the Wildman's hand and swinging round and round to the beat, her luxuriant hair flying, her eyes shining. Orlans and spikers were intermingled in the dancing circles, men and women, boys and girls. They had been on their feet for so long now that they had passed beyond tiredness into a pulsing trance that none of them wanted ever to end.

Morning Star and the children reached the Joyous while this mass dance was still in progress. The children ran off to the food wagons. Morning Star went in search of the Joy Boy at the heart of the dance. She ducked between the rings of dancers, envying them their ecstatic smiles and their abandoned movements. No one paid her any attention. She wondered if they even saw her as she slipped beneath clasped hands, passing from ring to ring. The music made her long to dance too, but first she had a message to deliver. So she stopped her ears and passed on to the center.

When she was on the outside of the innermost ring, she saw the Wildman dance by, and she stopped in astonishment. She followed him round with her eyes and saw how all the sadness had fallen away from him, and she marvelled. He looked more beautiful than ever, and more carefree.

Yet why should I be surprised? she thought to herself. He's been touched by joy, as I have been.

Then she recognized Caressa by his side, and she almost laughed aloud. So Caressa too had found the Joyous. Caressa who had boasted about the Wildman, "I'll lock him up till he loves me." Now here she was, dancing by his side, just another one of the thousands who had been transformed by the Beloved.

And this was the man Seeker meant to kill.

She could see him now, sitting very still in the center of the circling dance. And he could see her.

He beckoned to her to come to him. Morning Star ducked between the dancers and knelt on the ground by the Joy Boy's side. He looked on her with his gentle melting eyes and smiled.

"You have found your friend, I see," he said. "But you have bad news."

"Yes, Beloved. I have bad news."

The Joy Boy lifted one hand and the music ceased. The dancers danced on for a little longer, then they began to drop to the ground in exhaustion. The Wildman saw Morning Star and gave a whoop of delight.

"Star! I love you!"

He threw himself on her and wrapped her in his arms.

"You've come back! Will it be like the old days again? Where's Seeker? I want him to share the joy!"

"Careful, Wildman." Caressa peeled his arms off Morning Star, giving her a quick warning look as she did so. "Don't want to squeeze her to death."

Morning Star drew back, content to leave the Wildman with Caressa.

"Seeker's on his way," she said.

"Seeker coming! Heya! We stand together to the end of the world!"

"It's not like that any more." She turned back to the Joy Boy. "Seeker believes you're his enemy."

The Joy Boy raised his black eyebrows.

"Does he, now?"

"He thinks you're a savanter. He means to kill you."

The Wildman heard Morning Star's warning without understanding.

"Seeker wants to kill the Beloved? No, no! That makes no sense."

"He thinks I'm a savanter," said the Joy Boy.

"What's a savanter?" said Caressa. "What are you all talking about?"

"The enemies of the Noble Warriors," said Morning Star. "Seeker was given his power to kill them."

"Why should he believe the Beloved is an enemy of the Noble Warriors?"

"Because I am," said the Joy Boy, speaking slowly and softly.

The others stared at him.

"Consider." The Joy Boy spread his plump hands. "What is it that marks out the Noble Warriors from all others? Why are they held in such high esteem? They are champions of justice in a cruel world. For the Noble Warriors to have a purpose, there must be injustice and cruelty. There must be all the bitter fruits of separation. But after the Great Embrace there will be no more separation. The god of the Noble Warriors will be irrelevant. The mission of the Noble Warriors will be at an end. Of course the Noble Warriors see me as their enemy and seek to destroy me."

"But they're wrong!" cried Morning Star. "Beloved, you must make him see he's wrong! Talk to him. Let him feel the joy."

"I fear his heart has been hardened against me."

"But you must try!"

"And if I fail?" He smiled for her with a sweet sadness that almost broke her heart. "Your friend possesses more power than I. For myself I care nothing. But here are thousands upon thousands of good people to whom I have made a promise. Am I to let them down now?"

All those round him within hearing gazed at him, shocked by his words.

"Is the Great Embrace not to happen after all?" they said.

"Can't we do it now, Beloved? Before this killer comes."

The Joy Boy shook his head.

"The Great Embrace needs time," he said. "I fear that our angry friend will come soon."

"I'll meet him," said the Wildman. "I'll stop him."

"He's too strong for you now, Wildman," said Morning Star.

"Maybe so, but he's my friend. He'll listen to me. I'll make him understand. And if I don't, at least I'll slow him down."

All eyes now turned back to the Joy Boy.

"It's good that he should be greeted by a friend," said the Joy Boy after a moment's thought. "Meet him with love. But your love may not be strong enough to hold him."

"I'll not go alone," said the Wildman, "and if I have to, I'll hold him in my arms. What's he going to do? Kill me?" He laughed his ringing laugh. "You leave Seeker to me."

The Joy Boy bowed his head in respect.

"You have a great heart," he said.

Then he looked up and spoke for all to hear.

"The Great Embrace will proceed at once. Let the people take their places."

The word passed down the rings of the Joyous, and a ripple of excited chatter spread out through the crowd.

The Joy Boy touched the Wildman lightly on one arm.

"He will hate you," he said. "He will fight you. Is your love strong enough for this?"

"Try me!" cried the Wildman.

"Then, go with joy," said the Joy Boy. "Love him enough to save him."

The Wildman set off at once for the river bridge. Pico picked up a burning torch and followed behind.

Caressa said, "If there's a next time, that'll do for me, too."

She went after the Wildman, and a band of Orlans went with her.

Morning Star hesitated, but not for long.

"I can't go without my friends," she said.

She followed also, her heart heavy, dreading what was to come.

The Joy Boy then gave his instructions, and the people of the Joyous began to form themselves into lines. The lines began before him, and were arranged in a precise pattern. The first line was of two people only. Behind these two stood four more, close enough to touch the two in front with their outstretched hands. Behind them were eight, and then sixteen, and so on. As the lines grew longer they curved into arcs, so that all the people behind could reach one shoulder of one who stood in front. As the lines grew longer still the arcs extended into circles; and beyond the circles, more circles, into the darkness.

The people called out to each other as they took their places, filled with excited anticipation of the moment they'd all been waiting for.

"Share the joy!" they cried.

"Soon we'll be gods!"

The lines and circles overflowed wagons and tents and campfires all the way to the banks of the river. Those who failed to find a place in a line squeezed between the lines, attaching themselves like satellites to whomever they could reach. All the torches were thrown down now, to burn in the fires; both hands were to be free for the Great Embrace.

The Joy Boy stood silent and patient at the very front of the vast formation, facing the first line of two. He waited until the surging of the crowd settled at last into a bristling silence. Word then came up the lines that all were as ready as they ever would be.

The Joy Boy bowed and turned round, so that his back was to the two behind him. He fell to his knees on the ground.

"Kneel," he said to the man behind on his left. "Lay both hands on my left shoulder." To the woman on his right he said, "Kneel and lay both hands on my right shoulder."

They did so.

"Lower your face to your arms and close your eyes. Now let those behind you do the same."

So it was done, line after line, circle after circle, rippling across the valley, until every man, woman, and child was kneeling, linked in an unbroken chain of touch from the very outermost ring all the way to the Joy Boy at the center.

"Keep the contact," said the Joy Boy. "Once the Great Embrace begins, you must keep touching. If you break the contact you will be left behind."

This instruction too was passed down the lines.

"Now listen to the sound I make," he said. "Make the same sound yourself. And open your hearts to joy."

He closed his eyes and began to hum. The humming was soft and deep and musical. Those behind him picked up the note as best they could, and so the humming spread until the sound filled the valley like a coming storm. Here and there where the fires burned, the people could be seen beginning to sway from side to side, all instinctively adopting the same rhythm. Without any further instruction, the humming took on shape and melody, and wave after wave of wordless song swept over the swaying mass. Faint flecks of white foam appeared on the lips of those nearest to the front. And the Joy Boy himself, kneeling, his eyes closed, humming sweet and slow, smiled a beatific smile.

Seeker heard the wave of sound. He rose to his feet and looked down into the valley below. He saw the swaying mass of people and knew at once that the Great Embrace had begun.

He set off down the hillside. Ahead lay the dark river; and crossing the river bridge, striding towards him, lit by torches, was a line of distant figures.

His time of preparation had done its work. He felt sure and strong. Everything was simple now. No power on Earth could stand in his way.

The people ahead saw Seeker descending the hill and came to a stop, barring his way onto the bridge. One of them now stepped forward, his arms spread wide. Amazed, Seeker recognized the Wildman.