Cuinn haunted me. A night or two of turning over his cryptic2 words in my mind had convinced me that whoever, or whatever he'd been signaling, it wasn't the catmen. And his urgent question "Where's the girl?" swam endlessly in my brain, making no more sense than when I had first heard it. Who had he mistaken me for? What did he think I was mixed up in? And who, above all, were the "others" who had to be signaled, at the risk of an attack by catmen which had meant his own death?
With Cuinn dead, and Kyral thinking I'd saved his life, a large part of the responsibility for the caravan now fell on me. And strangely I enjoyed it, making the most of this interval3 when I was separated from the thought of blood-feud or revenge, the need of spying or the threat of exposure. During those days and nights on the trail I grew back slowly into the Dry-towner I once had been. I knew I would be sorry when the walls of Shainsa rose on the horizon, bringing me back inescapably to my own quest.
We swung wide, leaving the straight trail to Shainsa, and Kyral announced his intention of stopping for half a day at Canarsa, one of the walled nonhuman cities which lay well off the traveled road. To my inadvertent show of surprise, he returned that he had trading connections there.
"We all need a day's rest, and the Silent Ones will buy from me, though they have few dealings with men. Look here, I owe you something. You have lenses? You can get a better price in Canarsa than you'd get in Ardcarran or Shainsa. Come along with me, and I'll vouch4 for you."
Kyral had been most friendly since the night I had dug him out from under the catmen, and I knew no way to[44] refuse without exposing myself for the sham5 trader I was. But I was deathly apprehensive6. Even with Rakhal I had never entered any of the nonhuman towns.
On Wolf, human and nonhuman have lived side by side for centuries. And the human is not always the superior being. I might pass, among the Dry-towners and the relatively7 stupid humanoid chaks, for another Dry-towner. But Rakhal had cautioned me I could not pass among nonhumans for native Wolfan, and warned me against trying.
Nevertheless, I accompanied Kyral, carrying the box which had cost about a week's pay in the Terran Zone and was worth a small fortune in the Dry-towns.
Canarsa seemed, inside the gates, like any other town. The houses were round, beehive fashion, and the streets totally empty. Just inside the gates a hooded8 figure greeted us, and gestured us by signs to follow him. He was covered from head to foot with some coarse and shiny fiber9 woven into stuff that looked like sacking.
But under the thick hooding10 was horror. It slithered and it had nothing like a recognizable human shape or walk, and I felt the primeval ape in me cowering11 and gibbering in a corner of my brain. Kyral muttered, close to my ear, "No outsider is ever allowed to look on the Silent Ones in their real form. I think they're deaf and dumb, but be damn careful."
"You bet," I whispered, and was glad the streets were empty. I walked along, trying not to look at the gliding12 motion of that shrouded13 thing up ahead.
The trading was done in an open hut of reeds which looked as if it had been built in a hurry, and was not square, round, hexagonal or any other recognizable geometrical shape. It formed a pattern of its own, presumably, but my human eyes couldn't see it. Kyral said in a breath of a whisper, "They'll tear it down and burn it after we leave. We're supposed to have contaminated it too greatly for any of the Silent Ones ever to enter again. My family has traded with them for centuries, and we're almost the only ones who have ever entered the city."
Then two of the Silent Ones of Canarsa, also covered with that coarse shiny stuff, slithered into the hut, and Kyral choked off his words as if he had swallowed them.[45]
It was the strangest trading I had ever done. Kyral laid out the small forged-steel tools and the coils of thin fine wire, and I unpacked14 my lenses and laid them out in neat rows. The Silent Ones neither spoke15 nor moved, but through a thin place in the gray veiling I saw a speck16 which might have been a phosphorescent eye, moving back and forth17 as if scanning the things laid out for their inspection18.
Then I smothered19 a gasp20, for suddenly blank spaces appeared in the rows of merchandise. Certain small tools—wirecutters, calipers21, surgical22 scissors—had vanished, and all the coils of wire had disappeared. Blanks equally had appeared in the rows of lenses; all of my tiny, powerful microscope lenses had vanished. I cast a quick glance at Kyral, but he seemed unsurprised. I recalled vague rumors23 of the Silent Ones, and concluded that, eerie24 though it seemed, this was merely their way of doing business.
Kyral pointed25 at one of the tools, at an exceptionally fine pair of binocular lenses, at the last of the coils of wire. The shrouded ones did not move, but the lenses and the wire vanished. The small tool remained, and after a moment Kyral dropped his hand.
I took my cue from Kyral and remained motionless, awaiting whatever surprise was coming. I had halfway26 expected what happened next. In the blank spaces, little points of light began to glimmer27, and after a moment, blue and red and green gem28-stones appeared there. To me the substitution appeared roughly equitable29 and fair, though I am no judge of the fine points of gems30.
Kyral scowled31 slightly and pointed to one of the green gems, and after a moment it whisked away and a blue one took its place. In another spot where a fine set of surgical instruments had lain, Kyral pointed at the blue gem which now lay there, shook his head and held out three fingers. After a moment, a second blue stone lay winking32 beside the first.
Kyral did not move, but inexorably held out the three fingers. There was a little swirling34 in the air, and then both gems vanished, and the case of surgical instruments lay in their place.
Still Kyral did not move, but held the three fingers out for a full minute. Finally he dropped them and bent35 to pick[46] up the case instruments. Again the little swirl33 in the air, and the instruments vanished. In their place lay three of the blue gems. My mouth twitched36 in the first amusement I had felt since we entered this uncanny place. Evidently bargaining with the Silent Ones was not a great deal different than bargaining with anyone anywhere. Nevertheless, under the eyes of those shrouded but horrible forms—if they had eyes, which I doubted—I had no impulse to protest their offered prices.
I gathered up the rejected lenses, repacked them neatly37, and helped Kyral recrate the tools and instruments the Silent Ones had not wanted. I noticed that in addition to the microscope lenses and surgical instruments, they had taken all the fine wire. I couldn't imagine, and didn't particularly want to imagine, what they intended to do with it.
On our way back through the streets, unshepherded this time, Kyral's tongue was loosened as if with a great release from tension. "They're psychokinetics," he told me. "Quite a few of the nonhuman races are. I guess they have to be, having no eyes and no hands. But sometimes I wonder if we of the Dry-towns ought to deal with them at all."
"What do you mean?" I asked, not really listening. I was thinking mostly about the way the small objects had melted away and reappeared. The sight had stirred some uncomfortable memory, a vague sense of danger. It was not tangible38 enough for me to know why I feared it, but just a subliminal39 uneasiness that kept prodding40 at me, like a tooth that isn't quite aching yet.
Kyral said, "We of Shainsa live between fire and flood. Terra on the one hand, and on the other maybe something worse, who knows? We know so little about the Silent Ones, and those like them. Who knows, maybe we're giving them the weapons to destroy us—" He broke off, with a gasp, and stood staring down one of the streets.
It lay open and bare between two rows of round houses, and Kyral was staring fixedly41 at a doorway42 which had opened there. I followed his paralyzed gaze, and saw the girl.
Hair like spun43 black glass fell in hard waves around her shoulders, and the red eyes smiled with alien malice44, alien mischief45, beneath the dark crown of little stars. And the[47] Toad46 God sprawled47 in hideous48 embroideries49 across the white folds of her breast.
Kyral gulped50 hoarsely51. His hand flew up as he clutched the charms strung about his neck. I imitated the gesture mechanically, watching Kyral, wondering if he would turn and run again. But he stood frozen for a minute. Then the spell broke and he took one step toward the girl, arms outstretched.
"Miellyn!" he cried, and there was heartbreak in his voice. And again, the cry making ringing echoes in the strange street:
"Miellyn! Miellyn!"
This time it was the girl who whirled and fled. Her white robes fluttered and I saw the twinkle of her flying feet as she vanished into a space between the houses and was gone.
Kyral took one blind step down the street, then another. But before he could burst into a run I had him by the arm, dragging him back to sanity52.
"Man, you've gone mad! Chase, in a nonhuman town?"
He struggled for a minute, then, with a harsh sigh, he said, "It's all right, I won't—" and shook loose from my arm.
He did not speak again until we reached the gates of Canarsa and they closed, silently and untouched, behind us. I had forgotten the place already. I had space only to think of the girl, whose face I had not forgotten since the moment when she saved me and disappeared. Now she had appeared again to Kyral. What did it all mean?
I asked, as we walked toward the camp, "Do you know that girl?" But I knew the question was futile53. Kyral's face was closed, conceding nothing, and his friendliness54 had vanished completely.
He said, "Now I know you. You saved me from the catmen, and again in Canarsa, so my hands are bound from harming you. But it is evil to have dealings with those who have been touched by the Toad God." He spat55 noisily on the ground, looked at me with loathing56, and said, "We will reach Shainsa in three days. Stay away from me."
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1
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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cryptic
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| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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vouch
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| v.担保；断定；n.被担保者 | |
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sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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hooded
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| adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的 | |
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fiber
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| n.纤维，纤维质 | |
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hooding
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| v.兜帽( hood的现在分词 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩 | |
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cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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unpacked
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| v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
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15
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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calipers
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| n.书法，测径器；测径器 | |
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surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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24
eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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equitable
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| adj.公平的；公正的 | |
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gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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33
swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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34
swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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38
tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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subliminal
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| adj.下意识的，潜意识的；太弱或太快以至于难以觉察的 | |
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40
prodding
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| v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳 | |
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41
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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42
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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43
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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44
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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45
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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46
toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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47
sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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48
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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49
embroideries
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| 刺绣( embroidery的名词复数 )； 刺绣品； 刺绣法 | |
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50
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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51
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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52
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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53
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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54
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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55
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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56
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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