The Ships of Earth: Homecoming: Volume 3 (8 page)

“Stay where you are,” said Elemak. “I’m binding him and abandoning him out of respect for Lady Rasa, but I’ll be just as happy to give him the pulse and have done with it.”

Hushidh stayed where she was; she had what she wanted anyway, which was the group’s attention. “Elemak planned this all along,” said Hushidh to the others, “because he wanted to kill Nafai. He knew that if he decided to turn back, Nafai would have no choice but to oppose him. He set it up to provide him with a legal excuse for murder.”

Elemak’s eye twitched. Luet could see the rage building out of control in him. What are you doing, Hushidh, my sister? Don’t talk him into killing my husband as we stand here!

“Why would Elya do that?” said Eiadh. “You’re saying my Elemak is a murderer, and he’s not!”

“Eiadh, you poor dear,” said Hushidh. “Elemak wants Nafai dead because he knows that if you had the choice today, you’d leave him and choose Nafai.”

“A lie!” cried Elemak. “Don’t answer her, Eiadh! Say nothing!”

“Because he can’t bear to hear the truth,” said Hushidh. “He’ll hear it in your voice.”

Now Luet understood. Hushidh was using her talent from the Oversoul, just as she did when Rashgallivak stood in the foyer of Rasa’s house, planning to use his soldiers to kidnap Rasa’s daughters. Hushidh was saying the words that would destroy the loyalty of Elemak’s followers, that would remove all support from him. She was unbinding them, and if she could just say a few more sentences, she would succeed.

Unfortunately, Luet wasn’t the only one who realized this. “Silence her!” said Sevet. Her voice was harsh and husky, for she had not yet recovered well from the injury Kokor gave her. But she could speak well enough to be heard, and the very painfulness of her voice brought her all the more attention. “Don’t let Hushidh speak. She’s a raveler, and if she says enough she can turn everyone against everybody else. I saw her do it to Rashgallivak’s men, and she can do it now, if you let her.”

“Sevet is right,” said Elemak. “Not another word from you, Hushidh, or I’ll kill him.”

Almost she opened her mouth to speak again, Luet could see it. But something—perhaps the Oversoul—restrained her. She turned and stepped back to where she had stood before, on the far side of Rasa and Shedemei. It was the last hope gone, as far as Luet could see. The Oversoul could make weak-willed people stupid or afraid for a short while, but she hadn’t the strength to stop a man determined on murder. She hadn’t the strength to make the bandits turn suddenly kind in their dealings with Nafai, should they find him. She certainly couldn’t keep the animals of the desert from finding him and devouring him. Hushidh’s ploy had been the last possibility, and it was gone.

No, I will
not
despair, thought Luet. Perhaps if we abandon him here I can slip away from the party and come
back and untie him. Or perhaps I can kill Elemak in his sleep and ...

No, no. She hadn’t murder in her, and she knew it. Not even if the Oversoul commanded it, as she had commanded Nafai to kill Gaballufix. She couldn’t do it even then. Nor would she be able to slip away and help Nafai in time. It was over. There was no hope.

“He’s tied,” said Mebbekew.

“Let me check the knot,” said Elemak.

“Do you think I don’t know how to tie it?” asked Mebbekew.

“This computer they worship supposedly has the power to make people stupider than usual,” said Elemak. “Isn’t that right, Nafai?”

Nafai said nothing. Luet was proud of him for that, but still frightened for him. For she knew that the Oversoul’s power was very great over a long period of time, but very slight at any one moment.

Elemak was now standing close behind Nafai, with the pulse pointed at his back. “Kneel down, little brother.”

Nafai didn’t kneel, but as if by reflex Meb began to.

“Not you, fool. Nyef.”

“The condemned man,” said Nafai.

“Yes, you, little brother. Kneel.”

“If you’re going to use the pulse, I prefer to die standing up.”

“Don’t make such a show of this,” said Elemak. “I want your hands tied to your ankles, so kneel down.”

Slowly, carefully, Nafai sank to one knee, then to both.

“Sit on your heels,” said Elemak. “Or near them. Yes. Now, Meb, pass the ends of the rope down between his ankles, bring them up and over his legs, and tie them together—in front of his wrists—yes, like that, where his fingers can’t possibly reach them. Very good. Can you feel anything in your hands, Nafai?”

“Only the throbbing of my blood, trying to get past the ropes around my wrists.”

“Strings, not ropes, Nafai, but they might as well be steel.”

“You’re not cutting off
my
blood, Elemak, you’re cutting off your own,” said Nafai. For your blood will be unknown on Earth, while my blood will live on for a thousand generations.”

“Enough,” said Elemak.

“I’ll say what I like now,” said Nafai, “since you’ve already determined to kill me—what difference will it make now, for me to say the truth? Should I be afraid that you’ll kick me or spit on me, when I already stare death in the face?”

“If you’re trying to provoke me into shooting you, it won’t work. I promised Lady Rasa, and I’ll keep my word.”

But Luet could see that Nafai’s words
were
having an effect. The tension in the whole group was rising higher and higher, and it was clear that in everyone’s eyes the showdown between them was yet to come, even when Elemak thought he had already won.

“We’ll get on our camels now,” said Elemak. “And no one will turn back to try to save this mutineer, or whoever tries will share his fate.”

If Luet had not been sure that Nafai and the Oversoul must have some kind of plan, she would have insisted then on dying beside her husband. But she knew him well enough, even after only these few days, to know that Nafai felt no fear at all right now. And while he was a brave young man, she knew that if he truly believed he was going to die,
she
at least would be able to sense his fear. His mother must feel the same way, too, Luet realized, because she was not protesting, either. Instead they both waited and watched as the little play unfolded.

Elemak and Mebbekew started to walk away from Nafai. Then Mebbekew turned, put his foot on Nafai’s shoulder, and pushed him over sideways to lie in the sand. With his hands tied to his ankles, he could do nothing to cushion his fall. But now Luet could see behind him, could see clearly that instead of being tied tightly, the strings were only loosely gathered.

So that was what the game was. The Oversoul was
doing all she could to influence Mebbekew and Elemak to see tightly bound ropes where in fact the strands were only loops. She normally did not have the power to make them stupid—or at least not enough to make
Elemak
so unobservant. But between Hushidh and Nafai, with their dangerous, infuriating talk, they had managed to make Elemak so angry that the Oversoul had more power to confuse him. Indeed, there must be others who could see that Nafai was not firmly tied, though fortunately those in the best position to see were also those least likely to point it out—Lady Rasa, Hushidh, and Shedemei. As for the others, with the Oversoul’s help they no doubt saw what they expected to see, what Elemak and Mebbekew had led them to
expect
to see.

“Yes,” said Lady Rasa. “Let’s go to the camels.” She strode boldly toward the waiting animals. Luet and Hushidh followed her. The others also turned and moved.

All except Eiadh. She stood motionless, looking at Nafai. The others, standing beside their kneeling camels, could not help but turn and watch as Elemak walked up to her, put his hand on her back. “I know this hurts your tender heart, Edhya,” said Elemak. “But a leader must sometimes act harshly, for the good of all.”

She did not even glance at him. “I never thought a man could face death with such perfect calm,” she said.

Wonderful, Luet said silently to the Oversoul. You’re making her love Nafai all the more? How helpful of you, to guarantee that we’ll never have peace, even if Nafai gets out of this alive.

〈Have a little trust, will you? I can’t do everything at once. Which would you rather have, Eiadh out of love with your husband, or your husband alive and the caravan headed toward Volemak?〉

I trust you. I just wish you wouldn’t cut it so close.

“Hear me!” cried Nafai.

“Pleading will get you nowhere now,” said Elemak. “Or do you want to make one last speech of mutiny?”

“He wasn’t speaking to us,” said Eiadh. “He was speaking to her. To the Oversoul.”

“Oversoul, because I have put my trust in you, deliver me from the murdering hands of my brothers! Give me the strength to burst these cords that bind my hands!”

How did it look to the others? Luet could only guess. What
she
saw was Nafai easily pulling one hand, then the other out of the cords, then clambering without much grace to his feet. But the others surely saw what they feared most—Nafai tearing the cords apart with his hands, then springing to his feet with majesty and danger gathering about him. No doubt the Oversoul was focusing all her influence on the others, sparing none for those who already accepted her purpose. Luet, Hushidh, and Lady Rasa were seeing the facts of what happened. The others were no doubt seeing something, not factual, but filled with truth: that Nafai had the power of the Oversoul with him, that he was the chosen one, the true leader.

“You will not turn those camels toward any city known to humankind!” cried Nafai. His voice was tense and harsh-sounding as he strained to be heard across the broad expanse between him and the farthest camels, where Vas had been helping Sevet to mount. “This mutiny of yours against the Oversoul has ended, Elemak. Only the Oversoul is more merciful than you. The Oversoul will let you live—but only as long as you vow never again to lay one hand upon me. Only as long as you promise to fulfill the journey we began—to join with Father, and then to voyage onward to the world that the Oversoul has prepared for us!”

“What kind of trick is this?” cried Elemak.

“The only trick is the one you used to fool yourself,” said Nafai. “You thought that by binding me with cords you could also bind the Oversoul, but you were wrong. You could have led this expedition if you had been obedient and wise, but you were filled with your own lust for power and your own envy, and so you have nothing left now but to obey the Oversoul or die.”

“Don’t threaten me!” cried Elemak. “I have the pulse, you fool, and I’ve passed a sentence of death on you!”

“Kill him!” shouted Mebbekew. “Kill him now, or you’ll regret it forever!”

“So brave of you!” said Hushidh, “to urge your brother to do what you would never have the heart for yourself, little Meb.” Her voice had such sting to it that he stepped back as if he had been slapped.

But Elemak did not step back. Instead he strode forward, holding the pulse. Luet could see that he was terrified—he absolutely believed that Nafai had done something miraculous by breaking free so easily from his bonds—yet terrified or not, he was determined to kill his youngest brother, and the Oversoul could not possibly stop him. It hadn’t the power to turn Elemak away from his firm purpose.

“Elya, no!” The cry was from Eiadh. She ran forward clutched at him, plucked at the sleeve that held the pulse. “For my sake,” she said. “If you touch him, Elya, the Oversoul will kill you, don’t you know that? It’s the law of the desert—what you yourself said. Mutiny is death! Don’t rebel against the Oversoul.”

“This isn’t the Oversoul,” Elemak said. His voice trembled with fear and uncertainty, though—and no doubt the Oversoul was seizing on every scrap of doubt in his heart, magnifying it as Eiadh pled with him. “This is my arrogant little brother.”

“It should have been you,” said Nafai. “You should have been the one who made the others go along with the Oversoul’s plan. The Oversoul would never have chosen
me
, if you had only been willing to obey.”

“Listen to
me
,” said Eiadh. “Not to
him
. You’re the one who is the father of the child within me—how do you know I don’t have a child within me? If you hurt him, if you disobey him, then you’ll die, and my child will be fatherless!”

At first Luet feared that Elemak would interpret Eiadh’s pleading for Nafai’s life as yet another proof that his wife loved Nafai more than him. But no. Her pleading was that he must save his
own
life by not harming Nafai. Therefore
he could only take it as proof that she loved
him
, for it was his life she was trying to save.

Vas had also come back to Elemak, and now laid a hand on his other shoulder. “Elya, don’t kill him. We won’t go back to the city—none of us will, none of us!” He turned back to face the others. “Will we? We’re all content to go on to join Volemak, aren’t we?”

“We’ve seen the power of the Oversoul,” said Eiadh. “None of us would have asked to return to the city if we had understood. Please, we all agree. Our purpose is one now, no division among us. Please, Elemak. Don’t make me a widow over this. I’m your wife forever, if you turn away from killing him. But what am I if you rebel against the Oversoul and die?”

“You’re still our travel leader,” said Lady Rasa. “Nothing changes that. Only the destination, and you said yourself that the destination wasn’t yours to choose alone. Now we saw that the choice belongs to none of
us
, but only to the Oversoul.”

Eiadh wept, and the tears were hot and real. “Oh, Elya, my husband, why do you hate me so much that you want to die?”

Luet could almost have predicted what would happen next. Dol, seeing how affecting Eiadh’s tears were, could not bear to have her performance hold the center of everyone’s attention. So she now clung to
her
husband, and wailed loudly—with very real-seeming tears indeed—that he, too, must refrain from harming Nafai. As if Mebbekew would ever have dared to act alone! As if her tears would ever have moved him! Luet would have laughed aloud, if she hadn’t been so aware of the fact that Nafai’s life depended now on how Elemak reacted to all the wailing.

She could almost see the change happening on his face. His determination to kill Nafai, which had not yielded to the influence of the Oversoul, now melted before the pleas of his wife. And as that will to murder faded, the Oversoul had more and more opportunity to seize upon and magnify his fears. So from being a dangerous killer, in only a few moments he turned into a trembling wreck of a man,
appalled at what he had almost done. He looked down at the pulse in his hands and shuddered, then threw it away from him. It landed at Luet’s feet.