The Deep Gods (8 page)

“Yes?”

“Let us go on,” she said. “You have shown them the new things. They can fight now.”

“Go?
Where?”

“Where it is a little cooler,” she said.
“Where there are not so many folk, all talking at once.
There are many lands. We would find the right one, if we look.” She paused. “And you must find… the thing you seek. The thing the wise old ones could tell you.”

“Maybe I… don’t want to know, anymore,” he said, closing his eyes.

But much later he awoke to the clamor of voices, an uproar that increased as he listened. And catching a shouted phrase, he realized what was afoot.

“Sea folk!” the voices were shouting.

The dolphins swam, circling slowly in the wide river beside the town; from time to time their noses lifted above the water and an odd piping cry echoed. On the shore, awed and silent, crowds of people waited and watched.

Daniel came and the crowd parted to let him through; he moved down into the water, waist deep, and called out.

“We have waited long,” the dolphin voice came through the water. “Come with us, man. Come now.”

“I have
work
to do here,” Daniel told them. “I’ll come later, when I have more time.”

“The Morra-ayar call to us, to bring you,” the dolphin said. “They say there is little time left. And others know of you, man, some who are not your friends.”

Daniel turned and took a step toward the shore. He saw Ammi waiting, her face calm as she watched.

She’d want to go on, of course, he thought. But there’s so much to do here, still. He began to walk shoreward.

Then, a violent blow struck him in the small of the back; a flurry of splashing water erupted and he felt his leg seized in a clamping grip. He was dragged down, water blinding him as he realized that the dolphin had shot forward and seized him. He was underwater now, out in the deep river and going deeper every moment; he had had no time to breathe a full lung of air beforehand. Darkness closed upon him.

Chapter IV

He was almost flying through the dark water, a crest of spray on each side; the inexorable grip holding his ankle and drawing him along. Briefly, he managed to draw a deep breath of air, just before he was drawn down under the rushing water. His lungs held that draught, minute after dizzying minute;
then
his head broke the surface again, briefly.

For a moment, as Daniel gulped air, he could glimpse the shining backs of other dolphins racing beside his captor. There was distant shouting on the river bank, cut off as he was pulled under once more.

The dolphins swam on, still at the same racing speed, on down the twisting length of the river. Each time Daniel’s lungs began to ache for
air,
his captor rose long enough to let him renew his breath, then dived again. He did not struggle; there was obviously no use in attempting to escape. But as he was dragged along, he ground his teeth in fury, helplessly.

Now they were in the surf, moving out into the deeper salt sea. The group of dolphins swam more slowly now, and Daniel was allowed to coast along, his head above the swell. He could see the shoreline, farther away with each moment

Then the grip relaxed and he floated free. The dolphins moved around him in a circle, blunt noses and grinning faces above the dark water. He trod water and stared at them.

“It was necessary,” one of them said, its voice humming in the sea about him.

“Why?” Daniel snapped. “I would have come when I was ready!”

“The Morra-ayar say the time is coming, soon, man,” the dolphin voice came. Another joined it.

“Our brothers in the other sea,” it said in an oddly regretful tone. “They have brought their land folk to take you. They are near, seeking you. Look, over there.”

On the grey line of the horizon, something showed, like a tiny erect needle of black. And another, near it… a mast, Daniel realized suddenly. He floated, gazing at it.

“Ships and men,” a dolphin said.
“Men of Esmare, with weapons, many of them.”

Daniel twisted in the water, glaring at the circle around him.

“Let me go!” he cried out. But they were silent.

Ammi,
he thought in sudden agony. But the dolphins would obviously not let him go. He thrust down his fury with an effort of will, and tried to remain calm.

“Where do you want me to go with you?” he demanded. “I’m not of your kind. I could drown here in the sea.”

“We know,” one of them said. “We shall take you, riding on our backs. It is not far to the Great Place…” And he made an odd, bell-like sound, a word that came to Daniel like “Ringongong.”

One of the creatures slid, with neat precision, under him, lifting him; the group swam swiftly on, out toward the open sea.

Time passed. Daniel’s skin began to burn from the salt; his hands grew weary, gripping the smooth wet back. His mind worked, calculating the distance they had come. His anger had turned to an icy, controlled fury now, held in control by a powerful effort of will. There was no use in resisting, not now, but he would watch and wait.

Then he saw something ahead—rocky crags, lifting above the sea. There were several of them, none more than a few yards high, thrusting blades of jagged black rock. Surf beat against the reefs, making a white spray. The dolphins seemed to be heading directly for the reef mass, Daniel saw; then they plunged through a wide opening and entered a broad circle of calmer water within.

“You must breathe,” a dolphin called warningly. “We dive now.”

Daniel had barely enough time to fill his lungs; then he was slanting downward, through green-lighted water, down, and under a great arch of rock. Then, suddenly, his head broke through the water again. His mount slid suddenly away, and he found his feet touching a sandy bottom; he stood, shaking water from his hair.

There was a cold, pale light that seemed to sift down from far overhead, lighting the water’s surface and the gigantic columns all around. It was a cave, but clearly artificial; enormous as a cathedral, its halls stretched away into the distance on four sides. Everywhere, water glimmered; there seemed to be wide canals down each columned passage. And between the columns, broad-leaved plants grew like giant ivy.

But that immense space seemed totally empty of living creatures, to Daniel’s eyes. Then he saw that the canal surfaces rippled constantly, and bubbles broke in many places, as though something moved beneath. In the pale light it was difficult to see clearly, but there were small dark shapes that moved swiftly along the distant canal banks. And the air was filled with a constant whispering sound.

“This is…” and the dolphin, floating behind Daniel, made the bell-like sound again. “
Our Great Place, where many come together.”
There was a deep chuckle of laughter. “But you are the first of your kind to come here, for a long time. Go, stand on the shore, man. Your folk must not stay too long in the sea, we know.”

Daniel moved forward, climbing up onto the shelving bank; he sat down, facing the sea pool, studying the dolphins that lay there looking toward him.

“Why have you done this?” he asked, cold-voiced.

There was another ripple of sound.

“The Morra-ayar say you must be kept safe till they come,” a dolphin said. “Many in the sea and on the land seek to find you. The oldest one, he who is alone, sends messengers.” There was a curious pause. “He wishes to make a certain use of you, we know. And… some of our own folk there are, who wish to slay you, though the Morra-ayar
forbid
it.”

“I don’t understand,” Daniel said. He stood up, shivering slightly as the water dried on his skin. He repeated, “Damn it, I don’t understand! What do you want, you and your Morra-ayar? Why did you bring me here when my woman and my friends are in danger from those others, the men in those ships?”

His voice had risen to a shout that echoed in the vast arches overhead. The pool before him was quiet; the dolphins floated, silently.

Then one of them spoke.

“You are angry,” it said. “We regret. You do not understand. Remain with us a short time. The Morra-ayar will come soon,
then
we will take you back to wherever you wish.”

Another joined in. “We would explain all to you, but we do not know how. Your mind is not like ours. Many things we know, we cannot say in your words, there are no words.”

The voice was genuinely apologetic, Daniel realized, listening. He controlled his anger again with a new effort.

They meant it, he thought, amazed. They seemed to have a real difficulty in expressing thoughts in speech, somehow; but that was logical, now that he thought about it. Their own speech was not like this, labored words spoken slowly in a form that was not their own. When dolphins spoke together, under the water, it was a kind of music; images coming directly without the distortions that were a part of land men’s speech.

“We will bring food,” the dolphin voice said. “It will not be long. Look about you, at the Great Place, see. No man living has seen this. You will learn much.”

“What’s this place, then?” Daniel asked, curious.

“Like a… city, of your land people,” the dolphin said.
“But not the same.
Many sorts of people.
Work is
done,
many things are made, in this place.”

The dolphin uttered a curious whistling sound. “See,” it said.

There was a rustling and rattling noise; Daniel turned toward its source and stared in amazement

They were climbing up out of the canal behind him, and marching in a close formation like soldiers; line upon line across the sandy shore toward Daniel’s feet. Crabs!

He stiffened involuntarily and stepped back a pace, cold fear gripping him. In the sea pool, the dolphins laughed quietly, seeing his startled retreat.

“They will not harm you,” the voice said.

The line stopped a few feet away, and Daniel stared at them.

They were huge, dark green and long-limbed, each with its claw held overhead; a smaller claw, Daniel noticed, than the common sea crab he remembered from his other life. These were different; the color was brighter, for one thing, and the brilliant black eyes that stared solemnly at him seemed somehow more intelligent than those crabs of the distant future.

“They are not very clever,” the dolphin voice said, as if it had read his thought. “But they obey. These guard, and keep our waters clear…” The whistle came again. The crab ranks wheeled and marched back, dropping into the canal with regular splashes, rank by rank.

Where they had been, three silver-sided fish flopped on the damp sand. Daniel bent and picked one up, looking at it closely. It was a small sole, apparently; he remembered he was hungry, as he looked at it. But he did not care for the idea of raw fish, somehow, and he had no way to make a fire.

“It is the food we promised,” the dolphin said. It chuckled. “We know also that land folk like to burn that which they eat. Go with this one, and he will show you fire.”

A sleek dark head broke the water, among the dolphins, a whiskered, grinning face that seemed so human that Daniel was startled for a moment. But as the creature slid up onto the shore, he saw that it was not human at all. It was furred, mahogany-colored, and once ashore, it sat up on its hind legs, huge dark eyes on Daniel’s face, tail balancing its body.

An otter?
He had seen pictures of otters, but, like the crabs, this one was very different in subtle, small ways from those of his own time. The head was larger, for one thing. And the creature was huge, almost as tall as his shoulder’s height, sitting as it was. Then he saw it wore something that glittered; bright stones, in a sort of gorget about its neck, and metallic bands about its middle.

Daniel grinned wryly at it.

“An otter that wears jewelry!” he said aloud.

The otter’s grin widened. “Iss ssomesing funny, man?” it said in a sibilant voice.

“You talk?”

“Not easy, sspeak your way, but try,” it said.
“My name Esharr.
I show you Place.” It slithered forward at a rapid pace, but paused at the still-flapping fish. “You give me one?” Esharr inquired hopefully, whiskers quivering.

“A fish?
Surely,” Daniel said, smiling at the beast. It grabbed one of the fish and trotted ahead, nibbling at its prize. Daniel followed, catching up with it as it went along the canal’s edge.

“Fire, there,” Esharr said, gulping the last bit of his fish.

Down a new passage, Daniel saw a reddish-orange glow, at a distance. The air here was warmer and there was no canal; the passage was floored with flat, dry stone. Esharr scuttled along at a good rate of speed and Daniel was forced to a jog trot to keep up with him.

Now the passage opened into another high-domed hall, but this one was more startling than the first had been. He paused, in wonder, and Esharr stopped too.

It’s a workshop, Daniel thought in shocked surprise.

In a great circle, hundreds of feet across, the flat stone floor
was
polished and smooth, reflecting the light of a dozen flares of fire that leaped up like great torches. Each flame burned in a tall conical mass of green stone, shaped and smooth; Daniel could easily see that they were not natural forms. Around each tall cone there were oddly shaped blocks of the same green stone; and against the nearest block, Daniel saw what he knew were tools of some kind. They had strangely made handles, but they were obviously hammers, chisels and forging tools.

The fires hissed quietly, tall orange-red spires that burned with little smoke and with heat that could be felt even at a distance. Far across the huge room, Daniel saw that one of the work places was occupied; small creatures moved near one of the anvils, and a distant clatter came to his ears.

He stared, trying to discern what they were; three of them were much like Esharr, probably otters. But there were half a dozen others as well, and each seemed differently made. Daniel could not even guess what they might be, but they weren’t human.

“What are they doing?”

Esharr made a snorting sound. “Work at thing. Make metal for cut, hammer.”

“Metal?”
Daniel said, wondering. “You have knives, and tools?”

“Oh, yess,” Esharr said. “What is needed, we…” he used an odd, unfamiliar word, “we make. We have hands, like you.” He held up his forepaw. Daniel, looking at the fingers, realized now that the otters did indeed have hands, in a sense.

“You wish fire?” Esharr said, and not waiting for an answer, moved toward one of the tall green stone fire-cones. He manipulated a plug and a small opening appeared, out of which a tongue of flame licked. Daniel saw that it was a kind of pipe, leading into the base of the fire cone, stopped with a stone cylinder; there were a dozen such plugs around the cone’s base.

He picked up a metal rod that leaned against the stone; in a moment, he was broiling the fish over the fire jet. Esharr watched him with apparent interest.

“You land people, alwayss do thiss?”

“Well, most of the time,” Daniel told him, pulling a bit of the fish free and beginning to eat.

“Sstrange,” Esharr said.

Eating, Daniel began to feel calmer, his earlier anger cooling somewhat. There were plenty of well-armed men in the river country, he thought; Ammi would be safe, even if the raiders tried to fight their way in. In the meantime, there were other questions, too.

He moved around the green fire-cone, looking at the flame carefully. It was certainly natural gas, he thought. But in such quantities as he had not thought possible. There were the hot springs, in Eloranar, he remembered, and wondered again how far in the past he was. A younger, hotter earth… but how long ago would that be? He wished again that he had read more in other fields of science… but it was too late now, he thought.

Esharr followed him, making the odd cluttering sound that might mean anything from interest to surprise in his kind. The otter watched him, as he bent to study the stone anvil.

“Strange,” Daniel said. “I’d never realized that the sea folk were so advanced.” He straightened up. “Are there many… ah, people, here in these caves?”