Part 38 (1/2)
”Take it,” the shaman directed.
Luzelle translated, and Girays accepted one of the containers.
”He will draw forth the contents.”
Luzelle relayed the message. Lifting the cover, Girays reached into the basket to remove a fist-sized stone. The polished surface was black as despair, sparked with flecks of an almost incandescent crimson. Girays studied the sinister object for a moment, then politely returned it to its owner.
”The G.o.ds have spoken,” declared the shaman. Turning briefly to face the attentive Blessed Tribesmen gathered outside the hut, he held the stone aloft and spoke Ygahri in a carrying voice, then informed his Vonahrish listeners, ”Their will is known. You are our guests.”
”Even so.” Luzelle bowed her head gravely. Catching Girays's eye, she mouthed in silence, Guests. Guests.
”Lucky,” he replied aloud. ”And if I'd chosen the other basket?”
The shaman seemed to understand the query. Lifting the cover, he tilted the rejected container a little to display the contents. Coiled at the bottom of the basket lay a bright turquoise snake with a triangular head and emerald markings.
”Wonderful color,” admired Luzelle.
”Isn't it, though?” Girays studied the serpent with interest. ”If I'm not mistaken, that's an uaxhui-quite a rare and remarkable specimen. It's one of the most poisonous creatures known to science. A single drop of its venom can kill a grown man within seconds. There is no known antidote.”
”Oh!” said Luzelle. She backed away.
”Come.” The shaman replaced the basket's cover, hiding the uaxhui from view. ”The G.o.ds favor you, but you do not belong to the forests, you are not meant to be here.” His companions murmured affirmatively. ”We will give you food and speed you on your way.”
”We thank you in the name of the G.o.ds,” Luzelle returned. ”You will guide us back to our boat?”
”No, for we have closed the river pa.s.sages to the vessels of the accursed. The arms of the forest will carry you.”
She had no idea what he meant, but judged it best to conceal her ignorance, and nodded solemnly.
”Come.”
The three masked figures led the way from the hut, through the staring ranks of the Blessed, across the clearing, and into the jungle beyond. Once again the boughs roofed overhead, and the world sank into green shade.
Girays shot her a questioning glance, and Luzelle advised him discreetly, ”They say that the arms of the forest will carry us.”
He did not appear enlightened.
On they went until they came to a small grove of dead trees, still upright, their gaunt trunks and branches wrapped with flouris.h.i.+ng parasitic vines. Here the group paused, and one of the shamans informed Luzelle, ”You stay. We go on.”
”You leave us?” she inquired, confused.
”It is not for eyes unblessed to behold the secrets of the wise.” He placed a sack on the ground before her. ”You are guests, here is food for the journey.”
”Thank you. We go on alone, then.”
”No. Stay. Wait.”
The three shamans melted noiselessly into the jungle, leaving Luzelle and Girays alone among the dead trees.
”We are free, I take it,” Girays observed. ”We'll have to find our own way back to the boats. We could certainly have used a guide, but I suppose we should be thankful. This way, I believe.” He pointed.
”No. Stay. Wait,” she said. His brows rose, and she explained, ”That's what he told me, that's what they want us to do.”
”Why? Wait for what?”
”I don't know.”
”How long?”
”I've no idea.”
”What did they tell you just now?”
”Virtually nothing.”
”We can't wait indefinitely. Do you want to be standing around this place after dark?”
”No, but I believe the wise men have some plan in mind for us. Don't you think we should follow their instructions and wait, for at least a little while?”
”How long? It must be late, the sun will be setting soon, and then what? If we start now, we might still be able to find our way back to the Water Sprite Water Sprite before the light gives out.” before the light gives out.”
”That makes sense, but-”
The sound of native voices uplifted not far away interrupted her. They-presumably the three Blessed shamans-were half chanting, half singing, their tones impossibly high and pure. The sudden eeriness of the sound p.r.i.c.kled the gooseflesh along her forearms and also stirred her memory. She had heard just such chants preceding the ground tremor that had rocked Xoxo's main square, and having heard, she could never forget.
A similar ground tremor here in this place could send the dead trees cras.h.i.+ng down on herself and Girays, but somehow she did not believe that it would happen. She was frightened of the strange force expressing itself through those voices, frightened of a great power that she did not understand, but sensed no malign intent. For a moment she wondered at her own optimism, or trust, then recalled Karsler Stornzof's advice that night in Xoxo: Listen now to your blood and nerves. Listen now to your blood and nerves. She had been doing that, she realized, and her instincts offered rea.s.surance. She had been doing that, she realized, and her instincts offered rea.s.surance.
She glanced at Girays. He was frowning. Their eyes met, and he began, ”We'd better-”
The comment went unfinished, for at that moment the air tingled and the surrounding vegetation awoke. With a loosening and s.h.i.+fting of great serpentine coils, the parasitic vines untwined from the surrounding trees. Long runners snaked down from the dead branches overhead to wrap themselves tenderly about the astounded travelers. Luzelle had only time to grab the sack of provisions before she felt herself raised gently from the ground and lifted high, alarmingly high, and unbelievably higher yet, up above the bare dead branches and higher, up to the level of the leafy spreading boughs of the great live trees. Greenery slapped lightly at her face as she ascended, elastic thin branches whipped her limbs, but they did not hurt her, for the vines that bore her aloft knew how to tilt and guide her around obstacles, knew how to keep her from harm, and the only ill that need presently concern her was the churning seasick protest of a stomach outraged at such irregular locomotion.
She curbed the natural impulse to struggle, for the vines that wound about her body clasped her kindly, yet she felt the vast mindless life force capable of driving roots through inhospitable soil, the relentless slow strength able to break through granite walls. No opposing such power, and potentially suicidal to attempt it at such heights, so she lay quiescent in the close green embrace. Turning her face to the side, she saw Girays, bound like a python's prey in looping coils, rising toward the treetops. She caught a flas.h.i.+ng glimpse of his face, frozen with astonishment, and then the leaves were back in the way blocking her view, and she saw nothing but greenery for a while.
Up, higher yet, through a region of thin young branches supporting cl.u.s.ters of huge glossy leaves extravagantly bathed in light, home to colonies of pygmy marmosets that watched and chittered in wonder as she pa.s.sed. Up higher, and suddenly she burst through the top of the forest canopy into the full glare of the westering sun. She blinked and squinted against the dazzle, but soon her eyes adjusted and she could look out for miles over the treetops, all the way to the vast glinting brown bend of the River Ygah. A warm perfumed wind blew in her face, and she was filled with a kind of awed joy. She wondered if Girays felt the same; she hoped he did.
What happens now?
She felt herself placed gently among branches strong enough to bear her weight. Her vine released its hold and left her there. For a moment terror chilled her, and then she felt the quiver of arcane vitality in the branches. They curved to enfold her, the tree arched its trunk and transferred her delicately to the branches of another tree, which in turn pa.s.sed her painlessly and efficiently on to another.
Presently she heard a rustling of leaves and branches too rhythmic for the wind's work, and an immense vine reared up before her, swaying like a serpent before its charmer. The vine took her from the tree, bore her on for some distance, then relinquished her to the care of some creepers.
Throughout the rest of the afternoon the wakeful vegetation pa.s.sed her on from one plant to another like a parcel. At sunset, however, their energy ebbed. There was only just time for a pair of trees to weave their topmost branches into a shallow, resilient nest and deposit her therein before darkness fell and the plants sank into immobile unconsciousness.
”Girays?” Suddenly afraid, she called out to him, and he answered at once. She peered through the deepening gloom, and spied him leaning out over the edge of a nest similar to her own, no more than a few yards distant. ”Are you all right?”
”Yes. Thirsty, though. Have you still got that sack?”