The Kin (39 page)

The three marsh people did their usual petting and stroking as they settled down, and then the man laid his fish on the ground and pointed at Ko's gourd and made a
Give
sound. Guessing what he meant, Ko took out his cutter and handed it across. Awkwardly, because he wasn't used to the tool, the man hacked off pieces of fish for everyone. Scraping in the bottom of his gourd, Ko found enough crumbs of salt for himself and the two women.

The whole surface of the island was littered with scraps and splinters of reed, and when they'd had enough to eat the women scooped a hollow in this, laid what was left of the fish in it and covered it over. The man settled down to sharpening his fishing stick by rubbing it with a short piece of pole dipped in gritty mud. The women made storage tubes from pieces of reed, using their teeth to nibble the splintered ends clean. All three seemed jumpy and kept glancing anxiously towards the large island by the entrance path.

After a while Ko heard rhythmic shouts floating across the water, mixed in with a strange rattling noise a bit like a lot of woodpeckers tapping on a hollow tree. The three marsh people jumped up and stared. Ko followed their gaze and saw a procession winding its way through the reed beds on the far side. The man took Ko by the shoulders and gave him a firm push to tell him to stay where he was, and then he and the two women hurried off towards the entrance.

Ko waited and watched. The procession was mostly hidden by reeds until it reached the path across the water. Then he saw that the men at the front were marching close together in single file with something held at arm's length above their heads. It was the body of the crocodile they had caught. People were running out onto the path to meet it, and then dancing back in front of it. The rattling sound increased, but Ko still couldn't see how it was made. Killing a crocodile must be a big thing among these people, he realized. He wished he could have shown them the monster that the Kin had killed.

He waited for a long time, until the grey haze started to turn to gold, and he realized that soon it would be sunset. The colour was deeper on the side away from the entrance, so he reckoned that had to be west. He settled down with his chin on his knees and watched the slow change. It filled him with sadness. Though he seemed for the moment to be in a place of safety, he felt very, very lonely. This was the time of day when the weary foragers and hunters would be coming home to their lair, and roasting the meat they had caught, and pounding roots and seeds. Then they would eat, with the firelight flickering on the dark faces, and the eyes glinting with reflected sparks, and talk and tease and boast—Ko's people in Ko's world, a world he understood, his home. Not this dense, steaming marsh, these strangers, with their uncomfortable customs …

New shouts, different, angry.

Coming nearer.

He rose and turned, and saw the two women running across the nearest island, followed by their man. Close behind them came several more men, yelling furiously. The women dashed across the connecting path, but the man stopped when he was halfway over, and turned and faced the attackers. He had no weapons, but he stood in a fighting pose with his hair bushed right out and bellowed at them.

Ko watched, terrified. This had to be something to do with him. Now that the men were back from the crocodile hunt their leader had brought them to get Ko. They didn't want this strange child in their place. They were going to kill him, or else throw him off their islands, out into the dreadful marshes, alone in the night. That would be almost as bad.

They halted, yelling, on the shore. Their leader pushed through onto the path and confronted Ko's host. Ko expected him to back down, as he'd done when the same thing had happened on the main island, but he stood his ground, snarling.
This is my island
, he seemed to be saying.
On it I am leader, not you
. The women watched, murmuring anxiously. The older one grabbed Ko's arm and pulled him behind her, where he couldn't be seen.

After a little while the other man snorted and turned away, and the attackers moved off, growling. Ko's host strutted back onto the island and the women petted and praised him, but he stood frowning at Ko, until Ko knelt in front of him and rapped his knuckles together, three times, as he'd have done if he'd been asking a favour of his own leader, Tun.

“I, Ko, thank,” he said. “Also I, Ko, ask. Tomorrow I go. You show me the way.”

He twisted and pointed south, to show what he meant. The man grunted uncertainly, but rumpled Ko's hair for a moment, and Ko felt he was trying to tell him he would look after him if he could.

By now it was almost dark. The women scooped a large hollow in the reed-litter and the three marsh people settled into it, lying close together with the man in the middle. Ko made himself a hollow of his own and lay down in that strange and frightening place, longing with everything that was in him to be away from there, lying among his own people, close to the good red embers of their fire. He wept quietly in the dark, and fell asleep still weeping.

He was shaken awake, and had no idea where he was. His left side was covered with insect bites. A woman's voice grunted softly and he remembered. He sat up and looked around.

It was dark still. The heat haze was gone, and the familiar stars overhead shone almost clear. To the east the sky was faintly grey. Now the woman, softly again, made her
Come
sound. Ko rose, groped for his gourd and slung it over his shoulder. He followed the other three down to the path and across to the first island. They worked their way round it, paddling at the very edge of the water, and so on to the main entrance, never setting foot on anyone else's island. By the time they reached the reed beds it was almost light. Ko saw that the younger woman was carrying the half-eaten fish.

The man led the way in silence, not stopping till they had crossed several more islands. Then they paused only long enough to hack off four portions of fish, and moved on, chewing as they went. As the sun rose the heat haze formed, and soon Ko lost all sense of direction once more. All this time the man had barely looked at him, and Ko began to have a sick feeling that he was just being taken away into the marshes, to be got rid of, and then he'd be left to find his own way home. But the women stayed friendly, especially the younger one, and after a while he recognized the place where the crocodile had been killed, so he started to feel much better. He was going home.

More mud flats, islands, reedbeds, water crossings. And then, on yet another path across yet another island, the man stopped. All three of Ko's guides turned and looked at him. The man grunted,
All right?
Ko frowned and looked around, and saw that this was the place where the man had first met him, fighting his way through the reeds.

But how was he going to get off the island, across that last dreadful stretch of mud? Perhaps the man knew a way.

Come
, he grunted, doing his best to imitate the way the marsh people made the sound. He led them along the path to the tip of the island where the man had been fishing. The haze wasn't yet quite thick enough to hide the solid land where he'd set out. Ko pointed at it and made the light, anxious sounding moan that meant
I
beg
.

The man frowned, snorted uncertainly and turned back along the path. Halfway down it he stopped and studied the reeds on his left, shook his head, moved on a little further, grunted and pushed his way in. As he followed the others Ko realized that they must be using an old path, now partly overgrown, but still nothing like the impossible tangle of reeds to either side.

They came out directly opposite the land, with only a few tens of paces of mud still to cross. The man prodded around with the butt of his fishing stick, nodded, and stepped out onto the mud. He sank deeper in than usual, halfway up his shin, but then found solid footing. He took a couple of paces more, but this time the women didn't follow him, and he turned and came back. Once more all three of them looked at Ko. This was an old hidden path across the mud, they seemed to be telling him. If he was careful he should be able to use it on his own. The man took his shoulder and gave him a push towards it.

Ko grunted,
I
thank
, and felt in his gourd for a gift. He had nothing left except his cutter, so a bit reluctantly he offered it to the man, who took it without hesitation, obviously pleased. The women were watching, waiting. They didn't seem to expect anything, but Ko felt strongly that he ought to give them something too. They'd stood by him just as much as the man had, and been friendly too.

At least he could show them he didn't have anything else to give, so he tipped his gourd out over his cupped palm. Several grains of salt glittered amid the other crumbs. Not nearly enough for a gift, but the women pressed eagerly forward and picked them out and put them on their tongues with little gasps of pleasure.

Ko had a sudden thought. There was plenty of salt at the camp, if he could persuade them to come there. And then perhaps Ko could fetch Tun and Suth and the others to meet him. And then, wonderfully, he might show them the way through the marshes.

And it would be all Ko's doing.

Before the women could grab the last couple of grains he closed his fingers over them and held them tight. With his other hand he tapped the knuckles, and then pointed out across the mud.

The women were trying to pry his fingers open, laughing at their game. He snatched his fist out of reach and pointed again and made the encouraging
food
noises that Porcupine parents used to call their children to come and eat.

They stopped laughing and stared at him, and at his cupped hand when he opened it and showed them the salt and pointed again. They stared out at the dimly seen slope of hill beyond the mudbank, and he realized they'd understood.

So had the man, and he obviously didn't like the idea. The women took his hands and wheedled, but he pulled them away, grunting angrily. They fell on their knees and stroked him and fawned on him, until he gave a heavy, exasperated sigh and led the way onto the last hidden path.

Oldtale

THE FATHER OF SNAKES

Tov journeyed north. The parrot sat on his head. It slept. The sun shone on their right, and was over them, and they came to a great hole. Beside it was a tree, a tree of the desert, that does not die. This was the place of Fododo, the Father of Snakes
.

Tov said, “Hide, little parrot. Birds are snake food.”

The parrot flew into the tree and hid
.

Tov put his hands to his mouth and called, loud, loud, “Fododo, come out of your hole.”

Fododo heard, and came. His body was ten and ten paces long, and ten and ten and ten more. His width was the width of a man's body, and his colour was white, like bone, an old bone in the desert
.

He looked at Tov, and the look was magic. Tov could not move
.

Fododo said, “Tov, you are a great fool.”

Tov said, “You know my name. How is this?”

Fododo said, “I know all, all.”

Tov said, “I, Tov, know a thing. You, Fododo, do
not know it. It is this. There is one. Day comes. This one has laughter and no words. She has wings and no arms. Night comes. This one has words, she has laughter. She has arms and no wings. Fododo, Father of Snakes, who is this one? You do not know.”

It was true, and thus Fododo lost his magic. Above his head the parrot cried. Its cry was laughter. Fododo looked up, and Tov could move. He ran behind the tree, quick, quick
.

The parrot flew down in front of the head of Fododo. He struck at her, but she flew behind him. He followed her with his head, close, close, but she flew under and over and round, and again, and yet again. All the time Fododo followed her with his head
.

Then she flew up into the tree, and he reached to catch her. But his body was now a great knot. Reaching, he pulled it tight, so that he could not move
.

Tov came out from behind the tree, and went behind Fododo and took him by the neck. Fododo opened his mouth to bite him, but Tov was ready. He thrust his digging stick between the jaws of Fododo, from the side, so that the poison fangs were in front of the stick
.

Tov took hold of the left fang and pulled hard, hard. The fang came out, and Tov held it and rejoiced. He took his stick from the jaws of Fododo. Still Fododo could not move
.

Tov said, “Come, little parrot, we have finished.” He left
.

Fododo called after him, “Tov, be careful, careful. My fang is full of death
.”

Tov answered, “Fododo, you are right. But it is not the death of Tov, nor of his parrot.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

By now it was mid-morning. Ko guessed that everyone would be foraging down at the inlet, but as he led the way up the slope he heard a shout to his left and saw Mana running towards him. He made
Wait
signs to the marsh people and raced to meet her. They flung their arms round each other and hugged close. Ko was so happy to see her that it took him a while to realize she was sobbing.

He held her by the shoulders and looked at her.

“You cry, Mana,” he said. “Why is this? I come back. I am happy, happy.”

“Oh, Ko,” she sobbed. “I look for you long, long. I say in my heart,
Ko is dead
. I am sad, sad.”

She took his hand.

“Come,” she said. “See Suth, see Noli, see Tinu. Oh, Ko, we are sad!”

“No,” he said. “First you greet these people. They bring me back. Mana, they are like Tor. They do not have words. Then I take them to our lair. I give them salt. It is my thank gift. You go to Suth. You tell him,
Ko is back
.”

He took her to meet the marsh people and she knelt and pattered her hands on the ground in front of the man, as she would have on greeting an important man from the Kin. He looked puzzled, but more confident. There was no way he could be afraid of Mana.