The Gathering Night (17 page)

‘Amets?' Haizea sat up and looked round. She began to cry again. ‘They took Amets too!'

‘No one takes Amets!' I was sorry for her but what she'd just said was a slur on my husband. ‘Amets is a man! But yes, Amets will come back too. They'll both come back before Gathering Camp is over.' I stretched my hands over her head towards the spirits. ‘It happens every Year, Haizea, you know that! It's just that Ortzi was your friend. But you should be glad for him, you know. You must be glad!'

Haizea sniffed and sat up. ‘I do know. It's just . . . It won't be the same any more with Ortzi, will it?'

‘No,' I said, stroking my sister's tumbled hair. ‘No, Haizea, it won't be the same any more. But then it never is.'

Kemen said:

We danced the Hunt. Sendoa brought me in. We were dancing. Far from the Go-Betweens' mound and then near to it: we were Roe Deer, we were Red Deer, we were Aurochs. I looked up and saw the long fires blaze above me on the mound. We were Pig, we were Bear, we were Wolf . . . Flames rose in my heart. We were Lynx, we were Lynx, and then . . .

They hurled me off my feet. They blindfolded me. They dragged me up a steep slope. From under the skin that bound my eyes I saw the fire flash by. Stones scraped my back as they dragged me. The footsteps of the Animals pounded in my ears. Under the band of skin I saw darkness. I smelt leather and sweat. They flung me down. The ground shook with the thunder of footsteps.

He gripped my hair and pulled my head back. I felt the blade against my throat.

He spoke so close to my ear I could hear him plainly over the noise of the Dance. ‘You! Stranger! What have you done?'

‘No wrong! I've done no wrong!' I tried to stretch out my hands, but they held me down.

‘What have you done?'

The Dance echoed his words. It drummed them over and over in a multitude of stamping feet: ‘What have you done, Kemen? What have you done?'

‘I did no wrong! The sea swallowed us!'

‘What have you done?'

‘I did no wrong! Except that I lived!'

‘What have you done to your kin?'

‘I did no wrong!'

‘What have you done to your kin?'

‘They died.'

Whether I sobbed like a child in front of their eyes, or whether that was in the world he took me to, I don't know. Afterwards I feared I'd shamed myself, but if it happened in front of men in this world, no one ever mentioned it. But I dare to tell it now. Zigor knew. It was he that took me down.

Zigor dragged me by the hair. We went down. Into the heart of the sea he took me. I wept for my lost family. Zigor pulled the band from my eyes. I saw them – my father, my mother, my sisters, my cousins, all the little children – one by one they came and looked at me, the poor pale souls. Not one of their names had returned to this world.

‘There's only one way they ever can.' His voice in my ear was as harsh as ever.

‘I could run no faster! Even Basajaun couldn't run fast enough!'

‘Basajaun!' He jerked me by the hair. The knife was still at my throat. ‘What did Basajaun do?'

‘Nothing! Nothing! We did no wrong!'

‘You're lying!' The knife moved. Warm blood trickled past my ear.

‘No! I loved them all! I did no wrong!'

The knife was gone. The blindfold bit into my forehead.

‘That's true.'

I didn't realise at first what he'd said. There was no pity in his voice. But when he spoke again I heard every word. ‘You did no wrong, Kemen. But wrong was done. For every soul a soul must be returned. If their names are ever to be spoken in this world again, it will be among the Auk People, and nowhere else. You hear me?'

‘Yes.' Although the voice was cruel, relief flooded my soul.

‘
Nowhere
else. Do you understand?'

I thought that I had, and his words filled me with joy.

‘Turn him over!'

They held me down, my face crushed against the earth. Hands stretched my skin tight. I felt the graze of blades, then a stab like a bee's sting. The same hand stabbed again, and then again, across my shoulder blade. Cold fire ran through me. Stabs of fire crawled up my shoulder. They hit my collarbone and flared to flame. I let my breath go softly so no one heard me gasp. The stabs went back to my ribs and began to crawl again. I couldn't read the pattern from inside my skin. Slowly the pain changed: I felt calm inside it, even as I lay blindfold in the hands of strangers, as if this were how things were always meant to be. The warm blood running into the hollow of my back seemed like a caress.

The last island lay far behind us. We flew low over the swell. We wheeled and circled and dipped over our fishing grounds as if we were not many separate souls but one. The Open Sea was our hunting ground. On and on we flew, until the very edge of the world was before us.

He wrote my skin aflame. Careful and slow. His thoughts flowed into me. I felt the icy sting of colour, stab after stab. It no longer seemed like one after another, but all at once, burning a new message into my skin. I'd lost all sense of how long, when at last I felt the moth-like touch of cold ashes sprinkled over me.

Zigor's voice brought me back from far away. ‘Auks have many enemies, Kemen. Auks use skill more than strength. They travel far across the sea where no one else can reach. Wherever you find one, not far off there'll be many together. The names of your kin will live among them, if you choose wisely.'

I turned my head sideways and managed to speak. ‘I've already chosen.'

‘No man can see his own back,' said Zigor. The laugh inside his voice chilled me more than words could do. ‘What have you done to make you think it would be so easy? But the one man who can show you what's written on your back – he'll tell you the truth. Think of him as your brother, Kemen . . . let
him
be your brother, and your name will live among the Auk People. And
nowhere
else.'

Nekané said:

When the Go-Betweens spoke to the Animals about the Hunt it had nothing to do with me. I knew my test would come later. I expected it to be difficult. Zigor was against a woman becoming Go-Between. He couldn't say it wasn't possible. Everyone knows that in the Beginning no one was Go-Between because the spirits of People and Animals understood one another without needing to speak. After the Beginning women as well as men had difficult questions to ask. Women haven't been Go-Between so often because we don't ask our questions all at once. For the same reason, a girl doesn't need to be initiated: her initiation happens when her body's ready and she learns from her family what it means. It's the same when a woman becomes Go-Between.

I thought Aitor would be on my side because his mother was Go-Between; in fact she was the only woman Go-Between in living memory. Perhaps she taught Aitor what she knew. I didn't know about Hodei. I was sure that Zigor would stand against me. I've known Zigor since we first came to Gathering Camp as babies in the same Year. We didn't get on. Children will put up with most things from each other, but not whingeing. Zigor couldn't have kept up with the rest of us anyway: he was always ailing. People thought he'd be one of the boys who don't come back from initiation. His mother was frantic about him while he was gone –
she
wasn't Go-Between, she was a sad creature! But when Zigor came back he was as you knew him later – aloof, frightening,
dangerous
. Anything could have happened then. But, as it was, he went Go-Between very soon: he became dangerous
for
the Auk People, and not against us. So the spirits did their work. But now I was scared he'd be against
me
. It wasn't just his power as Go-Between – I was also scared he might remember the way I'd treated him when he was little.

I didn't want to be tested in front of the Gathering. I'd much rather have enjoyed being an old woman, sitting round the family hearths catching up with all my kin. I'd done my share of work. It was all very well to be counted one of the Wise, but I wanted no more than that. Of course when it comes to being Go-Between a soul has no choice.

The Go-Betweens had spoken to the Animals, so the men could set off for the Hunt. At least the men in our family were well prepared – no hurried making of blades, binding arrows, patching shoes, mending old spears or shouting at their women for not doing what they should have done long ago for themselves. Amets had already gone. My husband stayed behind. He said he was tired. If he found it hard to let go of the Hunt he never said so.

Only Sorné and I were up when the hunters left. We were glad to see them go. The morning sky was grey. The Sun had wakened us joyfully every morning since we came to Gathering Camp, but now he was resting. I came out of the tent to the whine of mosquitoes. Sorné pulled back the turfs and laid a green hazel branch on the fire. But today the mosquitoes and midges didn't mind thick black smoke. I decided I'd take my basket out as soon as I could: warm smoky Camps full of biting flies, weeping children and short-tempered women are something I can do without. I didn't yet know what the day held for me.

I heard the rustle of bracken from Sendoa's tent. I bent over the fire. Out of the corner of my eye I watched the men come creeping out of their tents, bodies still painted from the Dance, without waking their families. The dogs came from behind the tents, yawning and stretching, without so much as a growl. The men softly lifted their weapons and slung them on to their shoulders. The dogs waited, ears pricked. I made a great show of laying logs over the burning hazel branch, and blowing last night's embers into fresh flame. Sorné went off with the water-skins, keeping her back to the men. Very soon men and dogs disappeared into the forest, and we didn't have to pretend we couldn't see them any more.

‘Peace at last!' said Sorné when she came back, laying down the heavy waterskins and stretching her shoulders. ‘And a bit of
real
meat to look forward to! 'When we were alone my sister and I didn't worry about tempting the spirits; we knew they didn't care much what we said. ‘And now the young ones can get on with the work. We can sit around for a change and just be old women, Nekané! What a treat! Most women never get this far, but we grow from a strong tree, you and I.'

‘I don't see you doing much sitting around! You should try it, though. Sit by the fire and look like one of the Wise!'

‘What, like this?' Sorné made a prim face and we burst out laughing.

I never got my chance to sit around. Itsaso, Haizea and I, surrounded by clouds of flies, were scraping lily-roots to make a paste when Zorioné came to our hearth. The two girls stiffened as she approached. Zorioné seemed nervous, which was unlike her.

‘Nekané! My uncle asks you to come to Arantxa's tent!'

‘Does he say why?'

‘Osané is sick. He asks you to come.'

So this was my test! No sooner were Aitor and Hodei away to Hunting Camp than Zigor had seized his chance. I had to admit he was clever. ‘Why doesn't Zigor heal her himself? Why's he asking me? His skill is great, and I've none at all.'

‘He said to tell you that in this case the spirits will speak only to you.'

Itsaso and Haizea exchanged glances.

‘Very well. If Osané needs me I'll come.'

Itsaso and Haizea followed Zorioné and me across the Camp. I ignored them. Up on the Go-Betweens' mound the great logs from two nights ago had almost burned themselves out. Flies buzzed in the warmth. The spirits were at rest. I passed by without saying anything.

Arantxa is, and always was, a fool. Osané's father – his name isn't in this world now – was worse than a fool. It's a wonder those children turned out so well. You two – Oroitz and Koldo – some call you fine men these days. I'm not so sure: you're a bit small and skinny – you'll never get over that – but none the worse, I suppose. The third boy – we know all about
him
! The girl, who's worth more than all the rest of that family put together, Arantxa almost killed with her greed and stupidity. When we reached her hearth, the silly woman was wailing and wringing her hands at the tent door.

‘If your daughter's lying sick in there, this can't be doing her much good!'

Arantxa stopped in the middle of a sob and blinked at me, her mouth hanging open.

‘Zigor sent for me,' I told her. ‘Where is he? And where's Osané?'

She began to weep again. ‘He left us! He went away! My poor girl's dying, and he wouldn't do anything for her! He left her to die! He—'

Zorioné broke in, ‘That's not true! You know quite well what he said! The spirits told him not to meddle, and to fetch the woman! And I
have
fetched her, like he told me. Here she is!' Zorioné pointed at me.

‘No, no, no! Go away! She brings bad spirits! They took her son! Now he's sent them to take Osané as well! Go away! Go away!'

I sighed. The men in this family weren't good for much, but surely between them they could have shut Arantxa's mouth and dragged her away. Only they were all at the Hunt. There was no one else at the hearth but a couple of frightened cousins and some snivelling children covered with mosquito bites.