Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [67]
No.
Surprisingly, Jilda’s voice came to mind. Believe in your birthright, Trinder, she’d told him when he was younger. One day you will be Principe.
The memory of her words shifted his thinking, and his confidence resurged. Jilda was right. Perhaps he owed his madre more than he thought.
While the others dozed amongst the shade of the boulders, Trin kept his vigil, energised by the weed pods. For the first time since leaving the Pablo mine shaft, he felt aroused both mentally and physically. It enabled him to concentrate well enough to mind-map the area right up to where the clay disappeared into the thick vines and brush at the base of the island’s small mountain. Volcanic mountain or sand dune? he wondered. It was hard to tell without getting close enough to see and feel the soil.
He felt the urge to stand and pace to order his thoughts, but he stopped himself. In this heat he would use more water than he had brought across in the shell. The weed had stimulant properties - there was no doubt. He took note of the duration of the effects and estimated how many pods it would take to get them through a night’s walking.
When Leah finally dipped below the horizon, he rejoined the group around their rock table for more of the xoc. Juno Genarro had left the carcass to lie in the relative cool of the rock spring during the daylight, and it tasted waterlogged. Some of the briny taste of the sea had faded from its flesh and been replaced by a strong, earthy mineral flavour. The bite was like pepper and it disquieted Trin even more.
Yet voices sounded stronger tonight, and some of the women who had previously been unable to walk had joined them. Djeserit had been right to advise patience but he could not afford for her to be seen as more capable, more intuitive, than him. He called Tina Galiotto over.
‘Where is the weed?’
‘In the spring. Djeserit said it would dry out if we left it in the sun.
‘Retrieve it,’ said Trin.
As she moved to do his bidding, faces turned to watch. Trin stood up and stepped into the circle close to the rock table.
‘We will head up into the mountain tonight,’ he said.
The evening light was enough that he could see the reactions. None of them wished to leave the water. The Carabinere stayed silent, but not so Mulravey’s lot and the Pablo miners.
A woman sitting next to Mulravey’s brother stood up also. She was taller than most of his men. ‘You been doin’ most of the talking for us these past days but it can’t just be that way. I think we should stay here. There’s water and we’re close enough to the beach for Djes to fish. When we’re stronger we can help her.’
‘Liesl’s right,’ said Cass Mulravey. ‘There’s no need to move. We should vote.’
Vote. Trin’s stomach clenched. Djeserit’s persuasion had eroded his status.
Voices joined Mulravey in agreement: the Pablo miners and her brother.
Djes and the Carabinere remained silent, still. Trin saw their discomfort. Juno Genarro and Joe Scali exchanged glances. Djes looked into her lap, hands clasped.
‘What’s yer reason?’
The question surprised Trin; not that it was asked, but who asked it - Mulravey’s man Kristo. He sat on the other side of Mulravey’s brother. His hair was so long and wild now that Trin could barely see his eyes. They were all like that, except for the women who bound their hair back with strips of thin weed.
‘In truth, I have no reason, other than to say that this place does not feel safe. While we are exhausted still, these pods’ - he waved at the weed that Tina Galiotto had brought dripping back from the spring – ‘will give us energy to climb. In the mountains there will be bigger caves and we’ll be at a better vantage to see distance.’ He avoided saying ‘rescue’.
‘What danger?’ Kristo asked. ‘We’ve seen nothing. Only checclia.’
Trin shrugged. ‘Perhaps that is it. Nothing. Surely other creatures must drink from this water. Why haven’t we seen them?’
‘Araldis is not a place of animals,’ said Djes. ‘What are you expecting, Principe?’ Her tone was utterly deferential, but Trin felt the underlying sharpness