“Tegger, I am a mind and a voice. I know things. Sometimes I see things before you do. I never lie.”
Useless creature. “Wayspirit, your good intent exceeds your means. What if I wish for a fish to eat?”
“I can do that. Will you wait?”
“I will, but why?”
“I must not be seen. I could much more quickly tell you how to get your own fish.”
True, the shore was very active. “Do you have a name?”
“Call me what you wish.”
“Whisper.”
“Good.”
“Whisper, I want to kill vampires.”
“So do all of your companions. Will you rejoin them?”
Tegger shuddered. “No.”
“Think what you will need. By now you must know that the vampire’s power reaches farther than your sword—”
Tegger moaned, his head bowed low, his hands over his ears. The whisperer waited him out, and presently said, “You will need defenses. We should make a list.”
“Whisper, I don’t want to talk to any of them.” He was beginning to remember that for a falan of nights among the Thurl’s people, he and Warvia had tried to explain why their monogamous nature made them superior to the lure of the vampire. It made the other species irritable.
Whisper said, “The first vehicle is abandoned save for Harpster. Harpster sleeps. Even if he wakes, he will not disturb you. Take what you will need.”
Vala was wishing she could get into the spirit of the thing.
The water was cold. You had to stay active to stay warm. Everyone seemed to be washing each other. Discussions involving physiognomy or rishathra could be answered by pointing. Chitakumishad and Rooballabl were trying to work out an arrangement that would leave Chit’s mouth above water. Beedj and Twuk were watching and making suggestions. Any parasites had been washed away, but Gleaners were good at finding a phantom itch.
Barok turned, grinning. His hands took Vala’s shoulders and firmly turned her around. He scrubbed her back briskly with some scratchy sea-vegetable thing.
It was all wonderfully friendly, as it can be among species who don’t compete for the same needs. All would be well if only Warvia and Tegger would come running out of the payload shell, hand in hand.
She looked over her shoulder. The river sounds would drown her lowered voice. “Sabarokaresh, I need your help. You and Kaywerbrimmis and Chitakumishad.”
Barok continued his work. “What kind of help?”
“Come with me when I look inside Cruiser Two.”
His hands stopped then. He looked around. “I don’t think we should disturb Chit.”
“No. Do you think he’ll get that to work?”
“Might drown himself. There’s Kay over there. Unusual view.”
Kaywerbrimmis was lying on his belly, mostly in the water, drawing maps in the mud with his fingertips. An unidentifiable River Person was advising him. Vala pulled herself up on his other side and asked, “Learning anything?”
“Maybe.”
“Give me a few breaths of your time, me and Barok?”
He looked around, studied her face, decided not to ask. jumped to his feet and was pulling her along, as naked as she and Barok. There was no chance for Vala to go to her piled clothes.
She might have liked going naked, if the rain would ease off. Was clothing really that dangerous? But it wasn’t just a matter of keeping clean. A vampire night learn that there was blood underneath the scent of woven cloth or cured leather.
It wasn’t her clothes she wanted. It was her pack.
A pack would look incongruous on a naked woman.
…Oh, no doubt it would be all right.
When the three were out of anyone’s earshot, Vala asked, “Kay, how did Warvia act—”
“Rished with all of us.”
She stepped up onto the running board. “Bother her?”
“It did. A few times she tried to go outside. Maybe just to get clear of us, maybe to go to the vampires. They would have had her anyway. She’s wrong about being immune.”
“Kay, nobody believed that—”
“
“I’ll try,” Vala said. She opened the trick lock and entered the payload shell.
It wasn’t quite dark. Light glared down from the gun tower. Vala sniffed at the ghosts of old cargoes and waited for her eyes to adjust.
Gunpowder. Minch and pepperleek. Great masses of grass for Twuk and Paroom. Soap: strange stuff made by a species far to starboard. She sniffed for old stenches, the fear-sweat of people hiding from attackers, agony of the wounded; but those had been cleaned away. There was no smell of blood.
She climbed the ladder to the cannon. No sign of Tegger.
Kaywerbrimmis touched her ankle. She half sobbed, “Oh flup, oh flup, I was so sure we’d find everything covered with blood! Tegger must have guessed, and how could Warvia lie to him?
Warvia’s feet dangled listless before the cannon slot. Vala pulled herself half through the opening. “Warvia, where is he?”
Warvia made no answer.
“Well, how’s he taking it?”
Warvia spoke. “Dead inside.”
“Warvia, cherished ally, nobody really thought you’d be immune to vampire scent.”
“I thought he’d kill me,” Warvia said. “It never even crossed his mind.”
“Can we do anything for him?”
“He wants to be alone, I guess.”
“For you?”
“So do I.”
Vala slid down the ladder.
“He can’t lose us,” Kaywerbrimmis said. “He can follow the river, follow the wheel ruts. Maybe he just wants some time to digest what’s happened. Rethink.”
She nodded in the gloom.
“Vala, we should get the wagons moving.”
“I’ll take the tail position.” While the rest got Cruiser One ready to roll, maybe she could search out Tegger. She didn’t believe it. “Keep a close eye on Warvia. Or shall I take her?”
“Take her. You’re the boss, and she’s got the best eyes—”
“That isn’t—”
“It’s a decent excuse. But she might talk to you because…” He stalled.
“Because she hasn’t rished with anyone in Cruiser One.”
“Just so.”
“You’re a male, Kay—”
“Boss, I just can’t guess how Tegger’s feeling now. This doesn’t
Tegger dropped silently from the cannon mount. No living thing was in his sight, and he jumped when a voice whispered from far too close to his ear. “Do you have what you need to travel?”
Tegger remained crouched. He whispered, “Towels and a pepperleek. Soap. Clean clothes. My sword. I’m
