DARK IS THE SUN

When the sixth red-ear started after him, Deyv ran a few steps, then wheeled. A poisoned dart sped from his blowgun into its gaping mouth and embedded itself in its tongue. The point was coated with six layers, five more than he'd have used for a man. Even so, the beast had only slowed down a little by the time it came between its executioners. There was, however, no need to hit more than once. It couldn't get up, and presently it died in convulsions.

The seventh died in the same ma

On the eighth run, three red ears lumbered after him. The Shemibob sent Jum out to distract them. Jum had obeyed orders to stay back, though he had whined with eagerness. Now he raced up to one animal and caused it to rear up on its hind legs. But another grabbed him and tore him apart.

Deyv did not know what was happening until he heard Jum's yelp. He glanced over his shoulder.

Though he had little breath to spare, he yelled with horror. There was nothing he could do. The dog was dead, and the lead beast was too close. It perished from poison and the clubs. The others were close behind it; both tumbled on the earth, one going head over paws. Deyv had to run to Sloosh's rescue. His intended victim had apparently suffered only a glancing blow. Deyv snatched up his spear, which had been left sticking upright in the earth, and he drove it through the eye into the brain.

Then he burst into grief. Jum was a member of the family, his furry brother.

Nevertheless, the bloody work had to continue. After it was over he buried Jum deeply, and he sent up a prayer that his spirit would be waiting for his master in the world which the shaman had promised was waiting for both of them.

"I am sorry indeed," Sloosh said. "But he did save you, and perhaps all of us. We couldn't have handled three at once. At least, I don't think so."

It was necessary to go into the tangle itself and seek out any red-ears that were hiding there. They lit torches and went into the dark stinking place. Now was when they most needed Jum, who could have smelled out any lurker ahead of them. However, they found only some small cubs, which they quickly dispatched.

They made two fiber nets and hauled the heads in them. Long before they got to the camp, they heard the keening of a woman in mourning. Deyv ran, thinking that this was indeed an evil day. One of the babies had to be dead. He arrived panting and covered with swamp mud. Vana was sitting outside the vessel, holding Thrush in her arms, rocking back and forth. His face was twisted, as if the agony of dying had been incised, and his left arm was swollen and greenish.

Nearby was Aejip, also dead, her mouth still gripping a tiny green snake with a scarlet head, the fangs locked deep into its flesh. Her eyes were open and glazed; her nose was expanded to twice its normal size from the venom.

Vana screamed, "I didn't even see the snake until it had struck! Thrush had picked it up and was bringing it to me to look atl Aejip grabbed it from his hand, but it was too late! It bit Thrush, and he died almost immediately!"

The woman captive said, "It must have come out of the water."

After they had buried the baby and Aejip and mourned for the prescribed time and in the prescribed ma

"Any place is bad where bad things happen," he said. "And bad things can happen anywhere. Come, woman, let us get to work. We must get Keem to a world where perhaps there are not so many bad things."

He didn't believe that. But at least that other world might not be falling apart.

44

"THE next time we unfold the vessel," Sloosh said, "we should perhaps leave it that way. It expanded even more slowly than the last time. There may be enough power left for a dozen more times, I don't know. But I don't want to take the chance."

A round plate on the control room panel had been glowing red for some time. Sloosh said that this must be a warning that the fuel was about to give out. Not that he needed that indication.

They packed up, and all moved out. Coming near the hill, they heard a mighty hubbub, the chatter of the tribes gathered for the Trading Season, the music provided by their hosts, the bleats and squawks and chirpings of goats and birds brought in for the event. An odor of cooking drifted down the slope toward them. Deyv felt nostalgia for the Seasons when he had attended such occasions. Tears ran down his cheeks as he thought of his people. He would never see them again.

Vana, too, was weeping.

From behind the trees they saw that the pod-plants had been reaped. Where they had grown were the lean-tos of the visitors, with women preparing food, children ru

"It seems a shame to disturb such a harmonious scene," Sloosh said. "Imagine that! Six different groups of humans in one place, and they're not fighting!"

"The stockade logs-were disarranged by the last quake," The Shemibob said. "They're still setting up some."

As if this remark had caused another temblor, and Deyv wasn't sure that it hadn't, the ground began' to shake. Those on the hill fell silent; the beat of drums and the shrilling of noseflutes stopped. The animals and birds ceased their racket, causing Deyv to wonder why they had not been hushed before this.

Animals were supposed to be very sensitive to the quakes, detecting them long before they became evident to humans. But then Jum and Aejip, who'd long behaved strangely when a temblor was coming, had lately been as surprised as their master. He hadn't thought anything of that until just now. Maybe they were getting used to the shakes.

This one was a minor quivering of the earth for a few seconds. After a few minutes, the crowd resumed their noisy activity, and the animals and birds took up their own uproar.

"Here comes the second shock," Sloosh said, referring to the anticipated reception their appearance would get.

Dragging a net full of red-ear heads, Sloosh stepped out from behind a tree and waded through the water. The Shemibob came next, also hauling a net and Deyv on her back. He'd decided at the last moment he'd ride her. He was to act as intermediary, and despite his reluctance to mount a higher being, he could gain more authority if he appeared to be controlling the snake-centaur.

Vana came last, carrying the baby in one arm, a spear in the other hand prodding the captive ahead of her.

They were sighted almost immediately. Shrieks and yells went up, and there was a frenzied scramble to get back up the hill. By the time the strangers had reached the foot of the hill, it was deserted. The gate swung shut on the last of the stampeding refugees. Faces appeared over the stockage, and the observation tower swarmed with frightened men.

The intruders reached the plateau on which the village stood. Sloosh opened his net and hauled out the heads. A concerted cry of wonder rose from the onlookers. The plant-man began to hurl the heads over the gate.

Waving his spear, Deyv shouted, "Here are the gifts we bring you! You will be attacked by the red-ears no more! Your plants and your warriors are safe from them! We have slain them for you to show our friendship!"

Having finished dispensing his load, Sloosh emptied The Shemibob's net onto the ground.

"Come out and get these!" Deyv shouted. "Each tribe can have its own trophies! You may put them up on poles to remind you how the mighty Deyv and his friends, The Shemibob and the Archkerri—and his mighty wife," he added, knowing that Vana would be displeased if she were left out, "slew the monstrous red-ears easily. Just as easily as they could slay six tribes in a very short time."