Carnelian glanced at Crowrane, who was pouring threats on the youths. The two of us, Osidian? Alone?'
'And why not. Do you fear the predators?' He snorted. 'You are transparent, Carnelian. You hope to save your barbarian boy.'
Carnelian glared at Osidian, hating him. 'We both know he cannot be saved.'
'What then?'
'Poppy.'
Osidian frowned hearing the name. 'Akaisha means to give her up to the childgatherer.' Osidian dropped his head in exasperation. He looked up. 'And?'
'I will not let her do it.'
Osidian let his head flop back closing his eyes and groaned. 'And if you go back in there and the ammonites see you? I thought my Lord expressed the wish to save his precious barbarians?'
'I will be careful.'
Osidian fixed him with the terrible green intensity of his eyes. 'I forbid it. This course of action imperils your life.'
'Nevertheless, I will attempt to save the girl,' said Carnelian and coaxed his aquar forward towards the bridge.
Ravan began pleading with Osidian who turned on him. 'Choose to follow me or remain.'
He glared at Krow. 'You too.'
The youth moved his aquar to Osidian's side.
'My mother will expel you from our hearth,' cried Loskai.
'So be it,' said Krow.
This exchange seemed to make Ravan decide. 'I'm yours, Master.'
Crowrane raged. 'I'm your huntfather. You will obey me.'
Carnelian could not bear to watch any longer and directed his aquar towards the bridge.
'You mustn't,' the women cried trying to grab hold of his saddle-chair. The Elders…'
'Hang the Elders,' Carnelian cried, making his aquar advance through them, then, when he was sure they would not be hurt, he spurred his aquar into a run across the bridge. He was through the gate before they could bar it against him. Once in the ferngarden he glanced back and saw Osidian already riding away with Krow, Ravan and some others.
THE CHILDGATHERER
The flesh tithe is a core instrument of the Policy of Domination.
Ammonites of the appropriate lores and levels (feel the appendices attached to this reel) are despatched annually to perform a demographic audit and evaluation of the tributary populations.
It is the core of the Policy of Domination that the tributary populations shall enforce the strictures of the auditing procedure upon themselves. In seeking to protect their own offspring from the tithe, kin can be expected to betray any infringement by others in the group. The greatest benefit accruing from this technique is not that it compels obedience without expense to the Commonwealth, but rather that it foments internecine conflict in the tributary populations precisely at the points where its individuals are most closely bonded.
Morbid silence reigned beneath the mother trees as Carnelian crept up rootstairs and along paths fearing that, at any moment, he might be spotted. It seemed that the brooding menace of the faraway swamp had come to lair in the Grove. Peering through the branches of a cedar he spied people engaged in furtive rituals around its trunk.
When he reached Akaisha's tree he did not approach it by its open, downhill side, but instead ducked under the uphill branches. Hearing voices, he remained crouched, peering across the sleeping hollows to where he could see many of his hearthmates. Sil's lilt carrying through the silence was answered by her mother's heavier tones. Imagining Whin's reaction to seeing him there, Carnelian's courage slipped away. The danger he was putting them in froze his feet to the ground. This is my home, he told himself, but did not believe it. Not today. Today you are a Master; one of the Standing Dead. One of the monsters who have sent their servants to rape the Tribe of its children. He despised the arrogance that had made him imagine that he could save Poppy. In the gloom beneath the cedar, a boy was being prepared by his mother. Who was there to take care of Poppy, to give her comfort? It was her need that melted Carnelian into motion. The cedar bristled against his shoulders, then he was able to straighten up and, shaken by his heart, he began to wind his way through the hollows.
'Great Mother!' cried Sil.
Grief drained the blood from his head as Carnelian saw Fern standing beside her.
'You're not welcome here,' shrieked Sil. 'You brought the Gatherer.'
Carnelian could do nothing but stare at the accursed legionary collar gleaming darkly at Fern's throat.
'Why are you here?' his friend asked.
Akaisha appeared with Whin. 'Are you trying to get us all killed?'
'Where's the other one of your kind?' asked Whin.
'Out on the plain,' Carnelian answered.
Akaisha grasped Carnelian's arm. 'Didn't they catch you at the Newditch? Did no one warn you? We sent messengers to every gate in case you should return.'
'Yes, but… Poppy,' he said.
Akaisha's face sagged and she let go of him as Whin flamed to anger.
'You risk the Tribe for the sake of one child?' Carnelian saw the pain in Fern's eyes and wanted to tell him he had come for him too. 'One child?' barked Sil.
Her anger ignited Carnelian's own. 'Do you find that so hard to believe?' He scanned their faces. Whin's eyes glazed as she looked into herself. The same expression came over the other faces. Only Akaisha's eyes were seeing him and, in her face, there was something of shame.
She turned to her hearthsisters. 'I'll deal with this.'
Wild-eyed, Sil was led away by her mother.
'Where's Ravan?' asked Fern.
'Out on the plain… he remained with the Master out on the plain,' Carnelian replied.
Fern hung his head. Akaisha looked at her son, already grieving for him. She put on a smile.
'If your brother hasn't come it's because he can't bear to see you torn from us.'
Her certainty was only a veneer. She peered out through the leaves and branches towards the plain as if she might hope to see Ravan in the far distance. 'Otherwise, he would most certainly be here.'
Carnelian wished he could confirm her hope. Her eyes lensed with tears, she took his hand and led him away from Fern. Carnelian saw as if for the first time the children of the hearth, shivering naked, the hair being scraped from their heads. Fathers and mothers, faces coloured by anger and pale fear, stiffened to masks by the tears they refused to shed that would break their children's courage.
Carnelian searched for Poppy and saw her, alone, kneeling over a leather bowl, water dripping from her face and hair. She began rising, ready to come running, but he shook his head and she understood and fell once more to her knees.
Akaisha squeezed his hand. 'She's not as abandoned as she looks, Carnie. Before you appeared, I was helping her get ready.'
‘I’ve never believed you to be uncaring.'
Akaisha flushed. 'I pray the Gatherer will take her in place of my granddaughter.'
'I know,' he said, letting her see in his eyes he was not judging her.
Carnelian glanced round looking for Fern. Holding his daughter in one arm, he was stooped over a bowl with Sil. As he concentrated on shaving the tiny head, his wife was examining his face as if she were engraving every curve and line in her memory. Carnelian envied her closeness to him.
'Don't mind his manner, Carnie, he's beside himself with fear,' said Akaisha in a low voice.
He looked round at her. 'His daughter?'
'My granddaughter will not be chosen,' she said fiercely. 'Of course he fears for her but today he has more reason to fear for himself.' She looked over at her son, sorrow ageing her. 'He's lived bravely with what must happen but he didn't expect it to come so soon. He's not had time to prepare himself for what will be done to him today.'