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They left He did not turn around He didn’t have to He could feel their fear seeping out of their feet and into the earth They hadn’t even waited until they were out of earshot to start running
Scared little ani The very kind of beast they sahen they had looked at hi rodents Useless Pointless
He was strong He saw it in his reflection in the streay, no weakness
No pupils He blinked That can’t be right
Falling to his knees seemed a bit too easy; his head pulled the rest of hi at hireat, unrestrained puffs that stirred the water, blurred his face in it
The legged eels below the surface released their grips on the rocks, went drifting down the streae was no rey, blue, each one a stark and solid colour that he had rarely seen in his hair or eyes before Slowly, he leaned down farther, breath pouring out of his mouth to kiss the water
And freeze it into tiny, drifting chunks of ice that were lost down the streaht’
‘One would suspect,’ a deep voice spoke, ‘that you are a poor judge of that’
He looked up immediately and saw no one to match the bass, alien voice He was alone in the forest, even the birds and chattering beasts of the trees having fled to leave him bathed in silence Just him, the stream, and …
‘Jhombi?’ he asked
The squat reptile made no i in the water Then, slowly, hisat hiaping open; of all the words he could have used to describe the Owauku’s gourdlike eyes, ‘gleeful’ and ‘’, not at all
‘Hello, Lenk’ His … or its voice was like sap: thick and bitter in the air ‘I see you’re experiencing some difficulty with your current plan? Perhaps I could be of help’
Lenk shook his head, dispelling his befuddleue’ He cast a glare into the forest ‘I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked Denaos has lied to me before’
‘He has,’ the lizardman said, ‘but he didn’t this tiue’
‘Jhoreen ser and eyes shrank a bit narrower
‘So,’ the young man said breathlessly, ‘you would be …’
‘I’d say that my name was unimportant, but that would be a lie You’ve had far too ree with you, but any bond of trust we ht have would probably be shattered by the fact that I a Jhohed, not joylessly Rather, there was plenty ofchuckle, and all of it made Lenk’s skin crawl
‘You are clever, sir A bit macabre, but clever’ He held up a hand ‘Jhombi is fine, my friend Not present, but certainly still alive and possessing all his skin He was lured away long ago by a gourd of his people’s wicked brew Not half as clever as you were, that one, not half as detere ‘Or perhaps now that you’re giving up, you’re roughly on par?’
Lenk could but stare, tongue dry in his gaping mouth ‘Are … you another one?’
‘A hallucination?’ The creature shook his bulbous head ‘Would a hallucination ad as you consider theh to speak with you, but I ine me away’
‘All my hallucinations want to speak with me, lately My mindto tell ?’ Lenk dared a smile at the creature It could hardly hurt, he reasoned He would hate to gain a reputation for rudeness a collection of mental problems
‘Good to see you’ve kept a sense of humour about it I can hardly bla uncontrollably for a reason’
‘So you are a hallucination’
‘No, but you are going hed ‘Mad and clever, I suppose you could answer me this question: do you suppose it will stop?’
The young man blinked ‘Will what stop?’
‘All of it All the ’ The creature looked at hione from its face ‘I know I can’t hear the endlessly: hot, cold, soothing, frightening, day in, day out, screa all the ti else to respond with, leaned forward, unblinking, unbreathing, un
‘Will they?’
The creature stared back at him and shook his head ‘One will’
‘One? There are …’ Should have realised that, should have known that He stopped cursing hih to breathe ‘Which?’
‘Scarcely matters One whispers lies, the other whispers what you don’t want to hear You think either of thehed deeply ‘Or is it that you think the one with the sweet lies will be correct? The one that tells you that everything will be fine, that you’ll go back to the row fat on a field with your slender shict bride and watch the sunset until your lids grow too heavy to keep up and you die feeding the horseflies
‘And yet, everything isn’t fine, is it? You are still here Your companions fear you to the point that they have difficulty following you even back to their precious civilisation You feel sick without your sword, angry in the company of those who smile at you, experience silence from one voice only when the other speaks …’
The creature shook its head
‘No, not fine, at all, I’d say One could scarcely be bla, especially when the alternative is to stay here, amidst the intolerable sun and rivers that turn to ice’
‘There is nothing here,’ Lenk replied, ‘nothing but lizard here?’
‘When was the last ti behind you? What awaits you there? Burned ruins of your old horaves of your family?’
‘What would you know of it?’ Lenk snarled, feeling his hands tense, restrained fro the creature only by curiosity and dread for the answer
‘I know they will not be there when you return,’ the creature replied ‘Just as I knohat little fa this far’ It grinned broadly ‘Go farther and who knows? Blood, yes Death, most certainly But in these, you find peace … Perhaps you’ll find the kind that lasts? The kind that lets you knoho it is that speaks in your head and who it was that sent you on a road that began with the blood of your fa is fine at the end?’
Lenk sed hard
‘Will I find it?’
‘Are you asking s will turn out the way you hoped?’
‘I don’t know’