Ilse Of Illusion

8 - The House of Penn

Thoughts of Del had again begun nagging at Lief as he followed Penn through the maze of narrow walkways that ran between the crowded dwellings of the rafts. But they were driven from his mind the moment he, Jasmine and Barda entered the history-keeper’s hut.

The hut was small but pleasant, despite the strong smell of fish oil that drifted both from the stove burning in one corner and the shell lamp fixed to a wall.

A sleeping hammock covered with a patchwork rug of grey skins hung from hooks fastened to the low ceiling. There was no other furniture at all, but the floor was covered with a beautiful mat woven in soft sea colours.

Three of the smooth, pale walls were covered with hanging baskets in which rolled parchments, clothes and other belongings were neatly arranged. The door wall was bare except for a hook upon which Penn invited Lief to hang his cloak, a curtained window and a small wall hanging woven in a strange, bold pattern.

Below the wall hanging was a large blue bowl filled with water. Inside the bowl, two small, upright sea creatures swayed amid fronds of silver weed. They were very like sea horses in shape, but glittered with every colour of the rainbow.

‘My companions, Tresk and Mesk,’ said Penn, leaning over the bowl. Plainly, by the way she cooed and smiled at the little creatures as they bobbed up to nuzzle her hand, bubbling eagerly, they were very dear to her.

She looked anxious as Filli crept out from under Jasmine’s collar and ran down to the edge of the bowl to investigate.

‘Filli would not harm them,’ Jasmine assured her. But Penn did not relax until Filli was safely back on Jasmine’s shoulder again, nibbling at a dried berry from Jasmine’s pocket.

After that, Penn busied herself in making her guests welcome. She could not have been more helpful, or more agreeable.

She took down the hammock and stored it away, to make more room. Then she supplied Jasmine with everything necessary to care for Kree’s injured wing. All the while she asked questions about Deltora and the companions’ present journey, listening alertly to their answers.

Finally, once Kree was resting comfortably, she brought large snail shells of strong, oily soup to her guests.

‘It is not to your taste, perhaps?’ she asked anxiously, as she watched them drink.

‘Oh, no, it is very good,’ Lief assured her, trying not to wrinkle his nose. He felt something hard on his tongue and removed it. It was a shrivelled claw. He stared at it with repulsion, wondering what horrible creature it had come from.

Penn looked grave. ‘You would be wise always to speak the truth on the rafts,’ she said gently. ‘As a keeper of history, who has read much of what Doran taught our ancestors, I am familiar with your people’s ways. But in this I am different from most. Even politeness, which in the world above, I believe, is thought good, is no excuse for lies here.’

She gestured to the wall-hanging which had fascinated Lief ever since he entered the hut.

Lief, Barda and Jasmine stared at the bold symbols, and at last saw the word concealed within them.

‘Truth,’ Lief murmured.

Penn nodded. ‘Beauty is important to us, as befits followers of the Piper Auron,’ she said. ‘But we believe that nothing can be truly beautiful unless truth dwells within it. Lies and pretence have been the ruin of our people in the past. Now our children are taught from their earliest days that truth is all-important, and lying is the greatest sin.’

She smiled slightly. ‘So, tell me. Are you really enjoying the meal you have been given?’

‘Well, if you want the truth, while I am grateful for your kindness, I find it repulsive!’ growled Barda, putting down his shell.

‘And I,’ said Jasmine, doing likewise.

Lief sighed. ‘Truly the most unpleasant brew I have ever tasted,’ he agreed.

Penn’s smile broadened. ‘It is written that Doran felt the same at first,’ she chuckled. Quickly she drained her own shell, crunching the dregs with relish.

‘And now,’ she said, with obvious reluctance, putting the shell aside, ‘it is my task to tell you why we cannot help you.’

Lief leaned forward. ‘Could we not speak to your Piper? Our cause is just, and we would have your part of the Pirran Pipe for only—’

Penn raised her arm, which was covered in complicated tattoos almost to the elbow.

‘Do not waste your breath in argument,’ she said bluntly. ‘The Piper knows why you are here. The guards who were not needed for towing your boat landed long before you, and informed him.’

She sighed at the expression on Lief’s face.

‘The Piper wishes you to know that we would give you anything you asked, if we could. Your kinsman Doran spent much time on the rafts in ages past. He gave our ancestors many gifts, including the gift of fire, without which our lives today would be miserable beyond words.’

Barda frowned. ‘Then—’

Penn shrugged. ‘Do you think that we would live like this if our part of the Pirran Pipe was with us?’ she sighed. ‘Do you think we choose to drift the seas, spending half our lives searching for materials to mend the rafts? Do you think we choose to live in darkness, when our souls long for light?’

Lief struggled with warring feelings of disbelief and bitter disappointment. He knew the second part of the Pipe was near. He could feel it! Yet he knew also that Penn, whose people valued truth above all things, could not be lying.

‘The stem of the Pipe is lost, then?’ he asked, in a level voice.

‘Lost to us,’ said Penn. ‘It is on the island of Auron. And that is lost to us, also.’

‘Lost?’ Jasmine shook her head impatiently. ‘How lost? Has it sunk into the sea? Has it been overrun by the monsters you bred to—’

‘Monsters we bred?’ cried Penn. Pale eyes flashing, all stiffness forgotten, she jumped to her feet. ‘Who has told you this lie?’ she thundered, looking down at Jasmine angrily.

Then her face changed. Her eyes narrowed, and her wide mouth hardened. ‘Ah, of course,’ she hissed. ‘Those accursed Plumes, who could not speak the truth if their lives depended upon it. Who would stop at nothing to smear our name to descendants of Doran!’

‘If the Plumes were lying, they did not know it,’ snapped Jasmine, refusing to be cowed. ‘They told us only what they truly believed.’

Penn glared at her for a moment. Then, slowly, her rage seemed to die, and her face relaxed. ‘I am sorry for my anger,’ she said, walking to the window, pulling aside the curtain and staring out at the dimness. ‘I was wrong to blame you. The Plumes are clever deceivers.’

Jasmine looked as if she was going to argue further, but Lief spoke quickly, before she had the chance. Hope was again flaring in his heart. For if the second part of the Pirran Pipe was on Auron, it could surely be won, whatever the danger that guarded it.

‘Tell us, Penn, I beg you, why you say Auron is lost,’ he urged.

Strange, high, echoing calls began to drift through the window, filling the room, growing louder every moment.

Penn turned around. Her face was shadowed with weariness and something more. Despair, perhaps.

‘Dawn is being sung by the Piper,’ she said. ‘The time of sleep is over. Not that any of us have had our proper sleep, this night.’

‘I am sorry—’ Lief began, but Penn waved away his apology and walked to the hanging baskets on the back wall. She selected two small, ragged pieces of parchment, then moved to the door.

‘Come,’ she said. ‘Your boat may now leave the rafts with safety.’

‘We cannot leave!’ exclaimed Jasmine, glancing protectively at Kree. ‘Kree must rest further. He is still weak.’

‘The bird may remain where he is,’ said Penn, her serious face relaxing a little as she regarded Jasmine’s earnest face. ‘In his condition he will not trouble Tresk and Mesk, and you will be back before the Piper calls down the night. To swim would be faster, but not for you, I suspect. I am taking you to Auron.’

Lief’s heart jolted with excitement. He glanced at Barda, whose face was bright with triumph.

Penn’s shrewd eyes seemed to dim as she watched them. ‘I do not look forward to the journey,’ she murmured. ‘I had hoped to avoid it. But you must see the island for yourselves. Only then will you understand the truth.’