Pallahaxi Read online

  Then I kissed Browneyes’ salty soft lips and found that I was lying on top of her, and she was moving under me, her legs parting and her hips meeting me; I thrust down on her because it was something I just had to do—and I saw her wince, so I stopped quickly and I could have cried because I’d hurt her.

  “Please, darling Drove. Go on,” she whispered, smiling as I saw a tear start at the corner of her eye; so I did, and suddenly she was warm and soft and beautiful and tingling, and everything was going to be all right. Soon our movements grew frantic and the whole thing was happening independently from my mind; there was no way I could influence events; it was happening, happening. Browneyes was moaning “Drove, Drove, ooh…” and her eyes were fierce as they stared into mine and we couldn’t get close enough, close enough as the frightening wonderful explosion came, and came, and came, and…came…

  Later the sun was still there, still overhead, so there was no way of telling how long we’d been lying there. I yawned and stretched, and felt Browneyes stir beside me. I stroked her hip and kissed her; her eyes opened; she smiled and moved against me. “Drove…?”

  “Listen, I think we ought to get going. There’s stuff on this ship they’ll need in the town.” Two steam guns still remained of the deck cargo, and no doubt the holds held further war supplies which Pallahaxi might require very soon.

  “Oh, Rax. I want you to love me again, Drove. Again and again and again. I don’t want ever to leave here. Hey, do you know what?” Her pout changed to a grin. “You’re going to have to marry me now, Drove. I’m going to tell my parents how you took advantage of me, and you’ll have to marry me. And then we’ll love each other every night, for always. We’ll both sleep in the bed the Regent slept in.”

  “Browneyes, you wouldn’t tell your parents, would you?”

  “I will if you don’t make love to me right now.”

  I crawled out of the improvised bed quickly, otherwise I’d never have got out. Her grasping little hands followed me all the way and at one point I almost turned back, but I managed to free myself, and stood. “Come on,” I said.

  She stared up at me mutinously. “I can tell you want to; you can’t fool me.”

  “Browneyes darling, of course I want to. But don’t you see? Now we have the chance to end this dispute between the town and the Parls. We’ve got to tell them as soon as possible, before anyone else gets hurt. Afterwards, I’ll come along to your room while your parents are working. Right?”

  “You’d better.” She climbed to her feet and put on the remains of her dress, slowly, grinning mischievously at me all the time.

  “Oh, for Phu’s sake.” I’d dressed quickly; now I seized Browneyes and adjusted her dress where she had deliberately left one small breast uncovered to drive me mad. It occurred to me that it was sixty days since I’d arrived in Pallahaxi and Browneyes and I had met again. It was difficult to reconcile the shy little girl in dirty clothes on the shipwreck beach with this seductive young siren who realized fully the power her loveliness had over me. I wondered if I’d grown up as quickly as she—and I thought maybe I had.

  I was now able to think in terms of larger issues, of the future of my environment, of the reality of war. Sixty days ago I would never have thought of hurrying back to report the surfacing of a sunken ship to the authorities; I would have let them find out for themselves, while I played slingball or raced drivets.

  We climbed into the skimmer and pushed off from the glittering hull of the Ysabel. The breeze had freshened again and the sail filled, and soon we were sliding around Finger Point with the breakwater and Pallahaxi before us. Although there was no sign of grume-riders, I kept close to the shore. I looked back once to see the Ysabel floating, scintillating on the grume like a frosted cake. I wondered how long she would stay there; the grume would be waning in a few standard days, she would lose her precarious buoyancy and descend to the bottom of Pallahaxi Trench again. Before that happened, she could be offloaded and even beached—although it was unlikely that it would be economical to repair her; the explosion of the boilers had ripped her bottom out.

  Eventually we reached the harbour and sailed up to the slipway of the late Silverjack’s yard. We hauled the skimmer out of the water, unshipped the mast and sail and stowed them in a corner of the boathouse. Then, feeling conspicuous in our ragged clothing—and quite positive that any fool could see we’d been making love—we walked along the quay.

  Ribbon and Wolff were sitting on the plinth which forms the base of the monument, looking bored and throwing bits of bread to the newspigeons. The little birds were understandably nervous and kept fluttering away whenever the huge shadow of a grummet passed overhead. Information from the battlefront had been spasmodic recently due to the number of newspigeons which were taken by grummets before they could reach Pallahaxi message post. The few items of news which had got through had not been encouraging—in fact had served to reinforce my view that sometimes it is better to remain ignorant.

  Ribbon took one look at us and she knew. She smiled secretively and said, “You two look as though you’ve been enjoying yourselves, huh? Sometime you must tell me your secret, Browneyes. But right now you ought to get some clothes on. People are looking at you.”

  I swung around guiltily, thinking that maybe Browneyes’ breast had popped out again, but she was quite decent. I could see what Ribbon meant, though. My girl was eyecatching, glowing as she stood there in her rags. Her skin seemed to have gained a new dimension, not only due to the grume crystals, while her lovely face radiated a serenity and contented joy just one glorious step short of total smugness. I couldn’t help but stare at her as she grinned at us from her fortress of love, and I heard Ribbon chuckle ruefully.

  Meanwhile Wolff was tossing crumbs to the birds, oblivious. “Look, do we have to sit here all freezing day?” he complained.

  “Oh, shut up, you,” snapped Ribbon, then resumed her admiring scrutiny of Browneyes. “Well, what have you been doing?” she asked. “I mean, what else have you been doing?”

  “Ribbon, we must see your father quickly,” I said. “The Ysabel has surfaced again.”

  “Oh…Right.” Ribbon stood quickly. She didn’t seem particularly surprised; I suppose this was a fairly common phenomenon along the coast. “He’s up at the temple, I think. I’ll come with you. Is there anything left worth salvaging?”

  “A couple of guns still on the deck. I expect there’s still plenty in the holds, even though there’s that freezing great hole in the bottom. Enough to give us some sort of protection if the Astan men-of-war come close again.”

  “If the Parls let us keep the stuff,” said Ribbon thoughtfully.

  “They wouldn’t dare to take it away from us, not this time. They said it was meant for the town, remember?”

  “After it was lost they said that,” said Ribbon significantly. I hoped her father didn’t share her cynicism, or my hopes of a reconciliation between the town and the Parls would get nowhere.

  Browneyes, Ribbon and I made our way up the main street to the temple, followed after an interval by Wolff; I imagined he was ashamed of being seen with us in our present state of undress, but didn’t want to miss out on any developments. Browneyes had hardly uttered a word since we’d stepped ashore; all she could do was smile quietly to herself and radiate a happiness which shouted at everyone who looked at her—and everyone did, as we walked through the main street of Pallahaxi. And the way she clung on to my hand told them who was responsible…I wondered how I was going to be able to face her parents.

  An unpleasant scene met us at the temple; Strongarm was questioning the truck drivers—Grope and the other man—with scant attention to the niceties. “All right, you freezers!” he was shouting. “Now tell me this, If they’re not shipping the fish out, then what the freezing Rax are they doing with it? Eating it?” He towered over them as they lay bound on the floor.

  Grope whimpered, “I don’t know, honestly I don’t know…All I d
id was drive and ask no questions.” He had twisted one of his strange, two-pronged hands free from his bonds and was holding it out, as though to ward off another in a long series of kicks.

  “Father!” called Ribbon and Strongarm turned away instantly, his face transformed as he saw his daughter. I thought to myself—as I had thought before—it is possible for parents and children to love one another; where did I lose out? Then Strongarm saw Browneyes and me, and his fond smile turned to ordinary friendliness, which was good to see in an adult, anyway. “Drove and Browneyes have something important to tell you,” Ribbon said.

  “Congratulations,” murmured Strongarm dryly, staring fascinated at Browneyes, as though he’d never seen her before. “You’re a lucky freezer, Drove.”

  I had to laugh and Browneyes didn’t even blush. “It’s not that, Strongarm,” I said. “We were out over the Trench in my skimmer, and the Ysabel came up.” I described the event.

  “You say she’s still there?” he said before I’d finished. “She was floating high?”

  “She’ll float higher when you take those guns off the deck.”

  “And we shall…And we shall.” He was pacing about, thinking hard. “Just as soon as I can round up some men and boats. There’s my skimmer, and poor old Silverjack has one at his yard. And Bordin, and Bighead…Four boats should be enough. Only two guns left, you say? that’s a pity…” He addressed the prisoners. “It’ll be a long time before I get back, so you’ll have plenty of time to think. And remember this. When the troops came to take back those guns today, they didn’t bother to collect you two at the same time. Just think of that, when you’re trying to decide whose side you’re on.”

  “Do you know where my father is?” I asked Strongarm.

  His eyes went cold. “He was seen passing through the town in the direction of the new cannery a short while ago. He had the man Thrawn with him. What do you want him for?”

  “Well, to tell him about the Ysabel, of course. There were no Parls on the new wharf to see her. I don’t suppose they know she’s surfaced yet.” I was beginning to think I’d made a mistake in telling Strongarm my intentions.

  “Can’t you let them find out by themselves?”

  “Strongarm, can’t you see? This is the chance for the Parls and the town to get together. They promised the guns and here they are—our guns, not guns they can say we stole. They can help us unload the Ysabel and set up the guns, and train us how to use them. We can’t go on fighting each other like this, with the Astans only just over the hills!”

  He watched me as I spoke; and when I’d finished he shook his head. “I like your sentiments, Drove, but I don’t share your trust in the Parls. Never mind; we’ll see. You go along and tell your father—but I’d rather my daughter didn’t go with you. I can see us all having a freezing big battle around the Ysabel.”

  We borrowed a loxcart, and Browneyes and I set off up the hill out of town. The animal was slow and reluctant at first, but a lorin saw our problem, dropped out of a nearby tree and took the lox in hand, trotting alongside the shambling beast and encouraging it. So we reached the top and the river valley lay before us.

  The estuary was almost completely dried out, a streak of brown mud across the fields and open land; the river ran as a glittering thread through the mudflats. A single trail of smoke rose from the cannery buildings; I noticed several new buildings since I had last seen the restricted area. A row of trucks stood idle near the gate and the dry bed of the estuary was littered with beached skimmers and deep-hulls. The cannery looked asleep, almost abandoned.

  The lorin left us at this point, running off among the stickle-bushes of the hillside in the direction of a number of holes in the face of the escarpment. The lox ambled on contentedly. There was a movement far below as a guard emerged from his hut and threw the gate open. A truck fountained steam and the workers came pouring from the largest building, their shift over. They piled into trailers attached to the truck and the whole train moved away with a shrill whistle, climbing the hill towards us. The sudden activity was a curious incongruity in the timeless quietude of the scene.

  “Do you still love me, darling?” asked Browneyes unexpectedly.

  I stared at her. “Why do you ask that? Of course I do.”

  “Oh…” she smiled happily. “I just wanted to hear you say it. After all, it’s just possible you’ve changed your mind. My mother told me men often change their minds, once they’ve…uh…you know, seduced a girl…”

  We were already sitting very close in the loxcart but now I moved closer still, finding that if I reached my arm further around her, I could cup her breast through a tear in the dress. “Just remember who did the seducing,” I said.

  At this point the train climbed past us and the homeward-bound Pallahaxi workers waved and whistled as they passed. I left my hand where it was, feeling reckless. There would be talk in the Golden Grummet later on, I thought.

  Finally we drew up at the cannery gate and dismounted. The guard approached, staring suspiciously through the wire. “We must see Alika-Burt. Will you tell him we’re here?” I requested importantly. “I’m his son Drove and this is Pallahaxi-Browneyes, my girlfriend.”

  If I had expected the guard to spring to attention at this revelation I was disappointed. He mumbled something and departed; then, much later, returned and opened the gate with a clattering of bolts. “Follow me,” he said curtly, locking the gate behind us. He then strode off at speed.

  I had little time to take in my surroundings as Browneyes and I panted at his heels. There were large boxes everywhere, and even larger objects covered with sheets. The cannery workers who lived in Pallahaxi had naturally been questioned many times as to the nature of the new cannery, but they had not been helpful. So far as they could tell, it was much the same as the old cannery; although the machinery was more modern the end product was the same. Remembering the incident of the empty truck, I had time briefly to wonder what they did with the end product. The buildings were more complex than I had realized; when looking down on this place from the hillside I had never received a true impression of its size. There were catwalks above and stairways disappearing into the grounds, tanks marked ‘distil’, tanks marked ‘water’, green doors and yellow doors and blue doors.

  It was a yellow door which the guard flung open. He stepped aside and motioned us to enter. We found ourselves in a small room with one window, a desk and chair, a newspigeon cage and a tall rack of shelves. There was little else of note in the room apart from my father, who sat in the chair regarding us with incredulous fury.

  “I trust you have an explanation for this,” he said at last, in a slow voice of infinite menace.

  “Of course, father. I wouldn’t have come unless it was important.” Simple, idealistic fool that I was, I still thought it important to stop the incipient civil war. “You see, Browneyes and I—”

  But father had leaped to his feet in a classic display of temper. “Do you realize that you’ve probably made me the laughing-stock of this entire operation, slinking in here half-naked with that trollop hanging on to you? And you dare to mention her name in my presence? You even dare to bring her into my presence, parading herself for everyone to see, and her no more than a child? By Phu, I never thought the day would come…”

  “—around Finger Point,” I was meanwhile continuing doggedly, “and while they were attacking us the Ysabel floated up on the grume. We managed to get the skimmer alongside and BROWNEYES SAVED MY LIFE and after a while we took a look at—”

  “You said what?”

  “I said Browneyes saved my life. Browneyes.”

  “Are you trying to tell me the Ysabel“s floating out there?”

  “That’s right. I’ve already told them in the town and they’re organizing a salvage party right now.”

  “You’ve told them what?” “I said I’ve already told them in—”

  “I know what you said. I know what you said.” He was s
uddenly silent, staring at me with wide eyes and it took a moment for me to realize that he was frightened, deathly frightened of something I’d said. He looked old, almost dying, in the way Aunt Zu had while she was stripping the clothes off me, in the way Horlox-Mestler had when he walked to his death in the steam. There was a shivering in my stomach as it dawned on me that this was not merely the usual battle between us. This time something had gone wrong, terribly wrong. “Wait here,” he said at last. “Just wait right here, you two.” He almost ran from the room, slamming the door behind him.

  Browneyes was staring at me and she looked frightened too.

  “He’s just a fool,” I said. “I’m sorry he called you all those things, my darling.”

  “Something’s wrong, Drove. I don’t think…I don’t think those guns were meant for the town at all. I think Ribbon’s father was right; they wanted them here. But this time, your father knows Pallahaxi will fight to keep them.”

  “Rax. Just tell me why I didn’t keep my nose out of it, Browneyes.”

  “Because you were hoping you could make it up with your father, that’s why. You thought he would be pleased and you wanted him to be pleased. I know you hate your father, Drove—but you don’t want to hate him.”

  The door banged open at this moment and two guards came in, big and bristling. “You, come with us,” one said to Browneyes, catching hold of her arm.

  “Take your filthy hands off her!” I yelled. I jumped for him but the other guard caught me, pinning my arms behind my back. I kicked out frantically, but one man held me while the other was out of range, dragging Browneyes through the doorway. She screamed and twisted in his grasp but he tightened his arm around her waist and seized her thrashing fists in his other hand. Then they were gone, and I fought my guard hopelessly for a while. He merely chuckled, twisting my arm until the shoulder cracked.

  At last the other guard returned. “Right, you can let him go,” he said, breathlessly. I ran to the door.

  There was nobody outside. There were buildings with doors; all shut, all silent. Beyond them I could see the wire fence. Above, the sun blazed down casting black shadows among the dazzling brightness.