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He fell forward on his face while smoke arranged itself like a tent around him. He coughed and then got up from his all-fours position. He was too stu
Ulysses got to his feet. His clothes were ripped and he was dirty with black smoke. He looked around for Awina, and then gave a cry of relief. She was standing near him and looking dazed and red-eyed and her fur was black with smoke. But she did not seem to have any wounds.
He turned back to The Old Being. He could hear nothing; for all he knew he was right behind him.
The beast was not. He lay on the ground, kicking his columnar legs while blood poured out like springs from several huge holes. One leg, though moving, was half blown off at the shoulder.
And then, as the warriors and the carriers, shouting and screaming triumphantly, moved in on him, he struggled to his feet, and, hobbling, charged again. The bipeds scattered, screaming with terror, and then the beast caught one with his trunk and lifted him up and hurled him spi
After that, The Old Being collapsed again and died in a lake of mud and blood.
Miraculously, the Wufea thrown into the tree survived with only a few cuts and bruises.
It took Ulysses a long time to recover his hearing and his nerves. When he quit shaking, he examined the beast. He was, as Awina said, a mountain that walked. Just cutting off the tusks and transporting them back to the Wufea village would be a great labour. But he knew that when the Wufea, Wagarondit and Alkunquib made their pilgrimage to the village and saw those gargantuan tusks set upright into the ground before the temple, they would feel that their stone god was truly a god. They would also, he hoped, feel a stronger sense of union. All three of the hereditary foes had participated in this hunt for their ancient enemy. And all three could share in the glory.
There was one irritant in his triumph. That was Ghlikh.
He asked the bat-man what had happened.
"Lord, forgive me!" the bat-man piped. "I was sweating with excitement! My hand slipped, and I dropped the bomb! I am sorry indeed, but I could not help it!"
"Did your excitement also make you scream and so warn The Old Being?"
"Truly, Lord! My only excuse is that that giant monster strikes terror and panic into the hearts of every mortal! Look at how close a rocket came to hitting you!"
Ulysses said, "No harm was done."
"Now that The Old Being is dead, may I go?" Ghlikh said. "I would like to return home."
"Which is where?" Ulysses said, hoping to catch him off guard.
"As I have said, Lord, to the south. Many many marches."
"You may go," Ulysses said, wondering what Ghlikh had up his non-existent sleeve. It seemed to him that Ghlikh would be reporting on him, but to whom he could not even begin to guess. There was no sense in trying to keep him.
"Will I see you again soon?"
"I do not know, my Lord," Ghlikh said with that sidelong look that irritated Ulysses. "But you may see others of my kind."
"I will see you sooner than you think," Ulysses said. Ghlikh seemed startled. He said, "What do you mean by that, my Lord?" "Farewell," Ulysses said. "And my thanks for what you did." Ghlikh hesitated and then said, "Farewell, my Lord. This has been a most profitable experience for me and the most exciting of all my life." He left to say goodbye to the chiefs of each of the three bands and Awina. Ulysses watched him until he flapped away and disappeared beyond a high hill. He said to Awina, "I think he has gone to tell somebody about the results of his spying." "My Lord?" she said. "Spying?" "Yes, I'm sure that he is working for somebody other than himself or his people. I ca
But Awina was subdued for several days thereafter. Not until he tried hard to get her into conversation and to jolly her up did she come out of her blueness. Even so, many times he caught her looking at him with a strange expression.
They reached the Wufea village after making some detours to villages near their direct route. They set up the tusks to form the corners of a square before the temple gates and then they built a roof supported by the tusks. There were celebrations and ceremonies until the chiefs complained that the Wufea were going bankrupt. Moreover, the crops were not being properly taken care of, and the extensive hunting to feed all the guests had cleaned out the game for far too many miles around.
Ulysses had ordered the making of more bombs and a few rockets. While this was being done, he went on a great hunt into the southern plains. He also wanted to capture some wild horses and to get a closer look at Wurutana.
The main body of the party returned to the villages with great piles of smoked meat dragged on sledges. They also took with them a number of captured horses with instructions to treat them gently and not to slaughter them.
Ulysses pushed on southward with forty warriors and Awina. They passed great herds of elephants about the size of African elephants but with a mound of fat on the haunches and considerably longer hairs. They went by herds of antelopes of many various species and genera, some of which looked like the American and African antelope of his day.
They sighted packs of wolf-like notch-eared dogs with white and red spots all over their bodies. There were prides of a large cheetah-like striped cat and of lion-sized jaguar-like cats. There were many of the twelve-foot high road-ru
His people did not seem as worried about the birds and the animals as they did about the Kurieiaumea. These were a tall long-legged people with reddish fur and white faces. A very savage people, Awina said. They were not related to the Wufea, Wagarondit or Alkunquib. They used bolas and atlatls or spear-throwers.
Nobody said anything about turning back, but the deeper they got into Kurieiaumea territory, the more nervous his people became.
Ulysses insisted that they keep going south. But after two more days, and seemingly no closer to the dark mass, he decided to turn back. His indirect questions had, however, revealed one item of information, though he was not sure that he could believe it.
Unless he misinterpreted their comments, Wurutana was a tree. A tree like no other tree that had existed since the dawn of trees.