Alan Dean Foster Humanx 4 Voyage City of the Dead

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"Why? Isn't it against your spiritual principles?"
"I have no spiritual principles, Learned One." Yulour fought with the large
Tsla words. "I do not have sense enough to have them." He looked hesitantly
past the human. "Teacher Tyl must allow. I am bound to him."
Tyl was staring curiously at the porter. "I cannot allow myself to go, nor
would thy companions, but if thy con-science is clear and committed."
"What is conscience?" Yulour asked innocently.
Tyl sighed. "No matter." He turned to Etienne. "He may accompany thee as he
wishes. I cannot stop him, though I would if it were in my power. All beings
have free will. Remember this, though: thee will bear a heavy responsibility
if he dies. It will be on thy conscience."
"I'll remember that." Etienne faced his one volunteer. He'd had little
personal contact with Yulour, indeed, with any of the porters, preferring to
give them their instructions through Tyl.
"Thank you, Yulour. I accept your offer of help. It would be better understood
among my own people."
The porter shook his head sadly. "I do not understand, Learned One."
Etienne clapped the Tsla on one muscular shoulder. "It doesn't matter. All
that matters is that you're willing to help."
"I like Teacher Lyra," Yulour said with simple sincerity. "I want to help
her."
"If we can, we will, Yulour."
They hurried back to the hydrofoil, ignoring the crowd of curious Tsla which
had gathered around it. Homat was waiting to greet them.
Etienne caught his breath as a blast of superhot air rushed out of the main
cabin. Inside the temperature reached for the hundred-degree line, forty
degrees warmer than the air outside. Homat's reaction was exactly the opposite
of
Etienne's. As cold air poured inside he retreated to the pile of blankets he'd
assembled on the floor of the cockpit, curled up beneath them, and peered out
apologetically as Etienne strode in after him.
"Please do not be angry with me, de-Etienne," he pleaded. "Only I was left
behind, and I remember how to work the device that makes the air inside the
spirit boat hot or cold. I could not resist. It's the first time in many times
I
have been truly delightful warm."
Etienne had to smile. "Relax, Homat, it's all right. I'm not mad at you." The
smile quickly vanished, "De-Lyra has been taken by the Na, by the ice demons."
Homat began to moan and Etienne hastened to cut him off. "Yulour and I are
going after her."
Homat's nearly bald head emerged from the smothering blankets. "After the
demons?"
"After the Na, yes."
"You will not come back."
"I really appreciate all the support I'm getting," he mum-bled absently as he
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started rummaging through a storage locker in search of needed supplies. "I
never thought I'd see the day when Mai and Tsla were in perfect agreement on
anything."
"After the demons," Homat whispered. "I-I would come with you if I could."
Etienne threw him a surprised look. "That's delightful of you, Homat, but you
know how much use you'd be. The temperature atop the Guntali's probably
somewhere just above the freezing mark. I don't think you could handle that
for very long. No Mai could. The climate here in Jakaie's at the upper limit
of your tolerance."
"I wish it were not so, de-Etienne. It is wondrous that you can move so freely
between the comfortable weather of the Skatandah and the roof of the world."
"Our special clothing helps to make that possible, Homat." He held up a
thermal coat just excavated from storage. "I'm more concerned about the
atmospheric pressure above the six-thousand-meter line. The air will be
thicker than at a corresponding altitude on my home world, but thinner than
I'd like. We have some methods of compensating for that, too."
Into the large backpack went a half dozen supplementary breathers. Each
consisted of a facepiece designed to fit comfortably over mouth and nose and
flexible metal tubes that fit over the ears and behind the head to hold the
contraption in place. The tubes contained pure 02 under pressure and would
serve equally well under water. For high altitude use they'd last much longer,
since their full flow wouldn't be required.
Two ascents from the bottom of the Barshajagad had pre-pared him for the
coming climb. All that he feared was the possibility of having to do some
running at high altitude. He wondered how Lyra was handling the thin air and
low temperatures. She was wearing long clothing when the Na had attacked, but
that wouldn't suffice if the nighttime temperature dropped below freezing. It
might be that all that stood between her and freezing to death at night was
the warm presence of her fellow captives.
"Yulour, will you be warm enough?" he asked his sole companion when all was
ready. The porter wore several layers of toga and two capes, in addition to a
cloak pulled tight over his head.
"I will be fine, Teacher. Please not to worry about me. It upsets me when I
see anyone worrying about me."
Tyl and Ruu-an waited at the main gate to see them off. With typical Tsla
matter-of-factness, masons and carpenters were already hard at work repairing
the broken barrier. Ruu--an presented ore stocky villager who would guide them
to the base of the incline the Na usually employed for their travels.
"Do they ever leave a rear guard behind, or anything like that?" Etienne asked
the First Scholar.
Ruu-an made a negative movement with his trunk. "They have nothing to fear
from us since we never pursue them."
That sense of invulnerability should be my greatest ally, Etienne mused. Once
safely back in their own territory atop the Guntali the Na would relax.
Counterattack would be the last thing they'd expect. The shock should be
considerable. But he didn't delude himself into thinking that they'd run off
in panic. The Na weren't the type to run.
No, he'd have to rely on surprise. Even with two fully charged pistols he
doubted he could hold off an entire tribe of the giants for more than a couple
of minutes.
"We're wasting time." He led their local guide toward the wall beckoning to
the east, moving as rapidly as practicable. Yulour fell in step behind, the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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