"The same thing happened in your grandfather's time," his father had said. "It was decided that the tribe needed new blood. So his friend Atoori was sent outside the area to get a woman. He never returned; no one knows what happened to him. Another young man, Shamoom, was then sent out, and he returned with a woman from a tribe far in that direction."
His father had gestured with his left hand. "She was much lighter skinned than we, and she had yellow kinky hair and blue eyes. She gave birth to two babies, Tsagi, who died before you were born, slain by a warrior of the Coyotes, and Korri, the shaman's wife."
Deyv had gulped and had said, "I've heard the story, Father, but I didn't think much about it."
"You'd better think about it now." Tears had rolled down his father's cheeks.
"It is hard to see your son go into the unknown dangers of the land beyond the nine tribes. The known dangers are bad enough."
"Is that why Mother has looked so sad the last few days?"
"Yes."
His father had begun weeping and sobbing, and Deyv had had to hold him for a few minutes until he had recovered. Then Deyv had stumbled off weeping to be consoled by his mother, only to end up consoling her. That evening he'd gone to Pabashum, the young unmarried-men's woman, only to have to console her.
His dog, Jum, couldn't talk, though he did whimper a lot, but Deyv had wet him with his tears, and when
Jum licked his face Deyv felt that he was finally being consoled. It hadn't been as satisfying as he had wished, however. His egg had been filled with roiling black clouds and dark-green streaks for days afterward.
2
SO here he was in the jungle, with no idea of where he would go or just how he would do what he had to do when he got there. First, though, he had to get out of the land of the nine tribes. It was now a bad time to be alone in the jungle. After fourteen sleeps of the honeymoon, the bridegrooms had to sally forth to kill a dangerous beast or an enemy tribesman and bring the head back and lay it at the feet of their women. This period would start just when he had to set out on his quest. The tribe might at least have considered this and allowed him to wait until the headhunters had gone home.
Thinking this, but not so deeply that he wasn't alert, Deyv walked on. After a while, he emerged into a wide open area on the hillside. Here the path led downward through plants that were only waist-high.
These had slender stalks topped by flowers with a black center, a blue iris, and twelve tawny swordshaped petals. Those near him turned their flower tops toward him as he passed.
Deyv urged Jum to run. The plants, detecting a possible victim, released a perfume that signaled to swarms of a large stinging insect. If they stung him to death, they would burrow into his corpse and lay eggs in it. The plants would put forth roots, which would eat his flesh.
Suddenly a heavy, heady odor rose about him. But he and the dog had reached the jungle before he heard the clicking sound. He kept on running for a while, since the insects were known to occasionally chase their prey a little way into the trees. As soon as he was beyond pursuit, he slowed down. It was dangerous to run in the jungle. The noise warned predators or enemies that someone was coming.
Presently he emerged into another open space on a hillside which had once been overgrown by the vevshmikl plant. A score of gigantic beasts were moving slowly down the hill, devouring the plants.
Their legs were black columns. Their bodies were massive yellow pods. Their necks were thick but long, and at the ends were heads with long drooping lips and a pair of twin horns above each eye. Their big blue fan-shaped ears flapped slowly, and their blue tails flipped back and forth.
Deyv and Jum moved down the hill, giving the beasts a wide berth. If you didn't bother them, they didn't bother you.
Almost three-quarters of the plants were gone. In the stands still left, their heads were turned toward their oncoming doom, though it was doubtful that they could "see." From the bases of the stalks came a loud clicking, the insects striking their horny antennae in unison. They, too, were doomed. They would rush out when their floral partners disappeared into the gaping mouths of the atadeym, and they would try to sting through the thick hides. But the great feet of the beasts would crush them, and after a while, there would be neither plant nor insect symbiont.
Grass would move in and flourish for many sleeps. Then, slowly, the seeds of the vevshmikl would sprout, and in time the open area would be filled with them. The fookooki insect eggs would burst, and the space would again be dangerous. Then the atadeym would saunter out from a jungle trail and begin eating once again.
The sky was still white, so bright that Deyv could go blind if he stared directly into it for several minutes. The wind swooped down over the trees and across the hillside, cooling his sweating body somewhat. Behind him, black clouds were beginning to build up. Before the next sleep, heavy rains would come.
In the opposite direction the first of the strange forms drifted. It was high in the sky and approaching against the wind. Ever since he was a baby, Deyv had seen such colossal black things over the tribal area. They came every twelve sleeps without fail, though they couldn't be seen if there was an overcast sky, of course.
Soon the first figure was close enough so that Deyv could make it out. It floated parallel to the earth, a form that had to be longer and wider than the clearing in which he stood. Much larger. It was composed of two parallel lines crossed by two more: J.
Then the second figure came into view, and when it was close enough it was revealed as: S.
The third was: O.
The fourth: X.
The fifth: H.
On they came, but Deyv went under the trees and could not see the forms, the ceiling of the jungle was so thick.
The shaman had said that these were the words of The Great Mother, and the person who could understand them would become as one of her divine children and would have great power.
However, a woman from the Avadeym Tribe who had married a Turtle had a different explanation. She had said that they were boats sent out by The Mother. When the time came that the sky grew too hot and bright for life to endure here, the boats would come down so that the people could board them. Then they would carry their passengers to a far-off place where it would never be too hot and where no dangerous beasts existed and people would live forever and always be happy.
Deyv believed the shaman. What would an Avadeym know about such matters? And why should the
Avadeym be allowed to live in such a place? What had they done to deserve it? Weren't they enemies of the Turtles? The Turtles would go there, if there were such a place. But the Avadeym? Never!
Deyv and Jum came to a small river. Jum drank thirstily; Deyv swallowed one mouthful. At this point the bank sloped down to a thin sandy beach. On the sand there had been some tall white big-beaked birds and a huge long-tailed pale-blue riverbeast with long jaws and big teeth. When Jum came out of the foliage ahead of his master, the birds had trumpeted-and then flown off. The riverbeast, which looked big enough to handle a dozen men, had croaked and then slid off into the water.
Deyv knew that the athaksum wasn't scared of them. It was in the river now, the eyes on top of its head looking at them, hoping they'd try to cross the stream. It would eat humans, but it craved dog. Jum knew this, which was why he was whimpering.
The waters were fairly clear, since it hadn't rained for about thirty sleeps. A swirl showed where the athaksum had dived. It would be somewhere near the bottom now, waiting for them to enter its domain, its eyes sharp and its flesh-buried ears receptive to any disturbance in the water. Then it would slide incredibly fast through the liquid, its tail waving side to side, its webbed paws digging into the water, its jaws closed but ready to open just before it sank its many sharp teeth into flesh.