[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
ponds, others ochre or black or blood-pink. Their skin was pallid, tinged with
pale brown or green like the bark of trees. They were silent.
As they halted, their cattle began to graze the hillside, tearing out grass by
the roots and leaving raw earth; patches of darkness that spread and joined
rapidly even as Helananthe watched.
'I am Lady Vyne, representative of her majesty Queen Helananthe,' she called
out. 'Who is your spokesman?'
One of the Bhahdradomen came forward. Superficially there was nothing to
distinguish him from the rest, but as she saw him more closely she saw that he
had eyes black as berries with green sparks in the centre, cheeks so hollow
that the shadows were like brushstrokes beneath his cheekbones. The rest
waited, downcast and watchful.
Helananthe dismounted. Serpeth and Derione did the same, and stood on either
side of her; behind her, she heard the soft sounds of her guards placing their
hands on their sword-hilts. But these people seemed passive, as if they were
sunk in starvation. They certainly had no weapons visible.
'I am Tzumezht,' said the spokesman. Was it a man? She'd heard that the
Bhahdradomen were neither male nor female, or both. For the sake of
simplicity, she decided to think of the speaker as 'he'.
His voice went right through her, and seemed to buzz in the centre of her
skull. She breathed the smell that wreathed like steam from the group, a smell
of sour earth, of dead wood split open by fungi.
'Greetings to you, Tzumezht,' she said, inclining her head in wary courtesy.
He echoed the gesture. He was shorter than her, perhaps five foot six, and he
had less a presence than an absence that made her feel disoriented, as if she
had accidentally touched a deadly poison to her tongue and could only stand
aghast, waiting for it to work.
Again she pushed the feeling away. She went on, 'It was reported to us that
groups of Bhahdradomen were on the move across the Whiteveil Mountains, making
for Paranios. When you were challenged, your response was that you would
explain yourselves only to the highest authority in Aventuria. Well, we are
here. I must tell you that we, too, are more than eager to hear your
explanation.'
'Madam, we are utterly at your mercy.' Tzumezht opened long, spidery hands.
Page 112
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
'We have been driven from our homes by humans and by hunger.'
'Your home, strictly speaking, is Vexor.'
'Untrue,' he replied. These people have never lived in Vexor. If you are close
to the Queen, then you must know that we are here legally. We were allowed to
stay in Aventuria, as part of the peace treaty after our . . . our surrender.'
'I do know that. Helananthe answered, trying to remain impartial although she
was privately amazed her ancestors had agreed to this deal. 'However, it was
part of the agreement that the Bhahdradomen remain in strictly defined areas,
and never stray beyond those boundaries.'
'And we have abided by those conditions for over two hundred and fifty years,'
said Tzumezht, softly reasonable. 'We have lived in peace, silent, invisible,
masquerading as peasants in remote places such as
Ardharkria, Sarmest, Imnion. But those areas are exhausted; there is nothing
left for our flesh-animals to eat. We were forced to go beyond our boundaries
or die. Our numbers have increased, humans have become aware of us. When we
have tried to find new territories they have driven us away. So now we wander,
homeless.'
Tzumezht, good sir.' Helananthe clasped her elbows, took a breath. 'Have you
no concept of land management? Grass grows again. There was no reason for your
- your flesh-animals to go hungry.'
Tzumezht simply looked at her. An involuntary shudder went through her from
head to foot. She remembered Tanthe and Rufryd's story of the forest of
Ardharkria; how the Bhahdradomen colony there had stripped their territory
bare, stripping even the bark from the trees, sucking the sap, sucking all
life out of the soil until not even fungus would grow. She saw the hillside
turning from green to black under the cattle's attention even as she watched.
They consumed, and moved on.
'No reason for them to go hungry, indeed. he said at last, 'if we were
allowed enough room.'
'You were given enough room. Now you have broken two tenets of the treaty at
least; you've gone beyond your allocated boundaries, and you have allowed your
populations to increase - both of yourselves and of your animals.' 'After two
hundred years and more, this was inevitable.'
'Not necessarily.'
'The clauses by which we have been forced to exist were completely
unreasonable! We protest.'
'Your protest is noted,' Helananthe said carefully. 'I must remind you,
however, that you were free, in the aftermath of the War, to join your
countrymen in Vexor. That you are still free to do so.'
Tzumezht radiated anger, but it was a helpless, passive rage. 'Such a thing
would have been utterly impractical. How could we have crossed thousands of
miles of hostile territory? We were trapped in our pockets of land, and there
we remained. It must seem very far in the past to you, my lady, for humans
rarely live past one hundred and ten years. For us, though, our exile was a
living memory of our hosts and grand-hosts. We have suffered dreadful
indignities.'
Helananthe sensed Serpeth at her elbow, willing her to give these people no
quarter. He was beginning to annoy her. She wished with all her heart that
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]