Shardik (20 page)

‘WaitI’ Kelderek gripped the other’s arm. Crouching together and listening, they could both hear Shardik moving in the forest

‘Sheldral’ called Kelderek. ‘Which way is he going?’

‘He is returning, my lord, by the way he came. Shall I go back and warn the Tuginda?’

‘Yes, but try not to lose him if he should wander further.’

‘So,’ said Ta-Kominion after a few moments, ‘they obey you, do they, Lord
Kelderek
? Well, if all I hear is true, you deserve it.
Bel
-ka-Trazet told the barons
that
you struck him down.’

‘I threw a stone. He was about to kill Lord Shardik while he lay helpless.’

‘So he said. He spoke to us of the folly and danger of allowing the people to believe that Lord Shar
dik had returned. “Those women’ll
ruin us all,” he said, “with that half-burnt bear they’ve got hold of. God knows what superstitious rubbish will come of it if
they
‘re not packed off where
they
belong. It’ll be the end of all law and order.” He sent men out to look for you at the western end of the island, but you’d gone from there, it seems. One of them tracked you eastwards almost as far as this; but when he came back, it was to me he spoke and not to Bel-ka-Trazet.’

‘Why?’

Ta-Kominion laid a hand on Kelderek’s knee.

‘The people know the truth,’ he said. ‘One of the Tuginda’s girls came to Ortelga - but even if she had not, truth blows through the leaves and trickles between the stones. The people are weary of Bel-ka-
Trazet
‘s harshness. They are speaking secr
e
tly
of Lord Shardik and waiting for him to come. If need be they are ready to
di
e
for him. In his heart, Bel-ka-Trazet knows this and he is afraid.’

‘Why,’ answered
Kelderek
, ‘that morning when he left the Tuginda, I saw the fear already in his eyes. I pitied him then and I still pity him, but he has set himself up against Lord Shardik. If a man chooses to stand in the path of a fire, can the fire take pity on him?’

‘He thinks -‘

Kelderek
cut him short. ‘What do you want with me, then?’

‘The people
are
not BcI-ka-
Trazet
. They know
that
Lord Shardik has returned to them. I have seen decent, simple men in
Ortelga
weeping for joy and hope. They are ready to rise against Bel-ka-
Trazet
and to follow me.’

‘To follow
you?
Follow you where?’

In the solitude of the forest, Ta-Kominion dropped his voice still lower.

‘To Bekla, to regain what is ours.’

Kelderek drew in his breath. ‘You’re seriously planning to attack Bekla?’

‘With the power of Lord Shardik we cannot fail. But Kelderek, will you join us? They say you have no fear of Shardik and can persuade him as you will. Is that true?’

‘Only in part. God has made of me a vessel let down into Shardik’s well and a brand lighted at his fire. He suffers me; nevertheless, to be near him is always to be in danger.’

‘Could you bring him to Ortelga?’

‘Neither I nor anyone can drive Lord Shardik. He is the Power of God. If it is so ordained, he will come to Ortelga. Yet how can he pass
the
Dead Belt? And what is it that you mean to do?’

‘My own men are ready to strike now. They will make him a path through the Belt: along this shore - that’s the easiest place. Only let Lord Shardik come and every man will join us - yes, join you and me, Kelderek
!
As soon as we are sure of Ortelga, then we’ll march at once on Bekla, before they can learn the news.’

‘You make it sound easy, but I tell you again - I cannot bring Lord Shardik here and dierc like an ox. He acts by the will of God, not by my will. If you had seen him -
faced
him - you would understand.’

‘Let me face him, then. I will stand before him and beg him to help us. I’m not afraid. I tell you,
Kelderek
, all Ortelga is eager only to serve him. If I entreat him, he will give me a sign.’

‘Very well. Come with me. You shall speak with the Tuginda and face Lord Shardik for yourself. But if he gives you death, Ta-Kominion -‘

‘He will give much where much is offered. I have come to offer my life. If he takes it, why
then
I shall not live to be disappointed. If he gives it back to me, I will spend it in his service.’

For answer Kelderek got to his feet and began
to lead the way through the undergrowth
. The night was
still
so dark
, however, that he found it all but impossible to tell in which direction the camp lay. Feeling before
them
, they stumbled repeatedly; once Ta-Kominion nearly put out his eye on a pointed branch that pierced him under the lower lid. Kelderek could not tell how far they had gone or whether
they
might not have wandered in a circle. At last he glimpsed, still some distance off, the glow of the fire. He made towards it cautiously, expecting at any moment to be challenged by one of the girls, or even to com
e upon Lord Shardik himself,
prowling in his angry hunger. But they met no one and at length, looking about him in perplexity, he realized that they had already reached the outskirts of
the
camp. They walked on side by side over the open ground, strewn with cut branches and garments, where the women had been sleeping, and so up to the untended remains of the fire.

Kelderek’s perplexity became bewilderment
.
The place was deserted. Appar
ently
there was no one whatever i
n the camp. He called, ‘Rantzay!
Sheldra
!
’
Receiving no reply, he shouted, ‘Where are you?’

The echo died and for some moments he could
hear only the frogs and the rustl
e of the leaves. Then he was answered.

‘Lord Kelderek!
‘ It was Rantzay’s harsh voice from the direction of the shore. ‘Come quickly, my lord!’

He had never heard her so much excited. He began to run and as he did so realized that it was growing light - light enough, at all events, to enable them to see their way to the river. As they approached he could make out the canoes and closer at hand the cloaked shapes of the women crowding together, some appar
ently
up to their knees in the water. All were pressing forward, pointing, moving their heads one way and another and peering through the reeds. Beside the tall figure of Rantzay he recognized that of the Tuginda and ran towards her.

‘What is it, saiyett? What has happened?*

Without speaking she took his arm and led him down into the shallows, among the reeds taller than his head. Between these, something had smashed a path and down this narrow lane he gazed out towards the Telthearna beyond. Over it the light was increasing, a windless, twilit grey without shadows. The far trees were motionless, the flowing water smooth. Still the Tuginda waded forward and still he followed, wondering at her haste. Waist-deep, feet groping, they reached the outer edge of the reed-belt and to right and left the extent of the river opened before them. The Tuginda, one hand on his shoulder, pointed downstream to where a wide ripple like an arrow-head was breaking the calm surface. At its apex, the only living thing to be seen in all the expanse of trees and water, Shardik was swimming, his muzzle thrust upwards at the sky as the current carried him towards Ortelga.

16
The Point and the Causeway

Without an instant’s hesitation Kelderek flung himself forward into the deep water. Immediately - almost before his shoulders had broken the surface - he felt the current turning him bodily and sweeping him downstream. For a few moments he struggled, afraid as he found himself helpless against it. Then, awkwardly, he began to swim, bending back his neck to keep his head above water, splashing
with
his arms and bobbing up and down. Looking ahead, his water-blurred eyes could still make out the shape of the bear like a rick swept away in a flood.

Soon he realized that some freak of the river was carrying him towards the centre, where the flow was swifter yet. Even if he should happen to touch upon a random spit or submerged bank, such as formed and dissolved continually in the strait, he would not be able to stand up in a current of this strength. Already he was beginning to tire. He tried to look about him for a floating branch or anything to which he might cling, but could see nothing. His feet, trailing deep, encountered some tangled, loom-like thing, intersticed and pliant, and as he jerked himself free pain flickered up his leg and was gone as quickly as a spurt of flame. An instant later he spun round in an eddy, swallowed water, sank and, as his head came up again, found that he was facing upstream and still drifting on. The women among the reeds were now far-off, indistinguishable figures, appearing and disappearing as his eyes rose and fell. He tried to turn and face ahead, and as he did so heard across the water a spluttering call - ‘
Kelderek
! Inshore!’

Ta-Kominion, swimming behind him, was about half-way between himself and the shore which they had left. Although he appeared to be holding his own more easily than Kelderek, it was nevertheless clear that he had little breath for talking. He flung up one arm and gestured sharply towards the reeds, then fell once more to his task. Kelderek saw that he was trying to overtake him, but could not because of the slower current inshore. Indeed, the gap between them was widening. Ta-Kominion raised his head and seemed to shout again, but
Kelderek
could hear nothing except his own hard breathing and the splash and gurgle of the water. Then,

as he bobbed upwar
ds for a moment, he caught faintl
y the words shore before the point!’

As he grasped the baron’s meaning, fear overcame him. He was being carried along the south-eastern shore of
Ortelga
at a speed as fast as that of a man walking. As long as he remained in midstream he could not count on drifting against the submerged causeway that ran from the eastern point to the mainland. More likely he would be carried over or through it, pummelled down by this very current in which he was now struggling for his life. And if he were carried below Ortelga, he could not hope to come ashore alive.

He began to kick out and to clutch at the surface, panting and tiring himself still further. How far was it now to the point? The right, mainland bank seemed actually closer than that of Ortelga: yet how could that be? Then he recognized the place. The reeds had been cut back, exposing a sheet of open water beyond which, on the island shore, stood the zoan tree. Tall and far off it looked — much further than when last he had sighted it, returning to Ortelga on his raft. He thought of the shendron, perhaps looking out at this very moment through the silvery fronds. But the shendron, for all his vigilance, would never catch sight of him. He was no
thin
g but flotsam, a dot moving in the grey light and grey water of early morning.

By God, but there was something else, though, that the shendron could not have failed to seel A little behind, but dire
ctly
between himself and the zoan tree, Shardik was drifting like a cloud through a pale sky. There was no commotion of the water round him and the long wedge of his jaw lay half-submerged, the nostrils just clear, like those of an alligator. As the hunter watched, the bear turned his head for a moment and seemed to be staring towards him.

At this, desperate though he was, Kelderek felt a return of that brave impulse upon which he had thrown himself into the river to follow Shardik. Shardik had called him for some purpose of his own. Shardik had power to preserve and raise up those who gave him all, doubting nothing. If only he could reach Shardik, Shardik would save
h
i
m
, Shardik would not let him drown. As the zoan tree dropped out of sight he set himself, with the last of his strength, to swim inshore across the current Slowly, very slowly, he began to converge upon the bear. As he came by degrees into the slacker stream the distance between them lessened, until at last they were floating side by side and only a few yards apart

He could do no more. He was exhausted, conscious of nothing but the deep water beneath him, the fear of drowning and, somewhere far out of reach, the p
resence of Shardik. He could see
neither sky

nor shore. ‘Accept my life, Lord Shardik. I regret nothing I did for you.’ Losing the power of thought, sinking, no longer breathing: arms flung upwards, fingers clawing at the black, fainting dark; and now, in death, he felt once more the shaggy hair, the flank of Shardik, just as he had felt it when he walked beside him at nightfall into the forest and slept in the safety of his presence.