The Space Between (25 page)

"I said,
lock him up
."

"Kuwisa and his men can watch while we
cleanse ourselves and I take a moment to tend to his wounds. The
bathing room is quite secure enough. I don't think Tuki will fit
through the window."

The Councilor shook his head but relented a
moment later with small grace. "Very well. Just don't be all day
about it."

"Thank you, Councilor Nasinwa," Tuki said
with a slight bow of his head. "Thank you, Sha."

He ducked through a door behind the priest
and followed him to a small room with a washtub. The tub was filled
to overflowing with clear water.

"All this water," Tuki said, still standing
in the doorway. But in the lands of man, water fell from the sky;
he shouldn't have been surprised. "It is strange that Poti led me
here."

"Why is that?"

"Well, you are so different from the moai.
It is a surprise that we even speak the same language. How are we
to tell each other anything at all?"

"And if we were the same, would it be worth
saying anything?" Sha Yukima washed his hands and splashed water
over his face, letting precious drops fall to the floor. "I can
speak to my neighbor any day, Tuki."

"Perhaps, but do you?"

The priest finished washing in silence. The
rumble of the crowd could still be heard out the window.

Tuki hoped he had not offended.

When Yukima stepped aside, Tuki stepped
forward reverently, to take his turn at the trough.

A few minutes later Tuki smiled like a
go'gan after his first Seeing. He was totally unconcerned about the
water he was wasting, splashing it onto his face, watching as it
ran along the joins in the floor tiles, flicking it from his
fingers and examining the patterns it created on the walls. He
tried to wash his robe and met with some success. He also filled
his water bottle.

Tuki smiled at Sha Yukima a few minutes
later, watching him bring forth a small sack filled with salves and
ointments and elixirs.

The old man spoke while he started to work.
"So how, exactly, did the Mother Blower lead you here?"

Tuki was caught in a moment of indecision.
Three of Keyman Kuwisa's men were crowded about the door, shifting
nervously from foot to foot. Should they, mere men, be allowed to
see the skyglass? Should Sha Yukima really be allowed to see it,
religious man though he apparently was? But there were no women
present, and he needed help in this strange world.

"I will show you." Tuki said. He pulled the
skyglass out of the pouch and held it up for the other man to see.
The world of Kiva was shown in great detail. "See the blue dot?
That is us."

"That is our world? Amazing. I have seen
globes before but not like that. And we are the blue dot, you
say?"

"Yes."

"And who painted the blue dot on there? Was
it the Goddess?"

"It must be. The blue dot follows the
skyglass everywhere."

"The dot moves?"

"Yes, I came from down here, and the dot
followed me. And you see the yellow dots?" There were still five in
the air above the blue dot. Others were still spaced randomly
around the part of the world the 'glass showed.

"Of course."

"Well, I followed one of them here."

"What do they represent?"

"Meteors," Tuki said.

"Pardon?"

"A shooting star."

"Yes. Yes, there was a shooting star a
couple of days past, right above the city. But do shooting stars
normally," He wiggled his fingers towards the yellow dot, "do they
normally stop like that?"

"I am sorry, I do not know. Perhaps they are
up in the sky all the time but we cannot see them unless they are
moving. The mo'min would know for sure."

"Perhaps, but that seems awfully strange.
And the shooting star from the other day was so much brighter than
any I have ever seen. I almost felt that I could reach out and
touch it."

"I know. When I first saw, it I was very
surprised." Tuki fell silent as more shooting stars appeared in the
globe. Then more still. Soon, there were a dozen yellow dots right
above Payota and dozens more all around the world.

"What's happening?"

"I do not know." They watched silently.
After a little while, Tuki started to count the yellow spots.
Occasionally he looked out the window but could see nothing other
than a narrow strip of sky. He reached seventy-five when, outside,
the noise of the crowd suddenly died away. He kept counting. One
hundred and twenty comets in all.

The noise of the crowd burst forth once
more. This time the people were screaming.

17: Other Gods

Tuki rushed to the window so he might see
better. Sha Yukima climbed up onto a bench so he could look as
well. The guards stayed in position by the door but shifted from
side to side in an effort to catch a glimpse. Outside, the crowd
was scattering. Tuki had never seen anything like it. Nobody had
any thought for anyone else. They pushed and shoved and cursed.

Great black bats circled in the sky. Tuki
did not have to watch to know what happened next. This was not his
vision from the desert, he knew, but the bats were the same and
they were sure to have the same fiery eggs.

"We must go, Sha Yukima."

"What? Why? You are safest in here."

"We must hurry." But where would they go?
Tuki did not know what to do. Even as he urged the priest to hurry,
he stayed where he was and turned his gaze back to stare up to the
sky. "Where can we hide from the fire?" he asked of himself.

"What fire?"

"The bats, Sha. They will drop eggs of fire
onto the city."

"Eggs of fire? What are you talking
about?"

"Poti showed me, Sha. Fire."

"Fire? She showed you in the skyglass?"

Tuki thought of telling the truth, 'No, she
told me in a bottle,' but decided that an admission like that could
cause problems. He said nothing.

"Well quickly then, come with me."

Tuki was aware of the priest hurrying from
the room, but he could not take his eyes away from the bats above.
The first of them were coming straight for him now, gliding down
the side of the hills.

He felt a tug on his arm and looked down to
see the priest back by his side.

"If there is fire, we must go."

"Yes," Tuki allowed himself to be led from
the room. He followed Sha Yukima, glancing over his shoulder as the
soldiers came along behind. Back in the room where the officials
were gathered, Tuki stepped amidst a sea of angry faces.

"What is going on?" one of them shouted when
he saw Tuki. "Did the troll lead these giant bats to us?"

Tuki would have stopped to explain to the
man, but the little priest still had hold of his arm and did not
slow down. The soldiers were behind him with their big knives.
Yukima turned a corner and went out through the room's third door.
Tuki ducked through behind him with the officials at his heels.

"What is going on, Yukima?"

"Where are you taking the troll?"

"I am not a troll."

"Make him stop the bats."

"Shut up you fool."

At the end of the hall, Sha Yukima, now at
the head of a long line, pushed open a large stone door and ushered
Tuki through. "If the rest of you are coming in here," he said,
"then you will have to shut up."

Everyone fell silent for a moment. Tuki went
carefully down some stairs and waited in darkness.

"This is not your church, Yukima. This is a
building belonging to the Council."

"And how long do you think the Council would
last without the support of the Church of Anas? Thank you. Now
everyone stay calm, and Keyman, please shut the door before you
leave. Tuki seems to think there will be fire."

"I will be staying with the Councilors,
Sha," Kuwisa said.

"The Priman will need all the men he can get
to protect the city, Keyman".

"Then I will stay here with two men and send
the rest to the barracks," Kuwisa replied. "The Council is too
important to leave unprotected in the company of a troll."

It looked as if the Sha would say something
else, but outside a thunderous sound ripped through the continuing
sounds of panicked people.

Someone shouted: "Fire!"

Tuki watched as people started to rush down
the stairs towards him. The little bit of light that had been
coming from the floor above was blocked by their progress. He felt
somebody brush past him. He flinched, fearing more pain. But
whoever it was must have known the location of flint and a torch,
for moments later light sprang into being.

The room was long and low. Luckily Tuki had
not straightened his back, for his head almost brushed the ceiling
in his stooped position. Wooden boxes lined two walls, running from
either side of the door all the way to the back of the room. Stone
columns stood like sentinels along the way, forming deep shadows in
the flickering torchlight.

"If he did not bring the bats, how does he
know about the fire, Sha?" Nasinwa asked.

"His Goddess showed him."

"His Goddess?" Kuwisa said. "You mean he has
gods other than Anas?"

"I believe so."

"And you believe in these gods?" Councilor
Nasinwa asked, a smile touching the corners of his mouth.

"It is a Goddess. And I don't see that I
have any choice, Councilor. I have seen proof of Her power with my
own eyes."

"And where did you see this?"

"Tuki has a crystal ball."

"A crystal ball? Like some hedge witch
telling futures?" The Councilor marched over to Tuki who still held
the skyglass in his hand. "Let me see this ball. Here, give it to
me."

Tuki was reluctant to hand it over. He took
a step away from the human who stood with his arm out stretched. "I
cannot, go'shin. The Goddess gave it to me, and it cannot be given
to another." He could see the look of veiled threat in the other
man's eyes, and it scared him.

"You think I will break your sacred ball? Of
course I won't. I just want a look."

Tuki examined the skyglass, turning it over
in his large, rough hand. The Mother Blower had said nothing to him
about the 'glass and who should hold it and who should not. Truth
be told, She had not told him he could touch it himself. Councilor
Nasinwa was a man of standing, as much as any man could be.

Tuki held the 'glass out hesitantly, and the
other man took it with a sudden show of disinterest. Nasinwa
weighed it in his hand, as if wondering if he should toss it away.
He flinched when the image of Kiva started to fade.

With an uncertain look, Nasinwa quickly gave
the skyglass to the Keyman. "Have a look at that," he said. "Talk
to Sha Yukima if you have to," he glanced at Tuki, "just don't give
it back to him."

"But —"

Nasinwa interrupted Tuki. "You'll get it
back when I'm sure."

"Sure of what?" Tuki asked boldly.

The Councilor glared.

"That is not fair, Nasinwa," Sha Yukima
said. "You would steal from a young man come to visit our
city?"

"I would, if I thought that young man was a
danger."

"If he was a danger we'd all be dead by now.
If he didn't care, we'd all have been killed because we'd be up
above."

"Kuwisa will keep the crystal ball until I
say otherwise."

Tuki examined the Keyman and his long,
curved knife. He did not think that a blade such as that would be
used for peeling tubers. The other man did not look like he wanted
the skyglass, given the way he held it out before him on the tips
of his fingers, but he was not about to hand it back either. Tuki
was sure he could not take it. Seeing there were only three
soldiers remaining, he wondered if one of the much-feared trolls
would have hesitated.

Councilor Nasinwa continued. "What is in
those sacks at his waist?"

"This one is for holding the skyglass," Tuki
said, indicating the empty sack. "The other holds inks and needles
for tattooing, and my water bottle."

"You can keep those. We will keep the ball
for a while."

Sighing, Tuki moved away to sit in the
semidarkness with his back against the wall at the far end of the
room. Sha Yukima flipped open the lid of one of the boxes and
rummaged inside. After a moment he sat on the floor as well.

"You were hungry?"

"Yes."

"Have this." The priest handed him a long
red strip that was tough and salty. It was like nothing Tuki had
ever tasted.

"What is it Sha?"

"Salted pork."

"Pork? What is pork?"

"Pig. Pork is swine."

Tuki stopped chewing, his eyes widening in
horror. After long moments in which he examined the priest to see
if he was joking, he spat the food out onto the floor. He spat and
spat and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. Fumbling for his
water bottle he raised his eyes to the heavens in prayer, but the
heavens were not there. Above him was only rock. No stars, no sky,
and no chance of quickly getting to a place where he could see
either. As he drank he cast his glance to the far end of the room.
The Keyman was examining the skyglass, but it was dull and lifeless
in his hand. He had no use for it, could do nothing with it, and
Tuki needed it desperately. He spat some more and looked at the
cracked stone ceiling. Prayers tumbled from his lips.

"What is it, Tuki?"

Conscious of being polite, as always, Tuki
paused for a moment to answer. "I ate a living creature. I cannot
eat a living creature."

He started to pray again. When he married
Keala he would get her to draw some stars or the sun somewhere on
his skin so he could always see it. The taste would not leave his
mouth.

"It was not alive. It was long dead,
Tuki."

Tuki swallowed and drew in a deep breath.
"Once alive, always alive, Sha. Do your gods not teach this?"