"You can go now if you want,” Eleal said. Her mouth was dry, but surely the man in black could not be what she suspected he was.
"We must both go, for so it is written, but we cannot go until we have paid,” Sister Ahn wailed. “And now that young man who sells the tickets has departed."
She sounded confused. She was probably crazy. On the other hand, the rest of the world did not seem to be much saner. One man had been given a seat at no charge and no one else except Sister Ahn seemed willing to share the howdah with him, although the seats were now available for free. How to explain that miracle? In tightfisted Narsh, too! The mahout had eased himself up the mammoth's neck until he was almost sitting on its head, as far from the solitary passenger as he could get.
"Perhaps that driver up there will negotiate a price,” Sister Ahn muttered, but at that moment he spoke to the mammoth, and the big beast rolled forward.
Eleal looked around despairingly, but the onlookers were leaving. She was alone with the old woman. No one else had been willing to ride with the man in black. What else could he be? “Was that a reaper?"
Sister Ahn was still staring after the departing mammoth, apparently at a loss. She glanced at Eleal in bleary surprise. “He is a holy one, a servant of Zath. Yes, what they call a reaper."
Eleal's heart turned a cartwheel, her knees wobbled violently, and something seemed to squeeze her throat shut. “I've never seen a reaper before,” she croaked. “In daylight?” Reapers were never discussed, or at least only in whispers—or croaks. But the mad old priest had mentioned him.
The nun chuckled. “You certainly wouldn't be able to see him in the dark, my dear!” she said, her good humor apparently restored. “And why not in daylight? He's only human. He must do something between sunrise and sunset."
That was even worse! “You mean he goes around in disguise?"
"He doesn't normally wear his habit, no. You can see the effect it has.” The old woman shook her head disapprovingly. “No one would sit beside him."
"You would have?"
All the innumerable wrinkles around Sister Ahn's mouth puckered up in one of her gruesome smiles, although her watery eyes gave it an incongruous sadness. She raised her long nose so she could look down it. “Why not? If he wanted to gather my soul for Zath now, he could have done so. I am sure he can run much faster than I. In the Green Scriptures, Canto 2578, it is written, “All gods play dice, but Zath's never lose."
The worst part of this insanity was that she had expected Eleal to accompany her. “Then why did you not go?"
"Because I had not paid, of course. We children of Irepit are not permitted to accept charity. Everything must be paid for somehow—a story, or a lesson, usually. I had offered to give lessons on the journey, but the young man refused my bid.” Her eyes were wandering even more than before, and she seemed puzzled that her companion did not understand. “When the other offers were withdrawn, I hoped he would reconsider."
The reaper must have been present in the crowd earlier. When the ticket price became unreasonable, he had donned his robe and revealed his avocation. Eleal shivered.
"What is a reaper doing here?"
"Earning his living by day, I expect,” Sister Ahn said offhandedly, uninterested in reapers. “Gathering souls by night."
Eleal looked up at the sky apprehensively. The big moon would be setting about now, but the sky was cloudy. Trumb had not eclipsed for at least a fortnight; he must be about due.
When the green man turns to black,
Then the reaper fills his sack.
Which did not mean he didn't fill it other nights also.
In the distance the mammoth plodded into Narshwater, and across, and out the far side, gradually catching up with the others and dwindling into the distance. The tiny black figure sat alone with nine empty seats around him. Soon he became hard to see ... Why was the reaper traveling to Sussland? Who had earned the enmity of Zath? Trumb must start eclipsing again soon. Where was the troupe? Should she go to the temple?
Worried, shivering in the icy wind, she glanced around the meadow. It seemed almost deserted without the mammoths, although there were llamas and dragons in the distance, and market stalls set up near the city gate. The other team would arrive tonight from Sussvale. The pen stood deserted, a flimsy rail fence around a patch of mud and mammoth dung. Klip Trumpeter was sitting on his pack with his head in his hands and his back to her. Apparently he had missed the reaper drama altogether!
Eleal hurried over to him at her fastest skip: clop!clip! ... clop!clip!...
Apart from her, Klip was the youngest member of the troupe. He had played women's parts last year. Now he couldn't and he wasn't ready for men's, so he worked mostly as a roustabout. His pimples were as many as the stars and his opinion of himself as both man and musician was as high. Olimmiar, who was a couple of months older, considered him still only a boy. Golfren Piper would not perform with him. Why had he come? And why alone?
"Did you see who—"
He looked up. She recoiled at the pallor of his face. “What's wrong?"
"The alpaca,” he said hoarsely.
"What about it?” She saw that Klip had lost three years somewhere since dawn. The arrogant self-styled musician was just a frightened boy now, and the change scared her.
"It was beautiful, Eleal, beautiful! All white and silky! Not a dark hair on it. Not a scratch on its hooves. Ambria paid five Joalian stars for it!"
Five! “And?"
Trumpeter's face crumpled as if he wanted to weep. “And its insides were all rotten. Black, and foul. Horrible. The stench filled the whole temple."
Eleal was already trembling with cold. Fear was no help. First a crazy priest, then an even crazier nun, then a reaper, and now this! She dropped her pack beside Klip and sat down, tucking her hands into her sleeves. At least the reaper had left town.
"What have we done to anger the Lady so?"
Klip's tongue moved over his lips. His acne showed as ugly purple blemishes on his ashen cheeks. “The Lady herself, or just Ois? We don't know. The priests say ... Have you ever been to her temple?"
"No."
"That may be it. None of us worship at the temple here, except when we are about to leave. It may not have been enough."
Eleal felt sick. “And?"
Klip swallowed hard. “Now we have to make amends."
"All of us?"
"The women. Ambria tried to get Olimmiar excused, saying she was only fifteen and a maiden. The priests just said that made her service specially potent.” Trumpeter groaned and buried his face in his hands. He mumbled something that might have been, “Meaning they can charge more."
Eleal waited ... and waited. She could count the thumps of her heart. Finally she had to ask.
"Me too?"
He looked around sharply; she saw that the wind had filled his eyes with tears also. “No, no! Oh, I'm sorry, Eleal! I should have said! No, not you! Ambria asked, but the priests said no, not if the Lady has not blessed you yet and made you a woman."
She felt a rush of relief and despised herself for it. The others’ sacrifice would lift the Lady's anger and she would not have contributed. She did not want to, but neither did they.
"Maybe next year?” Klip smiled sourly.
"Maybe,” she said uneasily. It was certainly possible. Many girls received the Lady's blessing at thirteen or even earlier. She was oh-so-glad it was not this year, though! “So what do we do now?"
"Go back to the hostel and wait until their service is complete."
"You mean it may take a long time?"
"That's up to the priests, to decide when the goddess is appeased. Days, maybe."