“You think you’re ready, do you?” Suddenly Mother-Healer appeared in the leafy blue tent where the ritual was being held. Behind her was Elise. She was wrapped in a large yanyan leaf and her long dark hair was wet and hanging down her back. There was a troubled look on her face and Merrick sensed her anxiety through their bond.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever get,” he told Mother-Healer shortly. Taking the bucket of water the priestess was holding out to him with averted eyes, he rinsed the last of the tsslla milk from his body and climbed out of the tub. He wrapped a yanyan leaf around his waist and came up to Elise. “You okay, baby?” he murmured.
“Fine.” She nodded. “Just worried. And a little sick. Those purity nuggets—”
“I know.” Merrick nodded with feeling. “Fucking disgusting, right? Tasted like they were filled with some kind of ass-custard.”
“They kept on feeding them to me,” Elise said faintly. “I ate as many as I could, but I just…” She made a face. “I just hope I can keep them down.”
“You will be fine,” Mother-Healer said firmly. “Both of you. And the nuggets of purity are necessary to the purification process. Both the body and the mind must be mortified before you are fit to appear before the Elders.”
“We’re mortified, all right,” Merrick growled. “Now can we please have our clothes back so we can get this over with?”
Mother-Healer arched one snowy eyebrow at him. “I am afraid not. You must go naked before the Elders—as naked as the day you were born.”
“Naked?” Elise’s face grew instantly red. “Can’t we even keep our towels…er, leaves?”
Mother-Healer frowned at her. “You came into the Deep Blue wearing scanty undergarments of sacred crimson—profaning our ways with your blasphemous attire. And now you have the nerve to claim modesty?”
“She’s claiming modesty because she is modest,” Merrick snarled. “Crimson isn’t a sacred color where she comes from. Elise didn’t know she was blaspheming.”
Mother-Healer waved one wrinkled hand dismissively. “Save your explanations for the Elders. I care not. Come—it is time to meet them now and learn your fate.” She motioned for them to follow her out of the tent.
* * * * *
Elise followed Mother-Healer and Merrick, clutching her towel-leaf close around her and hoping against hope she’d be allowed to keep it once they got to wherever they were going. She still felt faintly nauseous from the disgusting purity nuggets and it didn’t help that her stomach was already tied in knots with anxiety and dread. Mother-Healer had said they would be arguing for their very lives. Elise had been through high-stakes negotiations many times in the courtroom, but none of them involved putting her life on the line.
But it wasn’t herself she was mainly worried about—it was Merrick. Whatever happened, she was determined he wasn’t going to get hurt again. And she was damned if she’d let him take anymore of her punishments. If someone has to pay, it’s going to be me, she vowed silently to herself. I refuse to hide in the shadows and let the man I care for be hurt any more on my account.
They were barefoot and the bark of the grandfather tree felt rough under her feet. There was a soft breeze blowing and the rich smell of the jungle wafted up to her from the forest floor. It was almost twilight—they’d been at the purification ritual for hours—and although Elise had been more than ready to be done with the ritual, she still didn’t feel ready to meet her fate at the hands of an alien race as old as the universe itself. But I have to be ready, she told herself, lifting her chin. There’s nothing else I can do but go through this as best I can.
They came to the central trunk of the tree and Mother-Healer nodded at the nearly invisible network of vines that criss-crossed its rough bark. “I will go first and you must follow. The seat of the Elders is at the very top.”
She began to climb, with surprising agility for someone so old, and was soon disappearing into the leafy canopy above them. Merrick gestured at Elise. “Go on, baby, I’ll be right behind you.”
Elise was a little nervous about the fact that she wasn’t wearing anything under her leaf-towel. Merrick had seen everything up close and personal but she still felt embarrassed about the idea of him looking up at her as she climbed. “No, it’s okay,” she said, motioning to the tree. “You go ahead. I’ll follow.”
He frowned. “No, you go first. Come on, the Elders aren’t going to wait. We have to go now.”
“All right.” Clearly there was no point in fighting about it. Grasping the vines, she began pulling herself up. And up and up…Soon she began to wonder if the massive tree was ever going to end. Her first climb up the side of the tree, to reach Merrick, was nothing compared to the journey they were going on now. And no puny rock-climbing wall at the gym could have prepared her for the effort it took to keep on going up the side of the tree. But she had to—there was no place to rest. Her arms began to feel like rubber and her legs trembled with fatigue and still they climbed.
At last Elise stopped for a moment and clung to the side of the tree.
“What’s wrong?” she heard Merrick ask and felt his concern for her through their bond. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” she lied, trying to make her voice bright and cheerful. “Just a little tired but I’m okay. Is it…is it much farther?”
“Not far now, girl-child.” Mother-Healer’s voice floated down out of the leaves above. “Come, the Elders await.”
“All right—I’m coming.” Forcing herself to go on, Elise reached for the next dark blue ridge of vine to pull herself up. She tried to dig her fingers into the rough, rope-like tendril but somehow they wouldn’t close. With a gasp, she lost her grip and began to fall backwards.
Strong arms caught her and the shriek that had been building in her throat was abruptly cut off as Merrick threw her over one broad shoulder. “That’s why I wanted to go last,” he grumbled as he began climbing again. “So I could catch you if you fell—not just to look up at your legs. Although I admit the view is very fucking nice.”
“Merrick!” She slapped weakly at his back but he just rumbled laughter and kept climbing.
Elise concentrated on catching her breath and tried not to look down from the dizzying height she now found herself at. She had to admit she was glad Merrick had insisted she go first—if he hadn’t, she knew she would be a blob of jelly on the ground far below by now.
“Merrick?” she said in a low voice, hoping he could hear her.
“Mmm?” was the rumbling response.
“Thank you,” Elise whispered. “Do…do you think we’re going to be all right? Will they really want to kill us?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.” His deep voice was grim. “Look, baby, try not to worry about it. The Ancient Ones are severe but they’re also known to be fair. I doubt they’ll try to kill us after everything they’ve already put us through.”
“Put you through, you mean,” she murmured and vowed again to herself that Merrick would take no more punishments for her.
He grunted. “Whatever. The point is, just be polite and if things get out of hand, stick close to me. All right?”
“I won’t leave your side,” Elise promised.
“What, not even if a billib comes along?” he asked dryly.
“Not even then.” She tried to laugh but her throat was too dry. She knew Merrick was just trying to lighten up the situation but it was difficult to ignore the gravity of what they were about to face.
They stopped talking and despite Mother-Healer saying that it wasn’t much further, Merrick climbed for another quarter of an hour before he finally stepped out onto a branch no wider than a sidewalk. They were very high up now, so high Elise felt like the air was different—thinner somehow, and more difficult to breathe. The leaves were smaller and farther apart, giving Elise a glimpse of the sky. The blue canopy above them was deepening to twilight, bruise colored and silent.
“Here we are,” Merrick murmured and she saw he wa
s pointing at a small, leafy hut placed far out from the central trunk, on the intersection of two slender branches. Mother-Healer was already standing beside the doorway, beckoning impatiently. Elise looked at the old woman with new respect—she might be ancient but she was a hell of a climber.
“How are we supposed to get over there?” she asked, eyeing the apparently inaccessible hut. “Walk along those branches like a tightrope?”
“Don’t know what a tightrope is, but here goes.” Merrick scooped her up and before she could protest, he was striding along one of the narrow branches as easily as though he was strolling along a road on Earth. She didn’t even have time to protest before he sat her down gently by the broad blue leaf that served as the door of the hut.
“At last.” Mother-Healer frowned. “You have kept the Elders waiting long enough. Remove your wrappings and go in at once.”
Elise clutched at the leaf-towel, which she had somehow kept intact through the long and arduous climb. “Do we have to?”
“No choice,” Merrick growled. He stripped off his own leaf and then tugged at hers. “Come on, Elise.”
Feeling horribly exposed, Elise at last slipped off the broad, fuzzy leaf and let it drift to the wooden porch surrounding the hut. She stood there, naked and shivering in the deepening gloom.
“Good.” Merrick nodded approvingly and took her hand. “Here we go, baby.” Then he pulled her into the hut.
Chapter Thirty
Inside the hut it was nearly dark, with only a single blue flame burning high near the leafy ceiling. Merrick’s Kindred eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light and he saw they were standing in front of a table made from a single rigid yanyan leaf. Behind the table were three Ancient Ones, even older than Mother-Healer. It was impossible to tell their sexes, firstly because all three were wearing simple blue robes and secondly because each of them was partially transformed into his or her second form.
Looking more closely, Merrick saw that the first Elder had eyes with slitted pupils that glowed fiercely like a beast’s and the second had short, pointed ears mounted on the top of his or her head. The third Elder’s partial transformation was the most arresting, however—his (or her) mouth was elongated into a beastly muzzle with long, sharp teeth that winked whitely in the dim blue light.
Merrick frowned. He didn’t know much about the Ancient Ones, but he did know they usually kept to one form or the other. Holding a partial transformation between the forms would require a great deal of energy and strength. They were in the presence of immense power—he would have to tread lightly here, even though it wasn’t his usual style.
“Greetings Kindred male and human girl-child,” spoke the Elder with the glowing eyes. The voice was soft and even—female, Merrick decided. “We are those who will judge you. I see what you are through the eyes of truth.” The great, glowing eyes blinked at Merrick and also Elise, who was standing partly behind him, clearly still embarrassed by her nakedness.
“And I will hear you through the ears of wisdom,” said the second Elder, with the pointed ears mounted on the top of his head—at least he sounded male to Merrick.
“And I will pronounce your sentence through the voice of justice,” growled the beast-mouthed Elder. Also male, Merrick thought, though it was much harder to tell with the distorted animal muzzle for a mouth.
“Elders,” he said, bowing low to the three of them and hoping that Elise would follow along. “We thank you for your hospitality these several days and beg your forgiveness for our misdeeds and the misunderstandings between us.”
“Misunderstandings, you call them?” the beast-mouthed Elder demanded in his low, rough voice. “We call them blasphemy. This female girl-child came into our homeland wearing the sacred color and proceeded to strip a holy skrillix vine of one of its branches. How can you excuse such actions?”
Merrick opened his mouth to reply but Elise beat him to it.
“I have no excuse.” Stepping out from behind Merrick, her chin lifted high, she spoke in a calm, clear voice, meeting the eyes of each Elder in turn. “I am ignorant of your ways,” she continued, “But I know that ignorance is no excuse for wrongdoing. I sought the skrillix plant to cure a…a sickness that we both suffer from.” She nodded at Merrick. “However, I know now that I should have come to you, Elders, and begged humbly for a branch, instead of taking without asking.”
The Elders murmured among themselves approvingly, Merrick thought. He was tempted to be irritated with Elise for not letting him do most of the talking, but she seemed to be doing quite well so far—was it because of her training and the job she did back on Earth? Merrick didn’t know much about it but it seemed to involve arguing the law before some kind of official on behalf of abused children—in which case, she was uniquely suited for this—perhaps he should just keep his mouth shut and let her talk.
“You speak well for yourself, outsider,” the Elder with the glowing eyes remarked. “Yet your mouth may be dripping with lies as a sweetflower drips nectar.”
“I will swear any oath you deem necessary that I am telling you the truth,” Elise said steadily. “But if you choose not to believe me and decide I am worthy of punishment or death, then I have a request to make of you, wise Elders.”
“A request?” The pointy-eared Elder frowned. “You are hardly in the position to request anything, outsider.”
“But we will hear you anyway,” said the Elder with glowing eyes. “Speak, human girl-child.”
Elise nodded gratefully. “I request that whatever punishments you decide to hand out should fall on me and me alone. Merrick is blameless in all of this.”
“Elise!” Merrick began angrily, but she kept on talking.
“He has already been punished once for my sins,” she continued. “I wish to formally absolve him of all guilt and take the responsibility for my actions all upon myself. It was no one else’s fault that I acted as I did—the blame should fall entirely on me.”
“Elise, no!” Merrick took her by the shoulders and spun her around. “Fucking stop talking like that now.”
“No,” she said calmly. “No, Merrick, I won’t. It’s true—I’m not going to let you take any more of my punishments.”
“And what if they decide to hand out a punishment that might kill you?” he demanded. “Do you want to die?”
“No, of course not—that would drag you down with me,” she said. “But I also don’t want you paying any more for my mistakes.”
“Enough!” The beast-mouthed Elder roared and they both turned to face him. “Your sentiments are noble,” he growled, looking at Elise. “But your words are lies.”
“No, I swear it!” She shook her head frantically. “I told you—”
“You said that you acted on your own and no one else should be blamed,” the Elder with glowing eyes said. “Yet there is one here who claims he was with you—in fact, he claims that the fault is entirely his, just as you claim the fault is entirely yours.”
“What?” Elise looked at Merrick. “Merrick, you never—”
“It is not the Kindred warrior,” the Elder with pointed ears said. “It is another.”
“Well then, who?” Elise asked, clearly confused.
“It is this one—Brillem of the Billibs.”
* * * * *
Elise stared in wonder as the Elder with glowing eyes reached down behind the table and lifted a pale blue miniature pony in her hands. Gently, she placed the little creature upon the rigid leaf table where it pranced and nodded its head up and down, as though acknowledging Elise.
“Did you say Brillem?” she asked, nodding at the little pony. “His name is Brillem?” The name seemed to be pronounced with an almost neighing sound, which made sense, she supposed.
“Indeed I did,” the Elder with glowing eyes said. The pony/billib neighed loudly and then snorted three times. “Yes, child of the forest, you will have your say,” the Elder told him.
“But…but…” Elise shook her head disbelievingly. “It…h
e can talk?”
“Of course he can.” The Elder with pointed ears frowned. “All living things have a voice—you simply have to have the ears to hear them.”
Elise rounded on Merrick. “Did you know this? That the billibs are a sentient species with language and everything?”
He shook his head. “Hell, no. They mostly keep to the Deep Blue so we don’t seem them much around the villages.”
“It does not signify if you understand this one or not.” The Elder with pointed ears nodded at the pony. “He is here to speak on your behalf and we are here to listen to him.”
“But I’ve had a shot of translation bacteria,” Elise said, frowning. “Why can’t I understand what he says?”
“Billib language is much more about thought transmission than mouth sounds,” the Elder with the beast-mouth growled. “You might be taught to understand their language if you were willing to open yourself—but there is no time now.”
“Brillem wishes to speak for you,” the Elder with glowing eyes said. “He says it was he who led you into our homeland and took you to the sacred skrillix. He knew it was wrong but he says your need was great and he owed you a debt. Apparently you saved him from a xenox?”
“Well, I don’t know if I saved him, exactly,” Elise said. “Merrick did most of the fighting.”
The pony pranced and neighed.
“Brillem says that you sheltered him with your body and refused to give him up though you were facing certain death,” the Elder with glowing eyes said softly. “Such courage we admire.”
“I…thank you.” Elise bowed her head. “But I can’t claim to be very courageous. I was scared to death. And I didn’t know that the pony…er, Brillem, was a sentient creature. I thought he was just a helpless little animal. No offense, Brillem,” she added to the pony.
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