"Swords and weapons don't hurt them, not much does, save magic. I've never heard of one able to stand the light of day, but I suppose anything be possible. One almost got me once… it was a close call." The big man shuddered.
Mika looked away, deeply disturbed at the sight of Hornsbuck's distress. Never before had Mika seen Hornsbuck exhibit fear. If Hornsbuck were afraid, then Mika was doubly so.
"This wall," he said tremulously, "has no one ever climbed it?"
"Never," said the weasel-faced man. "We who know stay far away from it. The priests see to it that it gets a fair portion of those sacrificed each moon, but it is always hungry and satisfies itself whenever it chooses by grabbing those who pass too closely. You could not even get near it, much less climb it in safety."
"What are we to do?" Mika asked Hornsbuck in a low tone. "I have no wish to spend the rest of my life hiding under the ground like vermin."
"Patience, Mika, patience," cautioned Horns- buck. "We can learn much from these people and when the opportunity comes, we will be ready. And do not forget, there is always the stone."
"How could I forget?" muttered Mika, his hand going to his neck. Then, his eye was caught by a sideways, scuttling movement. Mika wondered briefly what it was, but it was not repeated and he soon returned to the matter at hand.
"I am known as Lufa. I, or rather, we, as I have said, were till chosen ones, those picked by the priests to feed the hunger of the gods," said Margraf s father. "We chose not to die and so we have made our home here, fighting the priests as best we can. As you see, the world has not yet come to an end, despite our actions."
"Are you the only people who feel this way?" asked Hornsbuck.
"Everyone but the priests feels as we do, but they are afraid to act. If a person speaks out against the priests, he is chosen to be sacrificed when the right moon comes. Many who would join us are afraid to do so for fear of what might happen to them and their families," said Lufa.
"Well, then, what we need is a really massive revolt," said Mika. "Maybe we can convince people to turn against the priests and really change things around here."
"Great!" said Margraf, his eyes sparkling. "How are we going to do it?"
"Uh, I don't know," said Mika. "The usual, I suppose. We'll create a diversion-noise, fire, something like that. Then, while the priests' attention is on that, we get the people on our side and revolt! It's simple."
"The usual? Have you ever done anything like this before?" asked Lufa.
"Uh, well, no," said Mika, "but how hard can it be?"
For a moment there was silence and then a babble of voices broke out, each striving to be heard above the others.
"Quiet!" yelled Lufa, holding his hands up. Turning to Mika, he said, "It would have to be a massive diversion. We are still few, and the soldiers of the priests are many."
"Do you want to live better than you do now?" replied Mika in challenging tones. "Anything would be better than this."
"And get rid of that damn weird wall and let folks come and go in Exag as they please. And free enterprise, got to have that, a few taverns, gambling pits, dog races, liven things up a bit," added Lotus Blossom.
"Yes, the wall," murmured Lufa. "It is a symbol of our repression. But how can we get rid of it?"
"Fire," Mika said with a grin. "We'll destroy it with fire."
"Fire," mused Hornsbuck. "Yes, fire would do it, I think, if the blaze be big enough."
Slowly, smiles crept over the faces of the adults as they began to believe that their freedom might indeed be in sight. The children, unused to expressions other than depression and grim-lipped determination on the faces of their parents, suddenly clapped their hands and laughed. All appeared happy except for the little weasel-faced man who watched them with a look of suspicion and cunning in his dark, skeptical eyes.
The women, perhaps unable to express their joy in any other manner, turned to their meager supplies and made themselves busy with much clanking of pots and rattling of pans. Soon, good smells rose from the cooking fires.
Later, over pipes and tiny allotments of homebrewed honeyed-ale, Hornsbuck and the leaders of the underground people worked out the final details of Mika's plan, which they had decided would be carried out the following night. At last, even the weasel- faced man seemed persuaded, and the assignments were given out with enthusiasm. The underground people smiled at each other, knowing that if their plan succeeded, Exag would never be the same again.
As they made ready for sleep, unrolling their cloaks next to the fire, Margraf called out, "Good night, Mika. Sleep tight, and don't let the rusties bite!" All around the large room others echoed his words.
Mika smiled, thinking it some quaint local saying, and nodded in agreement. Tam and the princess curled up near the fire at his feet and were soon sound asleep. RedTail slumbered next to Hornsbuck and Lotus Blossom, who were locked in their usual embrace. Mika placed his sword and knife alongside his cloak as was his custom, readily available should there be trouble in the night. Soon, he, too, was fast asleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night Mika began to dream of birds. Or maybe it was crickets. Or locusts. The sound so troubled him that the iln ч same passed away, leaving him almost uncooacaoas, wrapped in his cloak, more than half asleep bat listening to a peculiar chirping noise that fit no category he could identify.
He lay there for a moment more, half listening to the soft, chittering noise. It was a happy, non- threatening sound, almost like a pleasant murmuring carried on with oneself while occupied in a pleasant task. Sort of like humming. Mika almost fell back asleep, so pleasant was the sound. Then he heard the scuttle of feet and the rasp of metal on stone, and the soft sounds began again.
Mika's eyes blinked open. Feet. Movement. Metal. He whirled over, his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword. His hand met with something else. Something hard and chitinous. There was a moment's pause, and then the thing squeaked in alarm and scuttled away, chittering loudly.
Mika groped for his sword and knife, cursing audibly as the strange little creature made its escape. Mika had never seen anything like it before in his life. Since he seemed to have frightened it away, he gave up searching for his weapons and watched as the creature disappeared into the darkness.
The thing was about the size of a wolf but rounded, its body a mass of something that closely resembled metal-plating. Two long antennae protruded in front of the creature's body and waved back and forth as it trundled along on four bony limbs. A long segmented tail arched over its back and ended in a strange windmill-like protuberance.
Mika watched it go with a bemused smile on his face. What a peculiar little thing! The last of its alarmed squeaks had all but faded away when Mika turned to look for his sword. But it was nowhere to be found. Nor was his knife. He leaped to his feet in alarm and threw the cloak aside, thinking that perhaps he had rolled over the weapons in his sleep. But there was nothing to be seen except a small pile of rusty detritus.
Tam and the princess got to their feet and snuffled among the folds of the cloak. Tam sneezed and sat down on his haunches and yawned. The princess merely looked puzzled, curled up on the cloak, and closed her eyes.
"Great protector you are!" Mika yelled at Tam. "Someone sneaks in here and steeds my sword and knife right under your nose, and you sleep through it. What good are you? Why are you here? All you do is make moon eyes at that stupid princess. I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her. Thanks a lot, friend. I get the trouble and you-you get the girl!"
Mika was working himself up to a fine rage, almost beside himself at the loss of his weapons. Nervous enough about being trapped underground against overwhelming odds with nought but a bunch of half- starved losers to help him, the loss of his weapons seemed the fined blow.