All right, Rhi,Saash said finally.How many years has this been going on, would you say?
I wouldn’t dare guess. Saash—’Ruah—whoever even heard of saurians using tools?
It’s news to me,Saash said.But I wasn’t thinking developmentally. How are we supposed to find the catenary “trunks” down inthat?And you heard what’s-his-face back there: they’ve been moving the catenaries around. Our map is no good anymore.
And what about Har’lh?Urruah said.If he’s down here somewhere—how in the Queen’s name are we supposed to find him?
The sixth claw…Arhu said.
Yes,Rhiow said,I’d saythisis what that’s for. And he said they weregivenit.
She stood silent for a moment, looking into the depths.We’re going to have to try to feel for the trunk of the “tree,”Rhiow said at last.I know the feel of Har’lh’s mind probably better than any of us: I’ll do the best I can to pick up any trace of him. But range is going to be a problem.Especially with her mind growing wearier by the moment of carrying the neural-inhibitor spell…
Behind her, Arhu was gazing down into the abyss, toward the spark of fire at its bottom. Rhiow looked at him, wondering what was going on in that edgy young mind. Perhaps he caught the thought: he turned to her, eyes that had been slitted down now dilating again in the dimmer light of the level where they stood. And then, very suddenly, dilating farther. Arhu’s face wrinkled into a silent snarclass="underline" he lifted a huge black-and-white-patched paw and slapped at Rhiow, every claw out—
Completely astounded, Rhiow ducked aside—and so missed, and was missed by, the far longer claws that went hissing past her ear, and the bulk that blurred by her. Arhu did not make a sound, but he leapt and hit the shape that had leapt at Rhiow, and together they went down in a tangle, furred and scaled limbs kicking.
Urruah was the first to react, though Rhiow heard rather than saw the reaction: six words in the Speech, and a seventh one that always reminded her of the sound of someone’s stomach growling. But at the seventh word, one of the shapes kicking at each other on the stone froze still; the other one got up, and picked his way away from the first, shaking each paw as he stepped aside.I could have taken him!Arhu said.
Bets?Urruah said. Perhaps the comment was fair, for the saurian was twice Arhu’s size and possibly two and a half times his weight: lithe, heavily muscled, and with a long narrow, many-toothed muzzle that could probably have bitten him in two, given opportunity. Rhiow stood there thinking that the opportunity might have fallen to her instead. She leaned over to Arhu, breathed breaths with him, caught the taste of fear but also a sharp flavor of satisfaction.
Thank you,she said. Iowe you one.
No,Arhu said,I’ve paid you back the one I owe you. Now we’re even.
Rhiow was taken aback—but also pleased: by so much this wayward kitten had grown in just a few days.Whether he’ll live much longer to enjoy the threshold of his adulthood,she thought, isanother question.But then there was no telling whether there was much left ofhers.
She turned, as he did, to have a look at the saurian, lying there struck stiff as a branch of wood on the stones.It’s a variant of the neural inhibitor,Urruah said.Lower energy requirement, easier to carry: it’s not instantly fatal. Say the word, and I’ll make it so.
No,Rhiow said.I’ll thank you for a copy of your variant, though. You always were the lazy creature.
Urruah made a slow smile at her. Rhiow stood over the saurian, studied it. Compared to many they’d seen recently, it was of a slightly soberer mode: dark reds and oranges, melded together as if lizards were trying to evolve the tortoiseshell coloration.
We’ve got places to be, Rhi,Urruah said,and we don’t know where they are yet. Kill it and let’s move on.
No,Arhu said suddenly.
Urruah stared at him. So did Saash.Are younuts? she hissed.Leave it alive and it’ll run to all its friends, tell them right where we are… and so much for—She declined to say more.
Arhu stared at the saurian; Rhiow saw the look and got a chill that raised her fur.Let his lungs go,Arhu said to Urruah.He’s choking.
Urruah threw a glance at Rhiow. She looked down at the saurian, then up at Arhu. His expression was, in its way, as fixed as that of the lizard—but it was one she had never seen on him before: not quite in this combination, anyway. Loathing was there. So was something else.Longing… ?
Whoishe?she said to Arhu.
He switched his tail“I don’t know.”The father,he said.My son.—He’s got to come along. Urruah, let him go—!
Rhiow had heard all kinds of tones in Arhu’s voice before now, but never before this one: authority. It astonished her. She glanced over at Urruah.Go on—
He blinked: the wizardry came undone. Immediately the saurian began to roll around, choking and wheezing for air; Arhu backed away from him, watched him. So did all the others.
After a few moments he lay still, then slowly gathered his long hind legs under nun and got back up on his feet. He was another of the mini-tyrannosaur breed, bigger than the last one they had seen. He turned slowly now in a circle, looking at each of them from his small, chilly eyes. His claws clenched, unclenched, clenched again. Each forelimb had six.
“Why am I still alive?” he said. It was a hissing, breathy voice, harsh in its upper register.
“That’sthe question of the week,” Urruah said, throwing an annoyed glance at Arhu.
“Why did you attack us?” Rhiow said.
“I smelled you,” it said, and glared at her. “You should not be here.”
“Well, we are,” Rhiow said. “Now, what will you do?”
“Why have you come down out of the sunlight into the dark?” said the saurian.
Glances were exchanged.Tell him? Certainly not—Then, suddenly, Arhu spoke.
“We are on errantry,” he said, “and we greet you.”
The saurian stared at him.
“You are not,” he said, “the one who was foretold.”
“No,” Arhu said, in a tone of absolute certainty.
Rhiow looked at Urruah, then at Saash.Whatisthis?
“What, then, will you do?” said the saurian, looking around at them.
Be extremely confused?Saash said.I’ll start chasing my tail right now if it’ll help.
Lacking any other obvious course of action, Rhiow decided to assert herself.“We have business below,” she said: that at least was true as far as she knew. “We can’t leave you here, now that you’ve seen us. You must come with us, at least part of the way. If you agree, we’ll do you no harm, and we’ll free you when we’re done. If you disagree, or try to trickor elude us, we’ll bring you by force; if you try to betray us, we’ll kill you. Do you understand that?”
The saurian gave Rhiow a cool look.“We may be slow, trapped down in this cold place,” it said, “but we are not stupid.”
Rhiow licked her nose.
“Lead us down, then,” Urruah said. “We don’t wish any of your people to see us. But we must make our way well down there.” He gestured with his tail over the parapet.
The saurian looked in the direction of the gesture. Rhiow wished desperately that there was some way to read expression in these creatures’ faces, but even if there was, it was not a subject she had ever studied.
“Very well,” the saurian said, and turned toward another passageway that led from the parapet, the one from which it had leapt at Rhiow.