“Thank you,” Daniel said in a low voice.
“You are a strange man, Daniel,” Lali said. “It was my thought that… you did not care for Ammi.”
“Did she think so, too?”
“No,” Lali said. Then, “I… do not know. She said to me once that she did not know any longer if you were truly Daniel, or that earlier one, Egon. And she could not understand… about the strange world you came
from,
or what it is you must do here.”
Daniel chuckled wearily. “Do you understand, Lali?”
“I don’t need to,” she said. “You are our chief.
But…
Galta wished to live in the river country, and be happy. Why can you not do the same? We need not fear these raiders any
longer,
they’ll stay at home now.
Daniel… when we find Ammi, can we not all return, and remain in a country of peace?”
Her voice was very low now. “I have seen too many die,” she whispered. “I have killed a man. It is… not good.”
Daniel remembered yesterday’s Valkyrie, Lali in the boat’s prow with her bow… and he laughed, quietly.
“Lali, we are free people,” he said. “You and Galta owe me no services; you need not come with me when I go elsewhere.”
She was silent.
The earthquake that had come to Ammi, in her flight, had so confused her that she had turned at right angles to her prior path. So, as the earthquake shook Daniel’s party awake, Ammi was no more than half a mile away.
Daniel’s party huddled together as the rumbling and shaking stopped; the men gripped their weapons and braced themselves for they knew not what. But Daniel, in the darkness, laughed shortly.
“The earth shakes,” he said. “It’s nothing; there are places in the world where it happens every day. There’s no danger, unless a tree should fall.”
They were a little reassured by his confident tone.
Daniel was not as confident as he made himself sound. The shock had been a heavy one and the volcano glow was brighter. He remembered that the earth had once been much more active in such matters than it had been in his time; and even then, he remembered that earthquakes had not been matters to take too lightly. But even the science of his time had not been able to do anything about them, he remembered. So nobody could expect him to attempt earthquake prevention, he thought with a wry grin. He lay down and tried to sleep again.
As they slept, Ulff’s men died, one by one, no more than a short distance away; only far enough so the sounds were unheard.
With dawn, they were up and moving again. They went only a short distance, before Galta, in the lead, cried out He held up a broken, charred length of pine-wood.
“Torches!”
Banar said. “There’ve been men here, in the night!”
Daniel cursed his night’s sleep, silently, as they searched further. The traces of Ulff’s party were plain, and they followed downslope.
The unfortunate Esmare warrior who had been first to fall was still where he had met his end. But he was incomplete. A number of portions had been removed, with skill and neatness; but the result was not pleasant to look at. The river men regarded the object as they passed; their faces showed what they felt.
A little farther on, they found a leg, evidently carelessly dropped by the departing surgeons, whoever they had been. Lali cried out and burst into weeping.
The party was moving very slowly now, weapons ready, eyes peering into every shadow. The ground quivered sometimes; the quake was not yet over, Daniel thought
But
the others terror was so great that they did not even notice the shaking.
Then they came into a broad clearing, and stopped.
On the other side,
a half
dozen men stood; tall, hawk-faced, wearing long white cloaks and pointed helmets. They watched silently as Daniel’s men emerged into the clearing.
On every side of the clearing there was a faint rustling; and now, tiny black men were suddenly visible in every direction. Each naked black man held a long tube, and grinned, watching the river men. No one spoke.
Chapter VII
A single man of the party of cloaked men stepped forward and came across the clearing toward Daniel. He was dark-faced, with black hair that hung in curious curls; but beardless. To Daniel’s eyes, the pointed steel cap he wore looked vaguely Assyrian, combined with other features of his appearance. But Daniel knew too that Assyria lay in the still unformed future.
The dark man paused and lifted his hand in a gesture of peace. Then he spoke, understandably, though with a curious accent.
“We are men of peace,” he said. “Be not afraid, the forest people will not attack you.”
“Good,” Daniel said with a smile. He glanced around. “I think we might have very little chance, if they did.”
The dark man looked a little surprised, studying Daniel’s face. “You…” he said slowly, “you are not one of the river tribes, as your followers are?”
“No,” Daniel said. “We followed a party of raiders, men of a western kingdom; they have a prisoner of our people. These others are our friends, helping us to follow.”
The dark man grinned. “We may have found your enemies already, I think. Who are you, then?”
“My name is Daniel, and…”
The dark man’s eyes widened. He dropped on one knee and bowed his head, suddenly extending his hands upward.
“You are he whom we have sought!” the man exclaimed.
“Lord Daniel, who holds the key!”
Behind him, the others bowed low, too; there was an excited murmur among them. The first man rose and said, very respectfully, “My name is Zadosh, of the sons of Ebrak, and I am a trader, of Numith.” He pointed to the others. “These are also traders. Avrad, Benash,” he beckoned them, and they began to come toward Daniel, looking awed.
“We come to the Land of Fire to seek certain things which the small people sell us,” Zadosh explained. “We are their friends, and they greatly value what we bring them. But they fear others, because of what is done sometimes, by such men as those you followed. They were men of Esmare, were they not?”
“Were?” Daniel said.
Zadosh shrugged expressively.
“All but one… and the woman, of course.
She was the prisoner you searched for, no?”
“Where is she?” Daniel demanded.
“In a village, not far from here,” Zadosh said. “A messenger came to us, and said that there were sea-raiders of Esmare, here; and strangers pursued them. He asked if we wished to see these, any of them, before they were… ah, eaten.”
“Eaten?” Daniel stared at him.
“The little folk like such meat, I fear,” Zadosh said apologetically. “We do not speak against it, to them. A man’s preferences are his own, and they don’t tell us what we may eat or drink, after all.” He grinned broadly. “Well, they kept the largest and hairiest of the corsairs, but all the rest are… gone. Him, they have in a pit such as they use to catch beasts. It seems that some of their women wish to keep him, as a pet, as I understand the matter.”
There was a hoarse chuckle or two among the river men, as they began to understand Zadosh’s tale; and the other Numith men, now gathered around Daniel, smiled too.
“The women have great power among these little folk,” one of the Numithians said. “They are the only beings that their men fear.”
“The girl,” Daniel said urgently. “Is she hurt?”
“She was very frightened,” the man called Avrad said. “She encountered a haruth, one of ours, and I believe she had never seen one before. But she was not injured at all. Come, we will go to the village.”
They moved into the forest, along a narrow trail that was nearly invisible; on all sides, the little folk were audible, but invisible. Daniel, having seen the blowguns, suspected that it was more than lucky for himself and his party that they had not had to fight. Their darts were almost certainly poisoned, he thought.
They came at last to a narrow defile and emerged into a circle of low, long huts. Hundreds of the pygmies appeared, men, women, and toylike children, all grinning and jumping happily; but eerily silent, even now. They crowded around, touching and looking at Daniel and the others, sometimes whispering to each other and giggling, but never loudly.
“Certainly, the Luck Woman is with you,” one of the Numithians said. “We are the only traders to have come here this year, because of the fighting… ah, there are our haruths.”
Something mountainous and grey moved out from between the huts; it stepped with great care, since its feet were large enough to crush a pygmy if one should get in the way. Behind it, Daniel could see more grey forms just outside the village border; he stared in surprise.
“Elephants!”
Zadosh glanced at him. “No, they are called haruth,” he said. “Have you never seen such?” He raised his hand and called out, “Sunflower! Come to me!”
The great grey beast came and stood, looking down at Daniel out of tiny black eyes, swaying as it stood. It curled its trunk, and spoke in a whistling gasp. “Greeting, man,” it said, and trumpeted. “He can speak!” Daniel said, surprised.
“Oh, but not very well,” Zadosh said with a shrug. “They do not speak much; it is a great effort for them. Isn’t it, my handsome one?” he said affectionately, stroking the creature’s trunk. “But they are very wise, almost as wise as sea folk,” he went on.
Daniel stared at Sunflower, wondering. “In my… country,” he said, “these are called elephants, and they do not speak… or at least, not in our tongue.”
“That’s true of the wild haruths, who live in the forest southward,” Zadosh said. “They speak only in their own language. Ours prefer to speak so, too, but they learn our speech as well.”
And suddenly there was a wild cry, and Ammi came running from the huts; she hurled herself at Daniel and clung to him, weeping. Behind her, several of the pygmy women came, dressed in strings of ornaments, tall feathers in their hair. They stood, smiling as they watched.
“He is not as hairy as the one we have in the pit,” one of the pygmy women said critically.
“He must be of some value to the woman, though,” another said. “She seems very pleased.”
“Let them alone,” one of the others said. “I want to go and throw sticks at the hairy one for a while.” And they all trotted away, giggling again.
“Word came to us, in Numith,” Zadosh said. “We were told of a man who would come, from the old land, named Daniel. The sea folk said that he would be very wise, in many things, like the builders of the ancient time. And that he would carry within himself a key, which would be much needed by sea folk and land folk alike. What is this key?”
Daniel shrugged. “I think I have an idea what’s meant,” he said. “But… I’m not sure.”
Zadosh shrugged. “It matters not. Our friends in the sea told us to guard your life, if we should find you; and to aid you in any way you wished.” He stopped and looked thoughtful. “They also said that there are some among the sea folk who are your enemies. We have known for some time that there is… quarreling among the Sea People, and we know of the lost one, and his messengers.”
They were sitting about a fire in the open space among the huts; the pygmies and the rivermen, warriors, all mingled, eating and drinking. The Numith men sat close around Daniel, listening to Zadosh.
“Death, destruction, burned ships and war,” Zadosh said darkly. “The lost one’s doing, we now believe. Always, the men of Iskarth and Esmare were more quarrelsome than others, of course. They complained often of how those who came long ago from the ancient land had settled in the best lands, in the great valley; while they of Iskarth lived in the upper ranges, and the land of Esmare lay on the bays. But then, they began to make war, and it grows worse each year.”
“If the kingdoms in the great valley would join together, to put these quarrelers in their place,” one of the others said, “it would be peace again, soon enough. But none can agree. And we in Numith must keep off these fools alone.
“Fools, indeed,” Zadosh said. “They have a new religion, this Brotherhood; they worship the lost one as a god, it seems. These Brothers say that if the wall, Narr’s Wall, is broken, the lost one will come forth and rule all, in sea and land alike.”
“With the men of Esmare and Iskarth first, of course,” another said with a sardonic grin. “And all their enemies, in the great valley, drowned… but the loot of the kingdoms to be theirs.”
“I call them fools,” Zadosh said, “because it’s plain that the sea once rose almost as high as the foot of the Iskarth
mountains
; they would drown not only the valley, but themselves too. And with the valleys drowned, how would they take that wealth they covet?” He shrugged. “We know better. Numith lies across Narr's Wall; Narr himself founded our city and the fortress. We know as much as we could preserve of his wisdom.”
“Who was Narr, really?” Daniel asked. Ammi, half-asleep against his shoulder, woke and laughed quietly.
“This man is not of Eloranor, or Alvanir,” she told the Numithians. “We know of Narr, too. But Daniel is from a strange world, though he seems to be a man like
yourselves
.”
“Narr the Builder?”
Zadosh said. “Why, he was a great man, a ruler in the ancient land, when it was still green there. In those days, there were all sorts of things that we no longer know how to make, great tools and devices. He and his men built the wall, and the sea dried, leaving the valleys as they now are. I have heard that some of the valley kingdoms build images of Narr, and say he was a god, but this is foolishness.” He grinned. “We worship the Sky Woman, ourselves, as most intelligent people do.
And a few small gods, when we happen to find them.
But we see that the sea folk build no temples, and they are wiser than we. If they need no gods, why should we?”
“Not even the Morra-ayar?” Daniel asked. There was a silence.
“We… ah, are aware of their respected selves,” Zadosh said carefully. Then he hastily changed the subject. “Lord Daniel, come with us, to Numith. There, you will be a great man, truly. The sea folk have said that if you come to us, the wall will be saved, and the city itself… and that the wars will cease.”