«No one.»
«Then why do you think Blade is the first?»
«I have a sense about him, that he is not as other men. His coming means something for the Rutari. I do not believe he will die until we know what that is.»
«You dream, Ellspa.» The Wise One was smiling, but she did not seem to find Ellspa's words really funny. «And I think what you dream of is having the Blade back in your furs for a long time.»
«Perhaps,» said Ellspa.
«Then why do you wish us to send hunters into all the valleys and up all the hills to seek Blade? If he's alive and they find him, he may still have done some unlawful act that will send him to the Great Hunters. Then you would get no pleasure from having him-«
Now it was Ellspa who was angry. Cheeky was certain of that, because she was sending out anger so strongly. «I am not ruled by my loins the way you seem to think, Wise One. If Blade has done evil, then let him be punished. If he has done good, then so much the better. But I cannot imagine that he has done nothing. I will go alone into the mountains myself rather than admit that.»
«I will forbid you to do any such thing, Ellspa.»
«You may forbid. Can you stop me?»
«I can certainly do so more easily than Blade could have lived in the Hungry Waters.»
«I have learned more than you think, Wise One. You might not find me easy to stop.»
«You would challenge me, at a time like this, when you yourself say that there is danger for the Rutari?»
«Yes, I would challenge you, if I was sure you did not deserve your name.»
The two women were now glaring at each other, their arms and legs stiff, and their minds both sending out anger. Cheeky thought of two cats about to fight. He sensed that Moyla was unhappy about this, and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. He had no thoughts of himself now that he was concerned for her.
The anger between the two women lasted for a little while longer. Then the Wise One put her arms around Ellspa and showed grief. «Ellspa, I am sorry. Perhaps you have had a true vision. But I do say that you are as yet too young to be able to know this for certain. Shall we go together before the Idol and ask it what has happened to the Blade?»
Ellspa smiled and kissed the Wise One. «Yes, we can go before the Idol. Since we took it from the Uchendi, it has always given us wisdom, in gratitude for being out of their hands. It is as well to know soon if I am seeing the truth or only dreaming the dreams of a girl.»
«Yes. And if we learn that the Blade is alive and dangerous to the Rutari, there are other things we can do about him than send our men to fall off cliffs after him!» They both laughed.
«May I take Cheeky with me to the Idol?» Ellspa then asked. Cheeky gently took his hand off Moyla's shoulder. Now he would be sure to have thoughts he did not want anyone to hear.
«You think he will become your First Friend or at least tell you about the Blade?»
«Maybe. But-I would like to be kind to him. He does not deserve to be unhappy, no matter what his Master has done.» What Ellspa was feeling told Cheeky that she was mostly telling the truth. She did hope to learn from him things about the Blade she did not know, but she also really wanted to make him happy.
Cheeky went over to Ellspa, yeeeped softly, and jumped up on her shoulder. «See,» she said. «He understands me. In time, maybe he will be my First Friend. Now-can I take him with me to the Idol?»
«Yes.»
Cheeky jumped down before there was any chance Ellspa could know why he was so happy and excited. He would learn where the Idol was and maybe even what it was. Then if the Master Blade was alive, and they ever met again, he would be able to tell Blade the things he most wanted to know! Then the Master Blade might forgive him for staying with Moyla.
However, that would be giving Blade something the Rutari did not want him to know. He would be making Ellspa unhappy after she tried to make him happy. The Wise One also might get angry with Ellspa, and punish her. Cheeky felt almost ashamed of himself for doing this to the woman. He knew it was a good thing to do for the Master Blade, but he very much wished the Master Blade was here so they could talk about it before he actually had to do it.
The Master Blade was not here, though. Cheeky would have to do what had to be done alone. For the first time he understood something about what the Master Blade felt all the times he had to do something like this alone.
Chapter 12
Richard Blade was still alive, but it wasn't because the Hungry Waters didn't live up to their name. As he'd once said, «I suppose I'm too stupid to know when I'm supposed to lie down and die. So I never do.»
The spray threw off his judgment of the height of the cliff, so he hit the water before he was ready. He went deep, striking the bottom and swallowing a throatful of icy water before he started to rise. Then he shot to the surface like a cork, just in time for a wave to submerge him again. This bobbing up and down went on for quite a while, and if Blade hadn't been able to get a breath each time he surfaced he would probably have drowned.
Finally he reached a calmer part of the river. It turned out to be calmer only because the water boomed through a stretch of the canyon as straight as a pipe. Blade slammed against rocks several times, fortunately receiving only glancing blows. He wasn't hurt except for some bruises and loss of a certain amount of skin, but he was soon bleeding enough to notice. At least he didn't have to worry about the blood attracting sharks!
He'd just started to catch his breath when he went over a waterfall. It must have been a good thirty feet high, straight down into a pool so deep Blade didn't worry about hitting bottom. He shot down and down and down into it, until the light began to fade and he started wondering if he would get back to the surface before his breath ran out. Or was he going to be sucked into an underwater cave, just for variety?
Neither happened. His head popped into fresh air, and he trod water until his lungs were back to normal. Then he looked around. The pool was broad enough to slow down the current. It was also far enough downstream from where he'd jumped that the runners' path was nowhere in sight. He still swam underwater most of the way to the far bank, in case some of the runners who'd seen his accident left the path to look for him.
As soon as he felt bottom under his feet, he stood with only his head out of the water, scanning the runners' side of the river. The slope on his side was gentle, but as bare of covering as a stripteaser at the end of her act. Anybody who reached the other bank before Blade got over the crest would see him standing out like a fly on a plate.
No sign of anyone, though. Blade swam the last few yards to shore underwater, surfaced, took several deep breaths, then charged out of the water. He didn't slow down until he was over the crest of the slope, then looked back at the opposite bank from the cover of a boulder.
He saw nobody, and he'd heard no shouts as he ran. Blade checked his plastic harness and wrist bracers and found himself grinning. Except for these bits of plastic he was practically back to where he'd been in the early days of the Project-alone and nearly naked, in a land full of dangers, both human and natural.
This time, though, he knew most of the dangers, including the Rutari and the Great Hunters. He knew where he was going and roughly how far he had to go to get there. He could even hope for a friendly reception when he arrived. Considering how easily he'd survived so many bare-arsed landings in entirely new Dimensions, there was nothing to worry about now.