after a while and don't hardly move except to get away from
the windows in the daytime, but in a big place like this they don't
ever settle down completely. Only they don't ever go down much,
'cause if they did, they'd get stepped on and broken real fast.'
'Lots of these tunnels slope down besides the one Auk ran down,'
she objected, 'and I've seen lights in them.'
'Depends on how dark it is down there, and how steep the slope
is. If it's too steep, they won't go in there at all.'
'It was pretty steep,' Chenille conceded, 'and we went down it
quite a ways, but later we took that one that went up, remember? It
didn't go up as steep as the dark one went down, and it had lights,
but it climbed like that for a long time.'
'I _think_, my daughter--'
'So what I've been wondering is would Auk have gone back up
like we did? He was kind of out of it.'
'He was _deranged_,' Incus declared positively. 'I would hope that
condition was only temporary, but temporary or _not_, he was not
_rational_.'
'Yeah, and that's why we took the tunnel that angled back up that
I was talking about, Patera. We're not abram and we knew we
wanted to get back up to the surface, besides finding Auk. But if
Auk was abram... To let you have the lily word, all you bucks
seem pretty abram to me, mostly, so I didn't pay much attention.
Only if he was, maybe he'd just keep on going down, because that's
easier. He was running like you say, and it's pretty easy to run
downhill.'
'There _may_ be something in what you suggest, my daughter. We
must keep it in mind, _if_ our discussion concludes that we should
continue our pursuit.
'Now, may _I_ sum up? The _question_ is whether we are to continue,
or to break off our search, _at least temporarily_, and attempt to return
to the sufface. Allow me, please, to state both cases. I shall strive
for _concision_. If any of you has an _additional point_, you are free to
advance it when I have _concluded_.
'It would seem to me that there is only one _cogent_ reason to
_protract_ our search, and I have touched upon that _already_.
It is that Auk is one of the _triune prophets_ commissioned by
_Scylla_. As a _prophet_ he is a _theodidact_ of _inestimable_ value, as
was Dace. It is for that reason, and for it alone, that I _instructed_
Hammerstone to pursue him following his precipitate departure. It is for that
reason _solely_ that I have prolonged the pursuit so far. For _I_, also, am
such a prophet. The only such prophet remaining, as I have said.'
'He's one of us,' Chenille declared. 'I was with him at Limna
before Scylla possessed me, and I remember him a little on the boat.
We can't just go off and leave him.'
'Nor do _I_ propose to do so, my daughter. Hear me out, I beg you.
We are _exhausted and famished_. When we return to the _surface_ with
Scylla's messages, in _fulfillment_ of her will, we can gain rest and
food. _Furthermore_, we can enlist others in the search. We will--'
Urus interrupted. 'You said we could put in stuff of our own,
right? All right, how about me? Do I get to talk, or are you goin' to
have the big chem shoot me?'
Incus smiled gently. 'You must understand, my son, that as your
spiritual guide, I _love_ you no less and no more than the others. I
have threatened your life only as the _law_ does, for your correction.
_Speak_.'
'Well, I don't love Auk, only if you want to get him back it looks
to me like you're goin' about it wrong. He wanted us to go to the pit,
remember? So maybe now that he's gone off by himself that's
where. We could go 'n see, 'n there's lots of bucks there that know
these tunnels as well as me, so why not tell 'em what happened 'n
get 'em to look too?'
Incus nodded, his face thoughtful. 'It is a suggestion worthy of
consideration.'
'They'll eat us,' Chenille declared.
'Fish head?' Oreb fluttered to her shoulder.
'Yeah, like you'd eat a fish head, Oreb. Only we'd have to have
fish heads to do it.'
'They won't eat me,' Hammerstone told her. 'They won't eat
anybody I say not to eat, either, while I'm around.'
'Now let us _pray_.' Incus was on his knees, hands clasped behind
him. 'Let us petition the _immortal gods_, and Scylla _particularly_, to
rescue both Auk and _ourselves_, and to guide us in the ways they
would have us go.'
'I twigged you don't buy that any more.'
'I have _encountered_ Scylla,' Incus told Urus solemnly. 'I have seen
for myself the _majesty_ and _power_ of that very great goddess. How
could I lack belief now?' He contemplated the voided cross suspended
from his prayer beads as if he had never seen it before. 'I
have suffered, too, on that wretched boat and in these _detestable_
tunnels. I have been in terror of my life. It is hunger and fear that
direct us toward the gods, my son. I have learned that, and I wonder
that _you_, suffering as you clearly have, have not turned to them long
ago.
'How do you know I haven't, huh? You don't know a shaggy
thing about me. Maybe I'm holier than all of you.'
Tired as she was, Chenille giggled.
Incus shook his head. 'No, my son. It won't do. I am a _fool_,
perhaps. Beyond dispute I have not infrequently been a fool. But
not such a fool as that.' More loudly he added, 'On your _knees_. Bow
your heads.'
'Bird pray! Pray Silk!'
Incus ignored Oreb's hoarse interruption, his right hand making
the sign of addition with the voided cross. 'Behold us, lovely Scylla,
_wonderful of waters_. Behold our love and our need for thee. Cleanse
us, O Scylla!' He took a deep breath, the inhalation loud in the
whispering silence. 'Your prophet is bewildered and dismayed,
Scylla. Wash clear my _eyes_ as I implore you to cleanse my _spirit_.
Guide me in this confusion of darkling passages and obscure
