Fire Sea (16 page)

“W
HAT DO YOU MEAN, LANGUAGE OF DEATH? COME
down here!” Haplo reached up, caught hold of Alfred, and pulled him nearer. “Now talk!” he ordered in a soft undertone.

“I understand it little more than you do,” the Sartan said, looking helpless. “And I'm not sure what I mean. It's just that … well, listen for yourself. Can't you tell the difference?”

Haplo did as he was advised, pushing aside the turbulent emotions warring in him to pay close attention. Now that he concentrated, he had to admit Alfred had a point. The Sartan language sounded discordant to Patryn ears. Accustomed to hard, swift, harsh, and uncompromising words that expressed what one had to say in the quickest, simplest, shortest way possible, the Patryns considered the Sartan language elaborate, airy-fairy, cluttered with flights of fancy and unnecessary verbiage and an inexplicable need to explain that which required no explanation.

But to hear these cave-people talk was tantamount to hearing the Sartan language turned inside out. Their words did not fly, they crawled. Their language evoked no images of rainbows and sunshine in Haplo's mind. He saw a pale and sickly light, a light given off by something rotting and corrupt. He heard a sorrow deeper than the dark depths of this world. Haplo prided himself on never feeling “soft” emotion, but this sorrow touched him to the core of his being.

Slowly, he released Alfred from his rough grip. “Do you understand what's going on?”

“No, I don't. Not clearly. But I think I could become accustomed to the language in time.”

“Yeah, me, too. Just like I could become accustomed to being hanged. What're you going to do?” Haplo eyed Alfred narrowly.

“Me?” Alfred was astounded. “Do? What do you mean?”

“Are you going to turn me over to them? Tell them I'm the ancient enemy? You probably won't even have to tell them. They'll remember.”

Alfred did not answer immediately. His lips parted several times as if he intended to speak, but shut when he changed his mind. Haplo had the impression that the man was not trying to decide what to do, but how to explain his decision.

“This may sound strange to you, Haplo. I have no desire to betray you. Oh, I've heard your threats against me and, believe me, I don't take them lightly. I know what will happen to me in the Nexus. But now we are strangers in a strange world—a world that appears to grow exceedingly more strange the deeper we probe it.”

Alfred appeared confused, almost shy. “I can't explain myself, but I feel a … a kinship to you, Haplo. Perhaps because of what happened to us going through Death's Gate. I've been where you were. And I think, if I'm right, that you've been where I was. I'm not explaining this very well, am I?”

“Kinship! The hell with all that. Keep in mind one thing—I'm your way out of here. Your
only
way out of here.”

“True,” said Alfred gravely. “You are right. It appears, then, that while we are on this world we must depend on each other for survival. Would you like me to pledge it?”

Haplo shook his head, fearing he might be called on to pledge something in return. “I'll trust you to save your own skin and because that includes saving mine, I guess that'll be good enough.”

Alfred glanced about nervously. “Now that that's settled, shouldn't we be going back to the ship?” “Are these people Sartan?” “Ye—es …”

“Don't you want to find out more about them? What they're doing on this World?”

“I suppose so …” Alfred hesitated.

Haplo ignored his reluctance. “We'll move closer, see if we can figure out what's going on.”

The two men and the dog crept ahead, keeping to the shadows of the tunnel wall, edging their way toward the light until Haplo deemed they were close enough to see without being seen, hear without being heard. He raised a warding hand and Alfred bobbed up close beside him, hovering silently in the air. The dog flopped down on the rock floor, keeping one eye on its master and the other on Alfred.

The cavern was filled with people, all of them Sartan. Sartan appear to be human at first glance, with the exception that their hair rarely varies in color. Even among children, the hair is almost always white, shading toward brown at the bottom. Patryn hair coloration is exactly the opposite. Haplo's hair was brown on top, shading to white at the bottom. Alfred had almost no hair (perhaps the balding was another unconscious attempt at disguise) and was thus not easily recognizable.

Sartan also tended to be taller in height than those of the lesser races. Their magical power and the knowledge of that power gave them extraordinarily beautiful and radiant countenances (Alfred being the exception).

These people were Sartan, beyond doubt. Haplo's eyes darted swiftly over the crowd. He saw only Sartan, none of the lesser races, no elves, no humans, no dwarves.

But there was something odd about these Sartan, something wrong. The Patryn had met one living Sartan—Alfred. Haplo had seen visions of the Sartan on Pryan. He'd looked on them with scorn, but he was forced to admit that they were a beautiful, radiant people. These Sartan seemed aged,
faded; their radiance dimmed. Some of them were, in fact, hideous to look on. Haplo was repelled by the sight of them and saw his own revulsion reflected strongly in Alfred's eyes.

“They're holding a ceremony of some sort,” Alfred whispered.

Haplo was about to tell him to shut up when it occurred to the Patryn that he might learn something to his advantage. He swallowed his words and counseled patience, a hard lesson he'd learned in the Labyrinth.

“A funeral,” said Alfred in a pitying tone. “They're holding a funeral for the dead.”

“If so, they've waited long enough to entomb them,” Haplo muttered.

Twenty corpses of varying ages, from that of a small child to the body of a very old man, lay on the rock floor of the cavern. The crowd stood at a respectful distance, giving Haplo and Alfred—unobserved watchers—an excellent view. The corpses were composed, hands folded across the chest, eyes closed in eternal sleep. But some had obviously been dead a long time. The air was foul with the odor of decay, although—probably by their magic—the Sartan had succeeded in keeping the flesh from rotting away.

The skin of the dead was white and waxy, the cheeks and eyes sunken, the lips blue. On some, the nails had grown abnormally long, the hair was wild and uncombed. Haplo thought there was something familiar about the sight of the dead, but he didn't know what. He was about to mention his notion to Alfred, when the Sartan signaled him to be quiet and watch.

A man stepped forward, stood before the dead. Prior to the man's appearance, the crowd had been whispering and murmuring among themselves. Now, they all fell silent, all eyes turned to him. Haplo could almost feel their love and respect reach out to the unknown man.

Haplo was not surprised to hear Alfred whisper, “A Sartan prince.” The Patryn knew a leader when he saw one.

The prince raised his hands to draw their attention, an
unnecessary gesture, because it seemed everyone in the cave had their eyes fixed on him.

“My people”—and it seemed that the man was speaking as much to the dead as to the living—“we have traveled far from our homeland, our beloved homeland….”

His voice choked, and he had to pause a moment to regain his composure. It seemed his people loved him the more for his weakness. Several put hands to their eyes, wiped away tears.

He drew a deep breath, continued. “But that is behind us now. What is done is done. It is up to us to continue on, to build new lives on the wreckage of the old.

“Ahead of us”—the prince flung out an arm, pointed, if he had known it, directly at Haplo and a startled Alfred— “lies the city of our brethren …”

The silence broke, angry mutterings interrupted. The prince raised his hand in a gentle but peremptory and commanding gesture and the voices ceased, although they left behind the heat of their emotions, like the heat welling up from the magma sea.

“I say ‘our brethren’ and I mean ‘our brethren.’ They are of our race, perhaps the only ones of our race left on this world or anywhere for that matter. What they did to us—if they did anything to us—they did unknowing. I swear it!”

“Robbed us of all we possessed!” cried one elderly woman, shaking a gnarled fist. The weight of years gave her the right to speak. “We've all heard the rumors you've tried to keep silent. They robbed us of our water, of our heat. Doomed us to die up there of thirst, if the cold didn't kill us first and starvation second. And you say they didn't know! I say they knew and they didn't care!” Snapping her mouth shut, the old woman wagged her head wisely.

The prince smiled at the old woman, a smile that was patient and fond. She obviously recalled pleasant memories. “Nevertheless I say they didn't know, Marta, and I am confident that I speak truly. How could they?” The prince raised his gaze directly to the rock ceiling above his head, but his look seemed to penetrate the stalactites and carry him far
above the shadows of the cavern. “We who lived up there have long been parted from our brethren who live here beneath. If their lives have been as difficult as ours, it is no wonder that they have forgotten our very existence. We were fortunate to have wise ones among us, who remembered our past and from whence we came.”

Reaching out, the prince laid a hand on the arm of a man who had come to stand beside him. At the sight of this man, Alfred sucked in a deep and horrified breath that echoed among the rocks.

The prince and most of the people standing around him were wrapped in all types and manner of clothing, primarily animal furs, as though the region they'd left had been an exceedingly cold one. The man to whom the prince referred was clad differently. He wore a black skullcap and long black robes that, although the worse for wear, were clean and well kept. The robes were trimmed in silver runes. Haplo recognized these sigla as Sartan, but could make nothing else of them. Obviously, Alfred could but when Haplo cast him an interrogatory glance, the Sartan shook his head and bit his lip.

Haplo returned his attention to the prince.

“We have brought our dead with us these long and hard miles. Many have died along the way.” The prince walked over, knelt beside one corpse, who lay in the front of the rest and wore, on its wispy-haired head, a golden crown. “My own father lies among them. And I swear to you”—the prince raised his hand in solemn vow—“I swear to you before our dead that I believe the people in Kairn Necros to be innocent of the harm they did us. I believe that when they hear of it they will weep for us and will take us in and shelter us, as we would do the same for them! I believe this so strongly that I, myself, will go to them alone, unarmed, and throw myself on their mercy!”

The men raised spears, clashing them against shields. The people cried out in shock. Haplo was in shock himself— the peace-loving Sartan were actually wielding weapons. Several pointed at the dead, and Haplo saw that four corpses were those of young men, whose bodies lay on their shields.

The prince was forced to shout to be heard over the clamor. His handsome face grew stern, he sent a flashing-eyed glance around them, and his people hushed, chagrined, at the sight of his anger. “Yes, they attacked us. What did you expect? You came on them too suddenly, armed to the teeth, making demands! If you had remained patient—”

“It isn't easy, remaining patient, seeing your children starving!” mumbled one man, his eyes on a thin little boy, clinging to his father's leg. He reached out a hand, fondled the small head. “We asked them only for food and water.”

“Asked them at spear point,” the prince said, but his face softened in compassion, took the sting from his words. “Raef, don't you think I understand? I held the body of my father in my arms. I—” He lowered his head, put his hands to his eyes.

The man in the black robes said something to him and the prince, nodding, looked up again. “The battle, too, is past and done. We cannot undo it. I take the blame. I should have kept the people together, but I thought it best to send you on while I stayed behind to prepare my father's corpse. I will carry our apologies to our brethren. I am certain they will be understanding.”

To judge by the low growl among the crowd, the prince's certainty was not shared by his people. The old woman burst into tears. Hastening forward, she clasped her feeble hands on the prince's arm, begged him, as he loved them, not to go.

“What would you have me do, Marta?” the prince asked, gently patting the gnarled hand.

She looked up at him, suddenly fierce. “I would have you fight, like a man! Take back from them what they stole from us!”

The low growl increased in volume, spear clashed against shield. The prince climbed on a boulder, so that he could see and be seen by all the crowd gathered in the cave. His back was to Haplo and Alfred, but Haplo could tell by the rigid stance and the squared shoulders that the man had been pushed almost past endurance.

“My father, your king, is dead. Do you accept me for your ruler?” The edge in his voice sliced through the noise
like the whistle of a sword's sharp blade. “Or is there one of you that means to challenge me? If so, step forward! We will have the contest here and now!”

The prince tossed aside his fur cloak, revealing a body young and strong and well muscled. By his movements, he was lithe and obviously skilled in the use of the sword he wore on his hip. For all his anger, he was cool and kept his wits about him. Haplo would have thought twice about confronting this man. No one among the crowd took the prince up on his offer. They appeared ashamed, and all of them lifted their voices in a shout of support that might have been heard in the far-distant city. Again, spear clashed against shield, but it was in homage, not in defiance.

The man in black robes came forward, speaking aloud for the first time. “No one challenges you, Edmund. You are our prince”—another shout—“and we will follow you as we followed your father. It is natural, however, that we fear for your safety. If we lose you, who will we turn to?”

The prince clasped the man's hand, looked around at his people and, when he spoke, his emotion could be heard plainly in his voice. “Now it is I who am ashamed. I lost my temper. I am nothing special, except that I have the honor to be my father's son. Any one of you could lead our people. All of you are worthy.”