Later a broken boat of a moon arose. We did not go far before it
did, for there was not enough starlight to risk much movement. Once
the moon did rise, the Lady guided me in a slow circle toward where
the Taken had come down. We halted in a clear area, sandy but not
dangerous. She spread the blanket. We were outside the null.
“Sit.”
I sat. She sat. I asked,
“What? . . . ”
“Be quiet.” She closed her eyes and went inside
herself.
I wondered if Silent had torn himself away from Darling to stalk
us. Wondered if my comrades were making crude jokes about us as
they labored over the walking trees. Wondered what the hell kind of
game had me caught in its toils.
You learned something out of it, anyway, Croaker.
After a while I realized she was back from wherever she had
gone. “I am amazed,” she whispered. “Who would
have thought they had the guts?”
“Eh?”
“Our sky-borne friends. I expected Limper and Whisper, up
to their old crimes. But I got Scorn and Blister. Though I might
have suspected her, had I thought. Necromancy is her great
talent.”
Another round of her thinking aloud. I wondered if she did that
often. I am sure she was unaccustomed to having witnesses around if
she did. “What do you mean?”
She ignored me. “I wonder if they told the
others?”
I harkened back, put a few things together. The Lady’s
divinations about three possible futures and no place in any of
them. Maybe that meant there was no place in them for Taken,
either. And maybe they figured they could take their futures into
their own hands by ridding themselves of their mistress.
A light step startled me. But I did not get excited. I just
figured Silent had chosen to follow. So I was very surprised when
Darling sat down with us, unchaperoned.
How had I overlooked the return of the null? Distracted, of
course.
The Lady said, as though Darling had not appeared, “They
haven’t yet gotten out of the coral. It’s very slow
going, and they’re both injured. And though the coral
can’t kill them, it can cause a lot of pain. Right now
they’re lying up, waiting for first light.”
“So?”
“So maybe they won’t get out at all.”
“Darling can read lips.”
“She knows already.”
Well, I have said a thousand times that the girl is not
stupid.
I think Darling’s knowledge was implicit in the position
she took. She placed me squarely in the gap between them.
Oh yeah.
I found myself playing interpreter.
Trouble is, I cannot record what went back and forth. Because
someone tampered with my memories later. I got only one chance to
make notes, and those now make no sense.
Some sort of negotiation took place. I can still conjure a sense
of profound astonishment at Darling’s willingness to deal.
Also an amazement at the Lady for the same reason.
They reached an accommodation. An uneasy one, to be sure, for
the Lady henceforth stuck very close and kept me between her and
anyone else while she was within the null. Great feeling, knowing
you’re a human shield . . . And Darling
kept near the Lady to prevent her calling on her power.
But she did turn her loose once.
That is getting ahead, slightly. First we all sneaked back, not
letting anyone know there had been a summit. The Lady and I returned
after Darling, trying to look like we had had an energetic and
thorough encounter. I could not help chuckling at some envious
looks.
The Lady and I went outside the null again next morning, after
Darling distracted Silent, One-Eye, and Goblin by sending them to
dicker with the menhirs. Father Tree could not make up his mind. We
went the other direction. And tracked Taken.
Actually, there was little tracking to do. They were not yet
free of the coral. The Lady called upon that power she held over
them and they ceased to be Taken.
Her patience was exhausted. Maybe she wanted them to serve as an
object lesson . . . In any event,
buzzards—real buzzards—were circling before we returned to the
Hole.
That easy, I thought. For her. And for me, when I tried to kill
the Limper, with every damned thing going my way, impossible.
She and I went back to translating. So busy did we stay that I
did not remain abreast of the news from outside. I was a little
vacant, anyway, because she had expunged my memories of the meeting
with Darling.
Anyhow, somehow, the White Rose got right with Father Tree. The
shaky alliance survived.
One thing I did notice. The menhirs stopped ragging me about
strangers on the Plain.
They meant Tracker and Toadkiller Dog all the time. And the
Lady. Two of three were no longer strangers. No one knew what had
become of Toadkiller Dog. Even the menhirs could not trace him.
I tried to get Tracker to explain the name. He could not
remember. Not even Toadkiller Dog himself. Weird.
He was the tree’s creature now.
Later a broken boat of a moon arose. We did not go far before it
did, for there was not enough starlight to risk much movement. Once
the moon did rise, the Lady guided me in a slow circle toward where
the Taken had come down. We halted in a clear area, sandy but not
dangerous. She spread the blanket. We were outside the null.
“Sit.”
I sat. She sat. I asked,
“What? . . . ”
“Be quiet.” She closed her eyes and went inside
herself.
I wondered if Silent had torn himself away from Darling to stalk
us. Wondered if my comrades were making crude jokes about us as
they labored over the walking trees. Wondered what the hell kind of
game had me caught in its toils.
You learned something out of it, anyway, Croaker.
After a while I realized she was back from wherever she had
gone. “I am amazed,” she whispered. “Who would
have thought they had the guts?”
“Eh?”
“Our sky-borne friends. I expected Limper and Whisper, up
to their old crimes. But I got Scorn and Blister. Though I might
have suspected her, had I thought. Necromancy is her great
talent.”
Another round of her thinking aloud. I wondered if she did that
often. I am sure she was unaccustomed to having witnesses around if
she did. “What do you mean?”
She ignored me. “I wonder if they told the
others?”
I harkened back, put a few things together. The Lady’s
divinations about three possible futures and no place in any of
them. Maybe that meant there was no place in them for Taken,
either. And maybe they figured they could take their futures into
their own hands by ridding themselves of their mistress.
A light step startled me. But I did not get excited. I just
figured Silent had chosen to follow. So I was very surprised when
Darling sat down with us, unchaperoned.
How had I overlooked the return of the null? Distracted, of
course.
The Lady said, as though Darling had not appeared, “They
haven’t yet gotten out of the coral. It’s very slow
going, and they’re both injured. And though the coral
can’t kill them, it can cause a lot of pain. Right now
they’re lying up, waiting for first light.”
“So?”
“So maybe they won’t get out at all.”
“Darling can read lips.”
“She knows already.”
Well, I have said a thousand times that the girl is not
stupid.
I think Darling’s knowledge was implicit in the position
she took. She placed me squarely in the gap between them.
Oh yeah.
I found myself playing interpreter.
Trouble is, I cannot record what went back and forth. Because
someone tampered with my memories later. I got only one chance to
make notes, and those now make no sense.
Some sort of negotiation took place. I can still conjure a sense
of profound astonishment at Darling’s willingness to deal.
Also an amazement at the Lady for the same reason.
They reached an accommodation. An uneasy one, to be sure, for
the Lady henceforth stuck very close and kept me between her and
anyone else while she was within the null. Great feeling, knowing
you’re a human shield . . . And Darling
kept near the Lady to prevent her calling on her power.
But she did turn her loose once.
That is getting ahead, slightly. First we all sneaked back, not
letting anyone know there had been a summit. The Lady and I returned
after Darling, trying to look like we had had an energetic and
thorough encounter. I could not help chuckling at some envious
looks.
The Lady and I went outside the null again next morning, after
Darling distracted Silent, One-Eye, and Goblin by sending them to
dicker with the menhirs. Father Tree could not make up his mind. We
went the other direction. And tracked Taken.
Actually, there was little tracking to do. They were not yet
free of the coral. The Lady called upon that power she held over
them and they ceased to be Taken.
Her patience was exhausted. Maybe she wanted them to serve as an
object lesson . . . In any event,
buzzards—real buzzards—were circling before we returned to the
Hole.
That easy, I thought. For her. And for me, when I tried to kill
the Limper, with every damned thing going my way, impossible.
She and I went back to translating. So busy did we stay that I
did not remain abreast of the news from outside. I was a little
vacant, anyway, because she had expunged my memories of the meeting
with Darling.
Anyhow, somehow, the White Rose got right with Father Tree. The
shaky alliance survived.
One thing I did notice. The menhirs stopped ragging me about
strangers on the Plain.
They meant Tracker and Toadkiller Dog all the time. And the
Lady. Two of three were no longer strangers. No one knew what had
become of Toadkiller Dog. Even the menhirs could not trace him.
I tried to get Tracker to explain the name. He could not
remember. Not even Toadkiller Dog himself. Weird.
He was the tree’s creature now.