Shadow World (39 page)

Hin will give Hrrakk' a choice. Remain here with us forever, or die.

Either way, heen will no longer be a threat to us."

Mark's breath caught in his throat. "No, Hilnar, that is not acceptable.

Hrrakk' must be allowed to go free, too."

"The scientist profanes our camp with what heen carries," Hilnar
maintained stubbornly, green
eyes
shining with a cold glint that
suddenly reminded Mark of Orim. The human felt a chill at the back of
his neck. "Heen is an enemy to our people. Heen
wishes
only to study
us, not to help
us."

"You
have observed
that I have
come
to love Terris," Mark
said,
patting
the
sleeping
child beneath his shirt. "And that
observation was what led you to agree
to talk with me, is that
not correct?"

Hilnar
indicated assent.

"You are wrong about the Simiu, and
I will tell
you why
I
know that," the human said steadily. "There was another baby, named Misir, who also survived the crash. But unlike Terris, who was unharmed, poor Misir had injuries within hinsi's body. Despite the best of care, hinsi died, which made us all grieve."

Mark paused for effect. "The person who gave Misir the best of care was Honored Hrrakk', Hilnar! He carried and cared for little Misir every bit as conscientiously as I cared for Terris. He grieved when Misir died, we could all see it. Hrrakk'
does
care about the people of Elseemar!"

Hilnar glanced questioningly at Eerin, who quickly verified the human's account, adding to it a few details she had

266

observed. Reenor gazed levelly at the Simiu, then addressed him in Mizari.

'Tell us of this Misir," he said.

Hrrakk' looked stubborn, but Cara touched his arm, the unbandaged one.

"Please, Honored Hrrakk'--tell them. Or I will."

The big Simiu sighed deeply. "There was a Wopind infant named Misir," he began. "I could see that the child had serious internal injuries, but the human, there"--he jerked his head at Mark--"convinced me to try and save hinsi. I did my best, but the child died." Hrrakk' paused, then said in low voice, "I still miss hinsi."

Reenor and Hilnar hastily conferred softly as heen translated the Simiu's words. Then the Wopind leader turned to Hrrakk' and Reenor translated as hin spoke: "We will let you go free, but only if you relinquish the Elhanin to us, so we may see it destroyed."

Hrrakk's muzzle wrinkled slightly, scornfully, and he growled, "I refuse. What you demand would not be honorable. You have no right to deprive me of my freedom, and therefore it would be dishonorable of me to
buy
my freedom from you!" His crest stood straight up, in challenge mode. "Instead I
demand
that you execute me immediately. Waste no more time trying to coerce me into dishonoring myself!"

Mark wanted to bury his face in his hands.
Oh, shit,
he thought.
What now?

Cara made a soft sound of shocked distress as she realized for the first time the threat the Simiu faced.

The student straightened his shoulders and gazed at Hilnar. "Ri-El Hilnar,"

he said, "what if I destroyed the Elhanin? Would that satisfy you?"

The Wopind leader nodded curtly. "As long as it no longer profanes our camp, hin does not care who destroys the Elhanin."

"Honored Hrrakk'," Mark said in Mizari, holding out his hand, "give me the Elhanin, please."

"Why?"

"So I can destroy it. The Wospind don't care who does it, and giving it to
me
won't be any dishonor to you. It won't be like you're giving in to the Wospind."

"The answer is no. I would rather die than give up the Elhanin. My honor demands it."

267

Mark glared at the Simiu. "Dammit, Hrrakk'! The Elhanin is a
thing,
it's not alive! Being wil ing to die for Cara or RThessra was honorable, but dying over a sample of Elhanin is just plain
stupid]"
He snorted disgustedly. "And don't tell me I'm wrong. I know I'm right! Giving me the Elhanin won't damage your precious honor!"
Besides,
he thought,
you can always go back to your
lab on Hurrreeah and make more, and you know it as well as I do!

"What do you know of Simiu honor, human?" Hrrakk' demanded, and there was a glint in the violet eyes Mark couldn't read.

"You have taught me a great deal about it," Mark said quietly. He extended his hand again. "Now please, Honored Hrrakk' ... give me the Elhanin."

Long moments crawled by. Mark did not budge. Violet eyes and hazel regarded each other unblinkingly--

--and then Hrrakk' sighed loudly and reached for the anklet he wore. With a quick twist of his fingers, he removed it. Fumbling left-handed, he pressed a hidden catch, and the massive red gemstone swung up. Within was a tiny vial. The Simiu held the bracelet out to Mark. "Here you are, human."

"One more thing," Mark said, picking up the tiny vial of Elhanin and clutching it tightly, "I have a
name,
Honored Hrrakk', and it's
not
'human'! It's Mark Kenner."

The glint showed in the violet eyes again, and this time the human recognized it for what it was ... amusement. Slowly, solemnly, the big Simiu made the formal greeting gesture of his people, touching his eyelids, muzzle, and chest, then extending his hand toward the human, head inclined slightly.

"I shall remember that in future, Honored InterrelatorKenner," Hrrakk' said, using the most formal of Mizari dialects.

Hilnar accompanied Mark down to the stream and watched solemnly as the human poured out the tiny vial of powder into the racing water. Hin nodded hin's satisfaction. "Thank you, Mark Kenner, for preventing violence." The Wopind leader pointed past the meadow and over the last hill. "Hin's people have been keeping watch over the nahah, because there is a CLS research team stationed there. Hin and hin's people will escort Mark Kenner and his friends there, and then we will leave."

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"Don't go too far away," Mark reminded the Wopind leader. "You've got to claim that seat on the WirElspind that Eerin promised you."

"Hin will not forget," Hilnar promised. "Is Mark's team ready to go now?"

"Yes ... yes we are," Mark said. He could hardly believe that the long journey would finally be over, and that they were going to make it.

Together, they walked back to the little group. "Honored Hrrakk'," Mark said,

"we are free to go. The Wospind are going to escort us to the nahah personally. There's a CLS team there. They have a communications device.

Can you walk?"

"I can, Honored InterrelatorKenner," the Simiu said.

Cara was staring at Mark, hands on her hips. "This is too much," she complained. "First I had to learn
Mizari
to keep up with what's going on.

Now, dammit, am I going to have to learn
Elspindlor,
too? Or are you going to tell me what the hell's been happening?"

Mark started guiltily. He'd translated for everyone today except the only other human. Cara was right to be irritated. He gave her a conciliatory smile. "I'm sorry," he said.

"I'm smart enough to pick up on the change in atmosphere, at least," she told him, her stern expression softening into an answering smile. "And I know why Hrrakk's no longer in danger. I also know that the Wospind are going to let us go ... I think. What I don't know is
why.

"As for what's happening between those two"--she nodded over at Reenor and Eerin, who stood staring deep into each other's golden eyes--"don't bother translating anything they say. It would obviously be incredibly sappy."

"You're probably right," Mark agreed.

"But can I
please
get an explanation of how you got Hilnar to agree to let us go?"

Mark grinned and held out a hand. "Ms. Hendricks, if you'll be my walking companion on the way to the nahah, I'll tell you everything I know."

"Is it going to be that short a walk?" She grinned back and slipped her hand into his.

Mark looked at Hilnar. "Let's go. There are a lot of people depending on us to reach that nahah."

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Mark stretched lazily on the end-to-end pallets that made a human-sized bed. The thick walls and low windows of his room gently filtered the early morning sounds: birdcalls, leaves rustling against the house, the distant sound of flowing water.

Odd to find an atmosphere of restful peace in a town that never sleeps,
Mark thought, smiling to himself. He himself had done a lot of sleeping lately.

He was in Eerin's family home in Lalcipind. Though a major population center and host to the WirElspind, Lalcipind was, in its own way, as wedded to the natural elements as the little nahah.

A wide valley, caught among foothills even greener and more rolling than those he'd hiked half a continent away, held communal fields and gardens, public areas, and gently landscaped parks in its lush palm. On either boundary ran the mountain- born, swift-rushing rivers, Rainel and Rainwo.

Hillsides rose in all directions away from each of the two rivers, and homes melted gracefully into the rocks and trees of the gentle slopes.

I'll
miss this place,
Mark thought. Was it only a week ago that he'd danced the Mortenwol for the first time? Soon he would

270

join Eerin and Reenor and Lieor in the large courtyard and dance it as part of the morning ritual. By now it felt as though he'd done it all his life.

He had a kareen of his own, now, and two Shadowbird feathers, both gifts from Eerin's family, but Mark knew he would not dance the Mortenwol every day after he left Elseemar.
Maybe on special occasions,
he thought. Mostly I'll dance it the way Eerin had to on the night of han's Change ... in my heart.

That's where it matters most.

Today he and Cara were scheduled to leave Elseemar aboard a CLS

shuttle. He'd fulfilled his pledge to Hilnar, seen hin installed in the WirElspind, along with Morana, Alanor's replacement, also a Wopind.

Terris stirred on his chest and chirped at him hopefully. "Food," Mark translated. "Coming right up, Terris!"

He held the baby close while Terris slurped at the supplement- filled straw.

Leaving Terris behind would be the hardest thing, and he dreaded it. Even the Mortenwol each day hadn't been able to relieve the grief he'd felt, knowing that he must leave hinsi. But this was hinsi's home, where hinsi belonged, he knew that.

At least you'll have the best of homes,
Mark thought, gazing down at the baby.

Eerin and Reenor had agreed to raise Terris as their own, keeping hinsi on supplement straws until hinsi was ready to be weaned, rather than giving the child to a family with a nursing male. Mark and Reenor had worked together to prepare Terris for yet another parental switch. Transferring hinsi back and forth for short periods and holding hinsi while they sat together during feeding times, they'd now persuaded Terris to eat for either of them.

Absently Mark stroked the child, thinking of all that had happened. Most of the survivors of the
Asimov's
crash had already left Elseemar on a specially detoured ship, the S.V.
Hawking.
Mahree Burroughs, Mark had gathered, was the person responsible for the ship's rapid arrival. After their little party had left the wrecked ship, only five more people had died, which, under the circumstances, had to be considered good news.

Elspind and Wospind both had searched for the man who'd

271

attacked Mark's group, then run away into the desert, but, so far, had found no trace of him.

One of the brightest memories of the past days had been Eerin and Lieor's reunion. Mark had very much enjoyed getting to know Eerin's sibling. Eerin's entire family had welcomed both humans with great warmth. Even the crusty Hrrakk' had softened slightly when he was around them.

Five days ago, Eerin and Reenor had joined as lifemates. Mark and Cara had attended the ceremony, the first offworlders ever to be invited to attend an Elpind wedding.

Their joining had taken place on the bank of the river Rainel, just as Aanbas, the first moon, rose into the night sky. Members of both joining families had chanted in unison the ancient Telling that Eerin had quoted to Mark on their first night together at StarBridge. The sound of the rushing water had been a fitting counterpoint to the solemnly rhythmic words:

"El is life, and Wo is death, and each completes the other. We are Elspind, the people of life, for the life of the people endures even as death swallows us one by one. Our lives are cast like the shadows of the four moons from the ever-shining light of the people. We are born for the rizel. In the rizel, life is taken, each from the other, and given, each to the other, and El walks so far ahead of Wo, there is no catching."

Today, there would be another ceremony: today R'Thessra would be buried next to her hive-sister in the mountain graveyard where many of the victims of the laboratory's destruction now rested.

There was a light tap at the door. "Mark?"

"Come in, Eerin," the human called.

The Elpind's golden eyes held excited curiosity. "Zahssez of the CLS waits in han's courtyard. Heen says Mark must come quickly. A call from

StarBridge is coming in for Mark!"

Mark bounded down the hillside as eagerly as any Elpind. For once, an Elpind had trouble keeping up with a human.

When he reached the CLS office, the holo-vid tank was already filled with two familiar faces. "Rob!" Mark yelled, grinning. "Administrator ch'aait!"

The psychologist and the little Chhhh-kk-tu were as happy to see Mark as the student was to see them. For several moments there was a confused babble of mutual greetings and, on Rob's

272

and Kkintha's part, profound relief to find him well and in good spirits.

"I'm fine!" Mark assured them. "And so are Cara and Eerin! This is Terris," he said, holding up hinsi. "Isn't hinsi cute? I've been taking care of hinsi," he said, and explained briefly.