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Chapter 51.
New Rose
Rumau was awakened the next day by a wasp buzzing around her head. At first she panicked-the last thing she needed was to be stung-but then she wondered, what is a wasp doing this far from a Rose?
A Rose!
Rumau got up, ran over to where Gadrin was grazing, climbed onto the mare’s back and stood up.
The Great Rose, spread magnificently out over the lake, which yesterday had been covered with blooms, was today almost bare of them. She could no longer see the cloud of wasps and birds that usually hovered over a rose.
Rumau let herself fall down into a sitting position on Gadrin’s back, and turned the horse back to the camp. “Wake up! Take a look! I think we can go to the Rose today!”
Emma awoke with a start and a broad grin. She looked out toward the rose and let out a yelp of glee. Yre just stretched. Aurrigne looked, as usual, a little lost.
Rumau began gathering up her belongings and loading them onto one of the carts. She hitched the cart to Gadrin, and walked off toward the Rose.
She was not ready for the sight that greeted her once she got there.
Climbing all over the Rose, clutching at all the remaining flowers, were the hannu; their tails, legs and arms now long and their fingers fast and agile.
When Rumau called, “Mignette!” one of the hannu let go of its branch and came toddling toward her, whistling happily and flailing her arms in welcome.
“Oh, dear little Perennet, how good to see you!” Rumau scooped the little one up and held her high over her head. Perennet whistled and shrieked in delight.
Amazing how much they’d grown, Rumau thought. Amazing how one could come to so love something so very alien in so short a time...
And over by the Rose, Mignette was looking on. She allowed the happy reunion for some short time, but soon called, “Hannu-thein!” in a commanding voice.
And when Rumau let go, and Perennet, and many others, clustered around their mother, Mignette smiled very happily, and nodded to Rumau. She then dismissed the hannu, and Perennet and her sisters ran off to play elsewhere.
... b ...
The new Rose was a warm and inviting as could be wanted. Even though it was a much larger plant than the one in which they had lived before, somehow, this Rose seemed to be a much more intimate space. The roof of the bower was lower than the roof of the previous rose had been, making the space seem cozier even through, on the ground, there was just as much if not more. And once again, there were no flowers. This time, the hannu had eaten them all. They had evidently done so in rather a hurry, as all around the Rose, everything showed signs of having been torn up quickly.
The hannu had grown so much, Rumau noticed. They were walking quite well, and many were running. They were climbing all over the Rose, heedless of branch and thorn, eating, and eating, and eating. Every now and than, Mignette directed them to another part of the tree with a bark, and they all moved to that part, immediately, eagerly and en masse.
The first thing remount wanted to do was run to the middle of the Rose, or at least crawl to it which looked more likely, and see if there were any more aquatic animals living in the center. The only thing Yre had in mind was a long nap. Aurrigne didn’t even stay awake long enough to decide he wanted a nap, but just flopped down on the first wide patch of grass he could find.
Emma acted as if she had not made any kind of journey; she actually took off toward the center of the Rose. Unfortunately for her, and everyone else, Rumau thought, Mignette immediately grabbed Emma’s arm, and waved to the others to gather around her. She even woke Aurrigne up, and glowered at him until he appeared to be paying attention. She chirped a bit, and within moments the entire hannu entourage was circled around her, listening carefully and watching closely.
Mignette spoke, with occasional translations from Yre:
“While you all were coming to us, I and Kaukiy flew ahead to find our next staging point. We know from finding Aurrigne that Dar and his people have taken the shore route. As I expected, this has put them several leagues ahead of us even considering the delay at the delta. They also have sent runners ahead to set up a relay of runners in the next town, and the next. We can not afford to dawdle any more.”
“Dawdle?!” Rumau snapped. “After all that work to make the carts? That was hardly dawdling, considering the work we did, and we were forced to go slow or-“
“Please, Rumau, allow me to finish. Yes, I know we went slowly. I know it was because we had to. We cannot anymore. Dar and his people are riding, and runners are almost as fast as horses; probably faster, when not carrying someone. At this rate they will get to my country a week before we do. Unless we hurry, or delay them, or both.”
Mignette looked over all her spectators. She looked longest at Aurrigne, who looked back at her through eyes he was holding open only with the greatest effort.
“I was under the impression,” Rumau said, “that if they continue on their present path, they’ll just run into your own archers, who will outnumber them, yes? By a great deal. Fine. Let them go on ahead and your people will take care of them for us.”
Now Mignette stiffened in a way that none of them had ever seen her do before. “You don’t understand,” she said darkly. “My people are archers, yes. My people know the shimeyu, yes. But my people know that the shimeyu are not archers. Or were not archers, until my family was taken.”
“And they will think it your fault that ...”
Mignette nodded. “I must make them understand.”
Rumau cocked her head. “Make your people understand that you didn’t teach them willingly, yes, but-“
“But I did teach them willingly,” Mignette said.
Rumau and Yre stared at her, and then at each other. When they turned to Aurrigne, he nodded, and then lowered his head.
“Mignette,” Rumau said carefully, “why?”
Mignette considered, then sat down. “I wanted them eventually to get me back to my people. I needed a tribe. There was no one else, not then.”
“I thought you lived at the edge of the forest,” Aurrigne said, seeming to be slowly waking.
“A scouting party lived in the Rose you destroyed,” Mignette said in a resigned voice. She sat up and her demeanor slowly hardened. “My clan lives further inland. By a good deal. Before we can reach them we must pass the Monottnets, and the Ukammerrs, and skirt the territory of the Frugrims and two or three other clans. We were allied with the Frugrims for a while when I was young. That may have changed. We’ll see.”
Emma sat up. “ what you’re telling us,” is that you will not be welcome by any of those clans in the first place. But if they think that you have made for yourself a then there will surely be far greater trouble.”
Mignette nodded.
“You didn’t know you would have us at your side, so you took who was available in order to get you safely home. I understand that.”
“I don’t,” Aurrigne said. “You made it so hard for us to learn! You made it so hard for us to get the information from you!”
“Yes, I did. And you learned much better, and much more quickly, by having to pay such a price for the information they knew what have had I given it freely. You are much better archers now because of the price you have to pay to learn the skill.
“If I am there when all the foreign archers arrive, it will be easier for the other clans to understand, if nothing else, that I am only trying to make my way home with whatever means are at my disposal. That I am not traveling with all of you to make war on them, but only to get back to my own people. They will give us less trouble that way. But they will still give us trouble. And there are other considerations, which I don’t feel I have the time to explain right now. Let me finish, and on the way I will explain more if you wish.”
The others all sat back ready to listen, and doodle and fishwife leaned a little closer to each other.
“The best policy, I think, is as follows. Kaukiy and I will fly at head to the next Rose, taking with us as many hannu as Kaukiy can carry. As soon as she is able, she will come back for more, it is the fastest way. But in the meantime, everyone must ride. Those who can ride Gadrin and Owán must do so. The rest can ride the Western mares. The hannu are light enough to ride the foals as well. You must follow us as quickly as you can. This way cookie will not have so far to go each time.”
“Yet, there’s something you’re not considering here,” doodle said. “The western mares are not trained horses. You can’t just get on them and ride. You have to train them first; they don’t understand. Gadrin and Owán are a special kind of horse, they are very smart and they understand a great deal. The new mayors don’t understand any of this. Whatever horses don’t understand, they decide is terribly frightening. And trying to write a frightened horse is just plain dangerous.”
“The Western mares are different,” Mignette said. “But we are different, too.”
Mignette stood up and began to walk away. “Gather as much food as you can. We can only stay here one night.” In a flash, she was lost amongst the branches.
Rumau looked questioningly at Yre. Yre just shook his head. They both turned to glower at Aurrigne. “What do you know,” Yre asked, “about these clans she speaks of?”
Aurrigne fluffed the few feathers he had. “That they fight, mostly. That there are many, many beruliy and that they are very defensive of their boundaries.” He thought for a long time. “I once got an idea, you see,” he said almost timidly.
“Aurrigne, Novice of the White Rock Dike Society, please tell us your idea.”
Aurrigne seemed to brighten. “I once got the idea, from listening to Mignette talk... she used to, every once in a great while, start talking at an alarming rate, out of sheer boredom, I think... Anyway, I’ve got this idea, you see, that the reason there are so many battles among these people is that there is such a small space available for each group to live, but there are so very many of them. Sometimes, it occurred to me, sometimes I think perhaps they go to their battles because there are too many of them for their land to support, and this is how they cope. This way, they get to have as much fun breeding and rearing as they want - Mignette says they do rather enjoy doing this - and when they become too many, they can get rid of the excess by claiming heroic deeds and epic struggles and so forth.”
Emma leaned forward. “That can’t be true,” she said. “For if that were true, there would be no need to make all these hannu, would there? For certainly, there would be enough of them already.”
Aurrigne seemed to shrug. “When I had this idea,” he said, “I had absolutely no idea that such things as hannu even existed. I am in awe of this, absolutely. How is even possible I cannot imagine. I have heard of such a thing as magic, but of course it is outside my purview.”
“There’s no such thing as magic,” Rumau said. "There is nothing without explanation. The explanation is there, and will find it, someday. There’s nothing wrong in not knowing it now. But there is something wrong in not acknowledging that it exists now.” She stood up and brushed herself off. “I want to see the center of this Rose. Then, I guess, we had all better do as we’ve been told.”
Chapter 52.
Khizhir Ahoy!
“It’s not very big,” the Master-of-Five said disparagingly.
“It is what it is,” Khizhir said in a huff.
What it was, in fact, was a bizarre, hybrid thing. One half of it was the spine and rib cage of the dead whale. On the long end of the spine, where there were no ribs, a set of false ribs made of wood had been fashioned an attached to the spine. The whole thing was held together by the dead whale’s skin, which had been sown onto the ribs mostly by Khizhir herself, and later by the Toolists, using sinew which the shimeyu would not eat. Khizhir had begged the shimeyu not to eat the brain. She seemed to remember that Rumau had once mentioned that one could preserve skins by rubbing brains on them. But the Shimeyu were getting hungrier by the moment. They had smashed the skull with stones and gulped down the brains before anyone could even think of reasoning with them. At that point, Khizhir knew that no matter what she did, she had to get the shimeyu away from her grandchildren. They showed no intention of trying to catch another whale. They were lousy fishers. What was left?
The Master-of-Five shrieked for attention, and the entire community, such as it was, snapped to.
“It is very small,” she said. “All of us will not fit. Therefore, I have come to a decision.”
The shimeyu all looked at each other eagerly. The chiyaha looked at everyone with trepidation.
“I am going in this boat. Quite frankly, it stinks.”
This was literally true enough.
“I do not have much sense of smell left, so I will get used to it very quickly. I am going in this boat. And with me I am taking one chiyaha, my biographer; two of my clan, Odote and Fnneh, and one Toolist, Hiyyi, to row and to help Khizhir maintain the boat.”
No one in the crowd said anything, and Khizhir did not like it at all.
“I charge the rest of you to arrange in what ever way pleases you, a boat of your own. Those who wish to follow us may do so. We sell in the direction of the moon’s dog as he rises in the morning. Those of you who wish to sail home may do so, but remember that you will be expected to explain your presence, and my absence, when you get back. You should consider very carefully whether you actually want to do this.
“Those I have called, help me into this boat. We leave now.”
Khizhir stood up and said, “we leave now, but we have just finished the boat. Let us... let us now rest, and appreciate the work!”
“Nonsense,” theme Master-of-Five said. “I know what you want. You just want to stay here and raise your grandchildren. That’s totally unnecessary. You are my biographer, and you are coming with me.” By this time, other shimeyu were lifting the old hen over the side of the boat. She settled down in the very center, on a pile of woven mats which Khizhir had taught some of the others to make. Odote and Fnneh got in next, one sitting in front and one sitting behind the master. Hiyyi got in next, and made herself comfortable at the bow, against a pile of wooden ribs which she had made particularly strong.
Khizhir Looked back at her family. The young ones seemed to take no notice of anything. But the adults were terrified. They knew, as did Khizhir, that assuming the shimeyu ever did make it off the island, they themselves, by that time, would be only a memory.
Khizhir shrugged. That was the way it was with predators. Nothing you could do. Stay here, and she would be hunted and eaten with the rest.
She got into the boat, sat at the bow, and did not look back. Not as the other shimeyu pushed the boat into the water. Not as Odote and Fnneh began to row. Not as the sun set many, many long hours later.
Chapter 53.
Relay
What command it was, exactly, that Mignette gave to the hannu, Rumau never knew. But in an instant, some had mounted the Western foals, and were riding... or something.
Two of them could ride a foal quite easily. Three of them at a time managed to scramble onto a mare. They got throws a few times, but after Rumau rode off on Gadrin, and Owán followed, the mares followed their herd leaders, and seemed to mostly ignore the hannu on their backs. Perennet made it onto Owán’s back and looked over at Rumau, very pleased indeed.
Mignette and Cookie took off with three of the hannu aboard. The hannu were, it seemed, incongruously lightweight. Nevertheless, when Rumau started the group of after them, she went at an easy canter, and not the gallop that she knew Mignette was expecting. She wasn’t going to risk the foals over... over... there was so much to think about.
Nevertheless, as on she went, she found herself riding harder and harder. One idea came more and more to the forefront of her mind.
She had to get home, and soon.
... b ...
Around mid-afternoon, Cookie and Mignette reappeared. They were not alone; another fiu, larger than Cookie by almost twice but rather more skittish, was with them. Mignette hurried two of her daughters onto Cookie, and five of them onto the other fiu, and took off again without saying a word, which annoyed Rumau rather.
It annoyed Emma even more. “Did you see that? She said not a word to us! Not a thing! And I thought we all mattered to her.” She gave a mighty snort.
“Don’t worry about it,” Rumau said. “I’m sure she’s thinking about us, she just has a lot on her mind.”
“You have to understand,” Aurrigne said, “Mignette can be very determined, and very focused. I’ve seen that about her before. Sometimes, she can put almost unimaginable concentration into a project. I’ve seen this. I don’t know whether I should respect it or be frightened by it.”
Yre turned to Aurrigne and snorted. “Why don’t you do both? It will save you the trouble of having to make a decision and pick one.”
Emma stopped. After a moment, Aurrigne did as well, as did Rumau and all the horses. Yre did not. The others looked at each other curiously for a moment, and then went on.
... b ...
Mignette and the Sky Lions made one more relay trip that day. On the way back the beruliy rode the larger of the two, and did not ask cookie to take on any more passengers. Rumau noticed that cookie didn’t seem to be flying as enthusiastically as before. The recently healed wing was probably troubling her.
There were no Roses anywhere near where they stopped for the evening. Rumau wondered what the hannu who were left, about half of the crew (and she was pleased to see that her favorite, Perennet, was still among them), were going to do overnight. She fell into a deep sleep, and only found out the next morning, from Aurrigne and Emma, that Mignette and the larger Sky Lion had come once just before dawn and taken a few more hannu away.
... b ...
By midmorning the next day, all of the hannu had been brought to a new Rose, which Rumau could just see in the distance.
Yre was they are already when, slow shortly after dusk, Rumau and the horses arrived. He curled up next to Rumau to sleep, but still, he had nothing to say.
Rumau gave him a desultory pat and looked around. “Does anybody know where we are?” she asked at length.
Aurrigne, rubbing is swollen hock, chirped. “From the lay of the land, I think we are about half way between the cities of Myo and Mermi. We are maybe... half way between, say, Tichi, where you came to us, and Perinc.”
“And how far is Perinc from the Rose Woods?”
Aurrigne chirped again. “The Rose Woods, as you call them, are on the other side of the cliff. There is a river, you see, at the bottom of a great cliff just north of Perinc. The Rose Woods are across the river. At least, that is what I am told, for I’ve never been to Perinc.”
Yre, who all thought had been sleeping, said, “You doubt the words of those who told you this?”
Aurrigne blinked. “I... no. That is to say, I mean, that... that I have heard Rumau use this form of speech and...”
Yre was about to say something but Rumau burst in with, “You thought you would do so to, as a matter of common politeness.”
“Yes, exactly,” Aurrigne said. He made a small bow to Rumau, for it was not what he had in mind at all. He had been doubting, lately, and that doubt both frightened and thrilled him.
Yre huffed and said nothing.
Rumau made herself comfortable against him.
... b ...
The next day was much the same, and the next, and the several days after that. Getting the Western Mares to cross a river, when they came to one, turned out to be little more than a break in the monotony for all the work they put into it.
Whenever they stopped, Mignette bade everyone practice their archery. The hannu were good.
Rumau asked several times whether Mignette, in her flights with Cookie, had seen any sign of Dar and his group. Mignette said only that from up that high, it was impossible to say. But there were runners aplenty.
When they finally reached a spot where there were Great Roses on either side of a river, Rumau steadfastly ordered a three day camp. The horses, she said, were losing weight and needed the rest. And she did not want Gadrin overworking and losing her foal.
Mignette, to everyone’s surprise, did not argue.
And so Rumau went about setting up a camp, with much more enthusiasm than she had done anything the last few weeks.
Chapter 54.
City of Dô
He had been sleeping.
Now he was wide awake, and hundreds of shimeyu, and many frightened, but curious, chiyaha, stood in a wide circle around him.
Another nightmare. Dar shook his dishevelled head and pounded a fist on the ground. Another nightmare, and this time he knew the cause.
Slow.
It was all because of slow.
He was slow in so many things in life, and now he had been travelling many, many, many days and only made it as far as Do. He had to get to the Madhai. Knowing what they knew would elevate him beyond recognition and his family would grow and prosper and then that incident...
... that incident so long ago...
... would be just a minor mistake in a long and glorious career.
“Get up! All of you! Get up! We leave now!”
The older shimeyu obeyed at once. One of the younger said, “But uncle, we’ve had only four hours’ rest...”
“GET UP! For the sake of our people, there is no rest! You don’t understand! The need is great! Get up, and let no one stop us! Where are our runners?”
One of the onlookers, a chieftain of the Runners Society, flashed his crest. “We do not run at night, as very well you know. I will rouse no one. Go back and let your people rest, Dar-Master. Whatever your ... intentions ... no goal is worth risking being taken by a Sky Lion in the middle of the night.”
“Nonsense, we are not near Sky Lion territory.”
“We are indeed. They are far more numerous of late, and we have heard two, one of them very large, passing by regularly. When a large one is about, it is not wise even to leave a city. So go back to sleep, and quietly this time, please.”
Dar began to shake. He had no idea why.
“GET UP!” he screamed. “All of my family, up, you laggards! Follow me! Now!” Dar ran around the camp and dragged everyone who was not already standing onto their feet. Then he ran off to the east.
The family followed him as soon as they could gather their supplies.
The city of Dô cheered their parting, but not for the reason that Dar, still just within earshot, thought.
(C) 2008 Fara Shimbo
To Be Continued.....
Chapter 51.
New Rose
Rumau was awakened the next day by a wasp buzzing around her head. At first she panicked-the last thing she needed was to be stung-but then she wondered, what is a wasp doing this far from a Rose?
A Rose!
Rumau got up, ran over to where Gadrin was grazing, climbed onto the mare’s back and stood up.
The Great Rose, spread magnificently out over the lake, which yesterday had been covered with blooms, was today almost bare of them. She could no longer see the cloud of wasps and birds that usually hovered over a rose.
Rumau let herself fall down into a sitting position on Gadrin’s back, and turned the horse back to the camp. “Wake up! Take a look! I think we can go to the Rose today!”
Emma awoke with a start and a broad grin. She looked out toward the rose and let out a yelp of glee. Yre just stretched. Aurrigne looked, as usual, a little lost.
Rumau began gathering up her belongings and loading them onto one of the carts. She hitched the cart to Gadrin, and walked off toward the Rose.
She was not ready for the sight that greeted her once she got there.
Climbing all over the Rose, clutching at all the remaining flowers, were the hannu; their tails, legs and arms now long and their fingers fast and agile.
When Rumau called, “Mignette!” one of the hannu let go of its branch and came toddling toward her, whistling happily and flailing her arms in welcome.
“Oh, dear little Perennet, how good to see you!” Rumau scooped the little one up and held her high over her head. Perennet whistled and shrieked in delight.
Amazing how much they’d grown, Rumau thought. Amazing how one could come to so love something so very alien in so short a time...
And over by the Rose, Mignette was looking on. She allowed the happy reunion for some short time, but soon called, “Hannu-thein!” in a commanding voice.
And when Rumau let go, and Perennet, and many others, clustered around their mother, Mignette smiled very happily, and nodded to Rumau. She then dismissed the hannu, and Perennet and her sisters ran off to play elsewhere.
... b ...
The new Rose was a warm and inviting as could be wanted. Even though it was a much larger plant than the one in which they had lived before, somehow, this Rose seemed to be a much more intimate space. The roof of the bower was lower than the roof of the previous rose had been, making the space seem cozier even through, on the ground, there was just as much if not more. And once again, there were no flowers. This time, the hannu had eaten them all. They had evidently done so in rather a hurry, as all around the Rose, everything showed signs of having been torn up quickly.
The hannu had grown so much, Rumau noticed. They were walking quite well, and many were running. They were climbing all over the Rose, heedless of branch and thorn, eating, and eating, and eating. Every now and than, Mignette directed them to another part of the tree with a bark, and they all moved to that part, immediately, eagerly and en masse.
The first thing remount wanted to do was run to the middle of the Rose, or at least crawl to it which looked more likely, and see if there were any more aquatic animals living in the center. The only thing Yre had in mind was a long nap. Aurrigne didn’t even stay awake long enough to decide he wanted a nap, but just flopped down on the first wide patch of grass he could find.
Emma acted as if she had not made any kind of journey; she actually took off toward the center of the Rose. Unfortunately for her, and everyone else, Rumau thought, Mignette immediately grabbed Emma’s arm, and waved to the others to gather around her. She even woke Aurrigne up, and glowered at him until he appeared to be paying attention. She chirped a bit, and within moments the entire hannu entourage was circled around her, listening carefully and watching closely.
Mignette spoke, with occasional translations from Yre:
“While you all were coming to us, I and Kaukiy flew ahead to find our next staging point. We know from finding Aurrigne that Dar and his people have taken the shore route. As I expected, this has put them several leagues ahead of us even considering the delay at the delta. They also have sent runners ahead to set up a relay of runners in the next town, and the next. We can not afford to dawdle any more.”
“Dawdle?!” Rumau snapped. “After all that work to make the carts? That was hardly dawdling, considering the work we did, and we were forced to go slow or-“
“Please, Rumau, allow me to finish. Yes, I know we went slowly. I know it was because we had to. We cannot anymore. Dar and his people are riding, and runners are almost as fast as horses; probably faster, when not carrying someone. At this rate they will get to my country a week before we do. Unless we hurry, or delay them, or both.”
Mignette looked over all her spectators. She looked longest at Aurrigne, who looked back at her through eyes he was holding open only with the greatest effort.
“I was under the impression,” Rumau said, “that if they continue on their present path, they’ll just run into your own archers, who will outnumber them, yes? By a great deal. Fine. Let them go on ahead and your people will take care of them for us.”
Now Mignette stiffened in a way that none of them had ever seen her do before. “You don’t understand,” she said darkly. “My people are archers, yes. My people know the shimeyu, yes. But my people know that the shimeyu are not archers. Or were not archers, until my family was taken.”
“And they will think it your fault that ...”
Mignette nodded. “I must make them understand.”
Rumau cocked her head. “Make your people understand that you didn’t teach them willingly, yes, but-“
“But I did teach them willingly,” Mignette said.
Rumau and Yre stared at her, and then at each other. When they turned to Aurrigne, he nodded, and then lowered his head.
“Mignette,” Rumau said carefully, “why?”
Mignette considered, then sat down. “I wanted them eventually to get me back to my people. I needed a tribe. There was no one else, not then.”
“I thought you lived at the edge of the forest,” Aurrigne said, seeming to be slowly waking.
“A scouting party lived in the Rose you destroyed,” Mignette said in a resigned voice. She sat up and her demeanor slowly hardened. “My clan lives further inland. By a good deal. Before we can reach them we must pass the Monottnets, and the Ukammerrs, and skirt the territory of the Frugrims and two or three other clans. We were allied with the Frugrims for a while when I was young. That may have changed. We’ll see.”
Emma sat up. “ what you’re telling us,” is that you will not be welcome by any of those clans in the first place. But if they think that you have made for yourself a then there will surely be far greater trouble.”
Mignette nodded.
“You didn’t know you would have us at your side, so you took who was available in order to get you safely home. I understand that.”
“I don’t,” Aurrigne said. “You made it so hard for us to learn! You made it so hard for us to get the information from you!”
“Yes, I did. And you learned much better, and much more quickly, by having to pay such a price for the information they knew what have had I given it freely. You are much better archers now because of the price you have to pay to learn the skill.
“If I am there when all the foreign archers arrive, it will be easier for the other clans to understand, if nothing else, that I am only trying to make my way home with whatever means are at my disposal. That I am not traveling with all of you to make war on them, but only to get back to my own people. They will give us less trouble that way. But they will still give us trouble. And there are other considerations, which I don’t feel I have the time to explain right now. Let me finish, and on the way I will explain more if you wish.”
The others all sat back ready to listen, and doodle and fishwife leaned a little closer to each other.
“The best policy, I think, is as follows. Kaukiy and I will fly at head to the next Rose, taking with us as many hannu as Kaukiy can carry. As soon as she is able, she will come back for more, it is the fastest way. But in the meantime, everyone must ride. Those who can ride Gadrin and Owán must do so. The rest can ride the Western mares. The hannu are light enough to ride the foals as well. You must follow us as quickly as you can. This way cookie will not have so far to go each time.”
“Yet, there’s something you’re not considering here,” doodle said. “The western mares are not trained horses. You can’t just get on them and ride. You have to train them first; they don’t understand. Gadrin and Owán are a special kind of horse, they are very smart and they understand a great deal. The new mayors don’t understand any of this. Whatever horses don’t understand, they decide is terribly frightening. And trying to write a frightened horse is just plain dangerous.”
“The Western mares are different,” Mignette said. “But we are different, too.”
Mignette stood up and began to walk away. “Gather as much food as you can. We can only stay here one night.” In a flash, she was lost amongst the branches.
Rumau looked questioningly at Yre. Yre just shook his head. They both turned to glower at Aurrigne. “What do you know,” Yre asked, “about these clans she speaks of?”
Aurrigne fluffed the few feathers he had. “That they fight, mostly. That there are many, many beruliy and that they are very defensive of their boundaries.” He thought for a long time. “I once got an idea, you see,” he said almost timidly.
“Aurrigne, Novice of the White Rock Dike Society, please tell us your idea.”
Aurrigne seemed to brighten. “I once got the idea, from listening to Mignette talk... she used to, every once in a great while, start talking at an alarming rate, out of sheer boredom, I think... Anyway, I’ve got this idea, you see, that the reason there are so many battles among these people is that there is such a small space available for each group to live, but there are so very many of them. Sometimes, it occurred to me, sometimes I think perhaps they go to their battles because there are too many of them for their land to support, and this is how they cope. This way, they get to have as much fun breeding and rearing as they want - Mignette says they do rather enjoy doing this - and when they become too many, they can get rid of the excess by claiming heroic deeds and epic struggles and so forth.”
Emma leaned forward. “That can’t be true,” she said. “For if that were true, there would be no need to make all these hannu, would there? For certainly, there would be enough of them already.”
Aurrigne seemed to shrug. “When I had this idea,” he said, “I had absolutely no idea that such things as hannu even existed. I am in awe of this, absolutely. How is even possible I cannot imagine. I have heard of such a thing as magic, but of course it is outside my purview.”
“There’s no such thing as magic,” Rumau said. "There is nothing without explanation. The explanation is there, and will find it, someday. There’s nothing wrong in not knowing it now. But there is something wrong in not acknowledging that it exists now.” She stood up and brushed herself off. “I want to see the center of this Rose. Then, I guess, we had all better do as we’ve been told.”
Chapter 52.
Khizhir Ahoy!
“It’s not very big,” the Master-of-Five said disparagingly.
“It is what it is,” Khizhir said in a huff.
What it was, in fact, was a bizarre, hybrid thing. One half of it was the spine and rib cage of the dead whale. On the long end of the spine, where there were no ribs, a set of false ribs made of wood had been fashioned an attached to the spine. The whole thing was held together by the dead whale’s skin, which had been sown onto the ribs mostly by Khizhir herself, and later by the Toolists, using sinew which the shimeyu would not eat. Khizhir had begged the shimeyu not to eat the brain. She seemed to remember that Rumau had once mentioned that one could preserve skins by rubbing brains on them. But the Shimeyu were getting hungrier by the moment. They had smashed the skull with stones and gulped down the brains before anyone could even think of reasoning with them. At that point, Khizhir knew that no matter what she did, she had to get the shimeyu away from her grandchildren. They showed no intention of trying to catch another whale. They were lousy fishers. What was left?
The Master-of-Five shrieked for attention, and the entire community, such as it was, snapped to.
“It is very small,” she said. “All of us will not fit. Therefore, I have come to a decision.”
The shimeyu all looked at each other eagerly. The chiyaha looked at everyone with trepidation.
“I am going in this boat. Quite frankly, it stinks.”
This was literally true enough.
“I do not have much sense of smell left, so I will get used to it very quickly. I am going in this boat. And with me I am taking one chiyaha, my biographer; two of my clan, Odote and Fnneh, and one Toolist, Hiyyi, to row and to help Khizhir maintain the boat.”
No one in the crowd said anything, and Khizhir did not like it at all.
“I charge the rest of you to arrange in what ever way pleases you, a boat of your own. Those who wish to follow us may do so. We sell in the direction of the moon’s dog as he rises in the morning. Those of you who wish to sail home may do so, but remember that you will be expected to explain your presence, and my absence, when you get back. You should consider very carefully whether you actually want to do this.
“Those I have called, help me into this boat. We leave now.”
Khizhir stood up and said, “we leave now, but we have just finished the boat. Let us... let us now rest, and appreciate the work!”
“Nonsense,” theme Master-of-Five said. “I know what you want. You just want to stay here and raise your grandchildren. That’s totally unnecessary. You are my biographer, and you are coming with me.” By this time, other shimeyu were lifting the old hen over the side of the boat. She settled down in the very center, on a pile of woven mats which Khizhir had taught some of the others to make. Odote and Fnneh got in next, one sitting in front and one sitting behind the master. Hiyyi got in next, and made herself comfortable at the bow, against a pile of wooden ribs which she had made particularly strong.
Khizhir Looked back at her family. The young ones seemed to take no notice of anything. But the adults were terrified. They knew, as did Khizhir, that assuming the shimeyu ever did make it off the island, they themselves, by that time, would be only a memory.
Khizhir shrugged. That was the way it was with predators. Nothing you could do. Stay here, and she would be hunted and eaten with the rest.
She got into the boat, sat at the bow, and did not look back. Not as the other shimeyu pushed the boat into the water. Not as Odote and Fnneh began to row. Not as the sun set many, many long hours later.
Chapter 53.
Relay
What command it was, exactly, that Mignette gave to the hannu, Rumau never knew. But in an instant, some had mounted the Western foals, and were riding... or something.
Two of them could ride a foal quite easily. Three of them at a time managed to scramble onto a mare. They got throws a few times, but after Rumau rode off on Gadrin, and Owán followed, the mares followed their herd leaders, and seemed to mostly ignore the hannu on their backs. Perennet made it onto Owán’s back and looked over at Rumau, very pleased indeed.
Mignette and Cookie took off with three of the hannu aboard. The hannu were, it seemed, incongruously lightweight. Nevertheless, when Rumau started the group of after them, she went at an easy canter, and not the gallop that she knew Mignette was expecting. She wasn’t going to risk the foals over... over... there was so much to think about.
Nevertheless, as on she went, she found herself riding harder and harder. One idea came more and more to the forefront of her mind.
She had to get home, and soon.
... b ...
Around mid-afternoon, Cookie and Mignette reappeared. They were not alone; another fiu, larger than Cookie by almost twice but rather more skittish, was with them. Mignette hurried two of her daughters onto Cookie, and five of them onto the other fiu, and took off again without saying a word, which annoyed Rumau rather.
It annoyed Emma even more. “Did you see that? She said not a word to us! Not a thing! And I thought we all mattered to her.” She gave a mighty snort.
“Don’t worry about it,” Rumau said. “I’m sure she’s thinking about us, she just has a lot on her mind.”
“You have to understand,” Aurrigne said, “Mignette can be very determined, and very focused. I’ve seen that about her before. Sometimes, she can put almost unimaginable concentration into a project. I’ve seen this. I don’t know whether I should respect it or be frightened by it.”
Yre turned to Aurrigne and snorted. “Why don’t you do both? It will save you the trouble of having to make a decision and pick one.”
Emma stopped. After a moment, Aurrigne did as well, as did Rumau and all the horses. Yre did not. The others looked at each other curiously for a moment, and then went on.
... b ...
Mignette and the Sky Lions made one more relay trip that day. On the way back the beruliy rode the larger of the two, and did not ask cookie to take on any more passengers. Rumau noticed that cookie didn’t seem to be flying as enthusiastically as before. The recently healed wing was probably troubling her.
There were no Roses anywhere near where they stopped for the evening. Rumau wondered what the hannu who were left, about half of the crew (and she was pleased to see that her favorite, Perennet, was still among them), were going to do overnight. She fell into a deep sleep, and only found out the next morning, from Aurrigne and Emma, that Mignette and the larger Sky Lion had come once just before dawn and taken a few more hannu away.
... b ...
By midmorning the next day, all of the hannu had been brought to a new Rose, which Rumau could just see in the distance.
Yre was they are already when, slow shortly after dusk, Rumau and the horses arrived. He curled up next to Rumau to sleep, but still, he had nothing to say.
Rumau gave him a desultory pat and looked around. “Does anybody know where we are?” she asked at length.
Aurrigne, rubbing is swollen hock, chirped. “From the lay of the land, I think we are about half way between the cities of Myo and Mermi. We are maybe... half way between, say, Tichi, where you came to us, and Perinc.”
“And how far is Perinc from the Rose Woods?”
Aurrigne chirped again. “The Rose Woods, as you call them, are on the other side of the cliff. There is a river, you see, at the bottom of a great cliff just north of Perinc. The Rose Woods are across the river. At least, that is what I am told, for I’ve never been to Perinc.”
Yre, who all thought had been sleeping, said, “You doubt the words of those who told you this?”
Aurrigne blinked. “I... no. That is to say, I mean, that... that I have heard Rumau use this form of speech and...”
Yre was about to say something but Rumau burst in with, “You thought you would do so to, as a matter of common politeness.”
“Yes, exactly,” Aurrigne said. He made a small bow to Rumau, for it was not what he had in mind at all. He had been doubting, lately, and that doubt both frightened and thrilled him.
Yre huffed and said nothing.
Rumau made herself comfortable against him.
... b ...
The next day was much the same, and the next, and the several days after that. Getting the Western Mares to cross a river, when they came to one, turned out to be little more than a break in the monotony for all the work they put into it.
Whenever they stopped, Mignette bade everyone practice their archery. The hannu were good.
Rumau asked several times whether Mignette, in her flights with Cookie, had seen any sign of Dar and his group. Mignette said only that from up that high, it was impossible to say. But there were runners aplenty.
When they finally reached a spot where there were Great Roses on either side of a river, Rumau steadfastly ordered a three day camp. The horses, she said, were losing weight and needed the rest. And she did not want Gadrin overworking and losing her foal.
Mignette, to everyone’s surprise, did not argue.
And so Rumau went about setting up a camp, with much more enthusiasm than she had done anything the last few weeks.
Chapter 54.
City of Dô
He had been sleeping.
Now he was wide awake, and hundreds of shimeyu, and many frightened, but curious, chiyaha, stood in a wide circle around him.
Another nightmare. Dar shook his dishevelled head and pounded a fist on the ground. Another nightmare, and this time he knew the cause.
Slow.
It was all because of slow.
He was slow in so many things in life, and now he had been travelling many, many, many days and only made it as far as Do. He had to get to the Madhai. Knowing what they knew would elevate him beyond recognition and his family would grow and prosper and then that incident...
... that incident so long ago...
... would be just a minor mistake in a long and glorious career.
“Get up! All of you! Get up! We leave now!”
The older shimeyu obeyed at once. One of the younger said, “But uncle, we’ve had only four hours’ rest...”
“GET UP! For the sake of our people, there is no rest! You don’t understand! The need is great! Get up, and let no one stop us! Where are our runners?”
One of the onlookers, a chieftain of the Runners Society, flashed his crest. “We do not run at night, as very well you know. I will rouse no one. Go back and let your people rest, Dar-Master. Whatever your ... intentions ... no goal is worth risking being taken by a Sky Lion in the middle of the night.”
“Nonsense, we are not near Sky Lion territory.”
“We are indeed. They are far more numerous of late, and we have heard two, one of them very large, passing by regularly. When a large one is about, it is not wise even to leave a city. So go back to sleep, and quietly this time, please.”
Dar began to shake. He had no idea why.
“GET UP!” he screamed. “All of my family, up, you laggards! Follow me! Now!” Dar ran around the camp and dragged everyone who was not already standing onto their feet. Then he ran off to the east.
The family followed him as soon as they could gather their supplies.
The city of Dô cheered their parting, but not for the reason that Dar, still just within earshot, thought.
(C) 2008 Fara Shimbo
To Be Continued.....