Epiphany of the Long Sun (27 page)

"Bad man!" It was not immediately apparent whether Oreb intended Incus or Urus.

Chenille said, "You don't really mean that, Patera."

"Oh, but I do, my daughter. Tell them, Corporal. Do I mean what I say?"

"Sure, Patera. See, Chenille, Patera's a bio like you, and bios like you and him are real easy to kill. You can't take chances, or him either. You got a prisoner, he's got to toe the line every minute, cause if you let him get away with anything, that's it. If it was up to me, I'd kill him right now, and not chance something happening to Patera."

"We need him to show us how to get to the pit, and that door that opens into the cellar of the Juzgado."

"Only we're not going to either one now, are we? And I know where the Juzgado is if I can get myself located. So why shouldn't I quiet him down?" As if by chance, Hammerstone's slug gun was pointing in Urus's direction; his finger found its trigger.

"We
have not
been going to the pit, I am happy to say," Incus told them. "It was
Auk
who wished to go there, for no good reason that
I
could ever understand.
Unfortunately
, we haven't been going to the Juzgado,
either
, though it was to the Juzgado that Surging Scylla directed us.
I
am the sole person present who
recollects
her instructions, possibly. But I
assure you
it is so."

"All right," Chenille said wearily, "I believe you."

"As you
ought,
my daughter, because it was
through your mouth
that Scylla spoke. That very
fact
brings me to another point. She made Auk, Dace, and
myself
her prophets, specifying that I am to replace His Cognizance as
Prolocutor
. Dace has
departed
this whorl, so grievously infected by evil, for the richer life of Mainframe. Succoring Scylla might recall him
if she chose
, perhaps. I
cannot
. If our search for
Auk
is to be given up, or at least
postponed
, and I confess there is
much
that appeals to me in that, only
I
remain of Scylla's three.

"Earlier,
bedeviled
by multiple interruptions, I
strove
to explain my position. Because neither of you has
patience
for that explanation, though it would occupy but a
few moments
at most, I shall
state
it. Pay
attention
, both of you."

Incus's voice strengthened. "I have awakened to
myself,
both as
man
and as augur. A servant of Men, if you will. A servant of the
gods,
most particularly. You are three. One loves, two
hate
me. I am not unaware of it."

"I don't hate you," Chenille protested. "You let me wear this when I got cold. Auk doesn't hate you either. You just think that."

"Thank you, my daughter. I was about to remark that from what I've learned from my brother augurs concerning manteions, the proportion implied is the one most frequently seen, though our
congregation
is so much less numerous. Very well,
my good people
, I accept it. I shall do my best for each and for all, nonetheless, trusting in a reward from the east."

"See?" Hammerstone nudged Chenille. "What'd I tell you? The greatest man in the
Whorl.
"

Oreb cocked his head at Incus. "Where Auk?"

"Nowhere to be found in that shining city we name
Reason,
I fear," Incus told him half humorously. "He hailed someone.
I
saw him do it, though there was no one to be seen. After saluting this
unseen being
, he dashed away. Our good corporal pursued him, as you saw, but lost him in the
darkness
."

"These green lights don't work the way people think, see, Chenille. People think they just crawl around all the time and don't care where they're at, only they're not really like that. If it's bright one way and dark the other, they'll head for the dark, see? Real slow, but that's how they go. It's what keeps them spread out."

Chenille nodded. "Urus said something about that."

"In a little place, they get everything worked out among themselves after a while and don't hardly move except to get away from the windows in the daytime, but in a big place like this they don't ever settle down completely. Only they don't ever go down much, 'cause if they did, they'd get stepped on and broken real fast."

"Lots of these tunnels slope down besides the one Auk ran down," she objected, "and I've seen lights in them."

"Depends on how dark it is down there, and how steep the slope is. If it's too steep, they won't go in there at all."

"It was pretty steep," Chenille conceded, "and we went down it quite a ways, but later we took that one that went up, remember? It didn't go up as steep as the dark one went down, and it had lights, but it climbed like that for a long time."

"I
think,
my daughter-"

"So what I've been wondering is would Auk have gone back up like we did? He was kind of out of it."

"He was
deranged,"
Incus declared positively. "I would hope that condition was only temporary, but temporary or
not,
he was not
rational.
"

"Yeah, and that's why we took the tunnel that angled back up that I was talking about, Patera. We're not abram and we knew we wanted to get back up to the surface, besides finding Auk. But if Auk was abram… To let you have the lily word, all you bucks seem pretty abram to me, mostly, so I didn't pay much attention. Only if he was, maybe he'd just keep on going down, because that's easier. He was running like you say, and it's pretty easy to run downhill."

"There
may
be something in what you suggest, my daughter. We must keep it in mind,
if
our discussion concludes that we should continue our pursuit.

"Now, may
I
sum up? The
question
is whether we are to continue, or to break off our search,
at least temporarily
, and attempt to return to the sufface. Allow me, please, to state both cases. I shall strive for
concision
. If any of you has an
additional point
, you are free to advance it when I have
concluded
.

"It would seem to me that there is only one
cogent
reason to
protract
our search, and I have touched upon that
already.
It is that Auk is one of the
triune prophets
commissioned by
Scylla
. As a
prophet
he is a
theodidact
of
inestimable
value, as was Dace. It is for that reason, and for it alone, that I
instructed
Hammerstone to pursue him following his precipitate departure. It is for that reason
solely
that I have prolonged the pursuit so far. For
I
, also, am such a prophet. The only such prophet remaining, as I have said."

"He's one of us," Chenille declared. "I was with him at Limna before Scylla possessed me, and I remember him a little on the boat. We can't just go off and leave him."

"Nor do
I
propose to do so, my daughter. Hear me out, I beg you. We are
exhausted and famished
. When we return to the
surface
with Scylla's messages, in
fulfillment
of her will, we can gain rest and food.
Furthermore
, we can enlist others in the search. We will-"

Urus interrupted. "You said we could put in stuff of our own, right? All right, how about me? Do I get to talk, or are you goin' to have the big chem shoot me?"

Incus smiled gently. "You must understand, my son, that as your spiritual guide, I
love
you no less and no more than the others. I have threatened your life only as the
law
does, for your correction.
Speak.
"

"Well, I don't love Auk, only if you want to get him back it looks to me like you're goin' about it wrong. He wanted us to go to the pit, remember? So maybe now that he's gone off by himself that's where. We could go 'n see, 'n there's lots of bucks there that know these tunnels as well as me, so why not tell 'em what happened 'n get 'em to look too?"

Incus nodded, his face thoughtful. "It is a suggestion worthy of consideration."

"They'll eat us," Chenille declared.

"Fish head?" Oreb fluttered to her shoulder.

"Yeah, like you'd eat a fish head, Oreb. Only we'd have to have fish heads to do it."

"They won't eat me," Hammerstone told her. "They won't eat anybody I say not to eat, either, while I'm around."

"Now let us
pray."
Incus was on his knees, hands clasped behind him. "Let us petition the
immortal gods
, and Scylla
particularly
, to rescue both Auk and
ourselves
, and to guide us in the ways they would have us go."

"I twigged you don't buy that any more."

"I have
encountered
Scylla," Incus told Urus solemnly. "I have seen for myself the
majesty
and
power
of that very great goddess. How could I lack belief now?" He contemplated the voided cross suspended from his prayer beads as if he had never seen it before. "I have suffered, too, on that wretched boat and in these
detestable
tunnels. I have been in terror of my life. It is hunger and fear that direct us toward the gods, my son. I have learned that, and I wonder that
you,
suffering as you clearly have, have not turned to them long ago.

"How do you know I haven't, huh? You don't know a shaggy thing about me. Maybe I'm holier than all of you."

Tired as she was, Chenille giggled.

Incus shook his head. "No, my son. It won't do. I am a
fool,
perhaps. Beyond dispute I have not infrequently been a fool. But not such a fool as that." More loudly he added, "On your
knees.
Bow your heads."

"Bird pray! Pray Silk!"

Incus ignored Oreb's hoarse interruption, his right hand making the sign of addition with the voided cross. "Behold us, lovely Scylla,
wonderful of waters
. Behold our love and our need for thee. Cleanse us, O Scylla!" He took a deep breath, the inhalation loud in the whispering silence. "Your prophet is bewildered and dismayed, Scylla. Wash clear my
eyes
as I implore you to cleanse my
spirit
. Guide me in this confusion of darkling passages and obscure responsibilities." He looked up, mouthing: "
Cleanse us, O Scylla
."

Chenille, Hammerstone, and even Urus dutifully repeated, "Cleanse us, O Scylla."

Bored, Oreb had flown up to grip a rough stone protrusion in his red claws. He could see farther even than Hammerstone through the yellow-green twilight that filled the tunnel, and clinging thus to the ceiling, his vantage point was higher; but look as he might, he saw neither Auk or Silk. Abandoning the search, he peered hungrily at Dace's corpse; its half-open eyes tempted him, though he felt sure he would be chased away.

Below, the black human droned on: "Behold us, fair Phaea,
lady of the larder
. Behold our love and our need for thee.
Feed
us, O Phaea! Famished we wander in need of your nurture." All the humans squawked, "Feed us, O Phaea!"

"Talk talk," Oreb muttered to himself; he could talk as well as they, but it seemed to him that talking was of small benefit in such situations.

"Behold us, fierce Sphigx,
woman of war
. Behold our love and our need for thee.
Lead
us, O Sphigx! We are lost and dismayed, O Sphigx, hemmed
all about
by danger. Lead us in the ways we should go." And all the humans, "Lead us, O Sphigx!"

The black one said, "Let us now, with heads bowed, put ourselves in
personal communion
with the Nine." He and the green one and the red one looked down, and the dirty one got up, stepped over the dead one, and trotted softly away.

"Man go," Oreb muttered, congratulating himself on having hit on the right words; and because he liked announcing things, he repeated more loudly, "Man go!"

The result was gratifying. The green one sprang to his feet and dashed after the dirty one. The black one shrieked and fluttered after the green one, and the red one jiggled after them both, faster than the black one but not as fast as the first two. For as long as it might have taken one of his feathers to float to the tunnel floor, Oreb preened, weighing the significance of these events.

He had liked Auk and had felt that if he remained with Auk, Auk would lead him to Silk. But Auk was gone, and the others were not looking for him any more.

Oreb glided down to a convenient perch on Dace's face and dined, keeping a wary eye out. One never knew. Good came of bad, and bad of good. Humans were both, and changeable in the extreme, sleeping by day yet catching fish whose best parts they generously shared.

And-so on. His crop filled, Oreb meditated on these points while cleaning his newly-bright bill with his feet.

The dead one had been good. There could be no doubt about that. Friendly in the reserved fashion Oreb preferred alive, and delicious, dead. There was another one back there, but he was no longer hungry. It was time to find Silk in earnest. Not just look. Really find him. To leave this green hole and its living and dead humans.

Vaguely, he recalled the night sky, the gleaming upside-down country over his head, and the proper country below.

The wind in trees. Drifting along with it looking for things of interest. It was where Silk would be, and where he could be found. Where a bird could fly high, see everything, and find Silk.

Flying was not as easy as riding the red one's launcher, but flying downwind through the tunnel permitted rests in which he had only to keep his wings wide and sail along. There were twinges at times, reminding him of the blue thing that had been there. He had never understood what it was or why it had stuck to him.