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Blade gri
She nuzzled against him and said, a bit pettishly, «I do not want to hear about the women in your world. I will tell you of mine:
«In the begi
«One day the little bird told Occ something that made the big bird very sad. The smaller bird was going to die. The Occ wept and there was water in the world. The little bird laughed at this and the Occ was dismayed until the bird explained that now its task was lighter — one fourth of its task was accomplished. The poor Occ did not understand and continued to weep and weep until there was too much water in the world. To stop the Occ from weeping the little bird decided that it was time to die, though it had not wished to die so soon, and it explained to the Occ what would happen and what the Occ must do.»
It was a weird cosmogony, the sleepy Blade thought, but at the same time it had a quasifamiliar strain. He held her closer and fought off sleep. When he came to the land of the Jedds all this might come in handy.
«When the tiny bird died, it explained to the sorrowing Occ, the large bird was to tear it into three parts and eat it. It was to have been four parts, but now that the Occ had wept and brought forth water there was need for only three.
«At this sad news the Occ began to weep again and the little bird, fearful that even space beyond space would be flooded away, died at once. Each part had a voice of its own and issued commands to the Occ.
« 'I am fire,' said the first part. 'Eat me.' And the Occ obeyed.
« 'I am earth,' said the second part. 'Eat me.' And the Occ did so.
« 'I am air,' said the third part. 'Eat me.' And the Occ ate the third and last part of what had been the tiny bird.
«At once the Occ became very sick. It flapped and fluttered and groaned in great pain. This went on and on and the Occ thought it was dying. It could not vomit and could not void; nothing, it seemed, would ever rid the great bird of its agony.
«Then in one great convulsion it gave birth to an egg called the World. But the egg was fouled, vile, dirty with the excreta and voidings of the Occ. The Occ wept again in memory of its little friend and the egg of the World was cleansed. And for a little time the Occ nested atop the egg it had hatched and was content, until a voice from the space beyond space called to it and gave commands. The Occ was to leave the egg and fly into the space beyond space and there, after a long journey, it would find a vast fire. It was to fly into the fire and be destroyed. And this the Occ did, leaving behind it the egg.»
Ooma poked Blade with the stick. «Are you asleep, then?»
He kissed her. «No. I was listening. It was all very interesting. But what of the Books of Birkbegn?»
Ooma pouted a bit. «All I have told you was written in the Books of Birkbegn. Birkbegn was the first man, he who evolved from the egg, the father of all the Jedd tribe. All this way written in the Books, by Birkbegn and his sons, and once it was read. But now it must be told, because the writing has faded and been forgotten. No Jedd can read the Books now. The tale is told at night around the fires, along with the stories, all true, of how great the Jedds were and of how they alone ruled the egg of the World.»
Blade yawned. «What happened?»
Ooma stroked his face as she prepared for sleep. «Who can know all the answers — except that the Jedds did not live by the Books of Birkbegn and suffered, were punished for their evil ways. More than that I do not know for, to tell the truth, I did not always listen closely when the old men spoke. I had other and more interesting things to do and I did them. I would creep away from the fire and do them.»
«I'll bet,» murmured Blade. Jedd females, he thought, must come to puberty very young by HD standards. Possibly nine or ten years old.
Ooma wormed her tongue into his ear. «I have decided that I do not wish to sleep right now. First we will—»
«You are insatiable,» said Blade. «In fact, I am begi
She crashed her mouth against his and began to stroke his more sensitive parts. As dead beat as he was, Blade responded instantly. She squealed softly in delight and began the usual oral foreplay, talking all the while.
«This,» said she, «is a proper time and place. It is dark and we have eaten and soon we will sleep.»
«I hope,» he said feebly. «And I also hope you leave me some strength to fight the Api, if I must fight them.»
«Tomorrow we will worry about the Api,» said the practical Ooma. «For now it is no sin and I will have it. Be still. Do not move. I, Ooma, will do everything.»
Which she did.
In the morning, after a plunge in the brook and breakfast, they continued on their way. Blade, as he listened to Ooma's chatter, grew somber and looked to his weapons. He did not like what she told him of the Api.
For one thing, he did not know just how much credence to place in her reporting — for Ooma was a feckless little creature. This he had to acknowledge despite his growing fondness for her. So, as they finally left the forest behind and plunged into a narrow falling and winding defile — once again descending, the significance of which did not escape Blade — he listened and made mental notes and took nothing for granted. He became aware of a coldness along his spine. The Api sounded formidable in the extreme — Blade might very well reach the end of his trek long before he reached the mountains and the Jedds. But then death was always a possibility in any Dimension X.
If Ooma was frightened she did not show it. She was matter-of-fact.
«If the Api slay you,» she explained, «they will take me captive and use me as a common woman for all of them. Unless you kill me first, or I can kill myself.»
He shot her a glance. «Do you want to die? Are the Api so bad that death would be better than being taken and used by them?»
For a moment she pondered this, frowning. «I do not really know. I am very young and the Jedds live long. I am fond of life and all it offers, and now that you have come to me, Blade, it will be even harder to die. But the Api! They are hairy monsters, though very intelligent, and their ways are not those of the Jedds. I suppose I would be better off dead.»
Surely a strange child. Blade eyed her. «But you are not really sure?»
Again a fatalistic little shrug. «It does not really make much difference, Blade. If you lose and if I am taken prisoner and used by them, I will not live long anyway. They are brutes, much too large for a Jedd woman — which is exactly why they take so much pleasure in Jedd women — and I would be ripped apart after a little time. I would not like to die that way — no, Blade, I think that if I see you are losing I will manage to kill myself. If you would give me your little stone knife it would be easier. It is hard to kill yourself without a weapon.»
Blade gave her the stone knife, thinking that in any case it would be of little use against the Api. Ooma fashioned a sheath of bark and bound it to her thigh with vines. At Blade's suggestion that she make a kilt and a bra of the same material — he thinking that if her breasts and pubic area were covered the Api might not be so aroused — she only stared at him and said with disdain that out here clothing was of no importance. Only in the land of the Jedds, her own people, did covering oneself matter. Among the primitives, beastmen and the Api, clothes had no significance.