People of the Nightland(44)
“But … but …” Ti-Bish stammered.
The woman clutched the little girl to her breast, pleading eyes on Ti-Bish. He started to reach out for her, only to have Nashat pull him back.
“Surround him,” Nashat ordered the guards, and the men started hitting people with their war clubs, knocking them back to form a ring around Ti-Bish.
“But …” Ti-Bish reached out, desperate to reach the injured girl.
“Guide, we love you,” a one-legged man propped on a walking stick implored. “We need you! When are we returning to the Long Dark?”
Nashat waved to the guards, and—tugging insistently on Ti-Bish—started back for the mouth of the big cave that led into the ice tunnels.
Nashat said, “Were you trying to get yourself killed? Tell me the next time you wish to go out Healing, so that I can make sure you’re safe.”
Ti-Bish wet his lips and nodded. “They need me!”
“We all need you.”
He stared at Nashat, longing to tell him that he wanted to go out alone. But he couldn’t. The words just stuck in his throat. Can’t I just have peace and tranquility around me?
Finally, he managed to bravely say, “I wanted to be with them, Nashat.”
“Well, you mustn’t do this again. I know you trust everyone, but not everyone deserves your trust. The Sunpath People have assassins everywhere.”
“I—I looked for you this morning. I couldn’t find you.”
“I apologize. We captured one of the Sunpath conspirators, and I had to question the—”
“Skimmer?” Ti-Bish took a step toward Nashat. “She’s here?”
“Skimmer? Who is Skimmer?”
“The Nine Pipes woman. I asked you to bring her to me.”
Nashat gave him that old familiar look of irritation. “You said to bring you a woman from Nine Pipes Village. You didn’t say which one!”
Ti-Bish frowned, his thoughts reeling. “But I must have Skimmer.”
“She plotted your murder with Lookingbill.”
He smiled. “But she’s necessary!”
Nashat glanced sidelong at an empty square of tall posts. He shook his head, thinking, then said, “Well, we’ll look for her.” But Nashat hid something behind his words.
Ti-Bish sagged in Nashat’s grip. He remembered Skimmer. She was very beautiful. And she’d given him food when no one else would.
“I need to speak with her.” Then he remembered. “But you needn’t worry after all.” He smiled. “She’ll come to me.”
Nashat gave him a hooded, amused look, as if somehow that was very funny.
“I’m sure she will.” Nashat put a hand on Ti-Bish’s back and shoved him through the entrance before turning to the guards. “Don’t let anyone in until I have the Guide back in his personal chambers.”
“Yes, Elder.”
To Ti-Bish he said, “You always get carried away. Try thinking without your heart. Those people out there could kill you just by trying to touch you all at once; then they’d panic and trample each other. They’re like a frightened herd of mammoths.”
“I—I’ll ask Raven Hunter to keep me safe.”
“Ti-Bish, really. Raven Hunter has other things to do than hear our petty cries every day. We need to handle this ourselves.”
“Are you saying that you don’t believe Raven Hunter will protect me?”
“No, no, of course not. It’s just that I don’t want to burden the Spirits with things we can take care of ourselves. Too many requests over insignificant—”
“He’s never come to you! That’s why you doubt.”
“Of course I believe, Ti-Bish. Don’t get upset.”
You don’t! Ti-Bish started to tremble, and a need to weep filled his chest. He said, “I’ll be … be in my Dreaming Cave.”
“Again?” Nashat called in exasperation.
Seventeen
Ti-Bish veered sharply right at the next tunnel, leaving Nashat behind. His heart hammered frantically; he could barely breathe. He broke into a headlong run, plunging into the bowels of the Ice Giants. He knew the tunnels as no one else did, but soon found himself panting in a pool of darkness. Why hadn’t he thought to grab a lamp? Tendrils of cold breathed from the stone-impregnated ice. The darkness was complete.
“Raven Hunter,” he called, feeling his way along the walls. “It’s me. I need you.”
It took perhaps a full hand of time to work his way through the darkness. The deeper he went toward the lake of fire, the colder the air grew.
“Raven Hunter, your people need you.” His voice echoed in the stillness. “Please, come to me.”