Three days later, Tiaan, Nish and Irisis were standing by Malien’s thapter while the last of the refugees assembled. Nish didn’t know what to say to his friends. He’d rehearsed his farewells a dozen times but couldn’t find any words that fitted such a desperate occasion. Irisis wasn’t saying anything either, and Tiaan just bore the faraway look she’d had since seeing the piles of lyrinx dead.
Nish, recognising several familiar faces in the crowd, waved. It was Troist’s tall horsy wife Yara and the twins, Meriwen and Liliwen, who would be fourteen now. He’d last seen them a year and a half ago at Morgadis. What must they be thinking after being forced to abandon all they’d held dear?
‘How long have we got?’ said Nish, wondering if there was time to say hello and farewell. The Council’s thapter stood inside a ring of clankers, the army camp was packed up, the latrines filled in and everyone was waiting for the order to depart.
No one answered, so Nish went across, a little tentatively. The twins sang out and ran to meet him. Yara didn’t run, but her face lit up at seeing Nish. He shook her hand and embraced the twins, sturdy girls who took after their handsome father. Their wavy hair, the colour of copper wire, hung in plaits halfway down their backs. They were almost identical, though Liliwen had thicker, darker eyebrows.
‘We’re very cross with you,’ said Meriwen. ‘You were supposed to come and see us in Lybing last spring, before the battle.’
‘Extremely cross,’ said Liliwen. ‘We cooked dinner and everything.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Nish. ‘I was called away. You know what it’s –’
‘We think you ran away from Aunty Mira,’ said Meriwen, frowning at him.
‘Because you were too scared,’ said Liliwen.
‘Like you did last time,’ added Meriwen. ‘With your pants –’
‘Girls!’ cried Yara, scandalised. ‘How dare you speak to Cryl-Nish like that. He’s a great hero and he saved your lives. Twice!’
‘It’s a funny kind of hero that runs away from little Aunty Mira,’ sniffed Meriwen, then giggled.
‘With his pants down around his –’ chortled Liliwen.
‘Right!’ said Yara. ‘I’m going to wash both your mouths out, and don’t think you’re too old to get a good whack on the bare backside, either.’
They sobered up instantly. ‘Sorry, Mother,’ they chorused. ‘But please, please let us stay. After all, Nish did save our lives, twice, and we might never see him again.’
‘Don’t flutter your eyelashes at me, young ladies,’ said Yara. ‘Wherever did you learn such tricks? Your father will be horrified when I tell him. Now come away. Mira has something to say to Nish.’
And before Nish could turn and run, Mira stepped out of the crowd, right beside him.
‘M-Mira!’ he stammered. ‘I – I –’
She took his hand. ‘Nish, why didn’t you come to see me?’
‘I was too scared; too mortified …’
‘But why? You did nothing wrong. We were just two lonely, unhappy people, taking comfort where we could, until I had too much to drink and my nightmares overturned everything.’
‘But … the guards …’
‘It was all a terrible misunderstanding. I’d called them back and explained before you even reached the river.’
‘They weren’t hunting me at all?’ said Nish.
‘Of course not. I was terrified you’d drown. They were trying to bring you back, as an honoured guest who’d saved my nieces from degradation and murder.’
‘And all this time, I’ve been living in fear of you,’ said Nish. ‘And not just from that night. Whenever I did the … business of war, I imagined how disgusted you’d be.’
She sighed and took his hand. ‘You met me at my lowest point, Nish. War is a horror, but do you think I don’t honour my man, and my sons, for the way they fought and died? Of course I do. I hated the old warmongering Council with all my heart, but I respect the brave men and women who fight and die for us. And I honour you, too.’ She kissed him on the forehead. ‘Go now, they’re calling for you. And go with good heart. We’ll all be thinking of you.’
Nish turned away, turned back and waved, then strode to the thapter feeling better than he had in a long time.
Klarm, who had just returned from a surveillance flight in one of the thapters, came waddling up. ‘The enemy are two days away to the west, streaming through the forest. And another lyrinx army, almost as large, draws near to The Elbow from the south, heading up the Westway.’
‘Then we’d better get moving,’ said Troist. After making sure the refugees were well away, he was planning to retreat up the Great North Road through Worm Wood, then east, since the Borgis Woods were too rugged for his clankers. ‘If they send a sizeable force across Worm Wood by Booreah Ngurle, as they did last spring, we’ll be cut off.’
Nish embraced Tiaan, then Irisis, who thumped him on the shoulder and turned away abruptly. She practically ran to the thapter and got in without looking back. Tiaan didn’t even say goodbye – she seemed in another world altogether.
It wasn’t until the thapter had lifted off that Nish realised what he wanted to say to them, but by then it was too late.
FIFTY-NINE
Hysse was a small, pretty but incredibly overcrowded town at the top of a green valley surrounded by knife-edged ridges. All of its homes and buildings were built from silver weathered timber, with steep, pointed shingle roofs and green painted doors and window sashes. There were flower gardens everywhere, though many had been trampled by the deluge of refugees from Borgistry.
Tiaan set the thapter down in the market square, opened the hatch and was assailed by the overpowering perfume of night hyssamin, for which the town had been named. She was breathing deep when Flydd came running up, with Yggur not far behind. The sun was just rising.
‘Don’t get out, Tiaan,’ panted Flydd. ‘We’re going north right away.’
‘Where?’ said Tiaan, who had one leg over the side. She rubbed her eyes. They’d stopped in the middle of the night for a few hours’ sleep but she was still tired.
‘I’ll tell you after we’ve gone. I’ve had an idea.’
She couldn’t resist saying, ‘I hope it’s better than the last one.’
A pair of soldiers laboured up, carrying something heavy in a small wooden crate. A second pair followed with a larger crate, while a third were directed to another thapter, standing across the square next to a stall proclaiming the merits of yellow quinces, hard green pears and other mid-autumn fruit. Tiaan’s mouth watered, but none of the stalls were open yet.
‘Come on, Fyn-Mah!’ Flydd roared over the side. ‘Yggur, Irisis, go with Chissmoul in her thapter.’
‘Where?’ said Irisis, getting out gingerly. Her ankle and leg still troubled her.
‘East. I’ll call you on the farspeaker. Just go.’
Yggur and Irisis clambered into Chissmoul’s thapter, which shot into the air as if booted by a giant, to disappear eastward towards the Great Mountains.
‘That pilot has a distinctly reckless streak,’ Flydd observed. ‘Malien, would you take the controller, please? I need Tiaan to do something on the way.’
‘But …’ said Tiaan.
‘Come on!’ snapped Flydd. ‘We don’t have any time to waste.’
‘Where to?’ said Malien, as Fyn-Mah climbed in, carrying a heavy bag, and went below.
‘We need to find a powerful node that isn’t being used by anyone. Tiaan, where’s the nearest one that fits?’