The Space Between (24 page)

Suddenly he was out in the open again. The
dust under his sandals turned to neat, square cobbles. The wooden
fences on left and right changed to people.

Tuki stopped.

The people were staring at him.

Tuki's heart raced faster but everything
else seemed to slow down. The people were motionless, like startled
birds caught balancing on the edge of flight. Then a shout went up.
The mob rushed forward.

Tuki turned to run, but they were behind him
as well. He could do nothing. When the first man buckled his knees
with a solid kick, he tumbled to the ground. With the cool stone
against his side, he curled into a ball around the skyglass and
screamed.

Tears streamed down his face. The blows
continued to fall, boots and fists, savage shouts hurled like
stones. Pain blossomed. Tuki covered his face with his arms and
prayed for assistance. He curled himself even tighter.

And screamed and screamed.

After a lifetime of pain, Tuki was shocked
when it suddenly stopped. He stayed where he was, eyes closed, the
cool stones anchoring him to consciousness. He waited for the next
blow, the final one that would push him over the edge, and wondered
why had the Mother Blower abandoned him? Why had she even sent him
here in the first place?

Eventually, a voice reached through the
haze.

"Step away. Go on. Away with you."

Mutters and curses greeted the commands, but
sunlight suddenly struck Tuki. The Mother Blower's gaze was as
painful as any blow. He had failed her in some way, he was
sure.

"Move back you fools."

Tuki felt a hand on his shoulder. He
flinched again, curled tighter. But the hand didn't hurt. It rested
against his burning skin.

"Keyman, get control of this mob, for Anas's
sake."

"Why, Sha Yukima? The troll is getting
nothing less than he deserves."

"I'm not sure he is a troll, Keyman. And
what he deserves, either way, is to be treated as a man."

"Not a troll? Who do you think you're
kidding, Sha? Look at him."

"I
am
looking. And what I see is a large
man who was passively taking a beating from unarmed commoners. How
many trolls have you met that would do that?"

"He's a troll. No other men are that
big."

"No men you have met, perhaps, Keyman. But I
believe this lad is a moai."

"Never heard of them."

"The moai are men of legend. They are huge
it is said, larger than a troll, and come from the desert."

Tuki opened his eyes. Keyman Kuwisa was
standing over him, the huge knife still drawn. The other man, far
older, was crouching down, a worried expression creasing his gaunt
features. He had a long plaited beard and a hat decorated with a
long white feather.

"So are they legends, Sha Yukima? Or are
they real?" The Keyman's voice clearly held his disdain for all to
hear.

Tuki moved his hand to touch at the Moon
Gate tattooed on his chest, as if that might keep him safe from the
Keyman's anger or let him enter Heaven if all else failed.

"How am I to know, Keyman?" Yukima said. "I
am a priest, not a historian."

"Priest or historian, both know the danger
of trolls."

"Yes, and I know the danger of this lad,"
Sha Yukima retorted.

The two men stared at each other.

The Keyman grunted. "Well, what are we going
to do then?"

"The lad has made no threats, he was doing
nothing wrong. All he has done is come to Payota on market day
along with hundreds more of Anas's sons."

"I can
not
let him roam the
streets."

"Roam the streets? You think he is capable
of roaming anywhere?"

"If he was a troll —"

"If he was a troll we would not be having
this conversation. Correct?"

The Keyman grunted once more and Tuki
watched, slightly fearful, as Sha Yukima rose to his feet. But the
man was not leaving him. He dusted off his long blue robes as he
looked around.

"Get some of your men to find a wagon. We
will take him to the Municipy."

"If we must."

For several minutes, men rushed about,
clearing a path through the crowd and bringing up what was
apparently a wagon. Tuki, still curled in a ball, examined it
closely as two shaggy, large-eared animals like the one he had seen
on the road brought it to a stop by his side.

"Are you able to stand, lad?"

Tuki turned for a moment to look at Sha
Yukima, then back at the wagon. The movement made his head pound.
His neck ached terribly.

"Perhaps he's stupid," Keyman Kuwisa
suggested.

Sha Yukima crouched back by his side. "We
just want to get you into the wagon. Are you able to stand?"

"In there?" Tuki asked.

"Yes. We want to take you to some place
safe. It would be easiest for you in the wagon. We can take you
somewhere out of the sun, where it is cooler."

"I don't mind the sun," Tuki said softly,
looking up to the sky to confirm that the Mother Blower was still
at work, that she had not really deserted him.

"Of course you don't. You are from the
desert, aren't you?" Yukima smiled some more. "Well, how about some
food and water? You must be hungry."

"A little. Yes." Tuki slowly uncurled and
sat up. Each movement brought screams of pain from his limbs. He
glanced over his shoulder. People still surrounded him, but were
apparently not going to attack again.

A few painful moments later, Tuki had
climbed awkwardly to his feet. His left knee hardly supported his
weight as he limped to the back of the wagon. His shoulder grated
when he tried to climb up onto the wooden planks. He looked around
from his new vantage and saw hundreds of people watching him.

The uniformed men moved in to form a cordon
around the wagon, and the animal handler spoke an order. The parade
started to move slowly along the road into the city. The priest sat
on the boards beside Tuki, legs dangling over the side.

"What is your name, lad?"

"Tuki." Tuki was dividing his glance between
the rumbling progress of the wagon and the brightly painted,
conical roofed buildings along the way. Most had doorways decorated
with feathers and fetishes, weavings and painted balls.

"I'm Sha Yukima. Sha is my title. I'm a
priest, a man who talks with God."

Tuki smiled at the
ludicrous thought; a
man
who talks with God. But the smile slipped from his
face, and he touched the skyglass through the cloth of his
waist-sack.

"I am a go'gan, Sha."

"And what is that? What are your
duties?"

"A go'gan is a man for whom the Mother
Blower has not yet chosen a wife." Tuki paused for a moment,
thinking of Keala. She would be waiting for him to take the
skyglass back to Danyon Ford. "My duties are to do what I am
told."

"What do your tattoos mean? Do they tell a
story?"

Tuki shook his head. "They each mean
something on their own. This is the Moon Gate. It is the gate to
the stars, to where the Mother Blower watches over us." As he
spoke, he watched the circular pieces of timber that the wagon
moved on.

"And the leaves?" Yukima asked.

"They are leaves from the Tree of Life. Each
branch on the Tree is a universe, each leaf is a world that grows
with the Mother's warmth."

The old man was nodding but said nothing.
Tuki was going to continue explaining the meaning of his tattoos
but asked about the circular timber instead.

"What are these called, Sha?"

"They are wheels." Sha Yukima smiled.
"You've never seen wheels? I suppose there's not much use for
wheels in the desert."

"And the animals?"

"The animals that pull the wagon are called
donkeys."

"Donkeys?" Tuki wiped at his chin and
brought his hand away covered in blood. His jaw ached terribly.

"I'm sorry. Here." The priest pulled a
frilly white cloth from his sleeve and handed it to Tuki. "One
donkey, many donkeys. How old are you, Tuki?"

"I have seen nineteen New Year
Festivals."

Sha Yukima nodded his head slowly. "Why are
you here?"

"I said, Sha. I am here to bring the words
of the Mother Blower." He wiped at his chin, and then held the
cloth against the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, I know you said that, but you were not
sent by your leader?"

Tuki lowered his head, glancing at the
meteor on his hand. Sha Yukima was a smart man. "No, Sha. The
mo'min did not send me. Poti Herself did."

"Poti is your Goddess? She told you to come
and spread Her word?"

Tuki shrugged, embarrassed. "Perhaps. She
told me to come here, to your city, but I do not know why."

As they went further into the city, noisy
crowds gathered. People hung from windows, or looked down from high
balconies. They lined the streets, muttering under their breath and
staring hatred. All the people. It was more people than Tuki had
seen before.

"So many people, Sha."

Sha Yukima laughed. "About three thousand
people live in Payota, Tuki. But it is market day today, so people
have come from all about."

There were as many men as women in the
crowd, and they were the more vocal by far.

"Do the women allow men positions of power
in your city, Sha?"

The priest laughed. "Something like that,
Tuki. Something like that."

Tuki didn't know what to make of that. "I
would like to talk to your mo'min," he said.

"Don't worry, we are on our way to meet with
the city's leaders."

"Thank you."

Even more people had gathered at a spot
where the road divided. There was a long narrow stretch of parkland
down the middle where people stood and shouted and pumped their
fists in the air. They kept moving so Tuki couldn't count them
properly. One of them, a man with hair on his face, stooped to a
wooden pail by his feet as Tuki and his entourage passed by. When
he straightened he had a tomato in each hand. Tuki watched, unable
to do anything, as the stranger hurled the fruit his way. The first
piece struck his shoulder and the second sailed past his head and
landed in the crowd beyond. Then more fruit came, and more, until
it seemed to fall out of the sky like the water had.

Tuki ducked his head and tried to ignore
everything. Much of the fruit was rotten, but it would not harm him
as the fists and feet had earlier. Though it was such a waste. He
wondered if he should collect the better missiles to take back to
the desert.

The uniformed men about him shouted at the
crowd. Sha Yukima held up his hand to try to forestall further
action. But it was all to no avail. Within moments, the whole group
was dripping with the remains of fruit and vegetables as they moved
forward at the donkeys' slow, steady pace.

Eventually, the wagon stopped in front of a
squat, stone building that was so large it had two cone roofs. A
mass of clamoring humans pushed in from every side, shouting abuse
and threats. As Tuki gingerly hopped to the ground, they surged
forward. Keyman Kuwisa and his patrol held them back, but Tuki
wasn't sure if they were protecting him, or themselves.

The Keyman cleared a path so they could
reach the entrance of the building.

Inside was another crowd. This one was quite
a bit smaller, but it seemed almost as loud. They finally fell
silent when they realized Tuki and his escort had arrived. Within
moments only the noise of the crowd outside could be heard.

Sha Yukima cleared his throat and spoke.
"This young man is Tuki. He has agreed to stay here until we can
work out what we are going to do."

Tuki touched at his lip to be sure that it
was not still bleeding, then scrunched the bloodstained cloth into
a ball and stood with his head bowed.

"A troll has agreed to stay here?" The man
who spoke seemed older than the others. His facial hair was mostly
grey, and his hair was receding like a forest giving in to an
encroaching desert.

"I do not believe that Tuki is a troll,
Nasinwa. I think he may be a moai, come from the desert to visit
with us."

"A moai?" The man named
Nasinwa laughed and Tuki noticed others hurrying to join in. "The
moai are from children's stories, Sha Yukima. You don't
expect
us
to
believe in them do you?"

"Yes, I do."

The laughter stopped.

"What makes you think he is a troll?" Sha
Yukima asked.

"Well, look at the size of him," Nasinwa
said.

Yukima nodded. "I've never
seen a troll that big. Have you? But I
have
seen many men the size of
trolls. Men like you or I. Men like the one you have tending to
your garden every week, Councilor. We do not stone him because he
is the size of a troll, do we?"

Tuki was stunned. Nasinwa was on some sort
of council? What women would allow such a thing? Tuki was
uncomfortable and wondered about his decision to place himself in
the care of these men. He needed to speak with one of the women so
he could tell his story. Surely the women would know of the
existence of his people.

"My gardener is obviously not a troll,"
Nasinwa said.

Sha Yukima raised one eyebrow. "Why is
that?"

"You would never meet a gentler man. And he
is intelligent, with knowledge of more than death and destruction,
that is."

Sha Yukima grunted and shook his head. "And
Tuki here is obviously such a violent fellow. We could hardly
control him on the way here. He was throwing fruit at all of those
meek, intelligent humans crowding along the sides of the road. And
he attacked them back in the markets."

The Councilor sneered. "Lock him in the most
secure cell, Keyman. And have him guarded at all times."

Sha Yukima shook his head and sighed. "If
you will excuse me, I'm going to get cleaned up. Perhaps you would
like to join me, Tuki."