Avosing

  action on the second line [1]

  Shadith woke to a throbbing in her head that blanked out everything else. She drifted in and out of consciousness, aware of little beyond a thick darkness around her and noises she heard and forgot immediately. Disoriented and nauseated, she was too absorbed by pain to wonder who she was and what had happened to her.

  Gradually she grew aware of something outside the pain. Her wrists were tied together, a smooth pole passed between them. Her legs were tied at the knees and ankles to that same pole. He head hung loosely, bumping back and forth with the swaying of her body. She was being carried like a pig to a roast. Eyes slitted, fighting to ignore a headache that beat the worst hangover she could remember, she used the motion of her body to shift her head about and gain the widest field of vision she could manage without informing her captors she was awake and aware.

  The darkness was gone. She was being carried through a thin greenish twilight. Forest. On the edge, as before. A man ahead of her, pole on his shoulder, looked like an amber miner. That couldn’t be right … they wouldn’t … no … forester of some kind. More likely. Man behind her, much the same. Big men, keeping up a smooth steady lope, used to being in the forest. More of them behind her carriers. She took a chance when they went around a slight bend, swayed out farther, fell back. Another pole. Probably Linfyar. Poor Linfy. Her stomach was turning flip-flops. She kept from vomiting by force of will alone. The nausea came and went in waves; once the worst was over, it retreated for a while.

  When the last crisis was over, she tried thinking again. Looks like I won’t have to bother laying a trail to show I’m no provocateur. This has to be the Ajin’s men, and isn’t that a giggle. All my fussing for nothing. Wonder if old loudmouth is watching. Keeping his head down if he is. If I had anything to bet with, I’d give good odds these bastards found my stash and my hard-earned coin is sitting in their pockets. Shadow, my girl, this is a promise, if that’s so I’ll take it out of their stinking hides. Hunh, I’ll take this damn pole and make ‘em eat it, first chance I get. Lousy way to travel.

  She relaxed as much as she could, putting herself into a shallow trance so the bobbing of her head and the chafing of her arms and legs wouldn’t drive her into trying something foolish. After a while the pollen took her and everything melted about her; she drifted in a dull throbbing state where nausea mixed with distant pain and a low-grade fever. By the time her bearers dumped her in the dust before a weathered building, she didn’t much care who had her or what happened to her. Her arms and legs were rubbed raw from the ropes and the pole; her shoulders felt as if her weight had wrenched her arms from their sockets. Her mouth was dry and sour. Her head pounded with each beat of her heart. She wanted water desperately but knew she’d never keep it down. Just give me something to wash my mouth out, that’s all. Cool water, rolling in her mouth, cool water to splash over her face and head. Somewhere, not too far away, men were talking; she could hear the different voices but they were too broken and blurred for her to make out the sounds. Whoever you are, whoever did this to me, whatever you want, you aren’t getting it. I don’t care what happens. Anger built in her, the heat of it energizing her, chasing away the depression of her spirits, driving off a good part of the fog in her head. She pursed cracking lips and whistled, just a thread of sound.

  A whistle came back to her a moment later, cautious, brief, but familiar enough. She relaxed. He sounded all right, not too happy, but intact.

  Footsteps behind her. She closed her eyes, lay without moving. A hand lifted her head. Pain took her so suddenly and completely she couldn’t suppress a short sharp gasp.

  “Jambi, you git, you hit her too hard. He’ll skin you if she dies on him.” There was disgust in the voice and a rough gentleness in the hands that soaked the crusted blood from her hair and scalp and applied a salve that spread cool comfort over her head, even seemed to soothe the pain inside her skull, though she knew that was nonsense. He dragged a pack of some kind around, put her head down on it, shifted his position. As he cut away the ropes around her wrists, she cracked her eyes so she could see him. A big man, with shaggy gray hair, a lined impatient face. Could be one of the Sendir. Tjepa had told her about them when he pointed out a Senda wandering through the market. They didn’t like people much, came to Dusta maybe once a year to pick up things they couldn’t make for themselves, to say hello to relatives, a friend or two, then go back to their jealously hidden nests deep in the forest. He scowled as he examined her bloody wrists, set them neatly on her body so the dust wouldn’t get in the wounds, began working on her leg ropes. He went away when he had them off her, but came back a moment later, lifted her head and shoulders and braced them against a knee. He bathed her face, let her drink from a gourd dipper. She swished the first mouthful about, spat it out, took another few swallows, sighed with pleasure as the coolness bathed away the bitter dryness of her mouth and washed dust and phlegm from her burning throat. He only let her have a little, then peeled a hard candy and slipped it between her lips. “Give you energy,” he said, “you need the sugar.”

  She didn’t trust him all that much, but there was no point in spitting it out. She sucked at the candy. Sugar and a bit of mint for flavor. Maybe to cover what else was in the candy. That’s stupid. My head’s not working. Why would he do that? And if he did, what does it matter? She closed her eyes. I wouldn’t mind a short blackout right now, say about three days long. He bathed her wrists, smoothed on more of the salve and wrapped bandages around the raw spots. I should get the formula of that gunk. No more Lee to heal the hurts—that’s one talent I wish I’d yanked along with me when I jumped into this body. The Senda washed her legs, put salve on them, bandaged them, then got to his feet with a smooth effortless lift of his big body. A moment later she heard Linfyar squeal and go silent. Thanks, man; poor little Linfy, maybe he’ll change his mind about adventures after this. He dealt with Linfyar’s abrasions in that calm silence she found almost as soothing as the salve, came back a moment later, dropped a canteen beside her and went off, leaving her to care for herself now that she could. His nurturance apparently had severe limits to it.

  She lay still a few moments longer, reluctant to break into her comfortable lassitude, but curiosity was almost as great a prod as thirst. She rolled onto her stomach, got carefully onto her hands and knees, pushed up until she was sitting on her heels, her hands resting on her thighs. No double vision—at least I’m not concussed.

  Some sort of abandoned settlement. The building beside her looked like a trading post or storehouse and was well on its way to rotting back into the earth. A stubby, shaky pier jutted into the water, a number of planks gone, several of the piles listing at precarious angles. Water stretched away from the shore in a vast gray sheet, rippling a little as the breeze freshened, then dropped again. Ocean? Can’t see the other shore. If there is one. No, not the ocean. Probably one of the lobes of Tah Badu bay. She glanced at the pack her head had been resting on, grimaced. Mine. Harp case about a step away from the pack. They scooped the lot. She scowled at the scars in the leather, the thick coat of fine red dust. The shore here was mostly a heavy reddish soil whose top layers had been baked and blown into dust as fine and slippery as a graphite lubricant. What her harp would look like when they finally got wherever it was they were going was something she didn’t want to think about. Linfyar was curled up in the middle of the rest of their gear, looking miserably unhappy; there was a rope about his neck, the other end tied to a stake pounded into the dirt. Tethered like an animal. She closed her hands into fists, bit down hard on her lip to keep her fury in. Like an animal. Someone was going to pay for that.

  Small groups of men stood about talking in mutters, looking repeatedly out across the water. One man stood guard at the corner of the building, a projectile weapon hugged under his arm. She saw the bore and shivered at the thought of that lump of lead making hash of her insides. The rest of the men had similar weapons, several wore laser pistols on their belts, most had belt knives, one—hunkered alone out at the end of the rickety pier—had something that looked like a meat cleaver with elephantiasis. His arms were thicker around than her thighs, his shoulders bulged under the sleeveless tunic that was all he wore on his upper half, he looked as if he could crash that cleaver through one of the forest giants with a single swing. No regimentation about this bunch of men, but a military patina on them that was enough to confirm her suspicion about who had her. She’d seen soldiers wait like this before with the endless irritable patience that had been drilled into them. Well, he’s done himself a mischief with this even if he’s done me a favor solving my problems about locating him. She looked at Linfyar tethered to the stake, breathed hard for some minutes, tears of anger and frustration prickling behind her eyes.

  When she had control back, she drank from the canteen, then smiled to herself at the contrast between her angry ambitions and her present helplessness. With a wary eye on the sentry, she crossed to Linfyar, squatted beside him. Using his home tongue, she muttered, “How you doing, Linfy?”

  He lifted his elbow, flashed a grin at her.

  “Want me to get that rope off you?”

  “Not now,” he whispered. “I can get loose anytime I want, Shadow. Creeps didn’t find the blade in my belt. I figure the more helpless they think I am, the looser I’ll be.” He rolled over, put his hand on her knee. “Don’t fuss, Shadow. Let them act stupid as they want—makes it easier to clobber them later.’’

  She caught hold of his big toe, shook his foot. “I might have known,” she said.

  A hastily muffled giggle. “Yeah, you shoulda.”

  She’d forgotten what his life had been like, threatened with death from the moment of birth when he made the mistake of being born visibly mutant. He’d learned to scramble and connive almost before he could talk. And when she and Aleytys had found him on Ibex, he’d been running from a gelding meant to keep his voice from changing, leaping into the unknown with an unquenchable zest and a shrewd trust in his ability to survive anything that life threw at him, nine years of faun charm and deviousness. He didn’t waste time on pride or worrying whether other people respected him, he concentrated on surviving. “How’d they get you?” she said. “Dropped a sack over me. Used my hand to open the cabin’s door. Brought you in a bit later. Cleared the place out. Took off with us. Boat first, couple hours in that, then they walked, us on those … those poles.” He snorted his disgust. “I thought about yelling when they took us through the city, but they were a bit too efficient and you were limp as a dead cony, so I thought better wait till they got where they were going and relaxed some. And till you woke up.” He hesitated. “Maybe I shoulda yelled.”

  “Glad you didn’t. Look, Linfy, I think these’re the Ajin’s men.” She chuckled. “We spent all that time nosing about for a way to get to him and here he’s fetching us right where we want to go.”

  Linfyar touched her hand. “‘S all right with me as long as they don’t put me back on that dumb pole.” His lips fluttered as he limned her with the echoes from his silent whistles. “Shadow?” He sounded anxious, was suddenly more of a small worried boy. “You sound a little funny. You all right? You were out a long time.”

  “A roaring headache, but I’ll survive, imp. It’s already starting to go away.”

  He sighed and straightened his legs. “I’m hungry, Shadow.”

  “When aren’t you? Well, I’ll see what I can dig up.” She got to her feet, feeling as creaky as the ragged building before her. The Senda was nowhere in sight. She started for the sentry, stopped as his face went slack. He stared at nothing, mouthed soundless words at that nothing. A second sentry was immediately there, taking the rifle from the slackened grasp. He strolled to the storehouse, leaned with elaborate casualness against the cornerpost, watching her without seeming to. She walked over to him. “We’re hungry,” she said. “You planning to starve us too?”

  He ran dull eyes over her, produced a grunt. When she didn’t go away, he said, “You eat when we do.”

  “And when, O Jewel of Eloquence, will that be?”

  “When we get where we’re going.”

  “Oh joy. Any objection to me getting out some trailbars? I see you brought my gear.” She waved at the heap beside Linfyar. “And you may recall I haven’t had anything to eat for quite a while.”

  “Don’t try nothing.”

  “How could I, O Jewel of Wit? I don’t even know where the hell I am.”

  He grunted again and shifted the rifle to a more secure hold, the barrel swinging around to point at her.

  She decided to take his silence as assent, walked cautiously away from him, keeping her movements open and slow, knelt beside the pile of gear and went through it until she came up with the fruit-honey-nut confection Linfy liked so much. She peeled it, then squatted beside him. “We seem to be headed somewhere else before we settle for the night.’’

  Linfyar nodded. “Heard,” he said, the word muffled by the mouthful of bar.

  Shadith looked over her shoulder at the empty water of the bay. “Hurry up and wait,” she muttered. “Military mind never changes, I don’t care what the species.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind. Hot air, that’s all.”

  She sat on her heels and brooded. Taggert, where are you now? How are you coming in? I suppose it’s just as well I don’t know, considering where I am right now. Wonder if he’s already snuggling up to the Ajin; probably he’ll even get Grey and Ticutt loose before I get anywhere close. Just my luck, the Ajin won’t want me for propaganda, probably wants me to sing lullabies to his harem or something just as vital.

  The long day trickled endlessly on.

  Shortly after sundown the soft splutter of a motor broke the silence; not long afterward a broad-beamed boat nosed up to the dock and a big man jumped onto the planks with a careless physical competence meant to impress anyone watching. Shadith swallowed a giggle. Enter the Ajin. Lovely.

  He strode up to her, stood looking down at her. How much he could see was questionable; the sky was overcast, there were no lights, not even a campfire. She looked up, nodded at him, looked away.

  He bent closer, caught hold of her hair, turned her face up, looked startled, let her loose and stepped away. “Manjestau.” A smallish wiry man came out of the shadows. She made out a lined harsh face, one she hadn’t seen before. “You sure this is the one?”

  “I watched her do it.”

  “This child?”

  “Her and the freak.”

  The Ajin moved over to Linfyar. “Why the rope?”

  “So it wouldn’t run off. We figured the girl wouldn’t run without her pet.”

  “How good is she?”

  “Good enough. Did it to me, and I was ready.”

  “Interesting.” He walked around Linfyar and Shadith. “How long does it take to put a crowd under?”

  “Three-four minutes.”

  “That fast?”

  “I’d say.”

  “And they all more or less see the same thing?”

  “From what I hear. Didn’t want to ask too many questions. Miners hanging about. Perolat. She doesn’t like us a whole helluva lot, and she knows me. Didn’t want her thinking we were interested in the girl. Hiepler came while I was there, wanted her for the church, threatened her. I figured this was a good time to take her. Perolat would figure the kid ran to get away from the engiaja.”

  The Ajin came back and stood looking down at Shadith. “We’ll burn honeyfat to the Lady tonight, Manjestau. Luck smiles on us today.” They walked off together exuding satisfaction.

  Hunh, pair of self-inflated prickheads. She dug at the dust with her heel, stirring up a cloud of dust that made her cough. For the moment there wasn’t much she could do except go along meekly with what they had in mind for her. Thank whatever gods there be, there didn’t seem to be any pedophiles among them. She didn’t feel up to coping with that sort of complication. If they want me enough, maybe they’ll coddle me a little. Have to wait and see what develops.

  The men on the shore broke up into a number of different squads; some vanished into the shadow under the trees, others moved swiftly to haul boxes out of the storehouse and load them onto the boat, taking Shadith’s gear aboard in the process, walking around her, brushing against her, ignoring her and Linfyar, not quite stepping on them.