The beast stopped tearing at the branches, raised his proboscis, sniffed here and there, and then began to trumpet.
Ghlikh dropped the bomb and then screamed with frustration.
The colossus answered with a scream of his own and a sudden shift from motionlessness into a charge that picked up speed unbelievably fast. The animal may not have seen anything as yet; he may have been just startled and so was running away. blindly. Ulysses, and, suddenly, the rocket seemed very inadequate.
Despite which, he placed the bazooka and its load on his shoulder and yelled at Awina to light the fuse. He could not see her, but she told him calmly what she was doing.
At that moment, Ghlikh's bomb went off about thirty yards behind the grey juggernaut. The Old Being increased his shrillness of trumpeting and his speed. He also changed his direction so that he was not approaching Ulysses and Awina directly. Unless he veered again, he would miss them by about four feet. But he should be able to see them before then and so would likely head toward them.
Heat fanned by Ulysses' cheek; smoke filled his eyes; the rocket hissed as it raced out of the tube and by his head. It flew in a fiat arc toward the creature, which was now charging them, having seen them two seconds before. His trunk was coiled high, and his reddish eyes were on them. The dark blur of the rocket struck the juggernaut's left shoulder, and the explosion deafened Ulysses. Smoke billowed out so that he could not even see the beast. He did not wait to notice the effects of the hit but ran off to one side with Awina close behind him. A carrier was running up to him with another rocket, and then other missiles went over him, one wentby him, and something struck him in the back.
He fell forward on his face while smoke arranged itself like a tent around him. He coughed and then got up from his all-fours position. He was too stunned for several minutes to realise what had happened. Some rocketeer had gotten excited and directed the missile at too low an elevation. It was this rocket that had almost hit him and had struck a tree near him.
Ulysses got to his feet. His clothes were ripped and he was dirty with black smoke. He looked around for Awina, and then gave a cry of relief. She was standing near him and looking dazed and red-eyed and her fur was black with smoke. But she did not seem to have any wounds.
He turned back to The Old Being. He could hear nothing; for all he knew he was right behind him.
The beast was not. He lay on the ground, kicking his columnar legs while blood poured out like springs from several huge holes. One leg, though moving, was half blown off at the shoulder.
And then, as the warriors and the carriers, shouting and screaming triumphantly, moved in on him, he struggled to his feet, and, hobbling, charged again. The bipeds scattered, screaming with terror, and then the beast caught one with his trunk and lifted him up and hurled him spinning over and over into the branches of a tree.
After that, The Old Being collapsed again and died in a lake of mud and blood.
Miraculously, the Wufea thrown into the tree survived with only a few cuts and bruises.
It took Ulysses a long time to recover his hearing and his nerves. When he quit shaking, he examined the beast. He was, as Awina said, a mountain that walked. Just cutting off the tusks and transporting them back to the Wufea village would be a great labour. But he knew that when the Wufea, Wagarondit and Alkunquib made their pilgrimage to the village and saw those gargantuan tusks set upright into the ground before the temple, they would feel that their stone god was truly a god. They would also, he hoped, feel a stronger sense of union. All three of the hereditary foes had participated in this hunt for their ancient enemy. And all three could share in the glory.
There was one irritant in his triumph. That was Ghlikh.
He asked the bat-man what had happened.
"Lord, forgive me!" the bat-man piped. "I was sweating with excitement! My hand slipped, and I dropped the bomb! I am sorry indeed, but I could not help it!"
"Did your excitement also make you scream and so warn The Old Being?"
"Truly, Lord! My only excuse is that that giant monster strikes terror and panic into the hearts of every mortal! Look at how close a rocket came to hitting you!"
Ulysses said, "No harm was done."
"Now that The Old Being is dead, may I go?" Ghlikh said. "I would like to return home."
"Which is where?" Ulysses said, hoping to catch him off guard.
"As I have said, Lord, to the south. Many many marches."
"You may go," Ulysses said, wondering what Ghlikh had up his non-existent sleeve. It seemed to him that Ghlikh would be reporting on him, but to whom he could not even begin to guess. There was no sense in trying to keep him.
"Will I see you again soon?"
"I do not know, my Lord," Ghlikh said with that sidelong look that irritated Ulysses. "But you may see others of my kind."
"I will see you sooner than you think," Ulysses said.
Ghlikh seemed startled. He said, "What do you mean by that, my Lord?"
"Farewell," Ulysses said. "And my thanks for what you did."
Ghlikh hesitated and then said, "Farewell, my Lord. This has been a most profitable experience for me and the most exciting of all my life."
He left to say goodbye to the chiefs of each of the three bands and Awina. Ulysses watched him until he flapped away and disappeared beyond a high hill.
He said to Awina, "I think he has gone to tell somebody about the results of his spying."
"My Lord?" she said. "Spying?"
"Yes, I'm sure that he is working for somebody other than himself or his people. I cannot put my finger on anything that will hold still. But I feel it."
"Perhaps he works for Wurutana.?" she said.
"He may," he said. "We'll find out. We'll be going south to find Wurutana after we set these tusks up before the temple."
"Will I be coming along?" she said. Her great Siamese-cat-blue eyes were fixed on him, and her posture betrayed tension.
"I understand it will be very dangerous," he said. "But you do not seem to be afraid of danger. Yes, I will be very happy if you will come with me. But I will not order anyone to accompany me. I will take only volunteers."
"I am very happy to be able to go with my Lord," she said. And then she added, "But are you going to face Wurutana or look for your sons and daughters?"
"My what?"
"For those mortals of whom Ghlikh spoke. The beings who look so much like you that they must be your children."
He smiled and said, "You are very intelligent and very perceptive, Awina. I will be going south to do both, of course."
"And will you be looking for a mate among the mortals who are your children?"
"I do not know!" he said, more harshly than he had intended. Why should this question upset him? Of course, he would be looking for a mate. What a question! And then he thought, well, she is a female, and her question is only natural for her.
But Awina was subdued for several days thereafter. Not until he tried hard to get her into conversation and to jolly her up did she come out of her blueness. Even so, many times he caught her looking at him with a strange expression.
They reached the Wufea village after making some detours to villages near their direct route. They set up the tusks to form the corners of a square before the temple gates and then they built a roof supported by the tusks. There were celebrations and ceremonies until the chiefs complained that the Wufea were going bankrupt. Moreover, the crops were not being properly taken care of, and the extensive hunting to feed all the guests had cleaned out the game for far too many miles around.