Lands of Nowhere Read online

  CHAPTER 2 GIVER OF WORDS

  The large spider-creature made no further move. It seemed to be waiting for some response from Herra.

  She touched the limb it had extended and bowed her head in greeting. 'I thank you for your welcome.'

  The creature flicked another leg towards the guides and sent them scuttling back up towards the cave, then it returned its full attention to Herra. 'Name iss SS'Habi,' it said in a sibilant voice, prefacing and ending its words with a hiss.

  'SS'Habi?' she repeated. 'Is that a personal name, group name, or the name of your species?'

  'SS'Habi.' The mouth writhed for a moment, as if it were selecting the words with great care. 'All are SS'Habi,' it hissed at last. 'Thiss one,' a leg indicated itself, 'iss Elder SS'Habi - like Elder Ssisster.' The word sounded more like Ssssisssster, but was recognisable.

  Herra nodded. 'Yes. I see.' She looked at the two others, who were standing motionless, watching her.

  The leg pointed towards them. 'These are Senior SS'Habi. These,' the leg indicated the fast-disappearing figures of the guides, 'are Habi. Not grown sspeech - not old enough - except to learn short messages.'

  Herra nodded again. 'A very clear explanation, Elder SS'Habi. I thank you for it. But one of those two did manage a few words.'

  The Elder SS'Habi was instantly alert. 'What say?'

  'No ssspeak musssh.' She tried to capture the sound as accurately as possible.

  'Iss good. That one iss nearly ready.'

  'Ready?'

  'To meet Giver of Words. Some Habi learn to sspeak, become SS'Habi; some not learn to sspeak much, become Sem-Habi. Iss difficult for us to cross barrier of sspeech.'

  Herra tried to show a proper interest but couldn’t help looking back towards the cave. 'What about my friends, Elder SS'Habi? Will they wake up soon?'

  'When Giver of Words decides. Also, friends are younger than Elder Sister. Not as strong. Not as - ssss -

  not as much developed. Need to ssleep longer. Using this portal makes your people ssleep. Iss very big transition.'

  A soft rush of sound, more like the swishing of tall grass in a breeze than speech, came from one of the Senior SS'Habi. It seemed to be reminding the Elder SS'Habi of something.

  It turned back to Herra. 'Not sspeak more now,' it said abruptly. 'Not time. Go wash now.'

  'Wash?'

  'Must wash. Long journey.' A leg brushed for a moment against her crumpled robe. 'Wash clothes. Wash body. Wash strain of portal away.'

  'I assure you that I feel little strain now . . . ' began Herra, but was not allowed to finish.

  'All must wash. Wash very clean. Honour Giver of Words.'

  It must be a ritual. Well, it could do no harm to humour them, and she did feel a little grubby, not to mention hungry. 'Very well.'

  The Elder SS'Habi led her towards that level's chain of pools, whose contents were being constantly renewed by the river. She stared around. Everything was just too neat and well-ordered to be natural. The water entered the series of basins through shallow channels lined with black rocks. She dipped a finger in and found the water to be slightly warm to the touch. Unable to see enough from where she stood, she climbed on to a large rock from which she could look over the whole area. The SS'Habi made no protest, but waited patiently, chittering quietly to each other.

  They were surrounded by about a dozen shallow pools filled with river water. At the far side the water passed out of the pools through a twisting series of channels, which were this time filled with vivid greenery.

  They looked like - could they possibly be filters? She remembered reading in the Archives that the Sisterhood had used such techniques at times.

  A couple of the pools were already occupied by wallowing deleff, who were being scrubbed most assiduously by SS'Habi attendants - no, she corrected herself, Habi. They were smaller and completely grey in colour. Neither bathers nor attendants paid the slightest attention to Herra, but concentrated on the ablutions as if their very lives depended upon them achieving perfect cleanliness. She looked down at the SS'Habi, who were waiting patiently at the foot of the rock, and decided she’d better climb down again.

  'I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I wished to see what this area was like.' She must be very careful not to offend local customs, but at the same time, she mustn’t walk into a trap.

  'Iss no problem. Iss natural to insspect new place.'

  She was led along next to the creamy path, which, on closer inspection, turned out to be a mosaic of tiny cream and gold stones, arranged in swirling patterns that made her blink. Somehow, she couldn’t quite keep the patterns in clear focus. The Elder SS'Habi stopped and indicated a pool secluded from the others and fringed by bushes. 'Elder Ssisster wash now. This one take clothes. Bring clean clothes back.' It stood there, one leg extended, waiting for her to disrobe.

  Herra hesitated, then began to remove her robe, telling herself firmly that this was no time for false modesty. The sight of her underclothing set the three SS'Habi twittering to each other, then their leader turned to face her. Two of its legs were twitching as if it were upset.

  'Two clothes,' it said at last. 'Two clothes. Not got clean two clothes for you. Why two clothes? Body cold?'

  How did one explain the concept of underclothing to a creature which wore no clothing at all? 'Er - we all wear two clothes. It's - well, it's our custom. We call these things underclothing.'

  'This body not need great warmth,' persisted the Elder SS'Habi. 'Why two clothes?' The tip of one furry leg gently circled her wrist and Herra stiffened, but made no move to pull away.

  'It's just our custom to cover some parts of our bodies twice.'

  The leg holding her twitched again and there was an audible hiss before the Elder let go. 'Give two clothes to this one. Musst make more.'

  A leg was extended for the underclothes.

  'There's no need. I can wash these and put them on again damp. It's not cold.'

  'No! Please give! Mussst make more. These are wrong colour, wrong material. Wrong! Mussst be clean, very clean.' The hissing was more pronounced than usual and the Elder SS'Habi was clearly upset.

  Feeling slightly ridiculous, Herra removed the rest of her clothing and handed it over, keeping only the tracer which Davred had asked her to carry. The SS'Habi had showed no interest in that whatsoever, which puzzled her - but then, a lot of things puzzled her here and she couldn’t demand explanations for them all.

  One of the Senior SS'Habi ran off with her underclothes at a faster rate than she would have believed possible for ten legs. As Herra turned back, the Elder SS'Habi touched her body gently with the tip of one leg.

  'No hair here.' The leg that touched her was thickly covered in fine hair, which looked grey in some lights, yellow in others. The SS'Habi bent its head closer and Herra held her breath. What now?

  'Little hair on legs,' it said, almost to itself. 'Very little hair. Not of use.' It seemed slightly disapproving, but not threatening. It touched her breasts. 'Female,' it said. 'Have young ones?'

  'Yes. But a long time ago. They're grown up now. I'm - er - quite old, for one of my people.' Though her body had settled naturally to an appearance of forty or fifty years old, thanks to the renewal procedures.

  'How old?'

  'Well, two hundred and forty-three, actually.'

  'Ssss. Iss very old. Learn much wisdom.'

  Herra smiled. 'I've tried.'

  It indicated itself. 'This one iss female alsso. And old. Seventy of your years. Not live much longer. Have many young ones. All have sspeech.' This was clearly a point for great pride.

  Before Herra could speak again, the remaining Senior SS'Habi twittered. The Elder one stepped back.

  'Wash in water now. Make clean. Very, very clean.' A leg reached out at the back of the SS'Habi's body, tore a few leaves from a bush and passed them round to a leg nearer to Herra. 'Use these. Rub on body. Make very clean.' She placed them in Herra's hand, then pushed her gently towards the pool.


  As the question of washing seemed of central importance to the SS'Habi, Herra walked into the water. It was pleasantly lukewarm, and she quickly abandoned her attempts to understand the puzzles around her and gave herself up to the luxury of a long soak in running water. The leaves gave off an astringent froth, rather like soap, and slightly perfumed. She rubbed herself, as instructed, until her body was tingling, then she rinsed off the froth. The pool was large enough to swim a few strokes and deep enough in parts to dive under the water. It had been years since Herra had enjoyed the sheer pleasure of such a frolic.

  Eventually, however, she became aware that the Elder SS'Habi and her two companions were standing by the water's edge, holding some clothing. They were obviously waiting for her to finish, so she waded out of the water.

  'Dry soon,' said the Elder, settling down in a tangle of legs and making no attempt to pass her the clothing.

  'Sun make dry.'

  Herra laughed and began to do a few breathing and limbering up exercises, not enough to raise a sweat, but enough to tone up her muscles as her body dried. Then she ran her fingers through her hair, wishing she had a comb. When she felt dry, she turned to the SS'Habi. 'I'm ready to dress now.'

  One of them held out some pieces of soft cream-coloured material. 'Two clothes,' it said apologetically.

  'Not same, but cover same parts of body.'

  The material was, Herra found, slightly elastic, and each garment had holes in the correct places. There was no sign of seams. When she pulled them on, the garments moulded themselves to the contours of her body.

  She walked a few steps and found that they stayed put. They were, in fact, more comfortable than her own underclothing, if somewhat scantier, and she said so to her hosts.

  'Iss better?' The Senior SS'Habi sounded surprised. 'Iss truly better?'

  'Yes. I like them very much.'

  The area around its mouth glowed more yellow for a moment. Was that a sign of pleasure?

  One of the Senior SS'Habi stepped forward and held out a robe. It was as soft and silky as the underclothing, but finer, of a creamy-golden colour which glistened slightly in the sun. It took Herra a moment to realise the robe was exactly the same colour as the mosaics in the path. That must have some significance.

  When she was dressed, she reached for the tracer and clipped it to her waist. 'I must carry this,' she explained.

  'Yess. Iss known and iss acceptable to High Council.'

  Now what did they mean by that?

  'This material is very beautiful.' Herra stroked the robe. It was made in a style similar to a Sister's robe, though the skirt was fuller and the material finer. Like the underclothing, it had no visible seams. The sleeves just capped her arms and the neckline was high. It clung to her body from the neck to the waist, then it flowed to the ground in shimmering, almost liquid folds. 'It's much prettier than my other robe. Did your people make this?'

  'Sem-Habi make,' the Elder said. 'Iss - special material. Wear now for speaking to Giver of Words.'

  'I don't quite understand,' Herra said carefully. 'Who exactly is the Giver of Words?'

  'Giver of Words iss . . . iss . . . ' The Elder consulted her companions, then launched into a maddeningly truncated explanation. 'High Deleffal iss Giver of Words to SS'Habi. Long time ago - had no words. All were Habi - no words. Like animals. Without words, not think clearly. Then Giver of Words honoured Habi. Gave us gift of sspeech. With words can think clearly. Iss - iss greatest gift possible. So now SS'Habi serve High Council, honour Giver of Words. Learn more words all time - learn more ways of thinking. Live in peace together. Much peace.'

  A burst of sound from the others stopped the conversation. 'Elder Ssister come now. Sspeak with Giver of Words. Great honour.'

  Had she understood that correctly? Had the deleff really taken an animal, increased its mental capacity and taught it to speak and to think? As Herra followed them, she replayed the conversation in her mind, trying to analyse exactly what the Elder SS'Habi meant.

  They made their way steadily downwards, always following that one special path covered in mosaic, though they hadn’t walked on it until after Herra had bathed. Sometimes other tracks crossed it; sometimes they ran parallel to it. The other paths were not covered in mosaic, and any travellers on them, whether deleff or SS'Habi, stopped to let the party on the cream-coloured path pass, but made no attempt to communicate with them.

  It took nearly two hours to reach the floor of the valley. Herra was ravenously hungry, but suppressed the pangs. However, when they passed within a few yards of a clump of glowberry bushes, sagging with a particularly fine crop of large, shiny fruit, she couldn’t help looking at them longingly.

  'Elder Ssister hungry?'

  'Yes. But I can wait if it's not convenient to eat now.'

  'Eat afterwards. Good food. Not eat before sspeak to High Council first time.'

  'Very well.' She began a minor Discipline for the suppression of hunger, but had as much trouble concentrating on it as the greenest of novices.

  When they arrived at the bottom level, the SS'Habi led her round the lake towards the mist-covered island, which was, Herra now saw, connected to the shore by a narrow causeway. When they neared the island the path came to an abrupt halt at a rocky outcrop and the SS'Habi stopped.

  'Musst wash again.'

  'Again! But I've only just washed!'

  'Must be very clean. Musst. Honour High Council. Honour Giver of Words. Take off clothes. Wash again.'

  The Elder SS'Habi pulled at Herra's robe and she bit off an angry refusal. It was obviously a very important ritual to them. 'Where do I wash this time?'

  'In special pool. At entrance to Council Grove.'

  She undressed and stood where they indicated in front of the rocky wall. The two Senior SS'Habi began to make a crooning noise, which gradually resolved itself into a not unpleasant repetitive pattern of sounds.

  'Sing prayer to enter grove,' explained the Elder in a low voice. 'Great honour to go inside.' They waited.

  An answering burst of melody came from behind the rocks.

  Water suddenly began to trickle through cracks in the rock, flowing faster and faster until it turned into a line of small waterfalls. Shallow depressions at the foot of each waterfall filled rapidly until they were ankle deep, then a series of fountains began to play from underneath the surface of the pools. All three of the SS'Habi moved forward to the edge of the water, then turned to wait for Herra.

  Sighing, she walked forward to join them. As they stepped into the water, she kept pace with them. Fine mist-like sprays of lukewarm water played over her body and after the initial shock, she found it relaxing. The Elder SS'Habi made a gesture towards the miniature waterfall gushing into Herra's pool, then moved forward until she disappeared completely under her own cascade.

  'Brother, look down upon me!' murmured Herra as she walked into the cascade.

  Blinking and spluttering, she found herself passing through a curtain of water behind which the rocky wall had vanished. Another portal? But why did they need a portal to take a few steps forward on to the island?

  The more she found out about this land of the deleff, the more puzzling she found it.

  She emerged on another cream and gold path so thickly lined by tall trees and undergrowth that it gave the effect of a tunnel. The ground next to the path was carpeted with short grass of a rich blue-green colour, and shoulder-high shrubs in a multitude of subtle blue shades clustered around each tree.

  Two more SS'Habi were waiting for them. Without saying anything, they handed Herra first a kind of towel, then clean garments identical to the ones she’d left behind, including underclothes. Finally, they placed a chaplet of creamy white flowers on her hair. The Elder SS'Habi, who had accompanied her through the portal, slipped a bracelet of the same flowers on to one leg. The soft blossoms looked incongruous against the coarse yellow-grey hair of the upper leg.

  'Come now,' whispered the Elder. 'Sstand before High Council. Not s
speak till after Giver of Words sspeaks. Answer questions with truth and joy. Thiss one,' a light touch on its own body, 'has great honour. Iss voice for Giver of Words. Come now.' Crooning gently, the Elder led the way along the tunnel. The others stayed behind.

  As Herra followed, she could sense the deep reverence of the SS'Habi, and she decided to move in the stylised half-dance she had used in temple services.

  The Elder SS'Habi stopped dead. 'Why move like that?'

  'It's a sign of respect. We move this way sometimes in our own temples.'

  'Who ssay to move like that?'

  'No one. It just seemed correct. Should I not do it?'

  'Do it! Do it! Iss good, iss very good to show respect for venerable wisdom. Thiss one explain to Giver of Words.'

  They moved forward again. Wind chimes hanging from the trees tinkled an accompaniment as they pushed through a barrier of shimmering foliage to reach . . .

  Herra stopped dead and blinked, then blinked again. Her vision seemed blurred, her eyes out of focus. The shapes around her moved and melted into one another. It was like looking through clear, but rippling water with tear-filled eyes. She quickly realised that there was nothing wrong with her eyes and stopped trying to focus properly. It was as much as she could do to keep up with the blurred figure of the Elder, which kept twisting and shifting before her.

  'Sstop now,' ordered the Elder. 'Close eyes.'

  Herra did as she was told and nearly gasped aloud. A picture had formed immediately in her head, a picture of herself in a grove, surrounded by six of the largest deleff she had ever seen.

  As she’d promised, the Elder SS'Habi acted as voice to the High Council. 'Giver of Words thanks Elder Sister for ssign of resspect. Keep eyes closed. Ssee pictures better.'

  A series of jerky pictures formed, showing the events which had led the deleff to rescue Herra and her companions and bring them to Dsheresh Vale.