Upland Outlaws (21 page)

Kaif, you are too impatient! Or maybe not. Thaile had been dozing again. The window was quite bright now. And the rain had stopped. Good.

Oooo-ooo! Getting serious, are you?

Thaile rolled over with a grunt and munched on her goodman’s ear. Leeb did not have nice, flat, pointy ears like pixies should have. He had big, round, stick-out ears, very suitable for munching.

“Mmmph?” Leeb said, brushing her hair off his face.

“Darling?”

“Mmmph.”

“Baby. “

“Mm? What?” Leaping up from the bed, Leeb missed the doorway and ran straight into the wall. Disregarding his goodwife’s shouts, he regained his balance, found the exit, rocked the house again as he tore open the front door, plunged out into the dawn, rounded the chicken coop too closely, lost his balance, and sprawled headlong into the mud, narrowly missing the woodpile.

She Felt his emotions-confusion, panic, shame …

A few moments later he followed the sound of laughter back to the window.

“How long have I got?” he asked sheepishly.

“At least enough time to put some clothes on. Boosh is quite a prim old dear, you know, and may not want to get in a boat with a naked man-beautiful though you are.”

“You are very cruel to, mock me! “

His eyes were twinkling, though. No matter how clumsy or inept he might be on occasion, Leeb never took himself too seriously. That was one of his better qualities-not that any of his qualities were inferior.

“Mock you? I am completely serious, my darling man. If I did not think you beautiful, would I ever have consented to let you sire this baby that I am about to, er, produce?”

Thaile passed out his breeches and a kiss, and he accepted both. “Go and wash off the mud before you put them on,” she said, preparing to close the shutter. “And you don’t want your shoes, do you? They’re not dry yet from yesterday. You don’t need hat and cloak yet. And don’t forget … “

“Yes?” he said urgently.

She smiled. “To milk the goat and let out the chickens and then come back and have something to eat. After that, we’ll decide whether you have to leave yet.”

Then she said, “Oh! ” and sat down hurriedly as Kaif rattled the latch again.

There was a watcher in the woods. There were two watchers in the woods. “No complications?” asked the newcomer.

“Perfectly nonnal,” the first said. “Good-size boy. I’m tempted to do something about its ears before anyone sees them. “

“I was reminded that the child is also precious.” The other sighed. “So was I-several times.”

“Her Faculty is as strong as they said?”

“It must be. She can Feel those families up on the ridge. Keep your guard up.”

“Go and have your break, then, and I’ll stay here. Bring the body back with you.”

There was only one watcher in the woods.

Rain began falling again as Leeb departed in the boat. It did not wet the watcher, though.

Leeb was poling the boat across the wetlands in the drizzle. Thaile could Feel his nervous urgency-poor Leeb was much more worried about what was happening than she was. Women had been having babies since the world began. She was healthy, barely sixteen. The younger the better, the old women always said. Lying contentedly on the bed, she could even Feel old Boosh herself, rousing to her morning chores, grumbling amiably at Neeth as she always did. Thaile could Feel his tolerant amusement.

If she tried hard, she could Feel other neighbors in the remote distance, several families-on the hill, and downriver. Boosh must have told them about the newcomers, out none of them had ever come to pry. When the dry season arrived, she would go visiting to show off her baby.

Oooo! That was a bad one. Patience, my darling! Wait until Daddy returns.

A beautiful home, she had. Near her feet was a hamper with her spare dress and some other clothes. Along one wall was a shelf Leeb had made for her, loaded with her precious things, the few she had been able to bring-colored shells, bright stones, the stuffed dragon that had been her plaything when she was tiny, a man’s elbow carved in stone. In the next room was a wickerwork cradle, with fluffy cotton blankets she had made herself, all ready for Kaif. Or possibly Frial.

How wonderful to have a real baby of her own, to suckle and cuddle …

Ah! Leeb had reached the Neeth Place, or else he was within shouting distance. She Felt excitement and impatience from him, surprise and joy from the two oldsters … The river was running very swiftly, she knew. That boat would be back in no time.

Oooo … Ouch! Despite herself, she whimpered. Already? she thought shamefully. She had promised herself she was not going to make a scene over this. Poor Leeb would be terrified if she yelled and screamed, the way some women did. Two years ago, when Hoan was having her first, Thaile and some of the other girls had crept close to the Jurg Place to listen. Such a fuss about a perfectly normal business! It couldn’t possibly be as bad as Hoan had pretended.

Leeb would be back soon with Boosh. Maybe even Neeth, also, to keep Leeb company. Soon. The rain was really pelting down. They would be cold.

The outer door creaked.

For one instant, Thaile felt a wild surge of panic. Who could be there? Who could approach without her Feeling them? Jain of the College, of course! He was a mage, and she could not Feel him if he did not want her to.

Then a strange calm fell over her, washing away her rising anger, and she remembered that Jain could do that to her.

She stared up without a blink as two women came into the room-one tall and elderly but not really old, the other shorter, younger, but not really young. They wore frilled pure-white blouses and long skirts of smooth cloth, brightly striped in greens and yellows, all very grand. Their hair was neat and shiny, and their faces seemed smooth and unweathered, their expressions stern. They were not wet.

They stood at her feet, towering over her. “Recorders?” Thaile whispered.

The younger woman frowned. “Certainly not! “

“She doesn’t understand,” said the elder. “Thaile, my name is Shole; I am an analyst. Mearn, here, is an archivist. We are more important than recorders, but we are from the College, which is what you meant, wasn’t it?”

Thaile nodded. And they were both sorceresses. Black horror howled somewhere in the depths of her mind, kept at bay by that sinister calm.

“Go away!” she said. “It is very rude to enter a Place when you are not asked in. “

“Rude? ” the younger visitor snorted. She had very ugly eyes, sort of muddy brown color. “Child, you have no idea how important this is! The whole world is in danger of-“

Shole snapped, “Mearn!”

“I am having a baby!” Thaile shouted.

“That’s why we came, of course. We shall help you have it.”

“I don’t want your help. Go away! “

The younger woman made an impatient noise and knelt down beside her. “Don’t be foolish, child. The other way is messy, and exhausting, and we need you healthy and fresh. This will be very easy, quite painless. It’s a boy, you know, a little early, but fine and healthy. Pull up your gown. “

“No! ” Thaile protested. She tried to rise. Her arms went limp and she sagged back. She stared up at the roof, wondering if she had gone mad.

Her cover and clothes vanished, leaving her naked. She whimpered.

“Not too far along,” said the younger. “Good.”

Thaile was ashamed to feel tears in her eyes. “My goodman is on his way. I don’t need your help. Leave our Place!”

“Foolish child!” the older woman snapped. “Do as you are told, for once! This unpleasantness is entirely your own fault. Had you obeyed the law, all this sorrow and pain would never have happened.”

“Just relax,” the younger woman said. “Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. “

“But I must clear the ferns and squat on the earth!” That was the way it was done, the way a pixie must be born.

“Stupid superstition! Just relax.” Then a very odd sensation … Ooops! “Fine baby,” the woman said.

Slap. Wail! Tiny Feelings of terror …

Something hot and wet squirming on Thaile’s belly … Wailing.

“My son!” Again she tried to lift herself, and again her arms failed her. Even her neck had gone limp, so she could not lift her head.

“Not your son, Thaile,” the older woman said. She seemed to grow, larger and menacing, and her eyes were terrible. “He can never be yours. Do not try to look. It will only hurt worse if you see him.”

Leeb, Leeb! Hurry! He was coming-she could Feel him coming.

The burden was lifted from Thaile’s abdomen. The Mearn woman rose and turned away quickly, carrying something. The little yowls faded as she left the room, but she could still Feel his terror and bewilderment.

“My baby!” Thaile scrambled up on her knees and then to her feet. Her great bulging tummy had gone. She felt cloth reappear on her, covering her nakedness. She registered vaguely that it was her best smock, so her breasts must have shrunk back to almost their normal size also. Her insides felt very strange, but not sore. She swayed. The tall Shole reached out a hand to steady her.

Oh, those eyes!

“You were warned, Thafle! Jain warned you, didn’t he?”

“My baby!” She tried to struggle, and that weak-looking grasp on her arm held her helpless. The eyes held her, burning gold eyes.

“He warned you that you must come to the College.” The little, wrinkled mouth pursed, showing teeth as spiteful as a rodent’s. “But you didn’t! You disobeyed a recorder. You broke the Blood Law. Your folly has brought tragedy into three lives, Thaile! And do you think we enjoy this either, you foolish, headstrong child?”

“Leeb is coming!”

The old woman nodded, seeming to restrain a smile. “Yes, he’s coming. He will be here very soon. He will find the baby, alive and well. But he will find you dead beside it.”

“No! No! No! “

“Yes. Oh, not you. But the body he will find will seem to be yours. “

“Monster! How can you be so cruel?”

“Cruel? We, cruel? You do not know what you are saying.” The woman shook Thaile one-handed, raising her voice shrilly and shouting in her face. Her tiny teeth were very white and even. “Evil is abroad in the world, and you have duties so far beyond that peasant and his spawn that I cannot even attempt to explain them to you. Your folly has delayed your preparation and perhaps weakened our defenses. The Keeper was furious when we discovered what you had done. “

“Leeb! Oh, Leeb!” Thaile thought of him rushing up from the river and finding—

“Forget him, foolish girl! He will bury the false body. He will raise the brat on goat’s milk, with the old crone’s help. Soon he will find another Place and mate again. Stop your weeping! Do you think Mearn and I enjoy this squalid deception?”

Thaile tried to break free of the bony grip and was helpless as a fly in a web.

The sorceress smiled thinly. “Now we go to the College. You trust forget the child, Thaile. You must forget its father. ” “Never! I will not leave my man!” Thaile felt a strange shimmer. “If you take me away I will come back!” she screamed. All around her the Leeb Place disappeared and there was sunshine …

A swan slid close to the verge, snowy white on dark water, sailing so smoothly it did not stir its own reflection. Then it waded out of the pond and was suddenly awkward, trudging black flippers on the mud. Drops and ripples broke the empty mirror left behind. Divine beauty became unsightly effort as it rolled forward with in-toed gait, snaky neck stretched out before it. Ugly.

“I love these mixed-up days,” Jain remarked cheerfully, amber eyes twinkling as if the remark held some hidden meaning. “White clouds and gray clouds and patches of blue-unsettled, full of surprises. Makes you appreciate the sunshine instead of taking it for granted. And it isn’t really cold, is it? You’re warm enough?”

“Yes,” Thaile said. There was something she wanted to say, and she could not remember it, something lingering at the back of her mind.

They sat side by side on a bench. From their toes, the turf ran down to the pond, which had swans on it, and ducks. All around them green hillocks were ablaze with flowers-white and gold creeping through the grass, festoons of purple and scarlet draped over bushes like washing hung to dry, blue and white and crimson standing up to dance in the breeze. Even some of the trees had exploded into blossom. The world was twinkly and sparkly after the rain, but the sun was shining now. High forest enclosed the glade with a comforting wall.

A pair of bare-chested young men went trotting along the path by the shore. She Felt a momentary flash of man-interest, cut off sharply. One of them waved. Jain waved back and watched them go, but Thaile knew the wave had been directed at her. She was puzzled-what were they running from, or after, at that pace?

Jain said, “Exercising.”

“Exercising?”

“I expect they have to sit a lot. People don’t work on their feet all day long in the College.”

Thaile thought of her mother. Frial mostly sat while she worked-sewing, weaving, plucking chickens. Her father? No. Scraping a pigskin, maybe. Everything else Gaib did required standing: weeding, digging, pruning … Odd shed never realized that before.

What was that other thing she wanted to think about?

“This is the Meeting Place,” Jain said. “Anytime you want company or feel like talking with someone, you come here. It’s a good place to sit and think, too. Just to lie on the grass and count the birds.”

She could Feel nothing of his emotions, of course-he was a mage. But there were other benches in among the rainbowdraped shrubbery; there were little open cabins, too, to keep rain off, maybe. She could see about a dozen people, sitting or walking, in twos or threes, all too far off to obtrude. The nearest were a boy and girl standing together, holding hands and gazing spellbound into each other’s eyes. She could Feel very clearly what was in the girl’s heart, but the boy and all the others … she could Feel none of them.

“Sorcerers?” she muttered. “Or mages-like you?”

“I was a mage,” Jain said tersely. “Now I’ve been told a fourth word, so I’m a sorcerer. I didn’t rank quite as high as I d … but not too bad. And I’m not a recorder anymore. I’m an archivist now. “