DARK IS THE SUN

Vana looked around for fruit and berries. All got what they wanted, so they set out with stuffed bellies.

Most of Vana's pickings were in woven baskets in the boats. They ate these during the rests.

The strange gleaming green object at the end of the valley grew larger. By now they could make out its details. It seemed to be about half a mile wide and almost as high. It was set where the valley walls suddenly narrowed, forming a natural dam. However, when they saw that its surface was cut into facets,

Sloosh said that it couldn't be natural.

"What it is," he said, "believe it or not, is a trishmaging."

Deyv called to Vana, whose boat was alongside his. "What's a trishmaging?"

"It's a beautiful, very rare semitransparent hard stone.

The ancients cut facets into it. My shaman has one like this, though it's very small. Small enough to be worn on a finger if if s set in a wooden ring. The shaman got it during the Trading Season. The warrior who traded it had found five of these stones, each different from the others. They were in the dirt of a hillside washed down by rains along with a few other things made by the ancients. One stone was set in a ring made of a yellow metal. Evidently, the ancients wore the beautiful cut stones in rings."

"But this stone! What sky-high giant wore it in a ring?"

Sloosh said, "Those stones were probably natural. But this one ... it was manufactured by the ancients.

For what reason, I do not know. Perhaps as a dam which the waters would never wash away. I doubt it, though."

Deyv looked at the colossal precious stone with awe. How mighty the ancients! Yet, they had perished, and all that remained of them were a few relics.

14

THE trail left the river near the foot of the Brobdingnagian stone, where the waters fell in roaring sheets.

They followed it into the forest until they came to a very narrow, very deep canyon. This gave them rough access to the other side of the mountain. There they were confronted by another valley, but it was much wider than the one they'd left. Much of it was occupied by a large lake, the other side of which was too distant to be seen. Several miles from the shore was an island. It seemed to consist mostly of steep-sided hills centered around a peak perhaps three thousand feet high. Small black clouds circled around and over the island, settled down on it, or suddenly ascended from it.

"Flocks of birds," Sloosh said.

From the top of the peak something whitish and fluid flowed out, ru

A tiny white object floated up from the foothills of the island and was swept with the wind from the end of the valley. It rose higher and higher, gleaming, then was lost. It was headed toward the other end of the valley, where it could exit between two peaks.

Near the travelers was the freshly cut stump of another iyvrat tree, severed branches, and chips.

"He went to that island," Sloosh said. "Whether or not he got there, I can't tell. But he did get near his goal."

Sloosh's doubt was caused by the monstrous fish that now and then surfaced or dived back into the water. They looked big enough to swallow a war canoe of twenty men without straining themselves.

"We could go around the lake and pick up his trail on the other side," Deyv said. "That would put us far, far behind him, though."

"We wouldn't find his trail there," the Archkerri said. "The crafty creature intends to get aboard a young tharakorm and sail off with it."

Deyv and Vana asked him what he meant.

"That island must be a breeding grounds for the tharakorm. 'Breeding' is not the correct term, though, since the tharakorm are not animals. You remember my description of 'the tiny invisible-to-the-eye creatures called bacteria and viri? Those white streams from the top of the peak are the overflow from a great mass of viri continually duplicating itself. The mass lies in a hollow within the top, and it draws those birds you see circling around within the peak and onto the sides. It does this by emitting a powerful perfume, clouds of molecules which entice the birds.

"As you know, I have no sense of smell, unlike you humans. That is one sense you're up on me, though of course I'm compensated by my greater intelligence, not to mention other senses.

"However, we can observe these molecular masses, which draw the birds as if they were tied to strings.

The birds eat the boiling pulsing mass of viri, and they die shortly thereafter. They continue to flock in by the thousands, though they see their fellows die. The dead are used as food by the viri to duplicate themselves. Hence, the continual ferment and flow of the viri down the mountainside."

"I don't smell anything unusual," Vana said.

"That is because the wind carries it off at right angles to us. But when we get near enough, if we get near enough and are not swallowed by a great fish, then you'll smell it"

"Will we be enticed as the birds are?" Deyv asked.

"No. In fact, human beings find the odor most disagreeable."

"Where does all the stuff go?" Deyv asked.

"To the foothills of the island, where it collects in pools and then into hardening clumps. These eventually form into the young of tharakorm, those creatures which generate a levitating gas from dead flesh and plants and which sail the winds. That object in the sky you saw a little while ago was one of the young. Ah! See! There is another!"

Sloosh was silent for a moment as they watched the white thing rise and float toward the pass. Then he said, "The Yawtl is on that one. I can just make out the thin reddish line trailing from him."

Deyv was in despair. Even if they could get on a tharakorm and take off into the air, how could they ever trail the thief? The winds would change, and the Yawtl's ship-creature would go on a different path from theirs. Their situation was hopeless.

Vana looked pale, and her features were drawn. But she said, "Well, let's get busy."

They set to work and by sleep-time almost had their work done. This time, they were using a single large boat.

When they woke, they saw a great flock of birds flying upwind toward the island.

"More food for the pot," Sloosh said.

"I would think the valley would be cleaned out of birds in a short time," Deyv observed.

"The odor is strong and doesn't thin out entirely for hundreds of miles. And sometimes the supply of birds is low. When that happens, the viri become inactivated. There are long periods when there is no odor emitted. During that time, the birds breed and flourish. Moreover, for some reason, not all birds of each species are attracted, and those that are are usually males. There is a very complicated balance of nature in this, which I hope to study some time. Meanwhile, don't you think we should launch our craft?"

They paddled upwind along the bank for a long time. Then they set out directly toward the opposite bank. They knew that the current would be strong and that it would carry them at an angle downward.

They hoped the angle would end on the island. According to Sloosh, the Yawtl had done the same thing as they. Its trail went along the shore and when it turned, they turned too.

Despite the group's fears, the giant fish didn't attack them. Once, one fish chasing a somewhat smaller one, though still large enough to engulf their boat, came up alongside them. An eye, as large as Deyv's head, looked coldly at them. Then it dived, causing a small whirlpool to rock the boat.

As the craft got closer to the island, its occupants could hear the screaming of the birds. A short time later, they smelled the odor. Deyv thought he was going to vomit. Vana looked as if she'd like to.

Though they didn't seem sick, the animals were uneasy. Jum whined, and Aejip growled deep in her throat.