The Broken Land(52)
I take it, but say, “I must get back to my wife-to-be soon, but I’m happy to talk with you briefly.”
“Excellent. I understand that you just came up from the south where you were on Dream quest. Is this so?”
It intrigues me that Tsani treats me as he would anyone in the village. Since it is impossible that he has missed the loathsome conversations about my cowardice and treason, there is more to this than is currently apparent. I watch him carefully.
“Yes.”
The man sidles closer. In a low voice he says, “Then you have seen the devastation. The whole countryside is a wasteland, but no one here seems to know of it, and I have been hesitant to pass along the unbelievable stories I’ve heard. Perhaps you—”
“What do you mean no one’s heard of it?” Kittle asks in disdain. “Sedge Marsh Village was just wiped off the face of Great Grandmother Earth, probably for allying themselves with us! People hiding in the brush claim they saw War Chief Sindak and a large party swarming through the burning village. I’m sure that despicable cannibal, Atotarho, is responsible for it.”
Tsani regards her. “You have ears like a starving lynx. Go back to flirting and leave me to my conversation with Sky Messenger.”
“Do not presume to give me orders, or before morning, your eyeballs will see nothing but the inside of a stew pot.”
Tsani grins. “By the way, where’s your husband? What’s his name?”
“You very well know that his name is Yo-wige … . Oh, wait, that’s not right. Kurath, yes, Kurath.”
“Blessed gods, Mother!” Yosha blurts. “You can’t even recall the name of your latest husband?”
“Well, what does it matter? He’s off on some Trading expedition in the south country. Why do you care, Tsani?”
“I don’t. I just thought Hiyade might wish to know Kurath’s whereabouts in case he shows up unexpectedly.”
“He won’t. Traders are always gone.”
“Which is, naturally, why you marry them.”
Kittle smiles at Hiyade, and he blinks in terror.
“Mother,” Yosha says. “Leave him alone. The boy looks like a cornered mouse.”
“Mind your own affairs.”
Tsani turns back. “Forgive me. Teasing her is more fun than bedding her. I know. I was young and stupid once. Now … what was I saying?”
“You asked about the stories traveling the trails. What stories?”
The man’s black eyes glitter. “The plague survivors and the refugees from destroyed villages all recite the same words. They say the human False Face has come and is riding the winds of destruction across the land. Many claim to have seen him sailing across the sky with his white cape of clouds trailing behind him.”
Fervently, I answer, “The human False Face is riding the winds of destruction. Who could doubt it? The war is worsening. Starvation stalks the land, and sorcerers have loosed a mysterious evil that is laying waste to one village after another. His ride has begun, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”
Tsani’s eyes narrowed. “Then you believe the end is truly here?”
“Look around you, my friend. Our world is crumbling to dust before our eyes. I have—”
“Oh, I’m so clumsy,” Matron Kittle says. “I’ve spilled stew on my skirt.” Everyone looks. The glob of fish sticks to her skirt just above her “little canoe,” where it is reputed men love to paddle. She bites her lip and her pupils grow larger and darker. Hiyade can’t take his gaze from hers.
“It’s in such an awkward place,” Kittle says. “Will you see if your can brush it off?”
Hiyade swallows the lump in his throat, glances at Tsani and Sky Messenger, then lifts the hem of his cape and just stands there awkwardly.
Yosha’s caustic voice rings out, “Why don’t you let me call a slave to aid you in your distress, Mother? That way Hiyade can breathe again.”
“That won’t be necessary. Run out and see if your daughter has needs.”
Yosha makes a low disgusted sound, spins, and tramps away.
“As I was saying …” A strange expression, almost too eager, creases Tsani’s wrinkled face. “When you were on your Dream hunt, what did you Dream?”
Now I understand his expression. “Surely you’ve heard the story twenty times since you arrived.”
“More like fifty, but each has been totally different. I’d really like to hear it from you. That way, when I tell it at the villages where I Trade, I can say I heard it from your own lips.”
The images are alive inside me, always there, always urgent. Speaking of them brings back the dread. “There is a great darkness coming, Tsani. It will shake the World Tree. I pray that Elder Brother Sun survives.”