The Ear, the Eye and the Arm (35 page)

"Let's leave that to the General. Our job was to find enough evidence to give him a search warrant."

They saw Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham emerge from the house. "I'm afraid it isn't convenient to talk now. We've had the most awful burglary."

"Oh, yes," said another woman. "It was an enormous lady dressed in black. She gave me palpitations."

"My head aches," called the woman in the tight riding pants. "Might I have another drop of that medicine, Beryl?"

Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham urged the detectives toward the gate. "I do hope you find the poor lost lambs. Such a tragedy." She saw them into the street and raised her hand as though to close a door. Then, realizing the gate was missing, she turned and walked briskly back to the house.

"I have a bad feeling about that burglar," said Arm.

Eye approached the ring of police, riot officers and SWAT team members that had sealed off the area. He gave the little bag from Resthaven to General Matsika, who was brooding like a thundercloud at the
edge of
 
Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham's property.

So close! Arm could have torn his hair out. The She Elephant must have left minutes before the police arrived. The members of the Animal Fanciers' Society had quickly given up whatever information they had. Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham was on her way to Waa Waa Prison. The Mellower had locked himself into a closet, and even the cries of Sekai couldn't lure him out.

"I'm not surprised," Arm told Mother, who was lying on the sofa in the detectives' office. "He wasn't father material. Too wishy-washy."

"Now, now," said Eye.

Mother raised her woebegone eyes to look at Arm. "I was so sure we had them. Now it's just like the first day."

"No, it isn't," Arm said firmly. "The children have proven strong beyond our wildest expectations. They escaped from Dead Man's Vlei. They got in and out of Resthaven. They eluded the Masks in the subway. According to Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham, after they recovered from the chicken pox, they practically ran her house."

"That evil woman!" burst out Mother.
 
"Did you see the Kiddie Koop?"

"What was left of it. The point is, at every turn the children have behaved with courage and intelligence. I'm sure they'll keep on doing it."

Sekai stirred in a pouch Arm wore on his chest. She was replete with a sense of belonging. You never really liked the Mellower, did you? thought Arm.

Bad man. Not you,
she agreed loyally.

Ear stirred the cup of tea he was fixing for Mother. He didn't want to give her the stuff they usually drank: Mr. Thirsty had sent over a packet of Black Dragon tea. Eye donated a gold-rimmed cup inherited from his grandmother. Arm hoped the roach family would postpone their happy hour until later.

"Mmm! This is good," Mother said as she drank.

"What would the She Elephant be doing at the Starlight Room?" remarked Eye.

"Sh!" warned Arm.

Mother put down her cup. "It's all right. I don't have the luxury of falling apart like the Mellower. Anyone can go up and down the elevators of the Mile-High Macllwaine, provided she doesn't make a nuisance of herself. The She Elephant probably stole the matchbook as a souvenir."
 

"Or got it from someone who ate there," Arm said.

"Yes," admitted Mother. "I can't imagine
her
knowing anyone respectable."

"She has so-called 'respectable' customers." As soon as Arm said it, he was sorry. Mother's mouth turned down, and her eyes filled with tears.

"I — wouldn't mind — so much — if I knew the children were being taken care of. That's the only thing that matters to me. To know they're safe and happy."

"It's not a comfortable idea, but the She Elephant
is
in the business of selling children. The people who buy must want them very much." Arm didn't mention what he had heard about the Masks.

Mother cheered up a little then and even ate one of the cookies Eye placed temptingly by her cup.

"We'll have to check out the Mile-High Macllwaine," Arm said. "The problem is, where to begin?" He thought about the trip to the Starlight Room.

Sekai started screaming. Arm remembered too late how closely his mind was linked with hers. She must have seen the ground drop out from under his feet as the elevator shot up like a rocket. He tried to shift his thoughts, but Sekai's terror was too great. Her fear trapped him. "Take her," he gasped. Mother plucked the baby from the pouch and carried her to the other end of the room. Ear splashed ice water in Arm's face.

"Ahhh," he breathed, shaking himself free of the hurtling elevator. Sekai settled down in Mother's arms.

"What happened?" Eye said.

"It was like being in a room full of mirrors. I thought of something frightening, Sekai reflected it back at me, which made me more frightened, which upset her even more — I don't want to know how far that kind of thing can go."

For a moment everyone was silent. Then Mother hesitantly said, "I wouldn't mind keeping the baby for a while."

"It's an excellent idea. You know, until Tendai and the others are found," said Ear.

Arm went to the window and looked out. Evening was falling, and the beggars were returning to the Cow's Guts. They were building a cook fire, and a legless man, who propelled himself on a little cart, was ferrying vegetables to a large stew pot. A pair of blind children peeled potatoes and sang lustily to the gathering people. It wasn't fair! Even the beggars had children. Even Mr. Thirsty went home to three adoring daughters who probably didn't know what Daddy did for a living.

Eye and Ear could look forward to finding wives who would accept their unusual looks and abilities. Only he could not fall in love. Sekai told him that. If he and another person got their minds locked into a frightening thought — and who does not have one now and then? — they would mirror it back and forth until they died or went insane.

"I'd like you to have her," he forced himself to say. "Only you mustn't let that slimy Mellower near her."

"Now, now," said Eye.

"There's no chance of that. He locked himself away when his mother was taken to Waa Waa Prison." Mother wrapped Sekai in a blanket and thanked everyone for tea. As she climbed into the limo, she said, "Tomorrow is Tendai's birthday. I wonder if he'll be able to celebrate it."

Thirty-five

Arm curled up on the sofa with the blanket pulled over his head. He heard Eye and Ear tiptoe out the door. They were probably going to eat at one of the soup kitchens that plied their wares in the Cow's Guts.

Leaving me all alone, he thought bitterly. They'll talk to the waitresses and tell jokes. About me. I hope they have indigestion. Grumbling and fussing, much as Sekai was doing in Kuda's old crib at that moment, Arm fell asleep.

He was walking along a forest path. Arm often dreamed of the countryside around Hwange, where he grew up, but this place was different. The forest was much wilder than anything he had ever seen. And it felt old. The trees towered far above his head. They were dotted with woody fungi, as big as dinner plates, and parasitic orchids. Throughout the canopy flitted night-apes that melted into the shadows when he tried to look at them. Arm realized that no ax had ever been laid to these trees.

Therefore, it was a sacred grove.

The
 
brooding
 
spirit
 
of the
 
trees
  
surrounded him like the coils of an electric dynamo. Even the air seemed to flow with power. The place was aware of him. From the shadows of the canopy to the rustle of Matabele ants in the dry grass, the whole grove vibrated with watchful attention.

Arm remembered stories his mother had told him about a giant serpent that inhabited such places. You never saw it. All you detected was a springing shadow as the thing uncoiled to sink its fangs into the back of your neck.

Arm whirled around. The night-apes froze in the shadows. Flicker, flicker, rustle, rustle — always just out of sight.

"Enter a strange part of the forest with praise," his mother had told him. "You don't want to anger something you can't see."

"What beautiful trees," said Arm as he jumped. What
was
that large shape behind those bushes? "The grass is so thick, the kudu must go to sleep with round bellies every night." And so do the lions, he thought. Arm continued to praise the sacred grove, and presently he became aware that he was not alone. He turned and cried out.

A man was on the path.

He was very tall. He wore a knee-length bark cloth with a zigzag pattern. His legs were ringed with gold anklets, and around his neck he wore a large, almost luminous
ndoro.
But what most got Arm's attention were the weapons. The man had a short sword at his waist, an ancient but efficient ax slung over his shoulder, a bow with a quiver of arrows next to the ax, a club covered with a filigree of copper wire, a pouch of darts that might or might not be tipped with poison and the most businesslike spear Arm had ever seen.

It was clearly someone who was used to unfriendly neighbors.

Arm stood hypnotized as the person approached, moving with an easy hunter's gait. His mouth was set in a grim line, and his eyes were steady: lion's eyes.
I wouldn't give a bent
pin for your chance of survival if we were alone
on a jungle path,
they said. It was the man in the General's book: Monomatapa, founder of the Shona Empire.

Arm sank to his knees. He understood in whose presence he really was. The
mhondoro,
spirit of the land, had chosen to show himself in the shape of the ancient king.

"Great chief," Arm whispered.

"Nyaokorefu,"
the spirit said in a deep, commanding voice. "One Whose Reach Is Great."

"What do you want of me, lord?"

"Our people are in danger. Alien spirits invade. They come, hiding their true nature, but their purpose is to eat us."

Arm's mouth went dry. He didn't know what to say.

"They seek to enslave our children and make them messengers of their will. You must prevent this."

"Me? How —"

"Go to the highest place. Look down and you will see them." The spirit took off the
ndoro
and placed it around Arm's neck. It felt as though live snakes were writhing all over his skin. It was unbearable! Arm reached up to tear off the necklace — and the sensation vanished. He stared at the
mhondoro,
unable to speak.

"Come the worst, we must perish together,
Nyaokorefu,"
the spirit whispered.

And then the whole sacred grove came apart. Leaves swirled, trees snapped, and night-apes fled with cries of woe. The forest broke open with a great crack, and Arm fell into darkness until —

— he was shaken awake by Ear. He felt for the
ndoro,
but it was gone.

"Some nightmare!" Eye said. "I could hear you on the street."

"That's what comes of sleeping on an empty stomach," said Ear, setting down a selection of takeout. "Garlic soup, curried prawns, avocado salad — if these don't give you nice dreams, I don't know what will."

But Arm didn't want to eat. He paced up and down as he described his vision to the others. He was in a fever to go somewhere and do something. "The
mhondoro
spoke to me. Me! A nobody from the Cow's Guts."

"We always knew you had talent," said Eye.

"Lots of people are contacted by family spirits, but only two or three in each generation can speak to the
mhondoro!
He told me the country was being invaded by alien spirits who hid their true nature."

"Sounds like they're wearing masks." Ear helped himself to garlic soup and passed the ladle to Eye.

Arm stopped pacing and stared at his friend. "Ear, you're a genius. He was talking about the Masks."

"I have talent, too, you know." Ear licked curry sauce off his fingers.

Arm continued his restless progress around the office. "The Masks were the first and most destructive gang, and they set the pattern for the rest. When the General restored order, the Masks survived. They're
not
like the others. They don't really care about money. Terror is what they feed on." Arm struggled to form his idea. "They're like an invading army."