Part 17 (2/2)

Siel drove her pick down into the devils, knowing that only by luck would she strike a good blow and avoid being gored herself. The pick handle jarred badly in her hand, but it caught on something, and as she fell back she saw it had lodged point first between one of the creatures' horns. It shrieked and scurried up the tunnel, drunkenly thras.h.i.+ng at the walls and falling into them hard, driving the pick in deeper till the beast finally fell and stopped moving. The remaining ones grabbed another of the newcomer groundmen who'd strayed too close, and tore him to pieces.

In the midst of the carnage there formed what looked like a small ring of fire. From it an infant pit devil the size of a small puppy fell, the flame about it lighting up the tunnel. The groundmen had been backing away, but they rushed forward to kill the infant with their spears while the parents were suddenly caught up in a squabble among themselves.

Siel had heard that the creatures bred this way, that in a killing frenzy new ones would simply appear as though called from another world by screams of pain. She had always thought it was myth, that these creatures bred in the fas.h.i.+on of most other living things.

'Run!' she cried, das.h.i.+ng past the fighting devils and expecting a stray claw to slice through her as she went. The others came. One unfortunate groundman made it through, but a headless stump spurted blood atop its shoulders before it collapsed. The claw had swiped too fast to be seen.

They ran on till Siel was out of breath. The growls and scuffling of claws on stone were far behind them with no indication of pursuit. The groundmen all went on ahead except for one of the freed slaves, who paused with her. 'Hurt?' he said.

'I'm glad one of you stopped,' she gasped. 'What must I do to prove myself a friend? Not enough to set slaves free. Not enough to risk my life fighting for you.'

'You friend,' it a.s.sured her, patting her knee.

'Then why did they leave me here?' she said, tears in her eyes. Even the traitor Kiown had not abandoned the rest of them, even during danger.

'They come back. Scared! Running! Not see you. Don't be sad.'

She got to her feet with a renewed surge of anger at the thing which looked like Eric, for abandoning her here. Then, as though it were summoned by that anger, they were suddenly not alone in the tunnels, and Shadow stood before her.

5.

The groundman squealed in surprise.

'What do you want?' said Siel.

'To go through the window,' he answered. 'But I have to help you first.'

'Help? You brought me here and left me.'

'You asked to be brought,' he said, tilting sideways like a clock's hand.

'Don't do that! Stand straight.'

His lips curved in a smile, the first time she'd seen anything other than blankness on his face. But he did as she asked and righted himself. 'The fellow told me to bring you back. He said to do as you bid. So ... bid.'

Do as I bid? she thought, baffled. Shadow stared and waited. 'You will take me back to Eric and the others?'

'Yes,' said Shadow.

'Eh-Rick?' said the groundman, creeping toward Shadow for a closer look.

'Don't approach him,' she warned it. 'Shadow. Will you bring my friend back too? He has knowledge we need. He's going to show me where Tormentors come from.'

'Is that what you bid?' he said, seeming to enjoy the word.

'Yes. Take us both to the tower again, if you can.'

She recoiled as he rushed forward and took her and the groundman in his arms. She heard it cry out in surprise. Then the world fell away, fast.

6.

Eric went back to the small platform of turf. He sat with his feet in the warm water, fish flitting between them with streaks of light making patterns as though for his personal amus.e.m.e.nt. Just occasionally a sight like this would make him glad he had come to this world to see occasional miracles buried among the horrors. He longed to go back home and tell people some of what he'd seen, whether or not they'd believe him.

With no warning or ceremony, there was Siel at the water's edge, staggering around dizzy and exhausted. She collapsed.

Eric hadn't recovered from his surprise at seeing her again before he was halfway across the water. He had taken Shadow's little eye-trick as refusal to help.

The shape lying beside her he a.s.sumed was a backpack or something, but it rolled across the ground and made a sound like something quite ill. There was no sign of Shadow. 'Siel!' he said, gently shaking her shoulder.

'Let me sleep,' she murmured. She opened an eye, saw him and recoiled.

'It's me,' said Eric. 'Not Shadow.'

When he spoke the word Shadow appeared, moving up from the ground sideways like a fan's blade. His arms hung dead from his sides, on his face was that ghastly imitation of a smile. Eric quickly lifted Siel by the armpits and dragged her into the water, where Shadow claimed he couldn't go. Some strength returned to her legs, enough for her to stand on them.

'Get the small one,' she said. 'He didn't take the journey well.'

'Nor did you,' said Eric, taking the groundman in his arms, finding it weighed more than Siel did.

Shadow watched all this unfold with an air of expectation. 'Now take me to the window,' he said. 'It hurts, that pull. It's worse when I'm close to it. Make the water let me cross.'

'No! Don't let him come inside,' Siel whispered fiercely.

Eric gestured to be quiet. 'I'll go and open the window for you, Shadow. We won't be long. But it's difficult work. Be patient.'

Shadow didn't answer and didn't move as they went through the waves. Siel groaned at the thought of climbing up the tree. 'Go under,' said Eric. 'Are you strong enough to take the midget?'

'No.'

He eyed off the dark s.p.a.ce beneath the tower, where both Loup and Far Gaze had warned him not to go. Beyond the water Shadow was a silhouette tilted sideways. 'I'm not letting him in,' Eric told Siel. He explained his phoney promise to get her rescued. She listened without comment.

He'd have known, even if she had thanked him, that she did not hold him and Shadow very far apart in her mind at all. He knew then that she would never love him, if that had even been possible before. She had not seemed like someone capable of love as he understood it, but the faint hope of it had been sweet. Faint as the hope had been, it was a strangely bitter loss.

Holding the groundman's head carefully above water he paddled through the arch beneath the tower, surprised by the strength of the whirlpool's downward pull. Swimming made pain flare in the wound where a groundman had stabbed him with its spear. There was a deep spot to the staircase's left, one of three visible from the steps by daylight, where water could be seen winding down in a funnel. He let the pull from it take him toward the stairs, fumbling ahead for the steps he couldn't see in the dark. His hand hit something hard. With Siel's help, he lifted the groundman up onto the floor.

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