Shadow World (35 page)

"Couldn't you give them a false name?" Mark suggested.

The Simiu's glance was scathing. "My name is an honored one! I will not dishonor myself or my clan by doing such a cowardly, honorless thing!"

"Okay," Mark backed down in a hurry. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to impugn your honor."

"After you have left R'Thessra and me behind, the Apis and I will head for a prearranged meeting place, known only to you," Hrrakk' said. "You and the others will continue to the nahah. Then you humans will hide outside, sending the Elpind in alone. Eerin will determine whether the nahah is safe.

If it is, heen or han will return for you. You will send a signal to me--a fire made with green branches, for example--so I can see the smoke from a distance. Then R'Thessra and I will wait for CLS pickup by shuttle at the spot we have agreed upon."

"And if the nahah is in Wospind hands?"

"Then you must lead Cara to join R'Thessra and me in the mountains. At that time, we can determine what to do next."

"Where does that leave Eerin?"

"Wospind are also Elspind; I do not believe they would harm one of their own. Eerin can deny all knowledge of the group, claim that after the crash hin walked alone to the nahah. Later, after the Wospind are no longer suspicious, Eerin can leave, try for another, non-Wospind refuge, then contact the CLS."

"What about Terris? I can't take hinsi into hiding."

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"Eerin can take the child into the nahah. There will be a family who will take hinsi."

It was a decent plan, Mark had to admit. It smacked a little too much of sacrificing Eerin for his taste, but nothing was perfect.

"Okay," he said, and stood up. "It's a good plan."

Mark turned to go, then stopped. "One more thing. About RThessra ..."

"Yes?" Hrrakk' was impatient.

"Is she a researcher, too?"

"No. But her younger hive-sister was. I held an honor-bond with R'Fissis, who was killed in the Wopind attack on the lab. RThessra was on her way to Elseemar so that she could mourn her sister and end her days on the same world where R'Fissis died. When I learned RThessra's identity, honor demanded that I protect her, as I was not able to protect R'Fissis." Hrrakk's crest flattened. "I fail to see that this concerns you, human."

"It doesn't really. I just wanted to know whether she'd be in danger from the Wospind, too."

"We are all off-worlders. We are all in danger from them."

"Yeah. Well, I know you don't think much of human honor, but we do have our own kind. So I'd like to propose an honor- bond between
us--
you and me."

The Simiu drew himself up. "What do you mean?"

"If anything happens to me, I'd like you to look out for Cara. If anything happens to
you,
I swear to you that I'll do my best to care for and protect RThessra."

The Simiu looked at him oddly, and did not reply.

"Is it a deal?" Mark asked.

Slowly, the alien nodded. "We have an honor-bond, human, though before this journey, I would have said such a thing was impossible."

"Thanks, Honored Hrrakk'." Mark walked away.

Cara awoke before dawn when Mark nudged her. Groaning, she

straightened up stiffly. "How's Eerin?"

"You said to wake you if there was any change. Go take a look."

"Incredible!" Cara said a moment later as she squatted next 240

to the tongue-made breathing tube. Breath was coming and going rapidly now. The lacmore was beginning to ooze, dripping off the surface of the cocoon.

"Hrrakk' said Eerin should emerge just after morning light," said Mark.

"Did you sleep at all?"

"No, I promised Eerin I'd keep vigil. But I feel okay. I rested, lying down, a lot."

"You should have awakened me," she chided. "I'd have sat up and watched."

"You looked beat. Besides, I had Hrrakk' to talk to," he said dryly.

Cara looked at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, actually I'm not. We had a long talk. He's worked out a pretty good plan--better than anything I came up with." Briefly, he related the details.

"That seems workable," she admitted after he finished. Cara glanced over at the Apis. "That's awful about her sister." Rising, she crossed the small clearing to join the insectoid alien. R'Thessra's dark, faceted eyes fixed on her, and she allowed her antennae to droop.

I
think she knows Hrrakk' told us,
Cara thought. It seemed to her that the Apis' gesture with her antennae was an acknowledgment of a grief that had been private until now.

The journalist bent slightly and, very gently, touched one of the alien's forelimbs. "I'm sorry about your hive-sister," she said in Mizari. "I grieve for your loss."

In return, R'Thessra touched the human's cheek. Cara smiled at her. "Come over to the cocoon. Something is happening."

For the next hour the four waited impatiently. The breathing tube wheezed with ever-quickening rhythm, and the lacmore began to slide off in great, messy globules. It stank, but not as badly as it had when fresh.
Or my nose is
getting deadened,
Cara thought wryly.

"You know," Mark said in English as he sat, arms wrapped around his knees, gazing intently at Eerin's cocoon. The Apis and the Simiu waited nearby. "I feel as though I'm losing a friend ... someone I've known for a long time."

"Well, you are, in a way. Eerin explained how strong the mating drive is after the Change," Cara agreed with him. "It

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won't be the same between you two. But you can still be friends ... you'll just have to be friends in a different way."

Mark's hazel eyes warmed. "You're right. It will just take a little while to make the adjustment. I have to give it time."

He turned to regard the journalist just as earnestly as he had Eerin's shrouded form. "You know, Cara, you have a gift for understanding all kinds of people. You ought to think about becoming an interrelator. The CLS

needs people like you."

His words sparked something that had been growing inside her ever since she'd first journeyed to StarBridge and seen her first alien. "You know, nothing would please me more," Cara told him. "I've discovered that alien cultures interest me more than anything on Earth. But ..." She frowned. "I'm too old to start at StarBridge. And what about my journalism?"

"You're not too old. Look how much Mizari you've learned in just a short time. You could use your journalism talents, too; interrelators often integrate the skills of several fields. The minute you get home I want you to send a message back to Rob. And when I get back to the Academy, I'll talk to him."

Cara took a deep breath. "My mother would have a fit. After this, she's going to want me to stay firmly planted on Earth."
We have to believe that we're
going to get home,
she thought.
We have to believe it, so we can keep
going.

"Is your camera on?" Mark asked suddenly.

Instantly Cara transferred her whole attention back to the cocoon. The tip of Eerin's bony shoulder was suddenly protruding through the lacmore.

"It's been on," she answered. "I wanted to get the breathing and the dripping.

I can compress the data later. Look, I can see the whole outline clearly now."

"I just thought of something," Mark said. "Eerin will need clothes for the first time. All the han or been wear them."

Cara fetched the long-tailed shirt that had been her headgear in the desert, and they laid it out, ready.

Now the lacmore was running off in little streams. Eerin's shoulder, then the round head, then the angular hipbone appeared.

"I feel strange knowing this before Eerin does, but hin's a han." Mark's voice was hushed. "A female."

"How can you tell?"

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"Look at the skin."

Cara studied the emerging figure. The patches of skin that showed were smooth and tender-looking as a baby's. "That's right, the females are hairless."

In a few more minutes almost all of the Elpind was visible. Cara threw her shirt over the curled body, studying Eerin's face. It looked unchanged to her, except for the texture of the skin and the fact that the top of the head was bald now instead of downy.
The skin's a paler orange,
she decided.

The Elpind's tongue suddenly snapped back into Eerin's mouth, and a few moments later, the huge, golden eyes opened.

"Welcome back, Eerin," Mark said gently. "El won."

"Mark ..." Eerin's voice was unchanged, though weak. Han's eyes were cloudy with fatigue, but an affectionate light warmed them.

Eerin looked back at Mark and Cara. "Eerin is han," the Elpind announced.

Sudden excitement strengthened the thin voice.

Cara felt tears in her eyes and knew she had a silly grin. "You sure are."

"This is so ... interesting ..." Eerin said. The golden eyes brightened. "Han feels so different. As if han has always been female. Han feels ... complete."

"You're very fortunate, Eerin," Cara gave Mark a sideways glance. "You definitely got the luck of the draw."

He sighed exaggeratedly and rolled his eyes.

After another hour Eerin was able to sit up and eat, then, strengthened, han announced that she was ready to go. Soon Eerin was astride the Simiu.

"No talking on the trail today," Mark warned as they started out. "Listen for anyone approaching."

He kept a rag that he'd soaked in sestel broth ready to give Terris to suck on if they had to hide suddenly. Despite his lack of sleep, Mark was alert as they walked, tight as a drawn bowstring.

As he walked, he tried to think of contingency plans to complement Hrrakk's, in case the Wospind reappeared. But each time he visualized falling into Wopind hands, his mind went blank. All he could remember was the mad gleam in Orim's

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eyes.
It's terrifying, trying to deal with fanatics,
he thought grimly.
If all
Wospind are like Orim, they'll kill us on sight anyway, so what's the use of
contingency plans?

In the late afternoon the group skirted another of the mountain cluster's seemingly endless humps and began a downhill slope through the woods.

Through the wide-spaced trees, Mark could see a stream and a small emerald jewel of a tiny valley. He consulted the map.

"One more climb," he whispered. "The straightest way is across this little valley, and up that ridge over there." He pointed it out. "Midway down the other side is the nahah. We can make it by dark." He was too weary and tense to be excited.

"We made it," breathed Cara. She sat down and removed her socks, changed them. Mark took the opportunity to feed Terris.

"Not yet, we haven't," he cautioned, still speaking softly. "Since we haven't seen any Wospind, I'm concerned that maybe they're at the nahah, waiting for us." He glanced around uneasily. "In that valley, we'll be in plain sight. I hate to lose the tree cover."

"Maybe we should skirt the valley, staying in the trees," Cara suggested.

"But if we're going to do that, I'll volunteer to get some water at that stream.

We're almost out."

"I don't know"--Mark frowned--"skirting the valley will take a lot of extra time.

It looks so peaceful ..." He glanced over at the Simiu uncertainly.

"If anyone comes, we will see them from a distance," Hrrakk' pointed out.

"Okay," Mark said finally with a sigh. "The valley it is. Everybody ready?

Let's go."

Cara groaned. "Those famous words again. I'll be so glad when I don't have to hear them anymore."

Cautiously they ventured out through the shorter, bushier underbrush that bordered the little valley. The silence was reassuring. Cara glanced longingly at the little stream. "You sure I can't go get some fresh water?"

"We can make it on what we have," Mark said firmly.

That's where the Wospind took them.

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Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18

Death Dance

With scarcely a sound, their attackers emerged from their hiding places amid the thick underbrush on the verge of the forest. Between one moment and the next, the travelers found themselves surrounded by more than a score of Wospind. Red tunics of the heen and han made bright splashes of color against the varied greens of the vegetation as they stepped into view. All of them carried weapons--the saw-toothed spears, the long, swordlike knives, or slings filled with heavy rocks.

The moment he saw them, Mark stopped dead--they all did-- instinctively crouching into fighting stance, hands and feet ready. But when he saw how they were outnumbered, he straightened slowly back up, bracing himself for the quick spear or sword thrust that would end his life.
Terris!
he thought, hastily pulling aside his outer shirt, so their attackers could clearly see the child clinging to his sweater. He knew that even Wospind wouldn't

intentionally harm a baby of their own species.

The small army of Wospind rippled, and the one they had seen before, the dun-colored neuter, stepped forward. In hin's hand, hin carried the repulsor gun. Its muzzle was pointed straight at Mark.

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The human struggled to speak, but no words emerged. All his hard-won knowledge of Elspindlor seemed to have deserted him as the leader

approached, hin's pale green eyes fastened coldly on Terris. "It is not enough that off-worlders corrupt our people with forbidden ideas," the Wopind burst out angrily. "It is not enough that, because of them, hin's sibling, Orim, is dead. Now they also steal our children!"

"Wait a minute, I didn't--" Mark began, but the hin, though giving a start of surprise at hearing the human speak hin's own language, ignored him, beckoning to one of the others. A red- clad male stepped out of the group, pointing his spear at Mark's throat in an unmistakable warning to be silent.

The Wopind leader grabbed Terris, who squalled, terrified, and clung to Mark with all hinsi's strength as the hin tugged one-handed. The sweater stretched, pulling the student forward, but the baby would not let go.

Mark reached up with the intention of soothing hinsi, intending to detach Terris himself, but the menacing guard evidently misinterpreted his movement. Bounding forward, the guard jabbed at Mark's throat with the spear, and the human, feeling the sharp point graze the skin, leaped back reflexively.