After a long wait, it drifted further off into the leaves, and was lost to sight.
Xylina let out her breath, and color returned to the faces around her. After a moment to be sure that the monster was not going to return, the caravan started off again. They had not gone very far, however, when several more of these floating creatures appeared. All were brightly colored, patterned regularly in blue and green, red and yellow, orange and black. They varied in shape from long, pipe-like forms to round, ball-like creatures. They did not seem to have heads as such; their faces were built into one end of their bodies, with their eyes so positioned that they could not look directly at something but could see only what one or the other eye was aimed at. They had no kind of a nose that Xylina could see, and their mouths varied from a slit that could readily have encompassed one of the mules to tiny round holes hardly larger than her fist. None of them paid any attention at all to the figures so far below them.
The troupe had frozen in place again, but they still did not seem to attract the attention of the monsters. The creatures continued to drift lazily above. Several of them, however, were capable of very quick movement. When one of the mules brayed loudly out of sheer nervousness, the three turquoise-blue monsters currently above the road suddenly sprang into startled life and darted into the protection of the leaves so quickly Xylina could not believe it.
After more than a dozen of these monsters had passed by with no incident, Xylina relaxed. She was not surprised when, shortly after that, Ware started the column moving again.
The monsters continued to appear above them, and now that they were in motion, these strange creatures began to pay them a little more attention. It seemed to be completely benign, simply curious attention. The beasts drifted downward to hover over the road for a few moments, twisting to one side or another to peer down at them with a bright eye. After a time, their curiosity seemed to be satisfied, and they moved up and away again.
Perhaps the party did not look edible, Xylina thought. That was encouraging, actually.
More variations appeared: round creatures covered with spines, slender ones with huge, gauzy draperies trailing from them, flat ones with appendages like fans. All of them were brilliantly colored, and all of them showed either simple curiosity or complete indifference to the travelers.
Now Xylina caught sight of something new on the ground on either side of the road. These were enormous black mound-like objects, covered with spines as long as the wagons. At first, she thought that they were some kind of growths, like the spiny objects back in the "rock garden" area-but then she saw one moving.
It crawled like a snail, although she could see no way for it to do so, unless, perhaps, there were feet of some kind hidden under the bottom spines; the spines waved restlessly in all directions as it crawled, but it did not seem to see them-or, for that matter, to see anything at all. It bumped into the base of one of the plants even as she watched, and lurched its way around the plant by continuing to bump into it, before resuming its journey across open ground.
It finally came to rest just beside the road. Recalling the lesson of the purple "tree," she was very loathe to take her men by it.
Fortunately, that was a decision she did not have to make. One of the yellow and red beasts drifted into view above, and turned to peer down at them. It saw the spine-creature-and its behavior changed completely. It turned from a graceful, gentle beast to a predatory killer.
It dived down out of the fronds, like a falcon stooping on prey. It attacked the spine-creature aggressively, biting at the spines and snapping them off. In a moment, it had been joined by three more of its kind that appeared as if by magic, and together they attacked the spine-creature without mercy, as it waved its spines at them in a futile gesture of self-defense. Soon they had denuded the entire top of the creature, and were attacking the outer skin of the beast. Once they had begun that part of their attack, it was soon over. The outer skin was broken, and the three monsters devoured the creature as quickly as a child would eat a sweet fruit, diving down to snatch away mouthfuls of flesh until there was nothing left but an empty shell and the broken spines. Then they transformed again into the peaceful creatures they had been. They rose into the tops of the leaves, and drifted away, sated and replete.
Cautiously, the caravan drew near the remains. It was hard to believe that such a large animal had been reduced to fragments so quickly. Hazard stepped forward to pick up one of the broken spines and hefted it in his hand, a thoughtful look upon his face.
The piece he held was as long as his arm, and ended in a wicked point. It was hollow, and Xylina wondered if a shaft could not be fitted to it, giving them a kind of spear. In the hands of a thinking creature it could be much more effective than it had been on its original owner.
Evidently Hazard had the same notion. "Our own weapons are the only ones of their kind, mistress," he said to Xylina. "It would not be a bad thing if we could use these materials that we have at hand, and save our old weapons as much as we may. These, we could afford to lose, I think. They might make good arrows, or throwing spears."
Xylina nodded. "Let us stop long enough to gather as many of these spines as we can," she told the others, raising her voice so that it carried to the rest of the men. "Put them in the weapons-wagon; we can figure out what we can do with them when we stop for the night. Keep anything that looks useful-and take care with the points. They might be envenomed."
Soon the poor creature had been completely denuded of its ineffective defenses, and the end of the wagon had been heaped with broken and whole spines. Only when they had gathered everything that looked worth salvaging did they move on.
But the attack on the spine-creature served to remind them that they were far more vulnerable than it had been, in many ways. They had been rather cavalier until now, since the floating monsters did not appear hostile. Now they were on the alert; ready in case the benign creatures suddenly decided they did look edible.
And that proved to be their salvation.
The plants had begun to thin, but there were other things, neither plant nor animal, but an odd amalgam of both, taking their places. These were mound-like creatures covered with waving tentacles, about the size of the spine-creatures, but rooted to one spot. They seemed delicate, vulnerable, far more helpless than the spine-creatures. The tentacle-creatures were pastel in color rather than the bright colors of the floating monsters, and that reinforced their look of delicacy, but a quick demonstration proved that they were deadly.
One of the spine-creatures bumbled out into the open again, and the brightly colored floating monsters saw it. Several of them dived upon it to begin picking it apart, and one of them ventured too near to one of the tentacle-beasts. In fact, it brushed against two or three of the gently waving arms.
Immediately, the tentacles shot out to touch the monster. That was all they did, but the beast froze; then shuddered as if it had been struck a terrible blow, and uttered a strange, thin cry. At the sound of that cry, the others of its kind fled, leaving behind their prey and their fellow. The spine-creature, left alone, bumbled off into cover. The floating monster seemed trapped by the gently caressing tentacles.
The monster thrashed, strongly at first, but gradually weakening. The tentacles continued to hold it as it writhed, weakly, then stopped moving altogether. The tentacle-beast reached out again with more of its tentacles, and wrapped the silent form in a close embrace, then drew it towards the center of the beast. There it sank into the mass of tentacles, and disappeared. Presumably to be eaten.