Nightpeople Read Online Free PDF Page B

anyone.’
    â€˜Saria.’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜My name is Saria. Not “girl”.’
    Dariand smiled a strange half-smile.
    â€˜My apologies, Saria.’
    The trail down was narrow and treacherous. It wound slowly around the outer wall, descending into the shadow of the ridge in a long spiral, everything below hidden in darkness.
    â€˜What’s down there?’
    â€˜You’ll see.’
    The land out here was different, even in darkness. It was much drier, less alive than in the valley; there was less scrub and undergrowth and only a few tiny trees. Other hills and crests ranged high around them and Saria could make out hollows and paths between them. Jagged, bald crags, some of which were starting to glow red with the first rays of sunlight, cut into the night. They were more distant than those she had always known.
    â€˜Mornin’.’
    Dreamer Gaardi got up from where he’d been perching on a rock by the path. As always Saria was amazed at how old the man looked. His skin was creased and wrinkled and hung from him. His dark eyes, deep-set below a shock of fuzzy white hair, twinkled slightly, even in the dull light.
    â€˜Dreamer.’ Dariand nodded at the old man.
    â€˜Don’t think we’re gonna get far today, eh?’
    â€˜Nah. We’ll go for a couple of hours more, though. Stop somewhere further down in the Shades.’
    â€˜Sounds about right to me.’
    The two men followed the trail downwards between sparse patches of scrub.
    The path eventually levelled out deep in the belly of a valley that had been carved into the rock aeons earlier by a creek long since run dry. The ground was still moist, though, and gnarled trees grew along what had once been the creek bed. As the sky grew lighter, the nightvault faded into reds and then blues, Dariand led the way, followed by Dreamer Gaardi, with Saria trailing. The two men walked without talking, the only sound the gentle crunch of their footsteps and the occasional hoot of a nightbird.
    Dariand led them further and further into the shadows of the valley, until he slipped down a small embankment and into the creek bed itself. Dreamer Gaardi leapt down behind him and then turned and caught Saria as she followed.
    â€˜Reckon we can go a bit further?’ Dariand didn’t seem to be asking so much as speaking to himself, but Saria noticed he didn’t start walking again until Dreamer Gaardi nodded his consent.
    They wound along the creek, which curved and twisted, constantly doubling back on itself. Underfoot, the ground was different from the rough scree of the mountain. Here they walked on stones, some as big as Saria’s fist, but most no larger than her little finger. All were rounded and worn smooth from the passage of ancient water. Eventually the sun managed to climb above the peaks of the surrounding hills and the morning grew warmer. Dariand stopped.
    â€˜We’ll rest there.’
    They followed him to the shade of a small clump of gums which clung to the red stone a metre or so higher than the creek bed. There he drew a long draught from a water-skin and threw it to Saria.
    â€˜Drink.’
    Removing the stopper, Saria copied Dariand, squirting a blast of water into her mouth. It was slightly warm and tasted vaguely dirty, but she felt her thirst subside.
    â€˜Good girl.’ He lay down on a patch of sand, tucked his robes around him, and looked up at the sky. ‘We’ve got a long, long journey ahead of us, Saria.’
    â€˜You mean to Woormra?’
    â€˜No, but that too.’ She thought he was about to say something more, but he closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep almost immediately. Saria watched him for a few minutes, then looked across to where Dreamer Gaardi had similarly settled. The old man was still awake and when he noticed her staring his weathered face crinkled into a smile.
    â€˜You all set to go home then, girl?’
    â€˜Home?’
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