“It is the companion of my heart,” she said. “It is the sister of my soul.”
“Air in the water,” chanted another.
“Light in the darkness,” murmured the third.
“So you all have these mantles?” asked Rigg.
“Without them we would die,” said the leader.
“So why did you murder my father?” demanded Param.
So much for diplomacy, thought Rigg.
“Your father?” asked the woman who led them.
“Knosso, king of Stashiland,” said Param.
“He crossed over far to the west of here,” said Olivenko. “Then you dragged him out of his boat and drowned him.”
The women backed away, puzzled by the accusation and by Param’s vehemence in saying it.
“Do you mean the man who dances on water?”
To Rigg that seemed as apt a description of travel in a small boat as these people were likely to see it. “Yes,” said Rigg.
“But he isn’t dead,” said one woman.
“Should we fetch him?” asked another.
“Yes,” said Rigg. “In our wallfold, we thought him dead.”
“Why should he be dead?” they asked. “Was he deserving of death?”
“No,” said Olivenko, perhaps a bit too fervently. “So are you saying that this man-who-dances-on-water is still alive?”
“Of course,” said the leading woman. “Shall we bring him now, or do you have more questions to ask us first?”
“Please bring him, yes,” said Rigg.
“I thought you’d want to see him as soon as I saw you,” said one of the other women.
“I know he’ll want to see you,” said the third.
“Let me send out a call for him,” said the leader. Without further discussion, she ran to the nearest water—the river, in this case—and ducked her mantled head into it. She stayed a long time—at least it seemed long to Rigg, who instinctively held his breath as if his own head were also underwater.
Then she lifted her head out of the water, dropping a spray of water that caught the sunlight like stars.
She sat on the riverbank and laughed. “He’s very happy,” she called out. “He’s coming now.”
“Knosso,” murmured Olivenko. “Is it really possible he didn’t die?”
“They must have had a mantle waiting for him,” said Loaf.
“Of course we did,” said one of the remaining women. “Didn’t the Landsman tell us he was going to float to us on the waves?”
“So when you dragged him under the water—”
“It was to keep his evil wife from killing him,” said a woman.