The Standing Dead - Stone Dance of the Chameleon 02 (70 page)

'He
almost
had
you,'
cried
Fern
in
anger.

Carnelian
could
make
out
the
mounted
shape
as
it scooped
up
a
piece
of
darkness
that
shrieked
with
a child's
voice,
then
it
was
coursing
away.
Fern
helped
him up
as
the
cries
receded
into
the
darkness.
Only
a
few
fires still
burned.

'Are
you
hurt?'
said
Fern,
running
his
hands
over
Carnelian
,
searching
for
wounds.

Carnelian
slipped
away
from
him
and
stumbled through
the
dark,
steering
by
the
faint
beacon
of Osidian's
body.
Everywhere,
shapes
were
stirring,
moaning.
Some
voices
wailed
while
others
rang
out
begging
for light.

Carnelian
approached
Osidian's
long
white
back,
glowing
in
the
gloom.
Ravan
and
Krow
were
already
there, reluctant
to
touch
him.
Carnelian
crept
round
to
peer
into Osidian's
face.
Motionless
marble.
He
gingerly
reached out
to
touch
the
stone.
Cold.
Sticky.
He
jerked
his
hand back.
Osidian
seemed
to
be
a
corpse,
standing.
Carnelian
licked
his
fingers
and
tasted
salt.

'Is
he
wounded?'
asked
Ravan.

Nothing.

'Well,
are
you?'
Carnelian
demanded. 'It
is
the
other
that
is
slain.'

Carnelian
could
not
help
drawing
away
from
the
eerie voice.
He
stumbled
backwards
over
the
body
lying
on
the ground
and
fell.
Dazed,
he
lay
there
feeling
the
rain falling
on
his
face
in
a
steady
rhythm.

Poppy
clung
to
Carnelian
.
Through
the
rain,
he
saw
the camp,
now
a
battlefield.
All
their
makeshift
shelters
were leaning
at
crazy
angles
with
their
blankets
trampled into
the
mud.
Bales
disembowelled
their
contents
into puddles.
People,
moaning,
were
bending
among
the wreckage,
searching.
Some
were
pulling
things
together as
if
they
had
been
merely
blown
down
by
a
freak
gust. Many
just
stood
sightlessly
staring
out
over
the
featureless
land.

The
Elders
began
moving
among
them,
ordering things.
Some
were
so
weak
they
had
to
lean
on
the
arms of
their
grandchildren,
but,
even
so,
they
were
listened
to with
the
rest.

Akaisha
pulled
at
Carnelian's
shoulder.
'Carnie,
don't just
stand
there,
dear.
Help
me
clear
up
this
mess.'
She noticed
Poppy
and
they
exchanged
a
glance.
Both
could see
in
the
girl's
face
that
she
was
seeing
the
massacre
of her
people.

'I'll
look
after
her,'
Akaisha
said,
softly.

Carnelian
nodded
and
carefully
transferred
Poppy's grip
to
Akaisha's
robe;
then,
kneeling,
he
kissed
her before
going
off
to
help
Sil
tug
a
blanket
from
the
clutches of
the
mud.
When
it
came
free,
they
scraped
it
as
clean as
they
could
and
put
it
on
a
drag-cradle
that
was propped
up
against
a
ginkgo.
They
were
returning
for another
when
a
cry
of
anguish
made
them
stop
and
turn. Osidian
was
standing
among
women
shouting
at
him
in anger.

Carnelian
touched
Sil's
hand.
'I'd
better
...'
'I'll
come
too,'
she
said.

Osidian
saw
them.
'Carnelian,
tell
these
savages
I
slew him
and
so
he
is
mine.'

The
women
caught
Carnelian
in
their
crazed
stares. Ginkga
came
to
his
rescue,
ordering
the
women
all
back to
work,
growing
angry
when
they
resisted
her.
'First
let's get
things
back
to
normal.
After
that
there'll
be
plenty
of time
for
retribution.'

As
the
women
moved
off
they
revealed
the
corpse
lying at
Osidian's
feet.
He
was
not
Ochre.
He
wore
a
black hunter
face
and
his
hands
were
painted
blue.

There
was
a
slap
on
Carnelian's
arm.
He
whisked round,
angry.
Seeing
it
was
Ginkga
who
had
struck
him,

Carnelian
let
go
of
his
rage
and
went
back
to
pulling blankets
from
the
mud.

The
Tribe
assembled
at
the
centre
of
the
camp
around
the frame
Osidian
had
made
from
two
drag-cradles
and
from which
the
corpse
hung,
naked,
dangling
its
blue
hands.
A livid
cut
across
its
shoulder
was
pulled
open
by
the weight
of
its
head.
The
sight
of
one
of
their
attackers
had awoken
snarling
hatred
among
the
crowd.

Akaisha
came
to
stand
beside
Osidian
and
called
for silence.
Grimly,
she
counted
out
for
them
their
losses. Five
mothers
had
had
young
children
carried
off.
Two women
had
miscarried.
One
man
had
lost
his
wife; another
had
spilled
his
brains
into
the
mud;
five
had sustained
cruel
gashes.

A
young,
pregnant
woman
spat
out
a
chilling description
of
what
she
wanted
to
do
to
the
body.