Chapter 80 — The Sun-Keeper
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
. If the sun could be kindled, the Dawn Ark would draw on the sun's power instead, and would even nourish the Sun-Keeper. I would grow strong and mighty! "
Shen Mu was shaken.
He raised his head and looked at the black sun in the sky, murmuring, "The sun must be kindled? Who could do such a thing? Perhaps only a true god could. .
. Why must you keep watch here? Why must you be Sun-Keeper? "
"Because it is the duty of us Sun-Herders. The Sun-Keeper is a divine office! Long, long ago — I do not know how long, only that it was very long ago — we Sun-Herders were appointed Sun-Keepers, to guard the Dawn Ark and guard the Wasteland, and so it has been handed down ever since.
As for who appointed us Sun-Keepers, I do not know either. Grandfather Clan-Chief may know. "
Yan Jingjing was a cheerful sort, as though she had few playmates; sitting with Shen Mu, she chattered on without pause, telling him of the many amusing things she had seen on her travels.
Shen Mu looked around. The Sun-Herders were all giants. There were boys and girls among them who might have played with Yan Jingjing, but they held her in such awe that none dared approach.
And these people were very tall, far taller than Yan Jingjing, and more robust besides; Yan Jingjing was more like a human, as though she belonged to another race altogether. Shen Mu guessed that Yan Jingjing might have human blood in her; or, of course, that the Dawn Ark had drained her strength and stunted her frame.
Yet strangely, when Yan Jingjing merged with the Dawn Ark she became vast and mighty, like an awe-inspiring goddess — which showed that his guess was not necessarily right. He did not know that the Sun-Herders had not always been so gigantic by nature.
Dwelling here on the Dawn Ark, where a kind of divine power drifted free in the air, the Sun-Herders breathed and ate and drank it unawares, absorbing it until their bodies grew prodigiously large. Yan Jingjing, her strength drained by the Dawn Ark so that she could not make ends meet, had not grown stalwart as the rest of her clan had. When she merged with the Dawn Ark, its power and hers became one, and only then did she grow as majestic as a god.
"In the future, if I have the power, I will help you kindle the sun and set you free! " Shen Mu said. "Truly? "
Yan Jingjing's eyes shone bright.
"I will look forward to that day! Then I will be able to walk, and be like everyone else!
"
Shen Mu nodded firmly and smiled. "I will find a way to kindle that sun.
"
Just then the giant clan-chief came over and said, "Sun-Keeper, the armies of the Kingdom of Jingping have fully withdrawn. "
Yan Jingjing rose with an effort, waved to Shen Mu, and said with a sweet smile, "I must go too.
I will leave by way of the Star Sea, and come out again by the Dawn Spring.
If you want to find me, go to the Dawn Spring! "
Shen Mu nodded.
The girl hobbled back to the row of pillars; as her hand touched one, her body began to swell with great speed, and then her legs sank into the Dawn Ark and merged with it.
Her palms grasped the other three pillars, and flames kindled all over her body, so fierce that none could come near. The giant clan-chief came to see Shen Mu off, escorting him to the prow.
This aged Sun-Herder, white-haired, wore a trace of grief as he said in a low voice, "The Sun-Keeper has not many years left to live. . .
"
Shen Mu's heart quivered. He raised his head to look at the old man, then at the giantess in the flames; Yan Jingjing was smiling at him. "If you are a visitor from the Land of No Sorrow, perhaps there is a way to kindle the sun again.
After all. .
. "
The giant clan-chief hesitated, did not finish, and instead sent him down from the Dawn Ark. The ship, an unimaginable creation of the gods, began slowly to rise and walk toward the Star Sea.
The sun set behind the mountains; its slanting light shone upon the ancient ship as it moved gradually into the distance. The black sun in the sky shrank as it went.