Ice Trilogy (71 page)

Shua went over to him.

“It’s difficult for you to believe. And
understand
.”

“Yes.”

“Rely on the Ice.”

“I’m
trying
. Even though there’s no more Ice
there
. It’s hard for me.” Lavu’s voice trembled.

“The Ice is here” — Shua lowered his hands on Lavu’s shoulders — ”and it will be with us until the very end. And there is enough for everyone. I
know
this. And you, too, brother Lavu,
must
know this.”

Lavu sat, immobile, staring at the marble tile of the floor.

“You
must
know this,” Shua repeated,
without helping
with his heart.

And Lavu’s heart
dealt with it
by itself. “I
know
.”

He rose easily. His heart had
calmed down
.

“Who will make the last hammer?” he asked calmly.

“It has already been prepared.”

“By whom?”

“By me. We came down here for it.”

Lavu
understood
.

Shua pushed a blue button on one of the cells. The glass screen slid to the side. Shua picked up the Ice hammer, quickly touched it to his breast; his heart instantly
flared
, and he handed the hammer to Lavu.

“You know whom it must awaken.”

Lavu took the hammer. He touched it to his breast, and
flared
.

“I know.”

“You
not only
know,” Shua said with certainty,
helping Lavu
.

“
I...
kno
w..
.” Lavu said tensely. And suddenly he smiled joyously. “I
know and believe!
”

Shua embraced him forcefully. The Ice hammer touched Lavu’s face. Lavu squeezed the wooden handle of the hammer. And cried out. His pale-blue eyes instantly filled with tears: his heart
knew and believed
.

“Let us go. I will
say farewell to you
,” said Shua.

Khram
sat in her gold armchair on the pier and watched the ocean. That was the way she always
met
.

The northwest wind hadn’t subsided as sunset approached, and the waves, breaking and spraying the dock, crawled along the rose-colored marble toward Khram’s chair, licking at her bare, thin, weak feet. Khram’s clear, large eyes, a pale blue that was almost washed out, gazed intently at the horizon, where the sun’s disk, hidden behind straw-colored clouds, touched the ocean. Next to Khram sat brothers Mef and Por, offering up their muscular, bronzed bodies to the humid wind. The other brothers and sisters
waited
in the house, each in his or her place.

Khram’s heart
jolted
.

“They’re already here!” her lips whispered.

And, leaning her bony arms on the smooth golden armrests, she began to rise. Mef and Por jumped up and held her.

“Already!” she repeated, and, like a child, she smiled joyously, revealing her old, yellowed teeth.

Mef and Por stared at the ocean horizon: it was empty as before. But Khram’s heart could not be mistaken: a minute passed, another, a third, and to the left of the lackluster, drowning solar disk, a point appeared.

It was immediately noticed from the house: joyous cries rang out.

“The meat did not prevail!” Khram’s thin fingers squeezed the brothers’ wide wrists.

Brothers and sisters ran down a stairway leading from the house to the piers.

The white craft drew nearer.

Khram moved toward it, but her bare, wet feet had reached the edge of the pier. The brothers held her back. Her body quivered; her heart
blazed
.

“Already here!” Khram gave a senile, demented screech and thrashed in the brothers’ arms.

Her thin body twisted, foam frothed on her wrinkled lips. Brothers and sisters ran over, embraced her, fell to their knees.

“Rely on the Ice!” Ga
helped
with his heart.

Others began
to help
right away, restraining their own wails and sobs. But Khram’s heart didn’t
want
to rely on the Ice: her deformed fingers dug into the arms and faces of the brothers, her frail body thrashed and writhed, foamy spittle flew out of her mouth as she gave a hoarse howl: “Heee-eee-rrre! Hee-eee-rrre!”

For the first time in many long decades of constant, incessant expectation, the heart of the oldest and strongest member of the Brotherhood
could not handle
what had been achieved. Her heart
had lost its bearings
. Mighty and wise, it suddenly became young and inexperienced, as though the blow of the Ice hammer had awoken it only yesterday. Khram’s heart
quivered
powerlessly.

The Brotherhood felt this.

They picked Khram up, surrounded her, pressed her to their bodies. The hearts surrounding her
flared
. Khram writhed. Dozens of hands lifted her to the sky, now sparkling with the first stars.

“Rely on the Ice!” they said with their lips and hearts.

Khram writhed.

And then, as though arriving from the approaching boat, a huge wave rolled over the edge of the dock and doused the crowd with white, salty foam as they fought for the
bewildered
heart. Khram grew quiet and fell into a deep faint. Por carefully took her in his powerful arms. Khram’s heart relied on the Ice, finally giving her peace.

The craft grew closer.

Everyone watched it.

Its white, sharply tapered hull parted the waves effortlessly. It made a half circle and moored at the dock. Uf stood on the deck with the sleeping boy in his arms. Everyone standing on the pier shuddered, but held back their shouts and cries. The boat rocked on the waves. The rope was thrown out and secured; the gangway was lowered.

Uf walked down onto the pier with the boy in his arms. After him came Lavu carrying a metal trunk, and then Bork.

The brothers and sisters parted silently. Uf took several steps across the wet marble. His face was tense and immobile, like a mask. But his gray-blue eyes shone. And he restrained his powerful heart
as best as he could
. Everyone
felt
this. And they also restrained their hearts. Uf saw Khram, unconscious, in Por’s arms.

“What happened to her?” he asked.

“She
was waiting
,” answered Por.

Uf
understood
.

“Let’s go in the house,” he said, and started up the stairway.

Por followed. The rest came after them. The ocean wind blew at their backs, ruffling their clothes, blowing the long white hair of the unconscious Khram.

Uf carried the boy into the house, passed by the small terrace and the agate hallway, and entered the Hall of Awakening. Round, full of light, greenish-blue, and spacious, it served as a place for heart conversation. In this hall the hearts of the Newly Acquired were awakened, the road to the Primordial Light was opened for them. The high, narrow windows were open, and the ceiling was a round, translucent cupola.

Uf carefully placed the boy in the center of a sky-blue mosaic circle. He stepped back and sank to the floor. The brothers and sisters sat down silently around the edge of the circle. Por laid Khram on the cool floor near Uf, who gently cradled the white-haired head of this wise heart in his arms.

Silence reigned in the hall.

The only sounds were the ocean waves and pelicans calling out sleepily to one another on the shore, preparing for the night.

“Open the sky,” Uf ordered.

The cupola slid back noiselessly. Over the brothers’ and sisters’ heads, a new moon rose in the evening sky, which was still tinged with the orange-rose light in the west. The sun was setting. The stars twinkled ever stronger. A half-light filled the hall. Everyone sitting froze. Darkness descended from the deepening blue sky. And the faces of the brothers and sisters were plunged into it.

Night fell.

Khram began to move. Her feeble moan sounded in the hall. Uf carefully raised her head. Khram’s lips opened in the dark: “H
e...
is here. With u
s..
.”

“Yes,” Uf answered softly, and
gently
repeated this to her with his heart.

Khram recovered consciousness. She was helped to sit up. Her long hair was pushed back from her face. And she
beheld
the sleeping boy.

“He’ll wake up soon,” said Uf.

“I
know
,” Khram’s lips whispered.

Everyone froze again.

A night bird flew over the open ceiling of the hall.

The boy moved.

A shiver ran through the bodies of all the figures sitting in the circle. But Khram already
possessed
her powerful heart. Her heart obeyed. She
knew
what to do. And she
understood
that it had to be done quickly.

The boy raised his head. Then he pushed himself up and sat on the marble floor. He swayed a bit. He turned his head and weakly called out, “Mama.”

Everyone in the circle sat stock-still.

“Ma-a-a-m!” the boy called louder.

And he lay back down on the floor.

Khram squeezed Uf’s hand. “Take him on your chest.
Shield him
.
Push against him
.”

Uf
understood
. He ripped off his shirt. He went over to the boy, took him under the arms from behind, lifted him, and pressed the boy’s back to his chest.

“Mama, Mama!” the boy cried out and whimpered.

“The hammer!” Khram demanded in a loud voice, and stood up.

Lavu placed the case at her feet. It was the standard refrigerator case of the Brotherhood, which could hold seven Ice hammers. The lock clicked and Lavu opened it. A blue light illuminated the inside of the case and Khram’s face. In the case, steaming frostily, lay a single hammer. Shua’s hammer. And immediately three expert hammerers of the island house stepped forward: Das, Vu, and Ut. Their experienced arms and hands had shattered hundreds of Ice hammers, awakening dozens of hearts. But Khram shook her head.

“No. You will kill him. I
know
this.”

The boy whimpered on Uf’s chest. A murmur went around the circle: Who would strike him? The dark figures of the brothers shifted anxiously: If the experienced hammerers couldn’t, then who could? In the darkness the sisters rallied.

“Khram, I can do it!”

“Khram, give me the hammer!”

“Khram, my hands will do it!”

But Khram shook her head. “No.”

Everyone talked at once.

“Who will strike the blow?”

The boy whimpered. Uf stood silently.

Khram leaned over and picked up the hammer.

Everyone grew quiet.

Holding the hammer in her hands, she moved toward the center of the circle. Her bent, emaciated body obeyed her poorly. Swaying and dragging her bony legs with difficulty, she made it to Uf. On seeing her, illuminated by the blue light of the open case, the boy grew quiet. Standing before him, Khram straightened up. Hoarse breath burst from her mouth. She squeezed the handle of the hammer. The hammer shook in her hands, sparkling in the dark.

The boy stared, unblinking, at Khram. She looked him straight in the eyes. The hammer trembled in her hands. Slowly, she began to pull it back, getting ready for the swing. Everyone in the circle sat still,
directing
their hearts.

Uf closed his eyes,
in preparation
.

The hammer made a half circle and struck the boy in the chest. And it immediately flew from Khram’s hands and fell on the stone floor, shattering into blue shards that glowed and sparkled in the darkness. Khram fell at Uf’s feet with a moan. The boy cried out and lost consciousness. The sisters rushed to him. Uf held him and kept his eyes closed. The sisters’ hands touched the boy’s body.

“Speak with the heart!”

“Speak with the heart!”

“Speak with the heart!”

The boy’s heart remained silent.

Uf opened his eyes. His strong heart, no longer an
anvil
, came to life. It
supported
the sisters’ insistent hearts from the back.

“
Speak with the heart!
”

The boy’s bare legs jerked. Everyone was still.

“Gorn! Gorn! Gorn!” said the awakened heart.

Uf cried out and, his heart growing faint, began to fall backward. He was caught and laid on the floor. The boy was picked up and carried swiftly down a bluish-gold staircase into the quiet, cozy resting place of the Newly Acquired. The brothers and sisters rushed there.

The Hall of Awakening emptied out.

Only Uf and Khram remained, lying on the mosaic floor. Blue light still issued from the open case. Khram awoke first. Pushing up on her arms, she
felt
Uf. Then
she saw
him. Crawling over, she lay next to him, embraced him with her thin hands, and softly
jolted
his heart. Lying on his back, Uf shuddered, stirred, and drew the humid night air into his lungs.

“Gor
n..
.” his lips exhaled.

“Gorn,” Khram repeated.

Their heart
pronounced
the new name.

“I believed. But I did not
know
,” said Uf.

“I didn’t believe. But I
knew
,” Khram replied.

A falling star flashed in the night sky above them.

Uf reached out and picked up a piece of the Ice lying nearby; he squeezed it and placed it on his breast. Khram’s fingers opened his fist and touched the Ice. Their hands held the piece of Ice together.

“The Ice did
it
,” Uf said.

“You were the one who
made it happen
,” came Khram’s reply. “You
were able
. You
forced
everyone to believe. Everyone except m
e..
.”

“I believed because I
wanted to
. I wanted to so strongly.”

“Your heart
knew
, knew that we would live to see it. That we would
see
it.”

“It didn’t
know
. But I believed the Light. The Light in my heart.”

“In your wise heart.”

“The Light helped us.”

“The Light helped us,” Khram repeated.