"The Vawtl!" Vana said. Her face looked drawn and pale, and her eyelids were heavy. "He did it! He did it! Thank Tirshkel, Thrush is safe!"
Dew staggered up to find the room in the vessel in an unroar. It took him some time to determine exactly what had happened. Only Vana at first was aware of it. She'd eaten less than the others because she'd had a stomach upset. The drug that the Yawtl had put in the meat had affected her less. She'd awakened first and despite a sluggish feeling had gotten up to check on the baby. He was still sleeping, having eaten some of the drugged meat.
Then Vana had seen Feersh, lying on her back, her mouth open, a bloody slice ringing her neck. So deep had been the incision that the bone of the windpipe showed.
Sometime during the journey, the Yawtl had found in the jungle a plant containing a drug. He'd prepared it in the pork, in what form no one knew. He must have put aside a piece for himself of undoped meat.
Everybody recalled seeing him eat; they would have thought it strange if he hadn't.
After all except himself had fallen asleep, he'd killed the witch. And then he'd taken off with the bag and all its treasures except for The Shemibob's flashlight and Emerald of Anticipation. She had kept them by her while she slept.
Why hadn't he just cut everybody's throat? That would have been logical. It would have kept them from pursuing him. Also, he could have dragged their bodies out, though it would have been perhaps too much for him to haul the great weight of the Archkerri and The Shemibob. Then he could also have taken the priceless vessel.
No. That would have been too much for him to transport at the same time as the bag. He could have hidden it, though, and come after it later.
Sloosh's opinion was that Hoozisst had spared them for two reasons. One, though he was often sarcastic about them, he really liked them. Except for the witch, whom he hated because she'd cheated him and tried to murder him. Two, the Yawtl probably wanted to give them a run for the treasure.
"We ran him down once, and that hurt his pride. He's giving us another chance, rather giving himself one, to elude us this time. He'll not only have the bag of treasures but the satisfaction of beating us."
"But," Deyv said, "he knows that you can see his psychic tracks. He can't lose you."
"He can if I get tired and give up. Or if I don't chase him at all."
"He won't be able to return to his village," Vana said, "until you've given up on him."
"Until we've given up," The Shemibob said. "Which may be never."
They buried the witch, loaded up, and set out Sometime later, Deyv had a consternating thought. What if the Yawtl went to the cave and took their eggs? It would be just like him; he'd have a good laugh envisioning their faces when they found them gone. He told Vana of this, and she started worrying, too.
Just before sleep-time, there were several mild tremors of the earth. The Shemibob consulted her
Emerald and said that a severe shock could be expected soon.
"Maybe," Deyv said. "By the way, your Emerald didn't do any good predicting when Hoozisst would steal your bag."
"It can operate only on the information I give it," she said, looking down at him from under long-lashed silvery eyelids. "It did say that the Yawtl would try to steal the bag—"
"I didn't need the Emerald to know that."
"Don't interrupt The, lesser one. I didn't need it either. Nor did I have to have it tell me that he would be getting ready to steal the bag when he departed from his usual behavior pattern. That. departure was his offering to cook our supper. Unfortunately, I was so involved in a philosophical discussion with Sloosh that I failed to take note of his deviation."
"Ah!" Deyv said, grinning. "Then even the greater ones can make errors."
"Don't get smart with me," she said, but she smiled. "As for the Emerald, you mistake its nature. It's not a magical device. It's scientific, and it is only as useful as its operator makes it. It's chiefly valuable for analyzing a large amount of data, which even my mind can't handle. Not so swiftly, anyway."
Not long after lunch, they were shaken by a series of quakes. They would have been thrown to the ground if they hadn't happened to be riding Phemropit. At this place, the highway ran through a narrow valley, and avalanches from both slopes almost reached them. One boulder rolled to within a foot of the stone-metal creature.
They went on, and shortly before suppertime, they Came to a very narrow part of the valley. Before them was a pile of rocks, trees, and mud, hurled down by the temblors they'd experienced earlier.
"The quake was even more severe here," Slposh said.
He walked up to the edge of the great tangle and pointed into it.
"Hoozisst's trail ends there."
It took much digging by them and some bulldozing by Phemropit to uncover the Yawtl. He was lying face down under four feet of mud, his arms crossed on his chest. Bone stuck out from one crushed leg, and the right side of his jaw was shattered.
Though they dug here and there for the bag, they failed to find it.
"It's no use," The Shemibob said. "We could work here for a long, long time and still not find it. And yet... I could be standing right above it now."
She finally decided that they would have to go on without the bag.
"Hoozisst didn't mean to do us a service, but he did. If we hadn't been slowed up by having to recover from the effects of the drug and to bury the witch, we would have been here. And we'd have been killed, too. It wasn't such a bad trade, my treasures for our lives."
After covering the Yawtl again, they pushed on over the rubble. This extended for about a mile, and then they were back on the highway. Phemropit rayed a deer, which was a quarter of a mile ahead of them, and they dined. It began to rain heavily then, so they went into the vessel. While they slept, Phemropit rolled ahead on the highway.
Deyv was awakened by Vana.
"What's the matter?" he mumbled.
"Phemropit has stopped."
They opened the door and looked out cautiously. Seeing nothing alarming, they got down and went in front of the creature. The Shemibob signaled, "What is wrong?"
"I'm almost out of food. If I keep moving I'll use it all up. I must now do what you call going to sleep.
Unless you can find more ore for me."
"I'll be frank with you," The Shemibob said. "There is very little chance that we can locate the ore."
"Then I'll have to shut down. That is too bad. I have enjoyed being on this strange world and knowing you. I've also learned much. If it hadn't been for you and the others, I would have been very lonely. As it is, I've learned new concepts, things which I would never have known if I'd been on my world. So, thank you and good-bye."
"Wait!" she signaled. "I'm sure the others would like to make their farewells."
That didn't take long. One by one they flashed a few words. And then Phemropit's light-hole became dark.
Vana wept and patted the hard nose. Deyv had not felt much sorrow, just regret that their mighty transporter and protector was no longer available. Vana's tears, however, evoked some sorrow from him.
They put the folded vessel on Sloosh's back and seated the baby by it. Deyv didn't look back until he was a quarter of a mile down the road. The huge dark creature was motionless, waiting. No one would come to help it, though. It would sit there until some cataclysm dislodged it or buried it. Now and then it would rouse from its "sleep," stirred by some mechanism which Deyv did not understand, and it would
"look" for salvation from some passer-by. It would never get it.