CHAPTER SIX
Once we were free of the forest, the road to the Dry-towns lay straightbefore us, with no hidden dangers. Some of us limped for a day or two,or favored an arm or leg clawed by the catmen, but I knew that whatKyral said was true; it was a lucky caravan which had to fight off onlyone attack.
Cuinn haunted me. A night or two of turning over his cryptic words in mymind had convinced me that whoever, or whatever he'd been signaling, itwasn't the catmen. And his urgent question "Where's the girl?" swamendlessly in my brain, making no more sense than when I had first heardit. Who had he mistaken me for? What did he think I was mixed up in? Andwho, above all, were the "others" who had to be signaled, at the risk ofan attack by catmen which had meant his own death?
With Cuinn dead, and Kyral thinking I'd saved his life, a large part ofthe responsibility for the caravan now fell on me. And strangely Ienjoyed it, making the most of this interval when I was separated fromthe thought of blood-feud or revenge, the need of spying or the threatof exposure. During those days and nights on the trail I grew backslowly into the Dry-towner I once had been. I knew I would be sorry whenthe walls of Shainsa rose on the horizon, bringing me back inescapablyto my own quest.
We swung wide, leaving the straight trail to Shainsa, and Kyralannounced his intention of stopping for half a day at Canarsa, one ofthe walled nonhuman cities which lay well off the traveled road. To myinadvertent show of surprise, he returned that he had tradingconnections there.
"We all need a day's rest, and the Silent Ones will buy from me, thoughthey have few dealings with men. Look here, I owe you something. Youhave lenses? You can get a better price in Canarsa than you'd get inArdcarran or Shainsa. Come along with me, and I'll vouch for you."
Kyral had been most friendly since the night I had dug him out fromunder the catmen, and I knew no way to refuse without exposing myselffor the sham trader I was. But I was deathly apprehensive. Even withRakhal I had never entered any of the nonhuman towns.
On Wolf, human and nonhuman have lived side by side for centuries. Andthe human is not always the superior being. I might pass, among theDry-towners and the relatively stupid humanoid _chaks_, for anotherDry-towner. But Rakhal had cautioned me I could not pass among nonhumansfor native Wolfan, and warned me against trying.
Nevertheless, I accompanied Kyral, carrying the box which had cost abouta week's pay in the Terran Zone and was worth a small fortune in theDry-towns.
Canarsa seemed, inside the gates, like any other town. The houses wereround, beehive fashion, and the streets totally empty. Just inside thegates a hooded figure greeted us, and gestured us by signs to followhim. He was covered from head to foot with some coarse and shiny fiberwoven into stuff that looked like sacking.
But under the thick hooding was horror. It slithered and it had nothinglike a recognizable human shape or walk, and I felt the primeval ape inme cowering and gibbering in a corner of my brain. Kyral muttered, closeto my ear, "No outsider is ever allowed to look on the Silent Ones intheir real form. I think they're deaf and dumb, but be damn careful."
"You bet," I whispered, and was glad the streets were empty. I walkedalong, trying not to look at the gliding motion of that shrouded thingup ahead.
The trading was done in an open hut of reeds which looked as if it hadbeen built in a hurry, and was not square, round, hexagonal or any otherrecognizable geometrical shape. It formed a pattern of its own,presumably, but my human eyes couldn't see it. Kyral said in a breath ofa whisper, "They'll tear it down and burn it after we leave. We'resupposed to have contaminated it too greatly for any of the Silent Onesever to enter again. My family has traded with them for centuries, andwe're almost the only ones who have ever entered the city."
Then two of the Silent Ones of Canarsa, also covered with that coarseshiny stuff, slithered into the hut, and Kyral choked off his words asif he had swallowed them.
It was the strangest trading I had ever done. Kyral laid out the smallforged-steel tools and the coils of thin fine wire, and I unpacked mylenses and laid them out in neat rows. The Silent Ones neither spoke normoved, but through a thin place in the gray veiling I saw a speck whichmight have been a phosphorescent eye, moving back and forth as ifscanning the things laid out for their inspection.
Then I smothered a gasp, for suddenly blank spaces appeared in the rowsof merchandise. Certain small tools--wirecutters, calipers, surgicalscissors--had vanished, and all the coils of wire had disappeared.Blanks equally had appeared in the rows of lenses; all of my tiny,powerful microscope lenses had vanished. I cast a quick glance at Kyral,but he seemed unsurprised. I recalled vague rumors of the Silent Ones,and concluded that, eerie though it seemed, this was merely their way ofdoing business.
Kyral pointed at one of the tools, at an exceptionally fine pair ofbinocular lenses, at the last of the coils of wire. The shrouded onesdid not move, but the lenses and the wire vanished. The small toolremained, and after a moment Kyral dropped his hand.
I took my cue from Kyral and remained motionless, awaiting whateversurprise was coming. I had halfway expected what happened next. In theblank spaces, little points of light began to glimmer, and after amoment, blue and red and green gem-stones appeared there. To me thesubstitution appeared roughly equitable and fair, though I am no judgeof the fine points of gems.
Kyral scowled slightly and pointed to one of the green gems, and after amoment it whisked away and a blue one took its place. In another spotwhere a fine set of surgical instruments had lain, Kyral pointed at theblue gem which now lay there, shook his head and held out three fingers.After a moment, a second blue stone lay winking beside the first.
Kyral did not move, but inexorably held out the three fingers. There wasa little swirling in the air, and then both gems vanished, and the caseof surgical instruments lay in their place.
Still Kyral did not move, but held the three fingers out for a fullminute. Finally he dropped them and bent to pick up the caseinstruments. Again the little swirl in the air, and the instrumentsvanished. In their place lay three of the blue gems. My mouth twitchedin the first amusement I had felt since we entered this uncanny place.Evidently bargaining with the Silent Ones was not a great deal differentthan bargaining with anyone anywhere. Nevertheless, under the eyes ofthose shrouded but horrible forms--if they had eyes, which I doubted--Ihad no impulse to protest their offered prices.
I gathered up the rejected lenses, repacked them neatly, and helpedKyral recrate the tools and instruments the Silent Ones had not wanted.I noticed that in addition to the microscope lenses and surgicalinstruments, they had taken all the fine wire. I couldn't imagine, anddidn't particularly want to imagine, what they intended to do with it.
On our way back through the streets, unshepherded this time, Kyral'stongue was loosened as if with a great release from tension. "They'repsychokinetics," he told me. "Quite a few of the nonhuman races are. Iguess they have to be, having no eyes and no hands. But sometimes Iwonder if we of the Dry-towns ought to deal with them at all."
"What do you mean?" I asked, not really listening. I was thinking mostlyabout the way the small objects had melted away and reappeared. Thesight had stirred some uncomfortable memory, a vague sense of danger. Itwas not tangible enough for me to know why I feared it, but just asubliminal uneasiness that kept prodding at me, like a tooth that isn'tquite aching yet.
Kyral said, "We of Shainsa live between fire and flood. Terra on the onehand, and on the other maybe something worse, who knows? We know solittle about the Silent Ones, and those like them. Who knows, maybewe're giving them the weapons to destroy us--" He broke off, with agasp, and stood staring down one of the streets.
It lay open and bare between two rows of round houses, and Kyral wasstaring fixedly at a doorway which had opened there. I followed hisparalyzed gaze, and saw the girl.
Hair like spun black glass fell in hard waves around her shoulders, andthe red eyes smiled with alien malice, alien mischief, beneath the darkcrown of little stars. And the Toad God sprawled in
hideousembroideries across the white folds of her breast.
Kyral gulped hoarsely. His hand flew up as he clutched the charms strungabout his neck. I imitated the gesture mechanically, watching Kyral,wondering if he would turn and run again. But he stood frozen for aminute. Then the spell broke and he took one step toward the girl, armsoutstretched.
"Miellyn!" he cried, and there was heartbreak in his voice. And again,the cry making ringing echoes in the strange street:
"Miellyn! _Miellyn!_"
This time it was the girl who whirled and fled. Her white robesfluttered and I saw the twinkle of her flying feet as she vanished intoa space between the houses and was gone.
Kyral took one blind step down the street, then another. But before hecould burst into a run I had him by the arm, dragging him back tosanity.
"Man, you've gone mad! Chase, in a nonhuman town?"
He struggled for a minute, then, with a harsh sigh, he said, "It's allright, I won't--" and shook loose from my arm.
He did not speak again until we reached the gates of Canarsa and theyclosed, silently and untouched, behind us. I had forgotten the placealready. I had space only to think of the girl, whose face I had notforgotten since the moment when she saved me and disappeared. Now shehad appeared again to Kyral. What did it all mean?
I asked, as we walked toward the camp, "Do you know that girl?" But Iknew the question was futile. Kyral's face was closed, concedingnothing, and his friendliness had vanished completely.
He said, "Now I know you. You saved me from the catmen, and again inCanarsa, so my hands are bound from harming you. But it is evil to havedealings with those who have been touched by the Toad God." He spatnoisily on the ground, looked at me with loathing, and said, "We willreach Shainsa in three days. Stay away from me."