Sundrinker

Is it you who was foretold by the holy man, Tambol?'

'Tambol, holy?' Jai asked. She'd come running forward, but too late to get in on the action.

'He teaches us,' the pong said. 'He tells of us a wise and big hearted one who will return from the north to free us. Are you he?'

'You are free,' Duwan said. 'I am no Drinker's master.'

'With these you would make an army?' Duwan the Elder asked.

'Teach us, Master,' the pong begged. 'Teach us how to be free.'

'On your feet, all of you,' Duwan said, and the pongs leaped up. 'Now, how did this settlement come to be so far north?'

'Master,' the spokesman said, 'the Devourers came here to extend the hunting range for the city of Kooh.'

'Are there other settlements in these northern forests?' Duwan asked.

'This is the northernmost,' the pong said. 'There are others. We were many when we left Kooh, and many dropped off along the way to clear land and build way stations.'

Duwan was thinking, So, it is now time for us to angle off to the west, lest we encounter other Devourers.

'How are we to be free, Master,' asked a gaunt, half naked slave female.

'It is said that you freed one female, and made her your follower. I would follow you, as well.'

'Teach us the use of the Devourer's arms,' cried a male.

'Tell us of eternal life,' said another.

'Take down the bars from the fence that makes you a slave,' Duwan said. He stooped and plucked a life organ from a fixed brother. 'Then begin to feed yourself, thus, in the way of Drinkers so that you will be strong and then we will speak of teaching you the way of arms.' With a crack of wood the fence gave way. The ragged female who had been brave enough to speak fell to her knees in front of Duwan and plucked life organs from the low growing fixed brothers and stuffed them into her mouth.

'Bless this green, Master, so that I will live,' she cried.

'Expose your skin to the healing, nourishing goodness of Du,' Duwan said.

A few of them pushed back their hoods. One male bared his chest and looked fearfully up.

'Eat,' Duwan roared. 'If you won't eat of the sweet, growing goodness of the earth take yourself back into the pongpen there to remain a slave.' The female, her mouth full of green, her jaws working, tried to kiss Duwan's foot. He stepped back. 'I am no one's master,' he said. 'I am Drinker. You are Drinker. And if you are to be free you must think and act like Drinkers.'

'Teach us, teach us,' came the cries.

Duwan made camp in the clearing. The pongs, stomachs bulging with green food, gathered fearfully around his fire. They eyed him expectantly.

'They will fight for you,' Jai said.

'I don't want them to fight for me. I want them to fight for themselves, for their people, for their mates, for their sprouts.'

'But they must have a leader, Duwan,' she said. 'Look at them. They are adoring you with their eyes.'

'I am not a du,' Duwan said.

'Speak to them,' she insisted.

He rose. 'One of you mentioned Tambol. Who spoke of Tambol?' A gaunt male, his stomach looking almost comical, so distended was it with food, rose and bowed low. 'I have heard the holy man, Tambol, with these ears, Master.'