Beyond the Waters of the World Ruth Nestvold

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Only according to Toni, the lace hid a tool that would help her to find him.Did he even want the Ayaissee ambassador to find him? Toni had abandoned him, after all.His future was out there, beyond the waters of the world, not behind him, in his home, with the house of Ishel and the woman from the stars.Kislan rubbed his bare scalp.It was strange how cold the skin felt with his head shaved, especially here in the harbor, where the sea winds did not have to hide behind the walls of buildings.He felt Toni's presence at his back, much more than that of Anash and Thuyene, women he had slept with, who had born children who were a part of the family of Ishel, children he played with on the house grounds or in the common rooms.But Toni had held out hope of change.And then snatched it away.When they arrived at the end of the pier, Lanrhel stepped forward, a man of Kislan's birth house.For the first time, Kislan wondered how Lanrhel felt about this particular duty."Mukhaired ag Kislan bonaashali derladesh," Lanrhel pronounced to the watching masses on the pier and on the shore.Kislan's shame will now certainly be purged.Lanrhel then ordered Kislan to remove his clothes, the finest leather garments he possessed --he was not about to go through this ritual any more humbly than he had to.When he was naked, he dove into the water, not waiting for the two guards to push him.Besides, that way he could get farther out, faster.Only he had to wait to look for the lace.The cold water of the bay enclosed him, and he wished he could come up sooner than he knew was feasible.He was only glad it was late spring and not winter; he suspected that fewer survived who were returned to the sea in the cold months than in the warm.Kislan circled below the surface to see if Anash would fling the lace close to where he'd gone into the water.He couldn't afford to spend much time here --he had to get out to sea.But there it was, drifting down through the refracted light of the water.He swam to what was left of his life, tied it around his wrist, and began swimming out for deep water as quickly as he could.#After the fashar had been flung into the ocean, Toni gazed at the spot where Kislan had disappeared beneath the surface of the green-gray water, her tears drying on her cheeks.This was the second time she had participated in such a ceremony, and she hoped she never had to again, never had to witness it even.He had to be safe, probably was safe.The lung capacity of the Mejan went far beyond that of any other humans discovered thus far in the galaxy, and the slight webbing between their fingers and toes was further proof that they were much more at home in the water than humans on other planets.But if only she could have stopped it.#Kislan swam hard for the deep water beyond the bay.When he judged he was far enough out to sea, he surfaced, gulping deep breaths of air.Instinctively, he began to shake his head, but there was no longer any hair to shake out of the way.He was without braids and without home.He could still see the buildings of Edaru clustered around the bay in the distance, so he dove below the surface again and headed south and east, away from the Thirteen Cities and the life he had known.It would be some time before Zhoran could take the ship to find him without arousing suspicion.Kislan continued that way, diving and surfacing, diving and surfacing, until his arms began to tire.If he wasn't far enough away from shore now, it was his misfortune, because he had to rest.He rolled over on his back and allowed himself to drift on the ocean swells for a while.At least he was no longer cold: the physical exertion had warmed him, and now the late morning sun on the bare skin of his chest and thighs made him feel almost comfortable.When he was more rested, he continued to swim southeast, slower strokes on the surface this time, preserving his energy as much as possible, swimming with the tides and current whenever he could.If he could not find the atoll by nightfall, he would have to swim for shore as the rhythms of the sea allowed, even if he was not yet outside of the territory of Edaru.This far from the city, the chances were slight that someone would find him and bring him in--or slay him outright for being a braidless outcast, as the case might be.Kislan kept the shoreline within sight to his left and continued alternately swimming and resting.Not only did it help his orientation, as long as he could still see shore, the danger from a hungry sihla or ikas was not as great, those beasts of the deepest part of the ocean.As he swam and rested and swam again, time became like the water buoying him, and it was increasingly more difficult to hold on to a sense of its passing.He could still judge the progress of the day from the position of the sun in the sky in relation to the shoreline, but somehow it made no sense to him.The sun was already slanting low towards the horizon, and he still had not found the atoll Zhoran had spoken of.But if he made for shore, there would no longer be any chance that Zhoran could bring him to the land of the Tusalis.Kislan began to tread water, turning slowly in a circle.It had been at least half a day since he had been returned to the sea.Perhaps he had missed it, swimming too close to shore?And then, to his relief, he saw a ship emerging through the changing light.He continued to tread water, occasionally lifting an arm to signal as the ship drew near.It was a good thing his house brother was on the lookout for him and knew the direction he had gone, even if he had not found the atoll --an ocean was a big place to search for a single man.When they threw the ropes over and pulled him up the side of the vessel, Kislan couldn't believe how exhausted he was.His arms and legs ached with the exertion of swimming almost constantly for over half a day, and he was colder than he could ever remember being.The warmth provided by the movement of his muscles was gone, and when the evening air hit his bare, wet skin, he began to shiver so hard he couldn't stop."Blankets!" Zhoran called out [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne