Shouter and Bled, receiving the boys as they left the slave-dealer, fastened them together in threes or fours by thin chains drawn through the lobes of their ears. Each chain was secured at one end to a short metal bar, the other being hooked to the belt or wrist of an overseer. When these preparations were complete, all lay down to sleep where they were on the marshy ground.
Kelderek, chained like the rest, had been separated from Radu and lay between two much younger boys, expecting every moment that a movement by one or the other would pull the chain-links through his wounded lobe like the teeth of a saw. Soon, however, he realized that his companions, more practised than he in making misery bearable, were less likely to trouble him than he them. They stirred seldom and had learned the trick of moving their heads without tightening the chain. After a little he found that both had moved close to him, one on either side.
'Not used to this yet, are you?' whispered one of the children in a broad Paltcsh argot that he could barely understand.* 'Buy you today, did he?' 'He didn't buy me. He found me in the forest – yes, it was today.'
' 'Thought as much. You smell of fresh meat – new ones often do, 'doesn't last long.' He broke off, coughing; spat on the ground between them and then said, 1 'Trick's to lie close together. It's warmer, and it keeps the chain slack, see, then anybody moves it don't pull.'
Both children were verminous and scratched continually at the sodden, filthy rags covering their thin bodies. Soon, however, Kelderek was no longer aware of their smell, but only of the mud in which he was lying and the throbbing of his wounded finger. To distract his thoughts he whispered to the boy, 'How long have you been with this man?' 1 'Reckon nearly two month now. 'Bought me in Darl' 'Bought you? Who from?'
'My stepfather. Father was killed with General Gel-Ethlin when I was very small. Mother took up with this man last winter and he didn't like me, only Fm dirty, see? Soon as the dealers come he sold me.' 'Didn't your mother try to stop it?' 'No,' answered the boy indifferently.' 'Suppose you had food, had you, only he took it away?' 'Yes.'
'Shouter said almost no bloody mucking food left,' whispered the little boy.' 'Said they'd reckoned to buy some before this, only there's no mucking place to buy it here.'
'Why did Genshed come into this forest, do you know?' asked Kelderek. 'Soldiers, Shouter said.' 'What soldiers?1
'Don't know. Only he don't like soldiers. That's why he put the rope across the river; get away from the soldiers. You hungry, are you?' 'Yes.'
He tried to sleep, but there was no quiet The children whimpered, talked in their sleep, cried out in nightmare. The chains rattled, something moved among the trees, Bled leapt suddenly to his feet, chattering like an ape and wrenching every chain fastened to him. Raising his head, Kelderek could see the hunched figure of the slave-dealer a little distance off, his arms clasped about his knees. He did not look like a man seeking sleep. Was he – like Kelderek himself – conscious of the danger of wild animals, or was it, perhaps, possible that he had no need of sleep – that he never slept?
At length he fell into a doze, and when he woke – after how long he could not tell – realized that the child beside him was weeping, almost without noise. He put out his hand and touched him. The weeping stopped at once.
"There's a lot can happen yet,* whispered Kelderek. 'Were you thinking of your mother?' 'No,' replied the boy. "bout Sirit' 'Who's Sirit?* 'Girl was with us.' 'What's happened to her?' 'Gone to Leg-By-Lee.' 'Leg-By-Lee? Where's that?' 'Don't know.' 'Then how do you know she's gone there?' The boy said nothing. 'What is Leg-By-Lee? Who told you about it?' 'Where they go, see?' whispered the boy. 'Only anyone goes, we say they've gone to Leg-By-Lee.' 'Is it far away?' 'Don't know.' 'Well, if I managed to run away and he brought me back tomorrow, would I have gone to Leg-By-Lee?' 'No.' 'Why not?' ' 'Cause you don't come back from Leg-By-Lee.' 'You mean Sirit's dead?' 'Don't know.'
They fell silent. A man may be forced to set out into bitter cold, and in the very act of doing so be conscious that the future is desperate and his chance of survival small. Yet this mere reflection, coming at that moment, will not of itself be enough to break his spirit or penetrate his heart with despair. It is as though he still carried, wrapped about the core of his courage, a residue of protecting faith and warmth which must first be penetrated and dispelled, little by little, hour after hour, perhaps day after day, by solitude and cold, until the last remnants are dispersed and the dreadful truth, which at the outset he perceived only with his mind, he feels in his body and fears in his heart. So it was with Kelderek. Now, in the night, with the sharp, ugly noises of wretchedness all around him and the pain crawling about his body like cockroaches in a dark house, he seemed to step down, to review his situation from an even lower level, to feel more deeply and perceive more clearly its nature, devoid of all real hope. He believed, now, in the prospect before him – the passage of Linsho and the long journey up the Telthearna, actually passing Quiso and Ortelga, to Terekenalt; and then slavery, preceded perhaps by the vile mutilation of which Shouter had spoken. Worst of all was the loss of Melathys and the thought that they would remain ignorant for ever of each other's fates. It was Shardik who had brought him to this – Shardik who had pursued him with supernatural malevolence, avenging all that his priest-king had done to abuse and exploit him. He was justly accursed of Shardik, and in his punishment had involved not only Melathys but the Tuginda herself – she who had done all she could, in the face of every obstacle put in her way, to preserve the worship of Shardik from betrayal. With this bitter reflection he once more fell asleep.
50 Radu
When he woke it was sunrise: and as he stirred, a centipede as long as his hand, dark-red and sinuous, undulated smoothly away from beneath his body. Shouter was drawing out the chains and coiling them into his pack. The forest was raucous with the calling of birds. Already, where the sun shone, the ground was steaming, and everywhere flies buzzed about patches of night-soil and urine. A boy close by coughed without ceasing and all around the children raised their thin voices in foul language and oaths. Two boys lay quarrelling over a fragment of leather which one had stolen from the other, until Bled's stick brought them cursing to their feet.
Shouter gave out small handfuls of dried fruit and watched while they were eaten, his stick ready against any snatching or fighting. He winked at Kelderek and slipped him a second handful. 'Mind you eat it yourself, too,' he whispered, 'mucking quick.'
'Is that all until tonight?' answered Kelderek, appalled at the thought of the day's march.
'It's nigh all there is left anyway,' said Shouter, still keeping his voice down. 'He says there's no more to be had until we get to Linsho, and that's supposed to be tomorrow evening. I reckon he didn't know what this place was going to be like. We'll be lucky to get out alive.'
Kelderek, looking quickly to either side, whispered, 'I could get you out alive.'
Without waiting for an answer, he shuffled away to where Radu was feeding Shara from his own handful.
'You can't afford to do that,' he said. 'You've got to keep up your own strength if you want to be able to look after her.'
'I've done it before,' answered Radu. 'I'll be all right as long as she is.' He turned back to the little girl. 'We're going home soon, aren't we?' he said. 'You're going to show me the new calf, aren't you, when we get home?'