“Stop here! See those vines ahead, across the trail? They stick to the skin and can’t be pulled off. I was caught by them once. Warn the others. We are at the outermost fringes of the city now.”
They went forward cautiously, though any sounds they might have made would surely have been drowned out by the tumult in the meadow ahead. At the forest edge they stopped and looked with awe at the open field beyond.
Two immense creatures, each larger than the largest mastodon, were circling each other in the high grass, while a third looked on. Their wrinkled hide was yellowish-brown, their wide heads were heavily armored, while blood-red, bony plates covered their backs. One of them lunged at the other, snapping a horny, toothless beak, screaming loudly. The other turned sideways, swinging its tail around so that the great bony club at its tip lashed out. It hit the earth with a ground-shaking thud as the first creature moved aside to avoid it.
“Ruutsa,” Kerrick said. “They do that when they are fighting over a mate. That’s the female, there, eating grass. I know this field — I know where we are!”
He stamped a flat spot into black soil, then bent and scratched lines on it with the tip of his stone knife.
“Herilak, look — this is what the city is like. They have a model there that I have studied so long that I know it by heart, even now. This is what it looks like. The sea is here, these are the beaches, then the wall. Here is the ambesed, a big empty space where they all meet.”
Herilak watched intently as Kerrick sketched the city, then the fields about it.
“The fields surround the city in circles, wider and wider, and the ruutsa are right here.”
Herilak looked closely at the scratched lines, tugging at his beard in thought. “Are you sure that is where we are? It has been a long time since you left this place, they might have changed the fields, moved the beasts around.”
“Never, not the Yilanè. What is, is, and never changes. Little things may be different from day to day, but once a thing is set it is that way forever.”
“Then I believe you, since you are the only one who knows the murgu so well…”
A cry of pain cut him off and they turned to see one of the Sasku hunters rear up, then fall heavily to the ground. They ran to his aid and Herilak reached to tear the thorn-tipped vine from his arm: Kerrick stopped him.
“Don’t touch that — or you are dead too. It is too late to help him. The poison is in his body.”
The Sasku’s back arched with pain and there was foam on his lips, pink with blood where he had bitten his tongue.
He was paralyzed and unconscious — but it took him a long time to die.
“Unless you want this kind of death, don’t let anything touch you until we are well inside the fields,” Kerrick said. “Watch where you walk, don’t brush against any kind of plant. Some of the vines will stick to you, or as you have just seen — others will kill.”
“Is all of the city like this?” Herilak asked.
“No, just the outer edge. To keep marauding animals — and Tanu — away. Once we get past this barrier the only danger will be from armed guards. They are protected and hidden behind walls and may be hard to see.”
“But they must sleep at night,” Herilak said.
“They must, but there may be night alarms here now. We will find their positions and stay well clear of them.”
“What is the plan then?”
Kerrick went back to the diagram on the ground and pointed to the outer circle. “We must get past these fields. Most of these creatures, grass-eating ones like the ruutsa in this field, won’t attack unless they are disturbed.”
He lifted his head and sniffed the air. “The wind is from the west, so we must circle around to this spot, to have the wind behind our backs. Once past the fields the trees of the city begin. They are close together there. Once the fire starts and spreads there will be nothing to stop it.”
“Is there any dry wood to be found there?” Herilak asked.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Then we will search for it now, take it with us.”
“Wait until we have reached the fields to the west of the city. The wood can be collected then, everything made ready. We want to get through the outer barrier around sunset. All of the Yilanè, other than the guards in their outposts, will have returned to the city by then so we will not be seen. We will avoid the guards and reach the place where the trees begin by dark. Then we will start our fires.”
All three ruutsa were grazing quietly when they left, their battle forgotten!
It was late afternoon before they had worked their way around the outermost fields. None of the game trails seemed to go in the right direction, so they had to force their way through the groves of trees and thick, tangled undergrowth.
When they carne to a sluggish stream Kerrick called a halt, then passed the word for them to gather together. The water ran clear towards the center of the stream so they waded out there to drink. When they had drunk their fill Kerrick told them what was to be done, stopping often to translate his orders to the Sasku. They all listened with grim attention for this was journey’s end. Victory or certain death.
They listened intently, not noticing while he was talking that the sky was clouding over. Kerrick broke off as a few drops of rain struck his skin.
Herilak looked up at the sky and scowled. “If it rains then we cannot attack — for the city will not burn.”
“It is still the dry season,” Kerrick said, with more assurance than he felt. “This won’t last.” He did not dare consider what they would do if it did rain.
They spread out to find dry wood, glancing apprehensively at the sky as they went. It stayed dark and the wind increased; thunder rumbled on the horizon.
“We cannot wait until evening,” Herilak said. “We must start the fires before it rains.”
“There will be murgu about, we may be seen.”
“A risk we will have to take. Help me prepare a way through the thorn barrier while the others find wood.”
They tore thick branches from the trees and pressed them down over the tangled and poisonous vines. In the open field beyond great duck-billed creatures looked at them with widened eyes, before they bounded away. Herilak trampled down the branches and crossed first, waving the others after him as they came back with the dry wood.
They gathered inside this barrier and waited until all had returned. Only then did they start forward warily with Kerrick leading the way. After all this time he had returned to Alpèasak. Overhead the thunder rumbled closer and he broke into a run as the first drops of the coming storm spattered on his shoulders.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The baby slung on Armun’s back was awake and crying unhappily, soaked and chilled by the driving rain. Kneeling on the ground she was wet through herself, cold, black with mud on her arms and legs where she had been digging up the bulbs with her sharp stick. Lightning flared briefly in the sky and the crack of thunder that came immediately after it hurt her ears. Ermanpadar was displeased with something. It was time to return to the tents. The baby wailed even louder as she picked up the basket of bulbs and rose to her feet.
Something moved through the rain above and she looked up to see the bird silently floating by on widespread wings. It put out its legs and landed heavily on the high branch, then sat looking down at her with cold eyes set above its cruel, hooked bill. Armun could see the black bulge on its leg and she turned and ran with terror through the trees. Thunder, lightning, and the bird that told the murgu where they were. Fear choked her as she fled to the safety of the tents.