"Davidge!"
It was Jerry. I dropped the load I was carrying and ran to the cleft in the cliff’s face that served as a path to the upper woods. Jerry screamed again; and I slipped, then rolled until I came to the shelf level with the cave’s mouth. I rushed through the entrance, down the passageway until I came to the chamber. Jerry writhed on its bed, digging its fingers into the sand.
I dropped on my knees next to the Drac. "I’m here, Jerry. What is it? What’s wrong?"
"Davidge!" The Drac rolled its eyes, seeing nothing; its mouth worked silently, then exploded with another scream.
"Jerry, it’s me!" I shook the Drac’s shoulder. "It’s me, Jerry. Davidge!"
Jerry turned its head toward me, grimaced, then clasped the fingers of one hand around my left wrist with the strength of pain. "Davidge! Zammis… something’s gone wrong!"
"What? What can I do?"
Jerry screamed again, then its head fell back to the bed in a half-faint. The Drac fought back to consciousness and pulled my head down to its lips. "Davidge, you must swear."
"What, Jerry? Swear what?"
"Zammis… on Draco. To stand before the line’s archives. Do this."
"What do you mean? You talk like you’re dying."
"I am, Davidge. Zammis two-hundredth generation… very important. Present my child, Davidge. Swear!"
I wiped the sweat from my face with my free hand. "You’re not going to die, Jerry. Hang on!"
"Enough! Face truth, Davidge! I die! You must teach the line of Jeriba to Zammis… and the book, The Talman, gavey?"
"Stop it!" Panic stood over me almost as a physical presence. "Stop talking like that! You aren’t going to die, Jerry. Come on; fight, you kizlode sonofabitch!"
Jerry screamed. Its breathing was weak and the Drac drifted in and out of consciousness. "Davidge."
"What?" I realized I was sobbing like a kid.
"Davidge, you must help Zammis come out."
"What… how? What in the Hell are you talking about?"
Jerry turned its face to the wall of the cave, "Lift my jacket."
"What?"
"Lift my jacket, Davidge. Now!"
I pulled up the snakeskin jacket, exposing Jerry’s swollen belly. The fold down the center was bright red and seeping a clear liquid. "What… what should I do?"
Jerry breathed rapidly, then held its breath. "Tear it open! You must tear it open, Davidge!"
"I can’t do that."
"Do it! Do it, or Zammis dies!"
"What do I care about your goddamn child, Jerry? What do I have to do to save you?"
"Tear it open," whispered the Drac. "Take care of my child, Irkmaan. Present Zammis before the Jeriba archives. Swear this to me."
"Oh, Jerry…"
"Swear it!"
I nodded, hot fiat tears dribbling down my cheeks. "I swear it…" Jerry relaxed its grip on my wrist and closed its eyes. I knelt next to the Drac, stunned. "No. No, no, no, no."
Tear it open! You must tear it open, Davidge!
I reached up a hand and gingerly touched the fold on Jerry’s belly. I could feel life struggling beneath it, trying to escape the airless confines of the Drac’s womb. I hated it; I hated the damned thing as I never hated anything before. Its struggles grew weaker, then stopped.
Present Zammis before the Jeriba archives. Swear this to me.
I swear it.
I lifted my other hand and inserted my thumbs into the fold and tugged gently. I increased the amount of force, then tore at Jerry’s belly like a madman. The fold burst open, soaking the front of my jacket with the clear fluid. Holding the fold open, I could see the still form of Zammis huddled in a well of the fluid, motionless.
I vomited. When I had nothing more to throw up, I reached into the fluid and put my hands under the Drac infant. I lifted it, wiped my mouth on my upper left sleeve, and closed my mouth over Zammis’s and pulled the child’s mouth open with my right hand. Three times, four times, I inflated the child’s lungs, then it coughed. Then it cried. I tied off the two umbilicals with berrybush fiber, then cut them. Jeriba Zammis was freed of the dead flesh of its parent.
I held the rock over my head, then brought it down with all of my force upon the ice. Shards splashed away from the point of impact, exposing the dark green beneath. Again, I lifted the rock and brought it down, knocking loose another rock. I picked it up, stood and carried it to the half-covered corpse of the Drac. "The Drac," I whispered. Good. Just call it "the Drac." Toad face. Dragger.
My enemy. Call it anything to insulate those feelings against the pain.
I looked at the pile of rocks I had gathered, decided it was sufficient to finish the job, then knelt next to the grave. As I placed the rocks on the pile, unmindful of the gale-blown sleet freezing on my snakeskins, I fought back the tears.
I smacked my hands together to help restore the circulation. Spring was coming, but it was still dangerous to stay outside too long. And I had been a long time building the Drac’s grave. I picked up another rock and placed it into position. As the rock’s weight leaned against the snakeskin mattress cover, I realized that the Drac was already frozen. I quickly placed the remainder of the rocks, then stood.
The wind rocked me and I almost lost my footing on the ice next to the grave. I looked toward the boiling sea, pulled my snakeskins around myself more tightly, then looked down at the pile of rocks.
There should be words. You don’t just cover up the dead, then go to dinner. There should be words.
But what words? I was no religionist, and neither was the Drac. Its formal philosophy on the matter of death was the same as my informal rejection of Islamic delights, pagan Valhallas, and Judeo-Christian pies in the sky. Death is death; finis; the end; the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out.
Still, there should be words.
I reached beneath my snakeskins and clasped my gloved hand around the golden cube of The Talman.
I felt the sharp corners of the cube through my glove, closed my eyes, and ran through the words of the great Drac philosophers. But there was nothing they had written for this moment.
The Talman was a book on life. Talma means "life," and this occupies Drac philosophy. They spare nothing for death. Death is a fact; the end of life. The Talman had no words for me to say. The wind knifed through me, causing me to shiver. Already my fingers were numb and pains were beginning in my feet. Still, there should be words. But the only words I could think of would open the gate, flooding my being with pain—with the realization that the Drac was gone.
Still… still, there should be words.
"Jerry, I—"
I had no words. I turned from the grave, my tears mixing with the sleet.
With the warmth and silence of the cave around me, I sat on my mattress, my back against the wall of the cave. I tried to lose myself in the shadows and flickers of light cast on the opposite wall by the fire. Images would half-form, then dance away before I could move my mind to see something in them.
As a child I used to watch clouds, and in them see faces, castles, animals, dragons, and giants. It was a world of escape—fantasy; something to inject wonder and adventure into the mundane, regulated life of a middle-class boy leading a middle-class life. All I could see on the wall of the cave was a representation of Helclass="underline" flames licking at twisted, grotesque representations of condemned souls. I laughed at the thought. We think of Hell as fire, supervised by a cackling sadist in a red union suit. Fyrine IV taught me this much: Hell is loneliness, hunger, and endless cold.