With this task done, Yen Olass walked out across beds of black-green seagrass to the edge of the sea, now rapidly retreating toward low-water mark, habitat of whittle-crabs, snerd octopuses, claw-claws and luxuriant orange starfish.
Out in the water lay a low, dark shape. A whale? She had heard a lot of Carawell talk about stranded whales, and she dearly wanted one of these beasts for herself – a fortune in flesh, bone, oil, ambergris and scrimshaw teeth. Although, to be realistic, if she found one she would probably have to share it with the people at Vinyard, or lose most of it to the next tide.
Drawing near to the stranded alien, Yen Olass was disappointed to see it was not a whale but a tree. Something moved in one of the few remaining broken-off branches. It slipped down on the far side, as if it had seen her. What was it? Closing the distance, Yen Olass circled round the tree, probing spike poised to strike in case she found herself hunting something edible.
There was nothing to be seen.
Yen Olass wrinkled her nose and walked right round the tree. Twice. There was something odd here. She scrambled up onto the tree, which was bare-backed, all bark and leaves having been stripped away long ago. There was no hiding place here for anything even half the size of a kitten.
Yen Olass surveyed her world. The flats stretched away to the sea and the shore; she could make out Skyhaven in amongst the dunes and the saltwater pines, although anyone not knowing where and what to look for might easily have missed the distant cottage. A gull slid through the sky overhead, silently. There was a little wind, just enough to flay a little spume from the backs of the waves guggling at the sea's edge.
Yen Olass sneezed, three times, loudly. Then wiped her nose. She sat astride the tree as if riding a grenderstrander, and kicked its flanks with her heels.
'Come on, tree. Where's your rider? Give!’
But the tree maintained an obdurate silence.
Yen Olass got to her feet and walked the length of the tree, bending down now and then to inspect marks gouged into the wood. Some were recent. And they sure weren't made by seagulls. She took another look at her surroundings. There were three places to hide: in the tree itself,
under the tree, or under the sand.
Yen Olass rapped at the tree with her digging stick. Thunk thunk. It sounded solid. Could something have dug its way under the tree? It looked like it was firmly bedded in the sand… unlikely. She took another look at the sand, considering the nuances of shape and texture. She paid special care to the sand beneath the hair-thick slices of water still easing off the flats. That was the natural place for any fugitive to bury itself, knowing the water would soon confuse the marks of its retreat underground.
After long and careful scrutiny, Yen Olass identified five sinister low-slung humps in the sand. Each almost imperceptibly raised disc was about the length of her arm. Whatever they were, they had gone to ground, each a horse-length apart from the next. Yen Olass found she was frightened.
But they had run away from her. Which meant they must be more frightened than she was. And they were small compared to her – whatever they were. Crocodiles? No, crocodiles were thin and lean, like little dragons without wings. Anyway, they were friendly, good-natured beasts, content to live in their own rivers in unimaginably distant warm-weather lands, maybe eating the occasional incautious explorer now and then, but otherwise largely content to live and let live. Unlike…
Unlike the Swarms, for instance.
Despite herself, Yen Olass recalled tales Morgan Hearst had told her of the onslaught of the Swarms. Pushing north, destroying civilizatior.s as they went, they had been defeated in a battle at the southern border of Estar. Mountains had been positioned across the Salt Road, blocking the advance of the Swarms. But now, according to Hearst, the Swarms were building their own coast road, a slick grey highway outflanking the coastal mountains guarding Estar. He claimed to have seen it as he sailed close inshore on one of his trips to or from the distant island of Stokos.
He had also told her about the monsters that tried to venture north over the mountains… or to come by sea.
Yen Olass counted her enemies. All five were still there. Creatures of the Swarms? No, the idea was ridiculous. The Swarms were huge. Much bigger than people. And they lived above water, not under it.
As Yen Olass was thinking this, there was a 'shlock' as a red tube burst free from the sand. It was about as long and as fat as her thumb; it looked like an obscene little prick sticking out of the fiats, waiting to be reaped, but she supposed it was probably a breathing tube. Shortly, there were five breathing tubes protruding into the air.
So these creatures could not live underwater.
Whatever they were, they had to count as invaders. Living on the tree for days on end, they were doubtless weak, with little fight left in them. But once let them get to shore, and they would rest up, and feed, and grow stronger. And maybe… yes, maybe they would breed.
Yen Olass thought about running to Vinyard to get help. Then she remember the mobile, slippery form which had slipped down out of sight as she approached the tree. Once she left, these things would move. By the time she got to Vinyard, they would have hidden themselves in the hinterland. And, ten crowns to half a pickle, nobody in Vinyard would believe her if she came bearing a tale of monsters from the sea. They would think she was seeking revenge for all she had endured in the way of mythical land octopuses and crawling lightning.
Yen Olass took off her pack and hung it on one of the tree branches. She took out the lump of coal and smashed it. She threw one small piece onto each of the concealed aliens. Then she gathered up her weapons and jumped down to the sand. As she landed, the red breathing tubes retracted smartly, but the pieces of glittering black coal marked each of her enemies.
'Gah!' shouted Yen Olass, driving her probing spike into the back of the nearest alien.
The sand heaved up. She whacked it with her digging stick. It subsided. Yen Olass stamped down on the sand and pulled out her probing spike. It was stained with green.
A sucking sound behind her gave warning.
Yen Olass wheeled. She saw a lump of coal sliding away as a creature heaved itself up from the sand. As it leered up into the daylight, she saw eight legs, vicious underslung claws, a clutch of groping feelers and a dozen nameless lugs of green and yellow flesh. She speared it with her probing spike. The creature flailed. She tried to withdraw her weapon. The claws gnashed at the steel. It was stuck. So she pushed instead, trying to drive it right through the creature.
Something grabbed at her boot.
Yen Olass screamed. At her feet, an armlength disc of faded rainbow colours. It was encroaching on her boot. Green slime oozed from its back: this was the one she had wounded. She kicked at it, releasing herself.
She lost her hold on her probing spike, and the alien she was spiking fell on her weapon. Now the steel was trapped under the creature's weight. Now she could only see its shell, instead of the fearsome apparatus underneath the shell.
The alien which had grabbed her boot had another go. Yen Olass kicked it away, then jumped on it with both feet. Its shell broke with a sick crack.
With a sucking sound, the remaining three enemies scabbed out of the sand. Briefly, she saw their undershell apparatus as they climbed up from their hides. Then, legs and jaws hidden under their shells, they scuttled towards her.
Yen Olass threw her digging stick at the nearest and took to the tree. The aliens followed. Wood ripped and tore as they gouged for holds in the tree trunk. Yen Olass unhooked her pack and hurled it with all her strength. One of the enemy went down.
And now?
One of the aliens swung itself up onto the broad top of the tree trunk. It scuttled towards her. One was still climbing up. Yen Olass jumped, hitting the climbing alien with her feet together. The impact smashed her enemy
loose from the tree. They landed in the sand together. Yen Olass looked up.
The creature left on top of the tree started down after her. Moving too fast, it lost its grip and tumbled down. When it landed, Yen Olass slashed it. Her swatching knife tore into its shell. Then she jumped backwards as the creature rushed her.
Running swiftly on its low-slung legs, it slammed into her at knee-height. Yen Olass was knocked backwards.
