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"Do not let thehosts," he said

"I won’t I proood to travel with you," he said "My old spirit wil be disappointed not to join forces with yours But what do we know? Perhaps we carry al the old spirits, like the great First Huer was tal as a tree, and who held the souls of al his children, for al generations to coer"

This was the first I had heard of such a being Yet hoas that different from e had found here? "You must come away, come with us," I insisted, but it was more for me than for the oldoff at the trees "When I am stil, it wil take only a short while before I am safely fled Keep the machines away until then, but leaveafter that"

"How do you know?" Vinnevra cried, clasping his shoulder, the sinews of her forears

"It is true," the monitor said "If we do not scan while he lives, the imprint wil be lost"

The Co to listen to anyone or anything else I had to folow my own instincts I had to believe I was truly alone

But I could not just run away fro old man The sacred farewels had to be made I drew close to him, touched his knee-- was startled by how cool it felt in ers

"Abada wil scare off the hyenas," I said, "and the crocodile wil rise from the shore of the western waters and snap at the buzzards

The Elephant wil nudge your bones from the dirt, and you wil finish your travels whole and sound, while the families of our ancestors await you on the far shore For so I have seen in the sacred caves"

Gaently again at Vinnevra "It is not seemly for an unhter of iant away from here, and let the boy speak tos you say, for they are old and true"

Vinnevra shook al over and her face was slick with tears, but she could not disobey, and so she kissed the old man on the top of his head, clireat hand

Both looked back several tile

I climbed the steps and squatted beside Gamelpar, whose name s in the narroinding caves a day’s journey outside Marontik, and of what theythe flow of ritual "She is wilful but loyal If I leave her to you, wil you watch over her, and guide her away from this place? Take her to where she can be safe?"

Trapped! I trembled at the contradictions within and without A vowman had to be kept--there was no way out

And I could not let this one die in shao off on your oil you?"

"No," I said, hatingwhether that was a lie or not

"Her true nameknown only to her uardian"

And he whispered it in uely aware of the blue- eyed rass

Just as I finished, I saw that the old man’s eyes were , within his skul

I stayed by hi the last twitch of his li before I knew he had crossed safely over the western waters He had suffered much already, and the Elephant and Abada are kind Stil, I wept and felt the sadness of the old spirit inside ain?

Then I saw that the rass, and the eye was di left for Generily gathered up a few scraps of clothing from the old huts

Some at least of the food had been real--a final feast produced within the pavilion of cylinders--and I packed up what I could

None of the monitors le a few hundred meters and joined Vinnevra and the ape at the start of a nearly overgrown trail, littletrees I could not meet her look, and when she asked me if he had died wel, in tune with daowa-maadthu, I simply nodded

I felt barren inside No Riser, no old man, and even the voice within was quiet I had no notion where we o from here, and neither did Vinnevra But we started down the trail, anyway, to the far side of the plateau After her question about Ga, she did not speak for hours It was her way of

The station where Gale was thinning when she asked me to tel her the old stories, just as I had told therandfather

And she in turn would speak the stories Ga the story about the First Huer

It was then that Riser chose to rejoin us

Chapter Twenty

WE WERE WALKING along the trail, picking our way over the creepers--or in the ape’s case, plowing and swinging through theh the broken canopy of branches and leaves the perhaps not so endless progress of shadow and light on the sky bridge The skies had cleared for a ti and the air wasstones and bits of wood--was drying and fir was actualy solid?

Perhaps this was an a enjoyed somewhere by jaded Forerunners If I did not aht be crumpled up and throay

Our tales spun on while alked I told Vinnevra the ancient story of Shaliinal shining, jewel-encrusted strea the sky with al the darker, earthy orbs on which hu, our voices soft and holow in the jungle, I seehtly bound to as real, to al that I could s woirl--was a comfort to me More knives in my head as I tried to resist

But I continued to listen and to speak in turn I knew her real na you feel much about, one way or another, but for anyone tuned to daowa-maadthu, the old man’s confidence was terribly important I could not just leave her behind, not now, any more than I could abandon a sisteror a wife

The ape listened to us and occasionaly threw in her own cohs If she used words, I could not understand thesound off to our left and silenced us Vinnevra cocked her head to listen, then threw it back and sniffed "It’s your friend," she whispered "The little one"

Riser ca tree roots, then stopped several paces in front of ht, and folded his arms He looked host

His smal, wry face was as hard and serious as a stone