"We can find something to put on over our own clothes, and wrap our
feet in leather. All Paboss said was I mustn't try to steal a girl.
Nobody'll miss us for one day, and the beasts will be together by
tomorrow noon. We could bring back some kind of souvenirs."
"You must be crazy! What if the jaksins caught us?"
"They'd only haze us a little, if we hadn't done anything. Think of
it--besides Paboss and Maboss, only seven smits have ever been to
another beast!"
* * * * *
Bundled in extra garments, they sneaked to the curve of the beast's
side. Bru acted as if he were going to his own funeral. When they got
down to where the hair grew out horizontally, they moved out beyond
the short stuff and dropped from one coarse emergent to another; then,
finally, to the ground. Apparently no one had heard them. They ran
toward the front of the beast, staying as close to the furry belly as
possible, for warmth and concealment.
The jaksin beast was due north, half-hidden by the horizon and hard to
make out against the background of the tremendous Forest where it had
been feeding. Beyond the trees and a little to the right was a volcano,
exhaling fiery clouds but not muttering audibly at the moment. East of
them was a river; to the west, on the far side of the beasts, another
Forest. It was not surprising that the two beasts had met, since they
were on a narrow strip of hardened lava between river and Forest.
They traveled in long jumps, gradually closing the distance to the
jaksin beast. Near it, they saw that it was awake, with all four front
eyestalks and one pair of pincers extended toward them.
They halted out of reach.
"Do you think he'll know we're not jaksins?" Bru whispered.
"I don't think they care _who_ lives on them, just so we keep the
fleys down. Let him get a good look at us and he'll see we're people."
He was right, but by the time the huge appendages began to retract, the
cold was getting through the clothing. They hurried for the shelter of
the hair. Warm again, they chewed some of the meat they'd brought along
and considered what to do next.
"We'd better go along the ground to the rear," Alyar said. "The men
will be mostly near the front, on guard. Back there, there'll only be
women and children."
"But we'll be a long way from home. What if the beasts don't come
together?"
"Oh, they usually stop and talk, or whatever they do, for three or four
days. We'll have a chance to sneak back."
"Why don't we just cut off some hairs right here for souvenirs and go
home?"
"Don't you even want to spy on the clan?"
Bru sighed unhappily. "You're not actually going to try to steal a
girl, are you?"
"Well--no. But it would be fun, wouldn't it?" His imagination began to
percolate. "We're not far from the Warm Ground. That's what the first
smit did. He stole a girl and couldn't get home with her, so they lived
for a whole season on the Warm Ground until they found a young beast
and started their own clan."
"If you've got any crazy ideas like that, you can count me out. People
who get lost from their beasts get caught by Demons, or outlaws, or
eaten by terrible animals. Next you'll be talking about going to Iron
Mountain and fighting the Iron Fley!"
"Huh. The explorers who came back with all those stories probably
exaggerated to make themselves look braver. Anyway, all I'm asking you
to do is climb on the back end of this beast and spy on the jaksins."
It took the rest of the night to reach the blunt rear end, which had
only one pair of eyestalks and one of pincers. They went through the
process of letting the beast see them again, so it wouldn't think they
were fleys when they began to climb, then picked a low rigid hair to
start on.
It was a good four man-lengths up, too much of a jump even in this
light gravity for Bru, who missed and floated back to the ground,
contorting, while Alyar tried to control his laughter. He uncoiled a
rope. "You need a good lively girl to work some of that fat off you,"
he chuckled as he hauled Bru up.
Panting, Bru pulled himself onto the hair. "You'll get me killed before
I ever have a chance to get married. Do you think they heard us?"
"No. We haven't heard _them_ yet, and they're bound to be jabbering
like women always are." He coiled the rope and they began to climb.
* * * * *
When they were halfway up, there were squeaks and rumbles below them.
They stopped, holding their breaths, while the tentacle curled toward
a spot only thirty or forty man-lengths away and the great claw
began digging at the fur. Evidently something itched there; and in a
few moments, they did hear the screech of a hurt fley. They resumed
climbing.
When the skin was level enough to walk on, they began hearing
voices--the giggling of girls and the drier chatter of older women, but
no men's voices. They crept forward, parted the hair very carefully,
and peered out.
They must have found the quarters of a very important family, for the
clearing was freshly cut and expensive woven rugs covered the skin.
The walls were evenly trimmed, with several hung paintings. Sleeping
places had been cut into one side and lined with soft leather from the
underparts of fleys.
Alyar had only a glance for all this luxury, though, for within two
man-lengths of him sat a pair of eminently stealable girls. Temptation
battered at him. One, evidently the older sister, was well muscled
and lithe, but plump enough to have curves everywhere. The other was
beautiful too, but more slender. They had the black hair and tawny
smooth skin of the jaksins. Each wore a short lounging skirt of dainty
leather which left few secrets.
Prudence, overwhelmed, hardly put up a fight.
Alyar maneuvered Bru carefully back until he could whisper. He ignored
the desperate protests. "Shut up. All you have to do is stay here and
wait for me, and when you hear a commotion, screech like a fley. You
can do that much, can't you?"
Bru, groaning, finally nodded.
A length from the clearing, Alyar chose a young hair-shoot and put the
point of his spear in the tender spot at its base. He jabbed with all
his weight, then dove for the clearing. The beast's involuntary twitch
came as he broke into the open.
The women were scrambling to their feet, with cries of "Beastquake!"
and right on schedule Bru cut loose with a fine series of fley
screeches. In the confusion nobody noticed that Alyar was a stranger
until he scooped up the two girls, one under each arm, and jumped for
the fur.
It was hard going, with both of them grabbing at hairs to hold them
back, scratching him, and in general being uncooperative. He was
panting when he reached Bru.
"Here!" he gasped, considerately tossing him the slender one who'd be
easier to carry. "This one's yours."
The plump one knew by now what was happening. Slyly, she went limp
until Alyar relaxed; then she twisted suddenly and got her teeth at his
left shoulder. He yelled as she took out a respectable divot of flesh,
and spun her around so she couldn't reach him again.
There was much screaming behind them, but no pursuit yet. Alyar urged
Bru to the base of the nearest eyestalk. "Start climbing!"
"But we'll be trapped up there!"
"No, we won't. Go on!"
* * * * *
They were ten man-lengths up before a few old men and a crowd of
women and children appeared at the base of the stalk. Seeing Alyar's
spear-hand free part of the time, none acted anxious to follow them.
Now they were high enough to be hurt in a fall, and the girls had
prudently stopped struggling. Alyar's twisted her head and glared at
him. "My father will feed you to the fleys!"