Thann patted her, led her to the far side of the road, one eye on the chals. The extra distance stopped the growls, but the beasts paced along with them until they reached the end of the field and moved into a stretch of wasteland.
It was another indication of how dangerous the road might be, and it was all Thann needed to convince xe that they had to get off it right now. Besides, dawn was less than an hour off and they had to find a place to camp. Xe tapped Isaho’s arm to signal that xe meant to sign.
+Your eyes are better than mine, Shashi. Can you find a way off the road and into the thorns? We need to make camp.+
“Timmy, the river’s that way.” Isaho pointed. “I can smell it. It’s not far. If you want, I think I can find a way there.”
Thann felt the child grow steadier as she spoke. Having something important to do pushed away the fear and fretting. Xe nodded. +Yes. We’ve got to get away from the road, and the river will keep us going the right direction.+
As Isaho moved ahead and began working her way into the mess of thorns and weeds, Thann followed, wondering what Isaho’s newly discovered gift meant. This was the second time she’d had spoken of smelling water. A gift she hadn’t needed in the city, so no one ever knew it was there? Hahkeh! if it’s true, it’s God’s benison for sure. Crossing the Plain without following roads… shay ya!
No matter how carefully Isaho led and Thann stepped, the wind blew thorn canes against them, canes that acted like saw blades cutting into their boots and trousers and sometimes even flew up to slap them in the face, drawing blood wherever the thorns touched skin.
The eastern sky paled to gray, then flushed pink.
Isaho kept going. She glanced back now and then to be sure that Thann was still following, but mostly she moved quickly and surely through the fields, heading for a goal that seemed clear to her, though Thann rapidly lost any sense of direction. Even the dawn colors didn’t help to orient xe. An eight-year-old child, xe thought. It should be me taking care of her.
Despite xe’s disturbance at this tumbling of roles, Thann felt relaxed for the first time since they’d left Mikil’s apartment. The thread of order, xe thought. That’s what it is. God’s presence in Shashi, caring for us both. Xe nodded as that thought finished, feeling cradled in caring hands.
The thorns gave way to trees.
From the darkness of the soil and the dead stumps, fire had swept through here a few years ago, clearing out the weeds and brush and thorns, giving a new crop of saplings room to spring up, delicate maka trees and the sturdier, slower growing vevezz.
Isaho led xe in a complicated twisting path through the thicket; though the going was less painful without the thorns, pushing through the dense growth of young trees was hard, slow work. The sun was well up by the time they reached the riverbank and stood looking at the water flowing eighty meters below. Isaho had brought them there as straight and true as if she’d been following a blazed trail.
Broad, deep and muddy with a small island poking around the bend just ahead of them, the Khobon River rolled along with the illusion of serenity a shallow mask on the surface, broken by the occasional snag or sudden sucking eddy. Watching the hypnotic shift of current lines, Thann felt fatigue settle over xe, weighing down xe’s limbs more and more heavily with every breath xe took. Xe touched Isaho’s arm. +That glade a short way in, let’s make camp there. We can eat some of Mikil’s way cakes, then catch up on our sleep.+
Isaho shook her head. “Here, Thanny. Let’s camp here. I don’t like all those trees. And look, if anyone comes at us, we can just jump in the water and get away.”
Thann shuddered at the thought, then nodded. +But we should move back a little. Into the edge of shadow so travelers on the river won’t see us.+
Isaho yawned and smiled sleepily at xe. “All right, but I don’ want any cakes, Thanny. I just wan’ go to sleep.”
Thann woke and started up. Isaho’s blankets were empty. Xe swept thinta round, relaxed as xe felt xe’s daughter close by. Xe got groggily to xe’s feet and moved from under the trees, following the pull of the thinta, found the child curled up on the edge of the cliff, deeply asleep.
Thann looked from Isaho to the river below. It was as if the water had pulled her as close as she could get, reaching her with a call so strong that it overrode mind and will. Xe listened a moment to Isaho’s steady breathing and wondered if xe should carry her back. Finally xe shook xe’s head and returned to xe’s blankets to get what sleep xe could before it was time to move on.
They left camp while it was still light, following the bends of the river as closely as they could.
It wasn’t easy walking. Nothing was easy anymore.
When they made camp the second night by the river, Thann brought out the balls of cord xe’d put at the bottom of xe’s pack. Half asleep, Isaho watched as xe carved a crude shuttle from a bit of deadwood, wound a length of cord about it.
“What’s that, Thanny?”
Xe set the shuttle down so xe could sign. +A long time ago, when I was an anyalit about your age, in the days before the war when Khokuhl was a happy place, my father took me fishing along the edge of the estuary marshes. In the summer we went almost every day. I learned the netting knots because he said I couldn’t fish with any other net but one I made for myself. It wasn’t proper, he said. When I finished a net he liked, he taught me the way of casting it. In the morning I’ll try out this net, and with a little luck we’ll have fish for breakfast. We’ll need to find our own food, Shashi. There won’t be places to buy it, and we haven’t the coin anyway.+
“Oh. Is there enough cord to give me some?”
+I put some in your pack, too, down at the bottom. Why?+
“I thought I could make snares. You remember how
Mam taught me to catch rats? Maybe I can trap some mayomayos and wejeys.”
+Ah! Yes, that’s a good thought. Dig out the cord and see what you can do.+ Xe took up the shuttle and went back to making the net.
As the twist and slide of the shuttle grew more automatic, xe found time to watch ‘mho gather sticks and play with the bits of cord until she had the nooses arranged to her satisfaction. The Need for Linojin hummed down deep in her, but it was overlaid now by a purring contentment. Ah, Shashi, why didn’t I see this before? You need something to do, to take your mind off Linojin. Diversion. I could have done it in Khokuhl and maybe… I don’t know… God give you game in your snares.
In the morning, while Thann was tossing the net for fish, a river peddler sailed round the bend behind xe and brought his boat to shore before xe knew he was there.
2. Walking with the Ixis to Linojin
Wintshikan woke into the warm gray light of a summer dawn with her shoulders burning and cramps in her legs that made her want to scream when she moved. She floundered in the blankets and tried to sit up.
She couldn’t. Her legs had no strength in them, and the muscles of her arms and shoulders seemed turned to jelly. She lay back, staring at the leaves arching overhead and wondering how she was going to manage this day and the next and the next if she couldn’t even stand.
Zell heard her moving and came trotting over to her. Wintshikan glowered at her anyabond and for a moment hated xe’s wiry agility.
After looking her over, Zell nodded and went away. When xe came back, xe had a stout staff with xe, a sturdy bit of limb xe’d trimmed and polished before Wintshikan woke. Xe laid it beside her. +I thought you were going to regret pushing so hard yesterday.+
Wintshikan tried to use the staff to pull herself up, but she couldn’t get the proper grip or brace it effectively. She let the staff fall and lay back in the tangle of blankets, her eyes blurring with angry tears.