Shadow World

by A. C. Crispin

  Joyfully the music gathered strength, tumbling and trilling and leaping over itself with melodic runs. The Elpind somehow both followed and soared over the patterns. Every movement seemed both crisp and

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  subtle, controlled and yet so free, so known and dearly familiar to the dancer and yet so just-born new.

  Mark watched, feeling sadness instead of the energy boost he'd hoped for.

  Today it's particularly important to perform the Mortenwol, he thought, remembering Eerin's half salute at the beginning, then glancing at the feebly moving bundle slung against Hrrakk's broad chest. Misir may need it ...

  As he watched, he also remembered last night's conversation with Eerin.

  Given the choice, his friend would choose an early over a postponed death.

  He knew the Elpind didn't quite look at it that way, but that's how it seemed to him. Don't judge, he reminded himself fiercely. It's not your place to judge.

  "I wonder," Cara said quietly, watching as Eerin began the final leaps,

  "whether all Elspind revere life so much."

  "Seems to me they revere death," Mark said bitterly.

  She shook her head. "I know that's how it seems, but, Mark, that dance is about life. That it's good and filled with hope ... and that today will be a joy to live."

  Mark sighed. Cara obviously understood far better than he did--and he was the one with the training in relating to alien cultures. Just more proof that I was right in deciding to leave StarBridge, he thought. I really have lost the empathy that it takes to be a good interrelator.

  The group walked fast and hard, as evening darkened around them, driven by memories of the Asimov's survivors, and by the needs of the hinsi. The mountains loomed over them.

  Cara had worried that the bound man (I'm really tired of thinking of him as

  "the man," she thought once, exasperated. If he doesn't tell us his name pretty soon, I'm going to give him one!) would slow them down, but he kept up.

  Mark and Hrrakk' flanked him, one on each side ... and Hrrakk's presence, even more than the stranger's, was the difference in this portion of their journey. Though he'd had absolutely nothing to say since they'd captured the intruder, and regarded all of them, except for the Apis, with an aloof disdain, the Simiu was there.

  Another difference, this one hard to bear, was Terris. Soon after they set out, hinsi began to cry and whimper in earnest.

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  Butting a fluffy head against Mark's chest, the baby scrabbled up and down the sweater with demanding fingers and toes. Mark talked to the child and petted it and shifted it to different parts of his body, but nothing worked. Both he and Terris were worn out by the time the group paused for a water break.

  But only Terris received sips from their dwindling supply this time. Misir could not be roused. The others had to make do with a less-satisfying source of moisture.

  Having noted the sap in the tasrel plant when they were pulling the big one up yesterday for Hrrakk's shelter, Mark tested the vegetation with the analyzer in the survival kit, then, finding that tasrel leaves were not harmful, he used their knife to lop off leaves for them to chew and suck.

  "Ugh!" Cara chewed, swallowed, then spat the pulp out on the ground. "It's so bitter." That sounded like whining; something her pride wouldn't allow.

  "Hey, but it's wet!" Resolutely she popped another piece of the stuff into her mouth.

  Mark grimaced. "I'll see your 'ugh' and raise you a 'yech.' " He spat out his chewed-up wad with a theatrical shudder.

  By the time they had finished with their "plant break," Terris, exhausted from wailing, finally fell asleep. Cara walked more briskly in the silence, and thought they all did.

  With the rising of the moons, true night arrived, and, suddenly, so did the edge of the desert.

  The desert floor literally ran smack into a wall of reddish rock. The wall stretched as far as the travelers could see on either side, rising straight up for fifteen or twenty meters. Over centuries the desert winds had blasted it with sand, polishing it into smoothness, broken by only a few outcroppings. The moons had risen and shadows danced crazily over the cliff.

  "Looks like we climb," Cara said, staring up at it.

  "Yeah, and even with the rope and in Elseemar's lighter gravity, it may not be easy." Mark moved along the wall of rock, feeling it with his fingers. "Not much in the way of footholds."

  Their team had been given a short length of thin, plastic cord that now bound the man's hands, as well as a much longer piece of the same material that Mark took out. Very lightweight, it was nevertheless as strong as plas-steel cable.

  Line in hand, Mark turned, looking thoughtfully at the Apis.

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  She fluttered excitedly, then darted forward and grasped the end that the human extended.

  Hastily, Cara signaled her camera on. She had let the auto- cam trail along at her shoulder tonight, unused, but now, sensing drama, she began filming again.

  With a furious blur of wings, the small and delicate-looking being rose straight into the air. In only a second or two she was higher than the lip of the cliff. Her wings slowed, and lightly she touched down.

  Cara beamed. "There are distinct advantages to traveling with an Apis."

  Mark was watching RThessra move back and forth along the treeless top.

  "That's step one solved," he agreed, "but if she can't find anything to tie that end around, we're no better off. She's not strong enough to hold it for us."

  But apparently the Apis was able to find a projection of some kind to anchor the rope, for she appeared on the edge of the cliff, wings and antennae waving. Hrrakk' picked up the rope and gave it a couple of sharp yanks, then hung his weight on it for a second. It held.

  "That's a relief," Mark said. "Who wants to go first?"

  "I wil go," Hrrakk' said.

  "You'll need to rig a climbing harness," Mark said. "I think I remember how.

  You just--"

  The Simiu gave him a contemptuous glance, then, without a word, took off the sling that held Misir, handed the baby to Cara, and swarmed hand over hand up the cliff face. In what seemed like only seconds, he was pulling himself over the top. Mark looked over at Cara and shrugged, grinning. "As I was saying, climbing harnesses are for sissies, right?"

  "Or for humans," she amended dryly. "Who's next?"

  Eerin stepped forward. "Hin will go."

  Hrrakk' leaned over and shouted something down.

  "He wants the packs." Mark began quickly tying them to the rope. "He'll empty one up there, send it back down, and we can hoist Misir up in it." In minutes the baby had been hauled to a reunion with hinsi's adoptive heen.

  "I think Terris can hang on to me while I climb the rope," Mark decided, buttoning his outer shirt into a sort of pocket to cradle the Elpind baby.

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  Eerin, in the meantime, had grasped the rope. "Eerin's so light," Cara said, looking up, "that maybe Hrrakk' can just pull hin up."

  "That's not a good idea," Mark said. "What you need to do, Eerin, is to pass the rope behind you like this, so you're almost sitting on it, then you just sort of walk your way up, leaning back against the rope. Use your feet to fend you off the cliff, as well as find footholds." Eerin tested hin's balance for a moment, then, quickly, effortlessly, the Elpind was climbing.

  Cara watched and sighed. "I don't know whether to be envious or disgusted," she complained. "Hin tries something once and hin's a master at it!"

  Mark nodded. "I guess that's what comes of being a professional athlete," he said.

  "Professional?" Cara repeated, surprised at his choice of words.

  "Anyone who can dance the Mortenwol every day of their adult lives is the equivalent of a champion gymnast crossed with a prima ballerina," Mark pointed out. "Right?"

  "I see what you mean ..." Cara said, staring up at the clifftop where Eerin was being helped over by the Simiu's firm grasp. She turned back to Mark, a look of near panic on her dark
features. "Oh, God, Mark, I'm not sure I can do that."

  "You can," Mark said firmly. "You have to."

  "I guess I do." She fingered the cord lying before her. "Mark ... what about him?" she asked, nodding at the man with no name. He stood passive, empty-eyed, off to one side. There was no sign he'd noticed the struggles of his companions to get up the cliff face--he showed no reaction to anything.

  "He goes up, too. If we have to tie the rope around him and haul him up,"

  said Mark. "But quit stalling. You're next."

  "Okay. I'll film the rest of this team effort from the top; it'll make a nice change of perspective." They walked over to the dangling rope together, and Mark began rigging it as he had for Eerin. "I'll steady you until you're over my head," he promised, "and Hrrakk' will be there to help you when you get within arm's length of the top. The important thing to remember is to keep your feet between you and the rock when you

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  lean back and let the rope harness support you, so you don't start spinning and bang into a projection."

  "Okay," she said nervously, then stepped into Mark's cupped hands, reaching upward for the first handhold.

  "Good!" Mark encouraged her. "Test each foothold and handhold ... the shadows can fool you! Good, that's right ..."

  Cara's world narrowed to the feel of the rope cutting into her shoulders, and running across her rump, reassuring in its strength. Slowly, feeling the rock score her palms and fingers, she climbed, moving from handhold to

  handhold, foothold to foothold. She was careful not to look down.

  It seemed to take forever, but finally, she heard the scuffle of feet just above her head, and looked up to see that she was almost there. As she reached up for the next handhold, an incredibly strong, leathery-palmed hand closed over her wrist and yanked just as she boosted upward off her foothold.

  Before she realized it, she was halfway over the edge, then the Simiu grabbed her by the seat of her pants and efficiently (if inelegantly) heaved her over the rest of the way. Cara sat up, breathing hard, and began untangling the rope harness.

  "Hey, Cara!" Mark yelled, backing away from the rock face and looking up.

  "You okay?"

  A moment later her face appeared, just as the rope came snaking back down. She waved, grinning broadly.

  Mark turned away with relief. The problem of how to get the last remaining member of the group, except for himself, to the top of the cliff looked a bit easier in the light of one human success. He crossed to where the man stood silently.

  He was reluctant to remove the man's bonds but saw no other option.

  Besides, the guy's been nothing but a zombie for hours now; Hrrakk'

  knocked all the fight out of him.

  "You're next," he said as he untied the man's hands. "You can go up like Cara. I'll help you."

  The hands dropped limply to the man's sides; he stared blankly at nothing.

  "Do you hear me?" Mark spoke a little louder and tried to make eye contact.

  "You've got to get up that cliff."

  Still no response.

  "Okay. We'll rig a harness, see." He looped and knotted

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  the end of the rope, hoping Hrrakk', Cara, and Eerin were strong enough to pull the hefty male straight up, if that's what it took. "I'll put this around you.

  Raise your arms." When the man didn't obey, Mark took his wrist and lifted it.

  Sudden animation flashed over the man's heavy features and through his body, and a second later his fist slammed hard into Mark's midsection, driving the air from the younger man's lungs in a startled gasp.

  Mark doubled over reflexively, clutching at his middle, desperately trying to suck in air.

  Oh, God! Terris! He tried to turn away, shield the baby with his body, but a second jarring blow impacted with his jaw, sending him reeling. Dimly, Mark felt powerful hands grab the front of his sweater and shove him brutally against the rock wall. His head snapped back hard, stunning him again.

  Sharp agony flashed through his being, and then a final blow hit him like a thunderclap of darkness, and he blacked out.

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  Chapter 14 CHAPTER 14

  The Shadow of Death

  "Mark!" Cara screamed, seeing him crumple to the ground. The shadows dancing around him hid the upper half of his body as he lay slumped against the base of the cliff.

  The man glanced up at them, his face a white blur. Then he advanced again, hands going out, reaching for Terris as hinsi screamed in fear. "No!" Cara shrieked. "Hrrakk', do something!"

  The Simiu was already halfway down the cliff.

  A heartbeat later, there was a thud as Hrrakk' dropped the last few meters to the ground. Hearing it, the man looked up, dropped the wailing Terris back onto Mark's body, then began backing away. Without warning, the Simiu leaped, his hand lashing out with blurring speed, striking the side of the man's head; the human fell over backward. Hrrakk' advanced again.

  The whiteness of the man's face was now half obscured by darkness-- '-

  blood, Cara thought sickly--and he scooted back on his elbows, then grabbed up a double handful of sand and flung it into Hrrakk's face.

  Hrrakk' snarled, hit him again, and this time he lay still.

  Cara watched anxiously as the Simiu turned back to Mark

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  and began examining him. "Is he badly hurt?" she yelled in Mizari. "Should I come down?"

  "It is not necessary," Hrrakk' replied gruffly. "The human is stunned, but save for a cut on the back of his head, I do not believe he has suffered serious injury. Lower the first-aid kit."

  Hastily Cara stuffed the fourth full canteen and the medical kit into one of the knapsacks, then lowered it down.

  She saw Mark stir, then, with Hrrakk's help, he sat up, his head bowed over his knees. The watchers above heard Terris, whom they couldn't see, finally stop crying. The Simiu wet a strip of bandage and began cleaning the back of the human's head.

  "Oh, my God ..." Reaction set in, and Cara began trembling violently as she looked up at the others. "Mark could have been killed--and Terris, that bastard was going to kill Terris, I'm sure of it! I hope to hell Mark doesn't have a concussion!"

  Eerin must have had difficulty following her rapid, idiomatic speech, but somehow the Elpind understood. Hin patted the journalist's arm

  comfortingly. "Mark is strong," hin said. "Hrrakk' would have said if heen was truly hurt."

  Cara wondered dully if Elspind did the same thing humans so often did: offer empty words of reassurance, just to make themselves feel better.

  "How are you doing down there?" she called to Hrrakk'.

  "I'm okay," Mark himself answered, though his voice was weak and hard to hear. "I blacked out for a moment, but otherwise, I'm fine. Thank God Terris wasn't hurt."

  "What about your head?"

  "I've got a lump and a cut. It's sore, but that's all."

  Cara caught a movement amid the shadows. The man was crawling on his stomach, then, as she watched, he climbed to his feet and began staggering away. "Hrrakk'!" she yelled. "The man is getting away!"

  "Let that honorless dragkk' go," the Simiu snarled, watching as Mark's attacker broke into a staggering, stumbling run and vanished around the curve of the cliff.

  Cara's attention shifted from the two at the bottom of the cliff to Eerin as hin rose and fetched the blue bundle that was lying near the other knapsack.

  Misir lay curled into a quiet

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  little ball in the makeshift sling. Cara felt the baby's diaper, finding it dry. At her touch, the child opened golden eyes, so like Eerin's, and looked at her unblinkingly ... waiting. Is hinsi waiting for food? she wondered, feeling a chill trace down her spine, or for something else?

  The baby sighed; its eyes closed again.

  "Misir is worse." Tears filled Cara's eyes. R'Thessra, hovering next to her, touched the girl's arm with a delicate feeler, and Cara glanced up, grat
eful for the silent comfort.

  "Yes," the Elpind agreed gently. "Hin does not believe food will help this hinsi. There is injury inside the child's body. But Terris must have nourishment."

  Eerin rose to hin's feet. "Now that we have gained the mountains--even these beginning mountains--there is sure to be vegetation farther on. Hin is going to go on ahead and attempt to locate some wild sestel, if it grows in this region. It is possible that Terris may be able to drink a broth made from sestel leaves. That is what young Elpind babies are weaned on. Terris is young to be weaned, but it is hinsi's only chance."

  "But ... Eerin, shouldn't you wait for Mark and Hrrakk'?"

  "Hin can travel faster alone, and time is short, now."

  Cara knew the Elpind was right, but she hated to see hin go. "How will we find you again, if we separate?"

  "Hin will find the group. Hin has committed the map route to memory, so hin will come back along that route."

  Cara wanted to protest further, but subsided. "Okay," she said. "I'll tell Mark and Hrrakk'." She looked up at the mountains ahead of them. They rose up gently in graduated levels like giant's steps. The narrow plateaus were barren, showing faint red and brown in the moons' light.

  "I sure hope there's water ahead," she said, feeling thirst nearly overwhelm her.

  "There will be," Eerin was confident, "if these mountains are at all similar to the ones around Lalcipind."

  "They'd better be," Cara said grimly. "There couldn't be settlements without water, I suppose."

  "Cara is right, of course."

  Eerin made no move to go, but stood beside Cara, looking up at the mountains. The huge eyes seemed troubled. Is it only my imagination, Cara thought, or is something wrong with Eerin?

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  "Frankly, I'm surprised Mark didn't ask you to go on before this, since you can obviously go much faster than the group can."

  "Mark did ask hin before we left the ship," Eerin admitted. "But an Elpind cannot keep going in conditions of heat." A shudder made the down on Eerin's bony frame stir. "Hin must rest then also. This is why Elspind live in the mountains or build their cities beneath the cover of great forests."

  Cara gazed at the Elpind anxiously. "Eerin, are you sure you're all right?"