"We cannot climb this, Aleran," panted Kitai. Another shriek sounded from near at hand, and Kitai twisted in place, body crouching in tension.
"Shut up," Tavi said "Give me the oil" He took the jar from Kitai's hand, jerked the broad cork out of its mouth He turned to the area behind himself and Kitai and stomped hard on the ground several times, breaking the surface of the wax and drawing out more of the sludgy, glowing fluid
More outraged, chittering shrieks rose through the glowing forest
"What are you doing'" hissed Kitai "You show them where we are'"
"Yes," Tavi said "Exactly " He dumped the oil onto the croach, into the depression his boots had made, and took the firestone box into his hand He opened the two separate chambers and took the firestones into his hand, kneeling beside the oil He looked up to see the glowing orange dots of dozens of eyes closing in on him with that same weird, alien grace, knobby legs rippling across the surface of the croach
"Whatever you are doing," Kitai half-shouted, "hurry'"
Tavi waited until the eyes were close And then he reached down to the oil and struck the firestones together
They sparked brightly, glowing motes falling down, into the spilled oil One of them found a spot where the oil was not deep enough to drown it, and in a rush, the whole of the small pool took sudden, brilliant flame Fire leapt up from the depression in the croach, as high as Tavi's chest
The boy recoiled from the flames, grabbed Kitai by the Marat boy's one-piece smock, and hauled him toward the pool They tumbled into the cold water together, and Tavi pulled them both down
The water was shallow, no more than thigh deep, and viciously chill Tavi and Kitai gasped together at the cold Then the Aleran boy stared at the Keepers
The wax spiders had gone mad at the kindling of the fire Those nearest to him had fallen back and were scuttling in circles, letting out high pitched shrieks Others, farther back, had begun to bob up and down in confusion or fear, letting out high-pitched, interrogative chirrups
None of them seemed to see either of the boys in the pool
"It worked," Tavi hissed "Quick, here " He reached into the pack and drew out both blankets He shoved one at Kitai, then took his own and dipped it into the water A moment later, he lifted it and draped it over his shoulders and head, shivering a bit with the cold "Quick," he said "Cover up "
Kitai stared at him "What are you doing'" he hissed "We should run while we have a chance "
"Quick, cover up"
"Why?"
"Their eyes," Tavi said. "When they were close to us, the color of their eyes changed. They saw you and not me."
"What do you mean?"
"They saw your heat," Tavi stammered, lips shaking with the cold. "The Marat. Your people feel like they have a fever to me. You're hotter. The spiders saw you. Then when I lit the fire-"
'You blinded them," Kitai said, eyes widening.
"So soak your blanket in the water and cover up."
"Clever," Kitai said with admiration in his voice. With a quick motion, he jerked the hem of his smock up out of the water in an effort to avoid wetting any more of it. He tugged it over his hips, then bent to dip the blanket in the water and shroud himself as Tavi had done.
Tavi stared at the Marat in sudden shock.
Kitai blinked back at Tavi. "What is it?"
"I don't believe it," Tavi said. He felt his face flush and he turned away from Kitai, drawing the soaked blanket further about his face. "Oh, crows, I don't believe it."
"Don't believe what, Aleran?" Kitai demanded in a whisper.
"You're a girl."
Chapter 34
Kitai frowned, pale brows drawing together. "I am what?"
"You're a girl," Tavi accused.
"No," Kitai said in a fierce whisper. "I am a whelp. Until they bond, all Marat children are whelps. After I bond to a totem-then I will be a young female. Until then, I am a whelp like any other. Your ways are not our ways, Aleran."
Tavi stared at her. "But you're a girl."
Kitai rolled her eyes. "Get over it, valleyboy." She started to stand and move slowly up out of the water.
"Wait," Tavi hissed. He lifted a hand to block her way.
"What?"
"Wait until they've gone. If you go out there now, they'll see you."
"But I am covered by the cold blanket."
"And if you walk in front of that fire, you'll be the only cold thing there," Tavi said. "Stay here and be still and quiet. When the fire dies down, they'll spread out to look for us again, and we'll have our chance."
Kitai frowned, but slowly settled back into the water. "Our chance to do what?"
Tavi swallowed. "To get inside. To that big tree."
"Don't be foolish," Kitai said, though there was a reluctant weight to her words. "The Keepers are roused. No one has ever gone to the tree and come out again when the Keepers had been stirred from sleep. We would die."
"You forget. I'm going to die anyway." He frowned. "But it might be just as well. I don't want to lead a girl into that kind of danger."
The Marat girl scowled. "As if I am any less able to defeat you now than a few moments ago."
Tavi shook his head. "No, no, it isn't that."
"Then what is it?"
He shrugged beneath the blanket. "I can't explain it. We just-we don't treat our women the same way we do our men."
"That's stupid," said Kitai. "Just as it is stupid for us to pursue the trial. If neither of us comes back with the Blessing, the trial is inconclusive. They'll wait until a new moon and hold it again. You will be Doroga's guest until then, valleyboy. You will be safe."
Tavi frowned and swallowed, thinking. Part of him had all but let out a shout of relief. He could get out of this bizarre chasm with its alien creatures and return to the world above. It wasn't a friendly one, among the Marat, but it was living, and he would at least be kept alive and unharmed until the next trial. He could survive.
But the new moon wouldn't be for weeks. The Marat would move long before then, attack Garrison and then the steadholts in the valley beyond, including his own home. For a moment, Tavi's imagination conjured up an image of returning to Bernardholt to find it deserted, thick with the stench of rotten meat and burned hair; to open one of the swinging gates and see a cloud of carrion crows hurtle into the air, leaving the bodies of people he had known his whole life ravaged and unrecognizable on the
cold earth. His aunt. His uncle. Frederic, Beritte, Old Bitte, and so many others.
His legs started shaking-not with cold, but with the sudden realization that he could not turn his back on them now. If returning with that stupid mushroom meant that he would gain his family even a better chance to survive what was coming, then he could do nothing less than everything in his power to retrieve it. He couldn't back down now, he couldn't run now, even though it meant he might go into mortal danger.
He might wind up like that crow, sealed into the croach, devoured alive. For a moment, the pale, colored eyes of the Keepers haunted his mind. There had been so many of them. There still were, gathered all around the now-guttering fire, crawling mindlessly over one another in all directions, their long, knobby legs falling feather-light onto the surface of the croach. Their leathery shells made squeaking sounds as they crowded close, rubbed against one another. And they smelled. Something pungent and acrid and inexplicably alien. Even as he realized that he could smell them, Tavi felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle up, and his shivering increased in reaction.