Jimmy did not quite lose consciousness. He had struck a half-submerged log. He thought, a second later, he heard another crash as Tama and Roc came down. He went under water, entangled with vines and thatch, but he came up swimming.
Tama was swimming near him. Jimmy was conscious that one of his legs would not work. A horrible pain stabbed through it. But in this water he found himself buoyant. He saw something looming nearby, and swam for it. As he drew himself up he saw that it was the porch platform of a wrecked house.
Tama gasped, "Youall right, Jimmy?"
"Yes." Tama was holding Roc, who was inert. Jimmy started back into the water. One of his legs dragged limp; the pain of it made his senses reel.
"Wait, Jimmy1 have him I" They were only a few feet away. Jimmy helped Tama draw Roc's body up to the raft. They stretched him out, bent over him. He was unconscious, but there seemed to be no bones broken.
I have had from Jimmy the details of those hours he, Tama and Roc spent in the Water City. Tama was bruised from the fall, but otherwise unhurt. Jimmy's left leg was broken. Roc seemed without broken bonesinternal injuries, perhapsbut he had struck his head in the fall. He lay unconscious for hours, with Tama and Jimmy beside him on the raft.
It was dark there at the water level. Nearer objects only were visible: a dark patch of littered water, a few houses, flattened, half-burned. A murk in the distance, with ghastly naked trees standing in the water like half-burned sticks; a distant burning housea yellow glow in the thick turgid gloom.
There seemed a slight current to the water. Occasional blobbing things floating, drifting past. Charred, blackened bodies. A grotesque detached face under a tree. A human limb, torn and cast aside by a giant insect.
Nothing living remained. The smoke fumes wafted down with occasional winds; then up again. But always thinner, less choking.
"What shall we do, Tama? He may dieprobably will.
You're not hurt. You fly out of this."
"Not yet. I can't leave you now. Your leg is broken. You can't walk." They were unarmed. Tama had flown around in a brief circle near them. She had come back, white-lipped, grim, with a queer look in her eyes which Jimmy could not miss.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing." He lay on his side. The pain in his leg made it difficult for him to think. He demanded again, "What's the matter?" Tama did not answer, but bent' over Roc, who was still unconscious. "If only we could do something for him! Poor Rod And you, Jimmydoesn't it hurt very badly?" It seemed that Tama was very alert, her gaze constantly roving.
"Whats the matter with you?" he demanded again. "Did you see any of the invaders?"
"No."
"The ball-is it still overhead?"
"No." A mist rising from the water had closed around them; through it, the nearer objects standing on the water showed like phantoms. Overhead was a pall of darkness. Jimmy had been afraid at first that some of the enemy would discover them lying there, but now there seemed less danger of that.
Tama on one of her brief, cautious flights had discovered that the invaders were marching off beyond the marshes. The silver ball had descended to join them.
"We'll wait a few hours," said Jimmy. "If they're leaving, they'll be far enough aJvay then. And youll be rested. You can fly back to the Hill City to safety."
"And leave you? And Roc?"
"Well, I guess hell be dead. And meyou can bring help. I'll stay right here, you can be sure of that." Now, after another hour or two, Jimmy reiterated his suggestion. Tama ignored it and then said abruptly, "We are too near the water here. Jimmy, could you crawl? And help me a little, with Roc? Up there" An inclined, fallen tree connected the raft with a half-submerged house close at hand. The house lay in the water tilled at an angle.
"Climb up there," said Tama. "Onto its roof. Then maybe we could get down inside it and hide."
"From what?" She would not answer. They tried to get up the tree incline with Roc. But could not. And then, after another interval, Roc came to consciousness.
An hour later and they had laboriously crawled to the housetop. Tama had been down inside the house and returned with a single knife, as well as scraps of food and a vessel with fresh water.
It revived the men. Roc was weaker than Jimmy, but not in great pain. They lay clinging to the thatch.
"Soon," said Tama. "I can get you down inside. There is a place where you can lie."
"Then you get away. Come back with help. We'll wait no fear we'll run away, eh. Roc?" Roc said abruptly, "They were using the wild brues to attack the city. Have they all gone? None" He never finished. Tama had seen a lone, prowling insect a distance away when she had flown around, and had feared it would find these helpless men. It appeared now out of the mist; its ugly length slithering through the water. It saw the three figures on the housetopraised its round head with a leering, monstrously half-human grin.
Tama, knife in hand, crouched on the sloping thatch of the roof, with Jimmy and Roc lying behind her, and her wings spread over them protectingly. Roc tried to rise, nearly lost his weakened clutch and sank back.
The brue reached the raft where a short time before they had been lying. Its tongue licked out from its wide mouthslit. With waving antennae, it crawled over the edge of the raft. Brown, jointed length with the water rolling from its shell, hairy legs under it.
Jimmy murmured, "Tama I Fly up! You fooldon't stay here I" The brue reached the inclined tree. Came faster. Jimmy, looking over Tama's spread of wings, could see its baleful gloaming eyes, deep-set under the bulging forehead.
"Tamal" He tried to push her. If she fell, she would flutter away.
Far above them, the mist curtain had parted. Jimmy heard the sound of wings beating. A shape appeared. It was a rectangular platform, with flying girls bearing it. Jimmy stared, his brain blurring with astonishment.
"Tama-lookl" Two men and a girl were on the platform. It came with a swoop. The insect on the incline of the treetrunk paused, and turned its face upward to gaze at this new enemy.
It was Toh and Guy, crouching there on the flying platform with the girl Aina. The girls, frightened and confused as they came down, fluttered in disorder. Guy stood up, swaying precariously.
The platform landed on the raft with a thud, which submerged a foot or two under the weight of the girls. Guy was flung down, but he leaped up at once, and Toh with him.
"Swim awayall of youl" The girls were floundering in the water. Guy shouted at Aina, "Get the girls away from hereall of them I'" The brue lay motionless, peering around at the confusion; then it turned and began moving back down the treetrunk.
The girls on the raft were fluttering up. On the roof, Jimmy lay behind Tama. He felt Roc gripping him.
"I can't move," Roc muttered.
"No," said Jimmy. "Lie quietdon't lose your hold!" The brue's head reached the bottom of the tree. Guy and Toh with drawn knives stood confronting it. Suddenly the great insect jumped. Not with a forward rush but with a movement incredibly swift, it flipped its whole length upward, head do\vn, with the forked tail high in the air.