The Gates of Creation

"Very well," she said. "So what do we do now?"

"Keep on going and hope for the best."

"And starve!" she said. She pointed at the boulder which hid Enion's body. "There's enough food for all of us."

Wolff did not reply for a moment. He had not wanted to think about this, but, since he was faced with it, he would do what had to be done. Vala was right. Without this food, however horrible it was to think about it, they might well die. In a way, Palamabron had done them a favor. He had taken the guilt upon himself of killing for them. They could eat without considering themselves murderers. Not that killing would bother the rest of them. He, however, would have suffered agonies if he had been forced into a position where he had to slay a human being to survive.

As for the actual eating, he was now feeling only a slight repul­sion. Hunger had deadened his normal horror against ca

He returned to wake the others while Vala picked up the rocks dropped by Palamabron. By the time they returned, she had not only started a fire but was intent on the butchering. Wolff held back for a moment. Then, thinking that if he was to share in the food, he should also share in the work, he took Theotormon's knife. The others offered a hand, but he turned them down. It was as if he wanted to punish himself by making himself do most of the grisly work.

When the meal was cooked, half-cooked, rather, he took his share and went around the boulder to eat. He was not sure that he could keep the meat down, and he was sure that if he watched the others eat, he would not be able to keep from vomiting. Somehow, it did not seem so bad if he were alone.

Dawn had found them still cooking. Not until the middle of the morning did they start traveling again. The meat that had not been eaten was wrapped in leaves.

"If Urizen was watching us," Wolff said, "he must really be laughing."

"Let him laugh," Vala said. "My turn will come."

"Your turn? You mean, our turn."

"You may do what you like. All I'm interested in is what I do."

"Typical of the Lords," said Wolff without elaborating. He watched her for a while after that. She had amazing vitality. Perhaps it was the food that had given her such a swift walk and had filled out her cheeks and arms. He did not think so. Even during the star­vation, she had not seemed to suffer as much as the rest or to waste away as swiftly.

If anybody could survive to get at her father's throat, it would be Vala, he thought.

May I not be far behind her, he prayed. Not so much for venge­ance on Urizen, though I want that, as to rescue Chryseis.

XII

They had been without food for a day when they emerged from the canyon. Before them, at the foot of a long gentle hill, was a plain that stretched to the horizon. A quarter of a mile away was a small hill, and on this were two giant hexagons.

They stopped to look dully at their goal. Wolff said, "I suggest we take one or the other gate immediately. Perhaps there may be food on the other side."

"If not?" Tharmas said.

"I'd rather die quickly trying to get through Urizen's defenses than starve slowly. Which, at the moment, looks as if it might..."

He let his voice trail off, thinking that the Lords felt low enough.

They followed him sluggishly up to the foot of the golden, gem-studded frames. He said to Vala, "Sister, you have the honor of choosing the right or the left entrance for us. Continue. Only be quick about it. I can hear my strength ebbing away."

She picked up a stone, turned her back to the gates, and cast the stone over her head. It sailed through the right gate, almost striking the frame.

"So be it," Wolff said. He looked at them and laughed. "What a crew! Brave Lords! Tramps rather! Sticks, a broken sword, a knife, and muscles shaking with weakness and bellies groaning for meat. Was ever a Lord attacked in his own stronghold by such a con­temptible bunch?"

Vala laughed and said, "At least you have some spirit left, Jadawin. That may mean something."

"I hope so," he said, and he ran forward and jumped through the right gate. He came out under a deep-blue sky and onto ground that gave under his feet a little. The topography was flat except for a few steep hills, so rough and dark that they looked more like excres­cences than mounds of dirt. He doubted they were dirt, since the sur­face on which he stood was not earth. It was brownish but smooth and with small holes in it. A foot-high stalk, thin as a pipestem cleaner, grew out of each hole.

Almost like the skin of a giant, he thought.

The only vegetation, if it could be called that, was a number of widely separated trees. These were about forty feet high, were thinly trunked, and had smooth, sharply pointed branches that projected at a forty-five degree angle upwards from the trunk. The branches were darker than the saffron of the main shaft and sparsely covered with blade-like leaves about two feet long.

The other Lords came through the gate a minute later. He turned and said, "I'm glad I didn't find anything I couldn't have handled without your help."

Vala said, "They all were sure that this time the gate would lead into Urizen's stronghold."

"And perhaps I'd trip a few traps before I went down," he said. "And so give the rest of you a chance to live a few minutes longer."

They did not reply. Wolff gazed reproachfully at Luvah, whose cheeks reddened.

Wolff tested the gate. It had either been deactivated or else was unipolar. He saw a long black line that could be the shore of a lake or sea. This world, unlike the one they had just left, gave no indica­tions of the direction they must take. On the side, where he had first stepped, however, he had seen two rough dark hills very close to­gether. These might or not be some sort of sign from Urizen. There was only one way to find out, which Wolff took without hesitation.

He set out on the slightly springy ground, the others trailing. The shadow of a bird passed before them, and they looked up. It was white with red legs, about the size of a bald eagle, and had a monkey face with a curving bird's beak instead of a nose. It swooped so low that Luvah threw his stick at it. The stick passed behind its flaring tail. It squawked indignantly and climbed away swiftly.

Wolff said, "That looks like a nest on that tree. Let's see if it could have eggs."

Luvah ran forward to recover his stick, then stopped. Wolff stared where Luvah was pointing.

The earth was rippling. It rose in inch-high waves and advanced towards the stick. Luvah turned to run, thought better of it, turned again, and ran to pick up the stick. Behind him, the earth swelled, rose up and up, and raced forward, like a surfer's wave.

Wolff yelled. Luvah whirled, saw the danger, and ran away from it. He ran at an angle, towards the end of the wave. Wolff came along behind it, not knowing what he could do to help Luvah but hoping to do something.

Then the wave collapsed. Wolff and Luvah stopped. Abruptly, Wolff felt the earth rising below his feet and saw that another swell­ing had started some ten feet from Luvah. Both turned and raced away, the earth-or whatever it was-chasing after them.

They made it back to the area around the gate, which had been stable and would continue to be so-they hoped.

They got to the safety zone just in time to escape the sudden sink­ing of the land behind them. A hole, broad and shallow at first, ap­peared. Then it narrowed and deepened. The sides closed in on themselves, there was a smacking sound, and the hole reversed its original process. It widened out until all was smooth as before, ex­cept that the foot-high, thin growths sprouting from each depression kept on vibrating.

"What in Los' name!" Luvah said over and over. He was pale, and the freckles stood out like a galaxy of fear.