Terrible gods, give me the strength! Saeng forced herself round to face her brother — she owed him that. She pulled the back of her hand across her eyes to clear them and stammered, her voice almost strangled with emotion, ‘And that is?’
‘Our priestess, Saeng. The Priestess of Light come again.’
‘No.’
‘What else?’ He swept his heavy arms wide. ‘Is all this for naught? This upheaval? A great change is pending — I heard it whispered among the Thaumaturgs. They fear some rising power. Could this not be you?’
She backed away in earnest now, shaking her head. ‘I do not seek power.’
‘Whether you seek it or not, it is on its way. Best be prepared then, yes?’
‘Best listen to the lad,’ a new voice snarled down upon them and they started, peering about. Hanu’s broad yataghan whispered from its oiled wood sheath. Then Saeng spotted the source among a dense tangle of hanging lianas: some sort of long-limbed golden-haired creature peering down with its glittering tiny black eyes. ‘Who are you?’ she demanded, lifting her chin.
With startling speed the creature descended hand over hand to settle with a heavy thump. It straightened its hunched shaggy back to stand fully as tall as the towering Hanu, then stretched extraordinarily long hairy arms and exposed yellow fangs in a grin. It reminded her of a monstrous gibbon.
‘Listen to the freak,’ it said and jerked a thumb at Hanu.
Caught utterly surprised, Saeng almost choked out a laugh. This thing calls Hanu a freak?
Remembering her prior encounter with these children of the Queen of Witches, Saeng found her courage and kept her gaze steady. ‘What do you want?’
‘I have come all the way down to the profane earth to give you warning.’
‘Warning? About what?’
‘This.’ And the creature thrust out one impossibly long arm to slam Hanu in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the brush. With his other arm he reached out to wrap a long-fingered hand round Saeng’s arm and dragged her close. A flip and he now had her leg and he dangled her in the air before his grinning face. ‘What would you do, child, were I to do this to you?’
From the brush a groan sounded. The creature’s bright black eyes slid aside. ‘Shall I twist his head off?
‘No! Please. Don’t. I beg you-’
It shook her. ‘Beg?’ it snarled, offended. ‘You’re in the jungle, child. Begging won’t serve. Did Citravaghra teach you nothing?’
‘Citravaghra?’
The creature brought its hand to its mouth to mimic long bared fangs. ‘The Night Hunter.’
Ah. So that is his name. ‘He spoke to me. He said I — that I had power.’
‘Exactly!’ The beast tossed her high then caught her leg once more, jerking her neck fiercely. ‘Do not move,’ he suddenly warned, pointing aside.
Craning her aching neck she spotted Hanu, weapon readied, facing the monster.
‘So,’ it continued, eyeing her now. ‘Have power, do you?’ It drew her closer to sniff at her face. Its breath was repulsive. ‘Let’s see it. Come on.’ It shook her anew.
Knives of pain slit into Saeng’s neck. ‘Please don’t do that.’
‘What? This?’ It dangled her even more savagely.
Blasted insulting creature. Fine! I’ll give you power. Saeng reached within herself, remembering the guiding words of her countless tutors to form and concentrate her inner wellspring. Then she gathered all the energy she envisaged dwelling within and sent it lancing at the beast.
A great clap of displaced air boomed before her and the ground leaped up to smack her in the back. She lay for a time, dazed, then slowly straightened, groaning and dizzy.
‘Saeng …’ Hanu murmured, awed.
Before her a great swath had been cut from the ground. It gouged a path through the brush to end at the base of a towering tualang where the broad bulwark of its arched roots had absorbed the blast. But not without damage as a bright fresh crack now curved up its tower-thick trunk. Branches and leaves pelted down from on high. On all sides roars and shrieks and squalls of protest sounded into the waning afternoon light.
Movement and a scrabbling of nails on bark and the gibbon-like creature emerged from among the buttressing roots. It slapped a hand to its head. ‘That’s … a start,’ it gasped, breathless.
‘A start to what?’ Saeng demanded. ‘Speak!’
The beast began edging up the trunk by feeling behind itself with its elongated hands and feet. ‘To what is to come.’ It grinned, baring its teeth.
Saeng closed on the giant of a tree. ‘And that is?’ she shouted up at the creature.
Now close to the mid-canopy heights it called down, mockingly: ‘Something for which you must prepare.’
‘Not good enough,’ she snarled to herself. Hanu had come to her side but she pushed him back. ‘Prepare for this, you insolent ape!’
She pooled all her resentment, rage and frustration into one concentrated searing spark and threw it against the base of the tualang.
The release tossed her flying backwards. The next thing she was aware of was Hanu pulling her upright and steadying her. She stood with his aid, blinking, dazed. ‘Look!’ he urged, sounding almost fearful.
The immense straight length of the tall emergent tree was swaying and bending like a whipped sapling. Hanu’s strong arm urged her back now as bursting explosions shook its base and, one after another, each of the broad arching supporting roots snapped.
Slowly, the great sky-tall stretch of its trunk came tilting down through the canopy, which it crushed and parted with ease. The trunk, far broader round than any hut, slid off its fresh stump, shaking the ground, and seemed to simply lie down across the jungle like a giant taking its ease. Reverberations of the series of crashes echoed from all about. Yet this time the surrounding leagues of forest were utterly silent, as if shocked, or disbelieving.
Strangely, the only thought that came to her was: I hope I fall as gracefully.
At her side, Hanu raised his yataghan blade to examine it, shook his helmed head, and sheathed it. ‘You hardly need my protection, Saeng.’
‘But I want it.’
He grunted something that might have been a shy sort of gratitude. ‘Well.’ He invited her forward. ‘Let’s see how our friend fared.’
He helped her up the great tilted base with its torn roots like severed arms reaching to the sky. Together they walked the length of the trunk. It lay as a clear easy path through the crushed tangle. Close to where the crown had snapped away they found the beast. It lay next to the slim bole, one arm beneath it, blinking up at them. ‘Shouldn’t go throwing trees at people,’ it croaked.
‘What do you know?’ Saeng demanded.
It tugged on its arm. ‘Ah, well. Nothing, really. Serves me right. Just what the seers among us sense. A terrifying thing is coming. And you may play a part.’
She knelt to better peer down at it. ‘What is your name?’
‘My name? Varakapi.’
‘And what is this terrifying thing?’
‘Saeng …’ Hanu murmured, calling her attention.
‘This thing?’ the creature answered. A fresh grin grew, pulling its black lips away from its prominent fangs. ‘Why, that most terrifying thing of all. Change, of course.’
‘Saeng …’ Hanu urged anew.
She straightened. ‘What?’ He lifted his armoured chin ahead. She turned to squint into the deepening honey gloom of dusk. The fall of the giant tualang had parted a swath of the jungle and now she could glimpse a section of the river. There, in the far distance, a bizarre feature seemed to overtop its flat course. It took some time for her to understand what she was looking at as she’d never before seen one of its type. It appeared to be an enormous bridge.