The Space Between (27 page)

The group surged towards the nervous council
members. A dozen guards were close by, but they weren't going to
last long against the mob. Tuki saw the look of fear on Nasinwa's
face before the old man lurched backwards and fell to the ground.
It wouldn't be long before his protective cordon was overrun.
Knowing what the old man was going through, Tuki rose from his
hiding place and ran a few steps into the clear. He went all the
way to the back of the crowd.

He hesitated, but before he could think of
what to do, someone nearby turned and saw him. Tuki and the human
stared at each other. The human was a little man with a missing
tooth and crooked nose. His eyes were wide with shock and fear, but
he reacted quickly, setting up a new shout that instantly spread
through the crowd. The nearest people stepped back, crowding those
behind.

Within moments the focus of the angry crowd
had shifted from Nasinwa and his companions to Tuki.

Tuki suddenly wished he had stayed hidden.
All eyes were on him, staring. He didn't know what to do. He might
have run, but the skyglass had to be reclaimed. He took a hesitant
step forward, heart thundering in his chest.

The crowd edged away. Tuki took another
step, and another. A path cleared, and he walked all the way to the
river without coming within two meters of a human.

The Councilors watched him
come. Nasinwa appeared angry, as if he would rather be attacked
than saved by a
troll
. The others were fearful but stood their ground. Sha Yukima
was there as well, looking unsure.

When he reached the base of the platform,
staring at the ground while the humans stared at him, Tuki didn't
know what to do next. There were women present so he thought he
should wait for instructions, but nobody seemed about to offer
them. So Tuki did nothing more than turn to look towards the
crowd.

Nasinwa, straightening his robes, held up
his hand for silence again though nobody was saying anything. "The
strangers from the sky are still out there somewhere," he said. For
a moment the crowd shifted their focus from Tuki to the Councilor,
but only for a moment.

"What's the troll doing?" someone in the
crowd shouted.

"Yeah. Is he with us?"

"Are more trolls coming?"

"Yes," Nasinwa said after a moment. "Umm...
Yes. The troll lost his village to the sky-men a week ago and came
to warn us. More will come when they have seen to their own."

"Trolls don't have villages."

Nasinwa opened his mouth to speak but was
obviously at a loss for words. Still nobody looked at him. Tuki
became more nervous under the steady gaze of all those strangers.
He turned for a moment to look at one of the councilwomen. She
smiled to him and nodded.

Tuki took a small step forward. "We..." It
came out as barely more than a whisper. He cleared his throat and
looked to the woman for more encouragement. "We do not have
villages," he said. The lie was burning on his tongue, but the
woman was telling him to go on. "But we, ummm, we have permanent
camps that we call villages." He was sure that only those at the
very front of the crowd could hear his words, but they were
whispered away from him on other tongues.

"Trolls don't have permanent anything,"
someone shouted in response.

"It's, ummm, a permanent camp, but the
population comes and goes." He would have gone on, but he knew less
of trolls than these people did and was afraid that his lies would
be discovered. He clamped his mouth shut against a babble of
explanations. The crowd stared. Tuki felt like running for cover,
but the people blocked any escape route except into the water. He
doubted they would melt away like before, and he could never walk
into water. He stared at the ground instead, and waited for someone
else to take up his lie.

Councilor Nasinwa did. "The trolls come to
offer us their strength against an enemy worse than any either of
our people have ever seen, but we must have something to give them
in return: shelter, food, stability. Please. I need a hundred
volunteers to see to the rounding up of livestock and the repair of
the market yards. We need to search the city for foodstuffs. We
need shelter."

This time when a rumbling went through the
mob they were organizing themselves into work parties, galvanized
by the thought of allies to help win the fight.

Tuki followed the Councilor when he walked
away along the river a while later. A dozen or so others followed
as well. They crowded around behind the old man, all talking, and
all trying to bring his attention to some important matter or
other. Soldiers followed behind them, knives drawn but no longer
held with any threat.

Night fell soon after, but it didn't lessen
the frenetic activity. A camp had been set up on the banks of the
river. Rough lean-tos and tilting shacks had been erected, and more
still were going up. Dozens of fires burned, eating through what
had once been buildings or furniture. Beasts had been put to death
so their flesh could be cooked and eaten. Tuki's protests had no
effect in this regard, and he had listened to the animals' bawling
and, even worse, to the moments of silence that punctuated. He
tried not to watch. He tried not to hear. But he could as easily
hold back the desert. Nobody else seemed to care.

Piles of food were growing. The beasts were
being treated with salt and herbs that were supposed to make them
last, but Tuki felt they would have lasted longer had they been
left alive. Fruit and vegetables were being collected in baskets
from wrecked houses. Bread and cakes and bisca, too.

Tuki, sitting still and quiet, was near one
such pile. There was some bread: a fine, white loaf. There was
fruit, rich and ripe, and he could smell porridge. There were
things he couldn't recognize to which he attached all description
of wondrous taste.

Sitting on the other side of the fire, not
excluding him but not inviting him into the talks, were the members
of the Council. Nasinwa was there with the skyglass resting in his
lap, as if he cared for its safety. The old, uniformed man was
there as well. Apparently he was the Priman, the leader of the
guards. There were half a dozen women in the group, but they didn't
add their voices to the proceedings. They sat and listened with the
same tired expressions as Tuki. Perhaps they had already talked
amongst themselves, or would later. One by one they drifted away
while the men continued. Sha Yukima was nowhere to be seen. He had
sat close by earlier, taking part in the discussions, before saying
there were important things he could be doing and going away.

Tuki sat with the Council well into the
night as they talked themselves into knots. He said nothing, was
asked nothing. There were some women grouped about a fire nearby
that Tuki could have spoken to, but Nasinwa had the skyglass and he
was loath to go anywhere with out it.

The men talked of food and shelter, labor
and costs, things that Tuki didn't understand. What cost was there
to cut down trees to rebuild the city? The trees were right there,
and the men to do the cutting. What cost to distribute the gathered
food? And who would take little golden disks as payment?

Apparently anyone would take the disks, and
in fact, many refused to do anything if the payment was not
made.

When the elder brother moons had departed
the sky and only little Rangi remained, the Priman turned his gaze
across the fire.

"Troll," he said, an edge of disdain in his
voice, "will others come to fight with us if you ask?"

Tuki stared at the man. Surely Nasinwa had
told his companions the truth!

"I am not a troll," Tuki said slowly, his
eyes darting from one face to the next as all the men turned to
hear him speak. "I do not know what a troll is. "

"But you said..."

Tuki swallowed. "I lied."

Councilor Nasinwa grunted. "You persist with
that story when it makes no difference now."

"I persist with the story because it is the
truth." Tuki paused to think for a moment. "For all I know I may be
a troll, but that is not what my people call ourselves. We live in
the desert to the south, far from the world of man. We have done no
harm to any of your kind."

Sha Yukima returned just then, walking
wearily into the circle of firelight. "And why did you come among
us now, after staying hidden away for so long?" He lowered himself
carefully to the ground near another old man.

"I told you, Sha. The skyglass led me." He
motioned to the glass ball on the ground by Nasinwa's side, and all
the men turned to look.

Nasinwa laughed. "The ball is a pretty
bauble only. Hedge wizards use similar to tell your fortune."

"I saw patterns on the ball moving," Sha
Yukima put in. "You saw something, too, Nasinwa. If it's a hedge
wizard's trick, it's the best I have ever seen."

"Well, all I saw was a globe like any that
could be made by a skilled glass blower. Here, boy, show us again
how it works."

Tuki watched eagerly as the Councilor
collected the skyglass and threw it across the fire. Tuki’s heart
was in his mouth as he watched it sail above the flames, catching
the light like a new moon. Only when Tuki had the globe in his
hands did he speak.

"In truth, I do not know much in the use of
the 'glass, Councilor Nasinwa. Only the mo'min is allowed to use it
normally, and only the mo'shi may otherwise see it."

"Oh, so it's a secret that you may not share
with us?" Nasinwa said, and his companions laughed with him. "How
surprising is that?"

But Tuki didn't hear them. The skyglass was
warming in his hands. As the sphere started to glow, the humans
fell silent. Kiva soon appeared, filling about a quarter of the
glass.

"We are here," Tuki said, pointing to the
soft blue spot hovering just below the surface of the glass. "The
blue follows the 'glass wherever it goes. I came from down
here."

"And what are the yellow dots?" the Priman
asked.

Sha Yukima moved from the other side of the
fire to sit at Tuki's side. "They mark the bats, correct?"

Tuki sighed. "I don't know for sure Sha, but
I don't think so."

"So you know nothing then?" Nasinwa
asked.

Tuki examined the 'glass.

"Tell us what you are thinking, lad."

"I think the yellow dots are bats, perhaps,
but ones that are still high up in the sky. When they come close to
the ground, close enough to see, they disappear from the
'glass."

"Why do you think that?"

Tuki shrugged.

Nasinwa grunted again. "You know nothing.
You have a toy that you don't understand, and you play with it,
wanting us to be jealous." The Councilor reached out his hand.
"Give it back to me."

Tuki held the glass out to be taken; he
would not throw it as Nasinwa had. Nasinwa sighed and motioned for
one of his fellows to collect it. But before the other man could do
as he was bid, Keyman Kuwisa strode into the circle of
firelight.

"Councilor," the Keyman said loudly, and
Nasinwa nodded. "Priman." The other old man nodded as well. Kuwisa
glanced back over his shoulder. Two men followed behind, dragging
another between them. "We found this man sneaking away with a sack
full of food."

"It was my food," the man protested. "Took
it from my own larder." The captive changed tactics then with
hardly a pause for breath. "I wasn't going nowhere. Just to the
stockpiles to add my bit."

"The stockpiles in which town?" Kuwisa
asked.

Nasinwa levered himself to his feet,
grunting with the effort. "The food belongs to Payota now, and if
we allow one man to take a bit, soon every man will be taking a bit
and there will be none left to share. We cannot allow that."

"I doubt you'd be taking a bit. None of you
Councilors have moved all day."

Captain Kuwisa hit the man in the face, a
solid blow that made Tuki wince. He turned away as a long rope of
blood extended down from the man's mouth. The prisoner was
unconscious.

Nasinwa shook his head. "We cannot allow
this. He must be made an example of, Priman. In the morning we will
tie him to the oak tree by the river and administer ten
lashes."

"Very well," the Priman replied. "Kuwisa
will see to it."

"Is that not a bit harsh, Nasinwa?" Sha
Yukima asked. "Have we the right to stop a man from eating the food
that he owned?"

"We have every right. We are looking after
the needs of the many here, Yukima."

"There are other ways this might be
done."

"I do not think a mild scolding will do in
this case," the Priman said, supporting the Councilor.

"So again we humans prove
how meek and mild and
humane
we are, while a
troll
watches on
passively?"

Tuki thought of pointing out that he was not
a troll but decided Sha Yukima might be trying to make some kind of
point with the lie. He remained silent while the two men continued
to argue.

Eventually, the priest rose angrily to his
feet and stormed away. Some time later Tuki found that he still had
the skyglass cupped in his hands. Nobody else seemed to have
noticed. Slowly, so the other might not notice, he laid down with
the globe clutched against his body protectively.

19: The Doorway

The morning dawned clear and cool, and Tuki
discovered he was alone. Back up the river though, a large crowd
had gathered. Nasinwa was there, standing on the little stage again
with his hand in the air. The breeze was blowing into the old man's
face, so when he finally started to talk, Tuki could not hear his
words. He did hear the boos of the crowd, however, then watched as
the captive man from the previous night was tied to the rough bark
of the old, leaning oak tree.