The Heretic Land Part 5

'Warding off the spirits of dead Skythians,' Juda said. 'They set fires in the ruins of old Skythe buildings the four nights of full moon each month.' He shivered. The flames always provoked a chill in him.

Bon laughed. 'Spirits!'

Juda paused, squatted beside a thick tree. The light from the settlement played shadows with the tree's branches, dancing them across the ground either side of the trunk.

'What do you know about spirits?' he asked, perhaps too harshly. As ever in the presence of new arrivals, he found that he was developing some sort of pride about Skythe and his place here. It was inexplicable and surprising, but he treasured the feeling.

'Only that the dead don't trouble the living,' Bon said.

'Maybe not where you come from,' Juda said. 'Here, they dance, and you'd better hope they don't want to dance with you.' He headed off, leading away from the coastal village in a curving route that would take them inland along the shoulder of a mountain. They followed their own dancing shadows.

'You believe in these spirits?' Leki asked behind him.

'Do you believe in the sea?' Juda asked. 'The air? The land?'

'That they exist, yes. But I have no need to decorate them with make-believe.'

'And that's how I believe in the spirits,' Juda said. 'They are there, without doubt. No need to deform reality into a myth.'

'Why try to scare them away?' Bon asked from behind Leki. They were moving slowly, cautiously, and Bon's were the heaviest footsteps.

'n.o.body wants angry spirits living amongst them,' Juda said.

'Why are they angry?' Bon asked.

'Because they're dead, and we're living on their land. Now, enough with the f.u.c.king questions. Stay quiet.'

He led them across the steep mountainside, following a gentler path that would not be too treacherous in the dark. Each time he blinked it was darker still, and he could feel that other self inside stretched almost to fill his extremes. He did not have long, but he had to concentrate, and move them away as far as he could before camping down. The slayers still had other targets to track and kill, but it was possible they would find them quickly.

And the slayers did not tire. Did not stop. Juda had to lead the others to a place where they might lose their pursuers, and that was still a day's hike.

'Where are you taking us?' Bon asked after they had been walking for some time.

'Somewhere safe.'

'From the slayers, or you?' Leki asked.

Juda glanced back. Even in the moonlight he could see her expression.

'Whatever you think you know about me, I'm fine for a little longer,' he said, grinning. 'Important to go further. Up there, over the ridge, there's a place on the other side where we'll be safe for the night.'

'And from there?' Bon asked.

'That's for tomorrow,' Juda said. 'We live day by day on Skythe.'

They crested the ridge in silence and, descending into the shadowed valley beyond, Juda felt the nightmares closing.

'Tie me ...' he said, slipping to his knees on the shale. He pointed downhill at the small wooden shelter built within a copse of trees. 'In there ... tie me ... keep watch.'

'And if a slayer comes?' Bon asked.

'Won't,' Juda said, and his voice felt like someone else's.

He grasped a handful of sharp stones in his fist and squeezed, trying to hold back the night.

Where in the name of all the fake G.o.ds have I been sent? Bon wondered, and their saviour raged and strained against his ropes.

'I thought you said Regerrans sleepwalked?' Bon said.

'Well,' Leki said, but she had no answer. She shrugged. 'Nightmares, too.' She seemed as confused as him. They sat close together as they had in the prison ship's hold, but this time the storm was inside with them.

They had carried Juda the final distance to the rough shelter he had indicated, and even then he had been twitching and hissing like a captured serpent. After tying him as instructed they had sat back, waiting to see what would happen. They did not have to wait very long. The hissing continued, spittle and blood frothing at his mouth, and then he started rolling and writhing against the bindings. His movements appeared agonised rather than strong, flesh bulging where he forced against the ropes, and his constant shifting and hissing reminded Bon of the terrible sound and movement of the sea surging against the ship.

'This is no simple Regerran sleep,' Leki said a little later. 'What do you think's wrong with him?'

'Don't ask me,' Bon said. 'Seems half-mad when he's awake; why should he be any different asleep?'

'He could give us away.'

Bon had been keeping intermittent watch, but the valley was in darkness, and anyone or anything wishing to creep in would do so without him seeing. They had already discussed leaving Juda here and going on alone, but neither relished the idea. He had saved them, he seemed to know where they were going, and for now they both wanted to stay with him. Until we know more, Leki had said. And Bon already believed there was so much more for Juda to tell them.

'Did he really put himself in danger to save us?' Bon asked.

'I think he was in danger before,' Leki said. 'And he seems ...'

'Eager,' Bon finished for her. 'He's done this before.'

'But why?' Leki asked. 'What does he want?'

'Maybe we'll find out tomorrow.' Bon sat close to Leki, pressing against her and feeling her warmth through the jacket Juda had brought for him. She had talked of not decorating the sea and air with make-believe, and those words to Juda betrayed more than she had to Bon. 'You're no slave to anything the Ald tell us,' he said.

'Did you even once believe I was?'

Bon chuckled, and it felt good. That surprised him. Could laughter really find a place against such darkness, when a madman writhed before them? But perhaps that was the best reason for laughter.

'What were your plans when you got here?' he asked.

'Plans?' She shrugged, glancing away. 'I made none. They tore me from my family, my home, my life. I taught in Skeptin Lakes, history and philosophy. Taught everything they told me to teach, mostly, but there were always moments when some of what I believe found its way in. By accident, usually. I wasn't stupid. Knew what I'd do to myself if I made it too obvious.' She drifted away, perhaps disconcerted by how much she had said in so little time. Her bitterness did not surprise Bon, but her uncertainty unsettled him. He liked the strong Leki.

'So, plans?' she continued. 'f.u.c.k plans. I wouldn't honour them by making plans. f.u.c.k them.' She trailed off again, and Bon pressed sideways against her, a subtle but obvious movement. Not so blatant as a touch or a hug, but a gesture of comfort.

'Even if you had, I bet I wouldn't have been in them,' he said.

'Right.' She sighed, drumming her fingers on her leg, the air heavy with something unsaid. But they sat in silence.

Before them, Juda rolled on a bed of dried twigs and leaves, a foam of spittle and blood sheened across his chin and lips.

Bon looked out at the shadowy valley one more time, saw no movement, and leaned his head back against the rough wall of the shelter. Tomorrow, he would begin his first full day on Skythe as someone hunted, and scared. But at least he was with a friend.

Someone shook Bon awake from a dream of being chased by a swollen killer, a heavy-cloaked thing bearing a spiked staff and his dead son's face.

He rose from his dream like a G.o.d looking down, and in that brief omnipotence he saw himself sprinting across a desolate landscape spotted with bright purple plants, each of them a blooming bruise. The son-thing lurched after him, barely walking and yet closing on him with every step he took. Behind the son-thing came a shadow that belonged to something larger and more dreadful. Its shadow tendrils seemed to emanate from them both. And while he ran and his son-thing lurched, the shadow seemed to dance with unalloyed joy.

'Bon Ugane,' a voice said, and Bon blinked himself awake, leaving the dream behind. For an instant he wondered whether that monster was still closing on his fleeing self, then Juda leaned back from him and smiled down. 'You must have really needed that sleep.'

'How long ...?' Bon asked.

'It's barely dawn.' Juda's smiled seemed strained, pained. There was blood smeared across his jaw.

'Leki!' Bon said, sitting upright and kicking at Juda. What has he done where is she why did I fall asleep?

'The water woman's fine!' Juda said, sprawling back.

'Then where is she?' Bon stood, remaining stooped in the shelter. Dawn sunlight slanted in between the roughly tied uprights, and his clothing was damp with dew.

'I was taking a p.i.s.s,' Leki said from outside. 'And keep your voice down or you'll scare them away.'

'Scare who away?'

'Come and see.'

Bon's shock settled and he smiled hesitantly at Juda. The man nodded back, wiping at his chin with one hand. He must have seen Bon looking at the dried blood.

Outside, Leki was standing beneath the shadow of the trees, looking out across the narrow, deep valley at a herd of creatures on the opposite slopes. Pale brown, the size of a child, they flitted back and forth across the gra.s.sed slopes like a flock of birds. Their hoofsteps sounded as a vague mumbling, and their call was a piping cry that mourned across the valley.

'Anything?' Juda asked from the shelter behind them.

'No,' Leki said. Bon realised that she had been to the ridge to check if anyone or anything was following, but now she seemed more taken with the creatures seemingly performing for them.

'Hat-hat,' Juda said. 'Taste good with rose herb.'

'I'm happy just to watch,' Leki said.

The hat-hat streamed left and right across the slope for some time, and then a pair of hawks swooped down from out of the sun and took one. They tore it apart on the ground, and as they ate the rest of the flock grouped tightly together and fled over the hilltop.

'He says there'll be two of them following us,' Leki said. 'They'll pick up our scent and be on our trail. Today's the day we have to escape them, or they'll hunt us until we drop, or they do. And it won't be them.'

'Then why aren't we moving now?' Bon asked, knowing there was an answer. Today had a strange feel already, as if he had woken into a world with different rules.

'Because Juda is going to try and use some magic.'

Bon caught his breath, staring at Leki, waiting for her to elaborate. Magic? The word was used as a turn of phrase, but Leki had given it weight.

'So what happened when I was asleep?' he asked.

'Our lives changed,' Leki said. She looked at him at last. 'And I found out why our saviour and friend is just a little mad.'

Juda emerged from the shelter and lit a roughly rolled cigar. He breathed in deeply and glanced their way, nervously.

'Magic?' Bon asked.

To begin with, Juda did not respond. He took a long pull on the cigar, shivering slightly and closing his eyes. Smoke drifted from his nose and curled like a living thing, caressing his cheek and forehead before dispersing in his hair.

'Why else do you think I'd come to Skythe?'

'You came here voluntarily?' Bon asked.

'Could say that.' He stood beside them, taking deep, long pulls on the cigar. Seemingly without noticing, he clasped at the air before him with one hand, searching for something that was not there. Mad, indeed, Bon thought, but he was never one to judge madness on simple deviation from the norm. He knew the norm to be an ambiguous thing, a construction of doctored beliefs and prescribed outlooks. It could be that Juda simply saw in a different way. 'I came here looking.'

'For magic,' Leki said.

'Where else would I look?'

'You're not Regerran?' Bon asked.

'I'm told my mother was,' Juda said. 'But the nightmares are mostly my own. Magic does strange things, when you're close to it for a long time.'

'And those cigars?' Leki asked.

'Scamp smoke helps. A problem hidden, not cured. Scamp keeps the nightmares deep, for a while.' He stared across the valley. Even with the cigar clamped between his teeth he seemed to be sniffing the air. 'You need to break camp. Prepare yourselves for a fast, long journey. We must escape the slayers today, and to do that we first have to gain a good lead.'

'So shouldn't we be running now?' Bon asked, panic blooming.

'We're about to. But I'm leaving something behind.' Juda glanced back at them and nodded up at the steep hillside beyond the shelter. 'Climb. Snuggle together and watch. But don't come close. I'll join you soon, and then we run.'

Bon and Leki packed up the few things they had with them and left Juda behind, sitting on a fallen log close to the shelter and absently kicking loose soil over the remains of their campfire. They climbed silently, the brief respite already behind them. Bon felt an urgency borne of fear, and confusion about why they hadn't run through the night, why Juda couldn't have smoked and gone further despite the nightmares. But then he thought of the reason Juda said the people of Vandemon kept fires flaming in the dark, and he wondered whether night was a safe place for visitors to Skythe.

The slope soon became steeper, and for the last stretch they were climbing on hands and knees, crawling up from handhold to handhold. Bon tried not to look down, but the knowledge of Juda called him. That, and what their rescuer might be doing. I'm leaving something behind, he had said. As they reached the ridge and sat down, panting and sweating, Bon looked down into the valley to see.

Juda was moving slowly around the shelter and the site of their campfire. He paused many times, seemingly listening or waiting for something before moving on. Smoke from his scamp cigar drifted about his head, forming a larger cloud that settled over the area and stole colour and sharpness.

'Why is he taking so long?' Bon asked, but Leki merely shrugged. She was frowning, concentrating, and Bon wondered what she was waiting to see. He had no idea what magic was supposed to look like.

Juda finished patrolling the site and knelt down. He reached into his pack and seemed to sprinkle something on the ground, moving his hand left to right in a casual wave. Then he stood, surveyed the area one more time, and started climbing.

'That was it?' Bon asked. Leki shrugged again. Her silence deepened her mystery. He wanted to clasp her hand, ask what she knew, but he was certain that she would only tell him if she wanted to. She'd had ample opportunity, and remained silent.

'So now we run,' Bon said. 'Maybe I should just go the other way. Let the two of you flee, I'll go back and meet the slayers on our trail.' He didn't mean that a not after the horrors he'd seen on the beach a but he was trying to provoke Leki into saying something. Anything.

'Self-pity is ugly,' she said. They watched Juda climbing towards them, and no more was said until he arrived.

He scrambled up the slope and sat beside Bon, lighting another cigar. He was breathing heavily, but seemed otherwise untroubled by the climb. Bon wondered how long he would be able to keep up with Juda and Leki. Already his legs burned, his muscles ached.

'That might help,' Juda said.

'What did you do?' Bon asked.

'Left something behind for them. A dreg.'