some of them growing poisonous thorns. This barrier stopped or turned away most animals — but not the one that had just passed. Branches were broken and undergrowth crushed; deep footsteps in the marshy ground were still filling with water. Stamped there by massive feet armed with sharp claws.
Herilak grunted in recognition. “The big killer marag.”
“Epetruk. It must have smelled the nenitesk. We must follow it — this is the best way to get inside the city.”
A great roaring and screeching ahead marked the encounter of the epetruk with its prey. But it was an evenly matched battle. As the epetruk circled about, the nenitesk turned always to face it with the large bony shield that protected its head. The epetruk was wary of the three long horns; smears of blood on one of them showed why. There was another bellow from the swamp as a second nenitesk lurched towards the battle. The epetruk, enraged though it was, had enough intelligence to see the danger. It turned its head back and forth and roared. Twisted about, lashing its tail as it backed away. The hunters, feeling very small and exposed, ran for the protection of the large trees beyond. Behind them the crashing died to silence as the epetruk retreated. Kerrick looked for a way out of the field, for any familiar landmark.
“That way,” he said. “We’ll have to circle about since we must stay away from the inner fields as long as possible.”
Once he recognized where they were he realized that little or nothing had changed in the years since the city had grown. The trees were larger and there was different undergrowth, but everything was basically the same. His arms and legs moved as he thought of the familiar Yilane expression — tomorrow’s tomorrow will be like yesterday’s yesterday. Grown to a plan and a model the city would stay that way as long as it existed. He should have remembered this. The areas that had died, or been destroyed by the fire, had been regrown exactly as the original. He had walked this same path as a boy. He tapped Herilak’s shoulder and pointed, spoke in a whisper.
“There are groves just ahead. The murgu go there to gather fruit for their deer, other animals. Unarmed ones do the work, but there will be guards with death-sticks this far from the city center.”
The field was still there, rotting fruit lying on the ground, but empty now of any Yilane. Kerrick led the way through the scattered trees to the far side.
“It is not too distant from here now. See, that high bank there? It is just on the other side.”
Herilak bent to examine the ground. “Tracks, very fresh.”
“What kind of animal?”
“The murgu who live in the city now. Very recent, since the rain last night.”
He led the way, silent as a shadow through the trees, with Kerrick following carefully, looking at the ground, trying to walk as quietly. They came around the bank just as the others were coming towards them. There was no way back.
Two fargi with burdens, eyes wide with astonishment.
The Yilane with them raised her hesotsan. Herilak was faster, fired first. She doubled over and fell.
Kerrick cried out, but he was too late. Herilak’s weapon cracked again sharply, twice, and the fargi were dead as well.
“You didn’t have to kill them. They’re harmless.”
“Can they speak, those two?”
“They could have, I suppose. You’re right. They saw us. They are workers so they can understand and speak well enough to take instructions. They could tell what they saw.”
“Stay here — there may be more.”
Herilak slipped under the trees, ran silently past the bodies. Kerrick looked at them, eyes wide with death, mouths dropped open. Each of the fargi had been carrying immature hesotsan he saw, and these had been spilled on the ground. Their legs twitched feebly and they crawled off slowly through the grass. Kerrick remembered that he used to collect them as well at this stage, when they could not escape easily. He went and gathered them up, six of them: their tiny legs scratched at his arms but they could not escape.
“There were just the three murgu,” Herilak said, then saw what Kerrick was carrying. “You have them! The death-sticks that we need. We must leave before more murgu come.”
“Not until we have done something about these bodies. The murgu would not use the death-sticks on each other. If these three are found they will that know someone from outside the city killed them.”
“Drag them into the swamp. Bury them.”
“They might be found.” Kerrick looked up at the mound beside them. “The death-sticks, the young are in there, very many of them. I remember we used to feed them meat from this wall.”
“There is meat here,” Herilak said crudely, pushing the dead Yilane with his toe. “If these beasts eat fast the murgu who may come to look for them will find nothing.”
“Make sure you drop the bodies into the water at the deep end, so their bones won’t be seen. That’s all we can do.” He bent to pick up the guard’s hesotsan, had to pry it from the Yilane’s fingers. Herilak dragged the first body away.
Before they left Herilak searched the ground for any traces of what had happened, brushed away some tracks they had made. Moving quickly they left the city as they had entered it, past the nenitesk now peacefully grazing, to the safety of the forest beyond.
CHAPTER TWENTY
When they were once more back among the trees that surrounded the city Kerrick called out. “Wait.”
Herilak looked around warily, listened to the forest noises. “We should go on. It is not safe to stop this close.”
“We must take some time. Look.”
Herilak now saw that Kerrick’s arms and chest were scratched and bleeding where the death-sticks had dug at him with their claws. Kerrick dropped them into the grass and went to the water nearby to wash himself clean.
“You must find a better way to carry them,” Herilak said. “Are they poisonous when they can still move like this?”
“I don’t think so. One of them was chewing on my arm — so I hope they are not.”
“Their teeth are sharp, but they are not poisonous when old. I know, I have had my fingers bitten more than once feeding them. Put the meat from your bag into mine. Cut up the leather to tie them with. But do it quickly.”
Kerrick slashed his bag into ragged strips and tied them about the hesotsan. Then he bound them into a bundle with the shoulder strap, leaving a loop of strap to carry them by. They went on again as soon as he was done.
Just before dark Herilak killed one of the little running murgu, but did not go near it, left it for Kerrick to butcher. They stayed apart, keeping the weapon he was carrying away from the ones they had captured. Kerrick cut up the still-warm corpse and fed bits of it to the hesotsan. He and Herilak ate the dried meat, not wanting to light a fire so close to the city.
“I don’t want to go back to the city again,” Kerrick said as they settled down in the darkness.
“We won’t have to — if these death-sticks live. But now we know where to go if more of the creatures die.”
“The risk is too great.”
“No risk is too great — because without them we cannot live.”
In the morning they fed the immature hesotsan more of the fresh meat, then went north at a steady pace along the track. The rains had ended and the sunlight filtered down through the tall trees, spreading bars of light across the ground.
The sunlight reflected off the crystal eye of the ugunkshaa, clearly revealing Ambalasei’s image as the memory-creature had recorded it. The sounds it made were weak but audible, her meaning clear.
