Under the Burning Clouds Read online

  Pressed against the wall by the door was an iron bedstead with a thick mattress covered with a threadbare satin eiderdown.

  Maliha found herself on the verge of saying, “Take off your shoes,” but neither Izak nor Lilith possessed shoes. “Lie down but leave room for me,” was what she finally said. Lilith climbed into the bed and closed her eyes. Izak hesitated for a moment.

  “Thank you for rescuing me, Izak,” Maliha said.

  “And me,” Lilith said, though the words were slurred with sleep.

  “And you, Lilith.”

  Izak lay beside Lilith with his arm over her protectively. It made Maliha think of Valentine. She may not need protecting, but that did not mean she did not appreciate his touch.

  There was a steaming pot of tea on the dresser but no milk. She sat in the chair and poured herself a drink. She sipped and felt its potency relax her.

  She yawned. Her muscles ached from the unaccustomed running. She unpinned her hat and laid it on the dresser, then unbuckled her shoes and slipped them off. She took another mouthful of the black tea, stood up, removed her coat and put it across the back of the chair.

  She lay on the other side of Lilith, balanced precariously on the edge so as not to disturb the child. The dark of the night engulfed her.

  iii

  Something wriggled in her arms like a dog wanting to avoid being picked up. But she was lying down.

  Maliha opened her eyes. Lilith’s black face was inches from hers.

  “I need to piss,” said the girl. “Will you let me go, Goddess?”

  Maliha realised she was holding the girl tight in her arms. She lifted her left arm and let her right relax back onto the bed. Lilith scrambled free and jumped off the bed. Izak was missing.

  Lilith ran from the room. Maliha wondered why she didn’t use the chamber pot, then she realised that, brought up on the streets, she might not even know about them. Even assuming there was one.

  It was no longer night and the light from the sun shone in from a high angle. It was late, perhaps ten o’clock. Lilith must have lain there trying not to disturb her for as long as she could. Maliha smiled. It had felt good holding Lilith. It was a different kind of pleasure to holding Valentine; some parts were the same but she felt ... motherly?

  Not that Lilith would think she needed protecting, though there were so many dangers in her world for one so young that it did not bear thinking about. At least Lilith had been spared the horrors poor Riette had had to suffer at that age.

  At least, Maliha thought she had, but what did she really know of the girl’s life?

  Maliha sat up and put her feet over the edge of the bed, facing the window and the thin curtain that hung across it, through which she could see the street beyond. The homogeneous imprint of the Europeans made itself felt everywhere—if she had not known where she was, and ignored the shapes of the trees, she could be in any part of the British Empire. It was all the same.

  The British were not the law here. There was an uneasy truce whereby they gave the Dutch autonomy of rule and justice in return for the right to own everything. This would be to her advantage because it meant that the British could not, themselves, call out the Dutch police to search for her. They might be able to encourage it, but the Dutch were unlikely to be cooperative.

  That meant the British would need to mount their own search, using limited resources. And all they would know was that she had information about Timmons (though Mr Penn might have hidden that detail) and that she had escaped in the company of two children.

  But she should not underestimate them. They were not stupid. With more limited resources they would gather information first and then attempt to locate her through intelligence. It was not that she expected Mama Kosi’s people to betray her, but knowledge of her whereabouts was bound to leak out. She needed to move quickly to stay ahead of Timmons’ wolves.

  There was a potty under the bed.

  Ten minutes later, having washed and put her shoes back on, she briefly checked the other bedroom: there was a wardrobe containing two dresses that were out of style and did not look as if they had been touched in years.

  The scents of cooking drifted up from below as she descended the staircase and pushed open the door to the front room.

  Mama Kosi sat in a rocking chair, which moved slightly as she adjusted her position. She was old but her eyes were bright.

  There were sounds of cutlery and stirring in the kitchen to the left. Maliha glanced in and saw Nkechi with Lilith and Izak who was eating a hunk of black bread.

  “Mama Kosi is glad you are safe,” shouted Nkechi from the kitchen. “When she learnt you fell from the sky vessel and became a prisoner of the English, she knew you would need help to escape.”

  Maliha looked back at the old woman, pressed her palms together in front of her face and bowed. “Thank you for your gift, Mama Kosi.” She held the pose for a few moments to emphasise her gratitude.

  Mama Kosi said something so quietly that Maliha did not think Nkechi could have heard. She was wrong.

  “Mama Kosi says you cannot carry the weight you are destined to bear if you are a prisoner.”

  There she went again with her fortune-telling.

  “I am grateful to Mama Kosi for her help,” said Maliha. “But I must get to the Fortress in Ceylon by the fastest possible route. Can she help me?”

  Nkechi came through with a bowl and set it down on the table. She moved a chair over to it. “Mama Kosi will help you all she can. You must eat.”

  There had been no translation that time, Nkechi had just answered Maliha directly. Maliha sat and tried the soup. It was hot but thick and nourishing, with vegetables and several different types of meat. Maliha glanced into the kitchen, where the children were digging into their own bowls.

  “The ports will be watched,” said Nkechi, “as will the air-dock. You will go to Mombasa on the atmospheric and meet with someone we know who will carry you to Ceylon.”

  “Won’t the atmospherics be watched as well?”

  “No one will see you.”

  “I need to go soon,” said Maliha.

  “You will be on the three o’clock train.”

  Four hours.

  “I need clothes.”

  “They will be provided.”

  Maliha glanced at Mama Kosi, who rocked gently in her chair. It squeaked as it moved on the floorboards.

  “Is this Mama Kosi’s house?”

  Nkechi put her head on one side. “The British do not understand us,” she said. “For our people the only thing one can own is what you can carry. We were not meant to live in huts like this. Nor the places the Europeans build for us.”

  Maliha nodded.

  “I am indebted to Mama Kosi for my very life,” she said. “I do not know how I can repay her. In my life in India I am wealthy, but she does not value those riches.”

  Nkechi did translate this time. Mama Kosi spoke briefly and Nkechi nodded. “Mama Kosi says your future deeds will be repayment enough.”

  Maliha did not hide her annoyance. “I am sorry, but I am not interested in Mama Kosi’s predictions,” she said. “If there is anything of value I can do now, I would rather that.”

  Nkechi smiled. “The goddess does not believe in predictions?”

  “I am not a goddess. I am just a woman like you.”

  “And I am not a goddess?”

  Maliha hesitated. “I really wouldn’t know. Is there anything I can do?”

  “There is something,” she said and Maliha sighed with relief; she was tired of playing word games. “There is a thing Mama Kosi wishes you to see. She does not know what to say, she believes you will.”

  iv

  Maliha watched from the downstairs window as a two-wheeled cart arrived outside the house. The half-caste driver pulled the rein to make the donkey turn into the alley between the houses. As the cart trundled past she saw something furry lying in the back.

  A wave of cold ran through her.

  �
��Don’t let him bring it into the house,” she said to no one in particular and everyone in general. She turned as Nkechi headed through into the kitchen. Lilith jumped from her chair, ran to the door, opened it and stepped out.

  “No!” screamed Maliha. The girl turned, her face a mix of surprise and fear. “No, Lilith, Izak. Don’t go outside. Nkechi, stop!”

  Nkechi came to a halt and looked back.

  “Lilith, come in now and shut the door.”

  The scared child did as she was told. Maliha stared at the air around Lilith as if she were seeing invisible demons. She licked her lips. How long would it take for the spores to settle? Was there anything she could do? The door had only been open for a moment, Lilith had only been outside for a short time and the cart had only just arrived. How bad could it be?

  “If this is what I think it is, you mustn’t go near it. It is the disease the kidnappers brought with them, the reason they took the children.”

  The voice of Mama Kosi filtered through from the other room.

  “Mama Kosi says I must do your bidding,” said Nkechi. She looked down at Lilith and Izak. “Do what the goddess says.”

  Maliha gritted her teeth. She allowed the children to call her that mostly because it seemed impossible to break them of the habit. She was not happy with adults doing it too.

  “Does he speak English?” Maliha asked, nodding to the back door.

  “Yes, his name is Tinashe.”

  Maliha went to the door. Tinashe had stopped the cart and climbed off. He glanced up at the door and went to the back of the cart. Maliha did not open the door but raised her voice to speak to the man.

  “Is it dead, Tinashe?”

  He stopped. “You are Goddess?”

  She hesitated then forced herself. “Yes.”

  His eyes widened and he did not seem to know what he should do next.

  “Do not touch the animal, Tinashe, but tell me exactly what it is you have in the cart.”

  “My dog, Goddess.”

  “Is it dead?”

  He nodded.

  “How did it die?”

  He did not reply but wiped his arm across his eyes. “I kill it.”

  “What happened?”

  “It is possessed by demon, attack me. I smash its head with my stick.”

  “Are its eyes black?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wait there.”

  Maliha felt rivulets of sweat running down the scars on her back. She could fight a man when he tried to force himself on her, trick a man into revealing the truth, or persuade the man she loved to whip her until she bled, but she could not defeat a thing she could not see.

  She pressed her back against the door and her heart pounded with fear.

  Nkechi, Izak and Lilith were staring at her.

  “The goddess is afraid,” said Lilith. It was not the recognition of frailty in her voice—instead the words were spoken in awe of whatever could scare the goddess. Maliha suspected that Lilith had not the slightest idea what a goddess was, apart from someone brave and strong.

  “What is it?” asked Nkechi.

  Maliha shook her head. She turned and saw the door had a bolt; she drew it, knowing it could not keep out the airborne spores of a fungus.

  She took slow steps through to the front room. She sat back down in the chair and faced Mama Kosi, whose face fell at the sight of the terror in hers. Maliha looked up at Nkechi. “I am going to tell Mama Kosi what I know. If there is anything you do not understand you must ask me to explain. It is very important that you all understand the danger.”

  Nkechi nodded and stood waiting. Maliha gathered her thoughts.

  “The planet Venus has fungi like our own mushrooms and molds. But on Venus they are more powerful and they can infect animals to be carried to new places to grow. Some of these fungi can infect our minds and be used to control people—perhaps. That is what some people want to do.

  “The men who kidnapped the children were experimenting on them, trying to make the fungi live inside them. I saw a child that had been infected. Its eyes were black. It was no longer human—it was as if it had been possessed by a demon.

  “I spoke with the scientists. I learnt that if a possessed creature is killed quickly and violently, the fungus sends out its seeds to survive. These seeds are so tiny they float in the air and cannot be seen.

  “But if the creature dies slowly, perhaps from being starved, the fungus does not think it is dying and does not send out its seeds.”

  Nkechi had interrupted her to clarify some points and Mama Kosi had had her repeat herself and change the wording so she understood.

  Mama Kosi looked at Maliha, her eyes filled with tears. She spoke and Nkechi translated.

  “They starved the children to death?”

  “Those that survived the initial infection, yes.”

  Mama Kosi made movements with her hands, as if she were pushing away an attacker. She muttered words that Maliha could not have made out even if they had been in a language she understood.

  “Tinashe will die,” Nkechi said without prompting.

  “I don’t know,” said Maliha. “Perhaps he was not infected, but we cannot be sure.”

  “How long before his illness shows?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Hours? Days?”

  Mama Kosi spoke. When she had finished, Nkechi said something that sounded like agreement.

  “We will make sure Tinashe is looked after until we know,” said Nkechi. “If he is ill we will starve him until he is dead. What should we do with his body?”

  “Once they have been dead for a while they should be burned in the hottest fire you can make, perhaps in the furnace of a steam engine. But anyone who comes into contact with them must be careful—they could still become infected.”

  Nkechi nodded.

  “If it infected his dog then it must have come from somewhere,” said Maliha. “My man found infected hyenas to the south.”

  “I understand,” said Nkechi. “We will do what we can. This will not be the first time disease has stalked our lands.”

  Mama Kosi spoke again.

  “It is time for you to go,” said Nkechi.

  “I will take Izak and Lilith,” said Maliha. It would be easy to explain two street urchins; it was not uncommon for rich British women to take in strays just to show what decent people they were. The ‘why’ was possibly more difficult to understand—perhaps it was simply that she cared for them. And the possibility Lilith had become infected.

  It would do. She turned to the children. Izak looked as if he had been hit by a train, Lilith was simply confused.

  “They will need clothes,” said Maliha.

  Nkechi communicated Maliha’s requirements to Mama Kosi, who nodded without any apparent surprise or concern.

  “You want to take us with you, Goddess?”

  “Yes, Lilith,” said Maliha. “But you must not call me Goddess when other people are around. They won’t understand.”

  “What do I call you then?”

  Maliha barely hesitated. “Mother.”

  v

  The atmospheric slid down its tube and out of Johannesburg station. They had a first class compartment to themselves that Mama Kosi had arranged. Boarding had involved entering the station grounds through the staff entrance and making their way onto the train via the crew cabins.

  It was simple. There were people around, but no one looked in their direction. And no one close by was European. It was an easy thing to understand: when one invaded a country and took over, but employed the natives in every walk of life, the most outrageous acts could be committed under the nose of authority and they would never be the wiser.

  Even the Dutch, who held the natives in contempt—many thinking them little better than apes—were not immune to this. They were still in the minority. The British might have built the atmospherics, but it was the natives who ran them.

  The flashing display through the window, alternating blank meta
l with scenic views, changed from the outskirts of the city, through the mine workings of the gold and diamond works, and eventually gave onto the cultivated fields that surrounded and fed the city’s population.

  As the atmospheric picked up speed—it would reach almost two hundred miles per hour on some stretches—the view blurred. The hills to the north grew apace.

  Maliha turned her attention to Izak and Lilith. They still had no change of clothes even though it had been promised. Izak sat by the window and stared out. Lilith was bouncing on the bench seat. She had never experienced reduced gravity like this before and had taken to it.

  “It is like flying,” she said as she jumped from the bench on one side of the carriage to the other, flapping her arms.

  Maliha felt as if she ought to admonish her and tell her to sit quietly, like every teacher she had ever had, her grandmother and even her mother. But, she thought as a smile grew on her face, never her father. Though, he had not been there much of the time, which meant an exuberant child was not as great a trial to him as she must have been to her mother.

  But that wasn’t it, she thought to herself. It wasn’t that she had been an exuberant child full of energy. That was not the reason she had been constantly admonished to be still. It was because she was female and it was not appropriate for a girl to behave in such a way.

  Lilith threw herself to the other bench. She landed with a bump and collapsed into a sitting position facing Maliha with a grin on her face. Maliha smiled back. “It is just like flying, Lilith. You should practice until you become like a bird.”

  The girl jumped up again and launched herself at Maliha, who had to jerk her head out of Lilith’s path as the child crashed into her, knocking the wind from her. Lilith hugged her.

  “Thank you, Goddess.”

  Maliha could not say anything, since there were no other people around.

  Izak sat back from the window. His expression was serious. “Where are we going?”

  “Mombasa and then to Ceylon,” said Maliha. “Then I’ll put you on an airship to Pondicherry where Amita can look after you.”

  “Your maid.”

  “She is not my maid anymore,” said Maliha. “She is my friend and I have put her in charge of all my affairs.”