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In his own mind he was amply clad and armed for the man-journey which was both his duty and his heritage to make before he took his place as a full adult in the Council of Free Men. In contrast to Dalgard's smooth skin, Sssuri was covered with a fluffy pelt of rainbow-tipped gray fur.
"Then did the People make separations and sorrows for them! And it was accomplished that we went forth into the sea to be no longer bond but free. And they went down into the darkness and were no more " In Dalgard's head the chant of his friend skirled up in a paean of exultation. Sssuri shook his spear at the wall. "No more the beast and the death," his thoughts swelled, a shout of victory.
Sssuri stood up, and his hand dropped on Dalgard's shoulder, applying pressure which was both a warning and a summons, bringing the scout to his feet with as little noise as possible. The horrible smell caught at his throat, and he was glad when the merman did not head inland toward the source of that odor, but started off along the edge of the cliff, one hand in Dalgard's to draw him along.
Dalgard retched before he could control throat and stomach muscles. But Sssuri was unmoved, as if he had expected this. Then, to Dalgard's surprise the merman set up the first real call he had ever heard issue from that furred throat, a plaintive whistle which had a crooning, summoning note in it, akin to the mind touch in an odd fashion, yet audible.
It was not in his experience either that the untamed snake-devils, regarded by merman and human alike as so dangerous as to be killed on sight, could be banded as if they were personal pets! For a moment or two a wild idea crossed Dalgard's mind. How long was the natural life span of a snake-devil?
And the snake-devil, with an incredible twist of its neck, caught the haft of the weapon between its teeth, crunching the iron-hard substance into powder. But with that move it exposed its throat, and the arrow from Dalgard's bow was buried head-deep in the soft inner flesh. The snake-devil spat out the spear and tried to raise its head. But the muscles were already weakening.
"This was barrier land." "What?" Sssuri turned his head. His round eyes which blinked so seldom stared into Dalgard's as if by the intensity of that gaze he could drive home deeper his point. "What lies to the north was protected in the days before the falling fire.
For some reason he disliked the thought of swimming that stream, of having his skin laved by the turgid water with its brown sheen. "There is no need to swim." Dalgard's gaze followed Sssuri's pointing finger. But what he saw bobbing up and down, pulled a little downstream by the current, did not particularly reassure him.
It is perhaps true that the city we are seeking is one of those restricted ones and that this wilderness is a boundary for it." Dalgard's pace slowed. To venture into a section of land which had been used as a barrier to protect some secret of Those Others was a highly risky affair.
"For you," Dalgard pointed out, "but I am no dweller in the depths." "Neither were Those Others, yet they used these ways. And I tell you" in his earnestness the merman laid his hand once more on Dalgard's arm "to turn back now is out of the question. The death which haunts the darkness is still sniffing out our trail." Dalgard glanced involuntarily over his shoulder.
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