The Oathbreaker's Shadow (17 page)

Raim glared at Old-maa. ‘But I’m not like them! I can show you,’ Raim said, with more confidence than he felt. In reality, he had no idea how he was going to prove it. Then he remembered what dream-Khareh had said to him during the behrfly incident. He thought,
can you read my mind?

Dream-Khareh spoke back in his head, ‘Yes.’

Then tell me how I am different from Chauk
. He was pleading silently.

‘All they see around you is a shadow, and all the Chauk’s haunts appear as shadows too: but the Alashan already know your shadow is different. It’s not dark, it’s not menacing. It’s not repulsive. I can make the shadow disappear, if you want.’

Do it then
, thought Raim. He watched as dream-Khareh started edging away from him.
Move so far back that they won’t be repelled. But don’t leave me for good
, he quickly added.

‘Don’t worry,’ dream-Khareh said. ‘I’m here to stay.’

Dream-Khareh floated backward until he was out of sight.

A huge murmur scurried through the crowd.

‘See?’ Raim said, out loud this time. ‘I am not the same as they are. I am not bound to my “shadow” because I did not break my promise. So please . . . let me stay with you for now . . . until we reach Lazar.’

Old-maa’s expression changed, then, after Wadi had translated his words. She almost looked as if ies. Absurdly

It was almost too much for Raim to bear to think?’ asked Raim.t ><. He wa had made Khareh was really there with him in the desert. So he blended the words ‘dream-Khareh’ into the name Draikh to disassociate spirit from person. In all other ways but name now, though, they were the same. The same sarcastic comments. The same withering looks. The same best friend.

‘Hey, watch out,’ Draikh said. ‘Pretty girl coming up.’

Raim looked up.

‘Hi.’ Wadi was standing over his shelter, wringing her hands. ‘I’m sorry about Old-maa . . . she’s stubborn.’

‘Stubborn? She’s more stuck in her ways than a constipated camel,’ said Draikh.

Are you going to talk in my head over every conversation I have?
Raim thought to his annoying spirit.

‘Yup, pretty much.’

Well stop it, will you?

Raim tried to compose himself for Wadi, and not look like a crazy person who was having conversations with an invisible being. He shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. ‘Don’t worry about it. Look, I have to ask you something. Ryopi says you will never take us to Lazar. Is that true?’

Wadi nodded. ‘Old-maa refuses to go there. Trust me, I have tried hard to convince her we have to go. The Chauk are so . . . pitiful. Despite what they’ve done, I feel sorry for them. All they want is to reach the city. They were just unlucky to have been picked up by us and not another Alashan tribe.’

‘But
why
is she so reluctant?’

‘I honestly don’t know.’

‘So get Old-maa to point me in the right direction, and I’ll start walking there!’

‘It doesn’t work like that.’

‘Why not?’

‘Only Old-maa knows the way. One day, she will pass that know ledge on to her successor, but for now . . . Why do you think the Chauk need us in the first place? It is impossible to find Lazar without knowing beforehand where you are going. It’s hidden deep in a mountain range in the desert.’

‘So then what can we do?’

‘I can try to convince her to take us to another Alashan tribe. A tribe who will accompany you to Lazar. But it will take time. We haven’t come across another tribe in many moons. It is a big desert.’ She smiled wryly.

‘Yeah, no kidding,’ said Draikh.

‘Another tribe could be just over this dune, and we would never know,’ she continued.

A high-pitched whistle sounded from inside the camp. Wadi’s eyes immediately leaped to the sky.

‘What is it?’ said Raim, following her gaze, suddenly fearful of more behrflies.

‘Daylight.’ Sure enough, in the sky behind him the first few streaks of colour were beginning to appear. ‘Quick, we only have a few minutes. Pass me your cloak and sit cross-legged.’ He did as she asked and she threw the cloak over his shoulders, arranging it around him so that every inch of skin was covered. She turned back to the Alashan camp, then looked up to the sky again, and cursed. ‘It’s too late for me to go back now; the sun is almost up. It’s easier if we sit back to back. Pull your hood over your eyes set in a firm lineor him.’CC fso your face is covered.’ Again he did as he was told, as Wadi sat down behind him. Raim felt her back press against his, her spine, shoulder blades, and neck adjusting until they were both comfortable.

Maybe a little bit of extra time with the Alashan wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

They marched on for a week through the desert, into the stretch that divided the Western Eye of Sheba from the Eastern, and still there was no sign of another tribe.

The first day they’d spent out of the Eye, the baby garfalcon had swooped down out of the sky and landed on
Raim’s non-scarred arm, scaring him half to death. But it squawked a greeting and Raim had warmed to the creature immediately. He stroked the oily feathers on its head and neck, before reaching into his cloak for his skin of water. He tipped a droplet into the bird’s throat. From that moment, Oyu, named for the sound it made when it drank the water, had remained Raim’s constant companion, almost like another shadow.

Oyu waited out the heat by burrowing into the sand. Raim often marvelled at the bird’s curious anatomy. Its wings, which looked so slick and dazzling in the air, were covered in a strange oil that seemed to repel grains of sand, enabling it to bury so deep that no trace of its presence was visible on the surface. Sometimes Raim was jealous – it was a great way to stay cool.

Wadi he hardly ever saw. Not since the day they had spent back-to-back in the desert. Afterwards she had been berated by Old-maa for spending time with him, and so Raim’s only source of human company came from Ryopi. None of the other Chauk seemed to be in the mood for conversation.

‘Blood traitor. Fool. Cursed one. Good for nothing but Lazar.’

Ryopi’s haunt was always close by. Whenever Ryopi spoke, his haunt-father would move in front of him and stare directly into his eyes. Ryopi tried to avoid the piercing eye contact, and as a result never looked in the same direction when he was talking, his eyes flicking from side
to side, his neck twitching. When he walked, the haunt followed close behind, playing with the edge of his curved dagger. The tiniest movement out of place and Ryopi would cry out as the blade was waved in front of his face. This behaviour was pretty typical of all the Chauk. They were all jumpy and agitated. Even time didn’t lessen the pain. The haunts were smart; they adapted. If the Chauk became too complacent, too used to the insults, their haunt would step up their game, trying a different, even more agonizing tactic &#m didn’t

A few days later, as the tribe began to wake from their sun-filled slumber to begin another night’s journey, there was excited commotion from a group of younger Alashan.

‘What’s going on?’ Raim asked Ryopi.

Ryopi shrugged. ‘What do I care?’ he replied, before setting out on the long trudge. That was all the Chauk seemed to do – sleep and walk. The Alashan refilled their skins of water and left food out for them – more jarumba roots, bowls of soft cooked cornmeal and the occasional strip of dried meat – but otherwise left the Chauk to their tormented thoughts.

Raim was determined not to follow their example. So he moved in the direction of the commotion, careful to keep his distance. The Alashan children were shooting their hands into the sand, quick as vipers, giggling all the while. A loud squeal signalled one of them had been successful. In the little boy’s palm was a tiny sand-lizard,
which he quickly popped into his mouth and gobbled up raw. Raim was shocked at first, but after what seemed like weeks of dry, tough meat, he suddenly craved something fresh. He tried to follow their example, looking for little ripples in the sand and snatching his hand after them, but he was never fast enough.

‘You’re losing your touch, Raim,’ Draikh said from behind him.

Raim chucked a handful of sand his way, but Draikh just laughed. The worst part of it was that it was true. Raim felt himself becoming weaker, the effects of his training fading. It made him feel uncomfortable and he knew he needed to rediscover his routine. What else did he have now, if not his Yun-bred skills?

He launched his hand into the sand and came out with a fat lizard. ‘Aha!’ The tiny creature latched onto a finger and refused to let go even as Raim shook his hand in frustration. Finally he dangled the lizard over his mouth, the tip of its tail brushing the top of his tongue.

The back legs wriggled in his mouth as he lowered the lizard, but he spat it out. He didn’t yet have the stomach for raw lizard after all, it seemed. The children were pointing at him and laughing, but Raim saw the funny side too and laughed with them. He saw one of the children hook a lizard onto his bottom lip, where it dangled like a living, breathing piercing – obviously saving it for a midnight snack.

He brought his lizard back to the campsite, where he
discovered it was delicious cooked over an open flame, the skin burned to a crisp while the inside was creamy white and chewy.

Oyu was growing quickly, and soon his wingspan was as great as Raim was tall. He took to the skies as they walked, his black form disappearing into the night sky. His vision in the darkness was clearly remarkable; he brought back tokens for Raim, mostly gruesome things like bits of bone and once even the shed skin of a snake.

One night, Oyu swooped down and landed on Raim’s shoulder. In his beak was a leather tie, which looked like those used by the Alashan to secure the tops of their water casks. But it was marked with a strange knife-cut design that he hadn’t seen in this tribe. Filled with excitement and hope, Raim ran up to the Alashan group, forgetting the taboo. He was quickly reminded of it, though, as the tribe members at the back of the group spun round, knives in hand. He held up his own hands, trying to show he meant no harm. ‘Please, I need to see Wadi.’

Wadi pressed through the crowd. ‘What is it?’

‘Look!’ He showed her what Oyu had brought. ‘That’s not from this tribe, is it? It must be from another! They could be close!’

‘Where did you find this?’ she asked, urgency filling her voice.

‘Oyu brought it to me.’

‘Do you think he can show us where he found it?’

‘I could try.’

Raim held the piece of leather in front of Oyu’s face and dangled it. Immediately the bird took off into the sky before they had a chance to follow.

‘He’s heading north, a temporary settlement.SV t exover that dune,&im cringed as

No matter how much Raim tried to apologize, the Alashan would have none of it. The increased speed and purpose with which they moved scared him – but so did the sight of the four lonely waterskins they carried, which contained all the water they would have to divide between the entire tribe until they reached Lazar. They still didn’t move during the daylight hours – the risk of dehydration was too great.

Raim didn’t want to think about what might happen if they didn’t reach Lazar in time. Maybe then he would see the Alashan savagery come out. But he couldn’t find it in himself to fear for his blood.

The Chauk moved with renewed energy too, relieved to be finally travelling to Lazar. But the thought of finally getting his wish – at the cost of the worm – made Raim feel sick to his stomach. So he stayed far away from both groups, as far as he dared. Oyu still followed him, and he
also couldn’t find it in his heart to hate the silly creature. It hadn’t known what it was doing. The only thing that comforted Raim was the fact that he knew soon he would be leaving the Alashan behind. He would no longer have to be a burden to them and they could live their lives in peace again. Wadi, especially. Each time she tried to reach out to him, offer him some small kindness – even friendship, maybe – he found a way to throw it back in her face. Soon he would be gone, swallowed up by Lazar, and she would never have to think of him again.

The faster they moved, the faster the landscape changed. As they entered the second Eye of Sheba, giant rocks jutted up from the ground, like a forest of stone. By sheltering in their long shadows, they could squeeze extra hours out of the night.

Raim took to wandering in the hours when the sun was low, jumping from long shadow to shadow, taking a lantern with him but preferring not to use it most of the time. He wanted to challenge himself, racing imaginary foes from stone to stone. He had been feeling so weak lately, so unfit and lacking in training. It felt good – he relished the feeling of his feet pounding against the sand, enjoyed the ache in his thighs as he pushed himself harder. He flew past the rock he had dared himself to reach and aimed for the next one further along, putting his head down and swinging his arms to match the frantic rhythm of his sprint. When he reached the rock he barely stopped himself from flying headfirst into it with his arms, and he
collapsed, breathless but, for the first time in a long time,
happy
.

He lay there, sweat trickling down his neck, and let his breathing return to its normal rate.

Loud voices suddenly set him on edge. He thought he had run far enough from the tribe that he wouldn’t come across anyone. He peered round the edge of the rock and saw Wadi arguing vehemently with Old-maa. He couldn’t understand what they were saying, of course, but Wadi’s clenched fists and Old-maa’s inability to control the volume of her voice meant it must be something serious.

‘What’s got their tunics in a twist?’ Draikh asked.

No idea right handQ from the It was had made
, thought Raim.
Must be something big, though
. Definitely something he didn’t want to get caught in the middle of. He sidled away from his rock, careful not to fall within their line of sight.

Draikh, two steps ahead as always, cried out, ‘Over here! Look at this!’

Raim sped over to where Draikh was floating, and had to catch his breath in awe. They were at the edge of a large basin of blindingly white sand, glowing despite the darkness – as if it had captured the sun’s rays and kept them there on the floor of the valley, only slightly dimmed. Raim felt a shiver run through his spine as he looked down on a forest of trees – the ghosts of trees really, black and hard as rock, indicative of a time, centuries before, when parts of the desert had running water. Now their skeletons stood scorched a rich ebony by the harshness of the sun.