Gene Wolfe - Return to the Whorl

"Man come."

"Toward us?" He sought to peer ahead into the darkness, but might as effectively have peered into a barrel of tar. Recalling the husband's slug gun and three remaining shells, he turned to look behind him; the darkness there was equally impenetrable.

He faced about again. "Now, Oreb, I want to keep going the way I was before I turned around. Am I headed right?" He tapped the ground before him with the staff as he spoke.

"Good. Good."

"There isn't a pit at my feet, by any chance? Or a tree that I'm about to knock my head against?"

"Road go."

"And so will I." He stepped forward confidently, cutting and thrusting as he walked-and seemed to hear the staff that slashed the air tapping the roadway still. Stopping, he called, "Hello!"

A distant voice answered, "Heard me, did yer?"

"Yes. Yes, I did. I heard your stick."

The methodical tapping continued, but there was no further reply.

Under his breath he asked, "Can you see him, Oreb?"

"Bird see."

"That's the way. Keep your voice down. One man alone?"

"Big man. No men."

"Does he have a slug gun, or anything of that nature?"

"No see."

Deep and rough and somewhat nearer now, the distant voice said, "Dinna have such. Yer neither, bucky."

"You're right," he said. There was a faint, metallic rattle, and he added, "What was that?"

"Yer got gude h'ears."

"Tolerably so."

Nearer still. "How's yer een, bucky?"

"My eyes?"

Oreb muttered, "Man big. Watch out."

"Ho! Won't hurt him." The roughness of the approaching voice suggested a second night chough hopping along the road, its depth a huge bird as tall as a man.

"I heard something that sounded almost like the sling swivels of slug gun."

"Did yet, bucky?" A second rattle followed the final word.

"Yes," he said. "What is it?"

"How's yer een?"

"My vision, is that what you mean? Good enough." Recalling the spectacles he had found in his pocket, he added, "A little worse than most, perhaps, for reading."

"For readin', bucky?" The rough voice was close now. "Yer can read." A deep chuckle. "H'only ther wind's blowed yer candle h'out." Wind rhymed with fiend in the stranger's mouth.

"You're not from Viron, I take it."

"Nae from naewhere." The chuckle came again, followed by the rattle.

"I believe I recognized that sound this time-a sword blade in a brass scabbard. Am I correct?"

"Smack h'on, bucky."

Something-hard leather-touched his fingers, and he was reminded again of Xiphias's pressing the sword upon him, although the hand that gripped his arm was far larger than Xiphias's had been.

"Want ter feel a' her?"

"Yes, I do. May I draw it?" His hands had found the throat of the scabbard, a throat that was covered with leather too, like the rudimentary guard and the rest of the hilt.

"Canna see me whin, can yet, bucky?"

"No. But I'll be able to-to weigh it in my hand, without the scabbard. I needn't, if you'd prefer I wouldn't."

"Yer a h'officer, bucky?"

"A military officer, you mean? No. Nothing of the sort."

"Yer talks like such. Aye, pluck."

The blade hissed from the scabbard, heavier than the knobbed staff and nearly as long. He made a few cuts, ran his fingers gingerly over the flat, then wiped it on the sleeve of his tunic.

"Got h'it h'off a dead coof," the rough voice confided. "He dinna want h'it nae mair."

"But you do, I'm sure." He sheathed it again and held it out, touching something large and solid: leather again, soft old canvas, and cool metal that seemed to be a belt buckle nearly as high as his chin.

" 'Tis me." Taking back the sword, the stranger's outsized hands brushed his. "Want ter feel a' me clock?"

"Watch out!" Oreb fidgeted apprehensively on his shoulder.

"No," he told the stranger. "Certainly not."

"Craw, ain't h'it? Thought 'twas a man. H'on me hunkers sae yer can reach. Have yer feel, bucky." His left wrist was caught between fingers as thick and hard as the staff, and guided toward a mat of coarse hair. He was conscious of a faint reek of sour sweat.

"You have a beard," he said. "So do I." The nose was wide and prominent, the cheekbones high and gaunt, framed in shaggy hair that fell to the stranger's shoulders.

"Took me rag h'off." His hand was freed, then caught again. "Here's me e'e. Stick in yer finger."

"I'd rather not," he said; two fingers were forced into the empty socket nevertheless.

"H'other's ther same. Feel a' her?"

He was forced to. "You're blind," he said. "I-I know how banal it sounds, but I'm sorry."

"Wait till me rag's back h'on," the stranger rumbled. "Want ter feel a' yern. Got ter, an' yer ken why. Yer get a notion a' me clock?"

"Yes," he said, afraid that he would be forced to touch the stranger's face again. "I should warn you, though, that Oreb doesn't like being held. He'll probably fly if you attempt it."

Oreb contradicted him. "Touch bird!"

"Dinna think he never did, not nae live 'un."

"Touch bird!"

"Seen lots, 'fore me een was took. H'oreb's his name?"

"It's what I call him, at least. A friend I had long ago-the friend for whom I'm searching-had a pet night chough he called that. I'm afraid I've given this one the same name to save the trouble of thinking of a new one." He felt Oreb leave his shoulder and added, "He's going to you, I think."

"Lit h'on me whin. A fin'er, H'oreb, an' speak h'up h'if h'it pains yer."

"No hurt."

He felt a pang of jealousy that he quickly suppressed. "I've already introduced Oreb, so I ought to introduce myself as well. My name is Horn."

"Horn. An' H'oreb."

"Yes," he said, and felt Oreb return to his shoulder.

"What would yer say me h'own name might be, bucky?"

"Your name? I just met you. I have no idea."

The tapping resumed. "We might's well walk Was talk. Never heard nae name like Horn. Nor H'oreb neither."

"It means raven," he explained as he strode after the steady tapping of the stranger's sword. "It's from the Chrasmologic Writings. Calde Silk, the friend I spoke of, was an augur."

"H'oreb. Horn. Silk. Common names, like? Maybe me h'own might be Cotton, here."

"Why no, that's a woman's name." He felt vague frustration. "Surely it would be better if we called you as your mother did."

" 'Twas Freak, mostly."

"I see-understand, I mean. No doubt you're right; it would be better if you had a new name among us."

"Aye."

"You asked whether Oreb, Horn, and Silk were common names. Oreb is very unusual-I've never known a man with that name. Silk is fairly unusual, too, although certainly not unheard-of. Horn is common enough."

"Huh!"

"Here in Viron, men are named after animals or parts of animals. Silk is a male name, just as Milk is, because Silk comes from an animal, the silkworm. Addax, Alpaca, and Antbear are all common names. Do you like any of those?"

"H'ox fer me, maybe. Might do. H'or Bull. What h'about 'em, bucky?"

He smiled. "People would think we were related, but I've no objection to that."

"Gie me some mair."

"Well, let me see. Silk had a friend named Auk. An auk is a kind of water bird, as you probably know."

"Me h'own could be H'owl, maybe. Blind Was a h'owl by daylight, dinna they say?"

"Yes, it could, if you wish it; also there are the various kinds of owls-Hawkowl, for example. I was about to say that Auk had a friend named Gib. A gib is a tomcat, so that's a male name, too. Gib was a large and powerful man, as you are."

"Pig," the stranger rumbled.

"Good name!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Said me name's Pig, bucky. H'oreb, he likes h'it. Dinna yer, H'oreb?"

"Like Pig!"

Pig laughed deep in his chest, clearly pleased. "Never heard a' nae blind pig, bucky?"