Behind her, vague in the shadow of a dark woods, were two figures. Jum and Aejip.
"Don't leave me!" Deyv cried out.
"I must. Farewell, baby. You go to become a man. You don't need me any more."
She backed into the dark grayness and disappeared. For a time, the eyes of the beasts glowed brightly, though there was little light to be reflected. Then, like dying candles, they guttered out, and he awoke sobbing.
Once more he dreamed. A great gong, like that hidden in The House of the Flying Figures, was beating somewhere over the horizon. He woke up sweating and trembling, and it was a long time before he could sink back into sleep.
In the third dream he was squatting before a hut and fingering his soul egg. Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up. The man in the red suit on the chair in the House of Flying Figures was standing by him. His broad fat face was jollied with a smile, but the eyes were a fierce hard blue. He held in one hand a hammer of metal and a bunch of metal nails. His other hand was behind his back.
"Here. Take these. Go and build a square house. And do not squander your time."
They all awoke about the same time. Deyv opened the door cautiously. He looked around it. No one was waiting to spear him. To make sure, he crept around to the other side. No lurkers there. The woman
Be'nyar had been let into the stockade. A few men were watching from the walls. Returning to the door, he called in that it was safe to come out. They breakfasted on fruits and nuts, since the meat left by the campers had turned rotten and was covered by flies, ants, and beetles.
Sloosh said, "If nothing else, hunger will drive them out from the village. Besides, they must be very crowded in there."
"We don't want them to get so desperate that they attack us," The Shemibob said.
Vana picked up the baby, and they walked up to the gate. Deyv cried out, "Tell your shamans to come out to talk to us!"
One of the watchmen disappeared. After a long wait, during which Deyv could hear a high-pitched squabble, which meant that the shamans were not conversing in the sign language, the sentinel came back.
"Diknirdik will come out if you will promise by your ancestors, not to harm him."
"We're not here to do evil!" Deyv shouted. "We have come to save you from itl"
Sloosh said, "Telling them that might make them even more suspicious. Beware the man who promises salvation."
Presently, Diknirdik's head and shoulders rose above the wall. He spoke loudly enough, but his voice trembled.
"Greetings, strangers! Why do you wish to speak to me?"
"Come out, and we'll tell you why!''
The shaman's eyes rolled; his hands gripped the pointed ends of the logs tightly. He was in a bad situation. If he left the village, he might be torn apart by the monsters or borne off to some unimaginable but doubtless horrible fate. If he didn't come out, he would be showing cowardice and would lose face.
Deyv said, "We released Be'nyar to show our good faith."
"She is of no importance," Diknirdik said.
"Very well then," Deyv said. "I'll come in alone and talk to you. This shouting is wearing my throat out
And my neck hurts from looking up."
Vana said, "You shouldn't! Once they have you in their power—"
"That's all right," The Shemibob said. "If he dares that, then they'll think he's not the least bit worried about them."
The shaman said, "No, you stay out there. The gate will be opened a little, and we can talk to each other from each side of it."
There was, however, a long delay. Finally, the sound of a massive wooden bar being pulled came to
Deyv. Slowly, the gate swung open. When there was a gap of two feet, the shaman appeared in it. Deyv could see the shamans from the other tribes behind him and many men with spears and blowguns.
Beyond them was the head of the statue of Tsi'kzheep, and ranged in line on both sides of it were the wooden heads of the great founders of the other tribes. Be'nyar had said that these were brought along to the host village during the Trading Season.
A stench of unwashed bodies and unburied excrement floated through the gap. The Shemibob was right.
Conditions were so bad in the overcrowded place that sheer desperation would soon drive them out.
The Shemibob came up behind Deyv. Diknirdik backed quickly, saying, "Tell her to get awayl"
The snake-centaur laughed, causing the shaman to jump. She retired while Deyv asked, "Is it all right for the woman and the baby to stand with me? They can't hurt you!"
Stung by the sarcasm, the shaman bit his lip, but he said, "Yes. Why do you need her, though?"
"She speaks your language better than I do. She can tell me the right word if I forget it"
When Vana stood by Deyv, the shaman looked thoughtful. Was he planning on grabbing all three of them? Deyv doubted it, but if he'd been in the shaman's place, he might have tried it. No, he wouldn't have. He'd have been as scared as he.
Deyv said, "Listen," and he went into his prepared speech. He told them about the inevitable destruction of their planet and explained how the gateway might be a means of escape. During this there were many gasps and cries of wonder and sometimes of dubiety from those behind the gate. He still had to shout to make himself understood above the voices of the interpreters, mostly the shamans, who were translating to the non-Chaufi'ng.
When he'd finished, he drank from the gourd handed him by Vana. Then he said, "You must have many questions. I'll answer those which are relevant. I am tired of standing, however. Bring stools for me and my woman."
This was done speedily. The stools were handed through by a warrior, Diknirdik being above such menial work. Deyv decided that it would be carrying arrogance too far if he didn't say thanks. Besides, that might make his listeners more at ease.
"That is a very interesting tale," the shaman said, "though I understand little of it. I won't say that you are lying, since I don't want to offend you. But this thing about The Shimmering Demon is hard to believe. We know that it is not an entrance to another world, unless you call the stomach of the demon another world, and it may well be. It is not, however, a world where we would care to be.
"Could it be that you've been sent by the demon to lure us into its mouth?"
"Would we go into the shimmering if it was the mouth of a demon?"
"You would if you were its friends and it used you to get people to eat."
Sloosh buzzed, "The shaman is very logical within his own framework of thought."
Deyv said, "We've come here because we want to save at least some human beings. We don't want mankind to die out. That is our only reason. My woman and I would like to join your tribe, be of your people, since our own tribes are gone."
Diknirdik swallowed and said, "There is another reason why we can't go with you. The hill where the demon lives is forbidden ground."
"Then break the taboo!" Deyv said. "It was based on the wrong assumption, on your ignorance. There is no demon there!"
The shaman looked around as if he were drawing courage from those near him.
"Oh, we couldn't do that. It would anger our ancestors. They would haunt us forever; they would do bad things to us in this life and the next. Be'nyar disobeyed their will, so we had to punish her. She was killed while you were in your—uh, thing. And her body was eaten by the dogs."
45
DEYV awoke once and went outside for a look around. The contrast between the silence in the vessel and the din outside was startling. The villagers were certainly not sleeping. Drums beat, flutes shrilled, and chanting in six tongues soared upward and fell down the hill. Smoke from a large fire rose from the center of the stockade. The gate was closed; the only observer was a man on top of the bamboo tower.