“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe your husband, home from Yzordderrex.”
She looked doubtful. “Something,” she said. “Something that’ll change us all.”
Efreet had said the climb would be easy, and measuring it in terms of incline, so it was. But the darkness made an easy route difficult, even for one as light-footed as Pie ‘oh’ pah. Efreet was an accommodating guide, however, slowing his pace when he realized Pie was lagging behind and warning of places where the ground was uncertain. After a time they were high above the village, with the snow-clad peaks of the Jokalaylau visible above the backs of the hills in which Beatrix slept. High and majestic as those mountains were, the lower slopes of peaks yet more monumental were visible beyond them, their heads lost in cumulus. Not far now, the boy said, and this time his promises were good.
Within a few yards Pie spotted a building silhouetted against the sky, with a light burning on its porch.
“Hey, Wretched!” Efreet started to call “Someone to see you! Someone to see you!”
There was no reply forthcoming, however, and when they reached the house itself the only living occupant was the flame in the lamp. The door stood open; there was food on the table. But of Wretched Tasko there was no sign. Efreet went out to search around, leaving Pie on the porch. Animals corralled behind the house stamped and muttered in the darkness; there was a palpable unease.
Efreet came back moments later. “I see him up the hill! He’s almost at the top.”
“What’s he doing there?” Pie asked.
“Watching the sky, maybe. We’ll go up. He won’t mind.”
They continued to climb, their presence now noticed by the figure standing on the hill’s higher reaches. “Who is this?” he called down.
“It’s only Efreet, Mr. Tasko. I’m with a friend.”
“Your voice is too loud, boy,” the man returned. “Keep it low, will you?”
“He wants us to keep quiet,” Efreet whispered.
“I understand.”
There was a wind blowing on these heights, and its chill put the mystif in mind of the fact that neither Gentle nor itself had clothes appropriate to the journey that lay ahead of them. Coaxial clearly climbed here regularly; he was wearing a shaggy coat and a hat with fur ear warmers. He was very clearly not a local man. It would have taken three of the villagers to equal his mass or strength, and his skin was almost as dark as Pie’s.
“This is my friend Pie ‘oh’ pah,” Efreet whispered to him when they were at his side.
“Mystif,” Tasko said instantly.
“Yes.”
“Ah. So you’re a stranger?”
“Yes.”
“From Yzordderrex?”
“No.”
“That’s to the good, at least. But so many strangers, and all on the same night. What are we to make of it?”
“Are there others?” said Efreet.
“Listen,” Tasko said, casting his gaze over the valley to the darkened slopes beyond. “Don’t you hear the machines?”
“No. Just the wind.”
Tasko’s response was to pick the boy up and physically point him in the direction of the sound.
“Now listen!” he said fiercely.
The wind carried a low rumble that might have been distant thunder, but that it was unbroken. Its source was certainly not the village below, nor did it seem likely there were earthworks in the hills. This was the sound of engines, moving through the night.
“They’re coming towards the valley.”
Efreet made a whoop of pleasure, which was cut short by Tasko slapping his hand over the boy’s mouth.
“Why so happy, child?” he said. “Have you never learned fear? No, I don’t suppose you have. Well, learn it now.” He held Efreet so tightly the boy struggled to be free. “Those machines are from Yzordderrex. From the Autarch. Do you understand?”
Growling his displeasure he let go, and Efreet backed away from him, at least as nervous of Tasko now as of the distant machines. The man hawked up a wad of phlegm and spat it in the direction of the sound.
“Maybe they’ll pass us by,” he said. “There are other valleys they could choose. They may not come through ours.” He spat again. “Ach, well, there’s no purpose in staying up here. If they come, they come.” He turned to Efreet. “I’m sorry if I was rough, boy,” he said. “But I’ve heard these machines before. They’re the same that killed my people. Take it from me, they’re nothing to whoop about. Do you understand?”