The Broken World Book One - Children of Another God (10 page)

A glance at the
sky told Chanter that the moon was setting and dawn not far off.
Stripping off his tunic and leggings, he rolled in the snow,
scrubbing himself with handfuls that turned to water on his skin.
By the time he finished and donned his clothes again, the dawn's
first pink tinge brightened the sky.

Talsy woke
blissfully warm, and snuggled closer to the source. Smiling, she
opened her eyes to find Chanter stretched out next to her, keeping
most of himself off the ground by resting on one elbow. He shot her
a smile, then rose and struggled out of the tent, almost pulling it
down on top of her. Untangling himself from the strings, he settled
on a rock.

Talsy glared at
him, wishing he would stay and keep her warm. Yawning, she wrapped
her coat more firmly around herself and crawled out to stretch in
the pale morning sun. Firewood filled the fire pit, and, as she
scooped snow into a pot, Chanter leant forward to place his hand on
the wood. Talsy braced herself for the momentary sensation of being
in the heart of an inferno.

The Mujar
smiled as she placed the pot on the flames. While the snow melted,
she pulled down the tent and packed it, then made tea and cut
slices of bread. Chanter's night in the wild seemed to have done
him good. His hair glittered, his skin glowed and his eyes
sparkled. He seemed to be deep in private thoughts, and they ate
breakfast in silence. Talsy packed away the pot and cups, dreading
another day of slogging through the snow.

"Can you
ride?"

Chanter's
question startled her, and she swung to face him. "Yes, why?" She
had ridden her father's shaggy pony many times.

He smiled and
nodded. "Good. Take a deep breath and hold it."

Talsy obeyed
without question, and Chanter bent to touch his hands to the
ground. The icy silence of Earthpower clamped down, solidifying the
air with terrifying suddenness. As the moment of frozen stillness
passed, she let out her breath in a sigh. Chanter had vanished, and
before her stood the most magnificent black stallion she had ever
seen. He turned a finely chiselled head towards her and gazed at
her with silver-blue eyes.

Talsy grinned
and went to stroke his glossy coat. Chanter pawed the ground with a
flinty hoof, and she got the message. She slung the heavy bag over
his back and regarded his tall withers with a sceptical eye. He
lifted a foreleg, making a step with which she struggled onto his
back, using his long glossy mane to pull herself up. As soon as she
was settled aboard, he set off across the snowy landscape.

Talsy patted
and stroked him, then was forced to clutch his thick mane when he
broke into a canter. Although the icy wind nipped at her nose and
cheeks, his warm back kept her cosy. Soon he found a narrow trail,
and his hooves rang on the frozen ground in a steady rhythm. The
trail wound amongst craggy rocks and plunged down steep icy banks,
which Chanter slid down on his haunches while Talsy clung to his
mane with her heart in her throat. He ploughed tirelessly through
deep drifts and climbed hills of sliding snow. Several times, Talsy
almost slipped off, and he sidestepped to prevent her from
falling.

On the lower
slopes, they found a wider track and clattered along it, passing a
log cabin with smoke curling from its chimney. As they cantered
away, a faint cry made Talsy look back. A woman ran after them,
waving and calling.

"Chanter,
stop," Talsy ordered.

The stallion's
ears flicked back. The woman wailed and fell to her knees.

"Chanter,
please stop!"

The Mujar
slowed and stopped, steam rolling up his flanks. Talsy ran back to
the kneeling woman. "What is it?"

The woman
clutched her, raising a tear-stained face. "My husband hasn't
returned from the hunt. He left five days ago! Please help me!"

"What can I
do?"

The woman
glanced at Chanter. "You could take us to the village. We have no
food, and the children are hungry!"

Talsy looked at
the house, where three scared faces peered from the doorway, then
glanced down the trail at Chanter, knowing the Mujar would not want
to help.

"Don't you have
a pony?" she asked.

The sobbing
woman shook her head.

Talsy sighed
and glanced at Chanter again. "Wait here." As she headed towards
the stallion, he walked away. "Wait, Chanter."

The Mujar
ignored her, and she ran after him and grabbed his tail. Still he
continued to walk, dragging her along. She dug in her heels, but he
towed her until she tripped over a rock. She slid on her chest,
hanging onto his long tail.

"Chanter,
please stop!"

The Mujar
snorted, and she released his tail to lie despairing in his wake
before she jumped up and ran after him again.

"Please, let's
help her. She'll die alone in that hut!"

The stallion
laid back his ears and kept walking. Talsy ran alongside and
grabbed his mane, trying to stop him with brute force. He shook her
off, and she floundered into a snowdrift. Spitting snow, she
clambered out and ran after him.

"Please change.
I want to talk to you." She groaned when he ignored her. "Damn it,
Chanter, don't prove my father right!"

The Mujar
stopped and turned to gaze at her with sad eyes, then raised a
foreleg. She climbed onto his back, and he set off down the trail
again. Talsy cursed, thumping him. He gave a little buck, bouncing
her, and she clung to his mane. She looked back, thinking of the
woman they had left to die with her starving children.

"She had
children, you know. Helpless babies. You won't kill, but you won't
help either, will you?"

The stallion
laid back his ears and bucked again, forcing her into reluctant
silence.

They had
travelled about three miles down the trail when they found the dead
hunter and his frozen kill. Chanter would have walked around them
and continued on, but she slid from his back, twisting her ankle.
She glared at him when he stopped a little further on and turned to
look at her. Hobbling to the corpses, she found that the hunter had
been gored terribly, and died struggling to drag his kill home to
his family. Saddened by his noble, futile efforts, she looked at
the Mujar.

"If we take
this back to the house. The woman will have enough food to last the
winter if she uses it sparingly."

Chanter pawed
the ground, arching his massive neck.

Talsy hobbled
to him and fell to her knees. "Chanter, please! Surely our clan
bond means you'll help me if I ask? Will you help me to take this
bog boar back to the house? Is that too much to ask?"

Chanter sighed
twin clouds of steam, his head sagging, then walked past her and
stood beside the bog boar carcass with a hangdog air. She hobbled
after him and pried the rope from the dead hunter's frozen hands,
tying it around the stallion's neck. The Mujar walked back along
the trail, towing the frozen boar while Talsy hobbled in his
wake.

By the time
they reached the house, she gasped and her ankle throbbed. At the
sound of their approach the door flew open and the woman ran out
with a glad cry.

"I thought
you'd left us to die!"

Talsy smiled.
"Sorry, I had trouble catching my horse. I found your husband down
the trail, with this." She indicated the carcass. "It should feed
you for the winter."

"Thank you,
child, and bless you!" The woman untied the rope from Chanter's
neck, and the three children emerged to stare at the black
stallion.

"You're very
kind," the woman chattered, "I knew he was dead after two days had
passed. He was a good provider, even to the end." She smiled at
Talsy as she pulled the rope free. "You have a lovely horse, child,
though he seems to be asleep."

Chanter's eyes
were closed and his head drooped. The woman patted his neck, and
Talsy cringed inwardly.

"Beautiful
animal," the woman went on. "Mind no one steals him. Why doesn't he
open his eyes?"

The woman was
far too curious, and Talsy said, "I must be going; got a long
journey ahead."

The woman
nodded, scrutinising Chanter. A child stumbled into his hind legs,
and he opened his eyes. The woman shrieked and jumped back.

"Mujar!"

The children
screamed and ran for the house as the woman bent to pick up a rock.
"Damned Mujar scum!" She hurled it at Chanter's head, but the
stallion bolted into the woods.

Talsy grabbed
her as she scooped up another stone. "Stop it! He helped you!"

The woman
turned to her. "What are you doing with a Mujar? You stupid girl!
Do you want to be damned forever?" She grabbed Talsy's arm. "Stay
here with us, for your own good!"

Talsy wrenched
free. "Leave me alone!"

Evading the
woman's grasping hands, she hurried after Chanter as fast as her
injured ankle would allow.

The woman's
screams followed her. "You'll be sorry! He'll break your heart!
They have no feelings! They're not like us! He'll leave you to die
in the wilderness! Mujar scum!"

Talsy sagged
with relief when she found Chanter waiting further down the trail.
He lifted a foreleg, and she scrambled onto his back, leaning
forward to hug his neck.

"Thank
you."

At dusk, the
stallion stopped beside a massive tree. She dismounted, giving a
choked cry as her ankle sent a shaft of pain up her leg. Pulling
off the bag, she took a deep breath. The world froze as the icy
surge of Earthpower clamped down, forcing a moment of utter
stillness before it vanished as swiftly as it had come.

Talsy threw her
arms around Chanter and pressed her cheek to his chest. "I'm
sorry."

He shifted,
patting her shoulder. "What for now?"

She released
him and stepped back. "For that dreadful woman, throwing rocks at
you."

He shrugged.
"That's okay. I've had worse things thrown at me."

"Is that why
you didn't want to help?"

"No."

Talsy turned to
unpack the bag. "The same reason you'd have left me to die with a
broken leg?"

"Yes." Chanter
settled on a rock. "She hadn't earned my help, and nor would she
have wanted it if she'd known what I was at the outset. Most
Truemen hate Mujar."

She looked up
and sighed. "I noticed. But you don't have to owe a person
something to help them if they're in trouble. If you gave your help
freely, people would like you far better."

"Finish your
chores, and I'll tell you a little about Mujar."

When the tent
was pitched and a pot of stew bubbled on the fire, she turned to
him. "Well?"

He glanced at
her with a slight smile. "It's not as interesting as you seem to
think. Quite simply, it's forbidden for Mujar to help any who
haven't earned it."

Recalling her
father's explanation, she asked, "Why?"

"I can't tell
you that. Mujar obey the laws and accept the consequences, which
are sometimes unpleasant. Our ways have made Low - Truemen hate us,
but they never really liked us in the first place. We're different,
and your people dislike those who are not the same as them. When we
first came amongst you, your people tried to enslave us. That's how
they learnt of our powers, when they put iron chains on us. They
thought us inferior, because we were not Truemen. Yet we don't hate
them for throwing us into the Pits, or for reviling us."

"Then it's
true, you don't have any emotions."

Chanter shook
his head with a rueful smile. "We do, but hatred is not common for
us, nor does it consume us as it does you. Truemen expect us to
hate them for what they've done to us, and sometimes we do feel it,
but it's a fleeting thing. You're mortal, so death may take you at
any time. Mujar have the gift of life for a hundred years. Thus,
we're different, and our ways are different too."

"I don't
understand. My father forced you to help me by sticking that arrow
in you, just as I did. Why help someone for pulling out the arrow
they hurt you with in the first place?"

"We forgive the
harm that's done to us, and are grateful for the end of the pain
inflicted. By removing the arrow, you helped me, even though you
were responsible for shooting me with it. You didn't have to pull
it out, and had you not, I would have continued to suffer. More
than that, I can't tell you. It's not always like that."

"Has someone
helped you who didn't hurt you first?"

"Yes, when my
clan was killed, a spear pinned me to the ground. I would have
remained there for the rest of my life without help. If Dolana
pierces a Mujar, we're unable to command it. I was too weak to pull
it out, so I sent a raven with a message, and a Trueman saved me. I
gave gratitude and granted a Wish, just as I did for you."

Talsy snorted.
"So you'll accept help, but you won't give it."

"Not true. I'm
helping you, and the Trueman who saved me."

"Because we
earned it."

"Yes." He
paused. "And now you despise me too."

She glanced at
him. "No. I could never despise you. You're different, and I don't
understand you, that's all."

Chanter smiled.
"There are many things I don't understand about my kind. Why are
Mujar different? Where do we come from? Why do we long for comforts
we don't need? I don't know."

Talsy served
the stew, her mind abuzz with questions now that he seemed willing
to answer them. "Will you tell me about the Powers?"

"They are the
four elements. Dolana, the Earthpower, is the reason I can't lie on
the ground for too long. It's a cold Power, and it fills me up,
pushing out Crayash, the Power of Fire. Truemen use it to trap
Mujar. When filled with Dolana, Mujar can't wield another Power,
and it makes us weak if we have too much in us. Dolana's an
unfriendly Power. Crayash is the best and easiest to use. It keeps
us warm. Ashmar is the Power of Air, and Shissar is the Power of
Water."