He gingerly shifted his hands so that all his weight was on his feet and the hand without the pulse, then brought the pulse to where he could easily aim at any point on the face of the mountain before him. Was the animal in those shrubs? Perhaps behind a rock, ready to emerge at any moment?
Holding the same pose in that awkward place was hard. Nafai was strong, and used to holding still for long periods of time—but this posture was one he had never had to hold before. He could feel sweat dripping down his forehead. If it got in his eye it would sting mercilessly, mixed as it was with dust from his face. Yet there was no way he could move to wipe it away without spooking the animal.
An animal I haven't even seen.
Forget the animal. Just get off the face of this rock.
No, I'm stronger than that. I need to get the food for the family—I won't go back and say we'll have no meat today because I was afraid to wait in stillness on a rock.
He could hear Vas moving behind him, traversing the rock. That was stupid—why was Vas doing that?
To kill me.
Why couldn't he shake that idea? No, Vas was coming because he could tell that Nafai hadn't seen the animal yet, and he wanted to point it out. But how would he do that? Nafai couldn't turn to look at him, and Vas couldn't pass him to get into his field of view.
Oh, no. Vas was going to talk to him.
"It's too dangerous," said Vas. "You're going to slip."
And just as he said it, the friction holding Nafai's right foot in place suddenly gave way. His foot slipped inward and down, and now with the abrupt movement his left foot couldn't hold and he began to slide. It must have been very quick but it felt like forever; he tried to dig in with his hand, with the butt of the pulse, but they both just rubbed along the rock, doing almost nothing even to slow his fall. And then the rock grew steeper and he wasn't sliding, he was falling, falling, and he knew he was going to die.
"Nafai!" screamed Vas. "Nafai!"
Luet was at the stream, washing clothes, when suddenly there came a clear thought into her mind: (He's not dead.)
Not dead? Who's not dead? Why should he be dead?
(Nafai is not dead. He'll come home.)
She knew at once that it was the Oversoul speaking to her. Reassuring her. But she was not reassured. Or rather, she was reassured to know that Nafai was all right. But now she had to know, demanded to know what had happened.
(He fell.)
How did he fall?
(His foot slipped on the face of the rock.)
Nafai is sure-footed. Why did his foot slip? What is it that you're not telling me?
(I was watching Vas very carefully with Sevet and Obring. Watching all the time. He has murder in his heart.)
Did Vas have something to do with Nafai's fall?
(Not until they were traversing the rock did I see the plan in his mind. He had already destroyed the first three pulses. I knew he meant to destroy the last one, but I wasn't concerned because there are alternatives. I never saw it in his mind, not until the last moment, that the simplest way to destroy the last pulse was to lead Nafai to a dangerous place and then push his foot so he would fall.)
You never saw a plan like that in his mind?
(All the way down the mountain he was thinking of a route to the sea. How to get down to the bay so he could walk to Dorova. That's all that was in his mind as he led Nafai after quarry that didn't exist. Vas has remarkable powers of concentration. He thought of nothing but the path to the sea, until the very last moment.)
Didn't you warn Nafai?
(He heard me, but he didn't realize it was my voice he was hearing. He thought it was his own fear, and he fought it down.)
So Vas is a murderer.
(Vas is what he is. He will do anything to get his vengeance on Obring and Sevet for their betrayal of him back in Basilica.)
But he seemed so calm about it.
(He can be cold.)
What now? What now, Oversoul?
(I will watch.)
That's what you've been doing all along, and yet you never gave any of us a glimpse of what you saw. You knew what Vas was planning. Hushidh even saw those powerful bonds between him and Sevet and Obring and you never told her what they were.
(This is how I was programmed. To watch. Not to interfere unless and until the danger would damage my purpose. If I stopped every bad person from doing bad things, who would be free? How would humans still be human, then? So I let them plan their plans, and I watch. Often they change their minds, freely, without my interference.)
Couldn't you have made Vas stupid and forgetful long enough to stop this?
(I told you. Vas has a very strong ability to concentrate.)
What now? What now?
(I will watch.)
Have you told Volemak?
(I told you.)
Should I tell anyone?
(Vas will deny it. Nafai doesn't even realize that he was the victim of a would-be murderer. I told you because I don't trust my own ability now to predict what Vas will do.)
And what can I do?
(You're the human. You're the one who's able to think of things that exceed your programming.)
No, I don't believe you. I don't believe that you don't have a plan.
(If I have a plan, it includes you making your own decisions about what to do.)
Hushidh. I have to tell my sister.
(If I have a plan, it includes you making your own decisions.)
Does that mean I mustn't consult with Hushidh, because then my decision wouldn't be my own? Or does it mean that consulting with Hushidh is one of the decisions I need to make on my own?
(If I have a plan, it is for you to make your own decisions about your own decisions about your own decisions.)
And then she felt that she was alone again; the Oversoul was not talking to her.
The clothes lay in the grass beside the stream, except for the one gown of Chveya's that she had been washing; that one she still held in the stream, her hands freezing cold now because through all this conversation with the Oversoul she had not moved.
I must talk to Hushidh, and so that's the first decision I will make. I'll talk to Hushidh and Issib.
But first I'll finish washing these clothes. That way no one will know anything is wrong. I think that's the right thing to do, to keep anyone from knowing that something's wrong, at least for now.
After all, Nafai is all right. Or at least Nafai is not dead. But Vas is a murderer in his heart. And Obring and Sevet are in danger from him. Not to mention Nafai, if Vas even suspects that Nafai knows what Vas tried to do to him. Not to mention me, if Vas realizes that I also know.
How could the Oversoul have let things get to such a point? Isn't she responsible for all of this? Doesn't she know that she has brought terrible people along with us on this journey? How could she make us travel and camp for so many months, for a year and more, for many years ahead, with a murderer?
Because she hoped that he would decide not to murder after all, of course. Because she has to allow humans to be human, even now. Especially now. But not when it comes to killing my husband. That is going too far, Oversoul. You took too great a chance. If he had died I would never have forgiven you. I would refuse to serve you anymore.