03. Gods at the Well of Souls (30 page)

"Nobody with any survival experience would go into an unknown wilderness at  nightfall. No roads, no trails to speak of. It doesn't make any sense. And why  northwest? Why back yourself up against the equator, which I am told is a solid  wall like the Zone wall in Erdom? I kept trying to think what I would do in  their place." She clicked her two hoofed hands together. "That's it!" They never  went anywhere! I'll bet you they're right up there in a solid defensive  position!" 

"We should know when Gus comes back," Tony said optimistically. "Until then I  suggest we move a bit more toward some protection from that bluff just in case  there's a rifle as capable as the one Anne Marie has up there." "I agree, but I wouldn't worry too much. After all, they can't see Gus, you  know," Anne Marie reminded her. 

"I wouldn't get overconfident," Julian warned. "That is Gus's one big weakness.  I do not think that this Campos is any pushover. If she saw Gus in action ..." Mavra had been trying to figure out a way to communicate with Lori. She walked  over to the black unicorn pony and looked at the ground. There was a fair amount  of mud there, and slowly she began to smooth it over with her broad bird's feet.  Lori, on a short rope tied to a stake, was nonetheless able to come over to the  area and watch. 

Language ... What language? Greek had worked before. Try it. 

The feet weren't adequate for writing, so she leaned over and began writing in  the mud with her sharp, slightly curved bill. 

MAVRA. 

Lori understood what she was trying to do but couldn't make out what it was.  Once he had known these things, once he'd read many languages, but it was so  hard, so hard to remember ... He shook his head no. 

Mavra was elated that she'd gotten any reaction at all but disturbed at his  inability to read what she thought looked fairly clear. She wished she had been  able to learn this English tongue the others knew or at least the alphabet it  used. English ... England ... England was a part of Britannia, right? The  Portuguese had hated the English and spoke as if they were not distant in their  native lands. So England. Britannia ... Conquered by Rome, as had been most of  Europe and north Africa. Latin? If something was wrong with learning Greek, he  might not remember Latin, either. But what if the alphabets were the same thanks  to the Roman conquest? It was worth a try. 

M-A-V-R-A. 

Lori twisted, took a look at the letters, and tried to remember, tried to bring  something back. A,B,C,D,E,F,G ... The old rhyme came from somewhere, and out of  the depths of his brain he saw MARVA there. 

A nod of the horse's head. 

Mavra felt better. Something was better than nothing. But how was Lori spelled?  Did it matter? 

LOWREY? 

Lori thought he was losing it but got hold of himself and read it again. Lowrey?  Lori! Enthusiastic nod. He'd grade for spelling later. 

This next one would be harder. Mavra looked over, but if the two women with  Campos saw anything odd there, they surely gave no sign that they noticed. ESCAPADUM, she managed, with a lot of effort. It looked awful, but maybe it  would come through. 

Again Lori puzzled over the word. What the hell did that mean? Escape ...  Escape! A very enthusiastic nod. 

He moved his head and managed to almost grab the rope around his neck in his  mouth. Mavra watched, got the idea, and went over to the post. It wasn't much of  a knot, more a casual loop, but since she had only a bill designed for digging  out insects, untying it would not be that easy. Still, looking over at the two  Cloptan women, she started to work on it. 

It didn't matter where they were or what they were. As Campos had pointed out,  they were self-sufficient in most surroundings and had no real needs beyond food  and water. They had been coming north, so they were still headed for the  equator. If they could make it, what difference did it make if they were on  their own as animals and would have to take some time to get there? She almost had it when Lori gave a deep neigh and shook the rope. Mavra turned  to see Campos coming back and knew she had to back off. 

Lori didn't feel too disappointed. If they were going to have to walk in this  place, then Mavra would probably be stuck up on top of her somehow, because  otherwise they'd move at a crawl. The first chance they got, he'd make a break  for it no matter what. If they could make it into the woods at any kind of speed  at all, those three Cloptans would never catch them. They would be forced to  give up any real chase after they realized that their supplies were also gone  atop Lori's back. 

Maybe what Mavra had claimed was all true. Coming from such depths of despair  and hopelessness to a point where they not only were brought back together but  might actually make a break for it in a region better suited to them than to any  pursuers had been too much to hope for. It had taken Mavra to make him realize  it, though. 

For now they had to wait. He looked over at Campos. What in the world was she  doing with that machete? 

"Just some vines and those metal cups," Campos was instructing the other two.  "That will do, yes. Kuzi, get the pistols and put clips in them, then bring me  one, and fast!" 

Quickly Campos sliced through a small tree so that only a small stub remained  above the ground. She twisted some thread from Audlay's sewing kit around it,  secured it in a notch, and tied the two metal cups to it so that they touched  just off the ground. She then unreeled the thread over to another stump so that  it crossed the most obvious path. She then tied it off to another cut trunk on  the other side. 

Kuzi brought the pistol to her, looking nervous. "What is this?" "Just get back behind the tent and keep Audlay out of the way," Campos  whispered. "There's something down there you can't see until it is too late. If  those two cups hit each other, stand and just fire as fast as you can anywhere  between the threads. Straight out. It's taller than we are." 

"What is it?" Kuzi whispered back, suddenly scared. "That thing I saw?" "No. Something else. Like a big lizard from hell, only for some reason you  cannot see it until it is eating you, so just shoot! I will be over by the rock  and doing the same. If we fire quickly enough, we may get it or at least knock  it back." 

"Gee ... she really does know this stuff," Audlay whispered, terrified but still  confident in Campos-more now than ever. 

"I hope so," Kuzi responded. Giant blob creatures, invisible killer lizards ...  This wasn't exactly the picture she'd had in mind of the trip. In spite of his confidence at not being visible, Gus still proceeded cautiously.  The mud was slippery, and if he lost his balance and fell, he'd be seen, all  right, by just about everybody, maybe before he broke his fool neck. He reached the bluff where Julian thought she'd seen something, and sure enough,  it looked as if somebody had been there, maybe for quite some time. What was  that- some kind of root there? He'd seen Cloptans chewing on that stuff, but  only the menial types. Somebody said it was some kind of mild drug, he  remembered, more a habit than an addiction. He picked one up and sniffed it. It  smelled like, well root beer, sort of. He dropped it and looked around. Well, if  a Cloptan had the habit and was stuck here watching things as a lookout, that  would be about what one would expect. 

They couldn't have gone much farther up, not in the dark. There were certainly  signs of some kind of boots or shoes, and was that a hoofprint or two? Maybe. He moved on up, being extra careful, and as his head cleared a flat area just  above, he saw the tent and campsite and, over to one side-holy smoke! Could that  be Lori? The horn was right and it was kinda like the picture Kurdon had shown  them, but the colors were certainly all wrong. 

They could dye the hair, but they hadn't cut off the horn. 

And over there near the pony-a meter-high ball of feathers that kind of gave off  a whole riot of colors. Looked like a damned big owl, though, except for that  long pointed beak. Could that be Mavra? 

His heart started pounding with excitement. This close! Here they were! With nobody else in sight, he moved swiftly to get up to the top and try to  introduce himself when he suddenly felt something catch on his foot. There was a  dull chatter. 

Suddenly, the whole place seemed to explode. He felt something slam into him  like a hammer, and he fell backward and then began to slide down the slope, bits  of grass coming off as he slid farther and farther down the mountainside toward  the freight yard below. 

"Did we get it?" Kuzi yelled. 

"We're still here!" Campos pointed out. This was the most excitement she'd had  since waking up in that burg. The sense of danger coursed through her and  invigorated her in a way she'd felt only briefly since becoming Cloptan, that  having been when she'd disintegrated that bitch on the docks months earlier. "Now what?" Audlay squealed, uncharacteristically excited more than scared. She  was actually enjoying this! 

"I don't think that thing will be climbing up here anytime soon again," Campos  told the others, "but there are three more down there, and now they'll know  we're here. Get together what you can! Never mind how it's stuffed in! Roll it  all up, tie it off, and get it somehow on the horse! We are going to have to  move fast! Keep the ammo out. Get me another clip and take one for yourself!" Kuzi threw Campos a clip, and she ejected the old one and inserted the fresh  clip in the pistol. But even as she moved with Audlay to strike the tent and get  everything together, she called, "Move? Where?" 

"Into the forest and then down!" Campos told her. "Get down toward the tracks if  we can, I hope. I'll keep us covered while you get packed! Move!" Terry had followed Gus mentally all the way up, and when he'd been hit, she'd  cried out and started toward the trail. Julian moved to try and stop her, but  Tony called, "No! Let her go! It may be the only way we'll find him! Stay here!  I'll get him if he's still worth getting! Anne Marie, keep me covered. If they  start shooting again, shoot in their general direction. Keep them back!" But Juana Campos had no intention of exposing herself again, only of blocking  anyone else from corning to the camp level. 

It was also pretty easy to find Gus; he was totally visible, sprawled out,  covered with mud about halfway to the bluff, and from his side a pool of  yellowish liquid gathered. Terry reached him first. He groaned and tried to get  up. but it was too much for him. Tony was there only seconds later. "Gus! Are you all right?" 

The Dahir's eyes opened, and he took in several deep breaths. "You've got to be  kidding." 

Tony examined the wound. "It looks like you've taken a bullet in the side. Small  caliber, but a mean-looking wound. Can you stand? I will try and help you down  the rest of the way." 

"I-I dunno. It ain't really hurtin' yet. Here ... pull me up-Jesus!" He  stiffened and sank back down. "Man! It hurts like hell now!" 

"Well, we are going to have to get you down somehow. If I help you, do you think  you could get on my back and just cling there?" 

"I-augh! I'll do it! Gimme a moment... Okay-now!" The female centaur's arms, so  weak in Dillian terms compared to the male's, were more powerful than anybody  else's they'd met along the way. Pivoting around at the nearly universal hip  joint the Dillians had, she pulled Gus to a standing position, then grabbed him  and pulled him up onto her back. He was barely on, and sideways, but by force of  will he managed to turn himself around. Tony immediately started down, Terry  following worriedly. 

Once back on level ground, Anne Marie helped Gus back down, and they turned him  on his side. "Looks like it passed clean through," Julian noted. "That's  actually a good sign. Trouble is, we can't tell if it hit anything vital  internally because we don't know what 'vital' is to a Dahir, and the only  doctors I know of in this whole region aren't ones I'd recommend to friends." "We should wash off both the entry and exit wounds," Anne Marie told them. "We  can get buckets or something from the Mixtim, and there's plenty of water around  here, goodness knows. Stopping the bleeding, though, is going to be a real  problem, and there's still shock and infection to worry about. The best we can  do is use some of the big bandages in the kit and tape him up and then wait." "No! Stop! You can't wait!" Gus gasped. 'Too close! Too close!" "Just take it easy," Tony soothed. 

"No, you don't understand! They're up there! Mavra and Lori both! I saw 'em! Ow!  God! This hurts!" 

"Mavra and Lori both?" Julian responded, looking up again toward the bluff and  beyond. 

"And a lot of guns and a willingness to use them," Tony reminded her. "One thing  at a time! Where can they go? They are on foot now, as it were, and Cloptans  would have a lot more trouble in this landscape than we would. If they can get  off there at all without coming back through here, they will be off trail and  going down into a wilderness. Our biggest danger is that they will come down,  guns blazing. You and Anne Marie see to Gus. I will ensure that if they do come  down, they will not get far. Do not worry about them. At the moment I would  rather be in our position than theirs, actually." 

"I don't know about that," Julian commented. "This Campos seems to be a devil,  almost supernatural in the harm she can cause. What if they do get down? What if  they flag down a train?" 

"These trains do not stop for flags, I don't think," Tony assured her. "The  Mixtim will allow nothing to interfere with their punctuality." Gus was no ideal patient while the wounds were washed and dressed, but after a  while he passed out, and that helped a lot. They rigged up a kind of litter from  wood and a freight station tarp and got him under a shed which held maintenance  tools. It was all they could do.