The Grand Ellipse Part 37

Morning crawled toward noon, and she saw a party of six Blessed Tribesmen keeping pace with the boat. One of the copper-skinned figures looked familiar, and for a moment she thought she recognized the face and form of the erstwhile stoker Oonuvu, but the light was low, the tribesmen some yards distant, and she only caught a fleeting glimpse. Then the forest swallowed them and she was left to wonder.

Half an hour later the quality of the flutes changed, a.s.suming a new urgency, and for the first time the voices of the Blessed Tribesmen could be heard, uplifted in high-pitched, wolfish yelps. Soon a strong new voice rose to challenge the Ygahri chorus. Luzelle's eyes swung to the bridge, where Roupe Jhiv-Huze stood bellowing out the Kyrendtish national anthem. The captain's head was thrown back, his tattooed face alight with exultation. When he had roared through the anthem twice, his aggressive baritone eclipsing the Ygahri yelps, he switched over to a Kyrendtish drinking song, and after that belted out an obscene Nidroonish jingle. Quavering, uncanny ululation answered from the forest.

Throughout the morning the Blind Cripple Blind Cripple had traveled one of the skinniest and crookedest of the Ta'ahri Capillaries. Now she rounded the sharpest bend along that constricted channel, a tight bend defining the contour of a narrow projecting finger of forest, and Roupe Jhiv-Huze never faltered, but steered his craft full speed ahead, with fire in his eye and a loud song on his lips. had traveled one of the skinniest and crookedest of the Ta'ahri Capillaries. Now she rounded the sharpest bend along that constricted channel, a tight bend defining the contour of a narrow projecting finger of forest, and Roupe Jhiv-Huze never faltered, but steered his craft full speed ahead, with fire in his eye and a loud song on his lips.

As the Blind Cripple Blind Cripple cleared the tip of the forested spit, Luzelle saw for the first time that the channel on the far side was blocked. Three great fallen trees, their trunks marked with recent ax strokes, lay spanning the water from bank to bank. Along this makes.h.i.+ft bridge prowled Blessed Tribesmen armed with blowguns. Before the barrier waited the commercial steamer cleared the tip of the forested spit, Luzelle saw for the first time that the channel on the far side was blocked. Three great fallen trees, their trunks marked with recent ax strokes, lay spanning the water from bank to bank. Along this makes.h.i.+ft bridge prowled Blessed Tribesmen armed with blowguns. Before the barrier waited the commercial steamer Water Sprite Water Sprite, her deck dotted with pa.s.sengers.

Jhiv-Huze's song cut off and he twisted the wheel hard, but the boat had scarcely begun to alter course before one of the natives patrolling the starboard sh.o.r.e-an agile young figure clearly recognizable as the former crewman Oonuvu-lifted a blowgun to his lips and launched a tiny feathered shaft. The dart flew straight and true to bury itself in the captain's throat. Jhiv-Huze gurgled and fell. Oonuvu watched expressionlessly. The Blind Cripple Blind Cripple rushed on toward the trapped rushed on toward the trapped Water Sprite Water Sprite, whose pa.s.sengers shrieked and scattered.

Luzelle stood staring for an eternal paralyzed instant, then unfroze and sprinted for the ladder to the bridge. Instinct bade her seize the wheel, much as she might have grabbed the reins from the stricken driver of a runaway carriage. If she had stopped to think, she would have known that instinct played her false, for there could be no turning the steamboat in the time and s.p.a.ce available. She was up the ladder in a flash, checked briefly at the top by the sight of Roupe Jhiv-Huze's wide-open sightless gaze, and then she was running for the wheel. Before she reached it, the violent impact of the Blind Cripple Blind Cripple's bow ramming the Water Sprite Water Sprite's port quarter threw her to her knees. She was back on her feet at once, watching in fascinated horror as some half-dozen luckless pa.s.sengers slid through a gap in the Water Sprite Water Sprite's shattered railing to plunge headlong into the waters of the Ta'ahri Capillaries.

Ropes and a lone life preserver flew from the deck of the packet, and three of the fallen pa.s.sengers were quickly lifted to safety. The remaining three were less fortunate.

A great uneasiness seized the channel. The waters trembled, frothed, and seemed to boil. A gorgeous iridescence blanketed the surface, a wondrous changeable blend of a hundred jewel colors, radiant even in the shade of the jungle canopy. Luzelle watched and marveled, momentarily uncomprehending.

The iridescence engulfed the three men in the water, all of whom began to thrash and scream. A curious vibration rose to envelop the shrieks. The amorphous jeweled colors resolved into countless polished wings beating too fast for the eye to follow, and whirring as they moved.

Beetles, Luzelle realized. A vast swarm or school of aquatic beetles.

The bare flesh of the fallen pa.s.sengers was encrusted with gleaming insect forms. The faces were obscured and unrecognizable, but Luzelle glimpsed a voluminously cut maroon s.h.i.+rt that she knew. A gap appeared in its owner's polished polychrome mask and a scream emerged, to choke off abruptly as a stream of beetles flowed into the open mouth. The man in the water clawed wildly at his own face, briefly clearing an expanse of b.l.o.o.d.y flesh. The savaged features of Porb Jil Liskjil were visible for an instant before the beetles returned to their voracious work. Another moment and Jil Liskjil, his struggles already diminis.h.i.+ng, sank out of sight beneath the water. His two fellow victims soon followed. For several minutes the water in that spot seethed and roiled, while the insectile iridescence ebbed and flowed in glowing tides, but at last the feast concluded, and the beetle horde flowed away.

Luzelle became aware that she was clinging to the useless helm. Her head swam and her stomach churned. She took a few deep breaths, and the qualm subsided. She heard a footstep behind her and turned her head to look at Girays.

"Porb Jil Liskjil," she said dully.

"I know. I saw."

"There were two others in the water with him. I couldn't see them. Karsler-"

"Wasn't there. Depend on it."

"And Jhiv-Huze. Oonuvu shot him."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Are you all right?"

"Yes. You?"

"Yes."

"What happens now?" She looked around her. The Blind Cripple Blind Cripple and the and the Water Sprite Water Sprite were firmly engaged and fully immobilized. Neither seemed to be taking on water, but the pa.s.sengers aboard each were stranded, or perhaps imprisoned. Unlike the were firmly engaged and fully immobilized. Neither seemed to be taking on water, but the pa.s.sengers aboard each were stranded, or perhaps imprisoned. Unlike the Blind Cripple Blind Cripple, the Water Sprite Water Sprite carried a lifeboat capable of ferrying successive groups of pa.s.sengers and crew to sh.o.r.e. But the Blessed Tribesmen with their blowguns stalked the barrier blocking the channel, dozens more patrolled the banks, and Ygahri intentions as yet remained unclear. Even now one of the officers stood at the bow of the packet, calling down in dialect to the tribesmen below, but the natives appeared deaf. carried a lifeboat capable of ferrying successive groups of pa.s.sengers and crew to sh.o.r.e. But the Blessed Tribesmen with their blowguns stalked the barrier blocking the channel, dozens more patrolled the banks, and Ygahri intentions as yet remained unclear. Even now one of the officers stood at the bow of the packet, calling down in dialect to the tribesmen below, but the natives appeared deaf.

"We wait, I believe," Girays told her. "For now, there's nothing else."

But they did not have to wait for long.

Presently a muttering of Ygahri voices rose from below as a sizable raft came alongside. A grappling hook caught the Blind Cripple Blind Cripple's railing, and four nearly naked figures swarmed up the rope and onto the main deck. The smallest and youngest of the newcomers glanced up at the bridge, and Luzelle looked into the eyes of Oonuvu. A blowgun hung on a leather thong suspended about his neck. A leather band encircling his waist supported a tiny quiver full of darts, a broad-bladed knife, and a stout short-handled ax. His companions were similarly armed.

Luzelle thought of the Khrennisov FK6 lying at the bottom of her carpetbag on the floor in the main cabin. It might just as well be lying at the bottom of the sea.

The Ygahri quartet ascended to the bridge, and Luzelle resisted the impulse to back away. Jaw clenched, she stood still. Girays, standing beside her, slid a protective arm around her shoulders. Six years earlier she might have resented the presumption, but now she welcomed the rea.s.suring contact.

Gliding forward to the fallen captain's side, Oonuvu stooped and plucked his dart from the corpse's neck. He wiped the point clean, returned the dart to his quiver, and stood up. For a moment he eyed his victim without a flicker of expression, then lifted his loincloth and carefully urinated into Jhiv-Huze's face.

Luzelle could not suppress a gasp, and Oonuvu's eyes turned to her. He whispered in Ygahri and smiled. She felt Girays's hand tighten on her shoulder. Lifting her chin a fraction, she met the obsidian gaze.

An incomprehensible colloquy among the four natives followed. Oonuvu jabbered insistently and his senior colleagues responded without enthusiasm. At length there was a nodding of heads suggestive of general accord, whereupon Oonuvu turned to his Vonahrish audience and gestured curtly toward the ladder. His meaning was clear. They were to descend.

Luzelle glanced at Girays. His bare shoulders sketched a shrug. The two of them climbed down to the main deck, and the Ygahris followed. One of the natives stepped to the railing, grasped the rope, swung himself over the side, and descended to the waiting raft. Oonuvu gestured. Again his meaning was clear. They were to follow.

"What do you want with us, Oonuvu?" Girays asked quietly.

No reply, no sign of comprehension.

"You understand me, I think," Girays persisted.

Silence. Oonuvu gestured again. When the objects of his attention failed to respond, he drew a dart from his quiver and slid it into the blowgun. The two prisoners, as they now perceived themselves to be, moved reluctantly to the rail.

Luzelle looked down. The distance to the raft was not great, and the rope was knotted at regular intervals. Descent appeared neither dangerous nor difficult. And then?

She hesitated and heard Girays say in a low tone, "I'll go before you. If you slip, I'll be there." Cla.s.sic formerly-Exalted gallantry, and once again she found herself appreciating it, paternalism and all. Without awaiting reply he grasped the rope, swung himself over the rail, and descended ably. An alien hand pressing the small of her back urged her on, and she followed Girays. The Bizaqhi divided skirt simplified matters. She climbed down easily, sliding from knot to knot until her feet hit the logs of the roughly constructed Ygahri raft. Oonuvu and his companions came after. The flick of a tattooed wrist sent a wave along the rope, and the grappling hook tumbled from the rail. One of the tribesmen took up a great staff and poled for the sh.o.r.e.

Luzelle's eyes rose to the Water Sprite Water Sprite, whose crew and pa.s.sengers cl.u.s.tered at the stern. They were watching intently, doubtless alarmed and mystified as she. It crossed her mind then that she and Girays might leap from the raft to swim for the packet, there to find sanctuary and relative safety in numbers. Then she thought of Porb Jil Liskjil and his armor plating of beetles in the water, and the impulse died.

The raft b.u.mped land, and the natives herded their captives ash.o.r.e. A gap in the undergrowth offered access to a narrow trail leading off into the forest. The tribesmen made for the gap and Luzelle balked. Oonuvu drew his knife, and her feet began to move again. She cast one longing glance back over her shoulder at the stationary Water Sprite Water Sprite, then the river was gone and the jungle was all around her.

They walked in single file, Ygahris at the front and rear, Vonahrish prisoners sandwiched in between. Lush high greenery enclosed the trail, crowding in so hard and close that Luzelle could not avoid brus.h.i.+ng gigantic, saw-edged leaves as she pa.s.sed. Each time she touched one, the clinging water spattered off in showers and soon she was dampened from head to foot. But the native tribesmen somehow managed to advance without dislodging a single drop, and without ever stumbling over the innumerable creepers and exposed roots snaking across their path. The dark soil underfoot was soft with moss and perennially moist. The air smelled of astringent leaves and excessively sweet flowers, exotic fungi and water sc.u.m, burgeoning life and decay. They marched for an hour and a half or more along the trail, and a new odor weighted the dense atmosphere-smoke. Cooking fires? On they went, the smoke scent sharpening in their nostrils, until the trail abruptly concluded and the world expanded around them.

They had come to a clearing containing a collection of frame huts with walls of woven branches and thatching of palm leaves. The corner posts of each hut were carved and painted in a style familiar to Luzelle, who had seen such posts supporting the dwellings of the Bhomiri Islanders. An emblem of serpentine intertwining human spinal columns crowned the entrance to the largest hut. A somewhat similar emblem decorated the lodge of the tl'gh-tiz tl'gh-tiz of the Bhomiri-D'tals. Had she accepted the position of junior wife number thirteen, she would have been expected to wash and polish the bones every day. At the center of the clearing yawned a great fire pit. An immense iron spit rested upon twin cleft posts above the pit. The cannibalistic Bhomiri-D'tals possessed and greatly prized just such a spit. of the Bhomiri-D'tals. Had she accepted the position of junior wife number thirteen, she would have been expected to wash and polish the bones every day. At the center of the clearing yawned a great fire pit. An immense iron spit rested upon twin cleft posts above the pit. The cannibalistic Bhomiri-D'tals possessed and greatly prized just such a spit.

A number of women and girl-children sat before their huts, grating edible roots or pounding out fibrous stalks on flat stones. Small naked boys romped and wrestled about the fire pit. There were not many men in evidence, and the few present were bent and wrinkled with age. Probably most of the younger ones were off gloating over the trapped Water Sprite. Water Sprite.

As the four Ygahris and the two foreigners walked into the clearing, the attention of the residents instantly focused. The children came racing for a closer look, followed at a more dignified pace by their elders. Within seconds the new arrivals were heavily surrounded.

The tattooed faces revealed nothing. The slanting black eyes were opaque. Even the children were unfathomable, Luzelle decided. Well, perhaps not entirely. Some of the youngest ones projected a certain pleased excitement, together with a curiosity that seemed to fasten with particular intensity upon her red-gold curls. Probably they had never seen a western woman before. More than one small copper hand reached out to touch her, and Oonuvu, who walked too close upon her heels, slapped the straying hands aside with a proprietary air that boded ill.

Straight across the clearing they marched to the dwelling marked with the spinal emblem, where they ranged themselves before the doorway, foreigners flanked by natives. One of the Blessed Tribesmen called out something that might have been a name or a t.i.tle. A moment later a grizzled Ygahri of middle years emerged from the hut. Like the others of his tribe, both male and female, he wore no clothing beyond an abbreviated loincloth of woven fiber cloth. His body was heavily adorned with tattoos and raised scars, his hair elaborately braided and beaded, and he wore a large medallion of carven onyx that might or might not have indicated rank. A certain air of lofty dignity suggested high status.

A hush fell over the gathering. The headman spoke, his voice rising interrogatively. The largest member of Oonuvu's party, presumably its leader, stepped forward and performed a gesture that lifted Luzelle's eyebrows, for she recognized the hand-over-heart inclination of the head with which the Bhomiri-D'tals were wont to express respect.

The Blessed Tribesman spoke at some length. His words were unintelligible, but sometimes he pointed off in the direction of the river, sometimes his gestures encompa.s.sed the Vonahrish captives, and once or twice the twitch of a thumb seemed to single Oonuvu out for special recognition. Clearly a report or explanation was being offered.

The headman addressed Oonuvu, who responded with a spate of rapid commentary. His head was high and his chest swelled victoriously as he spoke. At the close of his oration he lifted a strand of Luzelle's streaming hair and laid his free hand on his groin. Releasing the hair, he jerked his head at Girays, then turned and pointed across the clearing at the great iron spit spanning the fire pit.

Not a muscle in Girays's face moved, but Luzelle stood close beside him and saw that he had gone white under his tan. She noted the headman's att.i.tude of grave deliberation, and her own flesh went cold. She glanced down and saw that her hands were shaking shamefully, which she could not allow because she intended to emulate Girays, who scorned to display fear before these people. She wondered what to do about her hands, and the answer was unexpectedly clear in her mind.

Stepping forward, she pressed her right palm firmly to her heart and bowed her head in the Bhomiri-D'tal gesture of respect that seemed to serve a corresponding function among the Blessed Tribesmen. The headman studied her inscrutably. Oonuvu grasped her arm and yanked peremptorily. Girays immediately leveled a blow that sent the Ygahri boy sprawling. Oonuvu bounded to his feet, knife in hand and white teeth bared.

A sharp hiss from the headman halted the fight. He spoke, and Oonuvu reluctantly sheathed his knife.

Luzelle repeated the gesture of respect, recapturing the headman's attention. Looking straight into his eyes, she spread her empty hands, palms upturned, touched the fingertips of both hands to her heart, her lips, and her forehead, then ceremoniously allowed her hands to sink back to her sides. She could only hope that this ancient salute, imbued with an almost sacred force among the Bhomiri D'tals, possessed some similar significance among the Ygahris, but it was impossible to judge, for the headman's face was utterly expressionless. Perhaps he had no idea what she was doing, perhaps he took her for a madwoman given to senseless gesticulation. He was staring at her, and so was everyone else present, but the faces and eyes communicated nothing.

She repeated the salute, and this time spoke the time-honored phrase that always accompanied the gestures. The Bhomiri words could mean nothing to the Blessed Tribesmen, but they were traditional, and she could not omit them.

"I am a stranger come in friends.h.i.+p," Luzelle intoned, stumbling only slightly over the spiky Bhomiri syllables. "In the name of the G.o.ds and by Their will, I claim your hospitality."

Still no reaction from the headman, only blank-faced silence, but a low muttering simmered among the observers, and her hands, which had steadied briefly, recommenced trembling. She clasped them firmly and waited with an appearance of composure, her eyes fixed on the headman's face.

For an endless interval he studied her, and impa.s.sive though he was, she thought to glimpse something like astonishment in his eyes. At last he uttered some command that sent one of the women hurrying across the clearing to a hut whose ornate corner posts were studded with human and animal skulls painted with geometric designs in red and ocher. The messenger disappeared into the hut, then emerged moments later followed by a trio of white-haired shamans tattooed head to foot in red and ocher, masked in snakeskin, and crowned with towering headdresses built of human ribs.

The crowd parted deferentially, and the shamans advanced to take their place beside the headman, who pressed a hand to his heart and bowed his head in respect. Three sets of black eyes scrutinized Luzelle through the apertures in the snake-skin masks. One of the shamans addressed her and she could not understand the words, but guessed their purport.

Slowly and deliberately she performed the ancient gestures, and spoke aloud the ritual Bhomiri formula. "I am a stranger come in friends.h.i.+p. In the name of the G.o.ds and by Their will, I claim your hospitality."

The three shamans whispered among themselves, then one said something to her. This time she had no idea at all what was meant or required, and she let her incomprehension show on her face. They whispered again, and one of them spoke up haltingly in Bhomiri dialect. His accent and p.r.o.nunciation differed considerably from those of the island folk, yet the words were intelligible enough as he asked, "How do you know the Old Tongue?"

She stiffened, momentarily doubting her own senses. But there had been no mistake, the fantastic figure before her had uttered Bhomiri syllables. Concealing her astonishment, she replied in her own laborious version of the language, "I am friend of the People who talk this tongue all days."

"What people?"

Luzelle frowned. The Bhomiri-D'tals' name for themselves simply translated as "the People," by which t.i.tle they distinguished themselves from the various extratribal biped beasts and demons, deceptively humanoid in appearance but devoid of soul and therefore less than true men. But an answer was essential, and she essayed, "They are masters of great islands in the salt sea, far beyond the forests, in the west."

"How do they know the Old Tongue?"

"Some say their fathers' fathers set forth from the Forests of Oorex on rafts to follow the great River Ygah south to the salt sea." Luzelle shrugged. "Or else it may be that the G.o.ds taught them."

"They speak with the G.o.ds?"

"Their wise men are like the dutiful sons of the G.o.ds."

"Their wise men teach you the will of the G.o.ds?"

"Yes. They teach that the G.o.ds punish those who break the sacred law of hospitality."

The shamans conferred briefly in their own dialect, then one of the masked figures observed, "This man with you does not claim hospitality."

"I claim for him. I have that right, I am his senior wife number one."

"This man permits his wife to speak for him?"

"This day he must. He speaks many tongues, but knows not the Old Tongue."

"What do you seek of the Blessed?"

"We ask the Blessed to help us on through the forests toward Jumo Towne. We must run fast."

Following another whispered consultation with his confreres, one of the shamans spoke aloud and at some length in Ygahri. He addressed the headman, but his words were audible to all. Presumably he furnished explanation, but before he had finished speaking, Oonuvu raised an angry voice. The shaman listened, then informed Luzelle in Bhomiri, "The young Oonuvu, who is now a man, claims owners.h.i.+p of the two captives. He reminds us that they are property, unable to claim hospitality."

"This is not so." Luzelle contrived to appear mildly taken aback at the egregious unsoundness of the other's reasoning. "If we are prisoners, there is no justice. We do not war with the Blessed Tribesmen, we are not enemies. We are not thieves, or murderers, or defilers of sacred things. We are peaceful travelers and we claim your hospitality in the name of the G.o.ds."

Oonuvu spoke again, and the shaman translated, "It is said that you are friends of our foes, the grey Grewzians."

"This is not so." Luzelle shook her head firmly. "The grey Grewzians are enemies of our tribe, enemies of all tribes."

The black eyes appraised her at length, then turned away. The whispering conference resumed. At its conclusion one of the shamans addressed the headman, who nodded once, and then the same masked figure translated for Luzelle, "The truth is unclear. We will ponder. You will wait."

Luzelle wanted to argue and plead, but contained the impulse. Pressing one hand to her heart, she inclined her head. The headman issued an order and a gang of Blessed Tribesmen shepherded the captives across the clearing to an empty hut, pushed them inside, and shut the door.

The interior was dim and smoky. A hole in the roof admitted a little light. The small s.p.a.ce was empty save for a fire-blackened circle of stones at the center and a couple of woven mats spread out on the packed dirt floor.

No sooner had the door closed behind them than Girays turned to her and asked, "What happened? What did you say to them? I thought you didn't speak Ygahri."

"I don't." She related the entire exchange with the shamans, not excluding her claim to the position of senior wife number one, to which he only remarked that it had very nearly been true. She then explained the nature and origin of her ability to converse with the tribal wise men who preserved knowledge of the Old Tongue, obsolete among the Blessed Tribesmen but still current among their distant cousins of the Bhomiri Islands.

Girays listened attentively until she had finished, and then said, "You seem to have some understanding of these people-what are they likely to do with us?"

"Well, if they're like the Bhomiri-D'tals-and they do seem very like, in many ways-and they decide that we have a legitimate right to their hospitality, then they'll do all in their power to help us. They'll spare no effort or resource-if we are their guests."

"And if we aren't?"

She said nothing, and Girays nodded. For a while neither spoke, and during that time the murmur of Ygahri voices penetrating the flimsy walls told them that the hut was surrounded. Luzelle applied her eye to a small gap in one of the walls, and spied the muscular back of one of the armed tribesmen from the Blind Cripple Blind Cripple boarding party standing before the door. Another was stationed nearby. boarding party standing before the door. Another was stationed nearby.

"I don't suppose you have that gun of yours handy?" she asked without s.h.i.+fting her gaze.

"If I did, I'd have used it long ago."

She turned away from the wall. Girays had seated himself on one of the woven mats. She went and sat down beside him.

"Have you any idea how long they'll take?" he asked.

"No."

They looked at each other, and for the second time that day he slid an arm around her shoulders. When he drew her near she did not resist, but let herself relax against him, her head resting on his shoulder, her eyes shut. She felt inappropriately contented and safe. Her fears subsided as if quenched by drugs or sorcery, which was absurd, for the danger was close and real, but somehow did not seem so. She might almost have thought herself happy, and for a moment that happiness blended oddly with a pang of regret for all that might have been.

She lost track of time sitting there so close to him. She had no idea if they waited for minutes or for hours. She did not stir until she heard the door open and felt the influx of fresh air.

Luzelle opened her eyes. The three masked shamans stood before her. One of them bore a pair of identical covered baskets. Extending the baskets, he declared in Bhomiri, "The man will choose."

Luzelle and Girays stood up, and the shaman repeated the command, adding, "The G.o.ds rule his hand."

"What does he say?" Girays asked steadily.

"He wants you to choose one of the baskets," Luzelle answered. "I don't know why."

Girays pointed.