“What is the matter with the sky?”
“I can’t see the moons,” He stood and gestured, “Elcin’s Wrath! How can I know what the configurations are if I can’t see the moons? Red day, blue day, red day, and no darkness ever. I’ve stared and stared —”
A dreadful certainty was stealing over me. “Shoogar, what are you doing?”
“
“Gods protect us, Lant! How can I even hope to defend myself if I can’t see what the configurations are?”
“It is unfortunate,” I agreed. Virn knows how I managed to keep my voice steady. “But perhaps it is also auspicious.”
“Auspicious?” He whirled on me. “Auspicious? How can it be auspicious? How can I plan a duel when all the auspices are hidden?”
“Maybe,” I said carefully. “Maybe, it’s a sign that you shouldn’t duel.”
“Shouldn’t duel? — Are you mad? Lant the Speaker!” he mocked, “he only knows how to speak in circles.”
“I am not speaking in circles,” I said firmly. “I mean that for once you won’t be able to depend on your magic for an easy solution. Perhaps, for a change, you will have to think out the wisest course of action instead of just rashly casting a spell with dangerous side effects. Remember, whatever you do, we won’t be able to flee the side effects of it until the waters recede.”
“Are you questioning my magic?” He peered at me, narrow-eyed.
“Me? Never! I am your staunchest supporter — but you have to admit, Shoogar, you do sometimes use your magic in situations where a little diplomacy might be better. You are too hasty to cast spells before you know how they will work out —”
“How else will I find out how they work??” he snapped.
I ignored the interruption. “You must admit, Shoogar, that my skill with words is better than yours.”
“Yes,” he said. “You use more of them than I do. You should be better.”
“Be that as it may — if you don’t know how the moons are positioned, then you are unable to cast any kind of moon-dependent spell. Instead, you must depend on me, as Speaker, to avoid situations where your magic will be needed.”
“It’s too late, Lant. We’re already in a situation where my magic is necessary. I have to protect us from Purple. Obviously, he’s going to try to kill me — and you — and the rest of the villagers! If only to retrieve
“Nonsense,” I snapped back at him, surprising even myself with my audacity. I was already beginning to feel like a Speaker. “Obviously, you don’t remember Purple as well as I do. I don’t recall that he ever once used violence, or ever once tried to cast a spell against you. In fact, all of the spell-casting done at the old village was done by you. Purple has yet to retaliate for any of your attacks.”
“All the more reason to beware. We’re in his village now — when he does retaliate, it will be a moon- destroyer, Lant.”
“Again, nonsense. Purple is a talker, not a doer.”
“My magic is necessary to protect us, Lant —”
“Granted, that you should protect us, but that does not mean that you must attack Purple right off —”
“The only good defense is a strong offense —”
“And you will have the moons falling out of the sky on top of us! Why don’t you wait to see what he is planning? You forget that you have power over him, Shoogar — you have his lenses. He’ll want them back. He’ll do anything to get them back, perhaps even swear an oath of truce.”
“Truce?” exploded Shoogar. “Truce?!! Lant, you have the mind of a flea! There can be no truce with magicians. I ought to know!”
“And you have the temper of a goat!” I snapped back. “If it weren’t for me, you would have killed yourself long ago attempting to hurl fire balls at Elcin!”
This stopped Shoogar for a moment. He looked at me speechlessly. “Lant,” he said quietly. “You surprise me. I had no idea you were so violent.”
“It’s been a long hard journey, Shoogar — I’m tired. Most of all, I’m tired of suffering because of poor judgment on the part of a magician. Now use your brain for once — or if you haven’t one, let me use mine for you.”
“What is it you are suggesting…?” he sighed.
“Wait — that’s all. Wait. Swear an oath of truce, if necessary. It is too soon to duel with Purple, much too soon. If you attempt to duel with him on his home ground you are doomed to lose. Wait until you are on equal terms at least.”
Shoogar didn’t say anything. He examined his fingernails thoughtfully, and scratched at his thin fur.
“Well…?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. He continued to scratch.
“There is one other thing you should consider, Shoogar. Purple always claimed that his spells did not depend on the gods or on the configurations of the moons. You’ve always thought that he was lying. But if he is not, then the endless sunlight does not hamper him.”
He didn’t answer — but at least he stopped scratching.
“Well? Will you wait? Or will you at least agree not to do anything until you talk it over with me?”
He looked up. I’ll talk it over with you before I do any-thing.”
“Fine.”
When I left he was still cursing the sky — but at least he was packing away his spellcasting equipment.
That settled, I went back to Hinc and the others and reported that we had nothing to fear from an immediate duel. Shoogar would not move without consulting me first. I told them we would stay here.
There was again some grumbling, but we were committed to this course of action — if not by my authority as Speaker, then certainly by the authority of the all-encompassing sea. Clearly, they had not expected me to fare so well with Shoogar, but since I had, they were left with no choice but to honor my claim to the office. It was as if the Gods themselves were backing me up.
As they wandered back to their tents I called my two sons, Wilville and Orbur, to me. Wilville, noticing my smile, asked, “Why are you so eager to stay here? This area teems with trouble. That Purple is still alive bodes not well for us.”
“Oh, I think that situation can be handled. The advantages of staying here far outweigh the disadvantages.”
“Advantages?” asked Orbur incredulously. He was the darker of the two.
“Certainly — you’re a bicycle builder — you must have noticed the quality and variety of woods around here. Fine bambooze shoots, spirit-pine, sparkling aspen, birts, vampire-oaks — also fibertrees, nevergreens and cranials. One can build fine bicycles with the materials at hand here. In fact, one could probably build anything with the materials here. Did you not notice there are no bicycles or bicycle builders at all in the lower village? You will have the market all to yourselves.”
Wilville nodded eagerly. “Our father is right, Orbur. There is much work here.”
“You are thinking right, Wilville — there is. You can start by contacting the neighboring villages for me. I want you to locate the nearest sources of dry bone, wet bone, petrified bone and so on. It seems they don’t have a good bonemonger here either …”
Now I headed down toward the lower village and my meeting with Gortik.
This time it would be just the two of us, without our squabbling councils to hinder us. We had finished with the formalities of the greetings, and now we could get down to the real business of negotiating.
Of course, we had no choice in the matter. I and my fellow villagers were here for the duration of the wading season. Gortik and I had to come to some sort of agreement on how our two villages could survive till the onset of
