Tejohn had noticed it, too. “Why is that portal so misshapen?” he asked.
That’s a portal down there. What could have made it swell up that way? She squinted through the murky water and saw it: black iron bars had been hooked into the edges of the portal, almost as though it was a pet on a leash.
An alligaunt emerged from the portal, swimming with all its might. Moments later, a school of fish swarmed through as though in hot pursuit. They were long, slender, and bright green, with tails like pennants.
She turned toward Tejohn to ask him something, but Stoneface’s expression was more Stoneface than she’d ever seen it. In a low voice, he said, “We’re being stalked.”
Chapter 34
Tejohn expected her to gasp or turn around suddenly, but to her credit, Cazia did not react with any sign of fear. She simply became very still, nodded, and asked, “Where?”
Tejohn looked back to indicate where the alligaunt had gone. It was the same one they’d accidentally awoken, he was sure. Tejohn knew he shouldn’t have taunted the creature, but Fire and Fury, they were so arrogant. He couldn’t stand another moment of their smug condescension, especially from a youngster who’d fled in terror at the merest touch.
Still, taunting a young warrior was a young soldier’s mistake, and he wasn’t a young soldier anymore.
It was hard to tell how well the alligaunts could hear, so he and Cazia made their plans very, very quietly.
To start, they climbed up the side of the building right there in view of the commons. The alligaunts didn’t seem to be watching them--no one seemed to care what they did--but Tejohn wanted to be seen anyway.
After six levels, they came to another blue-lit chamber with a tool board mounted on it. There was no coil of rope this time, but there were a long stylus, a pair of the long-handled wooden spoons, and a set of four black iron bars with blunt hooks at both ends. They were the same metal bars that had been set into the edges of the portal at the bottom of the commons, and Cazia took a greedy step toward them.
“Not yet,” he said. They weren’t ready to take prizes.
They climbed six levels, then slipped into one of the chambers. There was no sign of the alligaunt, of course, but Tejohn had no doubt it was nearby.
They moved inward, with Tejohn in the lead, going forward two chambers, then right one, then forward two more, then right again, trying to keep close to the lights. He didn’t want to lose their stalker, but he didn’t want the creature to become suspicious, either.
The attack could come from anywhere.
The skin on the back of his neck prickled. He couldn’t be sweating, could he? Not underwater. It occurred to him that the water should have been brutally cold against his skin, but it seemed as cool as a summer morning. Alligaunt magic really was potent.
He moved to the right again, peering into the darkness. Hoping that he’d kept the creature below him and on his shield side. He held tightly to his spear, navigating it through the tunnel openings. It would not be much use in these little cells, smaller even than the ones at the outer edge of the structure. He would have to use his sword, his knife, or his bare hands. Still, as impractical as it was, he couldn’t leave it behind. It was his spear.
When the alligaunt attacked, it came from below, just as he’d hoped. Tejohn saw a flash of movement, then pulled his feet up and curled behind his shield. It was fast, but the alligaunt barely had time to slam its gaping mouth against his shield--which was too wide for it to catch both edges--and drive Tejohn upward before the rope end shot out from Cazia’s hand like an arrow.
It looped around the alligaunt’s mouth and squeezed it shut, then began to circle the creature several times. Despite the plan they’d made, Tejohn’s training kicked in and he wasted a precious moment trying to bring his spearpoint to bear, only to catch it against a brace. The beast thrashed, trying to come all the way into the chamber to use the iron spike on its tail. Tejohn pushed off from the braid above and pinned the alligaunt against the thick horizontal brace. He knew in a moment that it was too strong to hold at bay for long, especially in this environment. It fought him, writhing upward inch by inch. That tail--
But Cazia was already there. She dove for the creature, letting the other end of the rope loop around its tail, then catch hold of a nearby braid.
The rope was strong enough to hold the beast, but the braid was not. The wood tore free, but it fouled the beast’s movement enough that Tejohn could--by letting go of his spear--reach back and block that onrushing tail before the spike could touch him.
Cazia reached over, grabbed the spiked circlet, and slid if off the alligaunt’s tail. Then, in a single smooth motion, she lifted the mace with her other hand and jabbed the end against the eelskin strap on the alligaunt’s foreleg.
There was a moment of stunned stillness, which gave Tejohn the opportunity to slide forward and wrap his legs around both the creature’s torso and the heavy brace behind it. A glimpse of movement on his right showed that his spear was sliding down into the depths. He caught it just as the alligaunt began to thrash in earnest.
It was only a moment before Cazia spat on the creature’s chest, then slapped her hand down. The alligaunt fell still, but its whole body trembled.
“Don’t move,” Cazia said quietly. With its back against the wooden braid, the alligaunt was unable to see them against its underbelly. “I’d hate to drop this when we’re so far from the surface.” She slid her hand across the creature’s chest, then wedged the tiny stone into a fold of skin where its foreleg met its shoulder. “There you go! Don’t move! I mean it; hold still. If that falls out, it’ll disappear into the darkness below and you’ll drown right in front of us.”
Tejohn was in an uncomfortable spot. His shield was still on his arm but he was forced to hold it behind him so Cazia could access the creature’s shoulder. The tip of his spear had fallen downward and he had barely managed to catch the butt end; he lifted it several times until he could hold it just below the point. And of course he still had the alligaunt trapped within his legs like a wrestler. One thing was certain: if the beast decided it no longer cared about its own survival, it could easily break his hold and bring those jaws to bear.
It didn’t. It didn’t dare. Great Way, but Speaker had the right of it. The alligaunts didn’t strike unless they were sure of victory.
Cazia slid her mace into her belt and laid the spiked circlet against the alligaunt’s throat. “You can’t see what I’m doing--hold still--but I’ve laid the point of your own weapon to your underside. Feel it?” She touched the steel spike against the creature’s thick flesh. It shuddered. “Hold still!” Her voice was urgent and hushed. “If you can’t hold that gem in place, you’re going to drown yourself, and whose fault would that be? Now speak quietly or I’m liable to jab you.”
At her touch, the rope uncoiled from the alligaunt’s mouth. The creature remained still. “What do you apes think you’re doing? You can’t get away with this, not here. I have bonds that will come to my aid. If you hunt me in this place without permission, they’ll tear you apart.”
“We weren’t the ones hunting without permission,” Tejohn said. “We’re just defending ourselves.”
“I was not going to kill you!” the alligaunt seemed startled and terrified.
“Prove it,” Tejohn said.
“I said I would only take a nip!”
The alligaunt’s fear was real now. Tejohn could not hide his scorn; yes, they were powerful creatures and had extraordinary magic but they lived as cowards. “If you force us to kill you, it will be our word against your reputation. We will say that you hunted us to salve your wounded pride. Tell me, your bonds don’t think of you as headstrong and anxious to prove yourself, do they? Because that would work in our favor.”
Cazia’s voice was low. “When you started hunting us, did you get permission?” The alligaunt’s silence was answer enough. “That’s what I thought. Don’t forget that they might not even catch us. I’ll tell
you what. We’re going to have a conversation; if you tell us everything we want to know, we might let you go.”
“This makes no sense,” the alligaunt whined. “You’re risking your lives for nothing.”
Before Tejohn could make a retort, Cazia whispered, “We’re going to call you ‘Bully’. Do you understand what that word means?”
The alligaunt’s answer was hesitant. “I do.”
“It’s your new name. Now hold still; you don’t want to drop that gem.”
“How long have you been here,” Tejohn asked.
“Almost a year,” was the answer. “I’m learning how to--”
“Your people,” Tejohn interrupted irritably. “How long have your people been here?”
“Some two hundred years in this lake. We have been in this world a short while longer than that, but the initial hunting grounds were said to have been too chaotic.”
“The Qorr Valley,” Cazia said. “You can here through the portal in the Qorr Valley.”
The alligaunt swished its tail as a sign of agreement, then remembered it was supposed to keep still. “Yes. We migrated here to find a less troublesome portal.”
Another invader, Tejohn immediately thought. Then: We are all invaders of one kind or another.
“Why does the portal look so strange?” Tejohn asked. “What have you done with it?”
“This is an intermittent portal,” Bully answered. “In its natural state, it opens and closes on the cycle that The Great Way wills. We have altered its behavior so it creates a permanent connection with a world of abundant hunting.”
“With those black iron bars,” Cazia said. “The ones with the hooks on the end,”
“Yes. They are one of our most powerful tools, filled with our most powerful spells. Those bars can block the will and influence of The Great Way itself.”
We have others that hold the gods at bay, Speaker had said.
“Tell me about the Tilkilit,” Cazia said. When there was a grunt of confusion, she continued, “They’re intelligent insects. They ride huge worms and speak mostly with smells. Disembodied voices like the ones your people use sent them into the Qorr Valley. That’s where I got this spell-disruptor.”
“I do not know anything about them.”
She pressed with the point of the spike. “I hope you’re not lying to me, Bully.”
“I’m not! On the Quiet Moment, I swear I know nothing.”
“Keep your voice down. What about the gigantic eagles that appeared recently?”
“Those? Yes, I know those,” Bully said eagerly. He was genuinely pleased to answer questions. “They’re preyslavesacrament. Do you understand that concept? The translation spell is sometimes too literal to make a new concept clear.”
“It seems clear enough to me,” Tejohn said. “They’re prey that you treat like slaves when the situation demands it, and it’s especially holy to hunt them.”
“That’s right.”
“Could the Tilkilit be…preyslavesacrament as well,” Cazia asked, “without you knowing it?”
“Yes,” Bully said. “There are dozens of peoples who are preyslavesacrament. I do not know them all. However, The People Above--that’s what the eagles call themselves--are extremely auspicious prey. When I am of age, I will honor my bonds by taking one in open water.”
“Why are they here,” Cazia asked, “on Kal-Maddum?”
“To clear the land of our enemy’s preyslavesacrament,” Bully answered. “To destroy the influence of the Evening People and of agriculture.”
“To destroy us,” Cazia said, her voice grim.
Bully hesitated before answering. “We are at war with the Evening People, and we have nearly won. Soon you will no longer be their preyslavesacrament, and--”
“We were never their preyslavesacrament,” Tejohn said.
“No, that is our term for it,” Bully answered. “They would have called you something else, but the meaning is the same. You helped them spread their influence. Their vision of the way ascended beings should live. Soon, you will be without them.”
“You hate them so much,” Cazia asked, “that your people would wipe them out?”
“They do not hunt,” the alligaunt answered. “They are not exciting prey. Their magic protects prey in a way that is blasphemous to us. Yes, we would wipe them out. We must. I do not expect you to understand.”
“You might be surprised,” Tejohn said. “So, is that what this assessment is all about? Speaker has called someone named Examiner to give us a series of tests, and if the two of us fail, we become preyslavesacrament?”
“No,” Bully said hesitantly. “You will become preyslavesacrament if you pass Examiner’s tests. If you fail, your lands will be given over to one of the many preyslavesacrament peoples and made holy for us Sacred Hunters.”
Pinned against the braid as he was, Bully couldn’t see the expression on Cazia’s face just then, and he was lucky for it. Her eyes went wide and she bared her teeth, but before she could vent her outrage with either her voice or the spike in her hand, Tejohn spoke. “I have an important question for you, Bully, and I want you to answer it honestly and clearly.”
“You sound angry.”
“If we were not down here on your underside, you would know we are both angry. Your people have already done tremendous harm to mine.”
“Predator hunts prey,” the alligaunt said. “That’s the natural way of things. You can’t--”
“Quiet now,” Tejohn said. He forced his voice to be low and soothing, but the urge to kill was building in him once again. “Be ready, because this is the most important question of all. Why did your people call it The Blessing?”
Chapter 35
Cazia’s head jerked toward him in sudden surprise. She didn’t even look angry, just shocked.
“To help them,” Bully answered. He sounded pleased to be able to talk about this, as though he was bragging about his people’s good works. “To save them from a life of indolence and passivity. What better way to defeat the Evening People than by transforming them into something admirable: a powerful hunter?”
Cazia still couldn’t speak. Tejohn said, “The Blessing are loose in Kal-Maddum.”
“Yes,” Bully said. “That was unexpected. But a curse like that, with no sense of natural balance or self-control, will eventually hunt the land bare and die out. When that happens, Kal-Maddum will be ready for preyslavesacrament to sanctify it.”
“Your people created The Blessing,” Cazia said. “You. Alligaunts. You unleashed them on us.”
Bully’s answer was wary. “We unleashed it on the Evening People to end their reign of agricultural horror. It wasn’t intended for you.”
“That’s why The Blessing are afraid of water,” Tejohn said. “That’s why they can’t hold their breath. So they won’t come after your people.”
“That’s correct,” the alligaunt answered. “We can undo the curse if one of the Sacred Hunters is bitten, of course, but it’s troublesome.”
“Troublesome!” Cazia barked.
“Hold still,” Tejohn said. He released his legs from the alligaunt’s torso, kicking back slightly. Then he slung his shield on his back.
“Thank you,” Bully said. “It was difficult for me to breathe. May I take hold of the gem with my hand now?”
“No,” Cazia said. “We are not finished.”
Tejohn was surprised by that. What more did they have to say? The alligaunts were a powerful and dangerous enemy--the greatest enemy humans had ever faced. Somehow, he had to get that news back to his people, if that was even possible.
“I understand,” Bully said. It hadn’t moved except to brace its tail against the braid below. “You are hunters, too, yes? But right now, you’re hunting for information. I don’t know how Examiner will feel about it, but I find it a mark in your favor. It is bold of you to risk violence for a simple conversation. However, now that you have taken your ‘prey,’ you should withdraw to safety. If you are caught here-
-”
“Bully, listen to my question, because it’s as important as the one my companion just asked you. Can your spell translate the word brother?”
“Yes, it can,” the alligaunt answered, daring to shift position slightly.
Tejohn saw Cazia draw the spiked circlet back and begin the hand motions for a spell.
Bully, still unable to see them, continued to answer the question. “A brother is one of the bonds a person can have. A male nestmate. A weak bond among my people, but--”
Cazia finished her spell. The spiked circlet shot from her hands with extraordinary force, punching through the alligaunt’s body and pinning it to the braid behind it. Bully shuddered several times before falling still. Blood trailed from its body like smoke from an extinguished candle.
Her fists clenched at her sides, Cazia floated above the alligaunt’s body, trembling with rage.
Tejohn kept his voice low. “Killing a helpless prisoner is dishonorable thing.”
She spun toward him. “That thing wasn’t a prisoner. We’re the prisoners.”
“I won’t argue with that.” He waved his hand beside her to push the blood away. “We shouldn’t linger here.”
She agreed, hurrying with him back the way they had come. “What’s next?” she asked. “What do we do with what we’ve learned?”
Start the killing. “If I thought there was any way we could make it to shore,” he answered, “I would suggest we retreat and spread the news. Warn others. But I don’t see how we can.”
She thought for a few moments. “Neither do I,” Cazia said. They stopped, and by the dim light of a nearby globe, he could see wildness in her expression. “And that’s just fine by me. Even if we did warn the others, the alligaunts could send another curse after us while they relax far from the battlefield. I think we should kill as many as we can and scare the life out of the rest, and I think I know how we can do it.”
She took off through the chambers, pushing herself from braid to braid by her hands and feet, lying out flat so she could move with as little resistance as possible.
The Way Into Darkness: Book Three of The Great Way Page 38