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"A community meditation. I am sorry thee were not in-vited, but there was
no time. I have made the people aware of thy problem. Thy wooden undercarriage
is still service-able, is it not?"
"The wheels haven't fallen off, if that's what you mean," Etienne
replied.
"There are not here the large draft animals like the Mai have. No
vroqupii. There are _lekkas,_ but they are for riding, not for pulling. Unlike
Turput, here the land is cultivated mostly by hand. But we are Tsla. The Tsla
are strong." He flexed both arms and they saw the muscles ripple beneath short
fur.
"All Jakaie will assist. Will it not be easier to lower thy boat back to
the bottom of the Barshajagad than it was to bring it up?"
Etienne considered their guide's words, trying hard to restrain any
excitement. Excitement hurt his back.
"Sure it would be easier, but still a difficult descent."
"I have talked long with Ruu-an and the other elders. Them is a way north
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of here that descends to the Skar and bypasses the Topapasirut. They say also
that the way is longer and gentler than that which climbs the side canyon we
used. They say, Etienne and Lyra, that it can be done."
"Who am I to dispute Ruu-an?" said Etienne. He felt like shouting but
restrained himself lest he strain something.
"When can we start down?"
"Soon. The families of those thee saved demand the honor of taking up the
ropes nearest the spirit boat, where the work will be the hardest."
"Our thanks go out to them," Etienne said.
"Thee can thank them thyself." Tyl readied himself to leave. "It will
take some time to organize provisions and find the rope sufficient to secure
thy craft. Thee will have ample time to thank thy new friends and repair thy
back."
"Wait a minute," said Lyra, frowning. "What about the Na? What if they
come back when the town is nearly de-serted, or catch everyone out in the
open?"
"This too was discussed during meditation. They will not come near Jakaie
for a long time, so embarrassing to them was their defeat. And after a few
days of descent the tem-perature will grow much too hot for them to follow
us."
"We won't argue with that, will we, dear?" He stared meaningfully at
Lyra.
As usual, she wasn't intimidated. "If the townsfolk feel confident of
their security, I don't see why we shouldn't permit them to bounce you all the
way down to the river."
In contrast to the agonizingly difficult haul up from the bottom of the
Barshajagad, the descent to a rocky beach northwest of Jakaie and the bulk of
Aracunga mountain was almost relaxing. There were a few rough places, easily
surmounted by the hydrofoil's repellers, but as the Tsla prom-ised the slope
was far gentler than the steep side canyon route on the southern side.
Chanting in unison as they leaned into the heavy ropes, the Tsla were
able to lower the boat on its wheeled cradle faster than the Redowls expected.
It was hard to imagine the vroqupii and their Brul doing the job any more
efficiently than the citizens of Jakaie. It helped that there was none of the
sense of competition among the townsfolk that there had been among the Mai.
Homat grudgingly conceded that some-times cooperation was worth more than
skill and strength.
When at last the wooden cradle was removed from the hull and the boat
bobbed once more in the waters of the Skar, Etienne passed among the villagers
trying to thank personally each and every Tsla for their help.
Ruu-an chided him. "Too many thanks. If thee would truly thank us, thee
may share thy knowledge with us when thee return this way. We will be waiting
to take you up and past the Topapasirut a second time."
No obstacles ahead to hold us back now, Etienne thought excitedly. No
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more blank spaces on the topographics, no second Topapasirut. According to the
Mai, the Barshajagad began to widen once more north of that place. For the
mo-ment they still floated between immense sheer walls, but now that the
birthplace of river devils lay behind them the stark cliffs no longer seemed
quite so forbidding.
The seven of them reboarded and the Redowls settled into their boat with
a sense of relief. It had become their home and refuge, and it was good to be
surrounded once more by familiar objects and the comforts of an advanced
technology.
As Etienne let the boat float free in the current, the towns-folk
assembled on the shoreline set up a plaintive, haunting chant of farewell, as
different a music from the whirling frenzy of the Mai as Ligeti is from [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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