Ruins

Param chuckled, and then realized she was amused. That, for a moment, she was something like happy. “Well, thank you for that,” said Param.

“The laugh was your own,” said Olivenko. “I was merely ridiculous.”

“It was kind of you to be ridiculous for me.”

They talked on, the easy conversation of new friends, each telling about experiences that illustrated some point they were making, spinning out the yarns of their lives and weaving them together haphazardly into a sort of homespun that wrapped them both and made them feel warm. Through it all, Olivenko only rarely looked at her; whether it was deference to her rank or sensitivity to her shyness or a kind of shyness of his own, she didn’t know. But it allowed her to look at him fully, frankly, deciding that as grown men went, he was not bad looking. Manly enough in the cut of his jaw and the strength of his neck, but still with the eyes of a scholar, a kind of distance, as if he could see things that ordinary people never saw.

And what did he see? He had seen Father, and liked him, and cared about him.

And he sees me. And likes me. And . . .

Param felt herself blush a little and she turned away. She felt herself coasting along the edge of slow time, but did not step over. She remained here with him.

“Thanks for not leaving,” said Olivenko.

“You knew?” Param said softly.

“I don’t know what you thought of,” said Olivenko, “or what you saw, but you turned away and froze. Like a deer, the moment before it leaps away. I was afraid you were going to leave.”

“I might have,” said Param. “But I decided not to fear you.”

“Yes, that’s what everyone decides,” said Olivenko. “I’m not much of a soldier, not much of a guard.”

“But you’re guarding me,” said Param. “I’m not supposed to fear you.”

“Well, that’s good then,” said Olivenko. And then he went off on a story about a time when he challenged a drunk who was trying to stray into the wrong part of the city, and the drunk showed his contempt by urinating on him.

“No!” cried Param.

“Oh, we arrested him, which means we knocked him down, and the sergeant didn’t understand why I didn’t kick him there on the ground. How could I explain that I agreed with the man’s assessment of me as a soldier? The sergeant was ready to believe I was a coward, and he taunted me, saying that I liked it, come on everyone and pee on Olivenko, it won’t make him mad.”

“How crude,” said Param.

“They didn’t do it,” said Olivenko. “I gave the drunk a couple of kicks. It didn’t hurt him much, there was so much wine in him, and it got the sergeant to shut up.”

“Oh,” said Param, vaguely disappointed.

“If I had principles,” said Olivenko, “I would never have helped a couple of fugitives like you and Rigg get away.”

“Then I supposed I’m glad you don’t.”

And so it went until Rigg and Loaf and Umbo came up the stairs, and Param saw the facemask on Loaf’s head and cried out in sympathy and horror, and she felt Olivenko’s arm around her, his hands on her arm and shoulder, steadying her. “Stay with us,” said Olivenko.

“Vadesh did it,” said Rigg. “He claims this is a different type of facemask, created to blend harmoniously with humans.”

“Loaf is still alive in there,” said Umbo.

“Can’t you take it off?” asked Param.

“It would kill him,” said Rigg. “Or he’d kill us. When you reach to try to pry it off, Loaf turns into a soldier in battle. He’d break us like twigs.”

“Olivenko’s a soldier, too,” said Umbo.

“Not like him,” said Olivenko. He wasn’t going to try to pry off the facemask.

“Then what are we going to do?” asked Param.

“I think now is a good time to get out of Vadeshfold,” said Rigg. “To a wallfold that doesn’t have Vadesh in it. Or facemasks.”

“Might have something worse,” said Umbo.

“Like what?” asked Rigg. “What is worse than this?” He indicated Loaf’s face.

“Death,” said Param.

“Let’s see how Loaf votes,” said Rigg, “on whether death is worse.”

“Where will we go?” asked Param.

“I don’t know,” said Rigg. “Not back to Ramfold. And we don’t know anything about any of the others.”

“We know that sea monsters in the wallfold to the north drowned your father,” said Olivenko.

“Is that a vote to go south?” asked Rigg. “Because I’m open to any suggestions.”

“East,” said a voice that seemed to come from nowhere. A woman’s voice, and yet Param had not spoken.

“Who was that?” demanded Umbo.

“The ship,” said Rigg. He raised his voice, addressing the invisible speaker. “Any particular reason?” he asked.

“No one will harm you there,” said the ship’s voice.

“I vote for that,” said Rigg.

“Can we trust it? Her?” asked Olivenko.

“It gave me control over Vadesh,” said Rigg. “It gave me control over the Wall.”

“Vadesh said you had the power to command him, too, and look how that turned out,” said Umbo.

“If we get to the Wall and it doesn’t let us through, we’ll know that the ship was lying.”

“How can a ship talk?” asked Param.

“Ancient machines,” said Olivenko. “Your father read about them. Machines that talk, but they have no soul.”

Param looked at the machines that brooded around them, wondering if any of them could talk.

“Can you show us the way to the eastern wallfold?” asked Rigg.

Umbo snorted. “Go east,” he said.

“There are very high mountains east of us,” said Rigg. “Wherever the starships crashed, there are now high mountains, like the Upsheer Cliffs.”

“There is no road to the eastern Wall,” said the voice of the starship. “Go around the mountains to the south. Then go east to the sea. If you pass through the Wall near the sea, you’ll enter Odinfold.”

“So presumably we’ll meet an expendable named Odin,” said Olivenko. “Is he a lying snake, too?”

“They all are,” said Rigg. “It’s how they were designed, these machines that talk.”

“Well then,” said Olivenko. “Let’s go look for food and then set out on our journey. The sooner we go, the sooner we find out just what trap this mechanical voice has in store for us.”

Neither Rigg nor the voice said anything to that.

“Can Loaf make a journey like that?” asked Umbo.

“I’m not leaving him behind,” said Rigg.

“I’d stay with him,” said Umbo.

“Let’s see what he decides to do,” said Rigg. “If he doesn’t follow us, then you stay with him.”

“But then we’d be trapped here,” said Umbo.

Rigg hesitated a moment, apparently making a decision. “Any two of you can go through the Wall, whether I’m there or not.”

“When did that happen?” asked Olivenko.

“I used the jewels and gave the command,” said Rigg.

“Any two of us,” said Umbo. “But not one of us alone.”

Param saw that Rigg was embarrassed, but then he stood straighter. “I didn’t want anyone going off alone. We’re safer together.”

“But if you want to go through alone?” asked Umbo.