Episode CVII - An Agreement

The sloping path leading down to Riverwatch was quite steep, but despite this it was still lined with the ruins of previous habitation.  Sarah was astonished how every square inch of Shadow seemed to have been urbanised in some way, and yet, looking out over the valley at the mountains beyond, it still had a sense of the wilderness about it.  Here the buildings merged with the stony mountain so that they were almost camouflaged and they had been so pounded to rubble by time and, presumably, conflict, that in some places they resembled nothing so much as rock formations.  It was only the little details - the remnants of lintels, some carving, a short flight of steps - that gave away their true origins.

"Is there any part of this world that isn't city," she asked Dimsun as they progressed down the mountainside.

"Well, the oceans are mostly just water," he suggested, "although there are a few floating districts and island townships that have expanded beyond their bedrock."

"And is that all?"

"Well, there are plenty of regions like this one where the city has fallen into decay.  Whole forests have shot up in the absence of any inhabitants - like in Blackfeather.  In other places the buildings have been ground into dust by endless sandstorms.  In other places the conditions are so harsh that the city has burrowed underneath them, leaving the surface barren or wild.  Such places are the exception, however, rather than the rule."

"It's so hard to get my head around."

"That's funny," Dimsun replied with a gravelly chuckle, "because I'm struggling to imagine a world that's any different.  What about Earth?  Is your city surrounded by the wild?”

"I don't live in a city," Sarah said, wishing the conversation had not veered this way, but, not wanting to reveal her vulnerability, carrying on regardless.  "Larksborough is a large town.  It's surrounded by countryside, farms and the like.  The nearest city is Derby."

"The nearest?  There is more than one?"

"Yes.  We have quite a few in England, but there are many more in other nations.  America must have hundreds," she added by way of an example.

Dimsun's dull eyes flared wide with surprise.  "More than one city?" he asked.  "Just how big is this Earth?  With that much room... maybe Doctor Barkham wasn't lying after all...?"

"The cities are all small compared to Shadow, and, along with the open countryside between them, they are made into countries.  I think your districts are sometimes similar to our cities in size."

"Oh," Dimsun replied, clearly disappointed.  "But why have you not built in between them?"

"Because... because that's just not possible and because people like the countryside and don't want to see it urbanised."

Dimsun scratched his head.  "I find this all very confusing.  You will have to tell me more about your world until I understand."

"Later," interrupted Frostfire.  He had stopped his purposeful march a few feet ahead of them and was looking down the ruined street towards the forested valley below and the buildings it only partly concealed.

"They will have seen us by now," he added.

"They won't be too friendly, either," Dimsun observed dryly, "at least, to Frostfire and I.  You they will probably take for a captive."

"Am I not?" Sarah asked.

Dimsun laughed.  "You know that answer better than we do.  Are you wrapped in chains?  Do we poke at you with pikes?  Besides, you're the Slayer here.  Do you not have the power to do whatever you please?"

"I don't know," Sarah admitted, "but regardless, it seems I have never had the option."

"We can talk later," Frostfire reiterated, his voice growing harsher with frustration, "see, they are coming for us."

Sure enough a band of Humans was marching up the hill from the forest, each armed with something which vaguely resembled a musket, although, it seemed, one designed by a plumber, given the amount of copper piping that seemed to be visible along and around the barrel.

"What do we do?" Sarah asked.

"I suspect we shall attempt to explain ourselves," Dimsun commented, "and when that fails..."

"It won't fail," Frostfire said, but rather than explain what secret hope only he was apparently aware of, he stared off towards the approaching Humans in silence.  Sarah glanced quickly at Dimsun, but the more loquacious Stoneskin merely shrugged.  She noticed that two of his talons appeared to be crossed.

It took another couple of minutes for the men of Riverwatch to reach them and when they did they lined themselves up military style and played about with their weaponry as if they were on parade.  A tall, muscular man with an impressive, if greying handlebar moustache took a step forward and shouted, "Halt!" though Sarah and the two Stoneskins had stopped moving the moment they saw the men approach.  Evidently formalities were important.

"What are you doing on the Riverwatch Frontier?" the man ask, still shouting, "State your  business!"

"We are merely passing through," Frostfire said, calm and quiet.

"Two Lithoderms and a Human?  Unlikely!" the man shifted postion, pointing his jazzed-up musket at Frostfire, "what are you doing with this girl?"

"She is not our prisoner," Frostfire replied.

"It's true," Dimsun added, "she's accompanying us of her own free will!"

"Like I'd believe such protestations from the mouths of the enemy!" the man scoffed.  "You, girl!  What do you have to say for yourself?"

Sarah wasn’t really sure what to say.  It was clear that the moustachioed man before her was utterly prejudiced against the Stoneskins and would not listen to reason, and yet Frostfire had been clear that he didn’t think they would be a problem.  Was he planning something or was it all just bluster.  She examined the taciturn Spiketail out of the corner of her eye, looking implacable as a cliff face.  He didn’t do bluster, she realised.  He didn’t need to.

“Whilst I wasn’t sure what to make of these two when they first took me along, it’s true that I have never been forced to accompany them and that I am with them now because I choose to be.”

“And what is your intent?  Why do you choose to consort with these monsters?”

Sarah shook her head very slightly and almost laughed.  “I honestly don’t know,” she replied, “I’m a stranger here and these creatures are my only companions.  I’ll follow them  until they give me reason to do otherwise.”  She didn’t add that she thought they were probably her best chance of finding Ellis, even if she was uncertain as to what circumstances such a meeting might occur under.

“That may be so,” the man replied doubtfully, “but no Stoneskins are allowed in Riverwatch, the last bastion of civilised Humanity in these parts!”  He seemed to puff up his chest as he spoke, “So, respectfully, and on behalf of the Riverwatch Milita, I’m going to have to ask you to turn around and find some other way across the valley.”

“There is no other way across the valley!” Dimsun argued.

“There are certainly other ways around it,” the Militiaman replied, “and we would be most obliged if you would consider taking them.  Now,” he added with a hint of threat in his voice.

            There was a moment of tense silence and then Frostfire startled everyone by letting out a loud, slightly gravelly yawn.  It was almost like a languid yawn and Sarah found herself reminded of a cat she had once seen sitting on someone’s garden wall.

            “This is fascinating,” he said once the yawn had subsided and everyone’s attention was upon him, “but you are going to let us through.”

            “And why, might I ask, will we be doing that?”

            “Because, I know who you are Major Harcourt and that is not all I know about you.”

            The Major first looked puzzled, then his face began to pale and then he turned and spoke to one of his subordinates, a younger man with a smaller, but still rather impressive, moustache which matched his neatly tied-up blond hair.  “Jansen, I think it will be best if I have a word with these interlopers in private.”

            Blond-haired Jansen looked confused and more than a little worried, but it seemed he wasn’t the type to question a senior officer and so he nodded slowly and Major Harcourt turned away and advanced up the slope towards them.

            “What is the meaning of this?” he asked in an angry whisper once he felt he was out of earshot of hit militia.

            “You know very what it’s about Major,” Frostfire replied calmly, “if you don’t let us pass, I’ll let your men know everything about certain indiscretions you might have committed during supposed ‘patrols’ in the red light district of Riddlepike.”

            Sarah raised her eyebrows as she let the accusation sink in, Dimsun’s eye’s flickered in a similar response and the Major’s face reddened.

            “How dare you blackmail me in front of my own men!  You’re nothing but a walking pile of rocks, why would they listen to you?”

            “Because they’ve probably been suspicious of you for some time.  What is it going to be Major?”

            Harcourt seemed torn between anger and terror.

            “I don’t suppose they’ll have much respect for you if they learn you’ve been consorting with the enemy in such a way,” Dimsun added helpfully, his eyes glimmering just a little more than usual.

            “I was doing my duty!” the Major spluttered, “didn’t I deserve a little rest on the job?”

            “Exploiting the poor creatures you were persecuting?” Sarah asked, disgusted, “I’d say you deserve a whole lot more.  If Frostfire doesn’t call you out for your hypocrisy, I think I might.  Would they listen to me, do you think?”

            Now the Major’s face grew very pale indeed, the pallor of a man who fears losing everything that he has and everything he has become.

            “Okay, okay,” he whispered, “I think we can come to some sort of arrangement.”

            “I’m glad you finally think so,” Frostfire replied dryly, before gesturing the Major back down the hill towards his men.

            What followed was a sorry display and Sarah was almost ashamed to have been part of it, but thinking of the sordid deeds the Major must have done in the dark of Riddlepike and the clear hatred he had for the Stoneskin people made her feel less guilty.  He back-tracked as well as he could, slowly convincing his confused and, it seemed to Sarah, angry men to back down and let the trio pass.

            “After all,” he said, nearly stammering as he tried to explain, “they do have a Human companion to make sure they do nothing untoward and they are only passing through.”

            The militia were clearly unhappy about all of this, not least of all Jansen, whose hard, bitter expression spoke volumes, but none of them were willing to speak out against their commanding officer and so after a few minutes of humiliation they agreed to accompany the trio down the hill into Riverwatch.

            As they stepped forward into the midst of the militia, Sarah moved close to Frostfire, feeling a little awkward in the presence of the increasingly awe-inspiring Spiketail.

            “You always have something up your sleeve,” she said as he turned to look at her, his icy eyes trying to freeze her, “so what are you planning for me?”

            He let out a harsh little grunt which might have been a kind of laugh and replied, “I never wear any sleeves,” before moving just a little quicker so that, even in the crowd of hostile militiamen, Sarah was lagging behind him.

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