Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

‘Yes, you are correct,’ croaked the reply. ‘Come, Magician. Help me.’

With that, the Koian god-woman shuffled a step forward into the moonlight and Samuel’s eyes opened wide. Indeed, she was not wearing her costumed clothes and she also was not wearing any of her outrageous wigs or demonic make-up. Greatest of all, it was not an old hag that came stepping into view, but a young woman of about his age. He thought perhaps there had been some mistake; perhaps it was the girl called River whom he had found, but then he realised there was no doubting that this was in fact the Koian god. Also, no one else in their party could have such a complete lack of presence . He could see, even in this limited light,that she had the same bizarre features as her country-folk, with olive skin and angled eyes, and her hair was tied into a tight ponytail which glistened in the moonlight, as if oiled. But she was undoubtedly no old woman at all and Samuel found himself utterly speechless.

‘Magician,’ she croaked. Such a withered voice seemed so alien coming from such a youthful face. ‘Do not stare at me so. No man has ever looked upon mein such a state of undress. The laws of heaven should not be broken. The world will suffer. Turn away!’

Samuel forced himself to turn away once more. ‘Follow me, then,’ he said and started off towards the camp. She may have been a young woman, but he was not going to let anyone, even such a strangely captivating god, be so rude to him.

He had only taken a few steps when he heard her stop behind him with a shrill yelp.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly, and the crackling in her voice had also fallen away. ‘I cannot walk unaided.’ It was another surprise to hear her real voice, and Samuel remembered the moment he had first met her in her great ship, when she had first asked him what he was.She had spoken with her hag’s voice ever since that time and he only now realised it was merely another layer of her costume as a Koian god.

‘Then wait here a moment while I fetch help,’ he stated-and he had begun to move off again when she stopped him with a desperate plea.

‘Wait! Don’t leave me alone. I don’t want to be left in the dark again. I don’t like the dark.’

Samuel turned back to face her with his arms stiffly folded in front of him. ‘Then what do you want me to do?’ he asked her, looking squarely at her. She was blushing under his gaze-even in this moonlight he could see that-and Samuel could not help but think how strange her features made her look. It seemed such a shame that she spent all her time in the guise of a monster; although, perhaps that explained her complete lack of manners. ‘You won’t let me help you and you won’t let me go. What can I do?’

‘Can you not use your magician’s spells to heal me?’

‘I cannot sense your energies to heal you. I suppose I could apply a general spell of healing all over you-’ then he realised he would probably blow her leg off if he tried using the power of his ring, ‘-but that won’t work either. Let me just shout for help. I’m sure your friends will come.’

She looked utterly dismayed. ‘No! You have already seen me and I cannot have more men coming to gawk at me like this. Please, help me back to the camp. We can avoid the soldiers and you can fetch my ladies when we are near to them.’

Samuel sighed. The premise seemed ridiculous and,despite the girl’s unusual attractiveness, the last thing he wanted at this time of night was a convoluted path back to the camp. He knew he should just leave her here while he went to fetch her maids, but finally her helpless look persuaded him.

‘Very well,’ he agreed and stepped to her side.

She flinched as he reached for her, but then she gingerly offered him her slender arm. She was tense and shivering, but it did not seem so cold to Samuel. He walked beside her and guided her through the woods, down towards the camp. Occasionally, they would hear someone coming tramping through the undergrowth, and it seemed only luck that no one stumbled directly upon them.

As they walked, Samuel could not help but steal the occasional sideways glance across at her. He could not believe that the hag he had discovered in the bowels of the ship, the rude and extravagant god of the Koian nation, was actually this fragile young woman. She caught him looking at her more than once and each time she looked quickly away,evadinghis gaze. He realised it was making her uncomfortable and steeled himself to keep his eyes ahead.

Still, he was uncomfortably aware of her arm in his hand. He could feel her warmth in his fingers, the softness of her flesh in his palm. Thoughts of Leila entered his mind and,for once, he welcomed them. Focussing on his lost love helped to remind him that this was not a real woman beside him. It was the Koian god, and she was a strange and unknown creature from a foreign land.

As they reached beside the camp and manoeuvred nearer the ladies’ tent, she called out in a whisper to her attendants. ‘Wind. Leaf. I am here.’ There was immediately a commotion from inside the tent of someone rushing to be out. ‘Please,’ she said to Samuel, pushing his arm away and reaching to the tree trunk for support. ‘Go, quickly. Tell no one you found or saw me. Whatever you do, don’t let them know I was seen. The shame would be terrible-for all of us.’ Samuel nodded. ‘Go now!’ she hissed and Samuel did as he was told, darting into the bushes just as two feminine figures came to the girl’s side.

‘Quickly! Inside!’ was all one of them said and Samuel, looking through the leaves, spied them throw a blanket over her and pull her roughly away.

Strange, he thought, that she did not limp any more.

They rose late in the morning after the excitement of the previous night and everyone was grumbling over their breakfasts, moaning and begrudging thewaywardbehaviour of the Koian god.

‘It’s not bad enough she went and got herself lost!’ declared Lieutenant Valiant, ‘but then she went and found herself while we were all stomping about in the woods all night looking for her! She had probably been inher tentfor hours before someone finally had the decency to tell us.’

Captain Orrell was finishing his breakfast, wiping up the juices on his plate with a fist of crusty bread. ‘Calm now, Valiant. They are our guests. And they did inform us she had returned, eventually.’

‘Only because our searching had begun to bother them from their sleep-yes!’

The normally subdued Valiant was now being rather expressive. Luckily, the other soldiers around their breakfasts were all roaring with laughter at his comments. Apparently, the sight of Valiant so worked up was enough to make up for their night of discomfort.

Sir Ferse had joined them for breakfast, looking refreshed, which seemed logical given that he had been the only one to sleep all night. He sat cross-legged on one of the thatched mats they had thrown down, appearing awkward as such, as if he had never sat on the floor in his life. Even eating bread with his hands seemed a curiosity that he was only now coming to terms with.

‘Where to today?’ Grand Master Tudor asked, tapping his walking stick against the cooking pots. ‘I believe we are within reach of Ghant.’

‘If we move quickly we should be there very soon,’ Orrell replied. ‘But we are headed into the mountains now. The going will be slow. We will need to take care with the wagons and with our guests.’

As soon as they could, theypacked up campandwent on theiraway. Samuel could not help but look towards the Koians’ wagon all that day and the next, intrigued by what he had learned.

They soon reached the edge of some hills and the landscape became rockier and steeper around them, so that the wagons rocked and pitched upon the trail. The two older ladies sat at the front steeringthe horses, while the younger one sat beside their god on the rear seat. They had drawn back the hooped cover and River at least appeared to relish being out in the open. Each lady wore simple but flattering garments that glittered in the sun-close-fitting dresses buttoned at the side, with high collarsand long sleeves. He would have thought that such delicate clothing would be totally unsuitable for such travel, but somehow the women managed to keep themselves impeccably clean. The god-woman was again in costume, adorned like an enormous pheasant with long plumes that dangled out behind her. Her face was a spiral of red and white;her facial features obscured so as to almost be non-existent. The feathers stuck out from all over her hair, but Samuel could now imagine he saw specks of her real hair glistening beneath.