“I believe it. Of no one else, possibly. But of you I believe it.”
“Good. Then I shall tell you of this city, so obviously new and freshly grown. For now that I look closely it is obvious what happened here. You came to this place and that wise scientist, Ambalasei, grew a city for you where none had been before. Since there is no eistaa here you must foolishly think of it as your city, as the city of the Daughters of Death. That is no longer the case. I am the eistaa now. And if this city ever had another name I do not want to hear it. Since I am Vainte, the joy-hunter, I wish a muru of permanence to my city, a tesi to seize and catch that joy. This city is now named Muruvaintesi, the place where joy is hunted and caught forever. Is that not a very appropriate name?”
“It is so inappropriate that I instantly reject it — as will we all. Leave us.”
“No! It is mine — and you will not resist me. Or perhaps you should. It would be easy enough for you to do that. This is your last chance, Enge. Fight back and regain control! Kill me Enge — and the city is yours again. But of course if you do that you have lost everything you profess to believe in! See, Enge, how well I know you. How I place you in an inescapable position. You either lose — or you lose.”
Enge felt her temper flare, felt her thumbs open wide, felt the overwhelming desire to reach out and kill this despoiler who would destroy everything that she believed in, that she had devoted her life to.
Knew that if she gave in to these overwhelming desires she would destroy it herself.
The anger was still there, but she locked it deep within herself, let her arms drop to her side, turned away.
“You decide wisely,” Vainte said, arched with victory. “Now speak to your Daughters and tell them to keep this city functioning well while you are away. They have no choice, do they? They will work as they have always worked, but it shall be my city they work for, not theirs. Remind them that if they refuse and resist that they will die. I shall then bring fargi here to take their places. Go tell them this, then return here. We leave today for Gendasi* for I have one last task to perform before I remake this city. I very much want you to be there when I find and kill ustuzou Kerrick. You do want to be there, don’t you?”
The anger and hatred had burned deep, showed now only in Enge’s eyes. She let her gaze rest on Vainte for a long moment, then turned and walked slowly away. Vainte signed attention to the crewmembers of the uruketo.
“Who commands here?” she asked.
“I do,” Elem said. “But I serve Ugunenapsa and not you. The uruketo remains here. You may now kill me.”
“You do not escape that easily, commander. It is not you who will die — but your foolish companions. Every time you refuse my order I will kill one of them. Is that understood?
Elem signed confusion and disbelief, impossibility of action.
“Possible enough,” Vainte said. “Akotolp, shoot one of these despicable creatures to show the survivors the strength of my resolution.”
“No!” Elem shouted, stepping forward and standing before Akotolp’s raised weapon. “The uruketo will leave as commanded, no more shall die.” She looked at Fafnepto’s corpse just beside her. “One is enough.”
Enge walked stiffly into the city, the shock of Vainte’s arrival still not assimilated. This day she had gone from highest hopes to greatest despair. She met two Daughters on the path and they recoiled at the pain in her movements. She stopped and ordered her thoughts.
“Tell everyone, go to the ambesed now. Events of disastrous nature.”
The word spread quickly and she walked slowly, deep in thought. They were gathering even before she arrived and when she spoke to them the silence was absolute. There were murmurs of pain when she told them what had happened, cries of despair when she described what more there was to come.
“I would like to tell you to have hope. At this moment I cannot.”
“We shall leave the city,” Satsat said. “I remember this Vainte — how could I ever forget her? As Ugunenapsa is the embodiment of life, she is that of death. We must leave the city. We die in either case.”
Enge signed understanding. “You speak from fear. As terrible as she is, Vainte is only a single Yilane. We have not come this far to die at the slightest setback. This is our city. She will try to make it hers but we will resist with silence and work. When we speak it shall not be to her but to any fargi she may bring here. If they understand Ugunenapsa’s words they will then become as we are — and we will have won. I ask you only to have faith in what we have done, and what we still have left to do. Stay here. Work hard. You may have to work even harder when we return. But we have no choice. If we truly follow Ugunenapsa’s teachings we can do nothing else.”
Satsat and Omal and Efen knew what lay in store for them. They knew Vainte when she had been Eistaa of Alpeasak, before the city had been destroyed. They knew what she was capable of. They came and touched Enge’s thumbs as efensele and the others watched in silence. What they had all shared, how far they had come since first they had joined together to follow Ugunenapsa’s will, steadied Enge and even gave her the strength to go ahead.
“I thank you for your aid. I thank you for the new thing I heard of this day called compassion. It is a term that wise Ambalasei used to describe something new that Ugunenapsa brought to the Yilane. I will remember that and I will remember you when we leave here. Although there appears to be no hope — yet I still have hope. We may yet succeed.”
With this she left them and went through the city to the river’s shore. All of the others were within the uruketo save Vainte who stood, waiting for her.
Enge had nothing to say, was scarcely aware of her. She climbed the fin and spoke to Elem who waited there.
“You may leave when you are ready. Do as you are ordered to do, for these are creatures of great violence and death.”
“It shall be as you say, Enge.” Vainte’s shadow fell over them and Elem ignored it very much as Enge did. “Where we walk today is not important, as long as tomorrow and tomorrow’s tomorrow we follow Ugunenapsa’s path.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
It was a happy leavetaking because that was the Paramutan way. Everyone knew that if one showed unhappiness before a voyage it would only bring the worst kind of bad luck, blizzards, disaster. Hanath and Morgil were equally happy at the results of their trading, laughing and getting soaked alongside the Paramutan as they helped to push the ikkergak into the sea. The waves were large and broke over them before the craft was floating free. Kalaleq was the last to board, was pulled dripping from the water by strong hands on arms and tail.
“After the winter we will be here again. There will be much to trade. Come back!”
“We will,” Armun called out, shouting to be heard above the crashing of the waves upon the beach. “We will be here.”
“What did the furry one say?” Hanath asked with clattering teeth, blue with cold. He wrapped one of the new furs about him.
“They want us to trade here again.”
“We will! Next time we will come early and make porro. They will like that.”
“Don’t even suggest it,” Kerrick said. “Not until you have spent a winter snowbound with them. They are a very strange people.”
“I like them,” Morgil said. “They know how to enjoy themselves. Now you can tell us what that horrible black muck was that you buried. I can still smell it.
“That is what is going to keep us alive when these die,” Kerrick said, picking up his hesotsan. “The Paramutan make a powerful poison called takkuuk. It can kill the biggest creature in the sea. It will kill murgu too. Now we know how to make it. I don’t know how but Annun remembers, she made it with Kalaleq. It seems very difficult.”
“Not really,” she said. “It is just entrails and blood made to rot in a special way, then certain roots are added. I know the plant, we were always told to never go near it or touch it. Now I know why.”
