At the peak of its bounce it exploded again.
It bounced two more times before it stayed down and just slid to a stop.
"Be careful," Raven said. "There might be more explosions." Fires still burned on the windwhale. Somewhere inside it was making a noise like somebody beating on the granddaddy of all bass drums.
I said, "It ain't dead yet. Look there." The end of a tentacle lay just a couple yards from me. It was jumping around like a snake with a toothache.
"Unh. Let's hobble the horses."
Excited all to hell, Raven was. Like he spent his whole life hanging around windwhales so close he could smell their bad breath. And this one had that all over.
I caught something in the firelight. "Hey! There's people up on top of that sucker."
"There had to be. Where?"
"There. Right over that black patch." I pointed. Some guys up there were hauling around on something.
Raven said, "Looks like somebody trying to get somebody else out from under something."
"Let's get up there and give them a hand." I left my horse unhobbled.
Raven grinned at me. "The exuberant folly of youth. Where does it go?"
I started climbing a blubbery, stinky cliff. He went looking for a bush to tie the horses to, that being easier than messing with hobbles. I was halfway to the top before he started after me.
The flesh of the windwhale was sort of spongy and definitely smelly, with the odor of burned flesh added. The flesh trembled with pain and failing life. Such a noble monster. I wanted to cry for it.
"Raven! Hurry up! There's three of them up here and a big fire burning back there."
Right then there was a baby explosion. It knocked me down. Gobs of fire splattered the ground. Some of the dry grass caught.
There would be trouble if that spread.
By the time Raven dragged his carcass up I had the woman across my shoulders and the old man, who was the only one on his feet, was tying her so she wouldn't slide off. Finished, the old boy whipped around and starting trying to drag a frondlike piece of windwhale off somebody else.
Panting, Raven looked at me, looked at the woman, grumbled, "It had to be, didn't it?"
I said, "Hey, this broad is solid as a rock. Or she's got a lead butt. She weighs as much as I do."
"How about you get her down?" He muttered, "I'm getting too old for this crap," and headed for the old man. "You. What the hell are you doing here?" He wasn't surprised to see the guy under the frond, though. Having Silent drop out of the sky was just the kind of trick he expected the fates to pull on him.
He was shaking as he helped the old man lift the frond. The old man started fussing over Silent. A black lump of a something glommed on to his shoulder made a sound like a kitten crying.
"Hoist him up!" the old wizard ordered. "Carry him. We don't have time for me to bring him around."
I started down then. Whatever else they said I missed. Pretty soon they started down after me.
Something whispered overhead. The lump on the wizard's shoulder mewled again. A screech tumbled down from the dark. The windwhale's manias had come to circle their dying partner.
What happened to mantas when their windwhale died?
"Ouch!" Raven yelled. "Watch where the hell you're stepping!"
At the same time the old man said, "The arrogance of you, man! The bloody insufferable, conceited arrogance. You, without claim or right, demand—demand!—explanations of me. Of me! The conceit of you surpasses comprehension. I should be asking you what you're doing here, fluttering around ahead of the Limper. Are you his forerunner? His death scout? Will you get moving? Before we get crisped like bacon?"
I got my feet on the ground, watched them. Raven was thoroughly pissed. Maybe he never figured out that he wasn't a lord anymore and the world wasn't going to jump when he barked. And he never did have sense enough to be scared of the right people. People like old Bomanz, who could probably turn him into a frog if he got aggravated.
Raven didn't get to shoot off his own mouth. Another explosion almost shook him and the old man off the windwhale. A big shudder rolled through the monster. That drumbeat stopped. The beast let out with a deep groan that said everything there was to say about death and despair.
The mantas upstairs made keening sounds. Mourning sounds. I wondered how they would manage now.
The windwhale stopped shaking. The wizard yelled, "Get out of here before the whole thing blows!"
Raven was staggering toward the horses when it happened. The blast beggared everything we had seen before. I ducked away from a blast of hot air. It hurled Raven forward. He fell on his face. Bomanz, though closer to the explosion, rode the blast, staying upright with footwork that reminded me of my old mother dancing. He looked like he was in pain.
When the ring in my ears went I heard the sad song of the mantas, again or still.
The windwhale became its own funeral pyre.
Flying chunks started grass fires all around. The horses were upset. We were not safe yet.
Raven crawled, unable to get back up. I felt like a total Daryl Dipshit standing there doing nothing to help, but my legs just wouldn't move.
The wizard caught up, hoisted Raven. They cussed each other like a couple of drunks. I got my feet going finally and leaned into the heat. "Come on, you guys. Knock it off. Let's throw this dork on a horse and get out of here before we all get turned into pork cracklings."
I already had the woman across one saddle like a sack of rice. We had to do so much running her front side was going to be one miserable bruise.
"Move it!" I yelled. "There's a breeze coming up." I scooted back and got hold of the animals before they decided they were smarter than us and headed for the high country.
While we hoisted Silent, Raven got his first good look at Darling. She was all beat to hell. Blood leaked from her mouth, ears, and nose. Her exposed skin was all bruised or blood-caked. Silent looked about as bad, and so did the wizard, pretty much, but Raven did not care jack shit about them.
"They can be healed," Bomanz said before Raven could start fussing, "If we get them away from here before the grass fires get us."
That and me heading out without waiting around for him got Raven moving. He followed me, leading the horse with Darling on it. Bomanz did not wait for either of us.
He headed around one end of the nearest grass fire, which the breeze was pushing toward the sleepy, humpbacked hills.
Raven went to muttering and cursing again. Bomanz was headed north, cradling the manta kit, which squeaked cheerfully at creatures that glided invisibly above our heads. Raven still wanted to catch his old crony, but I guess he decided it would not be smart to challenge the sorcerer right off, when he was in a bad mood, too.
I kept glancing back at the burning windwhale till we got too far into the woods to see it. It seemed to me there had to be some kind of lesson there, some kind of symbolism, but I couldn't unravel it.
XXVIII
Smeds walked into the Skull and Crossbones out of bright morning sunshine. When his eyes adjusted he spotted Timmy Locan in a dark corner at a tiny table for two. At first it looked like Timmy was just sitting there staring down at his bundled hand. When he got closer, though, Smeds saw Timmy's eyes were tight shut. Moisture glittered on his cheeks.
Smeds sat down across from Timmy. "You go to a doc like I said?"
"Yeah."
"Well?"
"He charged me two obols to tell me he didn't know what was wrong and he didn't know what to do about it unless I want him to cut it off. He couldn't even help with the pain."
"You need a wizard, then."
"Point me at the best one in town and turn me loose. I can afford him."