Silence followed.
“Stay together, stay strong,” he said. The rest of the family repeated the words, only the smallest child–sleeping in a sling on the mother’s chest–not joining in. Then all began to sing quietly. It was as much a chant as a song and from Baluka’s mind she read the meaning of the words. They described the destination, a verse in a song that mapped out the path the family took through the worlds. It was a route that had no end or beginning, as it looped around the same collection of worlds.
In Baluka’s mind she saw memories of the next world: a forest of tall, slim trees that grew unusually fast, a wooden castle with high walls, many small groups of people living in communities no larger than a thousand and each ruled by a powerful family. The most desirable product on offer was “Tuk”, a resin, bled from the trees with many useful properties: flavouring, scent, medicine and an intoxicating drink. In exchange the locals craved spices, jewels, trinkets and exotic fabrics.
It was a very different place to the desert world they were leaving. Rielle lifted her head, taking a last look at the great spiralling mass of stars above. I wonder what the stars are like there.
“Take a deep breath,” Baluka advised. She obeyed.
And then she felt the world retreat.
It was a subtle sensation, and she could not remember feeling it when the Angels had moved her between worlds. Had she been too overwhelmed by their presence to notice? Maybe she was more sensitive to such movement now she had experienced it a few times.
The carts and Travellers remained vivid, but the desert was fading. The change was dramatic, since they were leaving a night landscape and entering the whiteness. Looking down was disconcerting, as the whiteness had no sense of dimension–her eyes couldn’t tell her if it was solid or not, and she felt no pressure on the soles of her feet. Though she didn’t fall, she decided to focus on the gaps between the wagons instead as she watched for signs of the next world.
Broken, vertical stripes of light and dark began to emerge. They continued far above, meeting in a confusion of shapes. Some were much closer to her than the wagons. One was so close she could have reached out to touch it, if her hands had not been occupied. She grew worried as she realised that they would arrive with trees growing through the wagons and lom–and even the people.
Then the lines shifted and blurred and a new sensation told her that they were travelling across the landscape as she and the Angel had in Inekera’s world. Their progress was slower, though. Then it suddenly sped up, and with equal abruptness slowed again, as if they’d passed a place that was easier to move through. The trees stopped rushing by, and they began to move backwards. Another jolt told her they had moved into an area of lower resistance again. This time the Travellers stayed within it and began to move in a new direction. No change of speed followed, and she began to imagine they were following some kind of straight, invisible channel.
An open area appeared and they stopped within it. The Travellers’ feet hovered above large slabs of flat stone, with numerous vines growing in the cracks between. As they descended slowly towards the ground their surroundings began to grow more distinct, then Rielle felt cool air touch her skin. She dropped the last distance–maybe half a step–to the ground and had to let go of Ankari and throw her arms out to catch her balance. Most of the Travellers did the same, and the wagons rocked violently. Only the lom did not appear disturbed, lowering their heads to sniff at the vines.
“Sorry about the fall,” Lejikh said, looking at Rielle and speaking slowly so she had plenty of time to read the meaning of his words in Baluka’s mind. “Sometimes it is the only way to ensure nothing arrives inside something else or, in this case, tangled with vines.” He looked around. “Is everyone all right?”
Affirmations came in reply.
“Looks like it’s been a while since the locals cleared the area for us,” Ankari observed.
“We’re arriving early,” Baluka said. “Everything grows so fast here they probably don’t bother tidying up until a few days before we’re due.”
Ankari turned to regard the wagon behind her, which was tilting sideways at an alarming angle, and shook her head. “I hope you’re right, and things haven’t changed for the worse in Zun.”