Shadow World (31 page)

Hrrakk' loped off downstream without replying. Looking that way, Mark saw why. He dropped the filled canteens and ran.

Hrrakk' was crouched beside the limp Elpind as Mark raced up. "Eerin is not hurt," the Simiu said. "Merely asleep."

"Asleep?" Mark stared incredulously. "But ..."

Eerin stirred, then blinked awake.

"Eerin, what's wrong? I thought you must be ..."

"Hin was merely sleeping," Eerin said serenely.

"But we're not in the desert anymore," Mark protested, remembering Eerin's explanation for sleeping then. "It's not that hot now. What's wrong? Are you sure you're all right?"

"Hin was tired, but hin is now fine," the Elpind said, getting up. "And hin has the sestel. Is Mark ready to try feeding Terris?"

A terrible suspicion grew in Mark's mind. It had occurred to him before, and he'd thrust it aside in the press of all that had happened, but now it sprang up again full-blown.
What if it's not weariness or heat making Eerin need to
sleep? Hin said that they sleep sometimes, during certain times of their lives
when they need to store energy. Was hin talking about the next major event
in hin's lifecycle, which will be Enelwo?

The thought that Eerin might be facing the Change early was something that he couldn't bear to contemplate. I
should just accept what hin has told me,
Mark admonished himself.
If anything were wrong, Eerin would say so! Don't
borrow trouble, dummy.
Terris stirred against his chest, whimpering, and he turned with relief to the matter of primary importance.

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"Hinsi's ready," he said. "I just pray this sestel works."

The survival supplies yielded a col apsible pot and fire- starting material.

Water from the stream was soon boiling vigorously. Eerin retrieved several leaf-wrapped bundles that had been moistened and laid on a rock near the stream to keep cool and fresh.

"Hrrakk' knew that the wild strain of sestel in this area had an extra leaf in each whorl," explained Eerin. "Heen confirmed that this was the correct variety for this region."

Eerin rapidly picked over the greenish purple leaves, then tossed several of them into the pot. They tumbled in the boiling water, and in seconds the water turned dark as it leached a deep purple sap from the heavily veined leaves.

Cara examined the bubbling pot. "Smells awful!"

Mark took yet another long, cool drink from his canteen and munched a ration bar. "When wil it be done?"

The Elpind used a twig to fish out one of the dangling leaves. It hung limp and now nearly colorless. "Soon," hin said. Eerin removed the pot from the fire, setting it aside to cool. "Now to thicken it."

Hin proceeded to strip clumps of clustered white seeds from some spiky green stems that hin took from a second of the leaf-wrapped bundles.

"These seeds will not only thicken the liquid, but add to the nutritional value.

Because it will be more filling, Terris will feel more satisfied." The Elpind quickly ground the seed clumps between two rocks and threw the coarse powder into the purple water.

Soon the Elpind pronounced the broth cool enough to drink.

Cautiously Mark scooped up some of the warm liquid in the feeding straw they had been using. Then he gently eased Terris loose from hinsi's sleeping grip on his sweater and settled the child in his lap.

He looked down at the baby and then around the group, wondering if each of them had the same knot in his or her (or hin's) stomach that he did.
This has
to work. You're going to eat this stuff, Terris!

Mark jiggled the baby. Terris woke sluggishly, then jerked and pushed against his hands with a sharp cry. Hinsi's honey- colored body shivered with urgency. "Hey, hey," he soothed.

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"We've got food this time." He placed the feeding straw against the baby's mouth.

Terris' snubbed nose wrinkled. The dull, fitful look that had come into the green eyes in the past day changed to one of eagerness. "C'mon, taste it ..."

Suddenly hinsi's tiny jaws clamped on the straw, and the baby sucked mightily.

Tears rose in Cara's eyes. "That's the most wonderful thing I've ever seen."

You are so right!
Mark thought. It didn't take Terris long to finish the first strawful. Quickly he prepared another. As he offered it to Terris and the baby began to slurp, Mark's eye was suddenly caught by the date that showed on one side of his wrist watch. "Well, I'll be damned," he said, and looked up at his companions with a grin. "Guess what, Cara? Today's my birthday! I'm twenty!"

"Well, congratulations!" she said, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry I don't have more of a present for you."

Mark looked down at the eagerly gulping Terris. "This is the best birthday present anyone ever had," he said quietly.

"I wish ..." Cara began softly, then she stopped. The sudden sadness on her face made it obvious that she had thought of Misir, left miles behind, but she tried to cover up. "I wish we could bathe," she finished instead, plastering on a smile. "Could we?"

"If we don't waste too much time. There's a cake of soap in the supplies."

Taking turns to allow for the few shreds of privacy left after days together in the wilderness, they sluiced themselves off quickly in the cold, refreshing stream. Cara checked Mark's wound, found it to be healing, then

rebandaged it.

Feeling pleasantly wealthy, they repacked their knapsacks, glorying in the several leaf-wrapped bundles of sestel and five full canteens of water.

Mark programmed the waterfall and the stream into the map's grid. Activating the plotting function, he watched as it figured the stream's projected course and displayed it. As he'd thought it might, the hairlike bright line crawled to and merged with the only body of water the grid had previously shown, a small lake that had been off their previous course.

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Having detoured to reach the stream, they were now on a direct line with it.

He showed the map to Hrrakk' and Eerin. "This lake is about two hours away, and we can follow this stream all the way. We should get there just before dark, then sleep there. Frankly, Cara and I are still tired ... we really need a long rest."

Hrrakk' grunted agreement, and Mark thought to himself that even the Simiu was beginning to look weary.

"I've plotted a new course to the nahah, using the lake as a reference point,"

he added, "and it actually turns out to be a couple of kilometers less than the original one we were following. There's no need for us to backtrack."

Cara had been inspecting one of the yellow-leafed trees, and she came running back with cupped hands. "Look what's growing at the base of those leaves!"

In her hands were fat, round marbles of fruit, and they were as odd as everything else about the trees. At their heart was a gold gumdrop-looking center, but encasing it was an outer shell of firm, spongy texture. It was a much lighter shade of gold and just translucent enough to allow a view of the brighter center.

"Do you think they're safe to eat?" asked Cara. "I'm so sick of those dry nutrient bars."

Quickly Mark checked it with the cell analyzer. Hrrakk' nodded when he pronounced it safe. "None of the poisonous berries on Elseemar grow on trees," he said. "There are several varieties, but they all grow on ground-crawling vines."

Mark was surprised again by Hrrakk's knowledge of this planet, and was tempted to ask how the Simiu knew, but he was distracted by the enticing scent of the globes in his hand. He bit eagerly into the fruit, finding the outer section pleasantly tangy and chewy, while the inner heart had a milder bite, and deliciously washed down the whole mouthful with its juiciness. Mark and Cara gorged on the berries, and the Apis, a fruit-eater by nature, enjoyed a hearty helping as well.

Eerin crammed hinself, too, with handful after handful of the raw sestel stems and roots. Mark had always had to stifle a chuckle at the eagerness with which Eerin ate, but something about this time chilled him. Eerin stuffed the untidy bundles under hin's orange tongue too quickly, too methodically, too ... too urgently.

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Not like a person who's hungry,
thought Mark.
Even really hungry. It's like
something else is driving this eating fit.

Eerin seemed to sense his speculative gaze. The compulsive eating

stopped immediately, and the Elpind rose. "Hin must dance the Mortenwol before we leave."

There was no white feather in Eerin's headdress this time, but, otherwise, the dance struck a welcome chord of familiarity in the middle of this alien wilderness. From his two weeks of every-morning attendance at Eerin's ritual and the several times since then, Mark knew the movements and their order so well that he sometimes thought he could have danced the

Mortenwol himself.

Even now, exhausted, aching, and anxious to get under way again, Mark felt the music call to his blood. It gave him a much-needed surge of vicarious energy, and he found himself enjoying the dance more than he had since first learning what its name meant.

Until Eerin stumbled and fell.

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Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16

The Shadowbird

"Eerin!" Cara cried, leaping up--but Mark was already there, kneeling by the Elpind's side.

"Hin is fine," the alien was saying. Eerin sat up, then tried to stand, but Mark gently restrained the Elpind.

"Do you feel dizzy?" he asked. "Does anything hurt?"

"Hin is fine," Eerin repeated. "Clumsy only. If hin dances every day, hin must fall sometimes. It is the average law."

"Law of averages," corrected Cara automatically. "Eerin, are you sure you're all right?"

The down-covered Elpind nodded, and Mark reluctantly let his pair partner up. "Hin does not need to finish," Eerin said. "Hin has wasted enough walking time. Let us go."

"Not a waste," protested Cara. " The Mortenwol is never a waste."

Eerin's golden eyes sparkled grateful y.

Mark said nothing, only helped the Elpind pack the kareen and the five feathers back into their respective cases. Cara saw that he was troubled far beyond what the little episode warranted, and she remembered his quizzing her about Eerin right after Misir's burial.
What's going on?

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The group turned their backs on the little gorge and headed down the streambed.
Except for that brief nap--or collapse might be more accurate--

we've been walking for nearly twenty-four hours straight,
Cara thought, falling into her usual rear position. I
can hardly believe I'm still on my feet.'

The water and her sluicing in the cold water had refreshed her, but she knew her energy would fade fast. She needed sleep, hours of it. She thought longingly of Mark's promise.

As they walked, Cara found herself watching Eerin. There was definitely something wrong. The Elpind's usual springy gait was a steady plod, and each time the humans took a sit- down break, hin took one, too. The Elpind also ate steadily as they walked. Cara watched as the alien wadded and thrust bundle after bundle of sestel stems under hin's tongue.
It's a wonder
hin doesn't get sick,
she thought, concerned.

Cara's unease was heightened by the fact that both Mark and the Simiu were watching Eerin every bit as intently as she was.

After nearly two hours of following the water, a small hill rose up before them.

"Going around would be the long way," Mark said, checking the plotter. "The lake should be right on the other side of this hill. We can pick up the stream again on the other side."

They were halfway up when Hrrakk' yipped sharply. Cara, following his gaze, looked up into the sky and gasped. The Shadowbird soared by

overhead, a splash of brilliant colors against the pale blue of Elseemar's sky.

The bird voiced that high-pitched musical cry that was so similar to Eerin's kareen.

"Elseewas!" cried Eerin. Hin leaped into a bounding run. "The lake!"

Mark sprinted after the Elpind. "Hurry, Cara! Come on!"

Waving her camera on, Cara forced her tired legs into a run as she followed the others over the crest of the hill and halfway down the other slope, skidding to a stop where the group paused. The lake spread out before their view.

It was small but apparently very deep, for the water shaded to a vivid blue in the middle. Reflections from the surrounding yellow flame trees (as Cara had come to think of them) slanted across its smooth surface, giving the illusion of a sapphire set in a golden brooch.

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What are we watching for?
Cara wondered, then she remembered Mark's story about the Elseewas. She shaded her eyes from the setting sun to scan the sky.
Is this one going to do its final dance and then its suicide dive?
"Do you think it's making its last flight?" Cara asked the Elpind.

"Perhaps. If so, we will be privileged. It is said that to see the death of an Elseewas is to have one's life changed forever," Eerin said quietly.

"There it is!" Mark cried, pointing. The sun had nearly set by now, and the first moon was clearly visible. But even in the fading light, the bird seemed to glow as it soared against the sky. The last, slanting rays from the setting sun struck sparks of scarlet fire off its wings.

The Elseewas looped in a slow glide around the lake's perimeter. It flew low, just clearing the tops of the trees. Its song was soft and low, a bittersweet dirge.

It's saying good-bye,
thought Cara.
Good-bye to all the earthly pleasures of
life, like food and warm breezes and a tree to shelter in.
She thought suddenly, painfully, of Misir.

The bird wheeled majestically over the lake, turning on its side and swooping so low that the tip of one red-feathered wing ruffled the calm surface of the water. Cara held her breath, thinking this must be the moment when the Elseewas would sink down farther and drown.

But the bird leveled out, then, flapping its wings powerfully, it rose into the air again. The full-bodied, mournful notes of its song ceased. Again the bird shrilled a single note, but this one was the leaping-up, joyful note they had heard so many times during the start of the Mortenwol.