Kleph rocked back and forth uncomfortably. “The port—these tunnels are not complete, nor shored properly all the way, and your— hhhunhh—size will not make the passage easy. But at this hour, honest folk will be abed, and no human mercenary would be down here; they fear such places.”
“Then take me to the port.” Aiela gathered his stiffening legs under him, straightening as much as he could in this lowceilinged chamber. Kleph scrambled up with much more agility and Aiela snatched at his collar, for it occurred to him Kleph could run away and leave him to die in these tunnels, lost in a dark maze of windings and pitfalls. He knew of a certainty that he could not best the creature in a fight or hold him if he were determined, but he intended to make it clear Kleph would have to harm him to avoid obeying him.
“You recovered my gun,” Aiela said. “Give it back.”
Kleph did not like it. He bubbled and boomed in his throat and twisted about unhappily, but he extracted the weapon from his belly-pocket and surrendered it. Aiela holstered it without letting go Kleph’s collar, and then pushed at the little fellow to start him moving. They came to tunnel after tunnel and Kleph chose his way without hesitation.
Light burst suddenly like a sun exploding, heat hit their faces, and the stench of ozone mingled with the flood of outside air. A shadow of manlike shape dropped from above into their red-hazed vision, and Aiela hauled back on Kleph to flee. But the pain of the idoikkheparalyzed his arm and he collapsed to his knees, while beside him on his face Kleph groveled and gibbered in terror, his saucer eyes surely agony, for the amaut could scarcely bear noon daylight, let alone this.
“Aiela,” said a chill, familiar voice, and the idoikkhe’stouch was gentle now, a mere signature: Ashakh.
Aiela expelled his breath in one quick sob of relief and picked himself up to face the iduve, who stood amid the rubble of the tunnel and in the beam of light from the street above.
What of the amaut?asked the pulses of the idoikkhe. Will you be rid of him?
“No,” Aiela said quickly.
A response in which I find no wisdom,Ashakh replied. But he put the small hand weapon back in his belt and looked down on the amaut, coming closer. “Get up.”
Kleph obeyed, crouching low and bowing and bobbing in extreme agitation. The light at his wrist swung wildly, throwing hideous shadows, leaping up and down the rough walls. Ashakh was a darkness, dusky of complexion and clad in black, but his eyes cast an uncanny mirror-light of dim rose hue, damped when he moved his head.
This person was aiding you?Ashakh asked.
“If Kleph is right, bnesychGerlach was behind what happened at the port, and Kleph risked a great deal helping me.”
“Indeed,” mused Ashakh aloud. “Do you believe this?”
“I have reason to.”
As you have reason for letting this amaut live? I fail to understand the purpose of it.
“Kleph knows Weissmouth,” said Aiela, “and he will be willing to help us. Please,” he added, sweating, for the look on Ashakh’s grim face betokened a man in a hurry, and the iduve understood nothing of gratitude. He misliked being advocate for Kleph, but it was better than allowing the little fellow to be killed.
Chimele values your judgment; I do not agree with it.
But Ashakh said no more of killing Kleph, and Aiela understood the implication: it was on his shoulders, and vaikkawas his to pay if his judgment proved wrong.
“Yes, sir,” said Aiela. “What shall we do?”
“Have you a suggestion?”
“Get a ship and get the others out of Tejef’s hands.”
Ashakh frowned. “And have you a means to accomplish this?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, we shall go to the port, and this person will guide us.” Ashakh fixed the trembling amaut with a direct stare and Kleph scurried to get past him and take the lead. The tall iduve must bend to follow as they pursued their way through the winding passages.
“Do they know—does the Orithain know,” Aiela asked, “what happened?”
We had a full account from Tesyel, who commands the base ship.And then in un-Ashakh fashion, the iduve volunteered further conversation. Chimele sent me to find you. I was puzzled at first by the direction of the signal, but remembering the amaut’s subterranean habits I resolved the matter—not without giving any persons trying to track us a sure indication of the direction of our flight. We had best make all possible haste. And I still mislike this small furtive person, Aiela-kameth.
“I can only decide as a kallia, sir.”
Honor to your self-perception. What are your reasons for mistrusting Gerlach?
12
The touch of Rakhi’s mind came softly, most softly. It had hurt before, and Chaikhe accepted it cautiously, her nape hairs bristling at the male presence. She fought to subdue the rage that beat along her veins, and she felt Rakhi himself struggling against a very natural revulsion, for chanokhiaforbade intimacy with a katasathe.She was for gift-giving and for honor, not for touching.
And there was his own distinctive harachia,a humorous, subdued presence. His arastiethesuffered terribly at close range, much more than hers did, for although folk judged Rakhi scandalously careless of his reputation, he was not really a person of kutikkaseand his sense of chanokhiawas keen in some regards. He cared most intensely what others thought of him, and found even the disapproval of a nas kame painful; but where others bristled and had recourse to the idoikkheior engaged in petty vaikka,Rakhi laughed and turned inward. It was the shield of a nature as solitary in its own way as Ashakh’s, and of a man of surprising intelligence. Even Chimele scarcely understood how much Rakhi dreaded to be known, how much he loathed to be touched and to touch; but Chaikhe felt these things, and kept her distance.
“ Nasith,” Rakhi voiced. He used this means, although other communication was swifter and carried sensory images as well; but this let him keep the essence of himself in reserve. “ Nasith,Chimele is with me. She asks your state of health.”
“I am quite well, nasith-toj.”
“She advises you that Ashakh is presently attempting to recover the kameth Aiela. He has not communicated with you?”
“ Nasith,I certainly would not have thought of violating Chimele’s direct order in this regard. No, nor would I accept it if he contacted me.”
But you areiq -sra through both lines,he thought, and Ashakh does as Ashakh pleases when he likes his orders as little as he likes the one that separated you. We shall have him to deal with sooner or later.“Contact bnesychGerlach and re-establish communications with the amaut authorities. Under no circumstance admit humans within your security. They do not know us, and they have a great m’melakhia,tempered with very little judgment of reality, as witness their actions against Khasif and Mejakh. They also have a certain tendency toward arrhei-akita,which makes vaikkaupon the few no guarantee that the example will deter others. Many of their actions arise from logical processes based on biological facts we do not yet understand, or else from their ignorance of us. Remember Khasif and use appropriate discretion.”
“I will bear this in mind.”
“ Ashanomehas suffered vaikkaat the hands of someone in Weissmouth in the matter of Khasif. Chimele puts the entire business into your capable hands, nasith-tak.Whatever the fate of Priamos as a whole, this vaikkamust be paid. Look to it, for we have been disadvantaged under the witness of both Mijanotheand Tashavodh.”