The Dark and Forbidding Land Read online

  “Tissonisuk,” she said, raising the back of her hand to her dewlap.

  “No,” he replied in the human language. “Not Tissonisuk. Tisson. Only the hoonan name. Kheesie,” he said, pointing at Hekheesiatu, and then pointing at the person Ssissiatok didn’t know, he said, “Sirruk.”

  “The soft-skins are still angry,” he said, dropping back into the language of the people. “They are still angry because Ssithtsutsu attacked them. They already destroyed Suusthek and killed many, many people, but they might kill more. We are here because they need us, but don’t think they are not dangerous.”

  “They are so small and soft,” said Ssissiatok, now just Cissy.

  “You see that one over there?” Tisson indicated a softskin leaning against one of the big buildings. He was watching the other humans and the people. “That one is called Clark. He is smaller than you are and he is soft in their way, but he is one of their strongest warriors. He killed hundreds of the people. I tell you these humans are like the blue frog that lives in the tallest trees. You could easily crush it with your foot, but one touch would kill you.”

  Cissy nodded.

  Now another softskin was talking to the one that Tisson had pointed out as Clark. Both were looking in the direction of Cissy and the others.

  “What is it?” asked Cissy.

  “She is a female,” said Tisson, standing up. “The females have very wide bottoms. And you can see she is older because the tuft of hair on her head is grey.”

  “You know much, old one,” said Sirrek, sounding impressed.

  “I have come to the human village many times over the last two years, to trade and to work. In Tserich they will no longer let me hunt, because I am getting too old, but the humans will let me work and earn many copper bits.”

  The older human female approached the group. She was tiny even next to Cissy who was the smallest of the four, but she walked right up to them without fear. Sirrek and Kheesie stood. The human woman took each of the four by the shoulder and turned them around to look at their skin, their tails, and their feet. She reached up and examined Tisson’s dewlap.

  “I do believe Sergeant Clark is correct,” she said. “You are a promising looking lot. What are your names?”

  Tisson put his hand, palm out over his dewlap.

  “I Tisson,” he said, then pointed to each of the others in turn. “This Sirrek, Kheesie, Cissy.”

  “Wonderful!” shouted the human, clapping her hands together. “My yes, you are a fine fellow. Excellent. You will all come along with me.” She waved for them to follow and then started across the base towards the great wall. “My name is Mrs. Colbshallow, though I don’t imagine you’ll be able to pronounce it. You can say ‘Lady’, yes?”

  “Lady.” Each of the four lizzies tried out the word.

  They reached the edge of the base when they were suddenly waylaid by a soldier with one of the big weapons slung over his shoulder. The four lizzies instinctively shrunk back and tried to look small.

  “Did you get a good selection, Mother?” the soldier asked Mrs. Colbshallow.

  “Yes, yes. No need to worry about that. I’ve been hiring servants for nearly forty years now. I know how to spot a good one, be he man or beast.” She turned to the four lizardmen. “This is my son, Saba.”

  “They don’t need to know my name, Mother.”

  “Of course they do. You’ll be coming to dine at the Dechantagne house at least once a day.

  “I’ve got my own house in the works you know,” replied the soldier. “And besides, I don’t think the Dechantagne house will ever be finished.”

  “Oh hush. It’s practically done now. A bit of paint here and a bit of plaster there. My room will be ready by next week. In fact, we’re all moving in next week. We’re going to squeeze in downstairs until the upstairs is complete.”

  “Well I just hope you don’t freeze to death, Mother.” The soldier walked away and Mrs. Colbshallow led Cissy and the others off the base and up the street toward the great gate.

  “Did you understand that conversation, Tisson?” asked Mrs. Colbshallow. “How fluent in Brech are you and the others?”

  “I talk lot words. I understand. Cissy talk. Sisson, he understand, no talk. Kheesie understand little, no talk.”

  “Excellent. You will make a fine majordomo. You may explain to the others anything that they might not understand.”

  “The lady says I may speak the language of the people to tell you things,” said Tisson. “That soldier was her offspring.”

  “Her offspring?” Cissy was so stunned she fell out of step.

  “Yes. They are not like the people. They keep their offspring with them when they are born and raise their own.”

  Cissy fell back in line behind Tisson and in front of Kheesie. How strange, she thought, to know your own mother, not to wonder whom among the tribe you came from. Among her people, each winter there was mating, followed some weeks later by egg laying. All the eggs were laid in the same pit and covered over with warm sand and rotting vegetation. When the offspring hatched in the spring, the tribe collected them and brought them to the village, but no one knew for sure which offspring had come from which female. Yes, how strange it would be to know your own mother—how strange and how wonderful.

  Mrs. Colbshallow had to stop at the gate and wait for them. Though so much shorter than even Cissy, she had outpaced them. Once they had reached her, she turned and continued through the gate and across the square. The same soft-skins who had gawked at them when they had first come into town, now gawked at them again.

  “It’s not far from here,” said Mrs. Colbshallow. “Less than a quarter mile.”

  Cissy had no idea what that meant and Tisson didn’t elaborate. They walked down the long road through the trees. Here and there amid the forest giants, the humans were building more of their square huts, these even larger than the ones inside the walls of the village. Finally they turned down a narrow path toward the largest structure that Cissy had ever seen. It was huge, with large columns in front. Cissy understood what a porch was, but this building had two porches, one atop the other and a series of large steps leading up to the lower one. The tall, tilted roof had a dozen chimneys rising up from it, about half of which were sending smoke into the chilly air.

  “Don’t tell Saba I said so, but he may be right,” said Mrs. Colbshallow. “They broke ground more than a year ago and they say they won’t be able to plaster the first floor rooms until the spring.”

  The door burst open and a human female strode out. She was dressed in blue the color of the sky. Tisson and Sirrek both sucked in a breath as if someone had hit them on the tips of their tails.

  “Do you have any idea where my…” she started loudly, but then stopped and lowered her voice. “Do you have any idea where my husband is, Mrs. Colbshallow?”

  “Sorry. I’ve not seen him this morning.”

  The younger woman paused and looked at the four lizardmen, then turned around and went back inside.

  “The Matriarch,” said Tisson.

  “I don’t know what you said,” said Mrs. Colbshallow. “But I expect you know who she is, yes?”

  Tisson nodded.

  “Well, you’re all working for her, and she’ll brook no nonsense. Come along out back.” She led them around the house to a large garden in the rear. “I hired three yesterday, though I expect they’ll be outside help mostly. You all will work inside. I’m sure I’ll be hiring more.

  In the back of the great house was a smaller building. It had two very large doors in the front, which opened into a single big room. The back half of the building was divided into two rooms, each of which could be reached either through a door from the front room, or from an outside door. These two rooms were set up with six rectangular mattresses on the floor. Each also had a fireplace and a small sink with a pump.

  “Now I’ve consulted the experts as to your accommodations, and I’m told that this will be satisfactory. You prefer to sleep o
n the floor, yes? Well, I think you’ll like these mattresses. They are much better than the bare cement. You understand me?”

  Tisson nodded and the others followed his lead.

  “We have one room for the gentlemen and one for the ladies.”

  Cissy had no idea what the lady was saying, so she looked to Tisson. He was staring blankly, clearly at a loss.

  “Male here,” said Mrs. Colbshallow. “Female there.”

  “Ah,” Tisson nodded, and then turning to the others he said in his native tongue. “The males will sleep in here. The females in the other room… on these… things.”

  “Why are we to be divided?” wondered Kheesie.

  “I think I know, but I will explain it later,” said Tisson.

  “Is there a problem?” asked Mrs. Colbshallow.

  “No. No troddlen. Nale. Fenail.”

  “Yes, well we can’t have you comingling, now can we? It wouldn’t be proper.” Mrs. Colbshallow stepped toward the door. “I’m going to give you an hour to get settled in. Do you have any questions for me?”

  “Coins?” said Tisson.

  “Coins? Oh. You want to know what your wages are?”

  Tisson and Cissy both nodded.

  “This is the governor’s house, so you’ll be paid much more than any of the other servants. You’ll get half a mark a day for the first fortnight. Then if it seems you’re working out, there’ll be an increase. Do you know how much a half mark is?”

  “Five copper bits?” said Tisson hopefully.

  “Oh goodness,” The human made the kind of wet spasming sound in her throat that Cissy would later come to know was the human form of laughter. “No dear. Fifty. Fifty copper bits. Do you understand the number fifty?”

  Tisson nodded dully.

  “I’ll come and get you in one hour,” the human turned and left them alone in the room.

  “She’s coming back in ‘wuun hoor’,” said Tisson, straining to say the last two words in the language of the soft-skins.

  “How long is that?” wondered Sirrek.

  “I think it is how long you wait for fish before finding a different fishing spot.”

  “What did she say about the copper bits?” asked Kheesie. “Do we get five each day?”

  “No. Ten times that much.”

  “For all of us?” wondered Sirrek.

  “No. For each of us.”

  “We are rich!” hissed Kheesie. “If we work here for a whole moon, we’ll each have a bag of copper bits as big as our heads. If we work here until the snow goes away and then comes again, we’ll be richer than Ssterrost or any of the chiefs. We’ll be richer than Ssithtsutsu.”

  “Yes,” said Tisson, squinting with happiness.

  “What was it you were going to say about our sleeping places?” asked Cissy. “Why do they put the males in one room and females in another?”

  Tisson looked around as if checking for unwanted listeners.

  “I don’t know if it is true or not,” he said. “But I have heard that the soft-skins do not have a season. They can mate all year round.”

  “That’s disgusting,” said Sirrek.

  “That can’t be right,” said Cissy. “Even the warm-blooded animals, the possum and the otter, they have a season. All animals have a season.”

  “As I said, I don’t know if it is true or not,” Tisson replied. “I hear they keep the males and females apart so they don’t mate all the time. Otherwise there would be so many that they would have to eat their young.”

  “Disgusting,” said Sirrek again.

  “It explains why there are so many of them though,” said Kheesie. “Come Ssissiatok… Cissy. We will pick our sleeping places.”

  An hour later found the four lizzies standing in the enclosed back porch with Mrs. Colbshallow. Tisson and Sirrek had each been given a medallion on a yellow ribbon, which they wore around their necks. Cissy and Kheesie both wore ridiculous little yellow skirts around their waists. The skirts were only about ten inches long, really just a little frill that fit around their middles, just above their tails.

  “There are just six of us living here now,” said the lady. “I mean six humans. What is it you call us? Softies?”

  “Soft-skins,” said Cissy. Tisson gave her an angry glance.

  “Yes, that’s right. Soft-skins.” Lady made the spasming throat sound again. “That tickles me, I must say.

  “Now there’s the governor. You know her. It’s best if you limit your communication with her to ‘yes’ and ‘no’. I know you can’t say ‘ma'am’, so yes and no will have to do, although you may say ‘yes sir’ to the gentlemen. Of course what I said for her is probably true of the governor’s husband, Professor Calliere. He’s the one who’s almost as tall as you Tisson. Now Master Terrence… it’s best if you don’t speak to him at all… or go anywhere near him... especially if he is cleaning his pistols. He's been doing that quite a lot lately. If you have any questions, come and talk to me or to Mrs. Godwin. She’s the other matron like me. We were both servants back in Brechalon. You understand, yes?”

  The four lizzies nodded.

  “Now the sixth person is little Iolana—the baby. Tomorrow I’ll begin teaching you two how to care for a human baby.” She pointed to Kheesie and Cissy. “But today we’re all going to learn how to prepare a luncheon. Follow me into the kitchen.”

  “I don’t want to watch the human offspring,” whispered Kheesie.

  “Why not?” wondered Cissy.

  “They’re completely helpless—like worms.”

  “That’s not what I would worry about,” said Sirrek. “You’ll be taking care of her offspring—the Matriarch's. Remember what she did to Suusthek.”

  “That was the witch woman,” said Kheesie.

  “The Matriarch told the witch woman to do it. She gave the order. Think what would happen to you if you damaged her offspring.”

  “What are you all going on about?” asked the lady as they reached the kitchen. “Yes I heard you, even though my ears aren’t what they used to be.”

  “Hoonan vavy,” said Cissy.

  “Yes, well not to worry. Iolana is coming up on a year old now, so she’s not so delicate as a newborn. And I won’t leave you alone with her until I’m sure you are both capable and trustworthy. We humans are very protective of our children, as you’ll learn.”

  The lizzies passed knowing looks back and forth.

  “Now wash your hands in the sink and I’ll show you how to chop the vegetables.”

  That night Kheesie and Cissy were alone in their room together. In the way of the people, they lay on their stomachs with their noses pointed toward the fire, their arms down to their sides.

  “That work was not hard,” said Cissy.

  “No,” agreed Kheesie. “But there is much to remember. I am still worried about taking care of the offspring.”

  “I don’t think it will be all that difficult. You watch it and make sure the feathered runners do not eat it.”

  “You are young and you have not lived among the soft-skins as Tissonisuk has,” said Kheesie. “How do you know their language so well?”

  “The elder in my hut, Toss, traded with the soft-skins who visited here before. He learned their tongue and he used to teach it to us at night around the fire. He always said that the soft-skins would come back, but others in the tribe would not believe him.”

  Kheesie hissed.

  “Think of all the wealth we are going to have. It will make it all worthwhile.”

  “Yes,” agreed Kheesie. “We will be rich even after we give Ssterrost his portion.”

  “Maybe Ssterrost doesn’t need ours. He will be getting copper bits from many others. Maybe we could just stay here. Then we could keep all our copper bits.”

  “Wouldn’t he come for us?”

  “Would he?” asked Cissy. “I wonder.”

  The second day Cissy and Kheesie were taught how to care for a human child. Mrs. Colbshallow had two cloth baby dolls with porcela
in faces. Every time they were leaned backwards the little painted eyes closed. The two lizzies carried the dolls, being careful not to pull too hard on any one arm or leg. They learned to put the baby dolls into highchairs so that they could sit at the table with a human family. And they learned to wash the baby dolls and check them for ticks and other parasites. While they were thus engaged, Tisson and Sirrek and another lizzie who had been added to the staff learned their jobs, which seemed to consist mostly of standing around and opening an occasional door.

  Four more lizzies were added to the staff the following day—all males. The entire group spent the day carrying trays of food and drinks from one room to another. In the early afternoon, the one they called the professor came home and Sirrek had his first chance to show off his skills by bringing the man a cup of tea on a tray. When he returned to the kitchen, Mrs. Colbshallow heaped praise upon him.

  It was on their fourth day at the Dechantagne home that Cissy first saw the little human offspring. It was two or three times as large as the baby doll. It waddled around on two stubby little legs, barely able to walk one moment, and the next shooting across the room to run into a piece of furniture. Its movements were nothing like the graceful gliding of the adult humans. The child had big eyes and a little tiny mouth and a wild mass of fine golden curls atop its head. Another softskin female had brought the little thing to the house while she visited Mrs. Colbshallow. She never let the diminutive creature get very far away however and kept a wary eye on Cissy and the others.

  The next morning the Mrs. Colbshallow began showing the lizzies how to keep the house clean. Quite a bit of dirt and mud had been brought into the house, which was still under construction. It also seemed that the human skin, instead of peeling off in nice large patches and strips, sloughed off in dusty flakes to collect all over everything, making frequent dusting necessary. But at mid-day, Mrs. Colbshallow called the entire group together.