Megan Lindholm - The Limbreth Gate

Vandien leaned back against the wall and made a noise at her through his teeth. Words failed him. He turned to go and was halfway out the cuddy door when her voice stopped him. 'Did you grain Black?'

'What do you think?' he asked her with savage satisfaction. The cuddy door slammed behind him.

Once he had the team and all four wheels back on the road, he stepped them up to a smart clip. The black kept pace with them easily. Vandien glared at him, but the horse nodded back at him as he matched the greys. Vandien leaned back on the cuddy door. Ki couldn't be far ahead, and she couldn't match this pace on foot. He just had to be patient. The cuddy door jerked open behind him and he fell back into Hollyika's arms.

'Shit,' she commented dryly, looking down into his face. With a shove she restored him to his place. The greys, who had faltered in their pace, resumed the rhythm as his hands steadied on the reins. The Brurjan clambered out of the cuddy, squeezing out the narrow door to perch uneasily on the plank seat. The seat wasn't large enough for her; she dug in her nails to keep her place. Her breath smelt of fish.

'What's a Limbreth?' he asked her.

She barked a short laugh. 'Damned if I know.' She was silent for a while, mulling. Vandien let her take her time. 'You know, you're right. It's the water. The longer I'm clear of it, the better I can figure.' A frown wrinkled her brow and nose. 'The Limbreth came to me in a dream. Last thing I remember of Jojorum is drinking with the Human Rousters in my company. The shank of the evening had been eaten, and we knew we wouldn't be called on to do much the rest of the night. So it was time to drink and then to sleep. I don't remember falling asleep, but I did, and I dreamed. I dreamed of a treasure of shining jewels. Funny jewels. I always think of reds and greens when I think of gems, bright individual colors that flash. But these were heaped in mounds and ripe for the taking, pastel glowing things, like fungus in the dark. The image doesn't even appeal to me now. But then it was like a magnet drawing me, and I had to go for it, fast, before someone beat me to it. So Black and I went.' She paused. 'Damned if you aren't right again. I went through a Gate, but not a proper one. I've been working Jojorum for the better part of a year now, and there's no Gate in the wall where I went through. But I went through one, and fast.'

The silence lengthened to a stop in the talk. Vandien risked prodding her. 'That still doesn't tell me what a Limbreth is.'

She was unruffled. 'No. Well, in the dream, I knew that the gems had belonged to the Limbreth, but now they were for me. The Jewels of the Limbreth I heard, plain as blood. Let me see. I remember a bridge, and we stopped for water. I must have slept there. That's when it becomes very muzzy. I can recall perfectly what I thought, but not why I believed it. I knew that the Jewels of the Limbreth were not gems, but were things like peace, joy, and fulfillment. Ha! But then it was a wondrous thing to have realized, for the Jewels were still expressly for me. All I had to do was come for them, showing myself worthy along the way. I think that's when I let Black go, and dropped my gear and started eating grass. Nothing makes much sense after that, but then, what would you expect, eating grass?'

'And Ki? I believe she passed through the Gate looking for me, supposing I had gone ahead of her. But now?' 'Now she goes to seek the Limbreth. Don't blame it on me, for it was only partly my encouragement. I believe that no matter why you come through the Gate, sooner or later, you seek the Limbreth. Have you felt no pull yourself?'

'No.' Vandien hesitated, remembering his lassitude when he bathed in the stream. 'But I have drunk none of the water here, and eaten only a little of the fruit.' Briefly he told her of his encounter with the farmers.

'Nice folk,' she growled. 'If it had been me, I'd have crammed that stick through his ears and set his house afire. But then what can I expect of a boiled-meat Human? No spirit.'

Vandien looked sideways at her, trying to tell if her lips curled in a smile or in disdain. He gave it up.

'Why don't you whip up these nags a little?'

'I don't know the road. Once they get the wagon rolling, it takes a bit to stop them. Damn near ran you down in the dark, and it's not much lighter now. I'd hate to find Ki with the wheels.'

'Hm.' It was as noncommital a reply as Vandien had ever received. He peered up the road. The grade was definite but steady. The team was pulling well; no sense in straining them. Ki had always cautioned him that they worked better in steadiness than in stress. Ki. What wouldn't he give to have her on the wagon seat next to him instead of this hairy Brurjan?

She poked him in the ribs, and Vandien wondered if she had guessed his thoughts. But she pointed ahead to the gleaming lights, suddenly larger and closer. They had crested the long rise at last and were looking down into the Limbreth's valley. The team checked of its own accord. Vandien stared down in puzzlement. Hollyika beside him was shaking her broad head in denial. 'That's not how I dreamed them,' she muttered to herself. 'That's not right at all.'

Vandien grunted. He slapped the wheelbrake into position, bracing his foot against it as he stared down into the grey valley before him.

The road ran as straight and true as ever down into the center of the valley. Tall black stones sprouted unevenly from a ridge in the fine cobbled surface of a flat central plain. Grass sprouted at their base, and ambitious bushes were thrusting up through cracks in the smooth cobblestones. The black stones were tall, but worn and weathered, and the glowing Jewels that crowned them seemed dimmer here than they had as beckoning lights on the horizon. Massive were the Limbreths, yes, but power and majesty had fled them; like the mummies of ancient kings, their loyalty had seeped away.

'They weren't like that before,' Hollyika growled. 'They were tall and full of might, promises and secrets and wealth and joy; they held them all, and more beyond my mind to comprehend. They called to me, Vandien, with a lure sweeter than warm blood. Now this. Was it all a cheat, my long dreaming on the road here? Was it all a deceit of the water and the night?'

'Or is this the deceit?' Vandien wondered aloud. He turned to Hollyika, but she was gone. Her armor clattered harshly as she dragged it out of the wagon bed. The horse went to her guttural command. Vandien did not blame her. She had been teased on to see these Limbreths she had dreamed of. Well, she had seen. She had no call of friendship to answer, no promise to a child waiting outside the Gate. Almost he wished he could turn back with her. 'Travel in safety,' he wished her. She cursed rust and damp as she struggled with stiff leather.

'I damn well intend to!' she answered him suddenly. Her horse's scarlet hooves rang on the road. 'Let'sgo!'

Massive as a mountain, she came from behind the wagon, mounted and armored. 'Let's wake them up down there! Come on!' She didn't wait for him, but dashed forward, smacking Sigurd on the haunch as she went. The sloping road was before him and the black horse at his side spooked him. When the greys lunged, the brake screamed and gave way.

Long afterwards, that ride came back to Vandien in dreams, more awful than any dream of falling. The smooth road unwound straight before him, offering no resistance to the thundering wheels; the Limbreths grinned up at him like jagged teeth. The team raced away from the wagon, moving as fast as he'd ever seen them go; his soul shrieked out to them not to stumble. They gained momentum as they went, until scenery blurred away on either side of him. Steady in his gaze was Hollyika, perched on her saddle like a parrot on a limb, screeching as she charged ahead. Helmless, her crest was canted up and forward in the well-feared warning of Brurjan aggression.