Nightpeople (14 page)

Then Gan settled herself more comfortably, went back to picking the flesh from her fish, and the only sound was the spitting crackle of the fire.

Saria woke to voices. Gan and Dariand sat a little way off, talking. He must have come into the camp sometime during the night. She hadn't heard a thing.

‘At least we got her back. That's something.'

‘Doesn't sound too good, though.'

‘Nah,' Dariand replied. ‘It's not good at all. At best Dreamer Wanji'll get half the council with him. The rest all reckon they've had enough. And now Dreamer Baanti and Slander will be putting in their bit, and you know that Olympic mob …'

Yawning, Saria sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. As soon as they noticed that she was awake, Dariand walked over and crouched in front of her.

‘You alright?'

‘Yeah.'

‘Good.' He slapped her, hard. ‘That's for running off.'

Instantly awake, Saria gaped at him, too shocked to cry or even make a sound. The impression of his fingers burned on her cheek and his eyes blazed with anger.

‘Don't you ever think you can wander away like that, not out here. You were lucky this time.'

‘It's not my fault!'

‘Yes, it is. You chose this. You chose to walk off into the desert, you chose to get captured. You're just lucky that Gan moves with Baanti's hunters, and Dreamer Gaardi and I can track better than most, otherwise you'd probably be dead now.'

‘They weren't going to kill me.'

‘No?'

‘No.' Saria faced up to Dariand as best she could. ‘Some of them wanted to give me to the Nightpeople, but Dreamer Baanti wouldn't let them.'

‘Wouldn't he?' Dariand's expression gave away nothing. ‘I should have left you with him, then.'

‘I would have been okay.'

‘Right. In that case, shall I take you back to Olympic? You sure looked okay when I pulled you out of that hole. You looked like you were doing really well.'

Saria stared at him. She couldn't believe he was angry with her. Not after everything that had happened to her.

‘I was trying to help you,' she snapped. ‘I saw smoke and I thought I'd …'

‘You didn't think at all. You wandered off into' the plains in the middle of the day, on your own, after Dreamer Gaardi and I had both warned you how dangerous it was.'

‘It didn't look far.'

‘It never does. And did you even bother to stop and think about what you were going to do if you actually got near their camp?'

‘I wouldn't have …' She caught herself just in time. Dariand still didn't know about her reaching.

‘You wouldn't have what?'

‘Wouldn't have got caught,' she finished lamely.

‘No? Then how did you end up in that hole at Olympic?'

Saria couldn't find a reply, so she stamped down to the water to sluice her face and hands.

By the time she returned, the other two were once more in conversation, which stopped as soon as she came near. Dariand didn't say anything more, but simply threw another angry glare at her. It was Gan who spoke.

‘Make yourself scarce for a while if you want, but then rest up today, girl. We'll head for Woormra tonight and you'll need your strength.'

The two of them returned to their whispers, making it clear Saria wasn't invited to join them.

Sighing, she wandered along the edge of the pool, exploring the deep hollows of shade which formed where trees grew close to the wall of the gorge. At times, the path was only slightly wider than her footsteps. A little away from the camp, she came across a thick-tailed lizard bathing on a rock in the warmth of the sun; for a moment she considered reaching for it, but the lizard, alarmed by her intrusion into its morning, scurried off before she had a chance.

Around a curve, she sat on a sandy stretch of creek bank and threw pebbles out into the water, watching the widening circles shivering across the greenish surface. Something about the shape of them reminded her of the call. She hadn't heard it since Olympic.

It wasn't fair for Dariand to be mad at her. If he'd told her more about the Darklands, or perhaps let her see Olympic when they'd gone for water, none of this would have happened. Or if he would just tell her about Woormra, or Dreamer Wanji …

Something pressed into the back of her neck. Something cold and damp. The unexpectedness of it, combined with the sensation on her skin, brought the memory of Dreamer Baanti's burning touch flooding back, and with a squeal Saria leapt to her feet.

Startled by the sudden noise and movement, the dog shrank away, cowering back into the scrub that lined the creek bed. Saria simply stared at it, her nerves on end from the fright. Then, as her breathing slowed, she noticed the tiny, almost apologetic twitch at the tip of its tail.

‘What are you doing here?' Slowly, not wanting to startle the animal further, she crouched and held a hand towards it. Initially the dog pulled further away, but then crept forward until its nose quivered a tiny distance from her fingertips.

'I'm sorry for frightening you.'

Without dropping its eyes from hers the dog lowered itself to the ground and rolled, exposing the soft skin of its belly. Saria remembered the oddly familiar presence that she'd sensed coming up the valley the day before, and she gently stroked the white fur.

‘Did you follow us all this way?'

Beneath her hand, the dog's ribs stood out. Its fur was so thin and patchy that the mottled brown and pink patterns on its skin were clearly visible.

Without even thinking, she reached and felt the animal's mind simply slide aside and let her in. Immediately she was aware of something coming up the creek bank towards them. Fast. She pulled her mind back.

‘Go!' she whispered urgently, and without needing further encouragement the dog rolled to its feet and vanished into the bushes, disappearing just before Dariand came charging out of the scrub, with Gan close behind.

‘What's wrong? We heard you scream.'

He cast a quick glance around the small patch of creek bed.

‘I'm fine.'

He looked around until he was satisfied there was no immediate danger, then regarded her again.

‘Why'd you scream?'

‘I saw a snake.'

‘Where?'

‘Over there. On that rock.' She pointed at a flat stone jutting out into the water a little further up the bank. Hopefully, Dariand wouldn't decide to go hunting for it.

‘You don't need to be scared of snakes.' His exasperated expression spoke louder than his words.

I know that,
she felt like telling him, but she didn't. She had to stick to her story. Something gave her the feeling that if Dariand knew Dreamer Baanti's dog had followed them from Olympic, he wouldn't be too happy. Instead, she mumbled an apology.

‘No harm done. Let's all get back to camp, eh?' said Gan, glancing at Dariand.

‘Good idea.' He turned and followed the old woman back down the creek. After a dozen steps he stopped and looked back at Saria.

‘Well?'

‘I want to stay here a bit longer.'

Dariand shook his head.

‘No. Snakes won't bother you, but with a squeal like that you might bother them. Come back and get some rest with Gan and me. We've got a big night ahead of us.'

‘I thought we were going to hide until everything's blown over. That's what Gan said.'

‘Things aren't going to blow over, Saria.' Saria detected something sad in his voice. ‘So we're going to go and meet it face to face.

‘Meet what?'

‘Destiny.'

With a last quick glance at the bushes where the dog had vanished, Saria reluctantly followed.

Back at the campsite, the two adults quickly settled themselves into patches of shade. Dariand gathered his robes around him and Gan propped her back against a tree. Saria found a patch of deep shadow cast by the wall of the gorge and lay on the ground, staring up at the glimpses of dayvault that shimmered between overhanging tree branches. In moments, it seemed, both adults were fast asleep, but then Dariand opened one eye and directed a hard stare at her.

‘If you wake up before us, you stay right here. I don't care if you see Nightpeople on the other side of the creek, you don't go anywhere.'

‘Don't worry,' she retorted. ‘I won't do that again.'

‘Good. Because I reckon you've used up all the luck due to you.'

He rolled on his side, and moments later his breathing deepened.

The afternoon was hot, and Saria tossed and turned, finding it impossible to get to sleep. It was fine for Dariand, he'd been walking all night, but she'd only been awake for a little while and didn't feel even slightly tired.

The ground was hard and uncomfortable. For a while she tried to call up earthwarmth into herself, craving the softness that always seemed to come with it, but without an animal nearby to reach into, she couldn't seem to summon it up properly.

Half-heartedly she considered one of the camels, but they were tethered too far away, and in a spot far more sunny than the one she'd found. She sat up and looked around for the dog, but it was nowhere to be seen. She thought about whistling for it in the way that Baanti did, but the noise would wake Dariand; besides, when she remembered the defeated way the animal had accepted Baanti's kicks and abuse, she knew she'd rather not have it thinking about her the same way.

Her eyes fell on Dariand again, and she remembered what Dreamer Gaardi had said to her days earlier:
You gotta have a bit more connection to a person to get into their head.

A glimmer of nervous understanding shivered through her. She'd asked Dreamer Gaardi if it were possible to reach into a person, and he hadn't really answered her He hadn't said it
couldn't
be done.

Just that you needed more connection.

Did she dare to try and reach into Dariand? The thought sent a tingle down her back. What would it feel like? she wondered, to touch another person's mind with her own.

She'd have to be careful though. She wouldn't probe out for him, wouldn't let her mind sink into his, even a tiny bit. She'd just see if she could call up the earthwarmth and find his consciousness. That's all.

She crept across and lowered herself to the ground beside him. Barely daring to breathe, she reached out and rested one of her hands lightly beside his, then inched it forward until her middle finger brushed against bare skin on the side of his hand. Dariand stirred slightly, but didn't wake.

He didn't move his hand away, either, and even though the actual physical contact was so miniscule, Saria could suddenly feel a warm pinprick between them. Without even calling it up, earthwarmth was rushing through her and Dariand's mind was there in front of her. The brightness and heat of it was startling, and, faced with such a clear, sharp presence, she hesitated.

The man's mind was so different. Almost like something alien. If anything, it reminded her of the wild dogs back in the valley, but even they didn't give off the same aura as this. Dariand was … alive. There was no other word for it. His mind pulsed with intelligence, making it unlike any animal she'd ever reached before. Just floating there in the earthwarmth, without even probing, she could already sense things below the surface: determination, anger, fear, and something she couldn't identify.

A sudden sense of power filled her. She could know Dariand – possess him – if she wanted. That brightness which surged though her fingertip could be hers, and all that came with it.

She should stop. She knew she should pull back right away, withdraw from the sensation of heat and life hovering before her. But the urge to probe outwards, to actually
touch
her mind against his, was overwhelming.

Her heart racing, Saria reached forward, slowly … and gave just the gentlest of nudges.

The explosion of pain that shot through her head was agonising. She screamed, twisting and tearing herself away, rolling desperately to try and escape. The earthwarmth wasn't gentle now; it was a fierce, jolting burning that kicked her away from Dariand with almost physical force.

Dariand was awake the instant her mind touched his, and suddenly he was on top of her, grabbing and shaking her as she lay prone and gasping.

‘Was that you? Was it?'

His voice trembled with rage.

‘I …' Saria started to speak, but her mind was clouded, her thoughts refusing to form into words. Dariand pinned her to the ground by her shoulders, pressing all his weight on her.

‘What did you think you were doing? What in the name of the night spirits were you thinking?'

‘Dariand, steady on, eh?' Gan, wakened by the commotion, tried to pull him off but he shrugged her away.

Saria's chest felt as if it was being crushed, but that was nothing compared to the painful echo of the bright contact with Dariand's mind which still lingered across the front of her skull.

‘I'm … sorry …' she managed to gasp.

Dariand lifted her roughly by the front of her robe, hauling her from the ground and dangling her in the air before him.