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Updated: June 18, 2025
Intent upon joining Sssuri, Dalgard left the lock, forgetting his earlier unwillingness, stepping from the small chamber down to the sea bottom, or endeavoring to, although instinctively he had begun to swim and so forged ahead at a different rate of speed.
He was confident that Sssuri could get to the island top and discover just what he wished to learn without a single sentry above, if they had stationed sentries, being the wiser. Whether he himself could operate as efficiently was another matter.
A skull, dried scraps of fur and flesh still clinging to it, stared hollow-eyed up at them. At least one merman had fallen prey to the nightmares who ruled the arena. Sssuri hissed and the red rage in his mind was plain to Dalgard. "Once more they deal death here " His eyes went from the skull to the monsters. "Kill!" The command was imperative and sharp.
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.
Again Sssuri whistled, and in that cry Dalgard heard a close resemblance to the flute tone of the night moth birds. Up the scale the notes ran with mournful persistence. When the answer came, the scout at first thought that the imitation had lured a moth bird, for the reply seemed to ripple right above their heads.
Dalgard divested himself of the diving equipment, tucking it into a hollow which he walled up with stones that he thought the waves would not scour out in a hurry. He might need it again. Then, hitching his belt tighter, pressing what water he could out of his clothing, and settling his bow and quiver to the best advantage at his back, he crossed to where Sssuri was already marking claw holds.
It was difficult to gauge time in this dark hall, but Dalgard thought that they were at least an hour farther on their way when Sssuri paused abruptly once more, his head cocked in a listening attitude, as if he caught some whisper of sound too rarefied for his human companion. "Now " the thought hissed as if he spat the words, "they hunger and they hunt!"
And here were no signs of the warfare which had ruined the port. But in the middle of the road lay a bloody bunch of fur and splintered bone, insects busy about it. Sssuri used the point of his spear to straighten out the small corpse, displaying its headlessness. And before they reached the outer buildings of the city they found four more hoppers all mangled.
But he was as intent upon what Sssuri had to tell as he was on his occupation of the moment. "But that is not even a hopper rumor," he was protesting, breaking into his companion's flow of thought. "No. But, remember, to the runners yesterday is very far away. One night is like another; they do not reckon time as we do, nor lay up memories for future guidance.
But to Dalgard's horror he saw that his companion now ran with one hand brushing along the wall, as if he needed that support. "Sssuri!" His thought met a wall of concentration through which he could not break. In a way he was reassured for a moment, until another of those stabs from their pursuers struck him. He longed to look back, to see what hunted them.
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