was one. That cully Gelada, he said there was this long mort, and a
little cull with her. That's all we knew when we started pullin' lights
down.' 'It was this _Gelada_ who shot the bone arrow at _me_, I take it.'
'Not at you, Patera. At her. She had a launcher, he said, so he shot,
only he missed. He's got this bow pasted up out of bones, only he's
not as good with it as he thinks. Auk, all I want's to get out, see?
You take me up, anyplace, 'n that's it. I'll do anythin' you say.'
'I was wondering,' Auk murmured.
Incus: 'I _fired_ twenty times at least. There were _beastly animals_,
and _men_ as well.' Chenille: 'You could've killed all of us, you know
that? Just shooting Auk's needler like that in the dark. That was
abram.' Hammerstone: 'Not me.' 'If I had _not_, my daughter, I might
very well have died _myself_. Nor was I firing at _random_. I _knew!_
Though I might as well have been _blind_. That was _wonderful_. Truly
_miraculous. Scylla_ must have been at my side. They _rushed_ upon me
to kill me, all of them, but _I_ killed _them_ instead.'
Auk opened his eyes to squint into the darkness behind them.
'They killed Dace, maybe. I dunno. In a minute I'm going to see.'
Chenille prepared to rise. 'You feel awful, don't you? I'll go.'
'Not now, Jugs. It's still dark back there. Urus, you said your culls
took down lights. That was to make a dark stretch here so you could
get behind us, right?'
'That's it, Auk. Getada got up on my shoulders to pull four down,
'n Gaur run them on back. They spread out lookin' for dark. You
know about that?'
Auk grunted.
'Only they don't go real fast. So we figured we'd wait flat to the
side till you went by. Her, I mean, 'n this runt augur cully. That's all
we figured there was.' 'And jump on me from in back!' 'What'd you
of done?' (Auk sensed, though he could not see, Urus's outspread
hands.) 'You shot a rocket at Gelada. If it hadn't been for the bend,
you coulda done for our whole knot.' 'Bad man!' (That was Oreb.)
Auk opened his eyes once more. 'Three or four, anyhow.
Hammerstone, didn't you say something about a couple animals
Patera shot?'
'Tunnel gods,' Hammerstone confirmed. 'Like dogs, like I told
you, only not nice like dogs.'
'I got to go back,' Auk muttered. 'I got to see what's happened to
the old man, and I want to have a look at these gods. Urus, you're
one, and I did for one, so that makes two. Hammerstone says Patera
got a couple, that's four. Anybody else do for any?'
Hammerstone: 'Me. One. And one Patera'd shot was still flopping
around, so I shot him again.'
'Yeah, I think I heard that. So that's five. Urus, don't give me
clatter, I'm telling you. How many'd you have?'
'Six, Auk, 'n the two bufes.'
'Counting you?'
'That's right, countin' me, 'n that's the lily word.'
'I'm going back there,' Auk repeated, 'soon as the lights get there
and I feel better. Anybody that wants to come with me, that's all
right. Anybody that wants to go on, that's all right, too. But I'm
going to look at the gods and see about Dace.' He closed his eyes again.
'Good man!'
'Yeah, bird, he was.' Auk waited for someone to speak, but no
one did. 'Urus, they threw you in the pits. Do they really throw
them? I always wondered.'
'Only if you get their backs up. If you don't, you can ride down in
the basket.'
'That's how they feed you? Put your slum in this basket and let it
down?'
''N water jars, sometimes. Only mostly we got to catch our own
when it rains.'
'Keep talking.'
'It ain't as bad as you think. Anyhow mine ain't. Mostly we get
along, see? 'N the new ones comin' in are stronger.'
'Unless they get thrown. They'd have broken legs and so forth, I guess'
'That's lily, Auk.'
'Then you kill 'em right off and eat 'em while they're still fat?'
Someone (Incus, Auk decided) gasped.
'Not all the time, 'n that's lily. Not if it's somebody that somebody
knows. We wouldn't of et you, see.'
'So you got stuck in a pit, riding down in this basket, and you're a
bully cull, or used to be. Found out they'd been digging, didn't
you?' Auk opened his eyes, resolving to keep them open.
'That's it. They meant to dig out, see? Over till they fetched the
big wall, then down underneath, deep as they had to. Ours is about
the deepest, see? One of the real old 'uns 'n one that's near the wall.
They'd dig with bones, two culls at once, 'n more carryin' it out in
their hands. The rest'd watch for Hoppy 'n tramp it down when it
was scattered 'round. They told me all about it.'
Hammerstone asked, 'You hit this tunnel when you went to go
under the wall?'
Urus nodded eagerly. 'They did, that's the right of it. They told
me. And the shiprock--it's shiprock there, it is in lots of place--it
was cracked, see? 'N they scraped the dirt out, hopin' to get
through, 'n saw the lights. They got wild then, that's what they said.
So they fetched rocks 'n chipped away at the shiprock, just a
snowflake, like, for your wap, fill you can wiggle through.'
Incus grinned, exposing his protruding teeth more than ever. 'I
_begin_ to comprehend your plight, my son. When you had _accessed_
these horrid tunnels, you found yourself _unable_ to reach the _surface_.
Is that not correct? The fact of the matter? _Pas's_ justice on you?'
'Yeah, that's it, Patera.' With an ingratiating grimace, Urus
leaned toward Incus, appearing almost to abase himself. 'Only look
at it, Patera. You shot a couple friends of mine just a minute ago,
didn't you? You didn't lend 'em no horse to Mainframe, did you?'
Incus shook his head, plump cheeks quivering. 'I thought it best
to let the gods judge for _themselves_ in this instance, my son. As I
would in _yours_, as well.'
