Nightpeople (15 page)

‘Sorry? You don't even know what you're sorry for.' He shook her once, hard, before releasing her She crumpled to the ground and Dariand took a couple of steps back from her

‘Don't you come near me again, ever. Don't try to speak to me, don't even look at me. Understand?'

All Saria could do was nod.

‘Good.' He vanished into the scrub.

‘What'd you do, girl?' Gan was bending over her ‘I ent ever seen Dariand like that before. Usually like a stone, that one. What'd you do?'

‘I don't know. I was trying to reach him and …'

The old woman had been about to hold the nozzle of a water-skin to Saria's lips, but now she lowered it. ‘What d'you mean?'

‘Like with animals. I wanted to reach into his mind.'

The old woman stood and backed away a little.

‘What animals?'

‘All of them.' Saria made a tiny, confused gesture. ‘Lizards, dogs, insects. I reach out to them and I can see the world like they do.'

‘Did Ma Lee teach you to do that?' Gan's voice was as hard as the stone walls of the gorge.

‘No. She didn't even know I could.'

‘So, who?'

‘Nobody taught me. I've always been able to do it. Dreamer Gaardi told me I shouldn't tell anybody about it.'

‘Did he tell you about reaching into people?'

‘No.'

‘Why'd you try it, then?'

‘I don't know. I just wanted to see if I could. I didn't know it would be so … painful.'

Gan said nothing for some time, clearly making up her mind about something. Finally she crouched beside the trembling girl.

‘Listen …' She glanced around to make certain Dariand wasn't nearby. ‘Dreamer Gaardi was right. Don't you tell nobody, right? When we get to Woormra, you can tell Dreamer Wanji, but otherwise you don't let anyone know you can do this.'

‘Why not?'

Gan sighed and plonked herself down heavily in the dirt.

‘This is real big power you got here, and also a big sign. There are people who'll read it all wrong.'

‘I don't understand.'

‘Okay.' The old woman paused. ‘I'm gonna tell you things that, by rights, you shouldn't know, and there's more stuff you'll have to get Dreamer Wanji to tell you, ‘cause strictly speaking this knowledge is not for women.'

‘Why would Dreamer Wanji tell me, then?'

‘Cause you can do the “reaching”. You got the power to listen to the land and hear it talkin' back to you. That's the only thing that's kept us Darklanders going all these years – having Dreamers who could feel the land and find the water and the food and the wood. Without them, the Darklands would have died off a long time ago.'

‘So why's it have to be such a big secret? If reaching's so important, and if I can do it, then …'

‘Listen, girl. In all that time, ever since the Shifting, you're the first woman I ever heard of who could do the reaching. The only one. And on top of that you're still only a girl, not even a woman yet. Some people ent gonna like that.'

‘Why not?'

‘People don't much like change. Believe me, you gotta keep this to yourself You're dead lucky that old bastard Dreamer Baanti is such a crap Dreamer he didn't find out about this or he'd have killed you on the spot. You didn't do any reaching over at Olympic, eh?'

‘No.'

She decided not to mention her visions in the pit. They'd been different, anyhow. They'd come after the call. Not when she was trying to reach an animal.

Silence fell across the clearing. The old woman kept glancing at the girl, reassuring herself that she'd understood it properly. Eventually she rose to her feet.

‘Never thought I'd even see the like of you, but I'll tell you somethin', girl, I'm bloody glad I did, ‘cause whatever happens, you're gonna stir things up around here' and that'll be a story to tell. Now, you'd better try and get some rest. We'll be goin' fast tonight.'

‘What about Dariand?'

‘Don't worry about him. He'll be back when he's had a bit of time to cool off.'

‘He told me never to come near him again.'

‘Yeah, well.' The old woman gave a lopsided grin. ‘Men say all sorts of rubbish they don't mean. You get to sleep an' I'll go see where he's gotten to.'

Sleep still refused to come. She lay motionless in the shade, hoping the soporific warmth of the afternoon would lull her to sleep, but she was still awake when Dariand and Gan finally returned and stood over her. She breathed deeply and stayed still, the way she used to when she wanted Ma to think she was sleeping.

‘I had no idea she could do it. No idea at all. Bloody Ma didn't even mention it.'

‘Tch!' Gan made a clicking sound. ‘She didn't have a clue herself. Mind you, that's nothin' new from her.'

Dariand chuckled softly. ‘Ma's alright.'

‘So you tell me. But she didn't even notice that the girl was reaching every bloody thing that came along.'

‘I'm sure Saria kept it to herself. She's a devious little bugger.'

‘You don't mean that.'

‘She is.'

‘You're pleased with her, though.'

‘I meant what I said, Gan. She comes near me again …'

‘Cut it out, Dariand. You might be able to sell that crap to the halfwits in town, but don't try it on with me, eh? We both know how to read the vaultlights.'

The man laughed.

‘Fair enough. I never could get anything past you. Neither could anyone else, for that matter.'

‘Hmph.' Gan grunted, but there was a sort of grudging affection behind the sound.

‘Thanks for looking after her. You don't know how important having her at Woormra'll be.'

‘I know, alright.'

In the silence that followed, Saria could feel both of them looking at her.

‘You remember the night she was born, Gan?'

‘Difficult not to.'

‘When Dreamer Wanji handed her to me, I couldn't believe it. I just wanted to stare at her forever. But I couldn't, eh? As it was, we only just made it out. The Nightpeople were there before we even had time to clear town.'

‘You made it, though.'

‘We did. But do you remember what Dreamer Wanji said that afternoon, when Jani had her first pains and we knew the child was on its way? He called everyone together and said …'

‘ … “tonight begins the end of the Darklands”. Yeah, I remember.' There was a catch in the old woman's voice.

‘What happened, Gan? What happened? I believed him then, and for a long time after. Even when I set out to return her to Woormra I believed him. But now …'

‘Now?'

‘I dunno. She doesn't seem right, does she? She runs off into the plains on her own. She messes around with reaching. She could have damn near wiped me, back then. That's not what the child's supposed to do, is it?'

Saria risked opening her eyes a fraction. Through slitted lids, she watched the old woman take Dariand by his shoulder

‘You got it all the wrong way round, you know.'

‘How?'

‘I never really believed any of Dreamer Wanji's stories. Not till recently.'

‘How recently?'

‘Till I actually saw her I thought like a lot of people that she was just the last of them, and Dreamer Wanji was throwin' all his dreams onto this final kid. But now, I dunno. When Dreamer Baanti carried her into our huntin' camp from the desert, it was kinda strange. I just got this sudden feelin' that everything was starting to come into place, right?'

‘Why'd you help out Dreamer Wanji all these years, if you didn't believe him?'

Gan thought for a moment.

‘He's still a better bloke than Dreamer Baanti or any of his mob, eh?'

‘True.'

‘So perhaps I just wasn't supposed to believe him. Not till now.'

‘I didn't think you believed in any of that sort of stuff, Gan.'

‘I didn't. But then, I didn't believe women could be Dreamers, either.'

‘Fair enough.'

Neither said anything more for a long time, then Saria heard the old woman shuffle away.

‘I'd better go get the camels in and ready, eh?'

‘Yeah. Hang on and I'll give you a hand.'

And they were gone.

Gan left them sometime during the small hours of the night. For an age the three walked through the desert in procession, Dariand leading, then Saria, and finally the old woman and the two camels. Nobody spoke and Dariand set a fast pace.

Eventually, though, soon after crossing one of the broken-rock roads, Gan whispered, ‘Here.'

Dariand stopped. ‘You sure you won't come to Woormra?'

The two looked hard at each other until Gan broke the silence.

‘That's not my path.'

‘Where will you go?'

‘Back to Olympic.'

‘We talked about this, Gan. You won't be welcome there now. You vanishing the same night as her' – Dariand gestured at Saria – ‘They'll have worked it out for sure.'

She shrugged. ‘Gotta find out. Even if they're a bit upset, they still need the camels and someone to drive ‘em.'

‘A bit upset doesn't begin to describe it. When I left there …'

Gan held up a hand to stop him.

‘Let me deal with that, Dariand. If they aren't pleased to see me, who knows, eh? P'raps then I'll come over to Woormra and see how this all plays out.'

For a long moment Dariand held the old woman's gaze, then finally relented with a tight smile.

‘Be careful.'

‘You know me.' Gan turned to Saria and, much to the girl's surprise, seized her in a tight embrace. ‘You be strong now, girl. Do what you need to, eh? Dream some good dreams for me.'

Startled, Saria searched for something to say.

‘I will.'

‘'Course you will.'

Gan turned to leave, then looked back.

‘You know something else, girl? You might have your mother's hair, but you got your father's attitude.'

Then, with a tug on the halter and a soft click of her tongue, Gan climbed onto the kneeling camel and had soon slipped into the night.

‘Come on.' Dariand turned and started nightwards again.

‘What did she mean by that?'

‘By what?'

‘I've got my father's attitude.'

‘Nothing,' Dariand snapped. ‘She's just a stirrer. Now let's get moving.'

They walked in silence for a long time. The daywards horizon was beginning to lighten when Saria noticed movement in the distance.

‘Dariand?'

‘What?'

‘Look.'

She pointed away to their left, to where a thin thread of brightness whipped this way and that through the air. Dariand followed her finger and froze.

‘Nightpeople.'

‘Shouldn't we hide?'

‘They're a long way off. They won't see us.'

Soon after, the low-pitched hum drifted through the night, faint with distance.

‘Let's go.'

They started walking again, not changing course, but as they travelled Saria kept an eye on the distant light. There was something insect-like in the way it zigzagged across the sky, its movements unpredictable. From time to time it would vanish and then moments later reappear in a different spot. The humming was intermittent, too, reaching them only as brief, distant bursts of sound.

Suddenly Dariand stopped. He turned around slowly, his head raised, listening to the night and peering out into the darkness.

‘What is it?'

‘There's another.'

‘Where?'

‘Over there somewhere.' He pointed to their right. ‘Close your eyes and listen. You can hear two hums.'

Saria concentrated and she heard it. Another layer of noise, slightly higher but different again, was coming from the opposite direction to the first. Then a third hum, coming from directly behind filled her ears.

‘Can you hear that?'

But Dariand was already pulling her towards a small pile of stones. Saria half ran, half stumbled behind him.

‘Down!'

The rock pile was nothing more than a few small boulders, the largest no higher than Saria's knees. There was nothing large enough to cover even her, let alone a man Dariand's size.

‘What?'

‘Get on your hands and knees! Now!'

He shoved her roughly to the ground.

‘Bend forward, like a kneeling camel. Good. Tuck your head down.'

Saria did as she was told, crouching on all fours beside the rock pile. Dariand arranged the loose material of her desert robe into a rough hood that covered her head as well as the rest of her body, then, to her shock, he tore a skin of water from his belt and poured the whole thing over her, soaking her robe, her arms and her head. It was icy as it trickled along the back of her neck and through her hair.

‘Don't move!' he hissed as she involuntarily shivered.

He threw a few handfuls of sand over her, the dirt and water combining instantly to create a cold, muddy crust.

There was another sloshing as he emptied a skin of water over himself, and after two quick rolls in the dust he was crouching beside her, his head only a few inches from hers.

‘They find you by heat and movement. The sand and the water should cool us enough, but whatever you do, don't move, not even a tiny bit. I don't care if it hurts like you're about to die; do not move.'

The noise of the hummers slowly combined to form one continuous resonating clamour. Saria tried to steady her breathing and control her heartbeat, but it thundered in her ears. One of her arms was beginning to cramp.

‘Steady. Breathe deeply.' Dariand's voice was little more than a breath in her ear. ‘They'll soon pass.'

With a scream, one of the hummers floated overhead and Saria clenched her eyes shut against the noise, which pounded through her and into the ground. Even the rocks were trembling.

Then there was light. A brief flash, as bright as the dayvault, and the sound was moving away, its pitch and intensity dropping. She began to relax.

‘Don't move. It'll be back,' Dariand hissed.

Sure enough, the hummer returned and this time the light seemed to linger over them. Crouching, trapped in the brightness, Saria tried to concentrate on being a rock, on fitting in to the pile.

The noise grew louder and the ground vibrated until it felt as though the humming was coming from inside her skull rather than the vault above.

Then, abruptly, the hummer angled away across the desert and was gone.

‘Stay still. I'll tell you when to move.'

They crouched in the desert silence. Saria's arms and legs were numb, and amazingly she might even have dozed off for a few minutes, because the next thing she was aware of was Dariand helping her up.

‘They've gone.'

Saria looked around, surprised to realise it was almost daylight. Dariand was brushing off the mud and sand which clung to his robes, and she did the same. Then he stopped and looked at her.

‘You did well.'

She didn't answer, not certain what to reply.

‘They don't usually come so low. I've only had them that close to me once or twice. You were brave not to move.'

‘Thank you.'

‘Turn around.'

He used his hands to scrape as much dirt from her back as possible.

'I'm sorry I didn't have time to explain. The mud is the only way to stop them picking up your heat. Sometimes even that's not enough.'

‘What if they spot you?'

‘It depends who you are. And what you're doing.'

‘If it was us?'

‘I don't know. I imagine they'd leave me here.'

‘And me?'

He hesitated for a moment before answering.

‘We'd never see you again.'

‘What would they do with me?'

The man shrugged. ‘Nobody knows. But they tried to take you once already, when you were a baby, and they're bound to try again. They won't get you if I can help it, though.'

‘Thanks.'

‘You're welcome.' He looked around. ‘We need to move. If we walk fast, we might even make Woormra some time tonight.'

‘We're going to walk through the day?'

‘Not for long. But we need more water now, so we'd better go.'

‘Will they come back?'

Dariand shook his head.

‘Not now. We call them Nightpeople for a reason.'

He offered her his hand. It was large, brown from years spent outdoors, with hard, knotted calluses of skin all over the palms and fingers. When she took it, it engulfed her own.

‘Let's go.' He led her away from the sunrise.