Revenant by Louise Cooper

Author:Louise Cooper [Cooper, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780812508079
Google: pfUrHAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0812508076
Goodreads: 89560
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 1993-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

"No, that's why we had to teach him the song later. But it was the sleeping man." The boy looked triumphantly at Grimya and Indigo in turn. "The sleeping man. He sang it."

A peculiar sense of excitement moved in Indigo, and she asked, "Who is the sleeping man?"

The boy shrugged. "We don't know, really. He lives in the tower. Sometimes he does, anyway, though he isn't always there."

"Where is this tower?"

"In the woods." A hand pointed vaguely beyond the curtain wall. "It's quite a long way, so we don't go there very often."

"We thought it was the tower singing to us," a girl volunteered. "But that's silly, because towers can't sing."

"Yes they can! It does!"

"No, no, no. The man sings. Sometimes, when he's there, he sings in his sleep, and we remembered some of his songs. That was clever, wasn't it? Remembering them. It was clever!"

Indigo's mind raced as she tried to comprehend the children's quicksilver prattle. A "sleeping man," sometimes there and sometimes not, who knew Southern Isles shanties and sang them in his sleep? It didn't make any sense. What did the children mean? The workings of their minds were impossible to follow logically, for they flitted like birds from one topic to another, putting their own indecipherable interpretation on everything. Ghost-minds... She suppressed a shiver that crept up and tried to take her by surprise. She had to find out what lay behind this. Perhaps it would lead nowhere, come to nothing. But�and at that moment she couldn't have explained why�she had to know. "Children." She started to get to her feet. "Children, I would very much like to see the sleeping man. Will you take me to him?"

Faces fell. "Oh, but we want to sing more songs!"

"It's a long way. Such a long, long way."

"Better to stay here. Better to play more games!" Frustration welled in Indigo but she quelled it. "Please," she said, and then, with a flash of inspiration. "I've run out of songs to sing. If the sleeping man's in his tower today, maybe we can learn some new ones from him!"

This clearly hadn't occurred to them and they greeted the idea with cautious interest. As they whispered and debated, Indigo turned to Koru.

"Please, Koru, can you persuade them to take me?" He looked back at her, his blue eyes solemn and filled with a sudden peculiarly adult perception. "Is this something important, Indigo?"

She nodded. "I think it might be." He didn't say any more but reached out and touched her arm lightly in a reassuring gesture. Then he turned to the other children.

"Come on, let's go and see the sleeping man! It isn't that far. Indigo wants to see him, and she's our friend!"

The simple logic worked. First a few, then more, then all of the children took up Koru's words.

"Yes, let's go!"

"Koru's right; it isn't that far!"

"And the wood is nice. I like the wood!"

"Come with us, singing lady. Come and see the sleeping man and see if he'll sing us

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