Nation

the air and then made it move. Was it true? Had it really happened like that? But how could it not be true, now? They had been there. They had seen it. They had shared it.
    She looked down at Mau. His eyes were still open and his body was still twitching. And then she looked up, and into the face of Cahle, who said: “Locaha has taken him.”
    “You mean he’s dying?”
    “Yes. The cold hand of Locaha is on him. You know him. He does not sleep. He eats not enough. He carries all weights, runs every distance. In his head, too much thinking. Has anyone here seen him not working, guarding, digging, carrying? He tries to carry the world on his back! And when such people weaken, Locaha springs.”
    Daphne leaned down to Mau. His lips were blue. “You’re not dying,” she whispered. “You can’t be dying.”
    She shook him gently, and there was a rush of air from his lips, faint as a spider’s sneeze: “Does…”
    “Does not happen!” she said triumphantly. “See? Locaha hasn’t got him yet! Look at his legs! He is not dying! In his head he is running !”
    Cahle looked carefully at Mau’s twitching legs and put her hand on his forehead. Her eyes widened. “I have heard of this,” she said. “It’s shadow stuff. It will kill him, even so. The Sky Woman will know what to do.”
    “Where is she, then?”
    “You chew her food for her,” said Cahle, smiling. The Unknown Woman appeared behind her, staring at Mau in horror.
    “Mrs. Gurgle?” said Daphne.
    “She is very old. A woman of great power.”
    “Then we’d better hurry!”
    Daphne put her hands under Mau’s shoulders and pulled him up. To her astonishment the Unknown Woman handed her baby to Cahle and took Mau’s feet. She looked at Daphne expectantly.
    Together they ran up the hill, leaving everyone else behind after they had gone a little way. By the time they arrived in the hut, Mrs. Gurgle was waiting for them with her little black eyes gleaming.
    As soon as Mau was laid on a mat, she changed.
    Until now Mrs. Gurgle had been rather a strange, half-sized person to Daphne. She had lost most of the hair on her head, moved on all fours like a chimpanzee, and looked as if she’d been made out of old leather bags. Also, she was, frankly, grabby when it came to food, and tended to fart in an unladylike way, although that was mostly the fault of the salt-pickled beef.
    Now she crawled around Mau carefully, touching him gently here and there. She listened intently at his ears and lifted each of his legs in turn, watching the twitching as closely as if she was observing a new species of wild animal.
    “He can’t die!” Daphne blurted out, unable to bear the suspense. “He just doesn’t sleep! He spends all night on guard! But you can’t die of not sleeping! Can you?”
    The ancient woman gave her a wide grin and picked up one of Mau’s feet. Slowly she ran a stubby black fingernail along his twitching sole and seemed disappointed in whatever it was she learned by it.
    “He isn’t dying, is he? He can’t die!” Daphne insisted again as Cahle came in. Other people crowded around the door.
    Mrs. Gurgle ignored them and gave Daphne a look that said, unmistakably, “Oh? And who are you, who knows everything?” and did some more leg lifting and prodding just to make the point that she was in charge. Then she looked up at Cahle and spoke at high speed. At one point Cahle laughed and shook her head.
    “She says he is in the—” Cahle stopped, and her lips moved as she tried to find a word she thought Daphne might understand. “The place between,” she said. “Shadow place. Not alive. Not dead.”
    “Where is it?” said Daphne.
    This was another difficult one. “A place with no place—you cannot walk there. Cannot swim there. On sea, no. On land, no. Like shadow. Yes! Shadow place!”
    “How can I get there?” This one was relayed to Mrs. Gurgle, and the reply was abrupt.
    “ You? Cannot!”
    “Look, he saved me from drowning! He saved my life, do you understand? Besides, it’s your custom. If someone saves your life, it’s like a debt. You must pay it back. And I want to!”
    Mrs. Gurgle seemed to approve of this when it was translated. She said something.
    Cahle nodded. “She says that to get to the shadow world, you have to die,” she translated. “She is asking if you know how to.”
    “You mean it’s something you have to practice ?”
    “Yes. Many times,” said Cahle calmly.
    “I thought you only got one go!”