"Not all, sister. But a few—yes." His hand went tothe lightning thrower at his belt. "But more than anytalk of secrets, we bring news for the Elders."
"Two sets of Elders now," she told him. "Therehave been changes at the caves. The western Peoplehave come to join us. They have taken over the lowercaves. A new tribe of Barkers moved into their landsand they lost five warriors and an Elder in battle.There is much fear now that the Barkers move against us next. And it is a large pack."
Furtig listened closely. Perhaps now the Eldersmight agree to Gammage's plan. If they believed thatthey could not hold the caves, even uniting two tribes,they might be pushed into trekking to the lairs.
Save—the Demons and what had happened to theyounglings of the Tuskers. Perhaps one could suggestthat the cave clans take to flight, yes. But away fromboth Barkers and lairs, not into the buildings whereRattons and Demons alike waited. Bad or good, Furtig could not judge. He could only deliver the messageand warning he carried.
Resolutely Furtig continued on, Eu-La matchinghim step to step. Now and then she glanced at himmeasuringly, as if so trying to read his thoughts. Butshe asked no questions, seemed pleased enough thathe had returned.
Her acceptance of Liliha had been quick. Furtighoped that was a sign that the other females would dothe same. If the In-born could continue to make itclear that she was no threat to their mate-choice, hedid not see why they would be hostile. Compared toEu-La—or Fas-Tan—her scantily furred body mightnot please, might seem to be ugly. Though being usednow to the In-born Furtig did not consider it so. Buthe hoped, for the sake of their mission, that the otherswould.
If Liliha had any vanity she had not displayed it.And perhaps now she was quick enough to see thatthe uglier and stranger she made herself seem, themore acceptable she would be. Ugly, strange—the two things Liliha could never truly be!
“Thus it is." Furtig faced the Elders, and not onlythem but all those in the caves, who had crowded incrouching rows behind. He could read no emotion intheir eyes, which, when the light of Gammage's lamptouched them, were like disks of glowing fires, orange,red, and green. At least the messengers had been'given cave hospitality—not warned off.
Before him lay the weapons they had brought. Andhe had demonstrated each. There were two lightningthrowers, another producing a thin stream whichmade ice congeal about the target, even though thiswas not the cold season.
The fourth, which Liliba had carried and which shealone knew how to operate, was the strangest of all.For a warrior might escape by luck or chance theother two. However, from this tube spun small threads at Liliha's twirling. Those floated as might awind-borne spider's web. That web, once launched, was drawn instantly to the warrior at whom Lilihahad aimed it, in this case Foskatt.
Once it had touched his shoulder, as if that touchwas a signal, it straightaway wrapped itself about hisbody so he could not move. Nor could he break thathold, though the cords of the web were very fine andthin. Liliha had to cut it in two places, and then thewhole thing withered and fell in small black particlesto the ground.
The Elders, in spite of this display, kept impassivefaces. But from the others came growls and smallhisses of wonder and alarm that such things existed.Liliha was frank: these tanglers were few, some didnot work at all. But the lairs held endless caches ofother wonders.
"But you say"—it was Ha-Hang, one of the Eldersof the western tribe, who spoke—"there are others inthe lairs. You have spoken of Rattons in force, andDemons, at least as a scouting party. If the Demonshave indeed returned, it is best to let them have thelairs. Those of our kind saved their lives before bytaking to the wilds when the Demons hunted."
For the first time Foskatt spoke. "Only just, Elder.Remember the tales? It was only because the Demonssickened and died, fought among themselves, that ourmother kin and a few mates escaped. It took manyseasons thereafter of hiding and bearing litters, inwhich too many younglings died, before the clanscould do more than run and hide.
"These Demons are neither sick nor fighting amongthemselves. If they come in strength, how long will itbe before they hunt us again?"
Furtig did not wait for any to answer that question; he carried on the attack. "Also, Elders, in thosedays we had no Gammage, ho seekers of Demon se-crets, to aid us. Those who were our ancestors had noweapons and little knowledge. Compared to us theywere as fangless, as clawless, as a newborn youngling.Perhaps these Demons are scouts, but among us howis the move to a new hunting ground made? We sendscouts and if they return with ill news, or do not return, then what is the decision?
We go not in that direction but seek another.
"These Demons' ancestors must have been thosewho fled the sickness and the fighting of their kind,even as we fled the lairs. Therefore their legends ofthe place are sinister; they will be ready to believethat evil awaits them here. And if their scouts do notreturn—"
It was the best argument he could offer, one whichfit in with their own beliefs and customs.
"Demons and Rattons," Fal-Kan said. "And Gammage wishes all, strangers and caves alike, to gatherto make war. Perhaps he also speaks of a truce withBarkers?" His voice was a growl, and he was echoedby those about him.
Liliha spoke, and, because she was a Chooser, evenFal-Kan dared not hiss her down. She held out herhand with its strangely long fingers, pointed to wherethe Elder Chooser of Fal-Kan's cave sat on a cushionof grass and feathers, holding the newest youngling toher furry breast.
"Do you wish the little one to become Demonmeat?"
Now the growl arose sharply, ears flattened, andtails lashed. Some of the youngest warriors rose, theirclaws ready for battle.
"The Tuskers believed they were safe. Would any of you dare to take a Tusker youngling from hismother's side?"
That picture startled them into silence. All knewthere was no fiercer fighter in the whole wilds thanthe Tusker female when her young was threatened.
"Yet," Liliha continued, "a Demon flying throughthe air did so. Can you now say that you will be safein the wilds when this Demon can fly at will, attackfrom above, perhaps kill with such weapons" as these?"She gestured to the display. "In the lairs we have hidden ways to travel, so small the Demons cannot enter.Our only chance is to turn on them, while they arestill so few, the very deaths they used in the old daysto destroy our kind.
"You war with the Barkers, but not the Tuskers—why is that so?"
It was not an Elder who answered when she pausedbut Furtig, hoping to impress at least the youngerwarriors of that company—those not so set in theways of doing as always.
"Why do we fight the Barkers? Because we areboth eaters of meat and there is a limit to hunting lands. The Tuskers we do not fight because they eatwhat is of no use to us. But there is food in the lairs, much of it, and no need for hunting. And if you sawbefore you a Barker and a Demon and had a single chance to kill—which would you choose? That iswhat Gammage now says—that between Barkers and Demons he chooses the Demons as the greater enemy.As for the Rattons, yes, they are a spreading evil within the lairs, and one must be on constant guardagainst them.
"But also they promise an even worse fate if theyare not put down. For Gammage has proof they seekout the secrets of the Demons also. Do you want Rattons perhaps riding sky things and capturing warriors, and Choosers, and younglings with such asthese?"
With his foot he edged forward the tangler so thatthey could understand his meaning. This time thegrowl of protest was louder. War with the Barkerswas open and fierce, yet there was a grudging respectfor the enemy on both sides. The Rattons were different; the very thought of them brought a disgustingtaste to the mouth. There were far off, strange legends of individual Barkers and People living together when they were both Demon slaves in the lairs. ButRattons had always been prey.
Ha-Hang spoke first. "You say Barkers are lessdangerous than Demons. We have lost warriors toBarkers, none to Demons. And what is a Tuskeryoungling to us?"
He had a gap on one side of his jaw where he hadlost a fighting fang, and both ears were notched withold bite scars. It was plain he was a fighting Elderrather than a planning one.
"Truth spoken!" applauded Fal-Kan.
They were losing, Furtig knew. And perhaps theElders were right to be cautious. He himself, until hehad heard the Tuskers' story of the flyer, had been oftwo minds about the matter. But those moments when he had lain on the bridge with the Demon hovering over him had given him such a deepset fear of the flyers that he wished he could make it plain tothese here what an attack from the air might mean.
Yes, they could hide in the caves. But what if the Demon took up patrol so they could not come forthagain? What if the flyer swept low along the very edgeof the cliffs, attacking the cave mouths? Furtig had ahearty respect now for Gammage's warnings againstDemon knowledge. One could expect them to do anything!
"This affair concerns not only the caves and theirdefense," the Chooser of Fal-Kan's cave, she whowas of the Ancestor's blood, said throatily. "It alsoconcerns our young. And this matter of the Tuskers'young whose mothers could not defend—"
"We live in the caves, the Tuskers in the open,"growled Fal-Kan. And his warriors added a rumble ofapproval.
"Younglings cannot live in caves all their lives," theChooser continued. "I would listen to this Chooserfrom the lairs; let her tell us of the younglings thereand how they are cared for. What knowledge havethey gained beside that of knowing better how tofight, which is always the first thought in the mind of any warrior?" Fal-Kan dared not protest now, nor interrupt.
So Liliha spoke, not of battles or the need for fighting, but of life within the lairs as the Choosers wouldsee it. She spoke much about the ways of healingwhich had been discovered, how Choosers about tobear young went to places of healing, and how thereafter the young were perfect in form and quick and bright of mind. She spoke of new foods which ensuredeven in the times of poor hunting that there would beno hunger, and told of the many things a Choosermight do to make her own life of greater ease and interest.Some of what she said Furtig had seen with his o'wneyes, but much of it was as a Chooser would explain itto a Chooser, and this talk in a mixed assembly wasnew. At first the Elders stirred, perhaps affronted bythe breaking of custom, yet not able to deny it whenthe Choosers themselves, who were even sternerguardians of custom, accepted it. Then Furtig couldsee even the males were listening with full interest.
She talked well, did Liliha. Foremost in the line ofThose-Who-Would-Come-to-Choose sat Eu-La, hereyes fast on the almost hairless face of the femalefrom the lairs. Furtig looked from his clanswoman toLiliha and back again. Then he caught a glimpse ofFoskatt.
Perhaps the other had heard Liliha's informationmany times over, for there was an abstraction abouthim. He was leaning forward a little, staring at—Eu-La! And there was a bemusement on his face, whichFurtig knew for what it was. Just so had he seen theUnchosen look at Fas-Tan when she passed with aslow swing of her tail, her eyes beyond them as if, asmales yet Unchosen, they had no place in her life.
Eu-La—but she was hardly more than a youngling!A season at least before she would stand with theChoosers. Startled, Furtig studied her. She was nolonger a youngling. He had seen that when she had met them outside the caves, but it had not really impressed him.
Eu-La a Chooser? There was a small rumble ofgrowl deep in his throat as he thought of her perhapsin the open with a Demon flyer above. Furtig's fingersstretched and crooked involuntarily, as if he wore hisfighting claws.
But he had no time to consider such things now, forLiliha had finished and the Elder of the Choosersspoke:
"There is much to be thought on, kin sisters. Notyet, Elders, warriors, Unchosen, are the cave peopleready to say that this or that will be done."
Never in his life had Furtig heard a Chooser speakso before. But perhaps the Elders had, for not one ofthem protested her decision. And the gathering brokeup, the Choosers threading into the caves, Liliha following the Chooser who had spoken.
Furtig and Foskatt gathered the sample weaponsinto their carrying bag again. The warriors paddedout into the dark, making no sound as they moved.And the guardian of the lamp had come to stand beside it as if impatient for Furtig and Foskatt to follow.
"What do you think?" Furtig asked in a whisper."Has Liliha made the right impression?"
"Ask me not the way of a female mind," returnedFoskatt. He was tightening the cords about the bundle. "But it is true that when it comes to the generalsafety and good of younglings it is the Choosers whodecide. And if they believe that the lairs promise morethan the caves, then these people will go to Gammage."
Had Tan thought about the advantage this cabingave her? Ayana sat up on the bunk in the medic-lab.She had no idea how long she had been asleep, but sheawoke with a mind free of that fear and despairwhich had held her. Was it the fact that she hadbeen selected, even conditioned, to be the other halfof Tan that had made her so helpless?
But, if they had selected, conditioned her so, thatpreparation had not endured. She would think forherself, be herself—and not Tan's mate. Tan's otherpart, from now on.
Looking back at the years on Elhorn, even the daysof the voyage, Ayana could not understand the personshe had been. It was as if she had slept and was nowawake. And Tan—certainly Tan had changed too! Itcould not be only the alteration in herself which hadcaused the break between them.
She had known him to be impatient of restraint,curious to the point of recklessness. But now all hisfaults were intensified; never before had he been ruthless or cruel. It was as if this world, the long soughthome of their kind, had acted on him—on her—
And if that was so—-what of Jacel, Massa? Werethey, too, other people? If they were now four others,their old, carefully cultivated close relationship broken, how could they work as a unit, do their dutyhere?