The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head: Volume Four: Beneath the Mountain of Heavy Fear

By Lorinda J Taylor

As Ki’shto’ba Huge-Head and its Companions venture into the lands of the People of the Root, they encounter the Ninth Companion, an eccentric Alate named Bu’gan’zei who practices a strangely hypnotic type of word craft that is totally unknown to the questers. He has visited the legendary Mountain of the Glorious Root seeking a deceased friend to whom he was exceptionally devoted, but he failed in his attempt to extract her from the World Beyond. Bu’gan’zei agrees to guide Ki’shto’ba and its friends to the Mountain, where the Champion can seek resolution for its guilt and where the personal quest of Is’a’pai’a Gold-Seeker will finally begin.
After several adventures with the monsters and giants of the Mountain, as well as new prophetic pronouncements by the resident Seer, the Companions again head south. Near the fortress of Ra’ki’wiv’u they encounter the Tenth Companion, an Intercaste Warrior with her own bizarre story. In order to win her friendship, Ki’shto’ba (with the trickster Za’dut’s unsolicited assistance) must prevail over her in the Warrior Games during Ra’ki’wiv’u’s annual festival. At that same festival, Di’fa’kro’mi takes part in a Remembrancer’s competition.
This light-hearted episode is a welcome relief after the stressful events under the Mountain and soon the Companions are ready to set out for Yo’sho’zei lands, where the sea is no longer a distant dream and where Is’a’pai’a can learn its true destiny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lorinda J Taylor
• Release date: Apr 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310859441

Lorinda J Taylor

A former catalogue librarian, Lorinda J. Taylor was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and worked in several different academic libraries before returning to the place of her birth, where she now lives. She has written fantasy and science fiction for years but has only recently begun to publish. Her main goal is to write entertaining and compelling fiction that leaves her readers with something to think about at the end of each story.

Book preview

THE LABORS OF KI’SHTO’BA HUGE-HEAD

Volume IV

BENEATH THE MOUNTAIN OF HEAVY FEAR

by

Lorinda J. Taylor

This is a work of fiction. All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Similarities to certain mythological subjects and events are intentional.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The person responsible for the existence of this book in the 21st century wishes to acknowledge her debt to two sources:

First, to Robert Graves and his impressive compilation entitled The Greek Myths. The points of view and the comprehensive information contained therein helped to make this series possible.

Second, to Dr. Timothy G. Myles, whose amazing website taught me most of what I know about termites.

L. J. T.

Three of the Bu’gan’zei poems (I eat you with my eyes … ; A den of nurturing mud among the rocks … ; and It is the time to say goodbye … ) were originally published in Read for Animals (first published by Golden Box Books, © 2014 by Erika M Szabo).

Cover illustration (The Companions reach Yak’roit’zei’s Mountain) drawn by Lorinda J. Taylor.

Copyright © 2014 by Lorinda J. Taylor

Note to the Smashwords Edition

The print edition of this tale includes a map of the beginning of the quest. Partly because the small e-reader format would most likely render this map illegible, the 21st-century presenter has omitted it here. It can be found online at http://termitespeaker.blogspot.com and the reader is welcome to print it or download it from that source.

Because of difficulties in linking the footnotes in both directions, the presenter decided to distribute them throughout the text rather than placing them at the end of the book. A double dagger [‡] marks each note, which is then placed at the end of the paragraph. This seems to be the lesser of several evils, ensuring that readers have an opportunity to view the note without overly disrupting the flow of the reading.

L.J.T.

Table of Contents

Note to the Smashwords Edition

Facsimile of 30th-Century Title Page

List of Characters

Translator’s Foreword

The Ninth Companion

Chapter 1: Di’fa’kro’mi Begins the End

Chapter 2: Sojourn in Gru’rak’vit’mi

Chapter 3: The Offspring of the Root

Chapter 4: The River That Speaks

Chapter 5: Bu’gan’zei’s Incredible Adventure

Chapter 6: The Golden Fungus

Chapter 7: Yon’a’saia

Chapter 8: The Journey to the Fortress

of the Glorious Root

Chapter 9: The Descent into the World

Beneath

Chapter 10: Only the Right Answer …

Chapter 11: In the Fields of Din’ur’akh’mi

Chapter 12: Return to the Land of the Living

Chapter 13: Heavy Fear beneath the Heads

Chapter 14: The Root Where the Guardian Coils

The Tenth Companion

Chapter 15: A Possible Solution to

Certain Prophecies

Chapter 16: Thel’tav’a the Intercaste

Chapter 17: … molted among those

who speak not …

Chapter 18: The Tale of the Great Bird Hunt

of Ra’ki’wiv’u

Chapter 19: A Reluctant Companion

Chapter 20: Di’fa’kro’mi Competes

for the Garland

Chapter 21: The Warriors’ Games

Chapter 22: Ki’shto’ba Loses the Race

Chapter 23: How Ki’shto’ba, with a Little

Help, Finally Won the TenthCompanion

Chapter 24: In the Land of the Speechless Ones

Chapter 25: Farewell to a Strange Friend

Glossary of Shshi Words

Facsimile

of 30th-Century

Title Page

The Labors of Ki’shto’ba Huge-Head

A Series

Volume Four

Beneath the Mountain

of Heavy Fear

By

Di’fa’kro’mi the Remembrancer

Translated by

Prf. Kaitrin Oliva

Published through

the InterQuad DataBase

25 August 243 (old cal. 2998)

Planet Earth

List of Characters

The Members of the Quest:

Ki’shto’ba Huge-Head, of To’wak, a Warrior, our hero

Di’fa’kro’mi the Remembrancer, of Lo’ro’ra, a male Alate, the First Companion

Wei’tu, of Lo’ro’ra, a Worker of the Builder Subcaste, the Second Companion

Twa’sei, of Lo’ro’ra, a Worker of the Grower Subcaste, the Third Companion

A’zhu’lo, of To’wak, a Warrior, Ki’shto’ba’s twin, the Fourth Companion

Za’dut, of Kwai’kwai’za, an outcast Worker of the Builder Subcaste, the Fifth Companion

Ra’fa’kat’wei, of No’bu’cha, a female Alate, a Healer, the Sixth Companion

Is’a’pai’a, of the Gwai’sho’zei, an outcast neophyte Warrior, the Seventh Companion

Krai’zei, of Zan’tet, a Yo’sho’zei Worker, the Eighth Companion

Bu’gan’zei, of Chi’chi’gwai’u, a male At’ein’zei Alate, the Ninth Companion

Thel’tav’a, of Ra’ki’wiv’u, an At’ein’zei Intercaste, the Tenth Companion

In Lo’ro’ra:

Chi’mo’a’tu, male Alate, citizen of Lo’ro’ra, Di’fa’kro’mi’s scribe

Vai’prai’mo’tei, female Alate, citizen of Lo’ro’ra, Di’fa’kro’mi’s secondary scribe

Kat’ska, Worker in the Scroll Chamber, citizen of Lo’ro’ra

Ga’ti’vei’zei, male Alate, Chief Healer in Lo’ro’ra during the later years of Di’fa’kro’mi

Gan’a’no’pak, male Alate, Holy Seer in Lo’ro’ra during the later years of Di’fa’kro’mi

Fon’gwa’ma’na’ta, Mother of Lo’ro’ra during the later years of Di’fa’kro’mi

In Gru’rak’vit’mi:

Kwai’kri’zei, an At’ein’zei Warrior, Chief of the trade delegation’s Cohort

Pun’toi’shto, an At’ein’zei Warrior, Lieutenant in Kwai’kri’zei’s Cohort

In Chi’chi’gwai’u:

Or’the’tas, female At’ein’zei Alate, deceased inventor of word-crafting

Stuv’ga’no’ta, Mother of Chi’chi’gwai’u

Khin’dur’no’hna, one of Stuv’ga’no’ta’s Kings

Yon’a’saia, male At’ein’zei Alate, Seer of Chi’chi’gwai’u

In Gri’fum’at’u:

Hum’raiv’zei, female At’ein’zei Alate, one of the great Seers

Ji’kei’so, At’ein’zei Warrior, a Shrine guard

Ar’dai the Slayer of Champions, a monster

Wak’a’no’ta, Mother of Gri’fum’at’u

Yak’roit’zei, a monster, the Coiling Guardian of the Root

Ko’mei’lot’lot, fertile nymph fetched from Pri’dan’u to be the next King of Gri’fum’at’u

In Mik Na’wei’tei’zi:

Wei’tei’no’hna, King of Mik Na’wei’tei’zi

No’dai’dru’zei, three-headed monster guarding the entrance

Fet’rai’zei, the one who ferries the dead across the Sam’gor’bu

Thru’tei’ga’ma, shade of the Seer of To’wak

Viz’ka’cha, surnamed Bright-Head, shade of the Commander of Thel’or’ei

Roi’za’chu, shade of the Mother-Stealer of Thel’or’ei, doomed to roll a stone uphill forever

Dai’wak’zei, shade of the traitor who caused Nei’ga’bao’s death, doomed to be eaten over and over by a giant bird

Mo’gri’ta’tu, shade of Lo’ro’ra’s traitor, imprisoned in ice together with Lin’tuk’ko

Lin’tuk’ko, shade of the traitor of the Valley of Thorns, imprisoned in ice together with Mo’gri’ta’tu

A’zhu’lo Beloved of Champions, shade of the twin of Ki’shto’ba

Zhu’zi’a’ro’a, shade of the High Commander of the Marchers

Wei’li’ta, shade of Zhu’zi’a’ro’a’s Aide

Hi’ta’fu, shade of the Unnatural Commander of Lo’ro’ra

Ju’mu, shade of the Warrior Hero of the Yo’sho’zei

Nei’ga’bao Swift-Foot, shade of the reckless Champion of the River Fortresses

Or’the’tas, shade of Bu’gan’zei’s soul-mate

Kwi’ga’ga’tei, shade of the Seer of Lo’ro’ra during the coming of the Star-Beings

In Ra’ki’wiv’u:

Thel’tav’a, female Intercaste Warrior

Fi’frum’zei, female Alate, Remembrancer

Ma’hai’twa, Chief Alate, male

Ta’if’twa, male Alate, High Elder

Ti’a’gwol’a, a Gwai’sho’zei Champion, twin of Ti’a’toig’a

Ti’a’toig’a, a Gwai’sho’zei Champion, twin of Ti’a’gwol’a

Wo’tei’dai, female Alate, Remembrancer from Ka’ska’gwai’u, a contestant in the Tale-Telling competition

Mat’mei’ga, female Alate, Remembrancer from Deik’tho’u, a contestant in the Tale-Telling competition

Characters in the Tale of the Great Bird Hunt:

Lo’bal’no’ta, Mother of Ra’ki’wiv’u

Bao’kai’zei, High Chief of Ra’ki’wiv’u

Na’pak’zi, female Alate, Seer of Ra’ki’wiv’u

Oin’mu, the Great Bird

Kia’seip’seip’a, a Yo’sho’zei Warrior

Vak’zei’a, a Yo’sho’zei Warrior

Zhu’galt’zei, Warrior, Champion of Deik’tho’u

Ist’u’mim’zei, Warrior, Champion of Gur’on’u

Chi’chet’zei, Champion and High Chief of Dei’yak’u

Kia’pol’a, Champion and Chief of Pil’ska’u

Za’gli’sti’a, Champion and Chief of Ka’ska’gwai’u

Thru’bal’zei, eldest of the Elder Chiefs of Ra’ki’wiv’u

To’bal’zei, youngest of the Elder Chiefs of Ra’ki’wiv’u

Krai’bal’zei, second eldest of the Elder Chiefs of Ra’ki’wiv’u

Cha’bal’zei, third eldest of the Elder Chiefs of Ra’ki’wiv’u

At Dei’yak’u’s Bridge Outpost:

Tro’kat’zei, Warrior, Chief of the Guards

Miscellaneous characters:

Hak’tuk, the Storm-Wing, a sinister protoavian who haunts the path of the Quest

Vai’zei’a’parn, male Yo’sho’zei Alate, Is’a’pai’a’s mentor and teacher

No’tuk’a’nei, hatchmate of Vai’zei’a’parn, mentioned only once in a mysterious way

Ek’dai’daim’a, a legendary Gwai’sho’zei Warrior Champion who brought back the Golden Fungus from Yak’roit’zei’s Mountain

Ju’mu (Ju’a’a’mu’a, also called Chuh’de’myukh’ze’uh’tzi in the Yo’sho’zei language), a legendary but very real hero who found the lost Great Spear of Shi’kwi’thu

Rin’dog’zei, a reptilian of the thap’ar’zei| variety

Translator’s Foreword

Since the purpose of deity for humans,

or even whether it had a purpose for humans,

is unknowable, it is incumbent upon humans

to look within themselves and find the

way to right action.

If a human have nothing else, it has its

own soul, which must remain inviolate.

– 3rd and 7th Precepts of the Mythmakers

Even Holy Alates hatch without eyes

[i.e., nobody is perfect].

– An ancient Shshi adage

The present tale is the fourth to be published in the series The Labors of Ki’shto’ba Huge-Head. Di’fa’kro’mi intended his tale to consist of three parts, which I have split into six volumes. The first part, The War of the Stolen Mother, was published in its original form, while the second part became my second and third volumes: The Storm-Wing and The Valley of Thorns. The third and last part included the remainder of the story, but the length required me to divide it into three: v. 4, Beneath the Mountain of Heavy Fear; v. 5, The Wood Where the Two Moons Shine; and v. 6, The Revenge of the Dead Enemy.

The current volume is the pivot point for the series. The Companions plunge into certain events and milieus for which neither the participants nor I can find a fully satisfactory explanation. These mysteries allow Ki’shto’ba to achieve a resolution of its guilt for the dire acts to which its grief and obsession with vengeance drove it, yet even as Ki’shto’ba is finding its Way, the focus of the Quest is shifting from our stone-headed Champion to the younger Champion, the Gwai’sho’zei Is’a’pai’a. And while the first section of the story (entitled The Ninth Companion) deals with profound and sober issues, the tone shifts toward the light-hearted in the second section as we meet the Tenth Companion, the Intercaste Thel’tav’a, and cheer on the company as it engages in competitions at a famous festival.

I’ll allow the fiercely independent Thel’tav’a to speak for herself, but I think a word or two is in order concerning the equally strange Ninth Companion, Bu’gan’zei. Bu’gan’zei is a poet, the first poet ever to arise among any Shshi people. As such, he may be as much an agent of the New Time as are Za’dut, Di’fa’kro’mi, and the Star-Beings.

Let me state unequivocally that the neuter Castes of all Shshi peoples have no sexual impulses. This is equally true of the residually sexed Alates. The Shshi word namo| means to love, cherish, care for, be fond of (a meaning similar to philia or agape); it has absolutely nothing to do with eros. Some people have suggested that the relationships between Ki’shto’ba and A’zhu’lo, A’zhu’lo and Zhu’zi’a’ro’a, and Ki’shto’ba and Twa’sei have homosexual overtones. This is quite absurd and only goes to emphasize how Earthers have difficulty escaping their obsession with eros over the other meanings of the word love.

However, certain events near the beginning of Beneath the Mountain of Heavy Fear indicate that some residual sexual instinct may linger among a tiny fraction of those members of the Alate Caste who began life as potential progenitors. Bu’gan’zei loves the female Or’the’tas in a manner that puzzles Di’fa’kro’mi and his cohorts; he and she both began life as fertile Alates, and as their friendship blooms, it becomes something different from philia. Thus the poet Bu’gan’zei can lament

Within the embrace of your soul I lived and found peace …

Had we only been fertile – the Mother, the King – ai-i …

Oh, how many glorious offspring would have blessed our sweet fortress …

Had we only been Mother and King, the land would have filled with our light – ai-i …

This bizarre attraction seems unnatural and unsettling to Di’fa’kro’mi and his friends at first, and yet the Companions are able to accept Bu’gan’zei because his aberration is harmless and without guile.

*****

At this point I want to comment on the remarkable evolution of Di’fa’kro’mi’s writing system during the course of his dictation to the Scribe Chi’mo’a’tu. As anyone might imagine, rapid inscription using complex logograms and syllabograms is difficult, and Chi’mo’a’tu, who chided Di’fa’kro’mi in the beginning for speaking too fast, devised many shortcuts and compressions as the work progressed. Where in the beginning Chi’mo’a’tu duly wrote out every word in order to indicate the beginning and end of a quotation (see Foreword to v. 1), by the time he started the present volume, he was simply writing a hook sign plus a compressed name at the beginning of a quotation and setting a backward curving hook at the end. The text is full of such contractions and substitutions, the evolution of which I am analyzing for a monograph on the subject. (Parenthetically, let me state I have continued the practice of inserting footnotes that help to explain the language and the culture, and I have appended a Glossary. I hope my readers continue to find the annotations useful.)

Recently, certain entertainment links approached me for permission to render Di’fa’kro’mi’s tales into a commercial dramatic production available in both vid and holoshow media. I turned them down. There have already been a sufficient number of unauthorized fictions and bastardized graphics of the Shshi peoples and I refuse to endorse even a responsibly produced adaptation of the genuine tales.

However, I’ll admit fantasizing occasionally about what it would have been like if I could have brought Di’fa’kro’mi to Earth. With his skepticism, curiosity, and sense of humor, he would have fit right in! I can visualize him in one of our university assemblies, telling his tales to a gaggle of gawking academics, his words converted to sound by a magic box and rendered in a voice speaking ancient Griek or Renaissance Talian, or perhaps ancient Inglish in the dialect of Chosser! I have no doubt that Di’fa’kro’mi himself would have relished such an adventure!

Of course there would always have been some Earthers who would be repulsed by this bristly, glitter-eyed, winged, giant bug with the strong and not entirely pleasing odor – all the stuff of both ancient and contemporary fictional science. Humans seem unable to overcome an entrenched disposition to be terrified of anything even vaguely insectile. I shudder to imagine how Earthers will react when we make contact with an ILF evolved from flatworms!

Let me remind readers, however, that the Shshi are not so outsized as some of you may have conceived them. Our hero the Huge-Head measured in at only 153 cm. (excluding the tails) and it is unusually large, as we have been told many times. Most Warriors attain 110 to 120 cm. in length and an especially large one like Zhu’zi’a’ro’a might be 130 to 140 cm. Twa’sei would have been about 80 cm., slightly small for a Shum’za Grower, while Za’dut and Wei’tu were probably about a meter, not far off the norm for Builders. Standing on our academic stage, Di’fa’kro’mi would require a platform in order to be seen above the podium. Alates are generally a little longer than a meter but more lightly built than Workers, and their wings are longer than their bodies, effectively concealing them. Therefore, one can say that for size the Shshi fall something short of monstrous.

*****

When the Companions left Hwai’mi’o’we’dai and resumed the quest, it was the end of their fifth year of wandering (approximately February of Earth year 221). I had spent the preceding August through December on G. Gwidian with our Fifth Expedition. During a second visit to the Northern Nasutes, I was warned against venturing into the war-racked midlands of the Marchers and the Sta’ein’zei. Hence we flew to the coast and I was spending a month with the Gwai’sho’zei during the time that Ki’shto’ba and its friends were recovering among the People of the Salt. Sa’ti’a’i’a had spoken of Is’a’pai’a but only in general terms, and on the coast I was not even aware I was among its people and so had no reason to mention the young Warrior. I did not visit the fortress of Is’a’pai’a’s hatching or any of the holds of Krai’zei’s compatriots, the Ancient Ones.

Our Sixth Expedition was a short one conducted in the summer of 224, a full four years later. During that venture I visited the At’ein’zei and learned with considerable relief that the Companions had passed through, but I lacked the time to search for them. So we missed one another at every turning.

At the beginning of this fourth volume another five years of questing face Ki’shto’ba and its Companions. During that time every Seeing will be fulfilled, according to whatever arcane processes drive the life of extraterrestrial worlds; the magic science of Earthers will never be able to explain all the mysteries in the universe. The reader may recollect that Di’fa’kro’mi himself rhetorically addressed his scribe Chi’mo’a’tu on that subject. Why was I so curious? All through my life I have wondered – why was I always so curious about the speakings of Seers? Are those very speakings meant not so much to show us what will happen as to influence the decisions of our own wills? I cannot answer those questions, and I will never be able to.

Prf. Kaitrin Oliva (Prof. Spec. Xenoanth. and Ling.)

Shiras-Peders University of Xenological Studies

25 August 243 (old cal. 2998)

The Ninth Companion

Chapter 1

Di’fa’kro’mi Begins the End

Do not stand there half in and half out of the doorway, Chi’mo’a’tu – come in, come in! … Yes, I told them I could not receive any more visitors because I am ready to begin dictating again. … No, you did not mix up the days – I really did send for you a day early! But – tha’sask|> – here I was worried about getting bored or lonely while I was recuperating, and I had so many visitors that I think reciting tales is more relaxing! Did you have something to do with that?

You told only a couple of people? Well, they passed the word efficiently! I had troops of visitors tramping through here! I had to pretend to be sleeping in order to get any peace! The Chamberlain came by with greetings from Fon’gwa’ma’na’ta – he brought a gift of her special fungus. I saved a little for you – here, have a bite! Tasty, is it not? Relish it, because you will not get many chances in your lifetime to eat a Mother’s food …

Then Holy Gan’a’no’pak turned up. In my old age I have begun to find visits from Seers unsettling. At this point of my life I think it takes no special talent to predict my fate! I am twenty-nine years old, after all. Anyway, I seem to be just as much in thrall to those mumblers as I ever was, because I asked Gan’a’no’pak if I was going to live long enough to finish my life-tale. He said, with various bobs and bounces of amusement, that every single person in the world lives long enough to finish out its own life-tale! Huh! Leave it to Lo’ro’ra to have a literal-minded jokester for a Seer! But then he said more seriously that he thought given what he knew of how prophecy had worked for Ki’shto’ba and its Companions, it could hardly be otherwise than that I was meant to finish writing their tale. That was just his opinion – he has had no real visions about it.

But then I asked him why he thought the Highest-Mother-Who-Is-Nameless had taken such an interest in Ki’shto’ba and the rest of us, and whether Seeings really portend what is to happen or whether they merely sway us to act in ways that make those things come to be. I was thinking of the influence of Lug’tei’a’s foretelling in A’zhu’lo’s death.

And Gan’a’no’pak said that obviously not every Seeing was meant to be a mere influence – Kwi’ga’ga’tei’s visions certainly did not cause the Star-Beings to come to Lo’ro’ra! And he said he thought Ki’shto’ba’s life was intended to set an example for the future at the beginning of the New Time – he did not elaborate much more than that. I do not think he understands much. I think the days of great prophets are over. Or perhaps it is only that Seers will always decline to explain themselves. …

Oh, really? Who did take it? … Well, she will do a creditable job, as long as nothing happens to Kat’ska. That Worker knows more about the operation of the Scroll Chamber than any Alate does, when it comes to that. But you would have made a fine Overseer – I am proud of you for earning their respect. All the same, I am glad you turned down the job. I have no objection to Vai’prai’mo’tei, you understand – she has performed admirably when you have had to be absent. But I have gotten used to you, Chi’mo’a’tu, and have been looking forward to finishing my work with you. … Really? You are that devoted to this grinding task of writing down all my ramblings? I am touched.

Chi’mo’a’tu, there is something I want to tell you before we begin grinding again. I am feeling much better – I still believe Ga’ti’vei’zei is wrong about the heart-rot – but in case I should suddenly take a turn for the worse, I want to give you some instructions. … No, you are the one I want to tell! I have come to consider you my closest friend in my last days, and quite reliable. You are no longer a new-molted imago, you know.

After I die, I want a proper mourning dance conducted just for me – perhaps they will grant that much to my longevity and significant accomplishments – and I want the Remembrancer to speak something in praise of me! Yes, I am self-centered enough to relish the idea of that! Then I want my body to be eaten according to the ancient ways. I will probably be so tough and stringy that all of you will break your jaws!

But I want my head to be detached – do not cut off the antennae, please, or remove the brains! – and buried in the top of Kwi’ga’ga’tei’s cyst, facing toward the Star-King’s memorial. I am the last one alive that knew Kwi’ga’ga’tei, you know. I realize that request is unusual, but my life has not been usual, and the head-chitin cannot be consumed in any case. What harm the loss of a little brain-flesh, even if it be from a – huh! – remarkably talented Remembrancer! Maybe my head will commune with Kwi’ga’ga’tei’s after death … Now I meant that to be humorous, not cause such an outpouring of distress scent! But will you promise to arrange those things as I request? … Good! I know I can count on you.

You think so? You might be on to something there! Write down what I want done and personally write my name on the scroll with someone making a witness-mark upon it so that there will be no question as to my wishes. I may very well do that …

Oh, one other thing – the disposition of my belongings. I do not have much that I care about, except my magic skin. I want that returned to Ru’a’ma’na’ta when you give her these tales. Then A’zhu’lo’s mandible – that must be taken to Thu’dal’mi’cha and put into the mound there. Far better that than preserving it as an oddity for the unenlightened to gawk at …

Yes, when I ended the last part, five years had passed since we began the quest. Some of us were getting into the middle of our lives, although I cannot say any of us was feeling it. Perhaps what you suggest is a good idea. The audience – I mean, the reader! – does not know the ages of all of us.

At that time Ki’shto’ba was – let me see – thirteen years old. The prime of life, actually. It was eight when we started out – just a young, callow blade, although it was already an experienced Champion who had earned a surname, and it always acted older and graver than its age. Ki’shto’ba was hatched in the Time of Flowers and I in the Drying Time a year later, so I was a little more than a year younger – aged twelve when we left the desert.

Twa’sei had been the youngest of us until Is’a’pai’a joined the quest. Twa’sei was somewhere between three and four season-cycles old when we started, so when we left the desert it was – between eight and nine! That is hard for me to believe, for Twa’sei always seemed like a new moltling to me! But Is’a’pai’a was not three years old when we first met it and was not much past six as we started into southern lands. I have always been amazed at how Vai’zei’a’parn could throw a youngster of such inexperience out to wander the world with only a Worker for company, but it seems Seers demanded it. And Krai’zei was an unusual Worker – the oldest of us – twelve when we first met it, and fifteen when we headed south. It may have been the wisest of us all, although it revealed its wisdom sparingly.

The rest of us … Wei’tu was a couple of years older than Twa’sei, so it was about eleven – not a great deal younger than myself. Ra’fa’kat’wei was close to that same age. And Za’dut – well, Za’dut was six when we met it and somewhere between eleven and twelve when we left Hwai’mi’o’we’dai. That one was truly ageless – I honestly believe that!

And then the missing Companion – ai-i-i! A’zhu’lo was the same age as Ki’shto’ba, to the very moment. You had already grasped that, I do not doubt …

As for the last Four Companions … well, you will just have to wait to learn of those!

And if we do not get started, you never will learn! Let us take advantage of my restored vigor – who knows how long it will last? Line up those styluses, Chi’mo’a’tu, and unroll a fresh scroll! I am about to begin!

Chapter 2

Sojourn in Gru’rak’vit’mi

A wind had sprung up – the tree limbs seemed to be dancing and from a nearby overhang some stones broke loose and skittered down …

Is’a’pai’a was the first to receive the sending and it stopped so abruptly that Wei’tu and Za’dut bumped into its posterior. Then we all took the sensation – an antenna-buzz at once penetrating and delicate, so unusual that we were all entranced. Simultaneously there was the smell of a male At’ein’zei Alate, along with the rank odor of reptiles and the feather-stench of birds!

Holy Nameless! What can that be? Ra’fa’kat’wei exclaimed.

And then we detected words in the sending …

I sit on the rock and I do not know why …

I would rather be under the rock where my Or’the’tas dwells – ai-i …

The wind from the Nameless One’s sky caresses my wings …

I would rather feel wind from the Caves of Darkness – ai-i …

Is that a Remembrancer reciting? said Za’dut in some befuddlement.

If it is, said I, it is the strangest telling I have ever taken.

And who is he talking to? said Is’a’pai’a.

The sending seemed to give an answer …

So I sit on the rock and I speak my words …

I speak words of sorrow and only the beasts approach me – ai-i …

I tell my tale to the speechless ones who attend me …

I speak words of sorrow to reptiles, who grieve not as I grieve – ai-i …

Eyeless I walked in the place where my Or’the’tas dwells …

But at the touch on my wings of the sky-wind I turned – ai-i …

And my eyes were unveiled to a darkness deeper than …

Several of us cried out. Oh! ‘Eyeless!’ ‘Reptiles!’

Abruptly the sending ceased. Who is that? Who comes here? the individual cried in a perfectly ordinary, albeit querulous, manner, and we scrambled through the foliage, to discover an astonishing sight. With flaring wings, an Alate crouched on a boulder. Around its base, staring up at the Alate as if entranced, were several reptiles of various sizes and shapes, along with a couple of those large birds that do not fly. As we burst upon them, the reptiles twisted toward us with gaping jaws and the birds beat their fluffy wings and stamped their feet. Then they all scurried off into the bushes.

Reptiles! squeaked Twa’sei. "The words of the Ninth can calm reptiles!"

"He will go eyeless – eyeless! – through the cursed place!" cried Za’dut, capering.

We were scaring the strange Alate and he had begun to gibber. Help! Help! I am being attacked by a mob of crazy outlanders! Oh, is there no one in the world willing to help poor, bereft Bu’gan’zei?

What? I cried. ‘Bu’gan’zei?’ So that is how the prophecy is fulfilled!

Of course! Why did we not think of that? Is’a’pai’a exclaimed. "If you follow the river that speaks, you will find the way!"

It is not a real river! It is the name of a person! cried Wei’tu.

I clutched Ki’shto’ba, who had been patient for so long and now stood dumbfounded. We have found the beginning of your answer, Ki’shto’ba.

Yes, said Krai’zei, with not the slightest suggestion of surprise. At last we have discovered the Ninth Companion and it seems he is to be our guide.

As for this mysterious Speaking River himself, he had had enough. Diving off his rock with a piteous sizzle, he scuttled into the bushes after his beasts.

*****

But now you may be wondering – where were Ki’shto’ba and its Companions when the Ninth was discovered, and how did we all get there? I will go back a little way and enlighten you …

(Yes, you see, Chi’mo’a’tu, this is another narrative device. I begin at a place that piques the curiosity and then leave everything unresolved for a while. That way, the audience will be eager to chew through a more pedestrian bit of the narrative so that it can return to where it began. That is not to assert, however, that I think the next section is dull!)

You may recollect that Ek’ist’sei was our intended destination when we departed from Hwai’mi’o’we’dai. It is a fortress of the Desert People that stands where the Trail of Salt breaks through the escarpment and mounts to the surrounding plateau. We had planned to stay some two or three day-cycles, but in fact we stayed nine. It seems that wherever we went, we stayed longer than we intended. It was easy to find excuses – there were always new things to experience, or else the citizens would beg us to linger and it would seem discourteous to refuse.

The salt caravans had carried our reputation ahead of us, so what the citizens of Ek’ist’sei wanted was tales. The Shko’zim’zei had been so kind to us that I could not deny them. Some of the other Companions, notably Za’dut and Is’a’pai’a, grew a bit impatient, but Ki’shto’ba, who might have been expected to chafe the most, remained subdued and compliant. Perhaps it was not all that keen on reaching its goal – the place below the skulls where it would gain either redemption or oblivion for the evils the death of its twin had driven it to commit.

But finally we bade farewell to Ek’ist’sei, ascended the pass, and left the great desert called Su’wei’sho’mi behind. We found ourselves traversing the plateau along the well-worn path called the Trail of Salt. Getting lost would have been impossible – too many claws had worn a groove in the land and too many bellies had left their scent, over more years than could be counted.

With our antennae turned once more toward the mountains, the vegetation began to change almost as soon as we reached the plateau’s rim. The prickle plants vanished except for the tall, spindly ones with the tiny leaves, and soon even these were gone. The land was still dry; the stream we were following was only a series of crackled mud holes and puddles not deep enough to immerse a water skin. It was a good thing we were carrying plenty of food, for we who could not eat wood would have been hard pressed to find any forage. However, scrubby brush and broken reed-stubble were appearing along the bounds of the stream, and a thickening scatter of bleached grass began to spread on either side. And those mountains that bounded the river called Sho’gwai’grin grew closer. We could see a steam cloud rising behind them, marking the hiding place of the volcanoes that divided the People of the Root from their kin to the north, the infamous People of the Cave.

It took only a morning’s trot to reach Gru’rak’vit’mi, which turned out to be quite a surprise. We had expected it to resemble Hwai’mi’o’we’dai and Ek’ist’sei since it, too, was a fortress of the Shko’zim’zei, but it could not have been more different. The little stream, which we learned bore the appropriate name of Za’git’bu,‡ flowed with sufficient bounty during gwai’nol| to fill up two large cisterns. Thus, water was available for the production of mortar, and the edifices of the fortress could be safely built several levels high. A perimeter wall surrounded them, vigilantly guarded against the potentially aggressive At’ein’zei. The citizens foraged brush for food and also cultivated a horny fungus – outdoors under open-sided huts! It appeared that the gru’rak’vit’zei| had been spared the survival difficulties that plagued their near-siblings in the desert below and so they had the energy to be gregarious, curious, and lively. Had it not been for their appearance, I would never have known that these were People of the Salt!

***

‡[Little Emerging River]

***

The primary reason for this fortress’s existence was to facilitate the salt trade that sustained the denizens of Su’wei’sho’mi, and so, especially at this time of the year, a crowd of transients was