Backbone and the shadowy gulf into which one of the waterfalls was tumbling. It was along this that Morunasa and the others were moving.
Carnelian edged round the idol and was about to follow Osidian when he noticed the Plainsmen had come to a halt. Carnelian saw their terror. His eyes met those of Fern, who mastered his fear and crossed the bloodstained ground averting his eyes from the impaler. When he reached Carnelian's side, Fern grabbed his arm and pulled him away onto the path. They were some way along this when they became aware Ravan was following them.
Gurgling, the river ran in many streams. Skeins of dark water parted by rock, reweaving together, tearing in rapids, churning in pools.
Morunasa's smile with its ravener teeth was unnerving. 'So you've been brave enough to come this far?' His amber eyes slid round so that he was looking across at the Isle of Flies from their corners. 'Are you now brave enough to cross with the Master and me?'
Ravan stood forward gazing at Osidian, his face sweaty, hopeful. 'I'll go with you, Master.'
'No,' said Fern.
Osidian ignored them and turned to Morunasa. 'Stop toying with them, Maruli.'
Morunasa looked down at Ravan. 'But this one offers himself and we need blood. The Darkness-under-the- Trees has been unfed for years.'
'In that case, Maruli, we shall give of our own blood.' It was Osidian's turn to smile. 'Unless you fear my fiery blood shall set your banyan alight.'
Morunasa regarded the island with nervous eyes. 'All I fear lives there.'
As the two men glanced at one another, Carnelian was dismayed to see how much they were alike. Morunasa might have been Osidian reflected murkily in a mirror of obsidian.
Osidian turned to them. 'Wait for me here.' 'Don't trust -'
Osidian choked Krow's protest with a flicker of his eyes and then he turned to follow Morunasa down towards the river.
They watched Osidian and Morunasa pick their way across the river. The route they took wound back and forth over the rocks so that it seemed they were finding their way through a maze. When at last they reached the island, they climbed up through its skirt of driftwood, walked along its shore beneath the towering banyan, before suddenly being swallowed between its trunks.
'How long do you think they'll be?' asked Fern. i hope the Maruli's god devours them both,' hissed Ravan through bared teeth.
Carnelian was shocked to see with what bitter eyes the youth was glaring at the island.
The Master knows what he's doing.' The anxious way Krow resumed his vigil of the island belied his words.
Frowning, Fern watched as his brother went off to sulk on a rock. He leaned close to Carnelian. 'His behaviour has been steadily worsening. I can't understand, Carnie, why the Master tolerates it.'
Neither could Carnelian. 'Your brother has good reason to be aggrieved.'
Their eyes met and Fern nodded. Carnelian hoped for a return to their easy friendship.
It was nearing dusk when Krow sprang up and ran down the bank to the river. Carnelian could just make out Osidian and Morunasa emerging from the tangle of the banyan. He watched them winding back from rock to rock. He was dreading their return.
As they approached the shore, Krow went out to meet them. Carnelian saw the youth's dejection as the Master ignored him. Krow fell in behind him, snatching glances at his back as he picked his way among the boulders.
All three reached the shore together. As they approached, Morunasa seemed disturbed and Carnelian detected in Osidian's face the ghost of some horror he had witnessed.
'What was it you saw?' Carnelian asked in Quya.
'Cannibalism in the Labyrinth,' Osidian answered, in a tone that seemed to be one with the dismal gulping of the river.
Carnelian did not understand, did not want to understand. He noticed Osidian's left wrist was wrapped in a clot of leaves through which blood was soaking.
Tomorrow I shall leave you, Carnelian. You will remain here. I would take you with me if I dared, but I need your Chosen face to instil terror and obedience into the Plainsmen that will be staying behind to garrison this Upper Reach.'
'What's he saying?' Ravan demanded.
'He's leaving us,' snapped Carnelian. His eyes met Fern's in a mutual glance of dismay.
Krow leapt in front of Osidian. 'Let me go with you, Master.'
Osidian looked right through the youth. The Oracle Morunasa shall be my only companion.'
Of the two of them, the Maruli seemed now the taller as he regarded them all with condescension. Krow regarded him with unconcealed hatred. Ravan skulked in the shadows.
'And where does my Lord intend to go?' asked Carnelian, already knowing the answer.
Lifting his chin, Osidian turned the emerald fire in his eyes on the brooding chasm below the falls. 'Down there, the Lower Reach, land of the Manila.'
RENDER
A man's desires are the best hook to catch him.
In the dusk it was hard to see the Master on the knoll against the baobab that rose behind him like the night. Morunasa's presence was only betrayed by the blinking of his eyes.
The pale slit in the Master's uba scanned the Plainsmen he had gathered to hear him. Tomorrow, with your approval, I would go down to the land of the Manila.'
Among the crowd, Carnelian was deafened as they rose in uproar. Osidian's pale hands lifted to calm them.
'While I am away, the ladder down into the chasm must be repaired.'
The men erupted again, so that Carnelian was carried a few steps up the slope in their surge.
Fern pushed past him higher still. 'Why, Master, so that the murdering bastards can swarm up to destroy us?'
'If that had been their intention, do you not think they could have done so long ago?' Osidian's contempt withered them to silence. Their attacks on the Earthsky were incidental; merely a way in which they sought to regain access to their shrine,' he pointed, 'the Isle of Flies.
The Ladder is the only link between the Lower and this Upper Reach. When it was cut by a revolt of their pygmy slaves, they were forced to send armies through swamp and jungle up onto the Earthsky. There they killed for the water and djada that they needed to get here.'
More men moved up to join Fern; among them, Ravan. The youth stabbed a finger at Morunasa.
'If we kill the Maruli, no news will reach his people of the destruction of their expedition. They have tried twice already and failed. What makes you believe, Master, they will dare to try again?'
A Darkcloud stood forward. 'Let's burn their Isle of Flies as they burned my tribe's mother trees.'
Morunasa bared his teeth. 'Any man who crosses to the Isle will be devoured by the Darkness-under-the- Trees. Understand this, Flatlanders, you may kill me, but my brethren in the land below will never forsake the dwelling of our Lord.'
