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THE FOREMOST GROUP of the the doctor&039;s continued shouts as Matthew and Rachel followed the loinclothed healer, the Indians trailed in their wake and the shouting, giggling, and excited vocals began to surge loudly again

Mattheould have never dreaht have found hi through a horde of grinning, hollering Indians His vision was returning, though he was still overwhelht He saw a score of round wooden huts, soroith roofs upon which grass grew as thickly as froht of a lush plot of cornstalks that would have dropped the fars - one gray and the other dark brown - cas, but a shout froling pack of four naked brown children neared the pallid patient, and they ran away squealing and ju

Matthe that most of the men - who shared the doctor&039;s narrow facial structure, lean body, and topknot of hair growing from an otherwise shaved head - were nearly nude, but the wohtly dyed shifts that appeared to be woven from cotton Some of the females, however, had chosen to let their breasts be bared, a sight that would have made the citizens of Fount Royal swoon Their feet were either bare or clad in deerskin slippers Many of the men were adorned with intricate blue-dye tattoos, and also a few of the older women These tattoos appeared not only on the face but also on the chest, arhs, and presumably just about everywhere else

The lee, and the children - of which there weresquirrels Of real creatures, there were aplenty as well: pigs, chickens, and a barking battery of dogs Then the doctor led Matthew and Rachel to a hut that seee, drew back a buckskin decorated with blade carvings to gain admittance, and escorted the visitors into the cool, di in clay bowls that held pools of oil, set in a circle Facing this circle, a ed on a dais supported by wooden poles about three feet off the ground, and cushioned by various aniht of this man that made Matthew stop in his tracks His reat was his shock

The overnor, lord, or however the savages terenitalia That, however, was by now a commonplace What so shocked Mattheas that the chief had a long, white, tightly curled judicial wig on his head, and his chest was covered by

I&039;ine this!

Magistrate Woodward&039;s gold-striped waistcoat

"Pata ne" The doctor estures for them to sit "Oha! Oha!"

Rachel obeyed When Matthew started to lower himself, pain stabbed his ribs and he clutched at the clay bandage, his face tightening

"Uh!" the chief spoke He had the long-jawed, narrow face and wore circular blue tattoos on both cheeks,down his ar his hands The tips of his fingers were dyed red "Se na oha! Pah ke ne su na oha sau-papa!" His co voice instantly stirred the doctor to action, na hiht the chief wanted her to rise as well, but as she began to stand she was pushed down again - rather firs were tattooed from the knees to the bare feet He put his hands on his hips, his deep-set black eyes fixed on Matthew, and his expression serious as demanded his position of authority "Te te weya, " he said The doctor retreated, walking backward, and left the hut The next words were directed at Matthew: "Urn ta ka pa pe nei"

Matthew simply shook his head He saw that the chief wore Woodward&039;s prized waistcoat unbuttoned, and e was difficult to estiht the chief was a young man, possibly only five or six years older than hi "Ka taynay calain, Matthew could only shake his head

The chief looked down at the ground for a hed and see, Matthew feared, how best to ain and said, "Quel chapeau portez-vousi"

Matthe almost fell down The Indian had spoken French a bizarre question, yes, but French all the same The question had been: "What hat do you weari"

Matthew had to steady hie could speak a classic European language boggled the ot for a few seconds that he was standing there totally naked He replied, "Je ne porte pas de chapeau" Meaning "I don&039;t wear a hat"

"ah ah!" The chief offered a genuine sht and warether, as if equally a of the language "Tous les hommes portent des chapeaux Mon chapeau est Napay Quel chapeau portez-vousi"

Matthe understood The chief had said, "all men wear hats My hat is Napay What hat do you weari"

"Oh, " Matthew said, nodding "Mon chapeau est Mathieu"

"Mathieu, " Napay repeated, as if testing its weight on his tongue "Mathieu Matthew, " he said, still speaking French "That is a strange hat"

"Possibly it is, but it&039;s the hat I was given at birth"

"ah! But you&039;ve been reborn now, and so you ive it to you: Delanced down at Rachel, who - not having a grasp of French - was totally confounded at what they were saying

"Did you not slay the demon that almost took your lifei The demon that has roamed this land for oh only the dead souls know,them I can&039;t say how many brothers and sisters have passed away by those claws and fangs But we tried to slay that beast Yes, we tried" He nodded, his expression grave again "and e tried, the demon worked its evil on us For every arrow that was shot into its body, it delivered ten curses Ourwas poor, and our seers had drea, for our own lives Then everything got better, but the beast was always hungry You seei None of us could slay it The forest demons look after their own kind"

"But the beast still lives, " Matthew said

"No! I was told how the hunters saw you travelling, and followed you Then the beast struck! I was told how it attacked you, and how you stood before it and gave a ht to see! They said it was hurt I sent some men They found it, dead in its den"

"Oh, I see But it was old and tired I think it was already dying"

Napay shrugged "That may be so, Matthew, but who struck the last blowi They found your knife, still under here" He pressed beneath his own chin with a forefinger "ah, if it&039;s the forest de they only haunt our kind Your kind frightens them"

"Of that I have no doubt, " Matthew said

Rachel could stand it no longer "Matthew! What&039;s he sayingi"

"They found the bear dead and they believe I killed it He&039;s given me a new nai"

"Yes, it is I have no idea how - "

"an interruption,LaPierre&039;s tonguei"

Matthew shifted his thinking fro LaPierrei"

"Yes, frodom of Franz Europay are you a member of his tribei"

"No, I&039;m not"

"But you&039;ve had soerness "When will he return to this landi"

"Um well I&039;m not certain, " Matthew said "When was he last herei"

"Oh, during ue with s Do I speak it welli"

"Yes, very well"

"ah!" Napay beamed like a little boy "I do recite it, so as not to lose its taste King LaPierre showed us sticks that shot fire, and he caught our faces in a pouch pond and he had a littleall these are carved down on the tablet"

He frowned, perplexed "I do wish he would return, so I randfather&039;s father did I feel I&039; You&039;re not of his fauei"

"I learned it fro LaPierre&039;s tribe, " Matthew decided to say

"I see now! Soer for eo over the water in a cloudboat to Franz Europay I shall walk in that village and see for rand place, with a hundred pigs!"

"Matthew!" Rachel said, about to go mad from this conversation of which she could not partake "What is he sayingi"

"Your woman, sad to say, is not civilized like you and I, " Napay ventured "She speaks ht"

"White fishi" Matthew asked He motioned for Rachel to re Less than nothing, for he&039;s a murderer and thief The least civilized beast I have ever had thee of Franz Europayi"

"I&039;ll tell you everything I know of that place, " Mattheered, "if you&039;ll telland your headdress, at his huti"

"Thesei Yes are they not wonderfuli" He spread his arold-striped waistcoat

"May I ask what else you found therei"

"Other things They must have some use, but I just like to look at them and of course I found my worin now threatened to slice his face in two "The silent and lovely one Oh, she shall share all h, I&039;ll have to make her fat"

"and what of the white fishi Where is hei"

"Not far There were two other fish - old ones - but they have gone"

"Gonei To wherei"

"Everywhere, " Napay said, spreading his arain "The wind, the earth, the trees, the sky You know"

Matthew feared that he did know "But you say the white fish is still herei"

"Yes, still here" Napay scratched his chin "You have a nature full of questions, don&039;t youi"

"It&039;s just that Ibuzzards know hiree, but why do you say he&039;s a murderer and thiefi"

"Because he is what he is!" Like a child, Napay put his hands behind hian to bounce up and down on his toes "He e sun another of my people saw it happen We took hiuilty all except my princess She is innocent Do you kno I know thati Because she was the only one who cae suni" Matthew realized he old coin "What is thati"

"That which the water spirit gives" His bouncing ceased "Go visit the white fish, if you like See if you know him, and ask him to tell you what crimes he&039;s committed"

"Where can I find himi"

"This direction" Napay pointed to Matthew&039;s left "The hut that stands nearest the woodpile You will know it"

"What&039;s he pointing to, Matthewi" Rachel asked "Does he want us to go somewherei" She started to stand

"ah, no no!" Napay said quickly "a woman doesn&039;t stand before me in this place"

"Rachel, please stay where you are" Matthew rested his hand on her shoulder "Evidently it&039;s the chief&039;s rule" Then, to Napay, "Might she go with me to see the white fishi"

"No That hut is not a wo to go somewhere for a short tihti"

"Where are you goingi" She grasped his hand

"There&039;s another white captive here, and I want to see hiave her a tight but reassuring so

"Oh one other thing, " Matthew said to Napay "Might I have soi"

"Whyi are you cold on such a hot day as thisi"

"Not cold But there is a little too estured toward his exposed penis and testicles

"ah, I see! Very well, I shall give you a gift" Napay stepped out of his own loincloth and offered it

Matthew got the thing on with a delicate balancing act, since he was able only to use one arm "I&039;ll return presently, " he told Rachel Then he retreated froht sun

The hut and the woodpile were not fifty paces fro children clung to his shadow as he walked, and two of theress When he neared the hut, however, they saw his destination, fell back, and ran away

Napay had been correct, in saying that Mattheould know the place

Blood had been painted on the outside walls, in strange patterns that a Christian would say was evidence of the Indians&039; Satanic nature Flies feasted on the gore paintings and buzzed about the entrance, which was covered with a black bearskin

Matthew stood outside for ahi hand, he pulled aside the bearskin Bitter blue smoke drifted into his face There was only a weak red illulowing

"Shawcombei" Matthew called There was no answer "Shaw-co

Matthew could h the sain, but in the silence that followed he kneas going to have to cross the dreadful threshold

He took a breath of the sulphuric air and entered The bearskin closed behind hi for his eyes to grow used to such darkness again The awful, suffocating heat coaxed beads of sweat froe clay pot full of seething coals fro- there on his left

"Shawco He moved toward the left, as currents of s of the vision, he could make out an object It looked like a raw and bloody side of beef that had been strung up to dry, and in fact was hanging from cords that were supported further up in the rafters

Matthew neared it, his heart sla there, it was just a slab of flayed s Matthew stopped, tendrils of so any further, because he knew

Perhaps heBut - as slowly as the tortures of the inner circle of Hell - the scalped and blood-caked head on that slab of meat moved It lolled to one side, and then the chin lifted

His eyes were there, bulging from their sockets in that hideously swollen, black-bruised, and black-bloodied face He had no eyelids His nose had been cleaved off, as had been his lips and ears a thousand tiny cuts had been adenitals had been burned away and the wound cauterized to leave a glistening ebony crust Likewise sealed with terrible fire were the hacked-off stus The cords had been tied and knotted around those grue-somely axed ruins

If there was a description for the utter horror that wracked Matthew, it was known only by the el