'We mean to part before Morganna, you see,' I explained. 'Domick will be going to Sutrium alone. We have no papers and had meant to stay away from the towns. And Aborium does not have a good reputation, even in the Highlands.'
Grufyyd nodded. 'It is a bad place.'
'You spoke of help,' Domick said belligerently. 'I don't see how delivering a message to a dangerous city can be called helping.' He was looking down at Kella, and suddenly I understood his agitation.
Grufyyd nodded with grave courtesy that made Domick seem rude and brash. 'I meant to offer you the use of our cart, which your horse can pull.'
'We will be happy to deliver a message to your son,' I said, deciding. I gave Domick a hard stare. 'It is the least we can do after all you have done for us.'
Grufyyd's face broke into a beguiling smile. He crossed abruptly to the door, gathering up his coat. On the threshold he turned. 'Soon the rains will come. It will be best for you to go soon. Tomorrow morning.' Without waiting for a response, he went out leaving a startled silence behind him.
I looked around to see Katlyn looking at Domick. 'He has been frightened for Brydda, we both have. Do not fear for your friends, Domick. No one checks papers in Aborium. And it is even possible Brydda can help you.'
Katlyn looked at me and smiled. 'Now . . . food and drink to travel.' She turned to her store cupboards.
'How are we to find Brydda?' Jik asked timidly.
Katlyn smiled over her shoulder at him. 'You must go to the Inn of the Cuttlefish and ask for Brydda Llewellyn - that is the name he calls himself, but it is also a password. Wait then, and he will come to you.'
'And if he doesn't?' Domick asked.
Katlyn's back faced us, but it seemed to shrink. 'Then that will mean he cannot come. The journey takes three days. If you leave very early tomorrow morning and travel steadily, you will arrive at Aborium at day break, and that is the best and safest time to enter the city. Tradesmen from outlying regions come then, when the gates are opened.'
'It is a walled city?' Domick asked sharply.
'The gates are open freely and unguarded in the daylight hours,' Katlyn assured him.
She turned to us suddenly, her face serious. 'I would not ask this of you unless there were no other way. But remember the rumours you have heard about Aborium, for all its open gates. Do not linger more than you need. Many disappear and are never seen again.'
'Slavers . . .' I murmured.
Katlyn's expression altered subtly. 'You have heard of such things?' Domick and Kella gave me a wondering look.
'I heard a story while we were in the Druid camp. I didn't know if it were the truth or not.'
'Many things that seem impossible are true of Aborium. In its own way, it is worse than Sutrium. There the Council rules, but Aborium belongs to the Herder Faction.'
Jik paled.
'It is a bad place, bad and dangerous, and I fear for my Brydda,' she added in a whisper.
15
We arrived at Aborium three days later.
Bypassing Morganna on Grufyyd's advice we travelled on a lesser road. Only when we were near Aborium, did we venture near to the coast.
From the distance the town was curiously ugly. Sprawled along the shore, it seemed to be made up of smaller versions of the square skyscrapers we had seen under Tor. Above the city hung a dense, bleary mire of smoke.
'I don't like the look of this place,' Kella said.
Avra was disinterested in the city. 'All such places where the funaga live like rats in a nest stink,' she observed with disparagement that would not have shamed Gahltha.
She was more interested in the sea which provided a dazzling setting for such a grimy jewel. Being mountain bred, she had never seen the Great Sea and was fascinated by it.
We had meant to arrive outside Aborium at dawn, but the loss and slow repair of a wheel delayed us half a day. In the end we had our first glimpse of the city just before dusk. I did not like the idea of going into the city by night, so we made camp on the shore. We would enter Aborium as Katlyn had suggested - at dawn with the tradefolk.
We used the wood Grufyyd had somehow known we would need to make a fire sheltered from the city and the road by a lump of rock, then watched the sun fall into the sea in a blaze of coloured glory.
Suddenly it was night.
Kella set a cauldron of Katlyn's herbal soup to warm and made some damper bread to cook in the coals. Pavo and Jik reorganized the cart, concealing the all-important maps in a pocket in Avra's halter.
There was a slight breeze but it was a warm night and the air smelled fresh and salty. Moved by impulse, I went to the water's edge, barely visible in the moonless night. I stared into the shadowy waves for a moment, then took off my boots. The water was surprisingly warm after the initial chill. I stood there letting the rim of the Great Sea break over my feet and wondered what lay ahead of us.
I started to find Avra beside me.
There is a story among the equines that there are many Lands beyond the sea which leads to the sky, where there are no funaga, and beasts rule themselves,' she sent. We stood awhile in silence, half-mesmerized by the murmurous sighing of the waves on the shore.
Returning to the fire I found the others seated, staring into the flames with the half-dreamy expressions a fire always seems to evoke.
'I have never seen the sea before,' Kella said softly. 'I did not imagine it would be so beautiful, or so frightening.' Her voice fell nearly to a whisper on the last word.
'Frightening?' Pavo took up the word as if it were a curio.
Kella nodded without looking at him. 'It reminds me how big the world is, and how small I am to be pitted against it.' She nodded at the sea where the ghostly reflection of our fire glinted on black waves. 'I wonder how many people are like that, with their own dream, thinking it's the right way, the right dream for the world. Perhaps all lives are little and meaningless really.'
Pavo regarded the healer silently for a moment, then a smile lit his pale, bony face. The world is large, but each life is important to the liver. Think of the Beforetimers making the city under Tor. If they had let themselves feel small and insignificant, they would not have bothered. Such a city is the end of a thousand dreams.' He stopped, panting faintly. Jik and Kella looked impressed, but I could not help thinking that their illusion of greatness had also led them to the making of death machines.
'Once, I heard a priest talking of a machine that flew men to the stars,' Jik said, sidetracked.
I smiled because he reminded me so much of Matthew in that moment.
But I was surprised to see Pavo nodding seriously. 'There are records that suggest such a thing, but it is hard to be sure. The Oldtimers were great storytellers. Sometimes it is hard to tell stories from fact in their writings. But perhaps this hidden store of books will tell us more of them and the old world.'
We ate the soup and bread hungrily, and talk turned naturally to Katlyn and Grufyyd.
'I wonder what this son will be like,' Kella said, packing away the washed utensils.
'Like Grufyyd. Big and soft spoken. A man of few words,' I guessed.
'Perhaps he will be like Katlyn, short and plumpish and always smiling and singing,' she suggested.
Pavo smiled. 'More like a bit of both. And what will he make of us? I doubt he'll be as free and easy as his parents. He couldn't afford to be.' We all looked at the city, no more than a shadow in the night.
I felt my own smile fade. 'I trust them, but we know nothing of him. You notice they did not say why Brydda helps people. Why would a man risk his neck like that?'
'He is a seaman,' Jik said.
I nodded. 'Perhaps he's more than that too. I'll keep my judgement until we meet.'
Kella bridled angrily. 'If he is Katlyn's son, how can he be other than honest?'
Pavo gave her a reproving look. 'The guildmistress is wise to be cautious,' he said, with faint emphasis on my title. I caught his behind thought that the trip had made Kella too outspoken
.
Jik shifted uncomfortably beside me, disturbing Darga whose head rested on his knee.
'Would Domick be in Sutrium yet?' Kella asked, revealing the reason for her melancholy mood.
I was tempted to tell her what I had seen in Domick's mind when he bid us farewell, despite his coolness with her. Then I realized the knowledge would only intensify her regret at his departure. Better not to meddle.
'Much better,' Darga sent laconically.
I started. He had read my thoughts with an ease that astounded me.
'My mind grows stronger,' Darga sent.
I was about to answer this when a blinding realization struck me. In my excitement, I shouted. 'What if the Talent is not human?'
'What?' Kella asked, looking at me as if I had gone mad.
'I meant, what if the Talent that registered on the Zebkrahn isn't human. What if it's a dog, or an equine?' I said.
'Does it matter?' Avra enquired coolly.
I was taken aback. Did it matter? If we were to accept animals as equals and allies, this must lead eventually to animal rescues. Sobered, I shook my head.
'I'm an idiot. Of course it doesn't matter,' I sent.
'Gahltha hoped it would be a beast to break the funaga prejudice,' Avra sent, mollified.
'Prejudice?' I said.
'The worst prejudice is unknowing. You think you treat us as equals but, in your deepest heart, you regard the funaga as superior. In part this is because you yourself are powerful. But that does not make the race of the funaga better than that of dog or equine.' Darga's gentle criticism cut me like a knife. I was not certain I believed the funaga admirable as a race, but there was some truth in his accusation. And how could one fight such an insidious prejudice?
'You are less prejudiced than most of your race,' Darga sent. 'But Gahltha hoped we would find a beast mind to rival yours. He believes that is the only way to alter the funaga's deepest attitudes, even at Obernewtyn. Perhaps he was right.'
'It might be a girlfriend for Darga,' Jik giggled. The others had not been part of our silent dialogue.
I leaned over to Pavo. 'Do you think Domick is there yet?'
The teknoguilder shook his head. 'He had the same distance we had to travel, but on foot. Tomorrow night is my guess.'
'How many hours do you calculate from Aborium to the hidden library?'
Pavo considered. 'Under a day, but it's hard to tell. Nothing is exact because the Land itself is changed. I hope we will not be delayed too long in Aborium.'
Coming to one of the city gates just after sunrise, I was startled and unnerved to see soldierguards posted but, though they looked searchingly at our faces, they neither spoke nor sought our papers. We had expected neither the guards nor the huge crowd of people and carts clamouring to be let in the gate. Many of those waiting were laughing and singing, and one girl did a cheeky jig, to the calls and encouragement of her friends. Some way back I caught sight of a real gypsy rig, being driven by a handsome, surly-looking boy. He appeared to be alone in his bad temper. The rest of the crowd were full of merriment. I was puzzled as much at this as anything else. Surely a city that had so many eager visitors could not be such a bad place. It took some hours to get through the gate because of the throng.
Once inside, we made directly for the seafront and the Inn of the Cuttlefish. Grufyyd had given us directions, but it was harder than we had expected to follow them, for we were swept along by the crowd past the turns we had wanted to take. As well, the city was of a tortuous design, so there was no working our way back. Streets ran off in all directions, bissecting, curving and turning back on themselves.
'If we can find the water, we can work our way along,' Pavo suggested. We were loath to mark ourselves strangers by asking the way, but morning passed into afternoon and still we were lost. I did not even remember how to get back to the gate. 'No wonder people come in and never come out,' I said wearily. 'They probably can't find their way out.'
'We'll have to ask,' Kella said.
I asked a woman, then a boy and another woman. All claimed not to know the inn. That struck me oddly. Aborium was large, but not so large to have more than a few well-known inns. Still trying to decide what to do, we continued to be carried along within the milling crowd. Jik sent a brief message that Avra was on the verge of panicking at the way people were pressing all around her.
'We've got to get out of this,' I shouted. I directed Avra to force her way to the edge of the crowd and take the next turn away from the main flow.
'I didn't know there were so many people in the world,' Kella said in a shaken voice. 'Where are they all going?'
I looked at Jik who wore a puzzled air. 'There were not so many when I was here.'
Suddenly the broad road down which the crowd pressed opened into an enormous central square. Here people swirled and butted one another like goats in a pen. I could hear laughter and strains of music, and the smells of food and warmed drinks wafted to our noses.
'It's a Moon Fair!' Pavo said, slapping his forehead. I laughed aloud in relief. That was the reason for the number of people waiting to come into the city. And the people we had asked directions of were strangers too.
Avra managed to take a turn just before the square and we halted the cart in a quiet by-way. A foul stench filled the air.
'What is that?' Kella asked in a disgusted voice.
'Seaweed,' Jik said with a grin. 'We must be near the wharves.'
'Fancy having an inn near such a smell,' Kella muttered. Then she gave me a startled look. 'Where are you going?'
'I'll have a look for it on foot. It will be easier in these crowds.'
'I will go with you,' Darga offered, and jumped down.
'Darga will come back alone if anything goes wrong. If he does come back without me, go straight out of the city and wait for me where we camped last night,' I said.
Kella and Jik paled at my words. I laughed. 'Nothing will happen, but we have to have a plan just in case.' They looked only slightly reassured.
I set off, ignoring the slight pain in my feet. The gypsy caravan, the raft and the cart meant I had done little walking and they were much better though still tender. I hoped I would not have to walk too far on them. I was glad of Darga's company though, once or twice, I noticed people staring at him oddly. I wondered if I were breaking some city law, letting him walk unchained.
I looked around, trying to see someone who looked like they belonged in Aborium. A rough brown seaman approached. I stopped him and asked the way to the inn. 'Never heard of it,' he said abruptly. 'Blasted moonies,' he muttered.
I spotted an old woman struggling with a load of washing down another alley and hurried to catch up, hoping kindness would beget kindness.
'Mother, let me help you,' I offered.
She gave me a long measuring look before letting me take one of the handles. "Tis good of ye, sure enough,' she said in a broad Highland accent. 'I dinna mean to be so slow at takin' ye offer, but a Moon Fair dinna improve manners an' a helpin' hand is rare at any time. What be ye name, lass?' she asked, squinting at me.
'Elspeth,' I said.
'Well, I'm Luma,' she said cheerfully. 'I live just round th' next corner. I went out to gan th' wash an' were near swept away wi' moonies. It gans worse every year,' she added despondently. She prattled on, as we walked, complaining bitterly about the damage done to the city during the fairs. At a narrow door, she set down the basket to find her key.
'No doubt it's been picked from me,' she said, searching in a haphazard way in all her pockets and folds. I'm from th' Highlands. There ye dinna have to lock ye door, but in a city, leavin' it open is a right invitation to any robber.' At last she found the key. Bidding me help her a little further, she told me to call Darga in.
'Things have a way of disappearin' in Aborium,' she said confidingly. Stone steps led down directly from the front door. We carried the basket awkwardly between us down them and through into a large rustic kitchen.
'What an' ef
fort,' gasped Luma, panting and fanning her red face. 'Ye'll have a glass of cordial to wet ye whistle? 'Tis th' least I can do.' Taking a squat jug from the cooling cabinet, she poured two mugs. 'Tis me own brew I'm givin' ye, though I'll thank ye nowt to speak of it after. We are bound by law to buy th' Herders' bitter cordials an' makin' it is an offence.' She drained her glass with relish and watched me drink mine.
'Ye be a moonie? I'm sorry for all that I were sayin' of them, but it gans on a body's nerve to have so many at once.'
'I'm a traveller on my way to Murmroth. I only called into Aborium to deliver a message. I didn't know there was a fair,' I said.
Luma beamed. 'An' I might ha' guessed it. Ye look to have too much sense to be part of that nonsense. Who do ye carry a message to? 'Tis nowt of my affair or care, but I know most folk hereabout, an' might save ye some trouble.'
I took a deep breath. 'He's staying at the Inn of the Cuttlefish.'
She nodded thoughtfully, her eyes on Darga. 'A fine creature that, for all he puts me in mind of th' Herder breed.'
'I've heard they breed dogs for the Isle,' I said.
'An' for th' Cloister in Aborium. They are supposed to protect th' Cloister, but who in their right mind would want to break into one?' She looked at Darga again with faint unease. 'Yet he's a match, though small an' th' wrong shape. Well, th' inn is just a step from here. Ye could follow ye nose when the wind is t'other way, but it blows off today. Ye dinna say who ye were lookin' for.'
'A seaman,' I stalled.
She cackled. 'A seaman? Ha! Well, what else would ye find a man doin' in a seaport? I myself ha' two strappin' sons an' my bondmate Arkold were a seaman too, Lud rest his head.'
'The man I'm looking for is called Brydda Llewellyn,' I said.
The colour drained from the washerwoman's face.
'What is it?' I asked quickly.
She smiled, a horrible false twist of her lips. "Tis nought. I were thinkin' somethin' else for a minute. I hardly heard ye. Now Llewellyn ye said? I dinna know th' name.'
'She is afraid,' Darga sent.
She took me onto the street and pointed the way I had to walk to get to the sea. I felt her eyes boring into my back until I was out of sight.