The Bonehunters

Page 29

'No, Icarium, there is no sacrifice involved. Nor frustration. This is what we are, and this is what we do. That is all.'
Icarium sighed and turned to look out over the new sea. 'If only I could be as restful of thought as you, Mappo…'
'Children have died here.'
The Jhag swung round, his green eyes studying the ground behind the Trell. 'I saw you pitching rocks. Yes, I see them. Who were they?'
Some nightmare the night before had scoured away Icarium's memories.
This had been happening more often of late. Troubling. And… crushing. 'Jaghut. From the wars with the T'lan Imass.'
'A terrible thing to have done,' Icarium said. The sun was fast drying the water beaded on his hairless, green-grey skin. 'How is it that mortals can be so cavalier with life? Look at this freshwater sea, Mappo. The new shoreline burgeons with sudden life. Birds, and insects, and all the new plants, there is so much joy revealed, my friend, that my heart feels moments from bursting.'
'Infinite wars,' Mappo said. 'Life's struggles, each trying to push the other aside, and so win out.'
'You are grim company this morning, Mappo.'
'Aye, I am at that. I am sorry, Icarium.'
'Shall we remain here for a time?'
Mappo studied his friend. Bereft of his upper garments, he looked more savage, more barbaric than usual. The dye with which he had disguised the colour of his skin had mostly faded away. 'As you like. This journey is yours, after all.'
'Knowledge is returning,' Icarium said, eyes still on the sea. '
Raraku's gift. We were witness to the rise of the waters, here on this west shore. Further west, then, there will be a river, and many cities-'
Mappo's gaze narrowed. 'Only one, now, to speak of,' he said.
'Only one?'
'The others died thousands of years ago, Icarium.'
'N'karaphal? Trebur? Inath'an Merusin? Gone?'
'Inath'an Merusin is now called Mersin. It is the last of the great cities lining the river.'
'But there were so many, Mappo. I recall all their names. Vinith, Hedori Kwil, Tramara…'
'All practising intensive irrigation, drawing the river's waters out onto the plains. All clearing forests to build their ships. Those cities are dead now, my friend. And the river, its waters once so clear and sweet, is now heavy with silts and much diminished. The plains have lost their top-soil, becoming the Lato Odhan to the east of the Mersin River, and Ugarat Odhan to the west.'
Icarium slowly raised his hands, set them against his temples, and closed his eyes. 'That long, Mappo?' he asked in a frail whisper.
'Perhaps the sea has triggered such memories. For it was indeed a sea back then, freshwater for the most part, although there was seepage through the limestone escarpment from Longshan Bay – that vast barrier was rotting through, as it will do again, I imagine, assuming this sea reaches as far north as it once did.'
'The First Empire?'
'It was falling even then. There was no recovery.' Mappo hesitated, seeing how his words had wounded his friend. 'But the people returned to this land, Icarium. Seven Cities – yes, the name derives from old remembrances. New cities have grown from the ancient rubble. We are only forty leagues from one right now. Lato Revae. It is on the coast-'
Icarium turned away suddenly. 'No,' he said. 'I am not yet ready to leave, to cross any oceans. This land holds secrets – my secrets, Mappo. Perhaps the antiquity of my memories will prove advantageous.
The lands of my mindscape are the lands of my own past, after all, and they might well yield truths. We shall walk those ancient roads.'
The Trell nodded. 'I will break camp, then.'
'Trebur.'
Mappo turned, waited with growing dread.
Icarium's eyes were fixed on him now, the vertical pupils narrowed to black slivers by the bright sunlight. 'I have memories of Trebur. I spent time there, in the City of Domes. I did something. An important thing.' He frowned. 'I did… something.'
'It is an arduous journey ahead of us, then,' Mappo said. 'Three, maybe four days to the edge of the Thalas Mountains. Ten more at the least to reach the Mersin River's Wend. The channel has moved from the site of ancient Trebur. A day's travel west of the river, then, and we will find those ruins.'
'Will there be villages and such on our route?'
Mappo shook his head. 'These Odhans are virtually lifeless now, Icarium. Occasionally, Vedanik tribes venture down from the Thalas Mountains, but not at this time of year. Keep your bow at the ready – there are antelope and hares and drolig.'