Fallen (6 page)

Then she returned home, readying herself to say good-bye. She lived in the hills above the river, her home one of twenty in a structure built around a central courtyard. In the courtyard were several young weeping trees growing from a small pond, and ducks and frogs made the high grasses and reeds their home. It was not a cheap place to live, but Nomi had the money. She'd been through a lot on her voyages, and she saw no shame in profiting from her travels. Let Ramus frown upon her all he wished. If it weren't for her, they wouldn't be able to undertake the journey they were planning right now.

Still, as she entered her home a moment of doubt assailed her.
Should I really have told Ramus about this? I could have gone on my own, perhaps with Ten as companion.
But the Great Divide was a huge distance to travel for a fool's treasure. She needed Ramus's wisdom, his knowledge of language and the printed histories of words, to tell whether the parchments were real.

Sometimes, she wished she were wise like him.

She walked around her main room, examining artifacts she had brought back from her two voyages. Carvings hung on the walls; woven materials in the shape of a hawk swished from the ceiling; a steam sculpture repeated itself in a tray of heated water. Bottles of her own Ventgorian wine lay aging in one dark corner. A marsh harp, impossible to play unless you were a true Ventgorian, hung above her fire. All precious items. No books, no crumbling scrolls like Ramus had in his own little hovel.

Nomi felt at home here, surrounded by the rewards of her life's chosen path.

If only Timal were still here,
she thought.
He was the greatest reward.
But Timal had left her a year earlier, saying nothing, never returning. She heard from a mutual friend that he had left for Pengulfin Landing and the rich crystal farms that had started to thrive on its eastern shores. She still had some of his clothes in her sleep-room, and on nights when she was most lonely she smelled them and imagined him beside her.

She sighed. If he were still here he would not approve of this latest voyage, and maybe she would not even go. She'd let Ramus have the parchments and go on his own, make the find, reap the glory.

“Did I really love Timal that much?” she said to the empty room. The metal shields on one wall rang with a sonorous response.

Nomi lit the fire to warm water. She would bathe, change into fresh clothes, then go back down into the city to meet up with Ramus and Ten once more.

In her mind, the voyage had already begun.

RAMUS WALKED ALONG
the riverfront, past the traders he'd seen setting up that morning. They were still trading, but business had slackened somewhat as the sun rose higher, and the Cantrass Angels had vanished. He wondered what they had achieved with their morning's work.

As he approached the bridge out to Naru May's, he paused and looked across the water. It was almost half before midday and Ten was already there. He was sitting in the same seat he'd taken that morning at breakfast, head bowed, hands crossed on his lap. There was a mug on the table before him. Ramus guessed he had been there for some time.

Eager to see us again?
he wondered.
Or eager to leave?

He hurried across the bridge and stood before the table.

“Real?” The wanderer looked up, then stretched his arms above his head, clicking his fingers.

“Interesting,” Ramus said. “They're written in an unusual language, and contain some intriguing imagery.”

“But don't you
agree
that they're from above
the Divide?
”

Ramus stared at the wanderer for a dozen heartbeats, trying to see past his eyes. “Nomi will be here soon,” he said. “Our discussion should begin when she arrives.”

Ten stretched again and looked around. “Good. Can't wait to get away from here. My feet are itching already.”

“You didn't look around the city?”

“What's to see?” Ten asked, and Ramus surprised himself by finding nothing to say.

At Ten's signal, Savi came with cydrax and a mug for Ramus.

“Another mug?” Ramus offered, but Ten shook his head.

They sat in silence for a while, looking everywhere but at each other. The deck was filling rapidly with traders and buyers breaking off for their midday meal, and the chatter was upbeat and pleasant.

“So where did you really find them?” Ramus asked at last.

Ten frowned. He had been staring into the distance, lost somewhere beyond Long Marrakash. “You don't believe what I said?”

“If there is a lie in your story, you'd best tell me now.”

“No lie.”

“Good. Because if there is one, Nomi will know it by now. Her mother's sister is a truthscryer.”

“That's superstition!” Ten scoffed.

Ramus raised his hands and shrugged. “I'm not pretending to know how it works.”

Ten's eyes narrowed. “You're just trying to play me.”

Ramus stared at the wanderer. “Believe what you wish.”

NOMI ARRIVED , A
look of doubt and suspicion on her face as she glanced from Ramus to Ten.

“I thought we were meeting at midday?” she said to Ten.

The wanderer stared at her with that implacable expression. “I was claustrophobic in the city. At least sitting here I can look out over the river.”

Nomi offered Ramus a brief smile. “So do we have something to discuss?”

Ramus took out the parchment roll and placed it on the table between them. “It's worth buying,” he said casually.

“And it is from where Ten claims?”

“I don't know. That's why I want to buy it, so we can pursue it further.”

Ten looked at Nomi. Even a wanderer could discern wealth. “How much will you offer?”

“How much will you take?” Nomi asked.

Ten leaned forward, glancing at the tables around them. He placed his hands flat on the table, fingertips just touching the parchment as though he had missed its company. “There are other places I could go,” he said. “Other Voyagers who I'm sure would be interested in these pages.”

Ramus looked at Nomi. She sat with her legs crossed, leaning back, presenting a casual air that he knew was anything but relaxed. He could see the small tic below her left eye which always began when she was most stressed.

I should have made sure we talked alone. I should have made her aware of what this really is.
“So what
will
you take?” he asked.

Ten leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face. Then he looked down at the rolled pages, and smiled. “If your first offer is enough, I'll take it. If not, I go straight to the Guild; I'm sure they can finance my needs. No negotiation.”

Ramus said nothing. Nomi shifted in her chair. Ten looked out across the river, and for the first time his scarred, weathered face seemed relaxed.
He'll take whatever we offer,
Ramus thought.
He's come a long way, but I think he likes us. I think he sees the adventurous spirit the three of us share.

“Fifteen thousand pieces,” Nomi whispered. “And a third of whatever we bring back.”

Ten smiled. “As for the latter, the glory is all yours. I want no part in what you discover. But for the offer . . . I accept.”

Nomi let out a held breath and Ramus closed his eyes.

“I can give you a promise token now,” Nomi said. “I'll tell you which banker to go to, or . . . ?”

“Yes, that's fine. I trust you.” Ten poured a little more cydrax for each of them. “Shall we toast our deal?”

Should we?
Ramus thought.
Is this really something to celebrate?

Nomi's nervousness vanished and she threw him her most dazzling smile. “A toast to your own voyage, Ten,” she said. “And good wishes for whatever will come for us all.”

Ten nodded and raised his mug.

They all drank, then Ten stood and stretched. “Time for me to leave,” he said. “I'll take your promise token with thanks, and if you could direct me to the banker, I'll be on my way.”

Ramus watched the wanderer and Nomi conclude business, watched him walk away after exchanging silent nods, watched him leave the bridge and disappear into the midday crowd along the riverfront. And every step of the way, he wondered what the wanderer was thinking. Was he laughing at them? Or did he feel only pity?

“So what did you find?” Nomi asked at last, obviously frustrated at Ramus's silence.

He picked up the rolled pages and put them back inside his jacket. “When do we leave?”

“What makes you think I've already made arrangements?”

Ramus raised his eyebrows.

Nomi laughed softly. “Dawn, the day after tomorrow, from Pancet's Stables.”

“We should talk somewhere private. There's plenty to discuss.”

“Just tell me that one thing, Ramus,” Nomi said, her voice louder than she probably intended. The patrons sitting around them glanced their way, then went back to their business.

Ramus only nodded.

Nomi's eyes lit up. “The voyage of a lifetime.”

“A SLEEPING GOD. . .”
Nomi said.

They were back in Ramus's home, sitting in his main room with the remains of a sheebok and bread platter between them. Nomi had bought it from a street vendor a hundred steps from Ramus's home, and though it was still hot when they had arrived, neither of them had felt much like eating. The meat was tender and juicy, but the nervous tingles in Nomi's stomach had made her feel queasy.

“A myth,” Ramus said.

“Many people worship them. Await their return to lead Noreela into a Golden Age.”

“And many follow shamans, and others worship the life moon and the death moon.”

“Are you saying they're
all
wrong?”

“Not at all. I'm saying it's what may be atop the Divide that we must go for. Another land? Another race?” He shook his head, looking down at his greasy fingers.

“But if it
is
there? If we
do
find it?”

“Maybe this is a mistake,” he said.

“You said it looked real!”

“Not the parchment. I don't recognize any of the words it contains, so it must be from elsewhere. No . . . the mistake could be us.”

“Then I'll go on my own.” Hurt, Nomi turned away.

Ramus was silent for a long time. Nomi wanted to turn around to see what he was doing, but she felt it best to give him her back. She did not wish him to see the doubt in her eyes.

“I'm not saying I don't want to go,” he said at last.

Nomi spun around. “Then what the fuck are you saying?”

“That we should not go blind. You called it the voyage of a lifetime, and I agree. But it may contain the dangers of a lifetime too.”

“Good. Duly noted.”

Ramus stared at her, unblinking. “We can't tell anyone,” he said.

“Why should we?”

He smiled coldly. “Not to retain the glory, Nomi. We need to keep this secret because of what just might be up there on the Divide. There must be very good reasons why no one has ever seen anything like this before.”

“One beat you're a skeptic, the next you're protecting Noreela from a Sleeping God!”

“Just being cautious.” He shook his head, sighing.

Nomi did not care. There were always dangers—her last trip to Ventgoria had proved that, though that was something she would always keep to herself.

“So we keep it a secret,” she said. “You for your reasons, me for mine.”

He closed his eyes and nodded.

“So dawn, the day after tomorrow.”

“That's fine. I have a few things to put in order,” Ramus said.

I have little,
Nomi thought, but Ramus already knew that. She'd told him about Timal's leaving, and there had been no one since. Sometimes Ramus seemed most at ease when she was not involved. He was like a brother watching over his little sister, believing that no one was good enough for her.

“I need to see Beko and agree to his fee, but that's all,” she said. “I just wish you were more excited!”

“I can't change what I am,” Ramus said.

Nomi went then, giving him a tight smile before leaving his rooms. Out in the street she leaned against the wall and watched a few people passing by, trying to confine her mind to their narrow concerns. She could not. Her ideas had been expanded, her horizons stretched. And the farther she walked from Ramus's home, the lighter her step became.

Chapter 3

THE DREAM HAD
assailed Ramus as he dozed off after Nomi left his rooms: a Sleeping God rising from the ground, fearful, dreadful and unknowable. But the Sleeping God risen was a trifle compared to the sense that he was someone else.

What do we have if not our own identity?
Nomi had her home up in the hills, her ornaments and objects of worth brought back from voyages or purchased with her Ventgorian wine profits, but most of all she still had herself. Even she—shallow, perhaps, but still intelligent and broad-minded—would surely agree with that?