Osidian controlled anger. 'He will risk the hazards with the rest.'
'I will not aid you unless you promise to keep him safe.'
Osidian chuckled. 'Do you imagine you are that essential to this project?'
'I shall reveal to the Elders the true goal of your schemes.'
Osidian smiled. 'A crude manipulation but one Chosen in mood. Do you believe those decrepit savages even have the imagination to see my plans are possible? They will laugh at you, my Lord.'
'I will make them believe me.'
Osidian threw up his hands. 'Enough. I shall not touch your precious savage. Is that enough?'
Carnelian considered trying to get Osidian to swear a blood oath, but he feared pushing him too far and so he gave a nod.
That night Akaisha's hearth were disturbed by a succession of women visitors saying they had come to see if it was true the Elders had given the Master command over all their menfolk. Over and over again, wearily, Akaisha had to confirm it, but Carnelian could see the visitors were hardly attending to what she said, but rather sneaking sidelong glimpses at Osidian, whose face the firelight was making brighter than the moon.
Later, men began to come in twos and threes to talk to the Master. Ravan at his side, Osidian received them away from the hearthlight near the rootstair.
When Fern and Sil left the hearth, Carnelian followed them. Both turned to face him.
'Be careful,' Carnelian said to Fern.
Sil frowned. 'You will be going with Fern tomorrow, won't you?'
Carnelian shook his head. 'He wants me here.'
Sil glanced at the Master. Fern was examining Carnelian's eyes and saw from where the danger might come.
Sil smiled at Carnelian and then led her husband away to their sleeping hollow. Unhappy, Carnelian watched them go. He felt someone near him and saw it was Akaisha.
'Has the Master told you his intentions, Carnie?'
As he told her what he knew, her forehead creased into an ever deeper frown. 'I don't like it. It has a smell of impiety.' She gripped his arm. 'Are we doing the right thing?'
'What choice do we have?'
She looked up at him, probing his face, then letting go, she looked away. Following her line of sight, Carnelian saw the black shapes of two men nodding as they received a mutter of instructions from Ravan, beside whom loomed Osidian's immensity.
Carnelian saw how much she was struggling with doubt. 'I must start tomorrow. Will you help me?'
She tore her gaze back to him. 'You'll need quite a few of us to oversee the work.'
The next morning Carnelian took Poppy down to the Newditch with the rest of the Tribe to watch the men ride away. Osidian rode at their head with Galewing and his son, Hirane. Ravan and Krow were close behind. Searching for Fern, Carnelian found him further back. He watched until Akaisha and a score of other women came for him and, together, they went down to the Bluedancing field.
Their camp had trampled all the ferns into the earth. He saw the attempts they had made at forming hearths. These were so close to each other that the scatter of sleeping bodies formed a single mat of grubby cloth and flesh which reminded Carnelian, uncomfortably, of the way their men had looked lying on the battlefield.
'Poor creatures,' Sil said in a low voice.
They brought it upon themselves,' Akaisha snapped to a nervous nodding murmur of agreement.
Before they reached them, the Bluedancing began coming alive. Carnelian could see their dirty faces gaping. They stumbled to their feet, clutching their children to their hips. A deputation of their Elders came out to meet the Ochre. Akaisha brought her own people to a halt. The salt bangles of the Bluedancing hung loose with their skin on the sticks of their limbs. Most had made an attempt to brush back their hair, but their faces were grimy, and their robes and head blankets filthy. They stank. It was clear that however much water they were being given, it was not enough to wash with.
Their dark eyes were fixed on Akaisha.
Today you work elsewhere,' she said. The uncharacteristically harsh tone in her voice caused Carnelian to look at her. Akaisha's narrowing eyes, her taut thinned lips seemed to show aloofness but he knew her well enough to see her pain.
The Bluedancing women bowed a little and made their way back to gather their people and, then, woman and child, carrying mattocks, they all followed Akaisha and the Ochre down to the Bloodwood Tree.
'How shall they dig?' Akaisha asked him.
Carnelian shrugged. 'You know more about this than I do, my mother.'
She peered over the edge. 'You want us to bring this up to the condition of the Newditch?'
That would do to begin with.'
She looked up and down the length of the ditch. 'It's going to take a lot of work.'
Carnelian looked round to see the crowd of the Bluedancing. There's a lot of hands to do it.'
Akaisha frowned. 'But we've had them in the ditches since they came. Earth-moving is hard work even when a person is well fed. With what we've been giving them…' She grimaced.
Carnelian grew morose contemplating the trap Osidian had them in. The Master will keep his promise and then not only the Tribe, but the Bluedancing will have all the meat they need.'
They set the Bluedancing to working in the ditches. Carnelian wandered along the edge of the meadow, sometimes stopping to look down. Everywhere, women and children were labouring in the mud. He gazed out past the Horngate. The sun had risen high enough to melt the view and beat down on him like a migraine. An Ochre voice was barking instructions. Carnelian felt useless and worried that Osidian had only left him there to stop him interfering with whatever it was he was up to on the plain. He made for the Bloodwood Tree, seeking solitude in its shade. The rot of blood was in his nostrils even before he could see its stain in the earth. He walked round behind the tree, putting its trunk between him and the sun. Lying against its bark, he relived the times he had spent there talking with Fern. He cursed himself that he had not after all bound Osidian with an oath.
Hearing Akaisha calling his name, Carnelian walked back into the searing sun. Squinting, he could make her out, beckoning.
'We need you to check we're doing it right,' she said as he approached her.
He allowed her to lead him back to the ditch where he helped her down a crumbling slope. Soon they were among the workings. When Bluedancing turned to watch them pass, Whin forced them back to work with a shout. Carnelian's glance of surprise only served to make her angrier. He was feeling he did not know her, perhaps never had, when the anger slipped from her face like a mask and, looking ashamed, she ducked away.
'Down there,' said Akaisha pointing among the heaving backs. Carnelian saw her against the rise and fall of their mattocks, saw her distaste. His apparent detachment angered her.
'You're the one who asked for my help!'
Carnelian could find no way to explain how he was feeling. 'Please show me.'
Akaisha turned and he followed her as she wound her way through the Bluedancing. Carnelian saw it was their young women who were hacking at the muddy walls. The older women and the children were clawing the crumbled earth into baskets which, when full, they dragged one heave at a time away from the ditch wall.
'Look here,' said Akaisha and showed him with her hands where the earth on either side had been cut back. 'Is that enough?'
Carnelian's eyes were drawn back to the people slaving. He saw an old woman, an Elder by the salt beads in her hair, struggling, tugging at a basket filled with soil.
They shouldn't wear their salt, it'll be lost,' grumbled Akaisha.
The old woman was still pulling but her basket had dug into the ground. She stopped, bowed, misery making her red eyes tear.
Carnelian ran forward and, taking hold of the wrinkled hands, peeled them off the basket handle. This is too much for you, my mother.' He turned from the confusion in her gaze and tore at the handle, yanking the basket free and then dragging it until he backed into another. He strode forward looking for another one to pull. He felt a touch on his arm.
'What're you doing, Carnie?'
He looked up into Akaisha's face. 'Helping them.'
