1

Landscape

Across night and water, in darkness: the island. There was no moon tonight. Tomorrow was the moon's First Night.

"Clirando, do you see?"

"I see. The beacons are burning."

High up, the coastal cliffs were gemmed with them, drops of brilliant fire, each one separated from the next by many miles.

They were like eyes, watching, as the boat came in. Nothing else was to be seen, but the luminous rollers of the surf on the shore.

The galley had put them off as soon as the sun set in the Middle Sea. The Isle was visible, a black dot far away. The captain told Clirando the water there was too shallow for his ship, but also no man or woman, unless called or ordered to the Isle, might go in any nearer.

Strong, and aching for action after the slow voyage, the band was quite eager to take up oars and row.

Gradually the sea dulled to a leaden blue and the sky faded like an autumn rose. Great darkness came, scattered with stars. The galley had drawn away.

Briefly the younger girls chattered, excited or unnerved. Then they fell silent as the rest.

The hump of the island grew from the night, always still blacker, and then the beacons burned out above.

Clirando had been given by the captain a rudimentary map, which showed a way in. They found the entry soon enough. A narrow defile sliced between and below the steep surfaces of the cliffs.

They followed the sea channel and soon the beacons were left behind them. Only starlight then shone like steel on the water.

For perhaps a further quarter of an hour they rowed under the cliff stacks, until the channel opened again into an inner bay.

They drew the boat up across pale shingle.

A statue of an unknown goddess stood there, guarding the beach, her eyes glittering grey zircons.

"Who is she?" whispered Draisis.

Seleti said, "Maut, I think."

"A goddess of the East?" asked Tuyamel. "Do you think it's Maut, Cliro?"

Clirando bowed to the goddess. "Maybe. But whoever she is, this is her place. We'll offer some wine when we uncork the skin."

After they had set their fire, the ordinary sounds of arrival and domestic preparation ended. Then each of the women heard, Clirando thought, the vast stillness close about them. It was intense and fur-soft, and fearful, this silence. It had in it a kind of tinsel quivering—noiseless yet always in the ears. They spoke, the women, in hushed tones, eating the cold meats and apples from home, drinking the wine.

Clirando observed them. They were good girls, awed and probably nervous, yet staying cool and contained. This was not like fighting. What war asked of you was quite different. What the Isle asked… Only the gods knew.

Presently Clirando, who had not yet drunk, took some wine in a bowl along the shingle and poured out a proper measure for the goddess who seemed to be Maut, Haunter of Waters.

"Let all go well for them, Lady. Protect them and allow them to win honor. For myself, I won't ask you. Nor for sleep. I know, even if you'd grant it, I'd be unable to receive your gift."

Firelight made the zircon eyes sparkle—but only the firelight.

When she went back, they were saying that games were celebrated at a town on the island, deep in its interior, to mark the Seven Nights, and a great fair was held as well, full of wonders, with goods and animals on show that came from remote lands. She wondered where they had heard this. All Clirando had ever heard of the Isle, even on the galley, had been mysterious, uncanny and troubling.

Someone yawned—Vlis. Clirando said, "I'll take the watch."

"Yes, Clirando." They nodded solemnly. They believed that their leader had trained herself to need little if any sleep on duty. None of them, even Tuy, knew Clirando now seldom slept at all. Why worry them? They boasted of her talent for wakefulness.

As they settled down, Clirando again went off a short way. She sat on a boulder jutting from the stones and sand, about forty paces along the beach. From here she could see all the long curve of the shingle and, beside, a cliff path that slipped suddenly up along the rock face. It looked to be rough going, but they would use it in the morning.

Would they find other people here quickly? The beacon-lighters perhaps, if no one else.

The sea sighed and crinkled to and fro, lit by phosphorescent runners of foam. Like a lullaby—for some.

In the red circle of firelight, the others had curled up. Already they were all sleeping, heads on rolled cloaks, long legs and folded arms relaxed as the limbs of sleeping cats. Only Tuyamel softly snored, just audible in the quiet. But Clirando was aware the snoring would stop once Tuy was properly asleep.

How well I know them.

I know them better than I know myself.

Clirando regarded the act of sleep. Sometimes it had seemed to her, wandering up to the roof of her own house, she had seen all Amnos sleeping, all the world, with only she herself awake forever.

A pebble, loosened by something or nothing and tumbling down the cliff side, jolted her into a tremendous jump.

Clirando started to her feet, dazzled and alarmed. What had happened? She had slept—she had slept? For how long? Her trained eye scanned the stars. From their positions she worked out that all of an hour must have passed.

She did not sleep. She had been watching for hours, now and then prowling up and down along the edge of the sea…and then.

Copyright © 2005 by Mercedes Lackey