The Lovers * Dark Is the Sun * Riders of the Purple Wage

by Philip José Farmer

  Deyv was frantic. The delay might enable the Yawtl – if that was what it was – to get another sleep-time ahead of them. It was no use, however, trying to change Aejip’s mind. If stubbornness was a characteristic of a cat, and if cats admired it, she was a cat’s cat. Leaving her behind was unthinkable. He needed her as a sentinel and also as a food provider. Besides, he was very fond of her, no matter how often he was angry with her.

  He finally decided to take a rest himself. He would be glad of it, and Jum’s feet seemed to be getting sore. First, though, they must hunt. A few minutes later, the two left Aejip snoozing and went down a little used path.

  When they came to the deep tracks of a giant turtle that had crossed the path, they followed them. Sometime later they came back out on the trail with two huge eggs. Fortunately, these had not been laid by a chequered turtle; Deyv could eat them.

  Just as they stepped out, Jum froze, growling softly. Deyv laid his ear to the ground. Faintly, the thud of running feet came to him. He and Jum stepped back into the cover and waited. The path at this point was rather straight, enabling Deyv to see the intruder at least a minute before she came past him.

  He felt happy. This was a woman who would make a good mate, if physical appearance meant anything. She was tall and had an excellent figure. Her skin was pale; her kinky hair was yellow; her eyes were green. A bone whistle hung from a cord around her neck. She wore a short kilt of some green material supported by a broad leather belt. A stone tomahawk was tucked into it, and she held a stone-tipped spear in her right hand. A blowgun case rested on her shoulder. Her expression was one of strain, possibly of desperation. Sweat coated her lovely skin.

  Deyv had planned to step out behind her as she went by and stun her with a blow from the flat of his tomahawk. But her haste could mean that she was being pursued. It would be better to wait until he was sure no one followed close behind her. That meant that he would lose his chance of complete surprise, but it was better to lose her than to lose his life.

  She came closer. And he suddenly knew what had made him vaguely uneasy about her without quite knowing why.

  She had no soul egg.

  7

  Jum was ready to go silently into action the moment he received the signal, but Deyv cautioned him not to move. The woman ran by, her panting deep and sawing. She did not look behind or ahead but down. It struck him then that she might not be fleeing. She might be trailing someone. Or hoping she would find some tracks, since there were none in this part of the path. However, when she got a few yards on, she would see the imprints his boots and the dog’s paws had made.

  She did. She halted suddenly and bent down to look at them. She straightened up, looked around and darted into the foliage. Deyv could see a small patch of light skin through some leaves. She was waiting there, hoping that whoever had made the tracks had gone off the trail for some reason other than ambushing her.

  Deyv kneeled down on the ground and laid his ear to it again. If anyone was coming round the bend, he – or they – was not running. He decided to move farther along the path. Should warriors notice the prints going off into the jungle, they might look for him. As for the woman, he was no longer interested. She had no egg and thus was not for him. She was a pariah, an outcast, a soulless contemptible being.

  Besides, now that he considered it, he must have been crazy to think he could catch her for his mate. He had to track down the person who had stolen his own egg. How could he do that and also drag her along even if she had had an egg?

  He looked back down the trail. The patch of skin was gone. For a moment he considered sending the dog to sniff her out. It was possible that she had glimpsed him as she passed and was now prowling through the bush looking for him. He did not think so. But there was no sense in taking chances. He would just move on, keep ahead of her. No. He could not do that. He had to return to the cave to get Aejip.

  If the woman was aggressive, if she was not just running away from him, and if she thought him a danger, she would have to go along the edge of the jungle until she was past a turn. Then she could cross to his side and sneak back.

  On the other hand, she was probably as eager to avoid conflict as he, which meant she would get out of his sight and then run as fast as she could down the trail away from him.

  Maybe she had not seen him. More likely, it had only been his tracks going off into the brush that had alarmed her.

  He gave the word to Jum, and the two moved slowly through the foliage. They kept an eye on the path, pausing now and then to search it out through the vegetation and so avoid going too far away from it.

  He wondered if she came from the same tribe that Shamoom had stolen his woman from. She certainly fitted the description. She looked strange to him but at the same time attractive. Those green eyes had caused him a pang of repulsion for a second. They were so pale, so washed out, so much like the eyes of ghosts were said to be.

  Her nose was too small and straight, and her lips had not the splendid thickness of his. But, in their way, they had a certain appeal.

  Her breasts were not the large ones he admired. Yet, though small, they were not too much so, and they certainly were well shaped. They seemed to defy gravity, those upright cones, not at all like the melon-shaped breasts of his tribeswomen.

  There was something to be said for the exotic. But she was eggless. That made all the difference…

  He stopped. What was he talking about? He was eggless, too! It was then that it struck him that he might have a very good reason to meet her. Could her egg have been stolen and by the same one who had lifted his?

  When he was opposite the place where he had seen her, or had thought he had, he stopped. After carefully watching and listening. Deyv sent Jum across the path. The dog bounded out of the foliage and dived into that across the trail. A minute later, he emerged. Jum’s actions indicated that the woman had gone along the edge in the direction from which they had come. Deyv took a chance. Instead of using Jum to sniff her tracks in the bush, he made the dog follow him down the trail. As he had expected, he found her prints where she had come out onto the trail. He did not need Jum to follow her scent.

  Presently, he caught a glimpse of the woman ahead as she rounded a turn. A little later he caught up with her. She turned when she heard him running, and she waited, spear ready.

  Deyv stopped and asked her what her name was and what she was doing there. She replied in her speech, of which he did not understand a word.

  He pointed to his chest, bare of an egg. Then he pointed to hers. Her eyes widened, and she said something. It did not sound threatening. Nevertheless, he approached slowly, speaking in a soft tone. Jum stayed at his side until Deyv thought it might make her less uneasy if the dog remained behind.

  Though it took some time, Deyv got his ideas across. If he understood her rightly, her egg had also been stolen. She had been looking for the thief ever since, which was not a very long time ago. The signs and gestures she made seemed to indicate that the egg had been taken during her last sleep.

  If he understood her further, the thief had left some tracks. They had gone in this direction. Then she had lost them, but she had continued in this direction hoping to pick them up again. Deyv indicated that if this was so, the thief had slipped around him undetected.

  He said, ‘Yawtl?’

  She did not know what that meant. Perhaps she had another name for Yawtl.

  Deyv stepped closer to her. She did not flinch. He reached out slowly, touched her smooth shoulder, then touched between her breasts. He touched his own shoulder, then his chest. He pointed down the trail and waggled two fingers.

  She shook her head. Did this mean no? Or did it mean that she did not nod for yes but for no?

  Suddenly, she smiled. It was strained, but its meaning was obvious.

  He walked past her, not looking at her, and started on down the path. In a moment Jum had caught up with him. After twenty or so steps, he looked back. She was following him. In a short while,
she was walking by his side.

  Now and then Deyv talked to her in the low tones that ever-possible danger made necessary. Before they turned off the path to fetch Aejip, he knew her name, Vana.

  Aejip seemed to be sleeping, but her ears flicked when the three were close to her. Then, catching the scent of the stranger, she shot to her paws, half snarling. Deyv quieted her down. The cat sniffed the woman’s feet and legs and crotch, which Jum had also done. Vana reached out a hand carefully. Deyv was both surprised and jealous when Aejip submitted to a scratching behind the ears and a stroking of the forehead. She even purred.

  A few minutes later, they left for the trail. This led them back to the ancients’ highway. Jum cast about, sniffing, and started to the left. Not wanting to waste any time, Deyv at once started language lessons with Vana. He pointed out parts of his body, named them, then indicated objects along the road. Vana had no trouble remembering the names. Her pronunciation left something to be desired, however. Two of the sounds seemed to be entirely unfamiliar to her, and she was not quite accurate in reproducing five others.

  A perfectionist, Deyv insisted that she master these. When sleep-time came, she could utter most of them to his satisfaction. They ate fruit, the leaves of a root plant, and a ten-pound hoofed rodent which Aejip had killed. They bedded down high up in a tree in an abandoned nest. Deyv made no moves to lie with her although he felt passionate. It had been a long time since he had been with the woman of the young bachelors. But Vana was forbidden to him for several reasons. One, the law of his tribe was that a bachelor could lie with only one woman until he got married. Two, even if he had felt like breaking that law, he would not lie with a woman who had no soul egg. Three, the presence of his pets inhibited him. Four, if she had rejected him, he would have been humiliated.

  He slept with Jum and Aejip between himself and Vana.

  Just as they were about to emerge from the jungle they saw twenty warriors walking along the highway. These looked as if they could have been of Vana’s tribe. Deyv quickly drew his sword and put its edge across the woman’s jugular vein. She nodded, indicating in her strange way that she was not going to call out. Later, he found out that the warriors were enemies of her people. In any event, she would not have tried to get their attention. Eggless, she no longer had a tribe.

  While they sat behind a bush, they continued the language lesson. By the time the war party was out of sight, she had learned ten more words.

  They set out at a leisurely pace so that the swift-walking warriors could get even farther ahead of them. While they were eating some freshly picked fruit, they saw the nose of The Dark Beast rise ahead on their right. Within seven sleep-times it would be fully exposed, a black object that would fill most of the sky. A pale darkness would fall over the land, and the air would become cooler. More rain would fall, and the winds would grow stronger. It would be a bad time to travel then. Visibility would be much less; they would not even be able to see down the road. Nevertheless, they had to keep going. The thief might not be daunted by the darkness.

  A heavy rain came and washed out the faint traces of the thief. Two slight earthquakes momentarily rippled the road. Near sleep-time they came to another junction. Deyv started to detour around the poles, fearing a recurrence of the shocking incident, but he stopped when he saw Vana’s curious behaviour.

  She had boldly walked up to the poles. Before reaching the intersection, however, she sank to her knees. After bowing deeply three times and chanting at the same time, she rose and walked between the poles.

  Deyv was amazed. He had thought that these clanging, light-flashing things were strange animals. It had not occurred to him they might be gods of some sort.

  They had accepted her prayers and let her through. Would they do the same for him? Or, since he did not belong to their totem, would they blast him? Best not to tempt them. After he had taught her enough to ask her about the poles, he would get the truth. Meanwhile, he would just detour.

  She stood with a puzzled, half-amused expression until he and the animals joined her. She asked him something in her barbarous speech, but he ignored her. He felt that he’d somehow made a fool of himself, and she was laughing at him.

  A little later, during another driving rain, he glimpsed something ahead. They retired quickly into the jungle. Along came the warriors with the kinky yellow hair, this time trotting. As far as Deyv could determine, they had not succeeded in acquiring any heads. The war party quickly disappeared into the rain, but Deyv restrained his companions from returning to the road. There had been something of haste about the group, something that suggested they were being pursued. A little while afterwards, his caution was vindicated. Another war party, of about forty men, dog-trotted past them.

  Deyv waited a short while longer to make sure that they would not run into a rearguard. Then they moved out. They were so miserable from the cold drenching downpour that they did not talk much. Aejip went off to hunt their next meal. Shortly before sleep-time, she caught up with them. No carcass dangled from her mouth. Hungry, shivering, they sought out a dry safe place. Unable to find either, they took refuge under a tree and tried to sleep. It was a grouchy bunch that took the road after they had given up getting anything but a few very short naps.

  Then the skies cleared. Though The Beast still cast its cold shadow, they felt somewhat better. Aejip slid into the jungle and came back rather quickly with a fawn she had killed. Since it was impossible to find dry wood, Deyv and Vana ate the meat raw. Shortly thereafter, Vana relieved herself. Deyv was disgusted. His tribe always went into the bush when they had to obey the call of nature. So did all the nine tribes of his area. They might have some customs which he found repulsive, but at least they were modest.

  Their campsite was about two hundred yards into the jungle. They had started back towards the highway when they heard to their left loud buzzings and whistlings. Unable to resist their curiosity, they walked cautiously towards the noise.

  Deyv pushed on stealthily through the foliage until he could dimly see something through the leaves. He stopped to distinguish whatever it was that was moving out there. Unable to see anything clearly, he started to move closer to the objects. At that moment, something touched his shoulder from behind. He was in such a state of nervous concentration that the unexpected touch startled him. He whirled, ready to fight or run away from whatever was behind him. But it was only Vana, grinning at him. She held up her bone whistle and gestured that he should let her precede him. He did not like this. After all, he was the leader. However, this was her territory. She would know more than he what to do there. In certain situations, anyway.

  He waved her ahead. They went through some dense bush which suddenly gave way to a large open area. In its centre was a cylinder about forty feet high with a diameter of thirty feet. Its walls were of some rough greyish substance. From its case the same substance spread out, paving the area and preventing the growth of any plants. Round holes perforated the walls of the cylinder, and to and from these holes large insects darted, whistling. These were honey beetles, greenish winged things that had built the edifice with a quick-hardening saliva which resisted the heaviest stone axe. The bite of one was painful but not fatal. The bites of a dozen could kill a man.

  Deyv had seen honey-beetle buildings before. He had assisted at attempts to smoke out the beetles, attempts he would just as soon forget. A wealth of delicious honey was stored in that structure, but very few men or beasts could get at it.

  What was not familiar was the creature that had disturbed the beetles. The thing was huge, its head three feet higher than Deyv’s. It had four massive legs ending in broad round pads. The body was shaped like a bean pod. That is, the main body was. From its front a trunk reared at a right-angle. This was shaped like the torso of a man and had shoulders, two arms, a neck and a head. The hands had a thumb and four fingers.

  Vana turned and said, ‘Archkerri.’

  The word meant nothing to Deyv. He had never even heard of su
ch a centaurial being.

  Its body was enough to startle and frighten him. But it was not an animal. At least, it was not a thing which he could define as such. Instead of hair or fur or smooth naked skin, it was covered with leaves. These were green, about the size of Deyv’s hands, triangular and overlapping, the points downward. They were all over the body and limbs, though the red hands lacked them. The head looked more like a cabbage than anything else. From its centre protruded a long thin whitish tube from which the buzzing was coming. When the thing turned its head, it revealed two huge eyes with a black pupil and leaf-green iris and cornea.

  Left to himself, Deyv would have departed with all possible haste. Vana, however, stepped out into the clearing and raised her bone whistle to her lips.

  Deyv said, ‘Don’t!’

  He was too late.

  A series of long and short whistles in groups of from two to five came from her bone. The thing immediately stopped trying to beat the honey beetles off with its red hands. It turned around slowly, its eyes fixed on Vana. Then its tube emitted buzzes, some longer than others and also arranged in groups.

  8

  The beetles swarmed about the centauroid as it moved ponderously towards Vana. Their efforts to bite it were futile, the leaves apparently tough and thick. Dozens of the insects fell off it, striking the pavement and kicking their legs feebly. Deyv assumed that its leaves contained a poison.

  He did not have any such protection, so he retreated as the creature entered the jungle. Jum and Aejip left even faster than he. Vana was following Deyv, the thing about twelve feet behind her. By the time Vana called a halt, all the beetles had dropped off.

  Vana then resumed her peculiar conversation with it. After a minute of this, she turned and led all of them to the road. Deyv’s back felt cold, and he was nervous. He assured himself, however, that Vana would not be dealing with the thing if it were dangerous. Or perhaps she felt secure, since it was friendly to her. That did not mean it was not a peril to him.