Carnivores of Light and Darkness

by Alan Dean Foster

  “I wanted to ask you about that.” Walking right up to the water’s edge, Ehomba sat down and stretched out his legs. Merlescu swam close enough to rest the tip of her beak on one of his bare ankles. Behind them, Ahlitah found himself contemplating a large and easy meal until Simna jabbed him hard in the ribs. The great maned head whirled on the human, but the swordsman, more familiar now and therefore more comfortable with the great cat’s moodiness, did not flinch.

  “I see what you’re thinking, kitty. Don’t. Can’t you see that Etjole’s working his magic on our behalf?”

  “What magic?” The litah growled softly. “They are only talking.”

  “Ah, but that’s how our friend Etjole works his magic. With words. At least that’s the only way I’ve been able to catch him working it so far.”

  “Of what possible use to us can talk with these water dwellers be?”

  “I don’t know,” Simna readily admitted. “But this I do know: Etjole wouldn’t be wasting his time doing so if he didn’t think we would benefit in the end. So let’s just sit on our natural instincts for a while and see what develops, shall we?” Experimentally, he prodded the litah’s belly. “This morning you ate more fish than both of us put together. Surely you’re not hungry again already?”

  “Watch your hands, man. You presume a familiarity that has not been granted.” Settling himself back down on all fours, Ahlitah concentrated intently on the verbal byplay taking place between human and dolphin. “I am not hungry. I just felt like killing something.”

  “Well, my furry friend, hold that thought.” Ignoring the big cat’s warning, the swordsman leaned up against the muscular flank, using it for casual support. “I have a feeling that before this little excursion is done you will have more than one opportunity to indulge it.”

  Merlescu drew back slightly, sliding deeper into the water. “That is a fine proposition for you, man, but what do we get out of it? You ask much in return for nothing.”

  “I would never propose anything so one-sided.” The seated Ehomba was quick to reassure her. “Your rewards for helping us will be many. For one thing, you will be rid of us and any lingering worries our presence in your territory may cause you. More importantly, you will have that rare chance to work together in a manner I know your kind delights in but can only rarely experience. It will require great precision and timing on the part of you and all the members of your school.” He looked away and shrugged indifferently.

  “Of course, if you are not the kind of school that delights in this type of activity, we can always try to make contact with another. It may be that you and yours are not up to the challenge. If so, I will understand. After all, that which is elementary is for those whose focus is forever on taking it easy.”

  “What, what?” Backing off, the greatly distressed dolphin churned the water as she spun in a tight circle. After several moments of this she reapproached the shore and spat a mouthful of dirty pond water straight into Ehomba’s face. Simna straightened and next to him he could feel Ahlitah’s muscles tense, but the herdsman did not appear in the least perturbed.

  Calmly, he wiped water and plant matter from his dripping face. “That is not an answer. Can you do it?”

  “Can we? Can we?” She took up another mouthful of water and for a moment Simna thought she was going to drench his friend again—but she did not. Slowly, the water trickled from her jaws. “It is not a matter of can we, but will we.”

  “I refuse to concede the point without proof. Will you?” Ehomba leaned forward and squeaked something at her. “It will be great fun—if you can make it happen.”

  “It is not up to me. We of the water do not work things as humans do. Not even queens.” Turning and squeaking, she swam out into the deeper water of the pond, calling the members of the school to her. While they convened in a mass of squeals and barks, Simna sidled over to his friend. Ahlitah pretended disinterest as long as he could, but soon he too was standing within leisurely hearing range of the tall herdsman.

  “What did you ask of them?” The swordsman kept his eyes on the garrulous, squawling dolphins.

  “To help us,” Ehomba explained honestly.

  “Help us!” Ahlitah grunted. “How can such as they help us? Without filling our bellies, I mean.”

  “Remember what I said previously about engaging conversation?” Ehomba nodded toward the dolphins. “I have just had some. Be patient until they are finished with their squabbling.”

  So Simna ibn Sind and Ahlitah squirmed silently and waited to see what their lanky friend was about, wondering how it might involve the three of them with a pack of obstreperous, noisy water dwellers who were not fish but not human, either.

  After what seemed like hours of raucous argument the school broke up, its members resuming their former activities of hunting, playing, mating, and chasing one another around and around the single island. Merlescu swam slowly back to land. Leaning back so that she was floating upright in the water, she once again addressed herself to Ehomba. But her words and her gaze encompassed all three of them.

  “We will need to find some vines.” As she spoke a trio of adults leaped clear of the pond, across the intervening open space, and into another, larger drifting body of water beyond. “This may take a little time.” With that she turned her head and slipped back beneath the surface.

  “Vines?” Simna frowned at his friend. “What do we need with vines?’

  “I am not even marginally vegetarian,” Ahlitah added.

  “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to swim to the bottom of a pond and be able to stare right through the bottom? It must puzzle the fish.” Stripping off his kilt and shirt, Ehomba kicked off his sandals and dove, naked and none too gracefully, into the water. A pair of the younger dolphins promptly swam up to him and, chattering and squeaking, began a game of tag with him as the divider between.

  “Will you have a look at that.” Simna was grinning and shaking his head even as he began removing his own accoutrements. “I suppose any chance to get clean is a welcome one.”

  “Not at all.” Lying down on his side, the litah promptly dropped his head onto the soft earth and closed his eyes. Simna eyed the big cat disapprovingly.

  “Going to sleep again?”

  One piercing yellow eye popped open to fix him in its glare. “When not hunting or screwing I usually spend eighty percent of my time sleeping. It’s what we big cats do. And we do it well.” The eye closed and Ahlitah rolled over so that his back was facing the human. “Go soak yourself, if you must. It’s a human thing.”

  Simna started to turn away, then paused. An entirely impish smile spread across his face. Searching until he found what he needed, he walked to the water’s edge, knelt, and then retraced his steps, tiptoeing up to the back of the cat.

  The litah’s roar as the swordsman dumped the contents of the hollow gourd onto the big cat’s slumbering face shook the transparent epidermis of the pond and caused cones to fall from the shading casuarinas. With a whoop of delight, Simna had spun around and raced for the water. He had just enough of a lead to beat his pursuer to the pond.

  His face twisted into a black rictus of pure ferocity, Ahlitah paced rapidly back and forth along the shore. “You’ve got to come out sometime, little man. When you do, I’ll twist you up so tight you’ll have to drink your own piss!”

  “Just as I’ve always suspected.” Treading water, Simna made faces at the outraged feline. “The bigger the cat, the smaller its sense of humor.”

  His eyes bugged and his expression was radically altered when, with a warning roar, the litah suddenly crouched and sprang directly toward him. Ducking, the swordsman kicked frantically for the bottom of the pond.

  Massive paws dug at the water, but not for long. Soon Ahlitah was bucking and jerking as first one dolphin then another prodded him from below with their snouts, or blew bubbles beneath his belly. A smiling Ehomba joined in, and the big carnivore’s initial outrage was soon forgotten as humans, dolphins,
and cat churned the surface of the pond to joyful froth.

  It was midafternoon before the absent trio of water dwellers returned from their scavenging. Held in their mouths and wrapped around their upper bodies were long lengths of strong vine, some green, the rest brown. Ragged ends showed where sharp teeth usually employed in the catching of fish had torn the tough lengths of plant matter free.

  While Merlescu and Ehomba conversed softly, man face-to-face with dolphin in the water, Simna and Ahlitah hauled themselves out onto the edge of the island to dry their bodies in the sun.

  “All right,” Simna puffed, “you win.”

  “Win what?” Alongside him, the great cat was even more fatigued than his human companion.

  Simna looked to his left, gazing across sand, gravel, and grass. “I retract my earlier allegation. You do have a sense of humor.”

  The litah was sitting up and cleaning itself with one paw, attempting to aid the sun in removing as much water as possible from its ebony coat. “Of course I do. But fair warning, man: Have a care when you trifle with a cat’s dignity.”

  “Hoy, I allowed as how you might have a sense of humor. Nothing was said about dignity.”

  They verbally lunged and riposted in that vein until Ehomba rejoined them, pond water coursing in long rivulets down his lean, muscular form. “Our friends will make ready. I have to help them.” Tilting back his head, he studied the sky. “We will have to spend another night here and leave in the morning.” His gaze dropped to his companions. “They will help us.”

  “How?” Simna let out a querulous snort. “By tying vines around us and dragging us from one floating pond to another?”

  “You will see.” Turning, he loped back into the water.

  Simna wanted to find out what the herdsman and the dolphins were up to, but he was too tired from all the water play. Maybe Ehomba’s occupation was the key, he mused. Perhaps the vines were to be used as whips, to urge and guide the dolphins as the school towed the three travelers from lake to lake. With a mental shrug, he closed his eyes.

  Despite his ever-present skepticism, he had come to have a certain confidence in Ehomba, even when he did not always have a clue as to the herdsman’s intentions.

  He was awakened by a delphinic din of ear-splitting proportions. It sounded as if every member of the school was squealing and squawking at the top of its capacious lungs. Rising from beneath his blanket, he saw that Ahlitah was standing at the water’s edge watching as Ehomba and the dolphins organized themselves for departure.

  Dressing quickly, he hurried to join them. It took only a moment to see what was intended and finally to ascertain the purpose of the scavenged vines.

  Secured around each dolphin’s head in a crude bit and bridle arrangement, each set of vines terminated in a pair of reins that ranged from four to six feet in length. Belting his skirt of leather armor, Simna moved to stand next to the watchful Ehomba.

  “What are we supposed to do with those? Grab hold and hang on while they drag us from lake to lake? I didn’t know their jaws were that strong. It’s going to make for awkward traveling.”

  “Yes,” agreed Ehomba readily, “but not in the sense that you think.” He nodded at the nearest brace of eager dolphins. “The reins are not for hanging on to, but for balance.”

  “Balance?” Simna’s brows drew together, as confused as the rest of him.

  “Like this.” Stepping out into shallow water, Ehomba proceeded to demonstrate.

  Watching him balance himself with one foot on the back of each dolphin, using their dorsal fins to brace his feet while holding a rein in each hand, both swordsman and cat were astonished at the speed and grace the dolphins displayed as they raced around the circumference of the island and the confines of the pond with the human on their backs. After several such high-spirited circumnavigations, they sped into shore and deposited their passenger next to his friends. So skilled, so controlled, had been the dolphins’ run that the herdsman was barely damp.

  He handed the ends of the reins to the suspicious swordsman. “Here, Simna. You try it.”

  The shorter man held up both hands. “Oh no. Not me.”

  “Hmph!” Wearing his inherent haughtiness like a crown, Ahlitah promptly padded forward. Two more dolphins arrived and positioned themselves. Holding the reins firmly in his jaws, the big cat stepped forward and allowed the two dolphins to convey him effortlessly around the island, riding their backs as easily and magnificently as any carved figurehead ever rode the prow of a ship.

  Simna eventually did as well. Despite his initial skepticism about the unique means of travel, he was too experienced a horseman to incur a spill from the striking double mount. Thus familiarized with the behavior of their slick-skinned chargers, the travelers gathered up their gear and took up their riding positions.

  “Ready then?” Merlescu queried in her high-pitched yet elegant voice. Satisfied by an expectant vocal melange of squeaks, snarls, and shouts, she threw herself forward into the water and kicked violently with her tail. “Then—let’s go!”

  There were none to witness the departure but fish and salamanders, frogs and birds, but even they must have been impressed by the sight of an entire school of dolphins soaring as if a single entity from one floating pond to the next—especially with two humans and one great black cat riding upon their arching backs. The splash as they all hit the surface of the next airborne body of water more or less simultaneously was impressive. Water would cascade over the sides of the transparent enclosure thus struck, spilling into smaller pondlets of water and the vast, shallow, freshwater sea that covered the actual ground below.

  In this manner the travelers progressed, their fingers wrapped tightly around green reins, their feet planted firmly behind rubbery fins, their legs and joints braced for the relief of each takeoff and the shock of each watery landing. From pond to lake, lake to pond they advanced, never in a perfectly straight line, but always crisscrossing and hip-hopping and hopscotching more or less northward.

  With the assistance of the acrobatic, leaping dolphins they covered miles instead of yards, resting and camping on those lakes and ponds that boasted dry land, helping their finned friends to round up and catch enough fish to satisfy all. The humans supplemented their diet with everything from berries to watercress, while Ahlitah proved he was not above eating even snails and crawfish—though filling his belly, they did not offer much of a challenge in the way of a hunt.

  Once they encountered a place where no proximate body of water large enough to accommodate the dolphins and their passengers loomed near. Simna was convinced they would have to waste time backtracking and then searching to east or west, but at the last moment Ehomba did something with the reins of his mounts. It was very subtle, and the swordsman was not entirely convinced he had seen anything at all, but it left him with something to ponder while he fought to balance himself on the back of his own steeds as they soared over the liquidless gap. They did just make it to the next, seemingly too-distant hovering body of water, their tails slapping down on the rim of the thin, transparent wall, their squeals of triumph and delight echoing in his ears.

  Ehomba had urged them forward with words, Simna decided. Words, or a suggestion, or orders to alter their angle of approach. Or—something more.

  There had been no flash of lightning, no burst of alchemic effulgence. Just a barely perceptible flutter of long-fingered hands. The hands of a musician, Simna had mused on more than one occasion. Or hands that could cast spells.

  Without preparation, or magic powder, or wand or crystal orb? All Ehomba had was a spear and two swords, and while they rode the backs of the dolphins, those devices rode high and secure against the southerner’s back. Simna shook water from his eyes. Was his tall, soft-voiced friend sorcerer or no? More often than not, he found himself absolutely confused on the matter.

  He could not spare the time to cogitate too deeply the conundrum that was Etjole Ehomba. At the moment he was too busy toiling to keep from fallin
g off.

  XX

  MANY DAYS PASSED BEFORE THE FLOATING, AIRBORNE PONDS and lakes began to grow dangerously infrequent. The dolphins had to work harder to clear longer and longer gaps between the drifting bodies of water. After a while it became impossible to maintain a reasonable northerly heading. Too much energy was being expended on leaping from side to side instead of forward, like a sailing ship forced to tack into a steadily decreasing wind.

  There finally came a day and an hour when Merlescu and Ehomba agreed that the time had come to call a halt and make an end to the joyous and fruitful relationship they had established. Neither wished to risk pressing on until one of the hardworking dolphins fell short of its goal and had to be raised bodily by the travelers back into the nearest, lowest body of deep water. That Ahlitah by himself could accomplish this no one doubted, but any dolphin missing a jump who fell to the ground would not find its fall adequately cushioned by the six inches of water there. Neither the travelers nor Merlescu desired to see that happen.

  For their final farewells they chose a pond large enough to aspire to be a lake. Its rippling, curved underside hovered no more than a foot or so above the surface of the endless shallow swamp that covered the ground. The school clustered close along the water’s edge, looking on and offering encouragement as the travelers clambered over the side and, one by one, dropped to the pale, tepid shallows below.

  Terse but heartfelt good-byes given, the dolphins turned and, as one, began their return journey southward, heading for the heart of the land of suspended lakes. The travelers watched them go until the last pink, curving back had arched out of sight.

  Simna gestured at the dripping length of thin, tough vine Ehomba had been utilizing as a rein for days. It was wrapped in coils around the southerner’s shoulder. “What do you plan to do with that? Rope us a couple of frogs to ride the rest of the way?”

  “No. But I have a feeling we may eventually have to use it to rope something.” With that he started off, heading due north. Simna marveled at the herdsman’s ability to tell direction from an empty sky the way a thief senses a heavy purse concealed within many folds of garment. He followed without question while Ahlitah splashed primly alongside, occupying himself with scanning the languid shallows for edible mollusks and crustaceans.