The Rite of Spring: The Dragon Hunter

The Rite of Spring: Fragment 44

The Dragon Hunter
in which Gruath learns the identity of his visitor, and Linnain goes upstairs

It was funny sitting in that boat of the lad's. It had all these brocade cushions and fancy stuff, with a flimsy little awning job over us, and a pissing great gilt prong sticking up at the back. But it shifted, and I'd hardly got my clothes sorted before we hit the Doorstep. I've no idea what I looked like, in a man's robe a good bit too big for me, and a tart's skirt over my head.

Although they call it 'the Doorstep', there are in fact several steps leading down to the water. I suppose the thing is probably a four hundred manheights long from the upriver end to the Quays, but the landing steps only run about the middle third of that. Anyway, we pulled into the middle of the steps, and jumped out. A bunch of pissing Rhiconicfhear were running down the steps to us. The leader was big, and very black - darker than me. He was shouting in a horrible accent

"there has been no summons". He wore body armour and a helmet that came down over half his face; he had a war axe in his hand. There wasn't any hair sticking out from under his helmet. The rest stayed behind him; they looked much the same, although their weapons varied.

As he got near he suddenly slowed, looked hard at me, and switched into good Rhiconicfhearchaorusduadh."

I am Gruath son of Gruath, heir of the Rhiconichfhearchain. I greet you, Aonan daughter of Aonach the Swift, bearer of the line of the Rhiconaiach". Oh, do you, I thought. "I greet you, Gruath a'Gruath, heir of the Rhiconichfhearchain", I said, in a prissy voice.

"But I fear I must disappoint you. I am not Aonan a'Aonach, but a friend of hers, Linnain".

"But you will have news of her? You know where she is? I had word just today that she was in the Place and seeking me."

I was pissing glad of that veil. If the mother could have seen my pissing face... I tried to keep it out of my voice. The lad Tan was looking back and forth between us, trying to make out what was going on.

I said

"I believe that she was here, on this very doorstep, seeking you only last night."

It's funny trying to make out what someone's thinking, in half light with a can half covering their face. He said in a puzzled voice

"she was here last night? That cannot be, for I should have met her..."

His voice trailed away, and he turned slowly to the men behind him. His voice changed. It was wild and pissing grim. "Dhomnuil!"

he yelled -

"Dhomnuil, there was a woman you brought to me last night. What is become of her?"

A voice came out of the ruck of them.

"My Captain, we dealt with her as you told us to. It took a few of us to do it - she was a lively one!"

This voice was almost gay. The pisser clearly hadn't got the message yet. It didn't take him long.

Gruath yelled again.

"Dhomnuil, you dog, you son of a rabid jackal and a whore's bitch, know before you die that you have dishonoured Aonan a'Aonach, flower of the Rhiconaiach, bearer of the line of your own chiefs, that should have come to me and cannot ever now. Dhomnuil, I call you nameless. I say no blood of your fathers runs in your bones. I say that your mother lay with a cowardly horse-thief, and had you by him. Dhomnuil, come here and die!"

That last would be true. All the pissing Rhiconichfhear are cowardly horse thieves. Anyway, after a lot of yelling to wind up his courage, Gruath charged into the mob, axe swinging wildly. The bold warriors all scattered, and Gruath found his man. The scrap got under way. It didn't feel like a healthy place, right on the edge of the steps there, and all the mothers were distracted, so I grabbed Tan, and sneaked quietly round to the left so that we could get up onto the level part of the Doorstep.

It was quite a battle raging behind us now. The mob had divided into two. They spent a lot of time facing each other yelling insults and blame. Every now and again one of the pissers would start forward hacking wildly, and they would scrap again, before backing away to scream some more. We watched for a few moments. Then Tan said

"come on - if she's still alive she must be in the barracks. This is the only chance we're going to get". Give the lad this, he wasn't short of courage. We started out across the Doorstep, which is a lot bigger than it looks from the other side of the river. More pissers came belting out of the barracks and running towards the scrap, but fortunately they weren't interested in us. The moon was just coming up over plain behind us, so that all the honey coloured stone of the barracks and the thousand steps was lit up in a weird, pale light. It was against that light that we saw a dark figure slip out of the shadow of the barracks and start to climb.

Tan said

"Aonan...". I could hear him gathering breath and whispered sharply

"don't shout! Don't disturb the pissing mothers. We'll catch her easy."

You'd think we would; I've done more running up and down hills than most folk, what with the beasties and their nasty tempers; and the lad looked nicely put together. We couldn't have been more than a hundred manheights behind her when she started. But mother did she run.

We sprinted across the rest of the doorstep. The thousand steps are pissing big - again, they don't look that big from across the river, but that's just because you can't believe how pissing tall they are. The first flight, there's water running down the middle of it. The steps each side of the channel, you could walk up twenty of you, side by side, and no crowding. We started up. Aona was just a dark shadow slipping high above us against the shining grey the steps looked. I hoped it was her - we'd look pissing silly if it wasn't, and anything horrible happened to Aona while we were chasing... No, surely it was her. Anyone else, in that light, at that distance, I wouldn't be sure. But Aona... It had to be. I ran.

The robe kept flapping round my legs. The pissing skirt round my head was half strangling me. I was counting the steps, my breath already coming in gasps. I had to get rid of the skirt. About four hundred steps I stopped for a moment and ripped it off, and undid the robe at the same time so I could run easier. That let Tan get ahead, so I had to run even harder to get back level. Head down. Count the steps. Six hundred and forty three, six hundred and forty four, six hundred and forty five... There's only a thousand, I was saying to myself, only a thousand. I ran on. I could hear Tan's breathing ahead of me. I didn't believe he could keep going, it was so pissing ragged. Still that flitting shadow climbed away from us... I thought it would be safe to call now, but I hadn't the breath.

Seven hundred and twelve, seven hundred and thirteen, seven hundred and fourteen... I was back with Tan now, feet and lungs struggling in unison. There was no other sound. The yelling and clanging had faded out long ago now. Far below, the lights of the city spread out like a map. Seven hundred and seventy six, seven hundred and seventy seven, one thousand... this must be the top. I looked up, for the first time in a long, long time.

I should have realised we hadn't gone round the turns of the stair. When I saw we were not yet at the first landing I didn't think I could go on. I thought when they called it the thousand steps, that was because that's how many there were. Anyway I made it to the first landing. The waterfall drops into a pool there - it looks like a thread from the city. It's the biggest pissing fall I've ever seen, and I've seen more than most. Tan staggered across the landing into the pool, and just fell into the water. I followed him. It was pretty silly. It was pissing cold. We knelt there, in the shallows, struggling to control our lungs. The view down was incredible. The great houses looked like the boxes boys make from paper to keep crickets in.

Tan wasn't looking at the view; he was looking up.

"There she is", he gasped, pointing up the left hand branch.

"Come on". Well, I guess we should have been clever and gone up one each side, but we didn't think. We couldn't think. I don't know how we ran. I had thought I was fit. How that little slip of a bint was managing it I didn't know. She was just an ant-figure now, high above us, still climbing fast.

The robe was heavy, and slapped round my legs worse than before. Oh well, if the mothers caught me without the veil I was down anyway. I dropped it. Without it, it was almost like a second wind. The air was cool on my skin. We climbed. I didn't count any more. You can see from the other side that the second flight's just as pissing long as the first, and the third's the same. Climbing across the face of the cliff like that, you can see down into the city to your left without looking round. Every now and then I got a glimpse of it. It's staggering looking down at a city from such a height. I suppose I've been higher, hunting in the Rim. I suppose the cliffs on the outside of the Rim must be as high as the High Place - in some places anyway. It didn't feel like that. I suppose all those familiar buildings, shrinking into dots, really bring it home. But I didn't notice much. I just climbed.

My sides were really hurting, and my left calf felt as if it would cramp. At last we reached the turn. We stopped for a moment, bent double, gasping. Tan straightened before I did.

"Where is she?"

I gasped. He panted back

"I can't... see... her - Oh NO!"

I looked up, up, up. Far above, on the highest parapet of all, a tiny dark figure was standing.

"Aona!"

I screamed, and started to climb faster than ever before.

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