The Broken Land (21 page)

I don’t respond. I don’t know what to say. Of course she is smarting. After all, every person who approaches her sounds as if he or she is offering condolences, not congratulations. Obviously they think it unfortunate that Taya is being forced to marry a disgrace, a traitor.

She says, “Sky Messenger, go away for a while. I don’t want you here.”

It is an order. As though I am a servant.

I say, “Gladly.”

As I walk away, I hear her exhale in relief.

I shoulder through the bright capes, defiantly meeting the scornful eyes, and duck into the Turtle Clan longhouse. As I walk down the center aisle past the fires, heading toward Bahna’s chamber, the False Face masks on the rear wall seemed to glare hatefully at me. I don’t see Bahna, but Kittle stands before Bahna’s fire with her daughter, Yosha, speaking to an old man with dark, piercing eyes. Another man—the young Trader who’d been plying his wares around both Yellowtail and Bur Oak villages—stands beside the unknown elder. Each carries a bowl, and is leisurely dipping horn spoons into the steaming fish stew. Both men wear plain buckskin capes … which I find odd, especially on this day when displaying clan symbols is so important.

Yosha’s eyes adopt a sleepy, half-lidded appearance as I approach. Sharply she asks, “What do you want? You should be outside escorting my daughter. Are you hiding?”

“I’m searching for Bahna.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not hiding. It can’t be agreeable to endure the scorn being heaped upon you. Just think how my daughter must feel. She’s the victim, you know. Poor thing.”

Kittle, who’s overheard the conversation, gives her daughter a frosty look, and Yosha jerks up her chin like a pouting five-summers-old girl. So, Taya’s mother disapproves of the marriage as much as her daughter does. How strange that no one told me this.

“Have you seen Bahna?” I say to the other people around the fire.

“Of course we’ve seen him,” Yosha says. “He hasn’t traveled the Sky Road yet. He was here not more than a few hundred heartbeats ago. I think he went to tend to the sick.”

The old man with piercing eyes says, “Forgive me for interrupting, but aren’t you Sky Messenger?”

“I am, Elder.”

The man walks around the fire with his buckskin cape swaying and bows. “I am Tsani, of the Snipe Clan of the Flint People, a humble Trader. I know your father, Gonda. His speeches during the council meetings at White Dog Village are legendary–and biting for those with whom he disagrees. I appreciate his astringent presence. It keeps the council focused on the issues. Your father is well, I hope?”

Before I can answer, Yosha says, “Gonda does beautifully since he remarried and moved to White Dog Village eight summers ago. He needed to escape Koracoo.”

Tsani purses his lips. He clearly disapproves of Yosha, and Yosha just as clearly does not care. He takes me by the arm and leads me around the fire toward where Kittle stands. The high matron is smiling at the young Trader with a great show of perfect teeth. In response, Hiyade leans slightly backward with his eyes squinted.

“Will you have tea?” Tsani asks. “I hope you do not mind, but I would speak with you for a time, if that’s possible.” Tsani dips a cup into the tea pot that nestles in the coals and hands it to me.

I take it, but say, “I must get back to my wife-to-be soon, but I’m happy to talk with you briefly.”

“Excellent. I understand that you just came up from the south where you were on Dream quest. Is this so?”

It intrigues me that Tsani treats me as he would anyone in the village. Since it is impossible that he has missed the loathsome conversations about my cowardice and treason, there is more to this than is currently apparent. I watch him carefully.

“Yes.”

The man sidles closer. In a low voice he says, “Then you have seen the devastation. The whole countryside is a wasteland, but no one here seems to know of it, and I have been hesitant to pass along the unbelievable stories I’ve heard. Perhaps you—”

“What do you mean no one’s heard of it?” Kittle asks in disdain. “Sedge Marsh Village was just wiped off the face of Great Grandmother Earth, probably for allying themselves with us! People hiding in the brush claim they saw War Chief Sindak and a large party swarming through the burning village. I’m sure that despicable cannibal, Atotarho, is responsible for it.”

Tsani regards her. “You have ears like a starving lynx. Go back to flirting and leave me to my conversation with Sky Messenger.”

“Do not presume to give me orders, or before morning, your eyeballs will see nothing but the inside of a stew pot.”

Tsani grins. “By the way, where’s your husband? What’s his name?”

“You very well know that his name is Yo-wige … . Oh, wait, that’s not right. Kurath, yes, Kurath.”

“Blessed gods, Mother!” Yosha blurts. “You can’t even recall the name of your latest husband?”

“Well, what does it matter? He’s off on some Trading expedition in the south country. Why do you care, Tsani?”

“I don’t. I just thought Hiyade might wish to know Kurath’s whereabouts in case he shows up unexpectedly.”

“He won’t. Traders are always gone.”

“Which is, naturally, why you marry them.”

Kittle smiles at Hiyade, and he blinks in terror.

“Mother,” Yosha says. “Leave him alone. The boy looks like a cornered mouse.”

“Mind your own affairs.”

Tsani turns back. “Forgive me. Teasing her is more fun than bedding her. I know. I was young and stupid once. Now … what was I saying?”

“You asked about the stories traveling the trails. What stories?”

The man’s black eyes glitter. “The plague survivors and the refugees from destroyed villages all recite the same words. They say the human False Face has come and is riding the winds of destruction across the land. Many claim to have seen him sailing across the sky with his white cape of clouds trailing behind him.”

Fervently, I answer, “The human False Face
is
riding the winds of destruction. Who could doubt it? The war is worsening. Starvation stalks the land, and sorcerers have loosed a mysterious evil that is laying waste to one village after another. His ride
has
begun, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

Tsani’s eyes narrowed. “Then you believe the end is truly here?”

“Look around you, my friend. Our world is crumbling to dust before our eyes. I have—”

“Oh, I’m so clumsy,” Matron Kittle says. “I’ve spilled stew on my skirt.” Everyone looks. The glob of fish sticks to her skirt just above her “little canoe,” where it is reputed men love to paddle. She bites her lip and her pupils grow larger and darker. Hiyade can’t take his gaze from hers.

“It’s in such an awkward place,” Kittle says. “Will you see if your can brush it off?”

Hiyade swallows the lump in his throat, glances at Tsani and Sky Messenger, then lifts the hem of his cape and just stands there awkwardly.

Yosha’s caustic voice rings out, “Why don’t you let me call a slave to aid you in your distress, Mother? That way Hiyade can breathe again.”

“That won’t be necessary. Run out and see if your daughter has needs.”

Yosha makes a low disgusted sound, spins, and tramps away.

“As I was saying …” A strange expression, almost too eager, creases Tsani’s wrinkled face. “When you were on your Dream hunt, what did you Dream?”

Now I understand his expression. “Surely you’ve heard the story twenty times since you arrived.”

“More like fifty, but each has been totally different. I’d really like to hear it from you. That way, when I tell it at the villages where I Trade, I can say I heard it from your own lips.”

The images are alive inside me, always there, always urgent. Speaking of them brings back the dread. “There is a great darkness coming, Tsani. It will shake the World Tree. I pray that Elder Brother Sun survives.”

Fear briefly crosses his expression. “You have foreseen the death of Elder Brother Sun?”

“I’ve seen a great black maw open behind him. Just before Elder Brother Sun is swallowed, there is a final blinding flash and a crack like the sky splitting.”

Tsani has stopped breathing. He’s standing motionless. His wide black eyes are focused unblinking on me. “ … And then?”

“And then the World Tree shudders as though it’s being uprooted by monstrous hands.”

When I do not continue, he prompts, “Then you hear a man’s voice. Isn’t that right? That’s what I heard—”

I unceremoniously hand him my tea cup. “I must return to my betrothed, Tsani. I’ve been away too long. Have a pleasant evening.”

I bow and turn to leave.

“But wait!” Tsani implores. “Give me more that I can pass through the villages. It helps to pass the time while I Trade. Did you see the human False Face in your Dream? Did he come to you? Isn’t that the voice—”

I shake my head. “No.”

As I walk away down the length of the house, Tsani says, “Hiyade! Come over here. Kittle, why do you insist upon tormenting every young Trader who travels with me? Surely you can find someone your own age to play with?”

“Yes, but why would I when the world is filled with young men? And don’t stand there glaring at me, you old fool. I could take on four like you. Hiyade, there’s a rare pendant I wish to show you. Perhaps you can advise me on its value. It’s in my chamber in the Deer Clan longhouse … .”

I shove aside the leather door curtain and step out into the sunlight. Taya stands in the same place by the central fire, talking with Chief Yellowtail and Chief Bur Oak. Other well-wishers surround them, waiting their chance to speak with the high matron’s granddaughter. I pull my cape tightly around me. Rather than warming up, the day seems colder. As Taya speaks, her breath comes out in tiny puffs.

Soon, very soon, I must leave here on a journey I do not wish to take, with a spoiled child who does not wish to go. There is so little time left, and so many critical things that must be done. I do not understand why my ancestors would tell Bahna …

Taya turns. When she sees me, her smile fades.

My shoulder muscles contract. I fear that the next half moon is going to be worse than my exile in the forest. But this is how it must be.

I march toward her.

B
y the time darkness draped the land, Taya was exhausted—exhausted from smiling, from listening to the conversations whispered behind her back, from looking into the eyes of people who spoke of her bright future, but their tone was one of grief. Grieving for her because she was being forced to marry a man who, they believed, deserved to be executed. And it had grown bitterly cold. The air stung Taya’s lungs when she inhaled. She moved closer to the bonfire and held her icy hands out to the flames. The exquisite antler carvings attached to her blue cape shimmered with her movements. People still roamed the plaza, but most had retreated to the warmth of the longhouses. Dutifully, Sky Messenger continued to stand at her side, as he had through almost the entire horrid affair. Tall, handsome, he’d bestowed small smiles upon each person who came forward, and all the while he’d looked like he would prefer execution to this torture.

“People are leaving,” he said. “Perhaps it would be acceptable for us to return to the Deer Clan longhouse.”

“Even if it’s not acceptable, I’m leaving. I can’t stand any more of this … this sham.”

She tramped for her longhouse. Sky Messenger didn’t follow right away; then she heard him running to catch up with her. Just before she ducked into the warmth of the house, he gripped her elbow and pulled her aside. “Speak with me for a moment, will you?”

Taya stared up into his dark intense eyes, where reflected firelight glimmered. “No. I don’t wish to.”

“Just for a moment.”

“I said, no. Now leave me—”

He forcibly dragged her around behind the longhouse. Taya shook off his hand and stalked away down the narrow aisle between the house and the palisade, where, not so long ago, she’d first heard the possibility of their marriage mentioned. A few paces later, she stumbled upon two people grunting in the leaves, and Taya recognized the young Trader, Hiyade. He lay half on and half off a woman whose huge creamy breasts were exposed to the moonlight.

“What’s happening? Why did you stop?” the woman said, and struggled to sit up, to see around the Trader’s wide shoulders.

“Forgive us for intruding,” Sky Messenger said. He gripped Taya’s arm and pulled her backward, saying, “Let’s continue our talk beneath the porch.”

Embarrassed, and angry, Taya allowed him to shove her back down the aisle. When they emerged near the curtained entry, she was breathing hard. She said, “How dare you manhandle the granddaughter of the great—”

“She didn’t appear all that great just now.”

Then the truth dawned. “Blessed gods. I didn’t recognize … That
was
her voice.” Humiliation turned her face bright red. “Grandmother is such a disgrace!”

“She has needs, Taya, just like everyone else.”

“Needs! She’s—”

“Why do you think she’s rutting out behind the longhouse in the dirt and leaves when she could be snuggled in her warm bedding hides? She’s trying to be discreet.”

“I hardly think—”

“I know you are angry with me. Let’s discuss that.”

“With … with you?” she said in confusion.

“At having to marry me.”

Her breast was still heaving with indignation at her grandmother’s indiscretions. It took her some time to refocus on what he was saying. “I didn’t realize how much of an embarrassment this would be. Didn’t you hear the scorn in the voices—?”

His grip on her arm tightened. “Try to understand. The small slights we suffered today will be nothing compared to what lies ahead. We stand on the verge of a great cataclysm. I don’t know if I can stop it. You will need to be strong—”

“Why? Why do I have to be there? It has nothing to do with me!”

Sky Messenger’s grip tightened even more, the hurtful grip of a careless stranger. He bent down to stare into her eyes. Like a man possessed by an evil Earth Spirit, his voice went strangely deep and guttural. “I don’t know why. But you and I are about to embark on a long, dangerous journey that will not end until the vault of the sky splits wide open and Elder Brother Sun is swallowed by blackness. With your own eyes, you will see the World Tree ripped apart and her flowers fall like snow upon the barren earth. I guarantee you that you will feel utterly abandoned and alone. The weight of despair will crush your heart until you long to die. But you cannot turn away. You are part of the Dream now. It is your destiny. So …” He abruptly released her arm and straightened to his full height, towering over her. His dark eyes seemed to be backlit by a fire that burned inside him. “Are you brave enough to walk in the truth at my side?”