Nondula (The Waifs of Duldred Book 2) Page 19

  ‘Let me do it. I know how,’ said Gertie.

  ‘They’re very old. It will take more than usual care.’ Emberd said no more. Later, he handed Gertie the ancient books. ‘I wouldn’t trust them to anyone but you,’ he said. ‘You’re the only person who cherishes books as much as I do.’ She received them gently.

  Gertie took the old books to her reading loft and pulled on her gloves. She opened the first one. The pages were wavy and stained with damp. She sprinkled powder between the pages to absorb the moisture and put it to one side. The second book excited her strangely. It was different to the others. The paper was of a quality she had never handled before. She brushed away some broken spider legs, and then she got caught up in the words. It was a long poem, an adventure poem. The sun sank and the page grew dimmer. She strained to read one more line, and then another. She broke off to light a lamp. The others would be wondering where she was. The last few pages were stuck together with damp. She teased the edges apart but the top layer of paper began to lift. The ending must wait. She sprinkled the pages with powder and left it open to air.

  Next morning Gertie went straight to her loft, eager to see if the paper was dry enough to read. But something terrible had happened. There was nothing left of the last page but a ragged frill, the teeth marks of a small creature and a circle of droppings. Gertie groaned. She would never know how the tale ended and neither would anyone else. Worse than that she had let Emberd down. She didn’t know how to tell him.

  25 Partings

  Bominata made an announcement. She was doubling the reward for the capture of Alas. Very soon it seemed that there were more Felluns in Nondula than in Fellund.The Nonduls felt they could not turn a corner without running into sniffer dogs bunched on leashes hauling Felluns behind them. The capuns had the best dogs but it wasn’t just capuns who were trying their luck. Many of the lower ranks were there. They came with any flea-ridden mutt they could lay hands on. The hunters crossed paths and eyed their rivals with resentment and suspicion. The bounty hunter, Cussjaw, was among them. Cussjaw had better farsight than most Felluns. He owed it to his grandfather, a Beastlunder, but he kept it to himself. He didn’t want to be labelled thin-blood. His dog was a mangy terrier. It trotted round the inside of the Sajistry with no interest in anything but the stains where other dogs had sprayed. Cussjaw tried his luck outside. His dog disappeared into thick bushes. The dog didn’t come back so Cussjaw broke and stamped and smashed his way through to a clearing. The wall of the Sajistry rose up on his right. When he scanned the ivy-covered wall something caught his eye. High above him there was a gap in the greenery (which to his eyes was brownery). In that gap he had seen a flash of copper hair. After staring at the gap for a long time he had a thought: the inside of the Sajistry did not match the outside. On the outside was a window where no window should be. His terrier began barking at the bushes. He turned to see other men and dogs arriving. All of the dogs barked at the bushes in high excitement. The men urged their own dogs to ‘find’ and kicked their rivals’ mutts out of the way. The Felluns were close to fighting each other when a rabbit dashed out of the bushes. The dogs dashed after it.

  Cussjaw found a stick and beat his dog. When he was done he threw the stick on the ground and walked away.

  Alas had been carried through the Sajistry and up to the Paxa so as to leave no scent, and then the trail was scrubbed , but it was not enough. . Something of Alas remained lodged in the mosaic tiles. It was the trace of a trace, but one sniffer caught it and stopped. He dabbed at the floor with his nose, homing in ever tighter circles. He whined and pawed and scrabbled at the spot. Another husbeau arrived and sent his dogs in. Then another came. Soon hounds and husbeaus were fighting. They sent for picks and dug up the floor together, aiming the picks at each other’s feet. The Nonduls hummed but there was so much racket it had little effect on the dogs.

  Underground Alas watched the roof of his cave, veined and glittering in the lamplight. He heard the sounds of danger from above and hated that he could do nothing but wait.

  The Felluns kept on smashing deep into the rock, till floor and smell had been destroyed.

  Alas lay down. His bed was soft and fresh-scented. His cave was as pleasant as a cave could be but he longed for air, sunlight and activity. He had agreed to wait while the archives were scoured for any mention of the storm wall, but he was running out of patience as surely as sand runs through an hourglass.

  Gertie was glad that all other work in the library was suspended. Emberd would not ask about the tree cache and she could put off telling him about her blunder. The scholars could read very quickly when they wanted to. Hundreds of books were scanned for any reference to the storm wall. One or two were found but there was no mention of a passage round or under it. Emberd spread his net wider. His prodigious memory led him to the depths of the furthest book caves. He found a series of travel histories and handed them out to the scholars.

  Very soon Benet called out, ‘I’ve got something. It’s in old Nondulan. I’ll translate:

  We approached as near as we could to the towering wall of cloud but the winds were too strong to stand, weak as we were from lack of food. The skin on our faces was blown like our clothes. The Dresh, Invoca, told us we could pass beneath the storms, but a sudden shyness came upon her and she disappeared into the rocks. She would not come out or tell us more. We must be satisfied with the spectacle. We are not meant to cross.’

  ‘Is that it?’ said Gertie.

  ‘That’s it,’ said Benet.

  ‘If only the Dresh lady hadn’t turned shy,’ said Gritty.

  ‘Shyness,’ said Lil with disdain. ‘Dresh aren’t shy; they just don’t like company, especially flanner company.’

  ‘You don’t mind our company do you, Lil?’ said Gritty.

  ‘I have lived among people who make my ears vomit. Your noise is less bad than theirs.’

  ‘I knew I shouldn’t have asked,’ said Gritty.

  ‘So the Dresh knew about the passage at one time,’ said Gertie.

  ‘They did,’ said Lil. ‘But no detail came down to me. I will say this: Dresh don’t go far from home unless they are forced. If my people knew of the passage it is likely that it wasn’t far from Craicanmar. Likely – that’s all that can be said.’

  The scholars and the waifs continued to search through the books but no other clues were found.

  Oy went to see Alas. He told him that the books hadn’t helped them. Oy felt he couldn’t wait much longer for Linnet’s sake. It was all that Alas needed to hear. He was willing to take his chances and leave immediately.

  The Nonduls said they should wait for the search to tail off. They wouldn’t get far with packs of hounds at their heels.

  Alas walked round and round the cave. He thought of many things. All he had ever wanted since his first day at Duldred was freedom. When the current had gripped the raft that rushed them away from Affland, and Jeopardine had turned to a funny stick figure on the shore, in that moment he had felt truly free, but not for long. Nondula was not for him. His heart was elsewhere. He lay down on his bed and remembered the times he had stayed up whispering with Lucinda in the dark. He wished she was with him now. He slept.

  When he woke his lamp had burned low. ‘Day-dark, night-dark, s’all the same,’ he said. ‘I can’t stand it no longer.’ Hold on, the Nonduls said. He had held on, one day, two days; he had lost count. The days had grown longer. The minutes grew longer. Alas felt his own heart beating and he fell into the space between the beats. It lasted forever. He lit his head lamp and strapped it on. Then he left his cave and began to climb the first ladder.

  Ivy covered walls are pleasing but they have a fault. They are easy to scale. By the light of a waning moon and the brilliant stars Cussjaw found the stick that he had thrown aside after beating his dog. He had thrown it rather carefully to mark the point where he should begin his climb towards the gap. The knobs and gnarls of the ancient stems were easily gripped and made strong footholds, ev
en for a heavy man who carried something live inside his coat. Cussjaw drew himself up steadily till he found the window.

  Oy was in that state between sleeping and waking. He could not name the unease inside him. He only knew that Nondula wasn’t safe any more. When he closed his eyes he saw shades and monsters. Something was coming. A square head on square shoulders filled the window. The whole shape, with much struggle and noisy breathing, hauled itself up and climbed in. It walked among the beds and bent over Oy.

  Oy tried to open his eyes but they were already open. He sat up and shouted, clear and shrill, ‘Wake up! Get up! Run, run, run!’

  The room filled with flashing movements. The waifs made for the door. The Fellun stumbled after them, snatching at air. He caught his feet on the beds and walked into the wall. Cursing, he pulled the terrier out of his coat and threw it down. ‘Find,’ he said.

  Doors opened all along the corridor. Elderly scholars shuffledin night robes shuffled out holding candles. The tiny lights multiplied in the quartz walls. The dog ran a zigzag course, sniffing at the scholars’ feet. The waifs waited with the scholars. The dog sniffed at Oy longer than the others. Cussjaw pulled Oy forwards. ‘Is this the one?’ he said, but the dog had already moved on. It sniffed the floor above the trapdoor. Cussjaw dragged it back and pushed its nose towards Oy. ‘Is this ’im?’ he repeated.

  ‘No? Who is he then? Who are you?’ He poked Oy. ‘Shouldn’t you be down in that Kith place?’ He peered at Gritty and Gertie. ‘And you two.’

  ‘We’re allowed out sometimes,’ said Gertie, ‘when... when our parents are ill.’

  Cussjaw did not look convinced. The Nonduls began to hum. The dog dropped to the floor with flattened ears. The humming grew louder. The dog retreated into the waifs’ somin and stood with its paws on the sill. The humming rose to a pitch so high it was lost to the waifs. The dog whimpered and jumped out of the window. Cussjaw went to the window and looked out. ‘Dog!’ he shouted. There was a bark from below. ‘What have you found? Did that blighted hareboy escape while my back was turned?’ The Fellun climbed out of the window and down the vine. He fell twenty thighs, got up with difficulty and followed the dog. The dog crept low to the ground. Cussjaw limped behind.

  Alas stood on the ladder below the trapdoor. He was about to open it when he heard a shout: ‘Run!’It was Oy’s voice. His impulse was to burst through the trapdoor and to fight anyone and anything, but he took a breath and waited. He allowed a time of quiet, as long as he could bear, then he opened the hatch and hauled himself out.

  His friends stood at the window of their somin watching. He joined them, peering over their heads. ‘What is it?’ he said.

  ‘Ssh,’ said Gertie. ‘Fellun with a dog, climbed up the wall. He’s not gone far.’ She

  shooed him towards the trapdoor. ‘Back, back, back. Go back down.’

  ‘They ain’t going to give up are they?’ said Alas. ‘Not till they’ve pulled the whole place apart.’

  ‘And that’s why you need to get back to the cave and let us scrub up behind you.’

  ‘I’ll go but you need to come with me. There’s things I got to say.’

  The scholars stood in groups discussing what had happened. Their peace and silence was torn and scarred. They had not moved so quickly or spoken so much in years. The waifs apologised for all the fuss and followed Alas down the ladders.

  In the cave the waifs stood divided, Alas on one side of the chalk line and his three friends on the other. ‘I’m leaving,’ he said, ‘by myself. I outran the Fellun hounds once. With a head start I’ll do it again. That way the Nonduls can open up the whole Sajistry and nothing will be found. The Felluns will go home and Oy will be safe to leave with Lil. Gritty, you should go with them. You can keep Oy company once you drop Lil at Craicanmar.’

  Gritty’s eyes sparked. Gertie’s objected.

  ‘What if they catch you?’ said Oy.

  ‘I’m a survivor,’ said Alas. ‘The chances are I’ll get clear away. We might even meet up somewhere past the marshes. We’ll look at the maps and decide on a place.’

  ‘Then there’s no need for Gritty to go is there?’ said Gertie.

  ‘Well, suppose I do get caught,’ said Alas, ‘and I’ll admit there’s a chance, then Oy will need a friend with guts and gumption.’

  ‘I’ve got a better idea,’ said Oy.

  Over the following days hundreds of scholars left their spare robes in Alas’s cave. Alas rubbed them on his hair, his face, his arms and legs.

  ‘This had better work,’ said Gertie.

  ‘I’m making something else that might help us,’ said Oy. ‘It’s a lotion that smells like marsh mud only stronger. The hounds hate that mud; it turns their noses raw.’

  Everyone was doing something to help. The carvers brought them beads that could be used for money. The weavers made warm clothes that would blend with rock and field, and bags that would sit light on their shoulders. The bakers made biscuits full of lasting goodness.

  Gritty wasn’t saying much and Gertie did not like her way of not saying it. Gertie would be absorbed in her work and she would look up to rest her eyes and there would be Gritty just watching her. Gertie started to avoid her sister. When they met in the evening she steered away from any talk of leaving and talked over dangerous gaps. Until one night in their somin Gritty put a hand up and stopped her. ‘Gert, can you hush a minute? I got something to say.’

  ‘I know – I know you have and I don’t want to hear it.’

  ‘Well will you? Will you hear it?’

  ‘Do I have to?’

  ‘Yes – unless you want me to just disappear with no goodbyes.’

  ‘Disappear – don’t be silly. You ain’t going nowhere, and if you do I’m coming with you.’

  ‘No you’re not. I want to go with the boys. I need to be up and doing. It’s strange I know, but I felt alive in Fellund – the danger and the dancing. I was born for it. And you were born to do what you’re doing now. I been watching you; you take joy in every minute of your work. You and Emberd are made out of the same stuff.’

  ‘No, we’re made out of the same stuff. We’re sisters lest you forgot. Family.’

  ‘Our hearts and bodies are the same but our minds is different, as in you’ve got one and I ain’t. I don’t belong with books and scholars, Gert.’

  Gertie put her head under the pillow.

  ‘I been away once and I came back didn’t I?’

  ‘You ain’t coming back this time.’ Gertie spoke into the bed.

  Gritty took the pillow away and stroked her hair. ‘Alright, alright, I’m not going anywhere. It was only a thought. It was selfish. I’ll stay here and help you with the books.’

  Gertie lifted her head. ‘There’s still your dancing.’

  ‘Nondulan style.’

  ‘I thought you loved it.’

  ‘Yes, I do. I do.’Oy came in looking very tired. The girls made room for him on Gertie’s bed.

  ‘What kept you so late?’ said Gritty.

  ‘Linnet’s medicines,’ said Oy. ‘I wanted to finish the bottling and labelling.’

  ‘And you’re done?’ said Gertie.

  ‘All done,’ said Oy. ‘It’s weaker than I wanted but it might... it has to be good enough.’

  ‘And there’s nothing else to do?’ said Gritty.

  ‘No,’ said Oy.

  ‘When will you go?’ said Gertie.

  ‘Alas can’t hardly wait another minute and the sooner we leave the sooner we get back,’ said Oy. ‘We can go at nightfall tomorrow.’

  Gritty and Gertie took one of his hands each. They were sad and thoughtful. Leaving was so near and getting back seemed very distant indeed.

  The travellers’ last day in Nondula was one of good food and rest and quiet sitting with friends and old humming songs of the most soothing variety. Even so, Alas was restless and relieved when the time came for the final checking of packs.

  Just before dusk Oy went to say goodbye to Linnet
. She wanted to be there to see them off but Oy and Ede said no. The chill and exertion would be bad for her. ‘Don’t go, Oy,’ she said. ‘We’ll find my yellow here. You found it once so there must be more of it. You...’

  Oy was looking at her in his clear-eyed way.

  ‘You’re going aren’t you?’ said Linnet. ‘No matter what I say?’

  ‘I got to, Linn. I’ve thought it all out.’

  ‘I know you have. I’ll let you go one more time. But next time you come back, you stay.’

  ‘Next time I’ll stay,’ he said.

  It was dark. Signals came from all over Nondula; whistles and hoots and hums carried the message that the Felluns slept in their camps. Per came to say goodbye. Alas stood before him. ‘I hope you’ll forgive my past rudeness,’ he said.

  ‘There is nothing to forgive,’ said Per. ‘Would you like to know your jenie now?’

  ‘Yes, I would,’ said Alas.

  ‘You’re a survivor,’ said Per. ‘The eyes of your mind are like a rabbit’s. They are always looking behind you.’

  Alas laughed. ‘You’re not the first to say that.’

  ‘But there’s a reason for it. You know when the Felluns are coming don’t you, even before the humming starts?’

  ‘I feel trouble coming so strong I think I’m drawing it to me, like a lightning rod. That’s why I got to leave here, leave everywhere. Trouble follows me so I’d better keep moving.’

  ‘You’re not just a survivor though, you’re a defender and protector. You saved Oy from the hunt. You drew the hounds towards you and somehow picked your way through the marshes. With Linnet you saved the Kith.’

  ‘It all felt good and right I’ll admit.’

  ‘Because your jenie was freed. Don’t worry about drawing trouble. Harm must be brought into the open before it can be defeated.’

  They waited for one more signal. White wings grew distinct above them. Bagla dropped out of the darkness. The message from the scouts in the woods and Scrubluns was: All clear.