The Crystal Eye

by Deborah Chester

  Elrabin was coming around, blinking groggily and holding a hand to his bleeding head. “Somethin’ blue ri’ for us,” he mumbled, not making any sense.

  She focused on him, realizing he needed her help. There was nothing she could do now for Paket.

  Swiftly she pulled Elrabin up on his feet and put her shoulder under his arm. His head lolled and he mumbled something else she could not make out. Then he went limp, nearly dragging her down.

  She hoisted him up again, patting his face. “Elrabin, come on!” she said urgently.

  Only two other slaves were not yet out. Kuma boosted a Myal up, then turned to Ampris.

  He held out his hand. “You go up. I’ll lift him to you.”

  She nodded, grateful for his help, and after she sat Elrabin on the floor, where he immediately slumped over, she stepped into Kuma’s hand and let him boost her.

  She caught the edges of the hatch and pulled herself out on top into the warm night air. The spotlight no longer shone on the hatch. Instead, she could see it sweeping back and forth as the shuttle flew in pursuit of the scattering slaves. The patrollers were working to round them up, but while a few slaves had stopped and surrendered, most of them were trying to run in all directions as Ampris had suggested.

  She grinned, knowing some would make it. Once the patrollers gave up and left, she would try to find the escaped slaves and help them. They would need to be trained in survival skills. Freedom was not easy. From experience she knew some of them would die in the wilderness. Some would give up and turn themselves back in. Others would make it, as she and her little group had.

  “Ampris!”

  It was Kuma.

  She looked down and saw him struggling to lift Elrabin’s unconscious body. Bracing herself, she reached down and grabbed the Kelth under his arms. She lifted, feeling the strain in her back and shoulders, while Kuma kept boosting from below. Finally she managed to pull Elrabin out and roll him over onto the side of the shuttle. Then she reached down to Kuma.

  “Give me your hand.” she said.

  He jumped, clasping her hand, and she pulled with all her might.

  Kuma came scrambling out and perched there beside her, puffing hard. “Not much time,” he said.

  Ampris heard the muffled roar of the shuttle engines as the craft started back in their direction. She snarled at it and reached for Elrabin.

  Kuma pushed her gently back. “Get on the ground and I’ll lower him to you.”

  “Thanks.”

  She slid down the metal and dropped lightly to the ground. Kuma lowered Elrabin’s body to her, and she hugged the unconscious Kelth in her arms, supporting his weight while Kuma slid down.

  “This way,” she said.

  But the shuttle was close, sweeping the spotlight back and forth. Kuma draped Elrabin across her shoulder.

  “You go, while you can,” he said.

  “That way,” she said, pointing toward a stand of trees. “There’s a canyon not far from here. I was heading there when we crashed. We can—”

  “No,” Kuma said. “I will distract them, while you take your friend to safety.”

  “We stick together.”

  “Do not argue,” he told her. “You do not give the orders here.”

  “But, Kuma—”

  “Our paths do not lie together,” he said. “I have been a slave all my life. I do not hate it. I would be lost out here, without work, without order.”

  “But, Kuma—”

  “Ampris, go,” he said.

  He started away from her, and she tried to block his path. “We can make it,” she said urgently. “You must try.”

  “Why?” he said harshly, glaring at her as the shuttle came closer. “You believe in freedom? Then give me freedom to make my own choice. Go!”

  He shoved her, and Ampris bit back her protests. Swiftly she turned and hurried away as fast as she could carry Elrabin’s weight. Hobbling and snarling over the pain in her bad leg, she was attempting to make cover when the spotlight caught her in its bright glare.

  She kept moving, refusing to freeze in place, and expected a shot to take her down at any moment.

  Kuma shouted and went running out into the full glare of the spotlight. Waving his arms, he stopped and gestured at the shuttle, then placed his hands atop his head in surrender.

  The spotlight swung his way, and orders blared from the loudspeaker.

  Ampris reached the trees and melted into the undergrowth, taking cover swiftly. She looked back only once, in time to see a net of restraint rope settling down over Kuma, imprisoning him while he stood there passively.

  Grief mingled with anger filled her. Her vision blurred, and she blinked the tears away. Setting her face in the opposite direction, she hurried away with her burden. She would never understand someone like Kuma, someone who wanted to be cared for at the awful price of being a slave. Never, never would she understand it.

  CHAPTER•FOUR

  At daybreak, Ampris came staggering into camp with Elrabin hanging over her shoulder. Exhausted and aching, she halted and drew in several ragged breaths before letting Elrabin slide gently to the ground. He was still unconscious. The gash in his head had finally stopped bleeding, but he looked terrible, with blood dried across his face and splattered on his coat. He had not regained consciousness in the last few hours, and Ampris was extremely worried about him.

  She crouched beside him, and gripped his slack hand. “Stay with me, old friend.”

  He lay there, unmoving, his mouth open. Flies buzzed about him, and she shooed them away before standing up with a muffled groan. Holding up her arms, she stretched her tired muscles.

  Before she’d come into camp she’d known it was deserted. The place was too quiet. All the scents were old and fading. But now she wandered around, studying the evidence of hasty departure. Dirt had been thrown on the cooking fires, the stones scattered. Their shelters still stood, but had been cleared of possessions.

  Ampris limped over to Elrabin’s shelter and checked it, but Velia had left nothing behind, not a scrap of cloth or a blanket or a crudely made cup of bark. Sighing, Ampris entered her tent, noticing that a mended place had come unstitched again. The wind was pulling at the tear, widening it.

  Looking around, she saw that her sons had been less than thorough. Belongings lay scattered. They had left behind spare clothing and the cooking pot. Her vid player had been taken, along with her bedroll. But her little wooden box of treasures remained, tossed carelessly on the ground.

  Picking it up, Ampris opened it and saw the clear stone of her necklace inside. Breathing out in relief, she slipped the Eye of Clarity around her throat, and clutched the stone in her hand. At once she felt calmer, more in control of herself. She rubbed her head in weariness, resisting the need to lie down and sleep.

  Instead, she picked up the tattered blanket her sons had abandoned and carried it outside to spread over Elrabin. She had left him lying beneath the shade of a cetex tree, and she saw no reason to move him now.

  She carried her cooking pot to the nearby stream, which gurgled and splashed over the boulders, filled the pot with cold water, and took it back to Elrabin. She tried to trickle some of the liquid into his mouth.

  He swallowed some of it, then let the rest spill. Ampris settled herself beside him and began washing the dried blood off his face. She was almost finished when a shift in the wind brought her a smell that made the hair on her neck bristle.

  Sniffing, she stood up and turned in that direction. With only a single glance back at Elrabin, she limped swiftly out of the camp into the trees and climbed to a mossy knoll a short distance away.

  Stopping there, she glanced around, casting for the scent. It was strong here, but confused. She noticed the ground had been scuffed up, as though a struggle had gone on. A wadded cloth lay beneath a bush.

  Ampris studied it, then straightened. “Tantha?” she called softly.

  A growl came from behind some bushes on her right. Ampris approach
ed cautiously. The birth smell was fresh. She knew Tantha would be sore and exhausted, but still very dangerous.

  “Tantha?” she called again, keeping her voice quiet and gentle.

  The growling grew louder, warning her away. Ampris parted the bush and peered into a small hollow, where a bedraggled Tantha lay curled around her newborn cubs. Ampris counted four, plus another—clearly dead—lying off to one side beneath some leaves.

  Ampris went to it first and carefully scooped up the poor creature. Tantha had made an effort to clean it, but the little one was not properly formed. Probably it had been born dead. Cupping her hands around its tiny body, Ampris bowed her head and whispered the Aaroun prayer of grieving, then she carried it away and buried it.

  When she returned, Tantha was sitting up, looking wild-eyed and afraid. She blinked when she saw Ampris.

  “You!” she said in her gruff way. “I thought I dreamed you here.”

  Ampris reached out and rubbed Tantha between her ears. “No,” she said with compassion. “I have buried your dead cub.”

  “Ah.” Tantha’s eyes filled with tears, and her lips drew back in a snarl. She began to rock from side to side, grieving in silence.

  Careful not to touch the living cubs, Ampris embraced her. “Do not grieve,” she said. “Do not grieve. The little one is safe. You have others to care for now. Think of the living, who need you, chenith-fahn.”

  Tantha lifted her face and sniffed. Tear tracks streaked the fur of her muzzle. “What does that mean?”

  Ampris smiled at her. “New mother.”

  Tantha began to weep again. “I miss Morlol. He would have held me now. He would have named our cubs.”

  “Hush, hush,” Ampris said, holding her closer. “This is a day to be glad, not to weep. They look strong and healthy. How many of each?”

  “Three females and one male,” Tantha said, still weeping. She rubbed her face and lifted her drenched gaze to Ampris’s. “How will I feed them? How will I—”

  “We will all help you raise them,” Ampris assured her. “There will be enough. We are all one family.”

  Tantha growled and flattened her ears. “Who?” she demanded. “They are gone, all of them! They ran like fehtans, the moment there was trouble.”

  Ampris stiffened. “Trouble, here?”

  “No, but the patrollers were sweeping the lower hills all night. We heard them. We saw the lights. Velia wanted to run at once.”

  “That’s the rule,” Ampris said.

  “I would have fought,” Tantha declared, baring her teeth.

  “But you were too near your time. It is sometimes best to be cautious.”

  “They left me!” Tantha said, spitting the words. “We were fleeing together, and then my birthing pains came. No one would stay with me. If the patrollers had come up this far, they would have found me and killed me.”

  “Hush! It didn’t happen,” Ampris said quickly, trying to calm her.

  One of the cubs began to mew.

  When Tantha didn’t immediately respond, Ampris took her clenched fist and forced it down to the cub, which rooted blindly against it.

  “Let her learn your smell,” Ampris said.

  Slowly Tantha’s fist uncurled. The fierceness in her eyes faded. Gazing down, she caressed her tiny spotted daughter, and her rigid muscles relaxed. When she began to croon softly to the little ones, Ampris backed away.

  Tantha’s head snapped up in fresh alarm. “Ampris!”

  Ampris turned back immediately. “I won’t leave you. I promise,” she said. “I must check on Elrabin. He’s hurt.”

  The fear vanished from Tantha’s eyes. “Hurt? How bad?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Ampris replied truthfully. “Let me make sure he doesn’t need anything, then I will return.”

  “I must move my cubs back to camp,” Tantha said. She tried to stand up and shuddered, sinking down again.

  Ampris hurried to her side and gripped her shoulders. “Stay here,” she said firmly. “You are not well enough yet to move.”

  “But I—”

  “We will move your cubs to the camp. We will take care of them, and they will be fine,” Ampris assured her. “I will help you. I promise. Now stay here and rest until I come back. You must gather all the strength you can. Will you do that?”

  Tantha met her eyes, still looking rebellious, but after a moment she nodded. “I will.”

  “Good.” Ampris gave her a pat. “Rest and do not fear. I will take care of you.”

  By evening she had Tantha and her cubs settled in their shelter. She boiled water and helped Tantha wash herself so that she could rest better. As twilight gathered in dark indigo shadows beneath the trees and closed in on the camp, Ampris picked up Elrabin and moved him into his shelter. He had fever and muttered restlessly, tossing about. She tried again to give him water. After a few swallows he quietened for a while. Ampris doused her fire and settled herself to rest a short time. She was so tired she could not hold her eyes open. Yet after a couple of hours of deep sleep, she jerked awake and listened.

  The noise came again, a muffled whimper.

  Ampris rose immediately and checked on her patients. She found Tantha sleeping with her cubs, but Elrabin’s fever seemed higher. He was sitting up, staring into the darkness.

  Ampris coaxed him into lying down again and spent the rest of the night sitting beside him, doing what she could to ease his fever and misery, and dozing in between times.

  By dawn, her neck was stiff and sore, and she hurt all over. Her own graze was not healing well. It looked puffy and her arm felt hot. Ampris went off to the stream to clean it properly. She knew she could not afford to fall ill herself. Her cubs had taken her hunting sling, so she went off to hunt without it.

  She did not mean to venture so far or be gone so long, but when she finally came climbing up out of the canyon and ascended the trail into camp, she carried a plump grassen hen by its feet. She had snared it at the hen’s main nesting place, where she’d managed to steal some eggs as well, which were carefully placed inside her pocket. She was coated with dust and had twigs and leaves tangled in her fur, but tonight she and her patients would eat well.

  Before she reached camp, she caught the smell of Viis. At once her neck fur bristled and her lips drew back in a silent snarl. Keeping to cover, she slipped up to the clearing. But it was Harthril who emerged from her tent, not patrollers. The tall Reject wore a tattered jerkin and hood that concealed his features. His hunting axe hung at his belt, along with his water skin and a serviceable knife. Whatever he’d been searching for, he evidently had not found it, for his hands were empty.

  Ampris stepped out from the trees and said, “What are you looking for, Harthril?”

  He spun around, his hand reaching for his knife before he recognized her. Straightening, he stared, shoving back his hood to reveal his mottled rill and scrawny neck.

  His blue eyes swept over her, noticing the grassen dangling from her hand. He gave her a tiny nod of approval. “Thought you were dead.”

  “I’m not.” She’d never distrusted him since he and Luax had joined their group, but Harthril could be unpredictable at times. “Where are the others?”

  “Safe.”

  She allowed herself to savor the momentary luxury of relief. Since her return she’d kept busy in order not to let herself worry too much about Foloth and Nashmarl. Still, Harthril was never one to talk much. He answered only direct questions and volunteered almost nothing. She had to make sure.

  “Are all of them well?” she asked. “Everyone accounted for?”

  His tongue flickered out, but he did not evade the question. “No. Tantha left behind. But she is here.”

  “Yes, and very angry at being abandoned,” Ampris said. “Did you lose anyone else?”

  “No.”

  “My cubs?”

  He hesitated a moment. “Safe.”

  “Any trouble?”

  Harthril’s blue eyes stared at her a long moment. �
��I found Elrabin, much hurt,” he said, evading her question. “Where is Paket?”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Dead.”

  His rill rose up behind his head, but he displayed no other emotion. “This is a great loss to us.”

  Guilt mixed with grief washed over her. “The patrollers shot him while we were escaping. He should have stayed here in camp.”

  “Velia says he volunteered to help rescue you. Elrabin would not wait until my return.”

  Ampris nodded. “And now Paket is dead and Elrabin is hurt. I feel responsible. They should have both stayed here.”

  But as she said it, she knew how relieved she’d been to see them.

  “We now have others to feed,” Harthril said, shifting the conversation.

  She lifted her gaze to his. “Others? You mean some of the field slaves?”

  He gestured assent.

  “How many?”

  “Too many to feed.”

  She sighed. “We’ll manage. Once they learn to hunt—”

  “More patrollers in the fields today. Maybe come back into hills with sniffers,” Harthril said. “Too close. Too risky. Fires drive game away maybe. Not much game left to hunt anyway. We must go.”

  “I agree. But we must wait until Elrabin and Tantha are well enough to travel. Is anyone else hurt?”

  “Robuhl fell and hurt leg.”

  She backed her ears. “Can he walk?”

  “He cries.”

  Pity touched her. The poor old creature had outgrown his own wits. Now he was as helpless and simple as an infant. “We’ll have to carry him.”

  “Carry Elrabin too?”

  “Maybe. He has fever, and I’m not sure if he will recover.”

  Harthril’s tongue flickered out. He stepped closer and rested his hand briefly on Ampris’s shoulder, surprising her again.

  “You cured Luax of the wasting sickness. You will cure Elrabin,” he said with assurance. “Stay here. I will bring others tomorrow. We will talk then of where to go.”

  Ampris watched him leave the camp and melt into the undergrowth with smooth expertise. She wished she could share his confidence.

  Tantha appeared in the doorway of her shelter, cradling one of her sleeping cubs on her shoulder. “Is he gone?” she asked, her voice a husky growl.