Part 5 (2/2)

'Great King,' he continued, anxiety rising with each coming gesture. 'I am no longer one with my people, and live without a home. The same is true of the female you saw with me. I would have her as my own, but she is not yet able to protect herself in the wild.....

There is something I would ask of you.' Still the Mantis did not move. There was no putting it off any longer. He would have to ask him now.

'I know why you have gone away,' he began nervously. 'And why you must leave again soon..... The mating of the spiders has reached its middle season, and will not end for many days to come. You and your G.o.d-friends have many battles yet to fight.'

'Why do you speak this lie?' signaled the Mantis angrily.

'Where do the hill-people hear such a thing?'

'My people know nothing of this,' he answered, as calmly as he could. 'And I would never tell them. Your secret is known only to me, and I tell no one. I swear it.'

Skither remained motionless, puzzled by the presence of the strange and knowing child. Utterly intrigued, he searched the back of his mind for the meaning of their encounter.

'What is it then you would ask?'

'Since you are called again to the holy task, your lair will again be left unguarded. I would ask that you allow the three of us to remain here on the mountain, in the smaller cave above your own. Though each of us alone are small, together we could create the illusion that you had not left it.'

'But how, and for what reason do you do this?'

'My friends and I have only a short march of days before the Commodore must sleep, and many other predators follow the herds to the South. If you allow me, I could turn our shared need into shared help.'

'Go on.'

'I have learned in my youth to make a sound like the flutter of your mighty wings. And Akar could descend daily to the gra.s.slands in plain sight, as if your messenger to the wolf packs below.'

'How would you make this sound?' Skither was perplexed, and felt an odd sense of antiquity as he gazed upon the complex and far-reaching intelligence of one so young. And he had not failed to note the subtle differences of his appearance: the knowing eyes, the smoother, more refined features. SO UNLIKE HIS PEOPLE, he thought. AND THE GIRL.

What could it mean? His thoughts were broken off as Kalus answered.

'The sound is made by stretching a skin between two trees, then soaking it with water and leaving it to dry in the sun. When it has tightened between them it is beaten rapidly with club-ended sticks, making a sound like the rhythm of your mighty wings.'

'But how will you use it here, where there are no trees? And why do you think that my enemies will believe it, when the sound comes from only one place?'

'It can be built on a frame,' he answered. 'And moved to different places along the ridge. That way the sound can be sent echoing down the canyon, and seem to come from many places at once.'

Skither looked down at him thoughtfully. His first instincts told him never to trust a man-beast. But these were difficult times. Yielding to the unspoken Tao he consulted the wind, to see what hidden message it might carry.

A cool breeze swirled about him; the valley gra.s.ses swayed with a golden, browning color on the plains below. He felt the seasons changing. But more than that he felt his world changing, yielding slowly to some new order in which he was to play no part. It was not the first time. The feeling had often puzzled (and frightened) him. There could be no denying the double reason for their meeting: the air was charged with it, the mind echo of deja-vu all around it. Searching deep within himself, he felt the autumn of his life full upon him. He felt the world he had known growing old. He felt his own weariness, and again the premonition of impending death..... But what did the Nameless ask of him now? And how would he answer the man-child?

'You have given me much to consider, small one. But this decision must be seasoned with time and careful thought. Now I must rest, as you should well know. Go again to the place where I found you. Do not leave it until I have summoned you with an answer. Do you understand my words?'

'Yes, Monarch. Your kindness will not soon be forgotten.' Feeling relieved but still pensive, Kalus started to leave. An upward thrust of the Mantis' foreclaw stopped him.

'Yes, master?'

'How many summers have you known?

'Twenty-one, master.'

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