(eng) Liz Williams by Banner of Souls

Author:Banner of Souls [Souls, Banner of]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Earth

When Lunae awoke, Dreams-of-War was sitting on the porthole seat, armored knees drawn up against her chest and bristling like a porcupine.

"What time is it?" Lunae asked.

"Almost eight," Dreams-of-War said.

"Is everything all right?" The Martians face looked pinched around the mouth and her eyes were gritty. Wisps of pale hair had come loose from her plait, giving Dreams-of-War an uncharacteristically disheveled appear-ance.

"Everything is fine," Dreams-of-War snapped.

"Where are we?"

"How should I know? The sea looks all the same; I have seen no land. Stay here, don't answer the door, and don't take it into your head to go wandering. I'm going to find Sek."

"Why? Is something wrong?" For Dreams-of-War was emanating a wire-taut sensation, a kind of psychic jan-gling.

In reply, her guardian turned on an armored heel and marched out.

Lunae crossed over to the porthole and looked through. Beyond the narrow line of deck and the railing, she could see nothing but ocean, stretching hazy and blue to the horizon's edge. Now that they were beyond Fragrant Harbor, the water had changed to a deep, rolling swell, flecked with foam. Lunae watched, enchanted, as each wave rolled up, green and clear as molten glass.

The junk lurched and swayed. Lunae kept waiting for sickness, but to her relief, it never came. She rested her el-bows on the rim of the porthole and watched the sea churn. Then something passed across her vision: a kind of blurring. Lunae frowned, wondering if her vision was af-fected, and thinking with dread of the Kami. It came again: a sudden dimming of the view of deck and horizon, as if two pillars of heat had passed by Lunae squinted up-ward and saw a strange thing.

A woman was hovering above the deck. She wore a short leather kilt. Above was a black metal bodice that reached down to her hips. Long dark hair, unbraided, swept to her waist. She was looking out to sea, so Lunae was able to see her profile: a pale, sharply etched face, with a sensuous mouth. The eyes were hidden behind round lenses, like the eyes of an insect. Her arms were nothing but bone and metal, the shoulders peaked like wings and the fingers skeletal and long, but her body ended at the hips.

She had no thighs, no shins, no feet. Lunae stared as the woman moved away, and now she could see that the woman was supported, after all: by two transparent legs ending in spiked heels. Artificial toes tapped across the deck. Despite the height of her heels and the motion of the deck, the woman moved quickly and with assurance. She was soon gone up the steps that led to the upper levels of the junk.

When Dreams-of-War marched back in, Lunae told her of what she had seen. By this time, the kappa had also awoken and sat blinking.

"This woman," Dreams-of-War said, frowning, "what did she look like? Did you see her face?"

"Yes," said Lunae. "She was beautiful, with long black hair. But her face was cold and closed, all angles.

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