The Tower of Il Serrohe (10 page)

“
I glanced up and allowed my eyes to wander over the glossy, smooth waterfall of glass that sealed the ceiling and walls of Niddle-ai’s entire root house.

“‘
Niddle-ai, I’ve barely gotten any of my home glassed in…’

“‘
I can teach you the finer points of the glassing chant; I’ve got plenty of the proper incenses to lend you. It would take no more than a season of evenings to heat and melt the sand of your walls. My glassing incense is particularly nice and mixed with your roasted piñon nut, it would truly be your root house. Perhaps even a bit of wild rose would insure widening your pallet…’

“‘
Yeah. That
would
be nice. But with the Tower of Il Serrohe casting its shadow across Nohwood, what future of comfort do we have?’

“‘
You’re looking too far ahead. Don’t think like a Soreye. You make plans for what moves you. Hell, surprise her. She would widen your pallet herself if you’ll glass your root house with a pinch of wild rose. She’s not a dense woman, Nersite.’

“‘
No, but does she want me
that
way?’

“‘
Hell, she’s a woman, and I don’t see her with anybody else as much as with you. So…’

“
Still the Tower clouded my feeble vision. The ‘trees’ in front of me were out of sight. What of those around the next bend of the path?”

twenty one

“‘
I say we use any and all incense chants that’ll do damage on them! Just going out there fighting like a swarm of bugs is no good!’ Nudbane looked at us with fire and venom as he spat those words.

“
Narknose, perched on a tree stump, glared down on Nudbane. ‘You know that the Chants of the Incense were not meant for warfare or harm. Not to
anyone
, mind you. It normally takes a calm and peaceful mind to invoke any Chant of the Incense. It would be a rare person in a rare mood who could accomplish anything in the midst of battle.’

“‘
Well, if not that… what?’ Nolah asked giving her husband, Narknose, a penetrating look.

“‘
Nolah, I just donno. We’ve been successful about half the time and caught them with their robes over their heads. And their ability to outguess us has never been perfect. We hit them hard and run for the woods. But now…’

“
Niddle-ai stood. ‘Maybe we’ve been thinking too much and not acting as the whim guides us.’

“
Narknose shook his head. ‘You could be right. But four straight attacks where we’ve just walked right into them? We fight quicker and dirtier than any others in this part of the Valle. No, they’re not outfighting us; they’re wearing us down with these surprise attacks.’

“
Niddle-ai continued. ‘Look, we could give up on our dream of clearing a safe zone five miles west into the Il Serrohe Desert and just keep them out of the Nohwood—’

“‘
But if we give up our safe zone, and then turn around and give up the outer northern and eastern fringes of Nohwood, we’ll soon be living on the Steeples! No, hell no! We keep at it. Maybe they’re planning on us giving up and we’ll get them this time.’

“
Usually at these meetings of all the Nohmin, I watched and listened in my position as a young adult. It would be many more winters before my smooth face would break out in the heavy whiskers of middle age and responsibility. But something struck me, perhaps the heady mixture of everyone’s signascent made me bold.

“‘
Excuse me, one so young shouldn’t interrupt, but maybe if we strike in a new way. We could leave from the far northwest end of the Nohwood, circle west out into the desert and approach the Soreye village driving them right up to the eastern rim of the cliffs, allowing them an escape to the north toward the backside of the Piralltah Steeples. We always attack from our northern edge right across the Seared Meadow…” I stopped, ashamed at myself for such presumption.

“
Narknose stared at me steadily. I expected the worst.

“‘
Now there you are. Somebody that doesn’t give up and allows his mind to wander. I say let’s do it!’

“‘
Yes, yes,’ many voices chorused.

“
I couldn’t have been more shocked. I looked around to see if Netheraire had been watching.”

twenty two

“
With a morning of bickering, many changes of mind and carrying on, one hundred Nohmin gathered supplies and strapped on body packs ready for hiking and battle. Even though each person was supplied to his own tastes, much borrowing and trading would transpire during the trek.

“
Netheraire, along with three others gifted with healing by using herbs the Pirallts had given, left with us to care for the wounded. But they stayed well behind the front lines of warriors moving out.

“
As the afternoon sun stirred up dank scents of decaying leaves, we headed due west for the bottom edge of the Tohmay Steeples. From there we would skirt north along the Steeple’s foothills to meet the edge of the Nohwood as it angled northwest with Lunatik Peak to the south. At this point, the Steeples shrank to mere anthills. From there, Il Serrohe Desert lies to the north and the Tower on the cliffs to the east.

“‘
Come on, Nohmin, we’re off to kick a few Soreye butts and quiet their jangling bells for a time!’ Narknose bellowed and guffawed with relish, striding through the thickening woods with loping steps.”

twenty three

“
Along with other young warriors, I was assigned to accompany those in back of the line. Though Netheraire glided along quietly in front of me, I felt lonely. I guess I missed the bawdy talk of Niddle-ai, who was intent on going on this trek. But Narknose was not one to be fooled by wheezy talk. Niddle-ai had wounds more serious than he let on, so he stayed behind.

“‘
It’s been a long time since we’ve been in this part of the woods… uh, Nersite?’ The tone of Netheraire’s voice betrayed awareness of my gloomy mood.

‘“
Huh?’ I looked around at the thickening underbrush and the night-like darkness. A dark green cavern. ‘Oh yeah. Can’t remember how long. Guess we didn’t care about the creepiness of this place back then.’

“‘
Care about it? We were thrilled by it. Used to get scared silly.’ She giggled and moved back to walk by my side.

“‘
And enjoyed every horrible minute of it,’ I smiled in spite of myself.

“‘
Hey, you two, quit slowing up the progress!’ A voice called out, admonishing us good-naturedly.

“
Another voice, ‘Aw shut up. Don’t you know this is a picnic? Those Soreyes won’t put up a fight! Today, they run.’ General laughter and jeering followed. Netheraire moved to her original position in front of me.

“
But soon all chatter and laughter was snuffed out like a sunflower oil lamp in a great wind.

“
We entered The Narrow.

“
Even the sound of our walking feet was frightened into muteness. Only the bashful light flickering from a few hand-held beeswax candles helped us find our way past the massive ‘bellies’ of the trees.

“
Between those trees there was not room for more than a Nohmin child to pass. The only way for people to pass through was a winding path that required even Netheraire to walk slightly sideways. Men of broad beam had squeezing to do as they worked toward an unseen destination.

“
Some of the old ones said this was once a solid forest, but through the good scents and creative chants of an ancient Nohmin known as Nohwah, a path was relinquished by the gigantic trees.

“
If Nohmin would ever forget their ways of the incense and give up the forest to nature benders and abusers, such as the Soreyes, The Narrow would cease to exist like a healed wound. Perhaps the way to the Eternal lay along this path and unworthies were to be shut out.

“
Of course, we could imagine little of the Eternal.

“
I could now see the end of the path as a slender slot of light.

“
Blue Meadow: a ‘room’ defined by the thick tree walls on three sides arching to a sparse overhang allowing some indirect sunlight. On the fourth side was a sheer granite wall announcing the Tohmay Steeples towering above, arched to the north and south. But that was ignored as the thick carpet of blue asters blazed up at us singing loudly with a melody of scent. The blueness was overwhelming after passing through the black velvet of The Narrow.

“
Most everyone took to lying on the ground, glad to be alive after the indulgence of The Narrow.

“
Netheraire gathered a few asters.

“‘
Here, Netheraire, give me some of your flowers,’ I said, taking a handful from her.

“‘
What for? I never knew you to be particularly in love with flowers.’

“‘
Oh, I donno, they just seem to be begging me to put them in your hair so they can see things from a little higher up. Besides, what better way for a flower to sacrifice itself?’

“
She was embarrassed by my words. I should have been, too, but getting out of The Narrow made one giddy. As I put flowers in her tresses, I could hear muffled giggles from some of the others, especially guys my age.

“
There was no being nice to a girl without their stupidity flaring up.

“‘
All right, enough of the breathing easy. We’ve got a battle today.’ Narknose was being gruff. ‘I think your attitude’s all wrong. If we fall on our butts today, it’ll be because—”

“‘—
of your carrying on. Yeah, yeah, we know what’s coming!’ I could hear Nolah muttering under her breath.

“
We moved on due north. The Blue Meadow, indeed the Nohwood, played out quickly as we inched across the dry foothills of the Steeples. Long hours stretched into thin spider webs as we walked and struggled to avoid falling down the sandy slopes to Seared Meadow.

“
We then turned west. We were beyond anyone’s sight from the Valle and even if they did see us, it would appear we were leaving the area, not intending to circle around to advance southeastward at the Soreyes.

“
All I knew was the scent of dust mixed with our incense. Everything was hazy about me. Gray Steeples perched above my left and a green sea of grassland swept to my right.

“
The afternoon had grown old by the time we reached a flat place. The Steeples reduced to sulking sand hills. The Nohwood was fading to a scattering of scrub oak.

“
A few tall trees were immediately ahead of us and to our right and left. Unbelievably, they trees jiggled while moving toward us raising their branches.

“
Soreyes!

“
Although I might have the excuse of nearsightedness, our entire group didn’t see them until it was too late. There was great confusion and many Nohmin were knocked down in their tracks as they scampered for position. I was knocked around by my own people and eventually fell into the dust getting a nasty mouthful of dirt.

“‘
Fight, you fools! Fight!’ Narknose bellowed, screamed and cursed, but it was all too fast. ‘Dammit, by the Wood, advance! Cut ‘em down! Go for their knees you damned—’

“
It was no use. Nohmin whizzed by my prone body. It was an all-out retreat. No regrets, no cowardice. It was the only thing we could do with any semblance of togetherness.

“
I stood up and glanced about wildly, sniffing fiercely. A torrent of signascents, dirt, sweat, and the goat smell of the Soreyes bore down on me. I couldn’t catch the wild rose scent.

“‘
Netheraire! Netheraire!’ At that moment I thought I caught her scent behind me. As I turned, a bolt of white-hot light struck my neck. Without even falling to my knees, I ran, hoping the Soreye shaft wouldn’t catch me again.

“
In front of me the blurred backs of Nohmin jumped and shook, but I ran on and on, the wild rose strong in my nostrils. Seeing the golden highlights of her hair ahead, I gained heart and ran on.

“
Along the edge of the foothills every two steps was a slide followed by a struggle to get upright and keep up the pace. I grabbed Netheraire’s arm several times and drug her until she regained her footing. Once, I rolled down the hill, but I kept going south and worked my way back up to the path with everyone else.

“
And constantly behind us was the clanging of bells and stench of desert-burned skin.

“
We swooped down to the Blue Meadow. Once into The Narrow we could block the entrance and fight back the Soreyes until their stinking bodies clogged the way.