Nightpeople (3 page)

Saria stared sullenly into Ma's blotchy, skinny face. The old woman's slitted eyes seemed more wrinkled with anger than usual. Even though she appeared thin and weak, she could still pack a wallop, as Saria knew from experience. Ma's fingers gripped deep into the soft flesh at the top of Saria's arms.

‘Tell me, girl! How long?'

Saria shrugged. Ma Lee shook her roughly.

‘Tell me, or you'll get a worse thrashing than you're already in for.'

‘Not long.'

‘What did you hear?'

‘Nothing.'

The old woman delivered another whack.

‘That'll do, Ma.'

For the first time Saria looked at the man, who had risen from his place by the fire. She gasped. He was the largest creature, human or animal, that she had ever seen. He had to duck so as not to hit his head on the roof.

‘Let her go.'

‘Stay out of this, Dariand. She needs to learn respect.'

‘Ma.' The man's stare hardened. ‘Let her go.'

The man held the old woman's gaze until, grudgingly, she released Saria. The girl resisted the urge to rub her arm, on which Ma Lee's finger marks showed clearly in the firelight. Instead, taking a small step away from the old woman, Saria took a proper look at the man.

The strangest thing was his clothing. He wore a long, loose robe, grubby and stained, stitched together from heavy cloth unlike any Saria had ever seen. From a belt hung a water-skin and several other objects Saria didn't recognise. Around his feet were small bags of thick animal hide, lashed tightly at his ankles.

‘What are those?'

The man smiled and the look reminded Saria of the glittering expression of the wild dogs. She stepped back.

‘Shoes. They protect my feet.'

‘What are they made of?'

‘Animal skins.'

She edged slowly towards the door while he spoke, but Ma Lee, knowing full well what would happen if Saria got within bolting distance, manoeuvred herself between the girl and her only escape, delivering a not-too-gentle shove in the middle of her back.

‘Would you like something to eat?'

The man gestured at a pile of burnt meat on a bark plate by the fire. At the thought, her stomach heaved.

‘She won't eat meat. Don't waste your time.'

‘Saria, come and sit. I won't hurt you.'

The girl shook her head, but was shoved forward again.

‘Do as you're told, girl.'

Coming only as close as she had to, Saria sank to the ground.

‘My name is Dariand.' The man also sat, arranging his robe around him. ‘I don't imagine you remember me.'

Saria was puzzled. She'd never met anyone other than Ma and Dreamer Gaardi. She'd heard Ma speak of other people, of course, but they lived outside the sheltering walls of the valley, in a world which for Saria was as remote as the vaultlights.

‘No.' She tried to make her voice strong, but it came out tentative.

‘I didn't think you would.' His smile was disturbingly confident. ‘I knew you when you were very little, but only for a few days.'

Saria studied him, not answering. She didn't trust the way he smiled, the way he spoke; his accent was strange and his black hair long and lank and greasy. As she watched, he picked up a shank of meat, tearing at the greasy flesh with his teeth. A dribble ofjuice ran across his lips and down his chin and he wiped it away with the back of his hand, leaving a slick, shiny smear across his cheek.

‘It was long ago. When I was much younger.'

Saria thought the man looked young now, certainly compared with Ma Lee and Dreamer Gaardi. She said nothing, though, simply watched as he continued to eat. Finally he put the bone aside and took a long swig from his water-skin before sitting back and studying her again.

‘I never thought I'd see anything like her, Ma.'

A grumbled ‘hmph' was all the reply he drew from the old woman, who had now also settled herself by the fire, being careful to stay between Saria and the doorway. For a long time no one spoke, while the man appraised Saria.

‘She looks well.'

‘She should. She gets the best of the garden and spends all her time running around doing nothing.'

Saria would have protested that she did as much as the old woman, but having decided that silence was safest she was determined to maintain it.

‘You've done a good job, Ma.'

‘But not a finished one.'

‘It's as completed as it's going to get.'

Ma didn't respond, and when Saria sneaked a glance she was surprised to see the old woman sitting with eyes downcast. It was such an unusually defeated stance for the fierce old woman that she almost stared openly, and the curiosity that had carried her so far gave way to the first flutterings of fear. She leapt back to her feet, wary of this man who could make even old Ma Lee seem so … broken.

‘Sit down, girl.' The smile didn't leave his eyes, not even for a moment.

‘What's going on? Who are you?

‘I told you. I'm Dariand.'

‘Why have you come here?'

‘For you.'

‘Me?'

‘Of course. I've come a long way to get you.'

‘Why?'

‘Because, Saria, you're special.' Now Dariand stood, too, unstretching his long frame until it seemed to fill the entire room, his robes rustling around him. ‘More than you realise. A lot of people have been suffering for a long time so you might have a chance to live. Some have even died for it.

‘For me?'

Dariand nodded.

‘There's nothing special about me.'

‘You're more important than you can know. And time is running out for us now. That's why I've been sent.'

Saria turned to Ma Lee. ‘Ma, what's happening? What's going on?'

‘Shush, girl. Just sit and listen, eh?' All the fight and life seemed to have drained out of the old woman.

‘But … '

‘There's things I shoulda told you, girl. Things about the past and the future. Things about you. But I'm just an old woman, eh? Not a Dreamer like Gaardi or a nightwalker like Dariand here. It wasn't my place to teach. Not my business. I was just lucky to get to play mother, so that's what I did. And I did a good job, too.' Ma lifted her head slightly, just a hint of her old defiance returning in the tilt of her chin.

‘You did a fine job, Ma,' Dariand interjected. ‘But now we're out of time and Dreamer Wanji needs her at council. We've got to make decisions about her. About a lot of things.'

‘What things?'

‘Too many to explain now, girl. But you'll get your answers.'

‘When?'

‘When we get to Woormra. Perhaps even on the way there.'

‘Woormra?'

‘It's where you were born. The place I carried you from a long time ago. Now it's time for me to take you back.'

‘I don't want to go.'

‘You don't have any choice.'

‘No.' Saria refused again. ‘I'm not leaving the valley. You can't make me.'

‘I can if I have to.'

‘He's a nightwalker, girl.' Ma said. ‘That won't mean anything to you, but trust me, if he wants to get you there, he can. Even if he has to carry you all the way.'

‘But I want to stay here.'

‘What you want doesn't matter any more.'

‘Ma …' Saria turned to the old woman in appeal, but Ma Lee shook her head.

‘Nah, girl. He's right. This is stuff going back a long time into the past. You and me are at the end of a long, long journey, and now you gotta step out off the path on your own.'

‘Listen, girl.' Dariand took a tiny step towards her. ‘I know this is difficult, but there's no other way. We'll leave early tomorrow. Dreamer Gaardi will meet us down in the Shades.'

‘Dreamer Gaardi's coming?'

‘Yes. He'll keep us company.'

‘Doesn't matter. I'm still not going.'

‘I know you don't want to, but there's a lot more people in these lands than just you.' Dariand slowly eased himself back to the ground. ‘And now, if you don't mind, I might sleep. I've had a long journey and it will be a big day tomorrow. Saria, you should sleep too.'

‘I'm not tired.'

‘Do as he says, girl,' Ma interrupted. ‘He knows best.'

Ma busied herself attaching the tin shutters to the windows to keep the early morning light out. Dariand settled in the shadows beside the door, lying fully clothed on the hard, packed dirt. When Ma went to place the shutter over the door, he stopped her.

‘Leave it, Ma. I like fresh air.'

‘Creatures could come in …'

‘Leave it.'

Ma leaned the shutter back against the wall with no further argument and raked the coals down, plunging the room deeper into shadow.

Crossing to her sleeping mat, Saria was aware of the man's eyes watching, studying her as she prepared for sleep. His stare made her back and neck prickle, and as she went to shrug her robe off over her head a curious self-consciousness swept through her. She climbed under her blanket as quickly as possible and lay facing the wall. Even so, that measuring gaze still itched at her back.

The light died to a dull glow. Ma's shadow still bustled around, as she got into her own tattered night robe and rolled her sleeping mat out in its usual place near the food store. Then she did a strange thing, something she'd never done before; she crossed the room and perched on the edge of Saria's mat.

Under her worn blanket, Saria tensed. She hadn't forgotten that earlier Ma had promised her a thrashing. But to her surprise, nothing happened. For a long time the old woman sat there while Saria feigned sleep. Then she reached out and lightly stroked her bony fingers against the girl's matted hair. The sensation made Saria's scalp tingle.

‘You've been a good girl. But this land's got bigger plans for you than just stayin' here in this valley.' Ma's voice was a whisper.

Saria opened her eyes and looked up at the woman. ‘Will I come back?'

‘Don't know. Wouldn't think so, but you can't tell these things. You just be careful, alright? And listen to him over there.' She nodded at Dariand's sleeping form. ‘He's rough, but he'll do the best he can for you. He's got a good heart.'

She stopped her stroking and slowly stood up. The sensation of her fingers in Saria's hair seemed to last long after Ma finally lay down in her corner of the room.

Saria lay still in the darkness, wide-awake, listening to the sounds of night from the bush outside. Rolling over, she was surprised at the amount of moonlight coming through the open doorway; the long rectangle of silver cast everything in monochrome hues that seemed to belong to a world different from the one she was so used to. On the other side of the room Dariand was only vaguely discernible as a dark lump beside the door. She knew he was there, though. She could hear his soft breathing and feel his presence, alien and yet strangely at home in this silvery, unfamiliar darkness.

A wheezy rumbling snore slipped through the silence from Ma's corner, and Saria closed her eyes, enjoying the sound for the first time ever. It had a gentle familiarity, and softened the strangeness of having the man in the hut. The first waves of sleep began to creep over her. Just as she was slipping completely into its grip, she stiffened.

Saria!

The call. The one she had felt earlier through the lizard. Fierce and yet gentle, the summons came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Distant and pleading, it echoed through the earth and straight into her.

She'd never felt anything like it. Even when she went riding out into the world on the senses of some willing creature, there'd never been anything this strong, this … personal.

It lasted just a second, shivering up from the ground and sending a tremor through Saria's thin body.

Saria!

The voice was disembodied. A night spirit, there for the briefest of moments and then gone, leaving Saria alone and trembling.

It was impossible to say what woke her. Some strange rustle or unexpected movement of air, perhaps. Whatever it was, she came awake instantly some time in the small hours of the morning.

Saria sat, peering around the shadowy interior of the hut. Ma Lee still snored gently in her corner, and everything seemed normal.

Then she noticed: the man – Dariand – was gone. There was no sign of his sleeping form by the door. No sound of his breathing in the darkness.

Perhaps he'd changed his mind and gone without her.

Even as she dimissed the thought, Saria was startled to realise that a tiny part of her was disappointed at the possibility.

Beyond the open door the dim light of the nightvault beckoned. Usually there was no silent way to creep outside after Ma had put the shutters in place, but not tonight. Saria rose and shrugged on her robe over her skinny shoulders. Then, careful not to disturb Ma, she slipped across the dirt floor through the darkness and stepped into the night.

After the close atmosphere inside, the air tasted crisp and fresh. Saria stood in the shadows, savouring the feel of it, the slightly damp coolness against her bare arms. The vaultlights were dull, masked by intense moonlight, and not a breath of air moved. Shivering slightly, Saria looked around as her eyes adapted to the light. There was no sign of the man; no footprints in the dirt, no movement in the bushes, nothing.

Somewhere high up on the nightwards rim a dog howled, its cry reverberating around the ancient stone walls of the valley, and Saria took an involuntary step back. But the sound quickly echoed off into silence again, leaving Saria alone with the regular noises of the night.

Outside, the noises all seemed somehow more intense. She was used to hearing them from inside the hut, muted by the mud walls and tin shutters. Out here, though, standing in the coolness, her breath fogging slightly, each nocturnal rustle and chirp floated through the still air clearly and insistently. Down by the creek she could hear frogs croaking gently and in the scrub on the far side of the clearing something – a couple of rock-hoppers, perhaps – sent silvery shivers through the bushes as they grazed, hidden in a tangle of shadows.

Casting a last quick glance back into the dark interior of the hut, Saria picked her way slowly over to where the creek path disappeared between a couple of scrubby bushes. In the dappled moonlight, the path, which was so familiar that during daylight she could follow it with her eyes shut, appeared suddenly foreboding, a trail into the unknown.

Drawing a shallow breath, Saria stepped into the shadows and scurried towards the creek as quickly as she dared.

By the water, near where she'd found the lizard, Saria sat and waited, listening for something, anything, that she could reach into and whose senses she could use to find the man and discover where he'd gone. A frog would do the trick, or a rock-hopper, if one came by to drink, though they tended to be more skittery after dark, and much harder to settle into.

Nothing came, and Saria sat for some time with just the gurgle of the creek for company. Otherwise, everything was silent.

Too silent, she realised with a jolt.

There should at least be some noise, some movement. A cicada clicking, or a night bird calling from the trees that lined the creek bed. But there wasn't even that.

Standing slowly, Saria carefully examined the small spaces between the bushes, peering as hard as she could into the deep pools of shadow between the trees and the rocks.

‘Looking for me?'

Dariand appeared out of nowhere, materialising from the darkness to be suddenly standing at the edge of the creek, only a few steps from where Saria had been sitting. Startled, she yelped.

‘You scared me!'

‘Sorry.' Even in the moonlight she could read his face clearly, the amused twisting at the corners of his mouth suggesting he wasn't sorry at all. ‘What are you doing out here?'

‘Nothing.'

‘Trying to follow me, I'll bet.'

‘No! I was just … looking.'

‘Whatever you say, girl.' The tone of his voice made it clear that he didn't believe her. ‘You're your mother's daughter, alright. I'm glad I found you, though. Saves me going back to the hut.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘It's time to go.' Dariand nodded to where the path behind vanished into the night. ‘At least now we won't have to disturb Ma from her sleep.'

‘But …'

‘There's nothing to say, girl. It's time. Come over here.'

Without waiting to see if she was going to obey, Dariand crouched and unslung a long, narrow cloth sack that hung across his back, then started rummaging in it.

‘What are you doing?'

‘You can't travel wearing that robe.' From the sack he pulled a longer garment, similar to his own, and threw it at her. ‘Put this on. It'll keep the sun off you during the day, and keep you warmer at night, as well.'

The robe was too big but Dariand rolled the sleeves and tucked the hem up, pinning it into place with sharpened slithers of bone. Against her bare arms and legs the long robe felt strange, smooth but kind of smothering.

‘That'll do. Now these.' He pulled from the sack a pair of objects that Saria immediately recognised.

‘I don't want to wear them.'

‘You have to. Without them, your feet will suffer. And that'll slow us down.'

‘Doesn't matter. I'm not going.'

‘We've been through this already, girl.' Without giving her a chance to object again, Dariand lifted one of Saria's feet and slipped the hide bag over it. ‘This isn't about you, or me. It's about the whole Darklands.'

‘Darklands?' Saria looked at him, puzzled. ‘What's that?'

Dariand was now lacing up the leather thong that held the shoes in place. He didn't even look up as he answered.

‘Everything's Darklands. As far as you and I are concerned, the whole world is Darklands. You'll see.' It took only a couple of minutes until the other shoe was tied securely and he stood again, reslinging the bag across his shoulder.

‘Ready?'

‘I …' Saria looked back at the path to the hut, and for a moment considered running towards it, fleeing back into the darkness.

Then the memory of the call, so distant, so commanding, which had flooded her as she was falling asleep, came back.

‘This way.' Dariand turned, hopped across the creek and without waiting vanished into the scrub. Saria had to scurry to follow him.

He was following an old path up the side of the valley towards the daywards ridge, which for Saria was forbidden territory. Near the water the trees and scrub were so thick that on several occasions the only way Saria managed to follow was by listening for the crunch of the man's footsteps. As they moved upwards, the scrub and trees became increasingly sparse and Saria soon found herself trotting across open ground in the broad moonlight, following Dariand up the trail.

Soon they were almost to the rim of the valley and much higher than Saria had ever explored. Some of Ma Lee's rules she had been happy to break, but the one about never leaving the valley had been drilled into her from a young age, and the thought of venturing beyond those protective ramparts of red stone, especially in the dark, sent shivers through her.

They climbed steadily until the trees and shrubs ended, leaving only the bare, rocky landscape that formed the upper slopes. Ahead, the rim of the valley hunched low against the sky, dark and menacing. For as long as Saria could remember it had been the edge of her entire world, and the thought of suddenly walking over that barrier filled her with a sudden mixture of dread and anticipation. She stopped, glancing behind to where the valley still slept. Somewhere down there Ma was snoring through the last couple of hours of the night. The lizard she'd reached yesterday was still lying in torpor, waiting for the life-warming sun to stir its blood back into activity, and the creek still burbled over the rocks.

‘It's not your home any more.' Dariand had stopped just ahead and was watching her. ‘I know what it feels like, trust me, but there's a lot more out there than this valley.'

Something in the man's voice seemed different: a sort of wistfulness that she wouldn't have expected him to feel.

‘It's been here a long time, though,' he continued, ‘and it'll keep going on that way. Even after you and me and Ma are all gone. Come on, now. We've gotta keep moving, before we run out of darkness.'

Saria!

The call slid silently through her, as if echoing Dariand's words.

Saria took one last, lingering gaze at the valley that had been her home, and then, turning her back on it, followed Dariand up the path.

At the top of the ridge she gasped as the horizons of her world expanded. Land and sky seemed to stretch away forever. The nightvault was peppered with more vaultlights than Saria could have dreamed possible. They shimmered and sparkled, so thick in some places as to lend the nightvault a pale, liquid appearance. Ahead of them, far off, the daywards horizon glowed deep pink.

‘We need to move fast. We won't get far today.'

‘Why not?'

‘Once the heat gets too great we rest, and travel again in the evening.'

‘Where are we going?'

To Saria's surprise, Dariand pointed behind them, away from the sunrise, back across the valley.

‘That way. Nightwards.'

‘Then why come up out of the valley this way?'

‘This is the only path. Now, stop asking questions. We need to meet Dreamer Gaardi.'

‘Why is he coming?'

‘It's always good to have a Dreamer with you when you travel in the Darklands, girl. They understand this place better than anyone.'

‘Saria.'

‘What?'

‘My name is Saria. Not “girl”.'

Dariand smiled a strange half-smile.

‘My apologies, Saria.'

The trail down was narrow and treacherous. It wound slowly around the outer wall, descending into the shadow of the ridge in a long spiral, everything below hidden in darkness.

‘What's down there?'

‘You'll see.'

The land out here was different, even in darkness. It was much drier, less alive than in the valley; there was less scrub and undergrowth and only a few tiny trees. Other hills and crests ranged high around them and Saria could make out hollows and paths between them. Jagged, bald crags, some of which were starting to glow red with the first rays of sunlight, cut into the night. They were more distant than those she had always known.

‘Mornin'.'

Dreamer Gaardi got up from where he'd been perching on a rock by the path. As always Saria was amazed at how old the man looked. His skin was creased and wrinkled and hung from him. His dark eyes, deep-set below a shock of fuzzy white hair, twinkled slightly, even in the dull light.

‘Dreamer.' Dariand nodded at the old man.

‘Don't think we're gonna get far today, eh?'

‘Nah. We'll go for a couple of hours more, though. Stop somewhere further down in the Shades.'

‘Sounds about right to me.'

The two men followed the trail downwards between sparse patches of scrub.

The path eventually levelled out deep in the belly of a valley that had been carved into the rock aeons earlier by a creek long since run dry. The ground was still moist, though, and gnarled trees grew along what had once been the creek bed. As the sky grew lighter, the nightvault faded into reds and then blues, Dariand led the way, followed by Dreamer Gaardi, with Saria trailing. The two men walked without talking, the only sound the gentle crunch of their footsteps and the occasional hoot of a nightbird.

Dariand led them further and further into the shadows of the valley, until he slipped down a small embankment and into the creek bed itself. Dreamer Gaardi leapt down behind him and then turned and caught Saria as she followed.

‘Reckon we can go a bit further?' Dariand didn't seem to be asking so much as speaking to himself, but Saria noticed he didn't start walking again until Dreamer Gaardi nodded his consent.

They wound along the creek, which curved and twisted, constantly doubling back on itself. Underfoot, the ground was different from the rough scree of the mountain. Here they walked on stones, some as big as Saria's fist, but most no larger than her little finger. All were rounded and worn smooth from the passage of ancient water. Eventually the sun managed to climb above the peaks of the surrounding hills and the morning grew warmer. Dariand stopped.

‘We'll rest there.'

They followed him to the shade of a small clump of gums which clung to the red stone a metre or so higher than the creek bed. There he drew a long draught from a water-skin and threw it to Saria.

‘Drink.'

Removing the stopper, Saria copied Dariand, squirting a blast of water into her mouth. It was slightly warm and tasted vaguely dirty, but she felt her thirst subside.

‘Good girl.' He lay down on a patch of sand, tucked his robes around him, and looked up at the sky. ‘We've got a long, long journey ahead of us, Saria.'