Liberty Roar

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The Tuginda's Story

The narrow passage from the land-locked inlet to the Telthearna bent so sharply that it was only just possible for a canoe to negotiate it. The rocky spurs on either side overlapped, closing the inlet like a wall, so that from within nothing could be seen of the river beyond. The little bay, running inland between its paved shores, ended, among coloured water-lilies, at the outfall of the channel by the Tereth stone. Waiting with Reyannas while the servants loaded the canoes, Tyrion gazed upwards, past the bridge which he had crossed the night before, to where the Ledges opened above, their shape like that of a great arrow-head lying point downward on the hillside between the woods. The stream, he saw, was no longer flowing over them: it must have returned, during the night, to its normal course. High up, he could make out the figures of girls stooping over hoes and baskets, weeding and scouring among the stones.

When the loading of the canoes had begun, the sun had not yet reached this north-facing shore, but now it rose over the Ledges and shone down upon the inlet, changing the opaque, grey water to a depth of slow-moving, luminous green. Sharp shadows fell across the pavements from the small stone buildings standing here and there along the edges, some secluded among the trees, others in the

open among grass and flowers, He wondered how old these buildings might be. There was none such on Ortelga. The whole place could be the work only of people long ago. What sort of people could they have been, who had con structed the Ledges?

Blinking, he turned away from the sun to watch the giris loading the canoes. On Ortelga there would have been gossip, grave, silent banter, songs to lighten the work. These women moved deliberately and spoke only such few words as were needed. They were silent, he supposed, by custom and the rule of the island. What a release it would be to leave this shady, mind-bemusing place of secrets and sorcery! Then he recalled whither they were bound and felt again the clutch of fear in his stomach.

An elderly, grey-haired woman, who had been directing the girls at their work, left the waterside and approached Reyannas. "The loading is done, säiyett,' she said. 'Do you wish to check that all is there?" "No, I will

trust you, Thula,' replied the priestess absently. The old woman laid a hand on her arm. "We do not know where you are going, my dear, or for how long," she said. "Will you not tell me? Do you remember how I comforted you as a child, when you used to dream of the slave-traders and the

war?'

'I know all too well where we are going,' replied Reyannas, but not when I shall return.' 'A long journey?' persisted the old woman.

"Long or short,' answered Reyannas, with a quick, nervous laugh, "I promise you that whoever may die, I will take good care that I do not. She stooped, plucked a red flower, held it for a moment to the other's nostrils and then tossed it into the water.

The old woman made a restrained gesture of impatience, like a trusted servant who is privileged to express her feelings. "There is danger, then, my child?' she whispered, 'Why do you

speak of death? Reyannas stared a moment, biting her lip. Then she unclasped the broad, golden collar from her neck and put it into the old woman's hands.

'At all events I shall not need this,' she said, 'and if there is danger I shall run faster without the weight of it. Ask me no more, Thula. It is time for us to set out. Where are the Chief's servants?" 'He said that they were to return to Ortelga,' replied the old woman. "They have already taken their canoe and gone."

Then go yourself now and tell the Chief that we are ready. Good-bye, Thula. Remember me in your prayers.' She made her way across the pavement, stepped down into the

nearest of the four canoes and motioned to the hunter to take his place behind her. The two girls in the stern dipped their paddles and the canoe drew away from the shore. They crossed the inlet and began to edge their way out through the narrow cleft between the rock spurs.

The bow skirted a curtain of trailing, purple-leaved trazada and Tyrion, knowing how the little thorns tear and smart, dropped his head, shielding his face with his good arm. He heard the stiff leaves clashing against the side of the canoe, then felt a freshness of wind and opened his eyes. They were outside and rocking in a bay of slack water under the northern shore. The green shadow of the woods above them stretched upstream and across the river. Beyond, the water was blue and choppy, glittering in the sun and broken, here and there, into small, white-topped waves. Far off lay the blackened, desolate line of the left bank. He looked back over his shoulder but could no longer discern, among the tangle of green, the cleft from which they had emerged. Then the bow of the second canoe appeared, thrusting through the foliage. Reyannas, following his gaze, smiled coldly.

"There is no other landing place on the island where a canoe can come to shore. All else is cliff or shoal, like the place where landed last night.' you "The Tuginda, then?' he asked. 'Is she not coming with us?"

The priestess, watching the two remaining canoes as they came

out, made no immediate reply, but after a while said, "Do you know the tale of Inanna?' 'Why, yes, säiyett. She went to the underworld to beg for a life and as she passed each gate they took from her her clothes, her

jewels and all that she had.' 'Long ago, whenever the Tuginda set out from Quiso to seek Lord Sirius, it was the custom that she should have nothing what ever upon her when she left the island.' She paused and then added,

"The Tuginda does not wish it to be known on Quiso that she is leaving. By the time they learn that she is gone -' 'But if there is no other landing place?' he blurted out, inter

rupting her. She spoke to the girls at the paddles. 'Nitol Neelith! We will go up the shore now, as far as the quarries.'

At the westward end of the bay the shore extended to form a point. Below this the sheltered water was smooth, but once they had rounded it their progress became laborious, for the head-wind was troublesome and on this side of the island the current ran strongly. They moved slowly upstream, the canoes jumping and bouncing in the choppy water. At length Tyrion could see that some way ahead the steep, green slopes gave place to cliffs of grey rock. The face of these cliffs appeared to have been cut and broken into. There were several straight-sided openings, like great windows, and at the foot of the lowest he noticed a kind of sill - a flat, projecting shelf of rock, perhaps three or four times the height of a man above the water. Through these openings, as they neared, he could catch glimpses of a deep, rock-sided excavation, on the floor of which, here and there, were lying boulders and a few squared slabs of stone; but all seemed neglected and desolate. Reyannas turned her head. That is where they quarried the stone for the Ledges.'

'Who, säiyett? When?'

Again she made no answer, merely gazing across at the little waves slap-slapping against the foot of the cliff. Suddenly Tyrion started, so that the canoe rocked sideways and one of the girls struck the water sharply with the flat of her paddle to recover its balance. On the flat shelf above them stood a n***d woman, her hair flowing loose over her shoulders. She stepped forward to the edge and for a few moments stood looking down, moving her feet for a firm hold. Then, without hesitation, she dived into the deep water.

As she came to the surface, the hunter realized that this was none other than the Tuginda. She began swimming gently towards the third canoe, which was already cutting across to meet her. The Chief's canoe had tur away. Confused, the hunter first closed his eyes and then, to make sure that the priestess should not rebuke him, buried his face in his hands.

'Crendro, Reyannas!' called the Tuginda, whom Tyrion could hear laughing as she climbed into the canoe. 'I thought I had brought nothing with me but a light heart, but now I remember that I have two things more their names, to be restored to our guests. Gad-el-Frazet can you hear me, or are you hastening out of earshot as well as out of sight?"

'Why, säiyett,' answered the Chief gruffly, 'you startled us. And am I not to respect you as a woman?" "The breadth of the Telthearna is respect indeed. Are your ser vants not here?"

'No, säiyett. I have sent them back to Ortelga.' 'God be with them. And with Reyannas, for her pretty arms have been scratched by the trazada. Hunter - shy, pondering hunter what is your name?"

'Tyrion, säiyett,' he replied, 'Tyrion Zenzuata.' "Well, now we can be sure that we have left Quiso. The girls will enjoy this unexpected trip. Who is with us? Sheldra, Nito, Neelith She began chatting and joking with the girls, who from their answers were clearly convinced that she was in excellent spirits. After a time her canoe drew alongside and she touched Tyrion's arm. "Your shoulder?' she asked.

'Better, säiyett,' he answered. "The pain is much less."

'Good, for we are going to need you.'

Although the Tuginda had kept her departure secret, someone besides Reyannas had evidently known what she meant to do and loaded her canoe accordingly, for she was now dressed, as though for hunting, in a tunic of stitched and over-lapping leather panels, with leather greaves and sandals, and her wet hair, coiled about her head, was bound with a light, silver chain. Like the girls, she was carrying a knife at her belt.

'We will not go up the shore of Ortelga, Reyannas,' she said. "The Darmains would see us and the whole town would be talking within the hour.

'How then, säiyett? Are we not making for the western end of the island?" *Certainly. But we will cross to the further side of the river and then return.'

Their journey, thus extended, lasted almost until evening. As they crossed, the current carried them downstream, especially when they were obliged to give way to avoid the heavy, floating débris still drifting here and there. By the time they had reached the desert of the further bank, with its scorched, ashen smell, the girls were tired. There was little or no true shade and they were forced to rest as best they could, partly in the canoes and partly in the river itself - for they could all swim like otters. 

Only Reyannas, preoccupied and silent, remained in her place, apparently indifferent to the heat. They ate selta nuts, goat's cheese and rose-pale tendrionas. The long afternoon was spent in working slowly upstream along the dead bank. It was hard going, for every reach was obstructed inshore with half-burned trees and branches, some submerged, others spreading tangles of twigs and leaves across the surface. There was a continual drift of fine, black grit through the air and the sides of the canoes above the water-line became coated with a froth of ash suspended in the slack water