Farnor listened to the silence that filled the great chamber.
Even the horses seemed to be waiting for something. Then his own horse shook itself noisily and broke the spell. He turned to Derwyn. ‘I don’t know what to think,’ he said. ‘You’ve been very kind and generous. Indeed I probably owe you my life. But everything about this place – your people – is so… disconcerting. I need to be back with my own kind. People who concern themselves with sheep and cattle…’ He gave a dismis-sive shrug, then concluded incongruously, ‘… and turnips.’ He put his hands to his head. ‘I feel that my sanity will go if I stay here,’ he went on. ‘For all your kindness, I don’t belong here. And while I don’t know what’s happening, I do know that I have matters to attend to at home which can’t be set aside for any reason. I must leave.’
‘This matter is a family matter? A matter of honour?’ Derwyn asked.
Farnor nodded reluctantly, sensing what was to follow.
Derwyn stepped very close to him. ‘You’re going to seek vengeance for your parents,’ he said softly, but with great intensity. It was a statement, not a question. ‘Listen, younger to elder, for a moment. Vengeance is no way for a young man. It’s no way for anyone. And you’ll die, or worse, destroy yourself and perhaps others who care for you, if you pursue it. There will be law some-where in your land. Seek that. And if there’s no law, then seek to bring it there.’
Farnor heard tones in the voice that could have been his father’s. Something stirred deep inside him; struggled to reach into the cold emptiness inside him, where the only warmth came from the image of the death of Rannick.
But the power of the image was too strong and he clung to it fearfully. It was all that he had left.
He met Derwyn’s gaze. For all his kindness and, doubtless, wisdom, the man did not understand. Indeed, could not understand, unless his parents had been arbitrarily, brutally murdered. Straightening up, he said, ‘I thank you for everything that you and your people have done for me, Derwyn.’ His manner was formal and respectful. ‘I would impose on you for just one more thing, if I may, and that’s to accept your offer to take me back to where you found me. I want to leave today. Now.’
Derwyn’s eyes were pained as he held Farnor’s gaze, then defeat and regret came into them, and he nodded. ‘As you wish, Farnor,’ he said, sadly. ‘I’d have liked you to have stayed, for many reasons. To have talked about your people. And our people. And other things. But…’ He made a gesture of resignation. ‘… you know your own mind. I’ll do as you ask.’
An unhappy silence pervaded the members of the group as they made their way out of the chamber. However, as they stepped outside, they were met by a large and noisy crowd, filling the wide defile that led down to the stables.
Derwyn nodded, as if this was what he had antici-pated. He raised his hands as people moved forward expectantly. ‘My friends,’ he shouted above the hubbub. ‘I know what strange call brought you here. We all Heard it too. And I know that the lodges have been alive with gossip and rumour about this young man ever since he came amongst us so unexpectedly, yesterday…’
Questions came from all sides before he could con-tinue. He waved his arms a few times in an attempt to beat down the rising clamour, then he gave up and, putting his fingers into his mouth, gave a piercing whistle. ‘I myself have far more questions than answers, I’m afraid,’ he said into the ensuing silence. ‘But…’ He seemed to reach a decision. ‘We’ll hold a Congress meeting tonight, and I’ll tell you what I know for certain, and also what I think. And then we can talk and conjecture and see if we can muster a little wisdom to help us make some sense of what has happened.’
This declaration ended much of the questioning, but, as the centre of the attention of the crowd, the focus of the pointing fingers and craning necks, Farnor felt as he had when he climbed his first vertical ladder the previous day: exposed and extremely vulnerable. As he walked along, flanked by Derwyn and Angwen, the trailing crowd did nothing to lessen his discomfort. The children especially, were particularly forthright in their curiosity, coming close and staring up at him, wide eyed and unblinking. One or two of the older ones, on the pretext of satisfying the curiosity of their younger relatives, carried them up to Farnor and encouraged them to reach out and touch his black hair, showing them, by the way, how it should be done.
It was thus some time before they reached the tree which led to Derwyn’s lodge, and Farnor was by then more than a little ruffled. Derwyn went first up the ladder, closely followed by Angwen. Farnor watched her and wondered how she could possibly be so graceful when climbing a ladder.
He knew that his own marked lack of grace, or even agility, would be highlighted by the contrast, and that such confidence as he had acquired so far would not withstand the scrutiny of the crowd now watching him keenly. For a moment he considered asking Edrien to go ahead and bring his packs down, but some residual pride prevented him. That and the fact that such an action would leave him alone and feeling even more foolish in the middle of this curious crowd.
As he set off up the ladder he thought that he heard Edrien whispering some kind of injunction to silence, in the midst of which he caught the word, ‘Faller.’
It was however, a useful reminder to him that what he was doing was dangerous and he forced himself to concentrate as he began to pull himself slowly upwards. Only occasionally now did he need to put both feet on one rung before he continued, but each time he did so he seemed to sense the silence of the crowd below deepening under Edrien’s gaze.
Determinedly he refused to look down. Indeed, he did not need to look to feel the eyes of the crowd fixed on him unremittingly. He was glad however, that they were silent, though there was the occasional giggle, or worse, anxious gasp, both of which were followed by a rush of ‘Ssh… Ssh…’, embedded in which, like a barbed arrow, came again the dread word, ‘Faller’.
When he reached the first platform he stepped off the ladder and, looking down at the crowd, risked a wave. The upturned faces were, for the most part, smiling, and there was some tentative waving in reply, together with a little, possibly ironic, applause. There were also quite a few shaking heads to be seen as the crowd started to disperse, noisy again now, freed from Edrien’s stern restraint.
Then, swiftly, Edrien was trotting up the ladder. As she swung off it next to him, she silently motioned him along the platform. More relaxed now, at the prospect of leaving, an old walking habit reasserted itself and Farnor glanced around to see if there were any land-marks that he could identify in the mass of branches and leaves, but there was nothing. How could these people find their way about up here, where everything looked the same? The sooner he got away from this place, the better.
Yet even as he thought this, it occurred to him that at some other time perhaps, to come here would have been a wonderful thing, with so much to be seen, and so much to be learned. He had a fleeting vision of himself as an old man, like Gryss, sitting in his cottage sur-rounded by mementoes of the strange places he had visited in his foolish youth, but it was gone before he could dwell on it. That was a future that now could never be.
As he walked along the platform after Edrien he became increasingly aware that there were far more platforms, walkways and lodges up here than he had noticed before. And too, he became acutely conscious of the fact that he was still the object of a great deal of scrutiny; every person they encountered, and any that he saw nearby, all stared at him intently.
A short walk, and a few ladders later, however, he was once again entering Derwyn’s lodge. It was no small relief to be away from all that increasing curiosity.
Edrien led him along a wide passage and opened a door to reveal a small cupboard. ‘Here’s everything that we found on your horse,’ she said brusquely. ‘Bring it through. You’d better check what’s there, in case anything fell off during your journey. I’ll get you some fresh food and water before you go.’