Ganne


18 - A Bloody Great Hole In The Sea.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Sehko knocked at the cabin door.

The knock was answered by a preoccupied: "Come in," from Guara, her voice
coming faintly through the slab of oak.  Sehko pushed open the door, and
entered the cramped space.

Across the cluttered room, Guara sat behind a table.  There were papers
scattered over the table-top.  More files were piled on shelves behind
her.  Other documents were lying in a drift over the floor, and still more
were stacked in unsteady piles on a sea chest.  Guara was staring at a
large document unrolled before her.  With a finger, she was tracing a line
of script, while her lips moved in a wordless speech.

Paperwork, Sehko thought.  Even on this wild escapade, the hum-drum
business of government had to be conducted.

Sehko shut the door.  While she waited for Guara to finish, Sehko peered
round the small cabin.  A low ceiling was supported by thick beams from
which a kerosene lamp hung, swinging with each roll of the ship.  It shone
a wavering light over Guara.  To her right, Marleena sat on the bunk.  She
was in the classic Far Speaking pose, legs crossed, hands in lap, eyes
closed and face blank.  The girl was holding open a channel of
communication with a Far Speaker at the Shennon.

The distant Far Speaker would be holding a similar pose.  Sehko could
picture the scene in the council chamber clearly in her mind, even down to
the sour expressions on the faces.  Seated around the long table in the
darkly panelled room would be the women of the Pro Tem Council, listening
to Guara dictating instructions through the mouth of the duty Far Speaker.

Guara's finger stopped tracing along the line of script.  She moved in the
Ganne, ending the Far Speaking session abruptly.  On the bunk, Marleena
sighed.  A slow shiver ran down the girl's slender body.  She opened her
eyes and looked questioningly at Guara.

"Thank you, Marleena.  That will be all for now."

The Far Speaker took a moment to compose herself, before sliding from the
bunk.  She smoothed down her light blue skirt, and did a little curtsy.
"By your leave, Madam." She moved to the door, opened it, and went out,
pulling it quietly closed behind her.

"Well?" Guara demanded.

"The cliffs at North Point are in sight," Sehko informed her; "and there's
going to be a blood bath unless you do something right away."

"Trouble?" Guara did not sound surprised.

"Yes, real trouble.  They're working themselves up into a right state.
Frankly, I can't blame them.  They're terrified of the Curse.  Goddess,
but how can you do paperwork with that throbbing inside your head like
that?  It's worse than the..."

Suddenly acutely aware of Angela's presence, Sehko fell silent.  She shot
a nervous glance at the Viper, who sat quietly on the floor in a niche at
the end of the bunk.  Angela appeared to be vacantly watching a cockroach
clambering over her bare foot.  Sehko shuddered.  The Viper lifted her
head.  The roach scuttled away.  Angela stared at Sehko, experimenting
with a frown.  After a moment, her features relaxed back into vacancy.
Sehko breathed a sigh of relief as the snake eyes left her.

Now that Guara had relaxed the thrall of Far Speaking, she grew aware of
the uneasy surging of the Curse.  It tightened her chest, and stirred
nausea in the pit of her stomach.  Guara stood up.  "Right," she said
decisively.  She reached into a pocket of her skirt, and drew out the
leather sack Sehko had given her in the West Garden.  "They've stewed long
enough.  I think it's time I dealt with this."

Guara led the way out on deck.

Nine Gannes stood in a tight semi-circle in the bow.  Nine sets of eyes,
smouldering with a vicious malice, fixed on the two women as they emerged.

A saw-edged power whined and sang in the rigging.  Orange discharges
flickered and arced from the tips of the spars.  The canvas stirred and
rippled in nervous spasms.  Little coils of mist arose from the sea for
fifty yards about the ship.  The air was solid with an electric tension.
Overhead, clouds boiled and swirled, driven along by a gusty southerly;
but down on the deck, the air was still as the grave, hanging as heavy as
a smothering blanket.

The crew had vanished entirely.  They could read the signs.  The deck was
about to become a very unhealthy place for ordinary folks to be.

Angela moved protectively in front of Guara.  Sehko, hating herself for
cowardice, took a step back out of the way.  Oh Goddess, she thought
miserably, I don't want to die...  Not here...  Not now.  She felt a
terrible yearning to have the arms of that fat old fool of a husband about
her right now, comforting her, even though it would make no difference
when the Ganne was loosed.  "Yallon ...  Oh my darling Yallon," she
whispered, "I love you.  I should have told you.  I'm so sorry..."

A groping hand touched her fingers, then clasped them in a frantic grip.
Sehko started violently.  Glancing to the side, she saw Marleena, her eyes
wide with fear, her face pale.  This was the young woman's first fight.
Sehko's heart went out to the terrified girl.  She drew Marleena's hand
into her own, and squeezed it reassuringly.

Guara spoke then, her voice commanding.  "There is no need for this."

Karrallanne, the ring leader of this rebellion, took a step in front of
the others.  "We will go no further," she declared.

"Not even if I command it of you?" Guara asked.

Karrellanne's gaze flickered over the Viper.  Terror showed stark in her
eyes.  With an effort she mastered herself.  She licked her lips
nervously."No," she said with resolution.

"And is that the decision of you all?"

The eight women backing Karrellanne nodded.  Beruth, at the extreme left,
said; "you cannot command us to endure the Curse." There was a general
stir of agreement.

The decking creaked ominously.  A mosaic of cracks radiated from around
the semi-circle of Gannes.  Wisps of smoke curled up from the planking.
Angela's hair lifted and stirred in the still air.  Her dress rippled and
shifted in agitation.  The only sound was the slight rustling of the soft
linen - even the sea was silent.

Marleena pressed herself suddenly into Sehko's arms, seeking security.
Sehko clung to the terrified girl.  Oh Dear Goddess, she thought wearily.
If Karrellanne lets that build up go now, there'll be a bloody great hole
in the sea where this boat used to be.

Guara stood at her ease, one hand stroking the Viper's silken tresses.
The pause went on, seemingly forever.  Sehko felt she would scream if
nothing happened soon.  She cuddled Marleena, as much to comfort herself,
as the girl.

At last, the Matriarch spoke.  "There really is no need for this,
Karrellanne." Guara held up the leather bag.  Very deliberately, she drew
the strings.  Putting a hand inside, she drew out a small black oblong on
a leather thong.  She held it out to Karrellanne.

"I have something here that will shield you from the Curse.  Here, all you
have to do is put it round your neck."

Sehko cupped Marleena's head to her shoulder, and whispered a prayer that
Karrellanne would be reasonable.  The tension grew unbearable.  A sea
bird, swooping low over the mast, gave a piteous cry.  There came a sharp
whip-crack of power.  A fat orange spark arced from the mast head.  The
bird exploded into a mass of smouldering white feathers.  All heads jerked
up.  The little cloud of feathers swirled and settled towards the sea,
trailing an oily smoke plume.  The tension eased.

Karrellanne lowered her gaze to the thing swinging in Guara's hand.  She
reached for it without a word.  Taking it, she looped the thong over her
head; and her face broke into a mask of incredulous amazement.  The next
moment, all the women were crowding forward, their animosity forgotten as
they reached for the shields.

"Wear them at all times," Guara urged the women, "never take the shields
off for a moment from now on, to do so will mean a most unpleasant death."

"I se you've not lost your touch," Sehko observed as she slipped a shield
over her head.

Guara gave her second in command a side long look.  "And what is that
supposed to mean?"

"Well, the way I see it, by the time it occurs to them to start asking the
awkward questions about where these came from, we'll be putting into the
bay, and they'll have more pressing concerns on their minds."

Guara smiled with genuine pleasure.  "You always did appreciate my
strategies, Sehko," Guara commented, and turned to regard the looming
black cliffs, less than a mile distant.  The crash and boom of surf could
plainly be heard.  "I think it might be a sensible precaution to fetch the
crew out from their hidey holes.  Unless you know how to steer this ship?
Those rocks look somewhat threatening to me."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------