Across the Face of the World (29 page)

'Why you on Myrvidda?'

'We're travelling on the Westway,' Kurr replied cautiously.

'What you speak?' the man responded, eyes narrowing. 'What you say?'

'Ah - we are going on the road,' said Kurr.

The tall man laughed so hard his cap fell from his head, revealing long blond locks. He turned to the others. 'Descray oyval, descray oyval'.' he repeated, and the others laughed too, the sound rattling around in the narrow gully.

'No oyval, no road, only anvar snow! Where you go?'

'Following other men,' the Haufuth blurted out before anyone could stop him.

'Other men? Horses men?' There was a silence. The figures drew a little closer in the fading light.

'Yes,' Kurr replied eventually.

'lglindin descray du tendar!' the leader called, and swiftly the Company was surrounded by the four tall warriors. Ropes were produced with which to bind the travellers.

'You come with us!' the tall interpreter commanded. One of the men began to tie Farr's hands together. The ashen-faced Vinkullen man did not resist.

Three more figures strode down into the gully, one dressed in red. The others all bowed to him as he approached. Sharp words were exchanged between him and their questioner, who deferred to him with a low, sweeping bow. 'Undin descray!' he commanded, and Farr's ropes were removed. The red man nodded as they fell to the ground.

At the prompting of the bowmen, the travellers packed up the remains of their meal and reloaded their footsore horses. Then, at a command, they were marched up out of the gully by the escort, with the red-clad man bringing up the rear.

'Are these the Bhrudwan riders?' whispered Leith nervously to his brother. Hal was about to reply but Wira, who was immedi¬ately behind them, interrupted.

'No, these people are Fenni.' Leith turned and almost stumbled. The warrior nearest him growled; Leith kept walking.

'Fenni? The only Fenni I've heard of are the cruel northern mountain gods who— oh . . .'

Wira began a reply, but was cut off by another growl from their guard.

The captors and their captives struggled up out of the gully and struck across the snow-cloaked moor. There were no landmarks to tell the Company where they were being taken, or whether they had been on this stretch of moor before. The setting sun provided the only clue.

They were travelling towards the northeast, with the sun at their backs - away, Leith was sure, from the Westway. For a while there was no sound except the soft shuffle of feet and hoofs on crusty snow; then the younger Storrsen, who had increased his pace slightly, drew level with Leith and Hal.

'Haven't you heard about the Fenni?' Wira whispered.

Leith shook his head slightly without turning around, for fear of the guard. 'At home we tell stories about them, the stick-men of the snowfields, cruel and fierce, with a deep hatred of outsiders. If Breidhan Moor is their land, why didn't you tell us about them?'

'They're not supposed to live here. Further inland lies a plateau called the Myrvidda; that's where they are said to live. Anyway, the stories we told were just that - stories. I never dreamed that the Fenni were a real people! No one in Mjolkbridge believes in them.'

'Are you sure that these people are the Fenni?'

'They said so, didn't they? No, there's no mistake. Our stories tell of the red-cloaked man.'

'Who is he?' Leith asked. He was beginning to shake, not only from the cold.

A priest.'

No more was forthcoming, so Leith risked a sideways glance. Wira stared straight ahead, lips pursed, brow furrowed, face drained of colour.

'Wira,' Leith asked quietly, knowing the answer as he did so, 'are we in danger?'

'Danger?' Wira replied, his voice strangely flat. 'Danger? If our stories are true, we're already dead.'

Up ahead the Haufuth let out a cry as he broke through the snow crust. The horse beside him also sank into the snow, bringing the procession up short. The black figures converged on the trapped man and horse, struggling to free them in the gathering gloom, all the time urged on by the man in the red cloak. Eventually the horse was freed and the Haufuth climbed out of the hole and dusted himself off, but he became stuck again almost immediately.

The man in red cried out. Instantly one of the figures darted away into the distance. The other Fenni gathered around the priest, save one bow-wielding guard who was left to watch over the pris¬oners. Wira and Farr wasted no time telling the others of their desperate position. Farr suggested that they attempt to escape immediately, with only one guard to overpower, but Kurr was against it. 'He would take two of us with his bow before we got to him, and then we would be at the mercy of the others. No; I'd rather find out what they want and settle this peacefully. See to it that no one makes any move that could be interpreted as aggres¬sive,' he said, gazing with meaning at the hotheaded older Storrsen.

Farr was about to argue further when a barked command, the sort that is intelligible in any language, cut him short.

The Fenni made their prisoners stand in a line. Leith swallowed hard and tried to be brave.

Perhaps his time had come to die, but he would not cry or plead for mercy. Beside him his brother appeared calm, and Leith took some comfort from that. If Hal was not afraid, perhaps there was nothing to fear.

The figure who had been sent away now returned, carrying a pack. It was opened, and flat, paddle-shaped objects were handed out amongst the Fenni. What sort of weapons were these/

Leith wondered. Pieces of leather stretched out over a wooden frame? The members of the Company braced themselves as the figures approached.

'Kunlun in,' their interpreter said. 'Put on snershill' And he showed them how to attach the paddle-like objects to their feet.

This the Company did, to their puzzlement. 'These are special snow shoes!' Kurr cried, but the others did not understand him until they took several awkward steps forward. Instead of breaking through the snow, the wide-framed shoes spread their weight over a wider area, and they could walk in safety upon it. Similar shoes were fitted to the horses and, after some delay while the horses were coaxed forward, they moved off, slowly at first, then more sure-footedly, into the darkening sky.

They reached the Fenni campsite at the edge of darkness. About a dozen tents made a circle in an open, flat area of moorland from which the snow had been cleared. The waxing half-moon lit the snow-covered hills around them with a silver sheen, against which stood the black silhouettes of the tents, animals and other posses¬sions of the Fenni. Several huge cattle-like beasts stood at the far edge of the Fenni camp. Aurochs! They must be aurochs! Leith marvelled, his danger forgotten for the moment. Even he had heard the fanciful tales of the aurochs, cattle taller than men, which had once roamed freely across the length and breadth of Firanes. He shook his head in wonder. Surely they walked in another world, another place and time, in which fireside tales rose up out of the ground and mixed themselves up in the lives of ordinary people.

But, he reminded himself, this is no ordinary journey.

In a clearing at the centre of the camp a bright bonfire burned, surrounded by dozens of people sitting and talking. They pulled back as the strangers approached, making room for them at the fireside. Mothers hurried their children away; others joined the circle around the fire, emerging from their low-slung tents. All wore the same black garb - all save the old man dressed in red, and an even older man clad in chiefly white, sitting silently in the shadows.

The priest beckoned his prisoners to be seated, then stood amidst a profound silence interrupted only by the crackling of flames eagerly devouring dry wood.

The travellers looked into the many faces on the opposite side of the fire. On some they read hostility, others merely idle curiosity, still others showed indifference, boredom or tiredness.

But every face came awake when the red-cloaked man began to speak.

He addressed them for quite some time, his words unintelligible to the members of the Company. But his meaning became clearer when he raised his voice, then snatched a blazing firebrand from the flames and pointed it at the prisoners, then at the Fenni them¬selves.

Angry murmurs broke out amongst the gathering.

Kurr leaned over to the Haufuth. 'We're on trial here,' he whis¬pered, 'and we don't even know what the charge is.'

Now the man in red pointed to another man at the far edge of the fire, indicating for him to stand. Gasps came from the Storrsen brothers as he stepped forward into the light.

'Perdu!' cried Farr. 'Is that you?'

The man gasped in turn, his hand going to his mouth in shock and surprise. After a long moment he turned to the red-cloaked priest. A short but animated conversation passed between them, then the man came over to the travellers.

'Farr Storrsen!' he cried. 'My clan chief wishes me to ask: what have you done with our food?

What have you done with our dead?'

'Perdu! It is you!' Farr replied, rising to his feet. 'What are you doing here? We thought you were dead!'

The man called Perdu glanced back towards the man in red. 'Please!' he pleaded with them, speaking clearly, enunciating every word as though grappling with a seldom-used tongue. 'We will talk later, if things go well. For now, answer my clan chief. What have you done with our food? What have you done with our dead? Answer with care, I beg of you.'

Farr was in no mood to answer questions, having too many of his own. Sensing this, his brother pulled him down, then rose to take his place. Farr cried out angrily, but Kurr gripped his arm tightly. 'Be still, you young fool!' the farmer hissed in the ear of the mountain man.

'Your brother has sense enough for both of you; leave it to him!'

Wira faced Perdu. 'We are sorry if our conduct has offended your clan chief,' he said amiably, putting as much quiet authority into his voice as he could muster. 'We know nothing of Fenni food or Fenni dead, though it grieves us to hear of your loss.'

Perdu smiled his relief, then turned to his chief. A long conver¬sation followed, in which Perdu pointed to himself, the travellers and back across the moonlit moors. Finally he returned his atten¬tion to the travellers, his face impassive, his eyes solemn.

'My clan chief is sorry, but he must know the truth. He believes that two days ago your party waylaid a group of our people, killing four Fenni and stealing their food. You took a Fenni woman as prisoner. Fenni from another camp saw the attackers, and will be here soon. They will identify you. My clan chief asks: where is your prisoner? Where is our food?

'I personally do not believe that the sons of Storr would do such a thing, and I have told him so,' Perdu continued. 'Nevertheless, Fenni have been killed by strangers riding on the moor in winter, and he awaits an explanation of your purpose.'

'Tell your clan chief that we are not the people he seeks!' Wira replied boldly. 'Two days ago we were huddled in a shelter against this snowfall. We did not emerge until today, and our tracks will verify my tale. We met no other people on the moor.

'As to our purpose,' Wira continued, 'we travel over the high¬lands not by choice, but because it is the route taken by the enemy we pursue. This enemy is a group of four fearsome Bhrudwan warriors, men who have done the same to us as they have evidently done to you.

On Midwinter's Night these riders entered the town of Loulea and took two prisoners, the parents of these young men' - he indicated Leith and Hal - 'and three days later they attacked and killed Storr of Vinkullen as he stood defenceless in the main street of Mjolkbridge. It is for no light reason that we attempt the winter passage of Breidhan Moor. It is my belief that the men you seek are the men we also seek.'

Perdu stood dumbfounded before them. 'They killed Storr? My uncle is dead?' He spread his arms wide, as though trying to encom¬pass the news, and tears began to fall from his cheeks.

A sudden command from behind turned him around. The man in red saw Perdu weeping, and placed an arm on his shoulder. The two men walked over to where the man in white sat, and all three talked at length in the Fenni language, on and on as the fire burned down and the moonshadows deepened. Leith's legs began to ache, and he was light-headed from hunger and tiredness.

At last Perdu turned and faced them again. 'My clan chief welcomes you into his tent,' he said, indicating the whole camp¬site with a sweeping gesture. 'This is a great honour, reserved for true friends of the Fenni. He does so because he fears he has made a mistake in accusing you of the deaths of his people. He now believes that you are not the people he seeks, and wishes to hear more of the ones you pursue. That is my wish also. Will you come into his tent?'

The Haufuth, standing tall and straight with regal bearing, replied: 'Yes, we will come into your tent!' When Perdu conveyed this answer, the old man in white smiled and nodded his head.

Drink followed food as the travellers took their ease inside the huge aurochs-skin tent of the clan chief. Leith marvelled at the colourful weavings and tapestries adorning the walls, but his breath was taken away by the huge variety of foods presented to them. The Fenni were traders, and their skill at making goods for sale was complemented by their ability to make a good trade, so their larders were well stocked. Leith certainly had not expected a few short hours ago to be supping at the table of the fabled Fenni of the North. 'Friends unlooked for,'

Kroptur had said, and certainly the Fenni had been unlooked for. Leith shook his head in wonder¬ment: Kroptur himself had turned from legend into friend, and now the Fenni had done the same. Perhaps it was not foolish to harbour hopes of success after all. Perhaps he would see his mother and his father again.

During the meal a man and a woman were led in and presented to the travellers. They quickly shook their heads and left. 'The Fenni who saw the Bhrudwan assailants,' Perdu informed them. 'They have told the clan chief that you were not the ones.'

'That's a relief,' Farr responded. 'What would have happened to us had we been found guilty?'