Clambering up onto the roof of the Great Hall, she glanced back again. The priests were far behind her; they had not spent uncounted hours here, in the bright air above the palace. She would succeed, she had time.
She slipped a few times, ascending the steep, vaulted roof, but she knew where the handholds were, knew to go up the crease where a mighty strut supported the roof. A moment she had then, to think of Tsem, of how sad he would be, of how glad she was that he was in the city when the priests came. He would have killed them, and then he would have died, too. Now that wouldn't happen, nor would Ghan risk his life and freedom unnecessarily. She would solve her own problems, bear the weight of her birth on her own small soles.
Shuddering for breath, she completed the climb, and there took another moment to rest. The top of the dome was open, a great unwinking eye staring out from the Leng Court. Looking down, she could see its iris, the fountain, far below, the beckoning stones.
I mustn't fall in the fountain, she thought. I mustn't give the River my blood while I yet live; I won't do that.
She was still crying, but the tears now had the melancholy solace of happy tears, of the sort of crying that feels good. The priests were still pursuing, sluggishly. Gazing about her, she cherished the glorious view—the dusty desert reaches, the filmy green fields, the vast bustle of humanity that was Nhol. The sun resting in the River, half sunken, a floating tangerine.
Stepping up to the edge, she admired her little statue once more. The fierce grin seemed like laughter, like a secret joy they shared. Another wind whipped around her, and she felt her heart washed clean by it, filled with light and high, endless sky.
She spread wide her arms like wings, the long streak of her shadow fleeing eastward in the steeply slanting light.
IX
The Quickening of Dream
Morning brought the city that Perkar remembered from his dreams, a forest of buildings flaming white in the sun. Yet already his pristine vision was faded, replaced by the reality of rude, incomprehensible people, dirty rooms, and the smell of the docks, a stench for which he had no name. Morning also brought with it a sense of immense inadequacy, for he had not the faintest idea what to do, how—or even what—to negotiate in this alien place. Until now, the River had provided him with direction and thus purpose. Now he lacked that. He wondered what would have happened had he stayed in the boat. Would it have sailed straight to where he was being called, to the task at hand? Or would he be in this same place, sitting at a thick, stained, knife-scarred table wondering what to do?
Midmorning actually provided him with part of an answer. He had been splitting his time between the table and its promise of employment and stepping outside, watching and wondering still at the immensity of Nhol. A few others in the Crab Woman seemed to be seeking work; a group of three rough-looking men, dark and scarred, conversed in low tones in a language he did not understand. Each wore his weapon in plain sight, as he did. Another, solitary man—he reminded Perkar of a ferret—sat scratching vaguely at his table with a knife. None of the four seemed much inclined to talk to him, and so he kept his distance, waiting and watching.
Around noon, four more men came in, three wearing plain kilts and one—a young, slim fellow—in tar-stained pants. Pants seemed a rarity in Nhol; these were the first he had seen. None of the four wore weapons, at least not visible ones, so he concluded that they were in the Crab Woman to drink rather than to look for "sellsword" jobs.
They chose a table near his, ordered beers. Casually he listened in on their conversation, which largely concerned an individual named "Lizard" who seemed to be their foreman. The four didn't like Lizard very much. As Perkar did not know Lizard, the conversation failed to capture his interest, and so his mind wandered with his gaze out beyond the door, to the people strolling past.
Until, that is, one of them mentioned his boat, and that took hold of his notice and kept hold of it.
"Strangest thing I ever saw," the pants-wearer was saying. "A whole crowd of us watched it, too; it's not like it was just me."
"Currents," an older fellow with a thin beard said. "Currents are strange."
"It was going against the current, no sail, no paddles, nobody even in it."
"And?" the bearded man responded.
"And that's it. It sailed right up Eel Canal, quiet as you please, six men in it yanking on the tiller."
"Priest stuff," one of the other men ascertained, and they all mumbled general agreement.
That was too much for Perkar. He rose and approached the table.
They nodded wary greetings, as if fearing he might want something.
"Excuse me," Perkar said. "I am Perkar of the Kar Barku Clan. I'm sorry to have been listening to you, but I did overhear you talking about a boat, sailing along without anyone in it."
"That's right," said the small man defensively, the one who had seen it. "It's true."
"What happened to it?"
The little man grinned. "Last I saw, two of the priests had come down from the temple with some of those brooms of theirs, the ones they burn."
Which meant nothing to him. "Where might that be?" he asked.
"Might be in the deep blue sea," the bearded man grunted. "But it's not. Back up that way, where the canal runs up to the palace."
"I'd like to see that," he told them.
"Well, that's nice," the bearded man said, and the others laughed.
Determined not to lose his temper, Perkar merely nodded at them. "Thanks," he said. Surely someone outside could tell him where Eel Canal was.
"Just go left, out the door, follow Shadowfish Street," the small man piped up. "That'll take you to Eel Canal. Just walk up that, you'll see it if the priests haven't managed to do something to it yet."
"Thanks again," Perkar said, and continued on out the door. Outside he glanced at the docks, several streets down, and turned left. He looked back—to memorize the landmarks near the Crab Woman, so that he could find his way back, and raised his eyebrows in astonishment. The largest man he had ever seen was just entering the tavern. He surely stood seven or more feet tall, massively muscled, thick, broad, with relatively short bowed legs. Despite his size, the glimpse of his face Perkar got reminded him of Ngangata. Heavy brows, sloping forehead.
Shaking his head in amazement, he went on in search of his boat.
Finding Eel Canal was no great feat, and neither was following it to the palace, though it was a long walk. There, perhaps a hundred paces from the base of a towering wall, was the Crow God's boat. Floating, empty and serene. Perkar wondered what had happened to the dead men he had left in it, but quickly put that thought away as something he didn't want to dwell much on. The boat was covered in streamers or ribbons of some sort, and no less than four blocks of some strange incense were burning on the canal wall nearest it. A young man was tending the incense and looking glumly at the boat. Perkar waved at him, and he stared back.
"Good day," Perkar said, not knowing how to wish "Piraku" in the language of Nhol. The man nodded back at him.
"You are watching this boat?"
"Yes" was the sullen reply.
Perkar was startled; the man was younger than he appeared, a boy really. "Why?"
"It was moving by itself," the boy explained. "It is either some gift from the River to the priesthood or a demon; we aren't sure yet."