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By then Deyv had realized that the poles did not react until he was about one hundred and twenty yards away. But now, just before he was about to leave the road, the poles clanged, and the eyes directly above the lowest turned a baleful red.
Deyv jumped, though not so much from the unexpected reaction of the poles. The animals went into the air, also, Jum barking and Aejip yowling. When he came down, Deyv howled. Something was sending a shock through him, something from the road itself. It was painful, and it made him leap about like a mouse on a hot stone. He tried to run off the road, but the repeated shocks caused him to fall. Then he felt the horrible sensations most strongly on the side on which he'd fallen.
Yelling, he managed to roll off the road and lie panting in the dirt. Aejip landed on her stomach, which drove the air from her in a great whoof. Jum, howling, tumbled head over paws onto his master's legs.
Finally, his breath regained, his muscles having ceased to quiver, Deyv sat up. The poles were still clanging and flashing a red light. He rose unsteadily and looked around to make sure that no person or beast had been attracted by their screams of agony. No one was in sight
Yes, there was.
Drifting slowly at an angle across the road, about two hundred feet up and half a mile away, was a tharakorm. Its sides and upper works were visible now: the whitish hull, short masts, yardarms, and unfurled sails. The thing could only drift with the wind, but the creatures aboard could fly against it
Even as Deyv caught sight of the vessel, dark objects dropped out of the holes in the bottom and other objects leaped off the sides. They were only tiny beings at this distance. Deyv, however, knew what they looked like. He also knew why they were leaving the tharakorm.
4
HERE were perhaps a hundred of them. They flew swiftly, cutting across the wind, their leathery wings flapping. Deyv staggered across the short grass. His legs felt weak, and his head swam. He drove on, aware that Jum and Aejip were not ru
Before he reached the edge of the trees, he looked back at his pursuers. They were close enough so that he could see the ratlike heads, the flat rudderlike tails, the furry black bodies with long legs trailing, and the black wings. These were formed of thin skin stretched between body and back legs and a long bony finger extending from the wrist. He could also hear their cluttering.
One khratikl, the speediest, and also the bravest or most foolhardy, swooped ahead of the pack. Aejip whirled, snarling, leaped up, and hooked her claws into a wing. She came down with the thing fluttering and squeaking at the end of her paw, and she bit off its head. Then she spun and dived under a frondy bush, with Deyv close behind her. Jum was ahead of them, streaking through the sparse undergrowth.
The things were at a disadvantage now, though it wasn't much of one. They had to descend to the ground to get through the barrier of bushes and vines lining the edge of the forest. Once inside the barrier, they needed at least twenty feet of bare ground for their runway before taking to the air again. They just didn't have the room here, so they'd have to run on their long, comparatively weak legs. If it hadn't been for the shock he'd suffered, Deyv could have outdistanced them.
Furthermore, the khratikl had a limited amount of time to catch their prey. If the tharakorm kept on drifting, it would soon be out of range of its guests. On the other hand, a tharakorm sometimes released its gas and landed. Usually, this occurred when hunting had not been good, and the host lacked food from which it made the lifting gas.
At least, this was what Deyv's father had told him. Actually, it was only a guess on his father's part, though he had once inspected a dead tharakorm. The creature hadn't really been dead, though, just inactive. Later, when his father had passed the place where it had been, the thing was gone. Apparently, a tharakorm could come to life again. Or maybe a big wind had blown it away.
In any event, there was no telling what the hungry khratikl were going to do. Deyv could only run and hope to find a good place for defense or hiding. As he ran, he drew his sword. He spared a look behind him. The things were still after him, a hundred at least, their wings flapping to help them with their ru
Ahead of him, Jum stopped and began barking. A few seconds later, Deyv saw what had attracted his attention. Through the dimness a great bulk loomed. It was high and round, and fallen jungle giants and growths of liana half-covered it.
It was a House of the Ancients, lying on its side.
He hoped that it was deserted. It should be, from its vegetation-littered appearance. However, it was possible that a tribe lived in it and used the vegetation as camouflage.
When Deyv came closer he looked quickly around. No soul-egg tree was in sight, but this did not mean that no humans dwelt in the House. Some tribes had their trees at a distance, in a hidden place.
By then Aejip had climbed up a mighty tree leaning against the House. Jum followed her a moment later. His claws slipped a few times, but he made it. He turned and faced Deyv, his tongue hanging out, his sides heaving.
Deyv ran up the trunk. A thin screech came from behind him. Aejip, roaring, leaped over Deyv's head.
Gaining Jum's side, Deyv turned around. Below him the cat was engaged with four khratikl. One, two, three! The fourth broke off and ran for the main body of his fellows. Aejip picked up a carcass in her fangs and leaped up the trunk.
Deyv put the sword into its scabbard. He let himself down off the side of the trunk, clinging to knots and the rough bark. When his feet were on the smooth cold surface of the House, he worked his way up its rounded side, still clinging to the tree. Ahead of him, Jum landed on the surface and slid backward into
Deyv's legs, his claws unable to get any purchase.
Hanging on with both hands, Deyv shoved the heavy dog up the slick curve with a foot. In the meantime, Aejip had worked her way farther up the trunk. Now she leaped outward onto the House, landed some distance above Deyv, slid, yowling, and abruptly disappeared.
Deyv shoved the dog ahead of him until they were opposite the place where the cat had dropped out of sight. He could see then that she had fallen into an opening. From his position, Deyv could move on all fours, cautiously, and perhaps reach the opening. Jum would never make it on his own.
Deyv bent his neck far back to look above. A dozen rattish faces looked down on him from the tree. If their owners had any guts—and they weren't noted for lacking courage—they would glide down toward him. The sheer weight of their bodies would send him scooting on down the curve and onto the ground.
Desperate, Deyv did the only thing he could do. Bracing his back against the trunk, he shoved the dog with all the strength in his legs. Yelping, Jum shot out, then dropped into the round hole.
Deyv leaped outward, his arms stretched out, slammed into the cold surface, slid, and suddenly was falling. He yelled and then crashed into a floor. He wasn't hurt, though he was shaken up. Fortunately, the floor, which was really a wall of the House, was that of a small room. If it had been as large as some in his tribe's House, he would have had a bad fall.