The Adventures of Benjamin Skyhammer (15 page)

"We're here," Higgins whispered.

"These Katipo should choose a new route if they want visitors," he muttered. Then he saw what was ahead of them and forgot to breathe.

He'd never felt much inclination to visit the Katipo capital and so hadn't really wondered why humans called it Ambersilk. Now of course, it made complete sense. The 'street', if the gossamer-looking web could be called by so crass a word, stretched taut between trunks of mushrooms, like horizontal sailcloth. This created a huge cloth platform, about five feet above the swamp's surface, attached to mushroom trunks. The city was made entirely of spider silk and glowed softly with amber light. Houses and buildings, or what Skyhammer supposed were houses and buildings, were attached to the trunks and the undersides of mushroom caps. They were also spun from the glowing amber silk. He cocked his head as an airy music filled his ears.

Higgins pointed to her right. A screen of horizontal strings ran between two trunks. A Katipo flitted up and down, tugging a string now at the top, now at the bottom. The music came from the wind passing through the vibrating strings.

"Looks like exhausting work," Skyhammer whispered. The Katipo did not look tired though, instead the creature was dancing joyfully between the strings, as though the music carried it up and down.

The ebony rope led them to the edge of the silk platform. They clambered onto the platform, which was springy under their feet. Skyhammer looked around, unsure of where to go. Didn't seem to be any Katipo nearby.

"Ahem."

Skyhammer did an about-face.

"You are looking for a Katipo?" A serious male Katipo stared up at Skyhammer as he climbed onto the platform from another boat. An enormous spider sprang onto the platform of Ambersilk a few feet behind the Katipo. Skyhammer saw its eyes watching him. How had the Katipo arrived undetected?

Katipo were bright red, their skin layer sheer, their blood visible through the skin. Despite their prowess with silk weaving and quality, they didn't wear any clothes. Skyhammer had never touched one although he longed to run his fingers over their strange skin. Up close, they shone as though a film of oil covered their body. He had seen them fight; they were tough. And very solitary; usually the Katipo and his or her spider travelled alone. Not big talkers either. He'd tried to start up a conversation with one female Katipo he'd seen around a few times in the uncharted territories but as soon as the conversation moved past the weather, she'd said goodnight. He wasn't sure if he'd found her attractive or not. The skin colour and sheen were a bit too close to weird for him. A bit short too. He came back to the present moment to find Higgins looking at him, eyebrows raised and the Katipo smiling.

"Hanamun," he mumbled.

"We have no one of that name here." The Katipo turned away.

Higgins stepped forward. "Wait."

The Katipo paused.

"She was a counsellor at the Relic Hunting Academy. The human one," she added.

The Katipo turned back, eyes closed. "Ah," he sighed, opening his eyes again. "My name is Dufu. I will take you part of the way to Hanamun's home."

"Why only part of the way?" Skyhammer asked.

"Skyhammer!" Higgins admonished him. "Dufu is probably very busy." She bowed to the Katipo. "We appreciate your time."

"Why is no one else around, Dufu?" Skyhammer asked as they followed the Katipo across Ambersilk.

"There are many Katipo, as you call us, around. They are sleeping in their chambers."

"Oh. Naptime." Skyhammer nodded. "I get it." But how did Dufu know we were going to be here, he wondered. We saw no one else. Except that string dancer.

"I am the welcoming committee. Along with-" The Katipo spat out some word that Skyhammer did not understand.

"I beg your pardon?"

"My spider." Dufu spat out the word again.

To Skyhammer, the name sounded as though the Katipo had gargled, then spat out, some tea. He glanced back. The spider trailed behind them in silence. One swipe of one of those eight giant legs and they would be drowning in the swamp. Some welcoming committee.

"We're travelling across the main square of the city you call Ambersilk," Dufu explained as they walked along the silk cloth streets. "This is the only city in which other species are allowed. Fortunately, Hanamun lives just past the outskirts of Ambersilk. I only need to take you part of the way because the rest of the route is direct and accessible by boat. Don't get out of the boat. There are some denizens of the forest that lurk in the waters and are always hungry."

"We didn't see anything dangerous on the way in," Higgins said.

"Really? You didn't see square blue eyes under a mushroom cap?"

"Oh yes, now that you mention it, we did. How did you know?" Higgins sounded suspicious.

"That creature is about the size of three boats put together and is one big muscle with many teeth."

Skyhammer shivered, hoping they wouldn't see anymore of them.

"They know not to interfere with the boats but once you are off the silk or the boat you are fair game for them." His lips spread in a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Gazing up at the homes attached to the mushroom trunks, Skyhammer was startled to see a pair of pair of huge eyes staring back at him from the bottom of the mushroom cap. A spider had spun its web across the bottom of the cap and Skyhammer could see that the silk home for a Katipo also had a spider web in the mushroom cap.

Skyhammer tried to peer ahead through the fungi but could see no end in sight to the silk road. He trudged after Dufu.

* * *

After an hour's walk, Dufu, his spider, Higgins and Skyhammer reached the outskirts of Ambersilk. During the walk, Higgins and Dufu had chatted while Skyhammer stared at the silk road just ahead of his feet. His eyes half-closed, the dim amber light inside the Fungal Forest lulling him almost into sleep. When he reached the edge of Ambersilk's terrain, he was so exhausted he almost walked off the silk platform and into the murky swamp below.

Higgins grabbed his arm and jerked him back. "Let's eat something before the next part of our journey, okay?"

He collapsed onto the platform. The amber light from the platform seeped into his brain, making it heavy and so hard to get up. Higgins murmured to somebody; he should know the name but he was so tired he had to close his eyes.

Higgins shook him awake a few hours later. At least, he thought it was a few hours. This dark place of no sunlight and weird sounds did not allow for an accurate measurement of the time. He felt better than before although his brain was still a bit fuzzy. Dufu and the spider were nowhere in sight.

"What happened?"

Higgins looked at him with concern. "You dropped to the ground like a ton of bricks and fell asleep. It was odd. Dufu said that sometimes the darkness has that effect on humans." She shrugged. "I kept watch. Didn't see much of anything but heard lots of scurrying insects and splishing about in the water. Loaded our stuff on the boat." She tossed a package in his direction. "Eat this. Dufu said it'd be another couple hours slog through the water to Hanamun's." Higgins' voice contained a strange catch.

"What is it?" He scrutinized her. Cross-legged, she stared out across the water as though trying to burn a hole through the luminescent rope that led to Hanamun's.

"Nothing," she muttered. "Are you done yet?"

"I haven't even opened the package. What's wrong with you?" he insisted. She was usually more frank and open about things that were bothering her.

Higgins turned towards him and he could just make out tears pooling in the bottom of her eyes. This place must be affecting both of them. He slid next to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Please tell me what's wrong," he whispered. "Is it Polygon?"

She gave a wet sniff, then wiped her nose on his shoulder. "I don't want to see her again." In a low voice, so low that Skyhammer thought he hadn't heard her correctly.

"Why not? I thought you were friends."

Higgins moved away and dried her eyes on her sleeve. She sighed. "Let's get in the boat and I'll tell you."

"Let me eat this first. No, start your story while I'm eating. Sounds like a long one."

"I'll haul this time." Higgins lowered herself into the boat, then turned it around so Skyhammer could slip in. She reoriented the boat to the silk rope, yanked on it and they were off.

Skyhammer started on his bread and cheese. "So?" he mumbled around a hunk of hard orange cheddar.

"She was dismissed at the beginning of our third year, right?"

It was obvious she didn't want to dive in to the story right away, he could tell. Skyhammer let her meander on, as though she was talking to herself.

"We were really good friends. Well, as good friends as you can be with someone in a position of authority. I felt like," she took a deep breath, "she was an older sister. We talked about love, relationships and school and after school. She was always reluctant to talk about the Fungal Forest." She paused, staring at a brown mushroom trunk. "You know her spider died, right?"

"What?" Skyhammer swallowed a huge chunk of bread before his throat was ready and had a little coughing fit. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he said when he could speak again. "No! I had no idea. Why didn't you tell me?" He knew very little about the Katipo but he did know that spiders were almost a Katipo's second brain. Katipo magic power controlled the spiders, with the ability to see through their eyes and communicate with them. Every Katipo grew up with a companion spider. They were more than pets; they were friends, siblings almost. With such a strong connection, most Katipo lost the will to live if their spider died.

She shrugged. "Never came up, I guess. I don't have to tell you everything, you know." She grinned at him.

"I tell you everything," he said in a sulky voice. Then he remembered he hadn't told her about the Aridizan's death.

"That's your choice." She hauled the boat in silence for a while.

Skyhammer wondered what else she had never told him. He snorted to himself. There was always more with Higgins. Perhaps that was why he could spend a ton of time with her and not get bored or angry - there was always more to discover. Not that she was secretive. She was just deep. Which sounded cheesy, he admitted, but fit the bill.

"So she told me that she wandered around Pingala a bit, visiting different cities. She couldn't stay in the Fungal Forest where she saw other spiders all the time. It hurt too much. At first. She finally stopped travelling after she convinced Ms. Floss to give her a job. She developed the counselling position over time. I can't remember at what position she started. Anyway, she had been there for a long time. She and I became friends. But she was always a little crazy, right?"

Skyhammer nodded. She was the only Katipo on campus and came across as wacky sometimes, like dancing alone in the quadrangle with no music. And she would never sit next to certain people at the dinner table. Rantama was one of them, he recalled. But she really did listen and help people work through their problems. He himself had benefited from her counsel when he first arrived at the Academy.

"So you remember she got a little more crazy near the end, locking herself in her room, not seeing anyone, not eating. . ." She trailed off, deep in thought, then resumed. "Just before that, I went to visit her. And she. . ."

Skyhammer watched pain, betrayal and confusion flash across Higgins' face.

Chapter 15

Countdown to ceremony: 11 days

An insect buzzed in a purple mushroom cap far above them. A damp fungus smell permeated the air. Skyhammer felt a rivulet of sweat run down his ribs from his armpits.

Higgins took a deep breath. "Hanamun . . . tried to kiss me."

His eyebrows leapt to his hairline. "I beg your pardon?"

She avoided his eyes. In a louder voice: "She tried to kiss me. And when I pushed her away," she stopped. "I did push her away."

Anger wrestled with jealousy and protectiveness in Skyhammer's heart. Sadness too, that Higgins had never felt comfortable enough to talk about this with him. She must have felt so betrayed by her friend. And so alone.

"I wanted to tell you. But," she turned around to gaze into Skyhammer's eyes. "I didn't want it to reflect badly on her. I knew she was having some problems and if I told you, it would make her seem like an evil person. She just loved me." Higgins started hauling again. "She loved me and asked me to run away with her."

Skyhammer's heart was pounding. "You didn't though."

"Obviously!" she exclaimed. "I didn't love her like that." She paused. "I told her I couldn't leave school and my friends for some wacky theory she had. . ."

"Which theory was that?"

She focused on the rope. "Oh, nothing really."

"It couldn't have been nothing if the Academy had to dismiss her for it." He inched forward on his seat.

Higgins stared into the darkness. "I promised her I would never tell anyone."

"It's just me. I promise I won't tell anyone either," he wheedled.

Her eyes blazed at him over her shoulder. "I gave my word. Stop pestering me!"

He was taken aback by her fire. "Alright. Just tell me one thing."

"What's that?"

"If knowing this secret would save my life or yours, would you tell someone?"

She gazed at him with clear, open eyes. One deliberate shake of her head.

"Huh." He began folding the wrapping of the bread and cheese in half, then in half again, then in half again. He knew this about Higgins. She was, well, she was principled. But to hear it from her own mouth. That she would rather die than betray her word to a friend. No, that wasn't what disturbed him. That she would let him die, before betraying her promise. She would rather he was dead than tell someone about some stupid thing that happened in the past. Anger surged in his chest.

Higgins was still looking at him, a knowing expression on her face. She put her hand on his knee. "That circumstance will never come up, my friend," she said. "Don't think about it."