The land-yawl careened across the sarai. Moffamides sat hunched in a corner of
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the cockpit, apathetic, morose, silent. Elvo watched him in fascination. What
went on in the priest s mind? Elvo attempted conversation to no avail;
Moffamides merely stared at him.
Five days the yawl sailed, from dawn until dark, and later yet when the sarai
lay flat and the stars provided guidance for the helmsman. The two trails were
crossed; the yawl sailed a region to the north of the hill where they had made
their first camp, then entered a hot and dreary tract where dust lay on the
soum and lifted under the wheels as they passed. The Volwodes came into view:
a far shadow across the south which became a cluster of steel-gray crags high
against the sky.
Elvo was now as apathetic as Moffamides. He had lost all interest in the
enslavement of the erjins, which at any rate could most expeditiously be
attacked from the forums of Olanje. Only a day s run to the south lay No. 2
Depot but he dared not suggest any truncation of the journey. As always, he
found Gerd
Jemasze s moods impenetrable. As for Kurgech, Elvo had reverted to his earlier
opinions. The man was cunning and wise, competent in his own milieu, which was
not necessarily the environment where Elvo himself cared to excel. All things
considered, he would be pleased to return to Olanje. Schaine Madduc?
A girl delicious to look at, with a head full of charming notions: by now she
also must be bored with Uaia and might well choose to accompany him back to
Szintarre.
If he survived the visit to Al Fador& Elvo examined Moffamides, wondering as to
his mental condition.
Hypnotic suggestion, so he had been given to understand, could not be relied
upon to persist. A clever ill-
intentioned man like Moffamides might feign subservience, the more effectively
to work an act of treachery. He voiced none of his suspicions to Jemasze or
Kurgech who presumably knew as much about
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the matter as he did.
The Volwodes reached high into the pink-blue sky: barren crags marked with
black thorn-bush and a few stunted sere-trees. When the yawl halted for the
night, an erjin came to watch from a distance of about fifty yards. It slowly
raised its massive arms and extended its talons to attack position; the ruff
at its neck began to bristle. Jemasze brought forth his gun, but the erjin
suddenly abandoned its aggressive posture.
Its ruff subsided and after watching another minute it trotted off to the
west.
Curious conduct, mused Jemasze. Through his binoculars he watched the
creature lope away. Elvo turned to find Moffamides staring after the erjin,
and his posture was not that of a man dazed and subservient.
A few minutes later Elvo voiced his apprehensions to Gerd Jemasze.
So far he s still under control, said Jemasze. Kurgech has tested him. What
may happen I don t know.
If he wants to live he won t betray us.
What of erjins? Won t they attack us tonight?
Erjins don t see well in the dark. They re not likely to attack by night.
Elvo nevertheless went to his bed in a state of uneasiness. Far into the night
he lay awake listening to the sounds of the sarai: a low moaning from the
direction of the foothills which presently faded into silence; a chittering
close at hand; an angry whirring at various pitches; from far away a throbbing
gong-like sound so exquisite that something strange rose up within Elvo s mind
to terrify him. Kurgech had tied a steel cord from Moffamides ankle to his
own, then had rubbed it with a dry rag until it squeaked and set
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Elvo s nerves on edge; whether for this reason or from the effect of the
crazy-box, Moffamides lay inert the whole of the night.
Elvo awoke to find dawn-light burning the upper crags of the Volwodes.
Breakfast was brief and meager. Moffamides seemed more glum than ever and sat
to the edge of the deck staring north, away from the mountains.
Jemasze went to squat beside him. How far now to the training area?
Moffamides looked up with a start, and the expressions of his face underwent a
set of quicksilver changes: from abstraction to surly contempt, to affability
and candor, to something swift and wild, like desperation. Elvo, watching,
suspected that Kurgech s suggestions had ceased to exert an absolute influence
over Moffamides.
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Jemasze patiently repeated his question. Moffamides rose to his feet and
pointed. It lies somewhere beyond that ridge, toward the grim Volwodes. I
have never been there. I can guide you no further.
Kurgech spoke in a mild voice: I notice tracks yonder: perhaps they were laid
by Uther Madduc.
Jemasze asked Moffamides, Is this the case?
I suppose it is possible.
Hard on a breeze from the west, the yawl followed the tracks presumably laid
by Uther Madduc s skimmer. A second set of tracks joined those which guided
them, to Elvo s mystification. It looks as if
Uther Madduc had been followed!
More probably they are the tracks of Uther Madduc coming and Uther Madduc
going, said Jemasze.
I suppose you re right.
Below a bluff of red and gray sandstone Uther Madduc s trail came to an end.
Jemasze dropped the sails and secured the brakes. Moffamides climbed
laboriously to the ground and stood with shoulders hunched.
You need me no more, said Moffamides. I have done my best for you; I will
now take my leave.
Here? asked Jemasze. In the wilderness? How will you survive?
I can reach the Depot in three or four days. There is food and water to be
had along the way.
What of the erjins? They infest the region.
I fear no erjins; I am a priest of Ahariszeio.
Kurgech came forward and touched Moffamides on the shoulder; Moffamides leaned
away quivering but seemed unable to detach himself. Kurgech said: Totulis
Amedio Falle, you may now forget your worries; you are with your friends whom
you wish to help and protect.
The priest s head jerked back; his eyes took on a flinty glaze. You are my
friends, he declared without conviction. This I know; hence, by corollary, I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]