Выбрать главу

Auk. Real pleased, Chenille."

That was the last thing he could remember. He was lying face down

on a cold, damp surface, aware of pervasive pain and soft footsteps

hastening to inaudibility. He rolled onto his back and sat up, then

discovered that blood from his nose was dribbling down his chin.

"Here, trooper." The voice was unfamiliar, metallic and harshly

resonant. "Use this."

A wad of whitish cloth was pressed into his hand; he held it

gingerly to his face. "Thanks."

From some distance, a woman called, "Is that you?"

"Jugs?"

The tunnel was almost pitch dark to his left, a rectangle of black

relieved by a single remote fleck of green. To his right, something

was on fire--a shed or a big wagon, as well as he could judge.

The unfamiliar voice asked, "Can you stand up, trooper?"

Still pressing the cloth to his face, Auk shook his head.

There was someone nearer the burning structure, whatever it

was: a short stocky figure with one arm in a sling. Others, men with

dark and strangely variegated skins... Auk blinked and looked

again.

They were soldiers, chems that he had sometimes seen in parades.

Here they lay dead, their weapons beside them, eerily lit by the

flames.

A small figure in black materialized from the gloom and gave him

a toothy grin. "_I_ had sped you to the _gods_, my son. I see _they_

sent you back."

Through the cloth, Auk managed to say, "I don't remember

meeting any," then recalled that he had, that Scylla had been their

companion for the better part of two days, and that she had not

been in the least as he had imagined her. He risked removing the

cloth. "Come here, Patera. Have a seat. I got to have a word with you."

"Gladly. _I_ must speak with _you_, as well." The little augur lowered

himself to the shiprock floor. Auk could see the white gleam of his teeth.

"Was that really Scylla?"

"_You_ know better than _I_, my son."

Auk nodded slowly. His head ached, and the pain made it

difficult to think. "Yeah1 only I don't know. Was it her, or just a

devil pretending?"

Incus hesitated, grinning more toothily than ever. "This is rather

difficult to explain."

"I'll listen." Auk groped his waistband for his needler; it was still in

place.

"My son, if a devil were to _personate_ a goddess, it would become

that goddess, in a way."

Auk raised an eyebrow.

"Or that _god_. Pas, let us say, or _Hierax_. It would run a grave risk

of merging into the total god. Or so the science of _theodaimony_

teaches us."

"That's abram." His knife was still in his boot as well, his hanger at

his side.

"Such are the _facts_, my son." Incus cleared his throat impressively.

"That is to say, the facts as far as they can be expressed in purely

_human_ terms. It's there averred that devils do not often dare to

personate the gods for _that very reason_, while the immortal gods, for

their part, _never_ stoop to personating devils."

"Hoinbuss," Auk said. The man with the injured arm was circling

the fire. Changing the subject, Auk asked, "That's our talus, ain't it?

The soldiers got it?"

The unfamiliar voice said, "That's right, we got it."

Auk turned. There was a soldier squatting behind him.

"I'm Auk," Auk said; he had reintroduced himself to Chenille with

the same words, he remembered, before whatever had happened

had happened. He offered his hand.

"Corporal Hammerstone, Auk." The soldier's grip stopped just

short of breaking bones.

"Pleased." Auk tried to stand, and would have fallen if Hammerstone

had not caught him. "Guess I'm still not right."

"I'm a little rocky myself, trooper."

"Dace and _that young woman_ have been after me to have

Corporal Hammerstdne carry you, my son. I've _resisted_ their

importunities for his sake. He would _gladly_ do it if I asked. He and I

are the _best of friends_."

"More than friends," Hammerstone told Auk; there was no hint of

humor in his voice. "More than brothers."

"He would do _anything_ for me. I'm tempted to _demonstrate_ that,

though I refrain. I prefer you to think about it for a while, always

with some element of _doubt_. Perhaps I'm teasing you, merely

_blustering_. What do you think?"

Auk shook his head. "What I think don't matter.

"Exactly. Because you _thought_ that you could throw me from that

filthy little boat with _impunity_. That I'd _drown_, and you would be

well rid of me. We see _now_, don't we, how _misconceived_ that was.

You have fodeited any right to have your opinions heard with the

_slightest_ respect."

Chenille strode out of the darkness carrying a long weapon with a

cylindrical magazine. "Can you walk now, Hackum? We've been

waiting for you."

From his perch on the barrel, Oreb added, "All right?"

"Pretty soon," Auk told them. "What's that you got?"

"A launcher gun." Chenille grounded it. "This is what did for our

talus, or that's what we think. Stony showed me how to shoot it.

You can look, but don't touch."

Although pain prevented Auk from enjoying the joke, he managed,

"Not till I pay, huh?"

She grinned wickedly, making him feel better. "Maybe not even

then. Listen here, Patera. You too, Stony. Can I tell all of you what

I've been thinking?"

"Smart girl!" Oreb assured them.

Incus nodded; Auk shrugged and said, "I'm not getting up for a

while yet. C'mere, bird."

Oreb hopped onto his shoulder. "Bad hole!"

Chenille nodded. "He's right. We heard some real funny noises

while I was back there looking for something to shoot, and there's

probably more soldiers farther on. There's more lights up that way

too though, and that might help."

Hammerstone said, "Not if we want to dodge their patrols."

"I guess not. But the thing is, Oreb could say what he did about

anyplace down here, and he wouldn't be wrong. Auk, what I was

going to tell you is I used to have a cute little dagger that I strapped

onto my leg. It had a blade about as long as my foot, and I thought it

was just right. I thought your knife or your needler or whatever

should fit you, like shoes. You know what I'm saying?"

He did not, but he nodded nevertheless.

"Remember when I was Scylla?"

"It's whether you remember. That's what I want to know."

"I do a little bit. I remember being Kypris, too, maybe a little

better. You didn't know about that, did you, Patera? I was. I was

them, but underneath I was still me. I think it's like a donkey feels

when somebody rides him. He's still him, Snail or whatever his

name is, but he's you, too, going where you want to and doing what

you want to do. And ifhe doesn't want to, he gets kicked till he does

it anyhow."

Oreb cocked his head sympathetically. "Poor girl!"

"So pretty soon he gives up. Kick him and he goes, pull up and

he stops, not paying a lot of attention either way. It was like that

with me. I wanted rust really bad, and I kept thinking about it

and how shaggy tired I was. And all at once it was like I'd been

dreaming. I was in a manteion in Limna, then up on an altar in a

cave and fit for sod. And I didn't remember anything. or if I did I