The Witch Woman's Prophecy

19 | Outside Polemmy |

When she heard my moans of pain and frustration, Soni stopped and put her hand on my shoulder. Her head tilted one side as she tried to work out what we should do. The sun was setting and I was staggering with weariness from the day's ride.

She took me back to the camels and we collected the tent that I had become so familiar with. We took it some distance away from the bellowing, braying, grunting mass of animals and pitched it in a sheltered spot. She handed me the very last of the supplies and a skin of water Irridus had been able to spare.

'I should have remembered that the gates are of metal. I will go into the city and see what can be done to help you. Maybe the Head Ustel will have some ideas,' she said. 'It will be a great pity and a loss to the Ustelin if you are never able to enter Polemmy.'

'Perhaps you could wait here with me, we could both try to find a way in the morning.' In truth, I was unsettled at the thought of sleeping in a tent near to strangers and a sense of panic was growing inside me.

'I can do more good by going into the city. I have to apologise to my family for leaving without permission. Word will reach them soon that I have returned and they are likely to seek me out if I do not go back at once. I must also get the glass map to safety. After all the effort I've put into finding it, I can't risk it being stolen during the night. The guards do not patrol outside the city and thievery is common out here.' She picked up the bundle containing the map and nodded to me before she left the tent.

I sat on the sand and hugged my knees. It was the first time I had been alone since I had run off from Brandis. The uncertainty I felt overwhelmed me and I sniffed back the tears that were falling from my tired eyes. What was I going to do if I could not enter Polemmy?

After a while, I decided that there was nothing I could do right then to change my future, and that I might as well make the most of things. Bearing in mind Soni's warning about thieves, I ate all my food and then set off to explore the area around the walls before the sun set. There were many paths scuffed into the sand and I followed a well-trodden one through the shanty-town. The buildings were made from whatever the residents had been able to find in the vicinity of the city: driftwood, old cloth and stones, and were generally quite flimsy and unsafe. The air held a stronger-than-normal odour and clouds of flies hovered and buzzed around piles of manure in the street.

Children followed me, begging for coins, but I showed them my empty pockets and they left me alone. The money from Tasmi was in a pouch that hung around my neck, next to the necklace that had been my father's. I thought of handing out the coins to the children, but I had no prospect of work and knew that I might soon need the money. I was filled with guilt that I had eaten all my food before I left my tent; some of the children were thin, with arms and legs like sticks, but their bellies were swollen. Many had running sores or crusted eyes. I looked down at the bites from the creature beneath the sand which Soni had treated so quickly and knew how lucky I was.

I wandered further on towards the Greater Harn and looked down at where it had once flowed. The dried river bed was crackled and crazed with deep fissures I could have put my whole arm into. How long had it been since water had flowed there?

A long wooden platform on tall legs jutted out over the empty river. A young man sat on the structure, gazing off into the distance. When he stood up with the aid of a sturdy forked stick I could see he had terrible scars on one leg and his foot was missing.

'What happened to you, my friend?' I asked him.

'Crocodile tried to take me while I was fishing,' he replied. 'My friends stopped it from pulling me in. Took my foot though.'

I shuddered, thinking of all the monsters the world held that I had never known about. 'What is this for?' I asked, pointing at the wood beneath us.