'Better to live underground like a starved rat than feel the sun on your face and die,' said a thin man with a twisted leg. 'Soon you will be one of us and you will understand.'
'Understand what?' roared Hornsbuck, shaken. 'Are you all crazy?'
'Crazy? Perhaps,' said the boy's father as he sat down on a broken chair close to the fire and gestured at them to seat themselves. 'But mostly desirous of life. We do what we can and perhaps it will not always be like this. We have plans.'
Lotus Blossom seated herself on a low stool that creaked beneath her weight as Mika and Hornsbuck hunkered down on their heels, waiting for the man to explain.
'We, all of us whom you see here, except for some of the children, were chosen ones.' He looked at them expectantly, waiting for them to understand.
Mika, Lotus Blossom, and Hornsbuck looked at each other blankly to see if the others had understood, then looked back to the man, no sign of understanding on their faces.
'Chosen ones?' said Mika. 'I guess we don't understand what you're trying to tell us.'
'Here in Exag we worship the sun god,' the man said patiently. 'Every day, one whose birth was on that day is sacrificed to the sun god so that he will find pleasure in us and shine his beneficence down upon us. However, others who have been unfortunate enough to offend the priests are often chosen, as well.'
'How-how, do they know when you were born?' Mika asked with a dry mouth.
'The citizens are forced to wear tunics that designate the month of birth,' said the man. 'And the very worst time is now, as we approach the time of the dawnstar, when the sun is eaten by the moon at daybreak on the last day of Sunsebb.
'Here in Exag the dawnstar is also known as the deathstar, for all those born under its sign are born for death. It is they whom the priests sacrifice to make certain that the new year turns in its cycle.'
'The dawnstar does that? Surely you are mistaken,' said Mika. 'Everyone knows that it is the Great She- Wolf, mother of us all, who sees to the turning of the new year.'
'Here in Exag, the dawnstar is given that honor,' the man said with a wry smile.
'I, uh, I was born under the sign of the dawnstar,' said Mika in a low voice.
'I know, I heard!' the boy said excitedly. 'That is why I brought you here. I, Margraf, heard you tell the guards the date of your borning. Did you not see the look that passed between them?'
Mika was forced to admit that he had not. Nor, in fact, had he seen the boy. He wondered briefly if his powers of observation were slipping as well as other manly abilities.
'Not only was he born under the dawnstar,' cried Margraf, 'but I heard him boast that he was born during a sun-eating!'
There was a sharp intake of breath and then excited murmurings broke out all around him. Margraf s father raised his hands and shushed the crowd. 'Is this true?' he asked, his eyes glittering brightly.
'Yes, it's true,' Mika said shakily. 'Is there something wrong with that?'
'Not if you are ready to die,' said the man. 'You must know that there will be another sun-eating this turning. The priests have been unable to find one who was born on such a day. The whole city is in an uproar, for the priests say that unless such a person is found, the cycle will not turn and the world will surely end.'
'But, but, that's nonsense,' stammered Mika, looking at the circle of pitying eyes. 'And besides, if it's true, why did they just let me pass like that? Why didn't they say something or grab me then? Why would they let me wander around loose?'
'And where would you go?' asked the man. 'You and your friends stick out among us like dragons among sheep. Do you think that you would be difficult to find? Had Margraf not brought you to us, you would have been theirs for the taking.'
'We are not that easy to take, little man,' growled Hornsbuck. 'We can fight our way out of most anything, and failing that we could always go over the wall.'
'There are many more of them than there are of you,' observed the man in a soft voice. 'And the wall, no, I do not think so, for it is no ordinary structure of stone or clay. It cannot be climbed.'
'All walls can be climbed,' said Mika.
'This wall cannot be climbed,' said a litde weasel- faced fellow with bright, glittering eyes. 'It's a trapper wall!'
Mika turned to Hornsbuck for explanation and saw that his friend's normally ruddy face had paled noticeably.
'Hornsbuck?' he said softly. 'What's a trapper wall?'
'It be a foul thing,' said Hornsbuck, his forehead breaking out in a sweat, 'usually found in subterranean places, caves and suchlike. Trappers mimic walls and floors and ordinary things that you would never suspect. Then, when you step on them or pass them by, wham, they grab you and crush you to death.
'Swords and weapons don't hurt them, not much does, save magic. I've never heard of one able to stand the light of day, but I suppose anything be possible. One almost got me once… it was a close call.' The big man shuddered.
Mika looked away, deeply disturbed at the sight of Hornsbuck's distress. Never before had Mika seen Hornsbuck exhibit fear. If Hornsbuck were afraid, then Mika was doubly so.
'This wall,' he said tremulously, 'has no one ever climbed it?'
'Never,' said the weasel-faced man. 'We who know stay far away from it. The priests see to it that it gets a fair portion of those sacrificed each moon, but it is always hungry and satisfies itself whenever it chooses by grabbing those who pass too closely. You could not even get near it, much less climb it in safety.'
'What are we to do?' Mika asked Hornsbuck in a low tone. 'I have no wish to spend the rest of my life hiding under the ground like vermin.'
'Patience, Mika, patience,' cautioned Horns- buck. 'We can learn much from these people and when the opportunity comes, we will be ready. And do not forget, there is always the stone.'
'How could I forget?' muttered Mika, his hand going to his neck. Then, his eye was caught by a sideways, scuttling movement. Mika wondered briefly what it was, but it was not repeated and he soon returned to the matter at hand.
'I am known as Lufa. I, or rather, we, as I have said, were till chosen ones, those picked by the priests to feed the hunger of the gods,' said Margraf s father. 'We chose not to die and so we have made our home here, fighting the priests as best we can. As you see, the world has not yet come to an end, despite our actions.'
'Are you the only people who feel this way?' asked Hornsbuck.
'Everyone but the priests feels as we do, but they are afraid to act. If a person speaks out against the priests, he is chosen to be sacrificed when the right moon comes. Many who would join us are afraid to do so for fear of what might happen to them and their families,' said Lufa.
'Well, then, what we need is a really massive revolt,' said Mika. 'Maybe we can convince people to turn against the priests and really change things around here.'
'Great!' said Margraf, his eyes sparkling. 'How are we going to do it?'
'Uh, I don't know,' said Mika. 'The usual, I suppose. We'll create a diversion-noise, fire, something like that. Then, while the priests' attention is on that, we get the people on our side and revolt! It's simple.'
'The usual? Have you ever done anything like this before?' asked Lufa.
'Uh, well, no,' said Mika, 'but how hard can it be?'
For a moment there was silence and then a babble of voices broke out, each striving to be heard above the others.
'Quiet!' yelled Lufa, holding his hands up. Turning to Mika, he said, 'It would have to be a massive diversion. We are still few, and the soldiers of the priests are many.'
'Do you want to live better than you do now?' replied Mika in challenging tones. 'Anything would be better than this.'
'And get rid of that damn weird wall and let folks come and go in Exag as they please. And free enterprise, got to have that, a few taverns, gambling pits, dog races, liven things up a bit,' added Lotus Blossom.
'Yes, the wall,' murmured Lufa. 'It is a symbol of our repression. But how can we get rid of it?'
'Fire,' Mika said with a grin. 'We'll destroy it with fire.'
'Fire,' mused Hornsbuck. 'Yes, fire would do it, I think, if the blaze be big enough.'
Slowly, smiles crept over the faces of the adults as they began to believe that their freedom might indeed be
