He allowed them to rest well before entering the land of fires, and they fed on the pulpy stuff of the succulent fixed brothers of that place. Only one was lost in the land of the fires, an old female who stumbled and rolled down, down a cindery slope into a lake of fire, there to disappear in a puff of smoke.
The departure had been timed well. Du's warmth made it not simple, but not fatal, to cross the melting snow fields, to wade the muddy bogs of the tundra. They saw the first signs of fixed brothers while Du's face was growing warmer, and there were no storms as they entered the land of tall brothers and, for the first time, the old ones saw the life that awaited them, heard the whispers, called the fixed ones brother. There, since there was still time, a few chose to stay. They had crossed the tundra with the last of their strength and they chose to go back to the earth there, in that northern place.
Since there was time, and since the event was a significant one, Duwan called a rest, and they watched with wondering eyes as Du revealed his power and his mercy, for the newly planted ones showed alterations within hours of their plantings. Skin that had been hardening and flaking away hardened even faster, but clung closely to limbs and spread and soon it was not possible to see, except in bulging places, where there had been arms. The frondlike hair grew rapidly and became branches and when it became necessary for Duwan to lead the mobile ones away, the planted ones looked, from a distance, like that which they were becoming, fixed brothers.
"Farewell, farewell," came the whispers, clearly heard. Dagner, the old warrior, walked beside Duwan. "As long as there is rain and sun you will be remembered," he said.
Duwan was silent, a bit embarrassed.
"And when we others go back to the earth we, too, will sing your praises," Dagner said.
"My friend," Duwan said, "you will not harden for many cycles. You will be active long enough to help us kill the Enemy."
Dagner laughed. "You joke, trying to cheer me, when I need no cheering. But, yes, I would kill a few of the Enemy before I find my spot." To Duwan's surprise, for there had been no Devourer settlements so far north before, he and Dagner walked directly into a clearing and stood face to face with more than a dozen of the Enemy. A nearby pongpen was crowded with slaves.
"You wanted a chance to kill Enemy," Duwan said, drawing his weapons. "You now have it."
Dagner sprang forward with a shout.
"Father," Duwan yelled, "forward with care." He, too, leaped forward. The surprised Devourers met their rush with longswords and fell back before the onslaught of four swords wielded by as many hands, and then Duwan the Elder was among them, stroking and slashing mightily. By the time others of the older warriors came forward it was over and twelve of the Devourers lay dead.
Dagner, breathing hard, cleaned his swords on the tunic of a fallen enemy. "Praise Du," he said, "that I have had this opportunity to avenge, if only in a minor way, the past."
Duwan was looking at the thin, starved slaves in the pen. "These are Drinkers?" he asked.
"Judge them by the pores in the bottom of their feet," Duwan said. He walked toward the pens. As he neared, the pongs began to fall to their knees and bow.
"Master," one of them said, cringing, as if expecting a blow. "Is it you?
Is it you who was foretold by the holy man, Tambol?"
"Tambol, holy?" Jai asked. She'd come running forward, but too late to get in on the action.
"He teaches us," the pong said. "He tells of us a wise and big hearted one who will return from the north to free us. Are you he?"
"You are free," Duwan said. "I am no Drinker's master."
"With these you would make an army?" Duwan the Elder asked.
"Teach us, Master," the pong begged. "Teach us how to be free."
"On your feet, all of you," Duwan said, and the pongs leaped up. "Now, how did this settlement come to be so far north?"
"Master," the spokesman said, "the Devourers came here to extend the hunting range for the city of Kooh."
"Are there other settlements in these northern forests?" Duwan asked.
"This is the northernmost," the pong said. "There are others. We were many when we left Kooh, and many dropped off along the way to clear land and build way stations."
Duwan was thinking, So, it is now time for us to angle off to the west, lest we encounter other Devourers.
"How are we to be free, Master," asked a gaunt, half naked slave female.
"It is said that you freed one female, and made her your follower. I would follow you, as well."
"Teach us the use of the Devourer's arms," cried a male.
"Tell us of eternal life," said another.
"Take down the bars from the fence that makes you a slave," Duwan said. He stooped and plucked a life organ from a fixed brother. "Then begin to feed yourself, thus, in the way of Drinkers so that you will be strong and then we will speak of teaching you the way of arms." With a crack of wood the fence gave way. The ragged female who had been brave enough to speak fell to her knees in front of Duwan and plucked life organs from the low growing fixed brothers and stuffed them into her mouth.
"Bless this green, Master, so that I will live," she cried.
"Expose your skin to the healing, nourishing goodness of Du," Duwan said.
A few of them pushed back their hoods. One male bared his chest and looked fearfully up.
"Eat," Duwan roared. "If you won't eat of the sweet, growing goodness of the earth take yourself back into the pongpen there to remain a slave." The female, her mouth full of green, her jaws working, tried to kiss Duwan's foot. He stepped back. "I am no one's master," he said. "I am Drinker. You are Drinker. And if you are to be free you must think and act like Drinkers."
"Teach us, teach us," came the cries.
Duwan made camp in the clearing. The pongs, stomachs bulging with green food, gathered fearfully around his fire. They eyed him expectantly.
"They will fight for you," Jai said.
"I don't want them to fight for me. I want them to fight for themselves, for their people, for their mates, for their sprouts."
"But they must have a leader, Duwan," she said. "Look at them. They are adoring you with their eyes."
"I am not a du," Duwan said.
"Speak to them," she insisted.
He rose. "One of you mentioned Tambol. Who spoke of Tambol?" A gaunt male, his stomach looking almost comical, so distended was it with food, rose and bowed low. "I have heard the holy man, Tambol, with these ears, Master."
"And of what did he speak?"
"Of you, Master. Is it not true that you came to this land before, that you saw, and judged, and went back to the far north for your army?"
"My army," Duwan said, under his breath, looking around at the remaining old ones. "I came, I saw, and I went back to my home in the north. But you cannot expect a large army to fight for your freedom. If you would be free of the Devourers, you, yourselves, must fight."
"We will fight, Master," said the ragged female, "if you will teach us, and if you will fight at our sides."
"Go," Duwan said. "Sleep. Rest. Tomorrow I will speak with you again." Duwan awoke late. Jai had guarded him, keeping others away, keeping it quiet in the vicinity of his fire. She gave him water and freshly plucked green things. As he ate, Dagner approached. He was panting.
"I've been working with some of these pongs, or whatever you call them, Duwan," he said. "They're puny and weak, but they're willing. I think when we fatten them up a bit—they're going to strip the life organs from every fixed brother around here if we don't teach them the proper way to gather food— they might just make warriors of a sort."