There were plenty of the vines whose leaves Blade had chewed first. Every time he passed one he plucked a fresh handful of the leaves, to keep his mouth and throat moist. They didn't stop him from sweating buckets, though, or replace the water he lost in that sweat. By the time he'd been on the move for half a day, he knew he'd have to slow down if he didn't find water soon.
Only a few minutes later Blade came around a clump of bushes and found something almost as good as water. Along with it he found something else that sent him diving for the nearest cover.
On the other side of the bushes was a tall red-barked tree, with an unmistakable campsite at its base. The tree was half hidden by a thick vine winding up and around it like a boa constrictor. The vine was heavy with yellowish fruit. All around the base of the tree lay rinds, skin, seeds, and half-eaten fruit. That was about as good as a doctor's certificate for proving the fruit was edible.
Unfortunately the people in the camp had done more than eat fruit before they left. Two of them hadn't left at all. They lay on the ground, one on each side of the tree. Both were male. One lay on his back, legs stretched out and arms crossed on his chest, with leaves covering his eyes and piled on his stomach. Clotted blood swarming with insects covered one side of his face.
The other man was sprawled like an abandoned doll, arms and legs twisted and bent at impossible angles. Blade looked closer and swallowed hard as he realized large chunks of flesh were missing from the body. They'd been roughly hacked out — or perhaps bitten out?
Blade examined both bodies more closely. It became obvious that they were of two different peoples-possibly even two different species. The neatly laid-out corpse was almost completely covered with hair, the eyes were large, the ears set close to the narrow skull, and the arms and legs unnaturally long. Were this man's people even fully human? To Blade he looked more like an ape than a man.
The other seemed completely human, as far as Blade could tell from what was left of him. He was square-bodied, with thick-boned arms and legs heavy with muscle. One hand was missing, but the other was heavily callused, and so were his bare feet. His skin was unmistakably a dark blue, and in places Blade saw traces of whitish tattoos.
So there were human beings in this Dimension, and even in this jungle. Not just one race, either, but two-and apparently not on particularly friendly terms, either. For the hundredth time Blade wished he could see and hear in all directions at once. Both bodies were swarming with insects, but neither of them smelled particularly bad. In this damp heat decay would set in almost at once. Either or both peoples could still be too close for comfort. Blade didn't look like either one, of course, but would they be able to see this before they speared him or hit him over the head?
At least he could get food and liquid from the yellow fruit, and worry about the rest later. He walked over to the vine and plucked a fruit, then peeled of the skin and bit out a chunk. The juice dribbled down his chin as he chewed. The flavor wasn't entirely pleasant-rather like overripe pineapple with a faint hint of sulphur-but he'd lived for days on things tasting far worse. A dozen or two of the fruit would hold him for several days.
Blade started picking, noticing that most of the fruit close to the ground was still on the vine. Higher up it was stripped almost bare. Either the fruit up there was better than lower down or else somebody liked climbing trees for the fun of it.
Blade collected fifteen of the fruits, then pieced together a rough sack out of fern leaves and lengths of vine. He made himself an even rougher hat out of more fern leaves, then looked around for a weapon of some sort. Not far off he found a fallen branch the size of a small tree. Much of it was rotted, but one chunk was still sound enough to make a good club.
Blade saw no sign of any trail, and his hunter's sixth sense told him that no one was watching or listening from cover. He picked up the club, slung the sack of fruit across his shoulder, and moved on. He was not afraid, for Blade was about as incapable of fear as a sane man could be, but he would have liked a loaded pistol in his belt as well as that machete and some bug repellant.
Blade didn't get a pistol or a machete, but before nightfall he did find all the water he could possibly use.
The twilight was deepening steadily as Blade tramped along. It was time to start looking for a safe place to spend the night. Should he climb a tree or risk staying on the ground? Most of the trees here were solid and climbable, but their lowest branches were far overhead and he didn't know what might hide up there in the green-tinted shadows. On the ground he'd be vulnerable to anything that wandered by, but he'd seen no traces of anything large enough to be dangerous, not even snakes.
As he walked, Blade argued with himself and listened for the slightest sound that might help him decide one way or the other. The noises of the jungle now seemed to be fading away along with the light. The creatures of the day were falling asleep, and the creatures of the night weren't awake yet.
In this near-silence Blade suddenly heard the unmistakable splashing of water off to the left. He stopped, listening carefully. Gradually he recognized the sound as a stream running over stones, rather than some large animal splashing in the water.
Blade turned toward the sound and moved forward, darting from one tree to the next, listening from behind each one like a soldier sneaking up on an enemy camp. He suspected he might be exactly that. If the hunting parties hadn't left this stretch of jungle entirely, the bank of a stream was the most likely place to find them camped for the night.
Finally glade came out from behind the last tree onto the bank of the stream. What he'd heard was a short stretch of rapids, as a stream flowed out of one pool, plunged down a thirty-foot bluff, and spread out into another pool. Dead leaves and twigs covered the water close to the banks, but in the center of the pools it was clear, dark, and almost still. There was no sign that anything human had ever passed this way.
Blade felt like cheering. He could not only drink all he wanted, he could even bathe. The dried tree sap might not come off with just water, but the sweat and dirt certainly would. Tomorrow he could head downstream, sure of a water supply. If the stream widened enough, he might be able to build a raft of branches tied together with vines. Even if it didn't widen, following it would give him a much better chance of meeting the jungle tribes. In this kind of jungle, people lived by the water or at least traveled on it or along it.
Blade stepped forward, then halted. On the far side of the lower pool an animal was peering out from under a bush. It was about the size of a large dog, but it looked more like a pig with a faintly scaly skin, large ears, and a thick straight tail. It blended in with the bushes and ferns so well that it was hard to tell its color.
It was obviously coming to drink, and Blade tried to think of some way of catching it. If it was edible at all, it would give him a couple of solid meals and perhaps some strips of hide to protect his feet.
The animal's nose twitched, then it lowered its head to drink. As it took its first swallow, two scaly knobs popped out of the middle of the pool. Blade froze as a pale eye opened in each knob. The animal raised its head, then squealed in sudden fear and tried to hurl itself backward away from the water.