Vana, who'd also turned to look, said, "We've lost three of our party in a very short time. Do you think that omens ill for all of us?"
"I was trying not to think about that," he said.
Ten sleep-times later, they came to a junction. Sloosh called them to a halt.
"This is where we part. That is, if you insist on looking for your soul eggs. That road will take you into the area of Hoozisst's village and the cave. But you may never find the cave. As for The Shemibob and me, we'll keep on. Now that she no longer has her detector-sphere, we will have a hard time finding the gateway. But we'll succeed."
Deyv felt desolate and lonely. He would miss the two very much, not only for their protection but for their comnrmionship and their knowledge. Also, he and Vana would have to take turns carrying the baby. And they'd no longer have the vessel to take refuge in.
Vana's face showed that she was thinking the same thoughts.
"If the Yawtl had stolen our eggs, there'd be no doubt about what we'd do," she said slowly. "But—"
"That's tme," Deyv said. "So ..."
They looked at each other, and Deyv said, "We'll go with you!"
The Shemibob, fingering her Emerald, said, "I thought so. This stone predicted that you would. But I reallv didn't have to consult it."
Deyv didn't like I-told-you-so's, even from one of the higher beings. He was too happv about the decision to resent The Shemibob very long, however. The only shadow in his joy was the thought that this was only putting off the inevitable. When they got near their homeland, they'd have to make up their minds again. No, they wouldn't. There couldn't be any doubt that they would have to say good-bye then.
Or was there?
42
THERE it is," The Shemibob said. "The gateway." Sloosh did not comment that that was an obvious remark. He never said that to her, though he was quick enough to say it when a human uttered one.
They were in a thick part of the jungle, halfway up a high hill. Here, perhaps a hundred feet above and close to a thick branch of a giant tree, was the swelling, shrinking, dazzling bright and dread-making circle. They had located it after much questioning of many tribes in a wide area. These would not have given answers to the two humans if they'd been alone. These would have, instead, killed them. But the
Archkerri and The Shemibob frightened them. The tribes thought they were either gods or demons, and they usually ran when they saw the two. Then the strangers would just stay in the village or House until the tribespeople decided that perhaps the two terrible beings were not intent on destroying their homes.
Seeing that the three humans associated on familiar terms with these creatures also helped reassure them.
One or two of the braver would venture timidly near them. The Shemibob and Sloosh would make signs of peace, and eventually most of the tribe would straggle in. The snake-centaur would draw a picture of the gateway in the muds and would try, through sign language, to make them understand what she was seeking. For a long time, the tribespeople didn't comprehend her.
But the twelfth folk they came to spoke a tongue related to Vana's. Though it was only half-intelligible to her, she could still get enough of a message across. These directed them to a-tribe which had once lived near the gateway. The tribe had come to the Place of the Trading Season, where, through the Trade
Language, its members told of the shining horror. To this tribe went the five travelers, where they learned enough of the trade tongue to ask their questions and be answered.
Their informants were not aware of the exact location of the gateway. They could give a general direction and a vague estimate of the distance to it. Having learned this, Sloosh used his prism to communicate with the plants. After a long, long time, from breakfast almost till supper, the Archkerri got the location. This was not exact, but as they traveled Sloosh kept using the prism. The closer they got, the better their information became. Two sleep-times before they got there, he had pinpointed it.
Vana, after one glance upward, had kept her eyes on the ground. Her belly was huge now. The baby would come in a little over twelve and a half circuits of The Dark Beast.
"Now that we've found it," she said, "what do you two intend to do?"
Sloosh said, "When my people get here, I'll go through the gateway with them. Of course, some won't want to stop their particular researches and so won't come now. Or perhaps not at all."
"I will stay here to help him build a bridge to the gateway," The Shemibob said.
"Then we'll stav awhile and rest up," Deyv said.
The Shemibnb smiled knowingly. "You might as well delay the inevitable. It couldn't hurt."
Devv didn't reply. He helped Vana untie the cube and take it down from Sloosh's back. The Archkerri picked it up and went down to the foot of the hill. A swamp surrounded the hill, a foul place stinking from many sources, choked with plants of many kinds, buzzing with bugs, croaking with froggish monsters, dangerous with poisonous things, insectile, reptilian, and mammalian. Sloosh would have preferred to expand the cube at a higher place, but the only flat ground was by the water.
The three humans went with him. Vana wanted to put the babv in the vessel for a nap, where it would be undisturbed by the insects. Sloosh pulled the rod. The craft unfolded slowly. Too slowly, according to
Sloosh.
"It's a good thing the journey's ended. The power supply is about exhausted."
He looked at the vessel. "Too bad, though. The Shemibob and I have been tracing its circuits. We think we know what controls start its propelling power. We're afraid, however, to activate it. There's no telling what might happen. Still—"
"I want to be a long way off if you decide to experiment," Deyv said.
After making sure the baby was comfortable, Deyv called Aejip and Jum. He told Vana that he was going hunting, and he waded through the green-coated water and black mud toward higher ground.
Much later he was far from the home base, still unsuccessful in getting game. He was stalking a large bird with bronze-colored feathers, a white-edged fantail, and a red bag hanging from its neck when he heard voices. He froze, along with the two animals.
The speakers came nearer, talking softly, but they were near enough so that he could determine that their language was unfamiliar. Or was it? Didn't it sound somewhat like Vana's?
Unable to suppress his curiosity, he snaked through the foliage. Aejip and Jum followed him. He stopped when he saw a trail before him. Going away from him were two men, tall, skins a little darker than his wife's but with kinky hair like hers, though brown instead of yellow. They wore bark-cloth kilts and carried the standard weapons of jungle dwellers everywhere: blow-guns, flint or chert tomahawks, knives, and spears. Their legs were painted black to just above the knees, and their spines were colored with red.
They stopped to talk about something before they came to a bend. They turned toward him a moment.
Their eyes were slanted. No. Not really slanted. That impression was caused by a fold of flesh in the inner side of their eyelids. Their noses were blobs, quite unlike his beautiful long curving nose. Their lips were very thin and a blue band was painted below the lower one. The nipples were encircled with red. Radiating from each side of these were two seven-pointed stars.
One carried over his shoulder the same kind of bird Deyv had been hoping to kill.
He decided that they were returning home from the hunt. He waited until they had gone around the bend before following them. It was necessary to know where the enemy lived and how many there were.
Also, how well defended they were and the degree of their aggressiveness. He didn't have to show himself to find out the latter two features. His long experience had given him some ability to discern these just by watching people in their daily routine.