Banner of Souls by Liz Williams

Author:Liz Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307417893
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-18T05:00:00+00:00

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. She did not look like anyone I have ever seen before. There was a—a foreignness to her face, yet it reminded me of someone. And she had no arms, and no legs. They were glass, or plastic, and transparent. It didn’t seem to hinder her in walking.”

She was surprised to see an expression of distinct unease cross her Martian guardian’s countenance.

“Do you know her?” Lunae asked.

“No,” Dreams-of-War replied, too quickly. “But I have reason to believe that we are not the only passengers. Why should we be, after all?”

“There are many strange things in the north,” the kappa said. She waddled closer to Lunae and patted her arm. “Do not worry. I am here. Dreams-of-War is here.”

“And I’m grateful,” Lunae said.

The Martian turned to the kappa. “Strange things? Have you seen this woman before?”

The kappa stared at her, bemused. “I have not. But you must know how common it is in the more primitive regions for children to come from the growing-bags without limbs.”

Dreams-of-War looked at her with palpable disgust. “Why aren’t such infants terminated?”

“Because it takes time and expense for poor folk to grow a child,” the kappa said. “And some women do not regard that child as disposable.” Lunae thought there was a hint of anger in the kappa’s answer, but perhaps she was imagining it. The nurse’s moon-face was as placid as ever.

“What about another kind of creature? A sort of gigantic dragonfly, with a hide like black armor? A scorpion’s tail?”

The kappa’s eyes grew wide with alarm. “I have never seen or heard of such a monstrosity, and I do not wish to.”

Dreams-of-War acknowledged this with a nod. Turning to Lunae, she added, “Are you still feeling sick?”

“A little,” Lunae answered quickly. She longed to go on deck and watch the waves. “If I could go outside...” She faked a grimace.

“I will make tea,” the kappa said, and began to busy herself over the cabin’s small iron stove.

“Come with me,” Dreams-of-War said. “If you are going to be ill, best you are closer to the side.” Her face wrinkled with distaste. The Martian did not, Lunae felt, approve of bodily functions. She wondered again whether the armor took care of elimination for Dreams-of-War, but it was not a subject that she felt able to broach.

She followed her guardian onto the deck. There was no land in sight, only the heaving sea under a clear, cerulean sky, but far on the horizon Lunae saw a smudge rising up from the water.

“What’s that?”

“Smoke,” Dreams-of-War said. “Hakodate, perhaps, or one of the more southerly volcanoes.”

“Is Hakodate a rift-volcano?”

“No. The only rift still active is the one beneath the Shattered Lands—what was once known as the Western Continent.

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