Shadow World

by A. C. Crispin

  As she trailed off, unable to say the rest of it, he put his arms around her, the warm, comforting grasp of a friend. His embrace felt good, and she leaned against him for a minute or

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  so. Then, without speaking, she pulled herself free and they left the clearing together.

  When they reached the others, the first thing they saw was Eerin. "Eerin,"

  Cara said, "Misir ... Misir is dead."

  "Hin grieves for the small journey-taker," said Eerin softly. The gold eyes were mournful.

  Mark looked at the Elpind's empty hands. "Did you find some food for Terris?

  The sestel?"

  Hin shook hin's head. "No," the Elpind said. "At least ... hin was not sure.

  There is a growth farther on that resembles the wild sestel hin has seen, but it differs in some ways. Hin thought it would be best to check with Hrrakk'

  and possibly use Mark's cell analyzer to discover whether it is indeed sestel before giving it to Terris."

  "Did you find water!" Cara asked urgently.

  "Not yet," Eerin said. "But the vegetation is much thicker the higher one goes. There must be water, and we will find it."

  Cara started to say something else, but Hrrakk's gruff voice interrupted. "The grave is ready."

  The journalist's heart contracted painfully when she saw the grave the Simiu had made. It was completely lined with small rocks, painstakingly placed to make a protective shell. And in the bottom was a deep, soft nest of green leaves. Hrrakk's care with the baby's final bed spoke of his feelings in a way that nothing else could.

  The silence was profound as the Simiu placed Misir, wrapped snugly in Mark's blue jersey, into the waiting hole. Cara saw Mark reach beneath his shirt to touch Terris, reaching for comfort in the baby's warm, solid reality.

  Hrrakk' scooped a large handful of dirt from the mound at the foot of the grave.

  "Wait," Eerin said, and stepped forward. In the Elpind's hand was a long white feather. Cara recognized it and saw that Mark did, too. It was one of Eerin's six treasured feathers from the Elseewas, the only white one hin owned.

  "El is life and Wo is death and each completes the other," said Eerin softly in Mizari. The ancient words were oddly comforting. "In the quick flight of a Shadowbird, El becomes'Wo. Let it be now, and let it ever be so."

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  The Elpind knelt and leaned down. Gently hin laid the silky feather on the baby's shirt-wrapped form, a form hardly longer than the feather itself. The white color was clean and pure against the bright blue cloth.

  The colors blurred and ran together. When Cara could see again, the grave was a mosaic: dark brown earth and gray rock with only bits of green leaf, blue cloth, and white feather peeping through. Hrrakk' and Mark and Eerin transferred handful after handful of dirt, and soon the only colors were earth ones.

  They tamped the ground down firmly, smoothed it, then Hrrakk' brought a large rock and laid it over the grave, almost obscuring the raw place. Cara was comforted, knowing that no animal would disturb Misir's rest.

  The others moved away, but the journalist stood silently for a few moments more. Finally, she wiped her eyes and turned. Mark was putting on his backpack. Beside him was only the Apis.

  "Where are Hrrakk' and Eerin?"

  Mark sighed and glanced down at Terris. "They've left to look for the sestel.

  They'll meet us up ahead."

  "Why Hrrakk'?" she wondered.

  "Why indeed? He said that the leaf patterns in this region vary from the wild sestel around Lalcipind."

  "How would Hrrakk' know that?"

  "I'm asking myself that very question." His hazel eyes were troubled. "And ...

  Cara ... did Eerin look different to you?"

  Cara thought about it. "Just tired. But that's natural. After all, hin covered twice the ground we have today."

  Mark wasn't reassured. "Hin asked me for some ration bars. Eerin wouldn't even consider eating one of those before."

  "How many of them do we have left?"

  "Seven. We're not too bad in the food department, if we can just find some water. Eerin drank what we had saved for hin."

  "Good." She looked at Mark, worrying over how tired he looked. "How's your headache?"

  "So-so. You ready?" When Cara nodded, picking up her pack, he looked at the Apis. "You ready to go, R'Thessra?"

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  The elderly alien rose quickly into the air, obviously ready.

  Cara checked the position of the sun. It was almost noon. She felt years older than when she'd stopped here for a sip of water, but only an hour or so had actually passed.

  She noticed Mark didn't look back at the grave as they left the quiet, sunny clearing.

  Neither did she.

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  Chapter 15 CHAPTER 15

  New Worries for Old

  The travelers climbed steadily for two hours, while the trees grew wider-girthed and the underbrush thicker. Plant colors became more varied, and they began to notice signs of birds and animals.

  Mark paid little attention, however, to his surroundings. The sight of Misir's eyes as they'd faded in death haunted him, but he kept seeing them green instead of gold. Terris' eyes.

  The baby woke several times as they walked, crying loudly, angrily. But each time hinsi subsided more quickly into weak whimpers, and each time the whimpers subsided more quickly back into sleep.

  The sights and even the sounds began to blur together for Mark. He'd done more than a day's worth of climbing since his injury, and only his fears for Terris kept him moving. His head throbbed again, and sometimes he would jerk back into awareness and realize that he had no memory of the past minutes' walking.

  Dehydration is setting in, he realized in a moment of lucidity. In survival class they'd learned that a little water will go a long way ... for a while. Then the negative effects begin to

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  accumulate quickly. Headache and dizziness begin when only six percent of the body's tissues become dehydrated.

  Finally he realized that if he didn't stop, he was going to stumble and fall ...

  and that might injure Terris. Reaching out, he put a hand on Cara's arm.

  "Stop ..." he managed, hardly able to make sounds emerge from his dry mouth. "Got to ... rest."

  Cara folded to the ground right where she stood. "I was ... going to tell you ...

  same thing," she said shakily.

  Mark slumped down and pulled off his pack. The Apis hovered over them, alert, watching. Then she flew closer and reached out a slender forelimb to touch Mark. It was the first time she'd ever made such a direct bid for his attention.

  "What is it?" he asked in Mizari, concerned.

  She bent slightly and trailed one wingtip along the ground as she flew in a circle around them, repeating the action several times until the long grass was brushed in one direction in a clear perimeter. Then she fluttered outside the grass-marked ring and let those large, faceted eyes rove deliberately over the circle, around the surrounding forest, over the circle again, and back to Mark.

  "Mark, she's saying she's going to stand watch."

  Cara's interpretation was right, he recognized it instantly. "Somebody's got to. Eerin said there are predators." He addressed the Apis in Mizari, barely able to summon enough saliva to produce the sibilants. "R'Thessra, don't you need to rest?"

  Slowly, deliberately, she moved her head from side to side. "She's shaking her head no," Mark said. "I guess she learned it from us."

  "Face it, Mark," Cara said weakly, lying down in a patch of shade.

  "Everybody else on this trek can outdo us humans: Hrrakk', Eerin, even R'Thessra, as old as she is. Now lie down and sleep."

  Mark was too tired to argue. "Thank you," he said in Mizari to the Apis. He lay back, resting his head on his knapsack.

  "Wake me if you need me ..." he mumbled, relaxing, feeling as if his body were going to sink down through the grass, below the soil, clear to Elseemar's ... Mark wa
s asleep before he finished the thought.

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  * * *

  Terris squalled.

  Coming up out of sodden sleep, Mark felt a heavy hand shake his leg. And his shoulder. Then it prodded him in the ribs. He rolled onto his side, then felt something cold and damp trickle down the back of his neck.

  "Okay! All right, already! I'm awake." The trip back from such intense sleep was not easy, and Mark felt miserable and still exhausted. Thirst was an added torment. Opening his dry, gritty eyes, he saw the Simiu standing over him, a canteen in his hand. Mark groaned. The slant of the sunlight told him that they'd only slept a couple of hours. No wonder he felt so awful.

  The significance of the Simiu's presence suddenly mingled with the sight of the canteen and the cold dampness of the drops on his neck, making Mark's foggy brain function. "Hrrakk'-- did you find water?"

  "Yes. And Eerin awaits us with the sestel," said Hrrakk' impatiently in Mizari.

  He reached over Mark to hand the canteen to Cara. Simiu chivalry? Mark wondered. Or is it just that Hrrakk' dislikes her less than he dislikes me?

  Watching Cara drink eagerly, Mark heaved a great relieved sigh. "Don't drink too much at one time, Cara, or you'll get sick." He smiled at Hrrakk'. "Water ...

  and sestel for Terris! That's wonderful, Honored Hrrakk'! Where?"

  The Simiu pointed. "An hour in that direction. Eerin is waiting."

  Cara quickly finished and passed the canteen to Mark. Quickly Mark filled Terris' feeding straw and gave the baby some of the cool liquid. A part of him hoped Hrrakk' had used the purification tablets, but as soon as Terris finished the straw (hinsi had emptied it in only seconds), Mark raised the container to his own lips without bothering to ask.

  The blessed coolness splashed over his tongue and coursed down his throat, tasting so wonderful that Mark gulped too quickly, even as he realized he had to slow down, or risk sickness. Hrrakk' shook his head at him warningly, and Mark stopped. He changed Terris, then filled the baby's feeding straw again.

  As Terris drank, Mark looked over at Cara, grinning, and

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  she smiled ecstatically back. FOOD AND WATER! In his mind's eye, the words were ten meters high in laser-lit capitals to symbolize the giant worry that had just been lifted off his shoulders.

  Both of them drank again, then, wonder of wonders, there was still enough left to splash over their faces and rinse their filthy hands.

  Refreshed, they started out. Mark quickly realized that an hour's journey to a Simiu constituted more than an hour's fast hike for a human. The spurt of energy the water had given him soon wore off as they climbed farther up the mountain, then hiked along its spine.

  The water had also given Terris a brief spurt of energy, which hinsi expressed by crying, then whimpering, but soon the baby lapsed back into sleep. Cara was silent with exhaustion; it was a very quiet group.

  The forest, however, grew louder. Small rustlings sounded here and there in the underbrush. A zing or a whir announced the presence of tiny insects in the air, and birdcalls whistled from tree to tree. The foliage was thicker and higher and small beaten trails wound through it, always converging now in the same direction: toward the life-sustaining water.

  At some point Mark began hearing a dull, muted droning sound. For a moment he thought it was his ears, that his exhaustion was catching up with him. But as he strained to hear, he realized it was definitely coming from outside his own body. As Hrrakk' made another turn and led them onto a well-defined animal trail, he realized it was growing louder.

  Suddenly a piercing, sweet, strangely familiar sound cut through every other noise. It was a high, fluting call, and Mark recognized the first note from the Mortenwol. Is Eerin doing the Mortenwol up ahead? he wondered.

  But the sound was repeated again, exactly the same, and he knew then that it was not the kareen. "Mark, look!" Cara pointed straight up, her voice hushed and excited.

  A huge, winged shape sailed into view, silhouetted against Elseemar's chalcedonic sky. Multicolored, with the wings and long tail outlined in black, it seemed like a living piece of stained glass. Mark remembered the black tips on all of Eerin's treasured feathers and their glowing colors.

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  "Cara! That's an Elseewas! A Shadowbird. That's the kind of bird Eerin's feathers come from."

  The bird dipped lower, and Mark could clearly see the deep red wings and body. In the long sweeping tail the feathers alternated: soft blue, deep green, and pure white.

  "It's gorgeous," breathed Cara. "I don't know if I mean how it looks or how it sounds," she added, for the bird was singing with long trills and intricate repeating runs.

  "Eerin said much of the Mortenwol and its accompanying music is inspired by the Elseewas," Mark said, craning his neck to follow the bird out of sight.

  The song drifted into silence.

  Even Hrrakk' had paused to watch the Elseewas. As they resumed trudging along the path, Mark told Cara what he remembered of Eerin's story about the Shadowbird.

  The throbbing beat he'd heard earlier gradually increased to a roar. "That's a waterfall!" exclaimed Mark finally. "Sounds like a big one."

  Cara stumbled into a tired trot. "I think I want to stand in it as badly as I want to drink it."

  Mark followed eagerly. The worn track sloped down a bit, then suddenly opened out and they were there. Like a fairy land, he thought, stunned by the unexpected beauty of the place.

  Here, the mountain crest they'd been walking suddenly folded sideways against another higher hump, and down from the taller mountain, over a hanging shelf of rock, plunged a long, narrowly focused fall of water. Nothing broke its fall until it struck the deeply carved basin far below. The pool before them churned white with the force of its unceasing assault. A continuous thunder echoed from the huge rocks that edged the stream, and clouds of mist hovered in the air.

  On both sides of the stream, leaning over and pushing between the great rocks, were trees of a variety Mark had not seen before, even in these mountains. They must need to grow right by water, he decided.

  The trunks were formed by several tightly braided, woody stems, and the branches were wide-flung and flexible, moving slightly with every current of air. Attached by short stems up and down the branches were the most amazing leaves. Each was a bright, translucent yellow, making the tree seem as though it were hung with living jewels.

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  The trees caught the rays of the late afternoon sun, rays that had to struggle down through more ordinary green layers of taller treetops, and fanned them into flame. The effect gilded the rocks, and even the mist-laden air picked up the golden glow.

  Cara had not allowed the alien beauty of the place to distract her from priorities. She was already bending over the water, splashing it vigorously onto her face. Then she pulled off her shoes and waded right in to begin sluicing her arms.

  "Remember, don't drink it," cautioned Mark. He began filling the canteens and dropping one of the purification tablets inside each. "Hrrakk', where's Eerin? Where's the sestel?"

  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 u
p 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.