Worlds within Worlds #10.3

Here is a rock I know. It stands proud above the shoreline, like a miniature version of Fol Huun's spire. Downwind lie the littorals and pools of my old gang – my real gang. The outcrop marked the upwind limit of our territory.

I hadn't recognised the landmark when I first saw it because I was approaching it from the wrong direction. The hinterland of my gang's domain is made up of a jumble of hills and ravines – a difficult terrain to walk, but the cliffs here are generally low and the beaches wide. We used to do a good trade with other gangs, and the women, in bladderwracks and kelps, and many flatfishes and rays made this shore their homeland.

But the shoreline upwind of ours was taboo: dangerous creatures buried themselves in those sands, and the rocks of the hills were too sharp and loose for women to tend. Other whispers, too, kept us away from the area: murmurs of curses and madnesses that walked in the mists and foams that flocked to the shore, and the fogs that lingered around the stunted trees.

Only when I drew close to the spire, and recognised it, did the shock of realisation smack through my limbs.

You must rest. My guardian was waiting for me to arrive. It perches no more than two feet from where I rest at the base of the spire. The crabs know you are here. They will forbear.

My journey has taken so long, I have almost forgotten my purpose.

'The man is still in his healing pool?'

I remember him. I do not know him. You will help him.

'How many men – people – are left?'

'Ak!'

It is no use asking a guardian to count things. Vuanna had told me this.

I close my eyes and try to fish that memory into my mind.

'Why do you say this thing? Guardians do not talk.'

'Not to you maybe, little Kal. Not yet. But when they do talk to you, remember that they cannot count things.'

I open my eyes and look downwind. The shoreline here is low and flat, curving gently to form a wide bay. It was a good place for building feast fires – a place where my gang mates could gather away from the judgmental eyes clustered in the long house. Women, too, could come here and join us around the fires. Each of us would bring gifts to be shared among us all, and all would leave their weapons stacked here by the spire: it was a safe place for those who knew to barter, and trade comforts.

Your other nestlings still breathe. The short one makes much water from his eyes. The tall one comforts him. Feeds him rabbit. This news shall help you rest.

In my eyes I can see a vision of the fires dotted across the sands. It was our duty to light them, tend them, as we gathered the seaweeds washed up on the low humps of sand. The work was not popular; most were glad to see us leave the long house for a few sleeps. Jiar would come often, and Leic when he was not competing to be our leader. Geit would often come here on his own.

There is no rabbit here.

Vuanna was often on the beach, I remember. She kept a glade not far from here, a couple of thousand paces landwards over the rough terrain.

'Come,' I say to the gull. 'I know of a safer place than this spot.'

'Ak! Ak! Ak-ak!'

'There might be rabbit there.'

Worlds within Worlds #10.2

'How did you stop your brother's shouts?'

Four rabbits lie to one side of us in a bloody pile; for my own safety, I've told Maak-em-ay-are-see to stay on the other side of the hearth stone. He carries a stunned look in his face, as if it was I who had punched him.

He shrugs at my question. 'He'll start again when he sees me.'

'We should have hunted him.'

'... kill him?'

'Release him back to the healing pool.'

The man shakes his head: 'I can't ... this isn't the way it's supposed to be!'

I have no time for worries. I reach into my net and pull out the fire pot – all women kept a stash of these magic contraptions hidden in their glades, sealed from dampness and rain by clay and beeswax. I have no idea why they work, just how: drag the stick across the rough clay and a flame erupts from it. This fire box is almost done – only two sticks remain.

It is a moment's work to set a flame within the tinder stacked on the hearth stone. 'You cannot let this fire die,' I tell the man. 'I don't know when I shall return.'

'Why do you have to go?'

'There are things I have to do. You've watched me hunt and gather – you've near captured me in your bark work. You probably won't starve.'

'What things?'

I sigh. I have no desire to share the guardian's news with him. 'You have what you want. Deal with it.'

'I don't want Sam like ... like this!'

'Then pull a knife across his throat. Or smother his face with your hand. Or take a rock to his skull. Or drag him to the cliffs and drop him over. Burn him. Give him fruit laden with fretworms. Crush dagger berries between his teeth. Go look for a spear snail and set it on his skin. Or ... or just wait for the crabs to tire of his screams and let them snip him to shreds! Once he returns, his senses will be secure in his head again, and doubt will have been banished by experience.'

I don't realise how angry I am until I see it set in the shock of his eyes. I turn away to feed twigs to the new fire. 'There are things I need to do.'

I take the man's silence as consent. Already I've slipped the fire pot back into the net tied around my waist.

Worlds within Worlds #10.1

10. New Things

Your nestlings do not like each other.

I feel no need to reply to this comment. I am too busy trying to remember how to skin and dress rabbits.

Across the bay, Maak-em-ay-are-see has tied brother Sam to one of the struts that hoists the long house into the sky. Sam sits, bound and screaming, not far from where he had stacked my bones. My gang mate has not asked for my help in this, and I had not offered it; I'm keeping my words to myself.

The shorter one makes noises that interest the crabs.

The crabs can have them both!

The guardian perches on the lookout rock. It has been here for a while, preening feathers and watching my work. For once, it is more talkative than me.

The more that I stare at the bloody carcass in my hands, the more I forget what I am supposed to do with it. Making the snares had been easy by comparison: I had let my hands do my thinking for me. They had the knowledge of knots and shapes that created and tethered the noose while I had concentrated my ears and nose on sensing any approaching danger.

Not that I can smell now. It took a while for the blood to stop dripping from its broken shape, after Maak-em-ay-are-see had flattened it with his fist and dragged Sam's semi-conscious body through the water back to the long house.

The crabs thank you for your bones. What is this new thing in your claws? I do not know it.

I look up at the gull, surprised. Freed from my supervision my hands cut across the rabbit's belly, feel their way between skin and muscle, and rip the fur halves free in a single, even pull.

Guardians know everything!

'Ak! Ak! Ak-ak-ak!'

I have no idea what the gull's cry means, but the look in its eye is one of laughter. My hands take my surprise as an opportunity to decapitate the head and paws from my prey and slice into its belly, spilling entrails over my foot.

You have to know everything!

What is this new thing in your claws?

I resort to using my Outer Voice, forgetting my determination to keep my tongue still.

'They're rabbits. You know this!'

I do not know of rabbits, nor do I remember them. I shall not help them.

'You don't need to help them.' I take a slime of guts in my fingers and throw them towards the bird. 'You can eat them.'

The guardian stretches its wings wide, then folds them again when the offal falls short of spattering its grey-white plumage. The look it offers me now is hard, questioning. It cocks its head as if weighing options. Within three heartbeats it hops from its perch onto the pebbles and angles its beak deep into the entrails.

Across the bay, my gang mate is trying to tempt his brother with water. Sam sees the tattoos across the bag and screams louder: 'Get away from me, you fucking zombie!'

This offering is hot. She does not permit me to feast on hot flesh.

'Gulls eat everything. I remember this.'

I call to her; she does not answer.

'You mean the other guardian? The one that was with you when you reminded me of my brother Luntas?'

That one – no: she also is new. I do not understand her. It is the Great Albatross who does not answer me.

The guardian speaks of Fol Huun. I know this. The women often called Her "the albatross who stretches her wings between worlds," though never within the range of a man's ears. I have met few men who are brave enough to spy on a clan gathering, where women meet to sing and cast their spells. Luntas was one such man; Geyt another. And me.

Do you talk to my gang mates – the fledglings, I mean?

The guardian makes a decision, grasps at a loop of intestine and flaps back to its rock, trailing the bloody string behind it.

I do not remember them. I shall not help them.

'You remember me.'

I remember you, Kal of Tintuun. You I shall help.

'What is a "tin-toon"?'

The gull is huge; its beak is the length of my forearm and, by the way it rips so easily through the rabbit's guts, far sharper than my poor glass knife.

This is better than snail, or fish. The heat feels good in my gizzard. You must go and save your fledgling from the crabs.

'The crabs can have them! They are not my gang mates.'

The guardian is staring out to sea. 'Ak! Ak! Ak-ak-ak!' From beyond the bay's entrance, something answers.

There is another nestling, still in its egg. Downwind, beyond the cliff. The crabs grow impatient with it. Leave the rabbit here.

Worlds within Worlds #9.6

By mutual agreement, we have both trekked around the bay to the place of rabbits so I can set traps. It will be good to taste a roast of meat after our meagre diet of moss and fruits.

In the absence of men, the rabbits have grown both in size and in numbers. They haven't, however, lost their senses of smell and hearing so we were unable to catch them unawares.

I've made Maak-em-ay-are-see a good spear with a sharp stone tip, far better than the weapon he used to help separate his Vital Breath from his flesh when he and Sam were camped on their beach. He told me he has some skill with javelins – whatever they may be – so I've set him to be lookout, stood atop a rock that pushes into the water.

My traps are simple nooses looped around the rabbit holes and staked securely at one side. They will not be pleasant for the rabbits, but will hopefully hold them long enough for me to reach and dispatch them with my knife. There are so many of them here that it is difficult to choose the best holes to snare; their tracks are a mass of confusion.

Brother Sam, too, has left a number of tracks around the long house. Few of them seem to lead round to this side of the bay. Mostly, he seems to stick to the shoreline nearest the long house, with some longer expeditions to the head of the bay and the processional avenue beyond it. I had spotted the rotted remains of a brelfruit bush near to his tracks when we first approached the long house. Brother Luntas would not have had good words to offer if he had seen the mess Sam had made when he tried to harvest them.

Sam has made many messes. I was alone when I found the remains of my bones, stacked in a pile beyond the reach of the water, my skull between my feet. I felt nothing when I threw them into the bay. I could have left them, I suppose: the bone worms had already hollowed the longer shafts in preparation for their final work. But bones would lead to questions; better to let the crabs finish the job.

I am setting my last trap when I hear branches crack. I glance towards Maak-em-ay-are-see, and see a gaunt shape of mad intent rushing towards him.

My sentry is more interested in watching me!

'Landwards!'

But it is not my shout that makes him turn.

'You're dead! Dead! Get away from me!'

Sam throws something – a rock – at his brother ... who doesn't even bother to duck!

'Use the spear! Throw the fucking spear!'

I watch as he lets the spear clatter out of his hands.

'Sam! It's me, Sam. Marc!'

Sam is not interested in listening. He barely broke step when he threw the rock. With nothing left in his hands, he chooses to throw himself at his brother. I watch them both topple as I sprint across pebbles.

They splash together into the water, Sam's arms wrapped around Marc's hips. And Sam is the first to surface. He may be famished, but his rage makes him quick. As soon as he has disentangled his arms, he pushes them straight down into the water. He screams as loud as the flayman when I took my knife to its neck!

He doesn't notice my approach. When I reach the sentry rock I drop my knife and net and dive in, trusting that the water will be deep enough to receive my body.

It is: I remembered well. I angle my body into a curve even as I descend: my run has taken me past the men and I must turn quickly.

In two strokes I pull alongside the men fighting on the submerged bank of pebbles. Without thought my hand scrabbles for a rock that fits smoothly in its grip.

Without hesitation I smash my fist into the back of Sam's head and thrust him to one side as he starts his collapse. Maak-em-ay-are-see resurfaces in a fit of coughs; I offer him my arms as he struggles to find his feet.

His fist is swift into my face.

Worlds within Worlds #9.5

'SAM!'

The long house has seen some changes since I left it by the wrong door. There's holes in the roof, for a start; a scattering of blackened thatch around the hearth stone suggests that Sam has been using the great dried leaves to keep the fire burning – for a while at least. The stone has not hosted a flame for a good while, and the ashes are cold. Some of the soot has been used to mark words across the floor of the house: I watched Maak-em-ay-are-see's face become worried as his inner Voice turned them back into sounds.

'Shouting won't work,' I say. 'We should have hunted him.'

'He's got to be somewhere near!'

'He watched you die, remember? He was going to bury your flesh in the sands; I had to persuade him to carry it up the cliffs so we could burn it.'

'And eat it?'

I don't understand why these men are so disgusted by the consumption of old flesh. I still haven't told him where the leather for our bags came from.

'Women eat man-flesh. He will remember burning you; he was adamant that you would never return.'

'Maybe he saw us coming down that track ...'

'... or heard you. I told you not to scream his name. Names are too important to be uttered so carelessly ...'

'Hah. So that's why you told me to call you "savage". Makes sense now. And you're sure he's alive ... you're not just saying that?'

I point over to the corner furthest from the ladder and closest to the hillside. 'That daffask root has fresh tooth marks in it, he was here no more than 500 breaths past.'

The man looks inwards as he counts: 'Half an hour ago, maybe 45 minutes. Is that thing safe to eat?'

'It's bitter, but it fills the belly. He should have boiled it to a mush and drunk the broth, maybe with poached fish and ...'

'It won't have sent him to the healing pools.'

'No,' I agree. 'Though you need to be desperate to try and eat such a thing raw.'

Maak-em-ay-are-see offers me a queer look as he returns to the ladder.

'What do the words say?'

'He was trying to keep a diary, but he didn't keep it up for very long.'

The explanation doesn't help me. Diary – the word sounds a bit like "die" which, I've come to understand, is a form of "kill". I walk over to the seaward side of the long house (avoiding the space where Sam and I had fought) and scan the small bay and the littoral across the water.

'He thinks he murdered you.'

'Is that a bad thing?' I can see movements along the shore: birds mainly, but possibly rabbits too? It will not take me long to gather the materials to make a snare ...

'It's bad for him. Some of the rougher writing seems to be about demons ... I never knew he could write shorthand.'

'Bad enough to make him eat daffask root?'

The man takes a moment to stare at me over his shoulder. 'Bad in his head ... I'm really worried for him.'

'We should have hunted him,' I say. 'The healing pools can fix more than a man's flesh.'