Drowntide by Sydney J. van Scyoc

Author:Sydney J. van Scyoc [Scyoc, Sydney J. van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780425097755
Google: PSq2AAAACAAJ
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: 1987-12-15T08:00:00+00:00

TEN

WHEN FINALLY HE slept, Keiris had dreams, but he did not realize until he stood on the shore the next night that they had been prophetic. He dreamed that the sun sank so heavily the next evening that it flattened itself for a time upon the horizon and lay there egg-shaped and swollen. He dreamed that it dyed the sea molten colors and that the sky grumbled when finally it slid underwater, lightning darting like snake’s tongues from a distant bank of clouds. He dreamed that Talani was a woman in that strange light, a slight child-woman with wise, laughing eyes and warm flesh, which she pressed against him. He dreamed that when she did that, Fhira-na shifted on its foundations so sharply that he knew the land itself would be offended if he let himself be beguiled by a child.

He dreamed that then the moons rose, silver and silver, lovers very near union, and that the people shed their bright cloth for lizard skins and disappeared into the sea. He dreamed that he was among them, on Soshi’s back—but that when he nudged and coaxed Soshi ahead, that when he called up to his father where he sat high on the giant white—“Evin! Father! Evin!”—his father did not glance back at him. He simply crouched against the white’s resplendent flesh, a stranger called by the sea.

And so it happened, much as he had dreamed. The sun set, Talani laughed and pressed warm, bare arms and thighs against him, the moons rose, and the tide folk swam away on the backs of their mams, Keiris among them. And when he found his father and called up to him—“Evin! Father! Evin!”—a stranger looked back.

But only momentarily. Then both Evin and Talani laughed, and Talani leaned over to slap at Keiris’ wrist and said, “Rudin, Keiris. Nirini ca Rudin.”

“I’m Rudin in the sea,” his father reminded him, calling the words down with a laugh. Although the white swam with most of her bulk beneath the water, Rudin sat high above Nirini, and Keiris on their far smaller mams. “And this is Pehoshi, my moonsteed: my finest sea-friend, my teacher, and the maker of songs you’ll hear soon, songs that go long and deep. Where I need to go, Pehoshi carries me.” He stroked the flesh of the white, then spoke in his own language to Nirini, gesturing to the tide folk who rode ahead of them.

Whatever he said displeased Nirini. She grimaced in protest and shook her head, arguing back with him. Then she turned to Keiris, grasping his wrist, speaking heatedly to him.

“I don’t understand,” he said helplessly. He touched his lips, his ears, then threw up his hands, miming his incomprehension. “I don’t understand what you say.” But he did understand the hurt in her eyes when she spoke again, more softly, then looked from him to his father in injured frustration. He glanced up to his father for explanation.

“I told her that you and I were going to the sea pools, that she must go ahead with the others.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.