Free The Wanderers of the Water-Realm by Alan Lawton Page B

larger narr whose body was covered by a much thinner coat of red hair. “Meat narr … plenty wool and meat narr … here in valley … bronze nulla moss … here … good for grazing narr.”
Even as he spoke, a larger and more powerful example of the curious species emerged from behind a rock and the travellers were amazed to see that an adolescent girl was strapped to the creatures back and controlling the creature with apparent ease. The girl wielded a long whip and used it mercilessly to drive back a group of wool narr who were straying away from their fellows. She was obviously controlling her strange mount by the pressure of her knees, for in her left hand she carried a slender javelin with a wickedly barbed head that undoubtedly had the capacity to inflict a terrible wound. Moments later, two young boys, similarly mounted and armed, emerged from behind a hillock and silently observed the passage of the narrowboat.
The old wizard laughed at the perplexity of the newcomers.
“Riding narr swift … but what you call bird-jointed … riding narr too weak in the hips to support man-rider … so children herd domestic narr … children also watch for Hix.”
“Do those demons whom we met in the ruins also attack your people?”Darryl asked.
“No.” The old man replied. “Most Hix live in tribes … far away in GreatWesternWasteland … here just a few families live … in ruins like ‘City of Ancient Dead’… perhaps steal odd narr for food … if Hix become too bold… children kill with javelins.”
“Your children are able to kill those monsters?” Myra asked.
“Aye … but we also lose … maybe … one … two or even three children each time,” answered the wizard, with a look of sadness in his eyes. “Myself lose …one good son … most here loose same.”
The old man moved up into the bows of the craft, and, for a while was lost in his own thoughts and the newcomers were left in no doubt of having inadvertently stumbled upon one of the many painful facets of life in the Water-Realm.
The bow-haulers stuck doggedly to their task and the ‘Bonny Barbara’ continued to make good progress for the stream remained easily navigable for the narrowboat. As the day advanced, the bronze nulla-covered slopes began to recede and eventually gave way to a flat valley bottom. The land in the valley appeared to be extremely fertile, for every inch of soil was subdivided into small fields hedged with banks of nulla moss and the travellers were able to make out numerous homesteads, each one constructed from overlapping planks of rough hewn timber.
The Water-Realm night was almost upon them when the bow-haulers finally drew the narrowboat into a small flooded basin and the travellers were able to moor their craft alongside a stoutly built wharf. The sweating haulers then scattered to their various homesteads without waiting for a single word or gesture of thanks from the newcomers.
Thom pointed towards a substantial cottage standing in the centre of the settlement.
“My home,” He said. “You my guests … come … we eat … sleep.” The wizard, however, noticed the boatmaster’s reluctance to leave his craft unattended and laughed. “No worry … boat,” he said, “children always on guard.”
The night was dark as pitch by the time the travellers crossed thethresholdofthewizard’sdwellingandtheywereimmediately greeted by a plump elderly woman who was dressed in a simple shift-like garment, dyed a brilliant shade of green.
Thom introduced them to the woman.
“This Erda, my living mate,” he explained and seated them before a warm fire burning in an inglenook style fireplace, Erda then dipped a ladle into a cauldron hanging over the flames and served them with a thin soup that she distributed in small earthenware bowls.
“Eat slow!” The wizard advised. “Get used … Water-Realm food and water … take little to begin with … along with boat food … then you no get ill.”
The travellers consumed their