A Beautiful Friendship-ARC (35 page)

<
Frightened? Frightened of what?
>

<
That is what we do not know
.> Short Tail’s ears flattened in mingled frustration, fear, and anger. <
Over the last hand of days, three hands of the People have . . . disappeared
.>

<
‘Disappeared’?
> Climbs Quickly repeated.

<
It is the only way I can describe it
,> Short Tail replied. <
They went out from their nesting places in the normal way—hunters, scouts, gatherers—and they did not return
.>

A chill ran through Climbs Quickly, and his eyes narrowed intensely.

<
I do not understand
,> he said slowly. <
You say they did not return. Did they not send even a mind call for help or in warning?
>

<
They did not
,> Short Tail said flatly. of them did, and at least some of them were on errands which should not have taken them beyond their mind-voices’ reach of the central nesting place
.>

The chill in Climbs Quickly’s blood grew more intense. It wasn’t unheard of for one of the People to suffer an accident, or even to be pounced upon by one of the predators People normally evaded without undue difficulty. But it
was
highly unusual—in fact, Climbs Quickly couldn’t remember a single case in which it had happened—for one of the People within mind-voice range to fail even to call out for help in such a case.

<
Is there no clue as to what may have befallen them?
> he asked.

<
None that we understand
,> Short Tail responded, and Climbs Quickly’s ears pricked. The senior scout spoke more slowly, and there was an odd blend of hesitation, confusion, and unhappiness in his mind-glow. Obviously, he didn’t look forward to explaining further, and Climbs Quickly wondered why.

<
The reason some have suggested moving deeper into the mountains without telling any of the two-legs,
> Short Tail continued after a moment, <
is that they believe the two-legs are responsible for whatever is befalling the People. This is a new thing, Climbs Quickly. None of the memory songs tell us of People simply . . . vanishing this way, and some believe it must be related to the way in which we have revealed ourselves to the two-legs. You yourself have reported that some among the two-legs have pushed Death Fang’s Bane to tell more about the People than she wishes, allow them to study you far more closely than she will permit, and Swift Striker has reported much the same thing about
his
two-leg. Some of the People have come to wonder if perhaps those two-legs who have been frustrated by Death Fang’s Bane’s and Darkness Foe’s refusal to tell them what they wish to know or allow them to study
you
might not have decided to . . . take some of
us
for study. And now some of our scouts have reported hearing the two-legs’ flying things moving quietly and carefully near our central nesting place. Some fear that those who have disappeared have been taken by the two-legs in those flying things
.>

Climbs Quickly’s mind-glow had darkened as Short Tail explained. He wasn’t surprised some People should feel that way. For that matter, he agreed with them. In fact, he suspected he could put a specific two-leg’s face behind what had happened.

But how? Speaks Falsely didn’t know where Bright Water’s central nest place was.
No
two-leg knew that aside from Death Fang’s Bane Clan, and Death Fang’s Bane and her parents had taken careful precautions to keep it that way.

<
I do not know for certain, any more than you do, if the two-legs are responsible for these disappearances
,> he told Short Tail after a lengthy pause. <
But I believe it is indeed possible some among them are. I do not like thinking that, yet we have already learned much about the two-legs—including the fact that there are evil ones among them. I
do
know from the meetings Death Fang’s Bane and her parents have had with the . . . elders of all the two-legs in the world that any who would steal away the People would do so only in defiance of their own elders and customs. That does not mean it could not happen, though
.> His ears flattened, and his mind-glow was grim. <
I have told Sings Truly and the other elders of what I tasted in Speaks Falsely’s mind-glow
.>

Short Tail looked back at him, then—in the gesture many of Bright Water’s People were adopting from the two-legs—he nodded slowly.

There were times, Climbs Quickly thought feelingly, when his inability to communicate with Death Fang’s Bane was particularly exasperating. He’d made strides in his ability to understand
her
as their bond matured and he learned to read more and more from her mind-glow. Either he was growing more sensitive to those echoes of thought which flowed through it, or else she was learning how to make them stronger, and he was learning to communicate simple messages back to her by gesture and body language. Sometimes he could even communicate a more complicated notion by acting out what he was trying to say. But so far, at least, he had no way to explain what he had seen in the mind-glow of the two-leg who had invited Death Fang’s Bane Clan to the eating place in the vast two-leg settlement where Death Fang’s Bane still went on occasion to fly with the other younglings.

The fact that he couldn’t explain it was maddening. He knew Death Fang’s Bane had sensed his own dislike for Speaks Falsely, and he knew she disliked him, as well. But there was no way for him to tell her every mouth-sound Speaks Falsely uttered carried its own freight of . . . falsity.

Matters weren’t helped by the fact that until the People had met the two-legs it had never occurred to any of them that someone
could
speak falsely. There was no point in one of the People attempting to deceive another person in that way, since the other person was always able to sense the emotions and thoughts behind whatever was said. It was possible for the People to deceive or trick one another, but not by
telling
the other something which was untrue. Instead, the People had to arrange things so that the one they desired to trick had no clue of what was about to happen, and many of the younger People, especially among the scouts and hunters, delighted in contriving clever ways to do just that. It was good training, both for the one arranging the trick and for the trick’s intended victim. On the one hand it taught the sort of forethought and cunning any hunter or scout might find useful one day, and on the other it taught the alertness and caution any hunter or scout most definitely
would
find useful one day.

But that was very different from what Climbs Quickly tasted behind Speaks Falsely’s smile. There was something almost frightening about Speaks Falsely’s concentration on Climbs Quickly whenever they met, yet Climbs Quickly had the strong impression (oh, how he
wished
he could read two-leg mind-glows as clearly as he could those of the People!) that Speaks Falsely was so deeply interested in him only because he was the two-leg’s . . . doorway, perhaps, to the rest of the People.

He knew Speaks Falsely was deceiving all of the two-legs about him, and he knew Speaks Falsely was interested in the People in the same way the People were interested in particularly tasty ground-runners. But there was no way he could penetrate beyond that awareness, and no way he could warn Death Fang’s Bane or her parents about even the little he did know.

Yet even if all that were true, how could Speaks Falsely have discovered the location of Bright Water Clan’s central nesting place? Death Fang’s Bane had been so
careful
to preserve that secret! And even if Speaks Falsely could have discovered that, how could anyone—even a two-leg, with all their marvelous tools—capture so many of the People without even one among the rest of the People hearing so much as a single mind-cry for aid?

You know what you do not really wish to think, Climbs Quickly
, he told himself.
You believe Speaks Falsely wishes to
capture
some of the People for study, but you could be wrong. And if, instead, what he truly wishes is to
slay
the People and he has one of the two-legs’ weapons, that might well explain why none of them have been able to call for help
.

Perhaps, yet his thought kept returning to the same question. How could anyone, even one as clearly cunning as Speaks Falsely, have found Bright Water in the first place? And having found it, how could he come close enough to do one of the People harm, even with one of the two-leg thunder-barkers, without one single other Person tasting even the tiniest trace of his mind-glow?

<
Very well, Short Tail
,> he said at last. <
I do not pretend I am glad to hear your news. And I do not know the best way to proceed from this point. If only I could truly
communicate
with Death Fang’s Bane and her parents! But I am beginning to think the People will never be able to truly communicate with the two-legs as we communicate with one another, or even as they communicate with one another. Still, it seems clear to me that we must somehow make the good two-legs aware that something is happening to Bright Water. We know how they have aided and guarded Bright Heart Clan in its time of need, and I am certain they would aid
us
, if only they knew we needed their help
.>

<
That is the thinking of Sings Truly and Broken Tooth, as well
,> Short Tail said.

<
I thought it would be
.> Despite the gravity of the situation, Climbs Quickly’s mind-voice was dryly amused, and Short Tail bleeked a soft laugh. <
The problem is how we go about telling them
.>

<
Clear Singer and Walks in Moonlight Clan’s scouts and hunters made Darkness Foe hear them
,> Short Tail pointed out, and Climbs Quickly flipped his ears in agreement.

<
That is true
,> he said. <
Yet it took all of them, and when Clear Singer made Darkness Foe hear, she had a very clear, very strong memory from True Stalker upon which to build. Even then, Darkness Foe clearly did not hear her full song. He understood much of what had happened, but until he went to Bright Heart Clan’s range to see with his own eyes, he did not understand the details of what had occurred. Here we have no such strong, clear memory to begin with, only questions. I believe we could make Darkness Foe realize we are concerned, yet I fear explaining to him
why
we are concerned is beyond our power. Besides, Darkness Foe is far from Bright Water. It would take much time for us to contact Swift Striker and for Swift Striker to make him understand he must go to Clear Singer once more. And even if that were not so, Darkness Foe is . . . worried by the way Clear Singer made him hear her. It frightens him for some reason. Not because of the People, but because of how his own kind, the other two-legs, might react if they knew of it. Swift Striker and I do not understand why that should concern him so, yet we know he feels that way
.>

<
Yet if we do not go to Darkness Foe with this, then what?
> Short Tail asked, and it was Climbs Quickly’s turn to bleek in soft, bittersweet laughter.

<
Sings Truly knows the answer to that question, whether she has yet shared it with you or not, brother,
> he replied. <
Indeed, it is the obvious answer . . . and the right one. I will bring Death Fang’s Bane to visit Sings Truly and the other elders as quickly as I can. I do not think we will be able to explain things to her, but I feel confident that one as clever and as insightful as she will soon realize the People are worried, even frightened, by
something
. And she has many friends among the elder two-legs now—more than she realizes, I think. If she calls upon them to help her in understanding why the People are frightened, they will respond. Perhaps the time will come then for us to attempt to make Darkness Foe hear the People again, but I believe calling upon Death Fang’s Bane’s Clan ought to be our first step
.>

25

Stephanie Harrington was worried as she banked her tiger-striped glider for the final approach to the treecat community.

She hadn’t shared her anxiety with her parents before setting out this morning, partly because she wasn’t positive it was justified and partly because she was afraid they might have objected to her going if they’d decided it
was
justified. Yet it was painfully evident to her that Lionheart was deeply worried about something. Indeed, she could feel that worry simmering in her own emotions.

It was becoming clearer to her that while treecats might be empaths and humans weren’t, there was something about her bond to Lionheart which made her at least peripherally aware of his emotions. She couldn’t feel a single thing where any other treecat was concerned, but she was positive she was feeling
his
emotions, however imperfectly. That was the only explanation she could come up with for the occasional “sounds”
she
detected from him but no one else could hear at all. And because of that link to his emotions, she was only too well aware of his extreme . . . uneasiness.

Oh, I
wish
you could talk
, she thought at Lionheart as the hang glider slowed still further and her feet found solid ground. She trotted forward for a few meters, absorbing the last of the glider’s momentum, then came to a halt, pulled off her helmet, and began unbuckling both of them.
If you could just
explain
to me what’s wrong, I’d fix it in a heartbeat!

But Lionheart couldn’t talk, and even if she was beginning to sense his emotions, she was no telepath. So the only thing she could do was go home with him the way he obviously wanted her to and hope she could somehow figure out what was wrong when she got there.

* * *

Tennessee Bolgeo stepped out of the warehouse door and closed it behind him with a sense of profound satisfaction.

The dozen treecats in the large, comfortable cages concealed within the warehouse looked decidedly woozy but appeared to be in excellent health otherwise. That was good. His research had suggested that the drug his assistants were slipping them in their food would keep them permanently disoriented without causing any long-term damage. Of course, calculating a safe maintenance dose to keep them that way had been a little tricky, but a man in Bolgeo’s profession had to develop a good feel for xeno-biology, and it seemed evident he’d gotten it just about right.