The one who laughed. My heart was full of her. I longed to speak with her, but I must not. I myself had helped establish the Harvest laws, and a king cannot act against his own decree. So I must wait and hope, and see if she also felt the longing.
She must come to me.
After the tents were set up and we were more or less settled I had to fight my instinct to hide myself. It was not possible, of course. Marik knew I was here and there was no way to avoid him, so I decided, perversely, to seek him out. I asked Rella if she knew where I might find him.
"He's gone to talk with the Guardian, I hear," she said. "If he's uneaten yet he should be back soon enough." She seemed to have a hearty contempt for Marik, which made me feel a little better. At least it helped balance the fear.
But even as she spoke I saw Marik's long figure emerge from a gap in the trees. He seemed terribly excited as he strode along, and my good intentions vanished like smoke in a high wind. I ducked back in the tent and tried to keep hidden.
I might have saved myself the trouble. The Master called out to the company and told us all to assemble in a wide clearing just north of the one where we had set up camp. I realised that that was the direction Marik had come from.
I put up the hood of my old black cloak and wandered over to the gathering, despite all sense frying to walk hunched over and with bent knees. Marik stood nearby, but it was the ship’s Master, he who had signed me on back in Corli, who spoke to us.
"Here it begins," he said simply. "Lord Marik has spoken with the Guardian of the Trees and learned the terms of the treaty. That old fence along the trees—" He pointed behind him to an obvious line of trees with an overgrown but still visible path alongside it and a decaying fence before. "—is the Boundary. The fence runs for some miles to the west, and according to our records bends south to meet the coast. The sea is the Boundary east. We are allowed to collect any leaves we find on this side of the line, also any fruit, but there's no sense bringing back trees, they just die. Ifs leaves you're after. The more the better, we've sacks enough to strip bare every lansip tree on this island. Fruit still on the tree is to be brought in person by the finder back to Marik, who will occupy the larger cabin. The finder will be credited with the weight of the fruit in silver." Here his mask cracked slightly and the Master let loose his gap-toothed grin. "I hear the things weigh as much as a melon. Guard them with your lives."
That got an appreciative murmur.
His voice grew louder. (I was impressed despite myself; I knew how hard it was to make that kind of noise.) "But believe me when I tell you—you will not pass over that Boundary and live. I heard some of you on the way here saying the Dragons were something we Merchants had created to keep lansip to ourselves. "He grinned again, briefly. "I wish we had, ifs a wonderful idea. However, they beat us to it.
"No matter what you heard or didn't aboard ship, Lord Marik has now spoken with one of the beasts. The Dragons are real. They live here, this is their island, and you Cross that Boundary on peril of instant death. All the records we have of the old voyages say that they will slay on sight anyone who tries to cross over, and the Guardian has said it again not five minutes past.
"Keep on this side, work like fury for the next seven days, and you should all be disgustingly rich when we get back to Corli. Cross that border and you die, simple as that. Any questions?"
Silence.
"Leave your gear in your tents, get as many sacks as you want from the quartermaster after the midday meal. Dismissed."
The rest went their ways, leaving me staring still into the dark wood ahead. I could see no farther than a few feet through the thick branches, thinned though they were by autumn nakedness. I nearly spoke out then and there when the Master called to me.
It was not the time, I knew that perfectly well; yet I turned away reluctantly, staring over my shoulder until the clearing was out of sight.
VIII
VOICES BY MOONLIGHT
By nightfall reckoned I'd made back at least what I'd spent in Corli before the voyage. I had a feeling for weight, and the leaves I'd carried even in half a day came to a decent amount in silver. Tonight and thereafter we'd have to go farther afield, but even I had already seen thicker groves farther off and I wasn't paying much attention. True enough, I wouldn't object to the silver my efforts would bring me, but there were other things on my mind.
I still hoped that by the morrow I'd have found a Dragon to talk to. Marik had not sought me out nor sent for me—I began to hope that now he was here his mind was on lansip, not on me. But ever in my inner ear I heard a small voice whisper that this might be my father, and I long promised to demons.
The evening meal was warm and plentiful, and the moment ii was over most of the others collected more sacks and went hack to the trees. A few, with whom I remained, went into their tents, planning to start again as soon as they were rested. Most planned to rise after only a few hours. I was surprised to find that no watch was set on the camp and asked Rella about it as we were preparing for bed.
"And what would it be we'd watch for, eh?" she replied, bemused. "By all reports there's three creatures larger than a mouse on this island—us, the cattle we brought, and the Dragons. We're all either too tired to do any mischief or off gathering, the cattle are in the keeping of the Dragons now, and if a Dragon attacked nothing would save us anyway. Now go away and let me sleep, there's a girl."
I left her wrapped in blankets and went outside, up to the fire for warmth, waiting for the last stragglers to go to bed or back to the lansip harvest. My mind would not let me rest this night until I went to the Boundary and at least tried. I paced as I waited, and my thoughts seemed to travel round the same circle time and time again, like a yearling on a lunge lead. Partly I thought with solemn fear of Marik and whatever his purposes might be, but uppermost in my mind now were the Dragons themselves. Now I was here at last, at the end of my first journey and on the point of adventure, I was strung tight as a bowstring. Was Marik lying yet or were they real, now I was here at last? Had I wasted my life chasing dreams in the dark? And if they were real, why in all the world should one of them want to talk to me, rather than killing me where I stood for my insolence? And what, dear Goddess, what in the Seven Hells would I say? The fine flowery speeches I had made up in the silence of my chamber at Hadronsstead turned to dust, fell like dead leaves away from my mind, leaving not even their shadows behind.
Into that dusty darkness came a soft voice from the edge of the clearing.
"Lanen?"
I was close to the fire, I could not see past its light. But then, I didn't really need to. "Yes, Marik, ifs me," I replied quietly. I looked up as he approached, and managed a slight smile. "Or would you rather I called you Bors? In any case I seem to be working for you now, so perhaps 'my lord' is more in keeping."
"I thought I saw you on board the ship, but I wasn't certain until yesterday," he lied cheerfully. "When the Master told me none had asked for a berth in the name of Bors of Trissen I was convinced you had decided not to corme." He reached out suddenly and lifted my chin with his cupped hand. I put a tight rein on my temper; it would be far too dangerous to lose it now. "I had nearly convinced myself you were a dream. How wonderful. Now I am doubly blessed. I am certain you will be a hard worker, and" —he grinned—"mayhap you get back a portion of the ruinous price I gave you for that mare."