Mother of Eden by Chris Beckett Read Free Book Online Page A

out for a few new blokes to replace them.”
    “ Forty! Where are all the others?”
    “Some are eating and drinking in Veeklehouse. The others are down by my boats.”
    “How many boats do you have?”
    “Three. They’re full of metal and stuff, so we need to watch them all the time.”
    “ Full of metal?”
    “Well, you saw me trading that piece of metal, didn’t you? I brought sixty pieces that size with me, and brooches and bracelets, too.”
    “Why do you say ‘my boats’? Don’t they belong to these other men, too?”
    He laughed. “Because I’m the Headmanson, and they’re my ringmen, and—”
    “Wait. What’s a headmanson?”
    “What it sounds like, Starlight. My dad is the Headman of New Earth. Don’t you have a headman out on that waterhill of yours? Maybe you use another name? Over here they call their headman the Head Guard.”
    “No, we don’t have one, not under any name.”
    “Well, who decides things, then?”
    “Everyone does.”
    “Everyone?”
    He looked really surprised.
    “What are ringmen?” Angie asked.
    Since he never seemed to notice when she spoke, I repeated her question.
    “Yeah. What are ringmen?”
    “They come with me to keep me safe and paddle my boats for me.”
    “Paddle them for you? What? You don’t paddle yourself?”
    But Greenstone had been distracted by some more men with metal spears who had emerged from among the shelters of Veeklehouse, along the cliff. With them was a tall man, tall tall, with thick gray hair and a long, deep-blue wrap. He looked across at us, and Greenstone looked back at him in a funny way that made me think of a naughty child. Then the tall man and his companions headed down one of the steep paths that led to the rocky ledge. When Greenstone turned back to me, I could see he had to struggle to get some cheerfulness back into his face.
    “No, I never paddle,” he said.
    “But   ...”
    “Mind you, we’ve got big windcatchers on our boats, and the wind always blows toward Old Ground, so no one needed to paddle on the way over. It’s on the way back that my blokes will have to sweat.”
    What was a windcatcher? There were so many things to ask him.
    “Why did you come to Mainground?”
    “Gela’s metal ring, Starlight! You ask a lot of questions!”
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean   ...”
    I hated to think I could have annoyed him. I might be scared by his talk of taking me back with him, but I did not want to drive him away.
    “It doesn’t matter, Starlight!” He laughed. He’d seen the worry on my face. “Ask me as many as you want! Why did I come here? Well, I’ll be Headman one waking. My dad’s old, and he’s not so well. We’ve been trading a bit with Brown River and Veeklehouse this last hundredwake, and I thought I’d come over to have a look round while I still could, and   ... Well, like I say, to have a look round.”
    I could see that, whatever he’d said, for some reason he didn’t really want to talk about this.
    “They look like guards, those ringmen of yours,” I said to change the subject. “Except they haven’t got dots on their heads.”
    “Guards? Oh, no! We’re Johnfolk, remember! Guards were started by David to catch our people and do for them! Guards are our enemies.”
    “The Davidfolk don’t seem to be fighting you now!”
    “Well, they like our metal, don’t they? They haven’t figured out yet how to find it themselves, and we’re certainly not going to tell them, but we let them have a bit.” He shook his head. “Bloody Davidfolk. They moan on about how the Johnfolk broke up Old Family, but they don’t mind living in Wide Forest and Veeklehouse, which we found for them. And now we find metal and they want that, too. They’ve always wanted it both ways, ever since—” He broke off. “But maybe you Knee people are Davidfolk yourselves?”
    “No. We’re   ... well, we’re Jeffsfolk, you could say. Which I suppose makes us a kind of Johnfolk, too, seeing as Jeff crossed