The Carpet People

palace—’
    ‘Grit, too.’
    ‘Metal,’ said Bane. ‘They’re trying to get as much metal as they can. Metal weapons’ll beat varnish and wood any day.’
    ‘Why all this effort, I wonder?’ said Pismire.
    ‘Ware’s only a few days away,’ said Bane. ‘That’s why. We’ve got to warn people.’
    ‘Come on. In here,’ said Glurk.
    ‘Here’ was a long cave mined out of the bronze. Light filtered in from holes in the ceillng, showing dim shadows lining the walls. The air was warm and smelt of animal. The prisoners heard the shifting of great feet in their stalls, and deep breathing. There was a movement, and a pair of green eyes came towards them in the semi-darkness.
    ‘What’s your business here?’ said the moul guard.
    ‘Ah,’ said Glurk, ‘I have brought the prisoners! Harharhar!’
    The guard looked suspiciously at the four of them. ‘What for?’ it said.
    Glurk blinked at him.
    ‘Enough of this talking, harharhar,’ he said eventually, and hit the guard on the head.
    The green eyes went out.
    ‘I runs out of ideas after a while,’ said Glurk.
    Pismire’s eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom. It was a big cave, but it didn’t look as big as it really ought to have done because of the enormous size of the things in it.
    ‘These are pones, aren’t they?’ said Brocando.
    ‘Not easy to mistake for anything else. Why are they here?’ said Pismire.
    ‘They turns the wheels for the lifting platform,’ said Glurk. ‘They’re used for all the heavy work. Know something? They’re intelligent.’
    ‘No, that’s just a story,’ said Pismire airily. ‘They look bright, I’ll grant you, but the head’s tiny compared to the body. They’ve got a brain the size of a dried pea.’
    ‘But a very clever dried pea,’ said Glurk. ‘I lay low in here last night. They’ve got a language. All made up of thumps and nose honks. Watch.’
    A tiny head was lowered towards him out of the shadows, and two bright eyes blinked.
    ‘Er ... if you can understand me, stamp twice,’ he said hoarsely.
    Thud. Thud.
    Even Glurk himself looked surprised.
    ‘These are friends. You’ll help, OK?’
    Thud. Thud.
    ‘That means yes,’ said Glurk.
    ‘Really?’ said Pismire.
    ‘There’s his saddle, by the stall.’
    It was more like a small castle. It had wide girths made of red cloth studded with bronze, and a roof over it, hung with curtains and bells. Inside were cushioned seats, and on the decorated harness was the word ‘Acretongue’ in tarnished bronze letters.
    Pismire sidled closer to the pone while the others were manhandling the saddle, and held up his hand with the fingers spread out.
    ‘How many fingers am I holding up?’ he said suspiciously.
    Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
    ‘Aha! So much for—’
    Thud.
    ‘Lucky guess.
    The pone lumbered down on to his knees to let them heave the saddle on to his back.
    Then he opened his mouth and trumpeted.
    It sounded like the creaking of a door, magnified a thousand times – but it wavered and changed as well, and seemed to contain a lot of busy little other sounds. Language, thought Pismire. Language without words, but still language.
    I wonder if the wights invented that, too? People used to have language without words. We still have. We say ‘Hmm?’ and ‘Uh’ and ‘Arrgh!’, don’t we?
    What am I thinking? These are animals.
    Just very bright ones, perhaps. Very bright indeed.
    The other pones raised their heads and answered, with a variety of blasts and trills. Glurk motioned the others up on to Acretongue’s back.
    ‘The mouls will have heard that,’ said Pismire.
    ‘Won’t matter,’ said Glurk. ‘The pones have decided to go home.’
    ‘You mean they could have gone any time?’ said Brocando, watching the huge animals leaving their stalls in an orderly line.
    ‘They liked it here when the Vortgorns ran the place,’ said Glurk ‘They likes stuff they find interesting. The mouls don’t interest them any more. They don’t like them. I think they think we’re interesting.’
    ‘Now listen, Glurk,’ said Pismire, ‘I mean, I’m not saying you’re not, you know, quite bright, but I don’t think you could have learned a language and all these other things in just a few—’
    ‘Didn’t,’ said Glurk, smirking. ‘Knew what to expect before I come here.
    ‘How—’
    ‘Enough of this talking, harharhar,’ said Glurk. ‘Tell you later. Be polite, by the way. She said they understand people very