Barry, not trained to hatred by a lifetime of strife with these
outcasts, felt sorry for them as they crouched trembling and gasping
from their flight. They eyed him furtively.
After the first few minutes, when it became evident the norus did not
intend to break the unspoken truce imposed by mutual peril, the girl
relaxed. Yet she did not turn her back to them.
For a long while she and Barry sat in silence. There was nothing to
say, nothing worth saying in their hopeless situation. The norus
watched stolidly, their eyes flicking occasionally between the pair
from Tana and the monsters circling overhead.
Then in a quick move that startled Barry the girl stood up, unfastened
her skirt, stepped out of the garment. She seemed entirely unaware of
her nakedness.
"Fan your hands back and forth," she requested. "Make light."
Barry complied, swirling the water to brightness. The norus watched
uneasily, staring hard at the girl. But Xintel was absorbed in
inspecting the fabric of her skirt, going over it inch by inch. A
couple of times she held it to her nose, but each time shook her head.
"Ha!" she cried suddenly, pointing to a slight, almost invisible stain.
"What is?" he asked.
"It may be--Give me your knife."
She cut away the stained cloth and wrapped it around the unhardened,
useless spear.
"What are you doing?"
She ignored his question.
"Take this and go part way up," she directed. "But be careful, very
careful, dearest--and throw it over the rim."
Trusting her knowledge of this undersea world, he climbed the slippery
wall. Halfway up he found a foothold. He tensed his muscles, heaved the
weapon with the peculiar pushing gesture he had learned was the only
way to throw under water. As the spear made a high arc he abandoned his
exposed position in a headlong dive.