Part 4 (1/2)
The initial reaction on board theGromsketter to the sudden eruption of the gilled, beleafed, brown-and-green homunculus directly in front of Ehomba was one of confusion and alarm. His sleep disturbed, Ahlitah stirred reluctantly to wakefulness. Simna and Hunkapa Aub rushed to the railing, and it was the swordsman who broke out into a broad grin and hastened to rea.s.sure the crew.
”It's all right! I told you my friend was a wizard. See what he has summoned up out of the sea.”
”It didn't look like he called anything up,” declared one of the crew from his position in the rigging just above the helm deck. ”It looked like they were starting to back clear of the weed and the malformed thing just arose in front of them.”
Simna threw the sailor a look of transient anger, then smiled anew at the uncertain Stanager. ”No, Etjole called it forth. You'll see. Everyone will see.” He returned his attention to the patch of drifting weed where the confrontation was taking place.
I hope,he thought uneasily.
Out on the open water, observing that his lanky pa.s.senger had not lost his, Terious regained his composure. ”Awhat man?”
Not taking his eyes from the inquisitive dark green humanoid shape that now bobbed effortlessly in front of them, Ehomba endeavored to explain. ”Sarga.s.sum man. They dwell in the mats of seaweed that float on the surface of all the oceans of the world. I have never seen one before, but they were described to me in stories told by the old people of my village.” Glancing back over a shoulder, he regarded the astonished mate curiously.
”Did you not know, Terious, that the world is home to many kinds of men? There are hu-mans, like you and I, and sarga.s.sum men, like this fellow here. There are cavemen, and neander men, treemen and sandmen, and many other kinds of men not often encountered but as comfortable in this world as you or I.”.
The mate shook his head slowly. ”I have never heard of or seen any of the kinds of men you speak of, sir.”
”Ah well. It may be that living in such a poor, dry land as the Naumkib do, we learn to see things a little more clearly than other peoples. Perhaps it is because there is so little around for us to look at.” Turning back to the leafy humanoid shape that waited patiently in the midst of the ma.s.s of weed, Ehomba pursed his lips in an odd way and made sputtering noises. To Terious they sounded like the gurgling a child makes when it blows bubbles underwater. After all that he had witnessed during the last several days, the mate was not at all surprised when the outlandish sea creature responded in kind.
”Good day to you, sarga.s.sum man.” Ehomba hoped he was remembering to make the sounds exactly the way his grandfather had instructed him.
In this he must have been successful, because the green-skinned being replied in kind. ”h.e.l.lo, landsman.
You are an interesting color.”
”I am not green, if that is what you mean.” When Ehomba smiled, the sarga.s.sum man made a perfect round O with his lipless mouth. Tongue and gullet were entirely black. ”I did not expect to find one of your kind here-but I had hope.”
”'One'?” Lifting a supple, tubular arm that was fringed with kelp-like protrusions, the humanoid made a sweeping gesture. ”My entire family is here; my wife and three children, and my uncle and his wife and two children, and an elderly cousin.”
Strain his eyes as he might while surveying the surrounding floating weed, Ehomba could see nothing.
”They must be far away.”
A burbling noise rose from the depths of the sarga.s.sum man's throat. It reminded the herdsman of the sound a badly clogged drain might make. ”They are right here.” Turning slightly to his left, he pointed.
Not off into the distance, but down.
Two sarga.s.sum children popped their heads out of the water not an arm's length from the boat, giggling like gargling eight-year-olds. They so startled Terious that for the second time he momentarily lost his grip on the oars. Watery laughter trailing behind, the effervescent pair ducked back beneath the weed mat.
Though they were blowing bubbles less than a foot below the surface, their natural camouflage made them impossible to see even when Ehomba looked directly at them.
”We like this place,” the adult was saying. ”It is always calm here. The winds are mild and no landsmen s.h.i.+ps with hooks and nets visit the valley.” His expression, insofar as it was possible to do so, darkened.
”No sharks, either. And this weed patch is thick and healthy and full of good things to eat.”
”What do you find to eat in the weed?” The sun was still high, the languorous afternoon warm, and Ehomba was not above making casual conversation. Who knew when the chance to do so with another of these people might arise? Stuffed full of questions as always, he was reluctant to bring up the reason for his coming lest it cut the conversation short.
”The same sort of things a landsman would find in his garden. The weed itself is very tasty, and despite how uniform it appears to most landsmen, there are actually many different kinds of weed. Each has its own spice and flavor. Living in the weed are millions of little creatures; shrimp and small fish, and the larger fish that prey upon the smaller. There are comb jellies and moon jellies in many flavors, seahorses that crunch when you bite into them, and sh.e.l.lfish that have to be sucked out of their homes and down your throat. Oh, there is plenty to eat.” Pus.h.i.+ng a leafy hand down through the dense mat of green stuff and into the water, he drew forth a juvenile octopus.
”No thank you,” Ehomba told him politely.
”What's he doing?” The first mate tried to see around Ehomba. ”What are you two talking about?”
The herdsman glanced back. ”Food.”
”Oh.” Terious was not displeased. He quite liked octopus himself. ”What does he say about getting us out of here?”
”I am coming to that.” With a reluctant sigh, Ehomba remembered that he was not here to discuss the delights of sarga.s.sum living, and that on the larger boat behind him waited anxious others silently watching who were depending on him to extricate them from what had become an inopportune situation.
”We think your valley is beautiful,” he told the humanoid, ”and we would like to stay and visit, but we have business to attend to on the other side of the ocean.”
”Landsmen spend too much time attending to business and not enough time living. If you spent more time in the sea you would be happier.”
”I could not agree with you more,” Ehomba replied. ”However, I am a herder of cattle and sheep, and they do not do as well in the ocean as jellyfish and clams.”
”I fathom.” The sarga.s.sum man popped something small and blue into his mouth.
”There is a problem with our leaving. Our s.h.i.+p cannot sail up the walls of your valley. There is not enough wind to make her go fast enough. Not even if we sailed in circles until we got going as fast as we can and then tried. We need help.”
The humanoid nodded gravely. What strange thoughts must lie behind those impenetrable black eyes?
the herdsman wondered. What sights must they have seen? To someone like himself who so loved the sea, the temptation to wish oneself a similar life was almost irresistible. Not all wishes in life, he reminded himself, could be fulfilled. He knew that despite his yearning, his desire to spend time at sea would have to restrict itself to long swims from sh.o.r.e and endless walks on the beach below the village. Perhaps, he mused, the sarga.s.sum man longs to walk on dry lands.
”We can do nothing.” The sympathetic humanoid spread leafy arms wide. ”Wecould pull your s.h.i.+p out of the valley, but it would take a thousand sarga.s.sum men, and there are not that many dwelling within many weeks' journey of this place. Most live farther to the south, where the water is warmer and the seaweed beds more extensive.”
”Then there is nothing you can do for us?” Though disappointed, Ehomba was not surprised.
”Nothing. Nothing by ourselves.” The humanoid pressed four kelp-like, nailless fingers to his forehead.
”Others might well do better.”
”Dolphins?” The herdsman's hopes rose. ”There are dolphins in the area? I can tell them myself what it is that we need.”
”No. No dolphins here. They like clear, open water where they can swim fast and breathe easy. None of their greater cousins are around, either. It is too bad. A few of them could easily pull your boat to safety. But I think I know someone who might be able to help you. This is not a certain thing, landsman.
But I like you. You come to learn and not to lecture, without hook or net or line, and, unlike most of your kind, you have learned how to look into the water and see something besides food. I will do what I can.”
He started to sink back beneath the weed-choked surface.
”Wait!” Ehomba burbled. ”When will we know if you can help?”
With only his head remaining above water, the sarga.s.sum man gurgled a reply. ”When the king comes to you. If he is willing.”
Then he was gone.
Leaning over the prow of the longboat, the herdsman peered down into the water. There was a lot of life to see less than a few feet from his nose: tiny crustaceans crawling through the gently bobbing mat, the flash of falling sunlight off the silver sides of small fish, the fine patterns of jellyfish drifting near the surface like abandoned, sodden doilies of fine lace. But no sarga.s.sum man. He was gone. Or at least it appeared that he was gone. Like his offspring, he might well be lingering only a few feet away, laughing silently at the blind landsman who had eyes but could not see.
”Take us back to the s.h.i.+p.” Ehomba turned away from the water and sat himself down. His back ached from leaning so long over the prow.