down; I couldn’t get out now.
We changed horses daily, and made good speed, though still we stopped for sleep more than a dozen times along the way. My guide pointed out botanical and zoological curiosities, and told some stories and legends that made little sense to me at the time, though later became clearer as I learned more of the ways of the Nkumai. He also told stories of battle, and I noticed that each story seemed to end with a homily about how impossible it was ever to defeat the Nkumai in battle.
He was careful, though, not to offend me. I was always given a private room in the inns of Allison, and though guards attended outside my door, they made no motion to restrain or even follow me when I left my private quarters and ventured into the common room, or even outside for a walk. They were clearly there to protect, not confine me.
Then the white trees of Allison thinned out, replaced by taller trees, shooting straight upward hundreds and hundreds of meters. At last the road wound among giant trees that made even the oldest ones of Ku Kuei look slight. We no longer stopped at inns, but instead slept beside the carriage, or under it when it rained, which seemed to happen almost daily.
Then one day in early afternoon the Nkumai teacher signaled the driver to stop.
“Here we are,” he said.
I looked around. I could see no difference between this place and any other part of the forest that had seemed so changeless for days of journeying.
“Where is here?” I asked.
“Nkumai. The capital.”
Then I followed his gaze upward and saw the most intricate and clever system of ramps, bridges, and buildings suspended in the trees as far as I could see, upward and outward in every direction.
“Impregnable,” he commented.
“A marvel,” I answered. I didn’t comment that a good fire could wipe the entire thing out in a half hour. I was glad I didn’t. Because within moments the daily deluge came, and this time I was neither inside the carriage nor under it. We were immediately drenched as if we had dived into the sea. The Nkumai made no effort to find shelter, and so neither could I.
After only a few minutes the rain stopped, and he turned to me and smiled. “It comes like this nearly every day, often twice a day. If it didn’t, we might have to fear a fire. But as it is, our only problem is getting peat dry enough to burn for cooking.”
I smiled back and nodded. “I can see that might be a problem.” Obviously he had guessed at my observation about the city’s vulnerability to fire, and wanted me to understand by direct experience exactly how useless a weapon fire would be against them.
The ground was mud six inches deep, which made for very unhealthy walking, and I was surprised they made no effort to corduroy or cobble any sort of path besides the road; but then we found a rope ladder and swung up into the air. I didn’t touch the ground again for weeks.
3
Nkumai
“Would you like to rest?” he asked, and for once I was glad that I appeared to be a woman, because the platform was an island of stability in an absurd world of swinging rope ladders and sudden gusts of wind. The Mueller’s son could never have admitted he wanted to rest. But a lady emissary from Bird lost no face by resting.
I lay down on the platform so that for a few moments I could see only the still-distant roof of green above me and pretend I was on steady ground.
“You don’t seem very tired,” my guide commented. “You aren’t even breathing very heavily.”
“Oh, I didn’t want the rest because of the exertion. I’m simply—unaccustomed to such heights.”
He casually leaned back over the edge of the platform and looked at the ground. “Well, we’re only eighty meters off the ground right now. A long way to go.”
I stifled a sigh. “Where are you taking me?”
“Where do you want to go?” he countered.
“I want to see the king.”
He chuckled, and I wondered if a lady of Bird was supposed to
We changed horses daily, and made good speed, though still we stopped for sleep more than a dozen times along the way. My guide pointed out botanical and zoological curiosities, and told some stories and legends that made little sense to me at the time, though later became clearer as I learned more of the ways of the Nkumai. He also told stories of battle, and I noticed that each story seemed to end with a homily about how impossible it was ever to defeat the Nkumai in battle.
He was careful, though, not to offend me. I was always given a private room in the inns of Allison, and though guards attended outside my door, they made no motion to restrain or even follow me when I left my private quarters and ventured into the common room, or even outside for a walk. They were clearly there to protect, not confine me.
Then the white trees of Allison thinned out, replaced by taller trees, shooting straight upward hundreds and hundreds of meters. At last the road wound among giant trees that made even the oldest ones of Ku Kuei look slight. We no longer stopped at inns, but instead slept beside the carriage, or under it when it rained, which seemed to happen almost daily.
Then one day in early afternoon the Nkumai teacher signaled the driver to stop.
“Here we are,” he said.
I looked around. I could see no difference between this place and any other part of the forest that had seemed so changeless for days of journeying.
“Where is here?” I asked.
“Nkumai. The capital.”
Then I followed his gaze upward and saw the most intricate and clever system of ramps, bridges, and buildings suspended in the trees as far as I could see, upward and outward in every direction.
“Impregnable,” he commented.
“A marvel,” I answered. I didn’t comment that a good fire could wipe the entire thing out in a half hour. I was glad I didn’t. Because within moments the daily deluge came, and this time I was neither inside the carriage nor under it. We were immediately drenched as if we had dived into the sea. The Nkumai made no effort to find shelter, and so neither could I.
After only a few minutes the rain stopped, and he turned to me and smiled. “It comes like this nearly every day, often twice a day. If it didn’t, we might have to fear a fire. But as it is, our only problem is getting peat dry enough to burn for cooking.”
I smiled back and nodded. “I can see that might be a problem.” Obviously he had guessed at my observation about the city’s vulnerability to fire, and wanted me to understand by direct experience exactly how useless a weapon fire would be against them.
The ground was mud six inches deep, which made for very unhealthy walking, and I was surprised they made no effort to corduroy or cobble any sort of path besides the road; but then we found a rope ladder and swung up into the air. I didn’t touch the ground again for weeks.
3
Nkumai
“Would you like to rest?” he asked, and for once I was glad that I appeared to be a woman, because the platform was an island of stability in an absurd world of swinging rope ladders and sudden gusts of wind. The Mueller’s son could never have admitted he wanted to rest. But a lady emissary from Bird lost no face by resting.
I lay down on the platform so that for a few moments I could see only the still-distant roof of green above me and pretend I was on steady ground.
“You don’t seem very tired,” my guide commented. “You aren’t even breathing very heavily.”
“Oh, I didn’t want the rest because of the exertion. I’m simply—unaccustomed to such heights.”
He casually leaned back over the edge of the platform and looked at the ground. “Well, we’re only eighty meters off the ground right now. A long way to go.”
I stifled a sigh. “Where are you taking me?”
“Where do you want to go?” he countered.
“I want to see the king.”
He chuckled, and I wondered if a lady of Bird was supposed to
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