take him some broth.'
Carnelian looked for a ladle, a bowl. It was Sil who found them for him. She began to take food from a pot.
'Not so much,' he said. 'He'll not eat much if he eats at all.'
She looked up, her face full of concern. She put some of the broth back, wiped the rim and then handed Carnelian the bowl. He looked her in the eyes, thanked her, glad they seemed to be friends again, then carried the bowl away as fast as he could, trying to avoid spilling it.
'Why does the Master refuse to eat?' pleaded Ravan, following him.
Carnelian kept his gaze fixed on the hollow. 'He doesn't want to live here.'
'I've promised him everything I could think of, but he won't even talk to me.'
Carnelian felt the youth was crowding him, threatening to jostle the precious broth onto the ground. 'He's one of the Standing Dead… being here… he can't… it's hard to explain.'
Ravan's face darkened. 'It's you, you're killing him. I've seen the way you've been working on my mother. How desperate you must be that you're prepared to humiliate yourself to impress her by working with Fern. The Master would never lower himself to that and so you're getting rid of him. If he dies I'll make sure you're thrown out of the Koppie.'
Stunned, Carnelian watched Ravan move away. The urgency of Osidian's need made him resume his journey to the hollow. When he reached it, he set the bowl carefully on the nearest root, climbed over and sank into a crouch beside Osidian, who looked no better. Carnelian dug an arm under him and struggled to make him sit. Osidian's eyes opened as Carnelian propped him against the root. Carnelian glanced at the bowl nervously, worried he might knock it over. He retrieved it, balanced it on his knee, dipped a spoon into the broth then held it up to Osidian's mouth. 'Eat,' Carnelian said.
Osidian's nostrils twitched as the steam rose from the broth. His eyes focused on the spoon. Slowly, wearily, he shook his head.
'You must eat,' Carnelian pleaded.
Osidian looked into Carnelian's eyes. 'Let me die. It's better that you should let me die.'
Carnelian was seeing him through tears. 'I won't let you.'
Osidian gazed at him.
'You are my heart,' Carnelian whispered, an echo of the vows of love they had made to each other on that terrible night they had been taken in the Yden. Again he offered Osidian the broth.
Osidian's lips smiled a little. 'I cannot be less than I am.'
Seeing the death rings around Osidian's eyes, Carnelian's fear for him heated to anger. 'And what is that? A Master? One of the Chosen? A Lord of the Earth, perhaps? Such claims sound splendid in Osrakum, but looking at you so easily defeated, they are revealed to be nothing more than empty boasts. Any man can be a god behind legions, behind mountain walls. Are you brave enough to be simply a man?'
Irritation sparked in Osidian's eyes. 'You bait me as if I were a child.'
'You have been behaving like one.'
There is no life for me here.'
Then make one.'
'Labouring like a slave; living as a savage?'
These people have no slaves, and though they are poor, they have dignity. If you were to open your heart, you would see they are even possessed of a certain nobility.'
Osidian looked disgusted. They live in such ghastly squalor.'
'Are you so much more delicate than they? Or is it fear, Osidian? Are you afraid that you might be less capable of survival here than are these barbarians?'
Anger had brought Osidian fully back to life. 'What labour do you perform?'
Carnelian described the work he did.
'And this you do out of some sense of debt to your savage?'
'Fern saved our lives.'
Carnelian watched Osidian frown, then lose his gaze in the sky. He dared not breathe. Osidian's eyes fell on him. 'I shall work with you.'
Carnelian imagined Osidian, weak as he was, labouring among the flies and heat. His head shook of its own accord.
'Akaisha will find you something else until you have regained your strength.'
'Strength is not in the body but flows from the will. I shall share this penance with you.'
Carnelian did not care to argue. At that moment there was only one victory he sought. He pushed the spoon to Osidian's lips. 'Eat then.'
Osidian's trembling hands took the spoon and bowl from him and began to eat. As he did so, Carnelian hurried to fetch water from the jar against the tree. When Osidian had drunk enough, he refused any help and lay back in the hollow. He was instantly asleep. Carnelian watched him for a while. Osidian, sleeping, seemed whole again. Carnelian stooped to kiss his forehead, then crept away.
At the hearth, he sat down in his usual place. When Poppy brought him a bowl, he made sure to thank her. It was Ravan who asked him the question everyone wanted to ask.
'How is he?'
Carnelian knew that Ravan would find out some time. 'He's decided to come and join me beneath the Bloodwood Tree.'
Ravan gaped. 'No! You're lying.'
Sil looked startled at the violence of Ravan's reaction.
'Of course he can join us tomorrow, Carnie,' said Akaisha.
Ravan turned his gape on his mother. 'You must forbid it.'
Akaisha raised her eyebrows as a mutter of unease went around the hearth.
Whin stood up. 'Ravan, have you forgotten who you're speaking to?'
Ravan scowled and looked around him as if he were being assaulted from every side. Jumping to his feet, he stormed off, knocking over one of the children's bowls as he went.
Akaisha called after him but he seemed not to hear her. Concern mixed with anger as she looked at Fern. 'What's the matter with your brother?'
Fern looked bitter. The Master has turned out to be a poorer replacement for his father than he had hoped.'
THE CHALLENGE
Beware of forcing a locked door unless you know what lies behind it.
Carnelian woke to find someone lying warm against his chest. Only half awake, he assumed it must be Osidian, but realized he was lying against his back. Carnelian allowed the confusion to sit unresolved in his mind as he turned to regard the dark morning sky through the branches of the mother tree. At last, he found the will to sit up. Whatever it was curled up against him grunted as it adjusted its position. Gently he put his hand out and felt a small head. Peering, he saw it was a child. Poppy. He stroked her hair, drawing comfort from her warmth. He could just make out Osidian, his breathing fitful. Carnelian wondered whether Osidian would have the strength even to stand up, never mind to labour in the heat under the Bloodwood Tree.
Taking care not to wake either of them, he rose, dressed silently and then picked his way across the roots towards the hearth. Several of the women were already gathered in the pale light filtering down to the hearth. Sil saw him coming and smiled brightly.
'Breakfast?'
He nodded and watched her count out enough fernroot cakes for two people.
