第19节

he would be the first item to be unloaded.

He ordered her to be bound with strips of cloth into a foetal position,

then hidden inside a bundle of furs.

Concealed behind a pierced screen on the uppermost deck, he watched as,

amidst the usual feverish activity, it was carried down the gangway on

the shoulders of a sturdy Mute and dumped into a handcart. Those

following him threw their loads on top then, when the cart was full, it

was hauled away into one of the warehouses.

After a bone-shaking ride, the crushing weight that had threatened to

suffocate Clearwater was removed.

Several more stops and starts followed. Voices and footsteps came and

went. Clearwater felt the cart move off again. It rattled over

cobbled streets, then the bundle of furs in which she lay hidden was

hoisted on to another strong back. She felt herself being carried up a

flight of stairs and was once again dumped unceremoniously, this time

on to a floor. Despite the thick cocoon of furs, the impact drove the

breath from her body. Doors slid shut and were barred, making it clear

that her period of incarceration was not yet over. Even so, she was

relieved to be back on dry land.

Eventually the door opened again and she heard the familiar sing-song

voices of Su-Shan and Nan-Khe. They untied the bundle of furs and

Clearwater emerged to find herself in another windowless room. It was,

however, larger and better furnished than the cabin which she had

occupied on the wheelboat and which, for the last three days, she had

shared with two severed heads. She had tried to avoid looking at them

but the room was so small, they hovered constantly at the edge of her

vision. At mealtimes there was no escape: the house-women had been

instructed to place her meals on the table between the heads and wait

until she had eaten every last scrap.

It was not the heads that upset Clearwater. Headpoles were a common

sight in any Mute settlement and were the visible proof of a warrior's

prowess. The heads of two cloud warriors had been placed on poles

outside her own hut in recognition of the part she had played in their

downfall. What she found hard to stomach was the hideous way in which

the two victims had been mutilated. And that, in turn, reminded her of

how the other six had died on the great waterwheel, and the cruel

laughter their deaths had provoked.

The Plainfolk did not kill in cold blood, nor did they attack the weak,

or defenceless. Where was the honour in that? Warriors of both sexes

fought only to defend their turf against rival clans. When it came to

killing, the dead-faces were as ruthless as the sand-burrowers. They

were two of a kind and both would suffer the same fate when Talisman

entered the world like an avenging angel.

And that day would come. Towards the end of the voyage and even now,

as she sat imprisoned in another gilded cage, Clearwater sensed that

the cloud warrior was already in Ne-Issan. The golden one who had

captured her soul was here! Close by to where she now lay! Her mind

had picked up the faint vibrations that emanated from his presence

reflections of the power she had poured into his bladed quarterstaff to

help protect him from the dangers that lay ahead. The stones had not

lied. He had returned with death hiding in his shadow and would carry

her away on a river of blood.

What had been foretold would come to pass: the Plainfolk would become a

bright sword in the hands of Talisman their Saviour. And that sword

would reap a grim harvest under a blood-moon. The weeds and thorns

that threatened to choke the seed of the Plainfolk would be cut down.

Their roots would be torn from the earth and consigned to the fire;

their ashes would be ground to dust. And from that dust a new

generation of Plainfolk would rise, straight and strong as the Heroes

of the Old Time. The world would be made whole, the blood would drain

from the earth and the land would be green again.