Helliconia Summer - Brian W. Aldiss [185]
Dathka appeared around the corner of the canvas and looked down into the excavation, grinning at his friend’s mishap.
‘What are you doing?’ Laintal Ay demanded of the three men.
Recovering from their astonishment, the three stood firm. One said, ‘This will be a shrine dedicated to great Naba’s Akha, and is therefore sacred ground. We have to ask you to leave at once.’
‘I own this ground,’ Laintal Ay said. ‘Show me your licence to rent a patch here.’
While the young men were exchanging looks, more pilgrims gathered round the hole, looking down and muttering. All wore black and white robes.
‘We haven’t got a licence. We aren’t selling anything.’
‘Where are you from?’
A large man with a black cloth wound about his head stood on the edge of the hole, accompanied by two older women who carried a large object between them. He called down in a pompous voice, ‘We are followers of the great Naba’s Akha and we are proceeding southwards, spreading the word. We plan to erect a small chapel here and we demand you remove your unworthy self immediately.’
‘I own this ground, every spadeful of it. Why are you digging down if you need to build a chapel up? Don’t you foreigners know air from earth?’
One of the young diggers said, apologetically, ‘Akha is the god of earth and underground, and we live in his veins. We shall spread his good news through all lands. Are we not Takers from Pannoval?’
‘You are not taking this hole without permission,’ Laintal Ay roared. ‘Get out; all of you.’
The large pompous man began to shout, but Dathka drew his sword. He stabbed forward. The object the two older women carried was covered with a cloth. Pricking the cloth with his sword point, Dathka whisked the fabric away. An awkwardly crouching figure was revealed, semihuman, its frog eyes blind but staring. It was carved from a black stone.
‘What a beauty!’ Dathka exclaimed, laughing. ‘An ugly mug like that needs to be covered up!’
The pilgrims became furious. Akha had been insulted; sunlight was never allowed to touch Akha. Several men flung themselves at Dathka. Laintal Ay jumped out of the hole shouting, and set about the pilgrims with the flat of his sword. The skirmish brought a marshal and two of his men armed with staves to the scene, and in a short while the pilgrims were battered enough to promise their future good conduct.
Laintal Ay and Dathka continued on to Oyre’s new rooms in Vry’s tower, which was being rebuilt. Oyre had moved because the square about the big tower had become so noisy, with its wooden stalls and drinking booths. With Oyre had gone Dol and her small son, Rastil Roon Den, together with Dol’s ancient mother, Rol Sakil. As Aoz Roon’s absence lengthened, Dol had become concerned for her safety in a building that also housed the two increasingly unruly lieutenants, Faralin Ferd and Tanth Ein.
At the entrance to the tower, still referred to as Shay Tal’s Tower, four burly young freed Borlienian slaves were on guard. That arrangement was Laintal Ay’s doing. He received their salutes as he and Dathka entered.
‘How’s Oyre?’ he asked, already beginning to tramp upstairs.
‘Recovering.’
He found his beloved lying in a bed, with Vry, Dol, and Rol Sakil beside her. He went to her and she put her arms round him.
‘Oh, Laintal Ay – it was so horrible. I felt such fear.’ She stared into his eyes. He looked upon her face, seeing there weariness, caught in the faint lines under her eyes. All who went father-communing were aged by the experience. ‘I thought I’d never get back to you, my love,’ she said. ‘The world below becomes worse every time you visit it.’
Age had bent Rol Sakil double. Her long white hair covered her face, so that all that could be seen was her nose. She squatted by the bed nursing her grandson, and said, ‘It’s only them who are old who fail to return, Oyre.’
Oyre sat up and clung more tightly to Laintal Ay. He could feel her shivering.
‘It seemed doubly awful this time – a universe without suns. The world below is the opposite of ours, with the original boulder like a sun below everything,