Fish Tails (25 page)

“Privy over there next to the trees away from the stream. We ask that users put several buckets of water down it before you leave. One bucket per day per user is about right. It's leached in a contained area, ma'am, no danger of reaching the water. You can rely on its cleanliness. There's no fee for graze. We expect visitors to leave the place as clean as they found it; there's a place for rubbish yonder,” and he pointed to a bin at the upper near corner. “Burn what will burn clean; what won't or didn't burn clean is rubbish. Manure pile there against the wall.”

“Do you hear the man, Blue? Rags?”

“Certainly,” said Blue. “Thank you for pointing it out, sir.”

Melkin's jaw dropped. “The horse . . . he . . . talks?”

“Yes,” said Abasio. “He does. So does his partner.”

Melkin swallowed, breathed deeply, and continued. “There's places for cook fires already laid up; there's the wood bin there, next to the fence; take what you need, either go up in the woods and find enough deadwood to replace it or pay the children to collect as much as you've used. The children always appreciate it. Rule is, little ones six years old and older have to earn what they spend, and traders generally have something the little ones covet. Children do a lot of chores for travelers, but there's very few travelers this late in the season.

“Now, even though you prefer your wagon, ma'am, you're welcome to use the warm-­water showers available behind the works, separate one for the womenfolk. Place there to do laundry, too. Can't work salt without a way to wash it off! No fee for use of the place, ma'am, just leave it clean as you find it.”

“I hope everyone is polite enough to do that in return for your generosity,” said Xulai.

“Well, let's just say we never forget the ones who don't, ma'am. Next trip they make, they find showers and laundry and all locked up tight and a very high fee to unlock 'em.”

Abasio and Xulai murmured their thanks and their assurances for this well-­rehearsed recital. Abasio asked what amount the children would expect for wood gathering and was shown the marks on the wood bin that measured usage, and what amount of coin of what types was considered appropriate per mark to be deposited in the slotted box by the fence. The men bowed to Abasio, again to Xulai, neither scornfully nor subserviently. Melkin turned toward Blue, then shook his head, deciding not to bow to the horse. Blue spoiled the whole thing by whinnying at him ingratiatingly, extending one front leg and bowing to him.

Melkin gulped, fought with his face for a moment, then returned the bow. Abasio, swallowing laughter, returned Melkin's bow, to precisely the same level with precisely the same expression, and spoke his own thanks simply, without flourishes. Melkin waved a hand and left them, saying, “Gum'll bring you up to the town. Tavern's open yonder.”

Abasio followed him until they were out of earshot and detained him with a touch on his arm. “We came through the notch down there,” he said, pointing.

Melkin frowned. “So the watch told me. We get . . . very little traffic that way.”

“We just escaped, barely. I'd like to know . . .”

Melkin whispered, “The watch thought there'd been a problem, the way you came through! Please don't talk about it in the town. Only takes one or two to get everyone hysterical. I'll make an opportunity to talk with you about it, but we don't want the whole town stirred up. If that's all right with you? I can say this, just so you can reassure the lady and the boy—­oh, and the animals . . . what's considered polite with speaking horses, by the way? I had no idea! Anyhow, you're safe here, and when you go on east of here all the way to the pass, you'll be safe from that particular problem. The giants can't get in here.”

Abasio nodded, smiled, letting everyone see he wasn't fearful or unhappy. No, not if it was something they preferred to keep quiet. “You asked about the horses. Blue and Rags are partners of ours. We treat them as we would ourselves, we chat with them, we make sure they're well fed, well informed, and well cared for. As for ­people like yourself, who know they can speak but are not familiar with them, they still appreciate being acknowledged. I follow their lead. You may have noticed that animals treat ­people differently. They sense things about ­people that other ­people may not. So, around certain ­people, the horses do not speak because they do not trust them. If the horses don't, I follow their lead.”

Melkin mused, finally allowing himself to smile. “Well, at least I've passed the horse test.”

As Abasio waved Melkin good-­bye, he grabbed Willum, grasped him firmly by both shoulders, and said very briefly that Willum was not to mention the giants.

“Not to get the womenfolks stirred up,” said Willum.

“That may very well be true. But, Willum—­look at me! No, do not look at six other things you want to find out about, look at me! Remember what Xulai told you about not needing farm boys. She meant it, I mean it. Keep your mouth shut about it.”

Willum swallowed. “I thought he maybe meant just the womenfolk . . .”

Abasio crouched to the boy's level, one hand on each side of his head. “I don't want to hear what you
think
! Maybe in Gravysuck you know enough to think; here you don't.
Your eyes are off everywhere, you still aren't concentrating on listening
.” He shook the boy hard. “The man said please don't talk about it in the town.”
Shake.
“That means you do not open your mouth and say one word about it in the town.”
Shake
. “Not to men. Not to children. Not to the horses. Not to anyone.”
Hard shake.
“You don't even stand out under the stars and talk to yourself about it! You don't know enough about anyplace but Gravysuck to do any thinking! I want you to listen. Are you?”
Shake
. “Now hear me. You will not say the word ‘giant.' You will not mention it to anyone. If someone asks you if you saw a giant, you are to look stupid and say, ‘What, what giant?' If some group of ­people mention that there are giants out there somewhere, you are to keep your own mouth shut. You are not to ask any questions.”
Shake
. “You are not to say the word! You are not to hint the word! You are not to pretend to know something that you can't talk about to make yourself seem important!”
Very hard shake
. “And if you do any of those things, or make anyone think you have done any of those things, or tell someone and make them promise not to tell, I
will
be told about it, and, Willum, you will go back home with Gum, no joke, no second chance! Do you understand me?”

Willum had a very strange look on his face.

“What?”

“I 'uz just thinkin' you musta been as bad as me, 'Basio. You sure covered ever'thing I mighta thought of.”

Abasio, rejecting laughter, adopted ferocity. “Then I'm going to add something else. You are also not to do anything that I didn't mention that you may think of later!”

He returned to help Kim unharness the horses while Gum rambled on about the evening's menu at the Tavern—­which was down near the mine workings, so taking the babies along would not be a problem.

“Shouldn't think there'd be enough traffic to support a tavern,” called Abasio from the wagon, where he was rummaging for a clean shirt.

“Oh, Tavern's for the mine folks, 'Basio. They need a little 'musemen', too, y'know. Tavern serves stuff a little fancy, y'know, things the town families likely wudden cook for their selfs. Got 'em two furriner cooks, they do, him n' her. Tasty's what they do. I allus looks forward to eatin' at the Tavern. Men n' women here work four days, two days' rest. Rest days, folks all drink a little, sing a lot! Children's playgroun' jus' outside. Young'uns can't do much runnin' up inna town. Space is kinda tight up there, but up there's mos'ly jus' for livin' safe an' outta the way of ­people causin' trouble. The town's guarded and safe, y'know.”

Guarded and safe,
Abasio repeated to himself silently. At least two giants just outside that slot down the valley, giants quite possibly tall enough, if they got in here, to reach those houses up on the wall, but the ­people considered themselves guarded and safe. He looked forward to his chat with Melkin. Yes, he certainly did.

“Is the town really built of salt blocks?” Xulai asked. “Doesn't it dissolve in rain or snow?”

“All salt!” Gum said. “Whole thing! They paint it with stuff makes it waterproof. Tops've all gotta dome on, like a beehive, painted like the rest. Rain runs right off. Insides're painted, too, so it don't rub off on yer clothes 'r yer skin. Gotta be careful about that, salt's awful irritatin' when it gets rubbed in.”

Xulai suggested they put off visiting the town until morning, and they accepted Gum's suggestion to have their supper in the Tavern where rest day and evening meals were provided quite inexpensively to those traveling and also provided to the Saltgoshians—­along with their housing—­as part of their pay from the mine. Men going on duty in the morning advised the Tavern if they and their families wanted supper in the evening or, on going off duty on day four, what meals they would like on the two following rest days. There, after a meal as tasty as Gum had promised, Gum loaded his pipe with some unfamiliar but fragrant combination of leaves and told them about the town perched above them on the ledge while the babies slept curled into their blankets on the settle beside them.

“I was thinking how dreadful winters must be,” said Xulai. “That narrow little path, slippery with ice . . .”

“Ah, no, lady,” said Gum, half mumbling around the stem of his pipe. “Saltgosh folks don' live up in Summer Town in wintertime. Like you jus' said, way too much snow n' ice. It gets deep, taller'n me.”

When cold came, he told them, the Saltgoshians moved from their cave-­swallow houses on the high ledge down into “Snow Town,” an old section of the salt mines that had been fitted up for subterranean living with ventilation pipes, tight doors, stoves, and chimneys. Down there, the inhabitants went through the cold season “snug as bears in a cave,” said Gum. Especially since among the more important barter items he and others brought were many sacks of the grains needed by the Tavern for the brewing of ale. There was a large cave below, big enough for the young ones to play ball games, and school went on all winter for the young ones, too, and he described the system of water pipes and sewers.

“Waste pipes all run down t'that marsh place, long the wall. Stinks consid'rable, but don' seem to bother the critters none,” said Gum.

“We noticed the smell on the way here,” remarked Abasio. “Did I understand right when you mentioned kennels?”

“Sled dogs, 'Basio. Come snow, t'dogs pulls sleds. Y'go rescue somebody treed by a bear in winter, y'need sled dogs.”

The city on the ledge, he said, was occupied only from thaw until threat of first snow, for even early snows at this altitude soon covered the town completely, sticking tight to the wall behind it. At the end of the wall, near the river, where the stone tower went up—­and it was, he said, a natural formation with a natural vertical fault into which stairs had been built—­“Way up, on top, 'ere's a warm li'l room 'at's a watchtower!” It had a closed little stove that burned special fuel with almost no smoke. It had glass windows that looked in every direction, windows set deep so that they reflected no light. ­People entering the valley would not even know they were observed. Abasio's wagon, said Gum, had been watched from the moment it entered the valley.

Xulai murmured sleepily, “So, nobody could take over the town in winter?”

Abasio said, “I think what Gum is saying is that after the move belowground, the dwellings are deeply buried in snow and there's literally nothing there to take over. It must take a lot of effort to move everything, Gum.”

“Oh, it do, 'Basio, it do. Movin' takes three, four days, spring an' fall. Hoist goes up n' down, up n' down, dawn to night, an' ever'thin' gets moved—­down 'r up, it gets moved, ever'body doin' it, even the little 'uns! Then 'ey has a party. I was atta Springtime Move-­up party wunst!”

“Salt!” exclaimed Xulai, shaking her head. “What do they paint on it to keep it from melting or rubbing off?”

“Dunno.” He shrugged, obviously not caring what it was so long as it worked. “Ever' early summer a wagon fulla it comes over t'pass. Kinda like paint, only no color. Both places, up n' down, gets painted outside n' inside, ever' year. Tavern, too. It's built outta salt.”

“The Edges are still there,” Abasio reminded her. “Over the pass, near where the cities were. They've always made things for trade, and they need salt, too, just like everyone else.”

“How do you get into this Snow Town?” Xulai asked.

Gum's eyebrows rose in astonishment. “Oh, missus! Outside folks don't know! An' the chil'ren don't know. Even some person got saved from bears or t' like, even one a' them, they'd blindfol' afore they'd take him down and afore he come up agin. Jus' like they do little ones, too baby yet to keep their moufs shut.”

Xulai still wasn't satisfied. “It sounds sensible enough, and I can understand their going underground, but what danger are they always watching for?”

Gum had to think about this. His furzy eyebrows drew together as he brooded for a long moment before saying slowly, “I 'ud say—­nothin' in par-­ticaler lately! But one time? Oh, my, yes! Old Oaster tol' me, he did. Right. Long time ago. He tol' me in t' Tavern. Women stealing.”

“Women were stealing from Saltgosh?” Abasio said disbelievingly, trying not to laugh.

“No, no, 'Basio. It 'uz Saltgosh women bein' stole. Or wudda been, if those raider men'd got any. Not in my life, boy. In my pa's time. When he wuz a lad. That'd be seventy years ago.”