They stood consulting over what they should do. They had the precious
drugs. Should they return with them to Brett, or go on and rescue
Frannie and Leela? Martt was confident. With the drugs in his pocket,
all sense of fear was passed. It was obvious that the world here was in
no danger. This fallen giant at their feet was the last. But Frannie
and Leela were captured; were taken up to that other realm. To delay
following would be most dangerous of all.
And Zee agreed. Her eyes were sparkling. She stretched out her white
arms. She said, "With this power we would be cowards to turn back----"
The giant still had some of the drugs about his person. Martt bent over
him.
"Zee! He isn't dead!"
The young giant's face was white; blood was on his forehead where the
rock had struck. He opened his eyes; rolled over in the water. The
dammed river surged again into its black hole.
"Zee, look! He isn't dead!"
He sat up; smiled in a daze, struggled to rise to his feet but could
not.
The rock which Martt had hurled lay like a great boulder in the lake.
Martt seized it, but Zee caught his wrist.
"Martt! Don't----"
A sense of shame struck at Martt; he dropped the rock. "Zee, can you
talk to him--try if he understands your language."
She spoke, and the young giant answered. He was trying to smile,
grateful for the words. Zee stooped and splashed water on his wounded
forehead.
"Martt, he says his name is Degg--he has seen Leela and Frannie--a man
and woman took them into the river-mouth."
The fellow did not seem greatly hurt. He was frightened, watchful, but
docile enough. Martt took the drugs from him. "Ask him the way up to
his world--it will help us----"
It was the one thing that would help them! Martt realized it.
Degg, outwardly at least, seemed friendly enough. When Zee promised
that they would not hurt him--would take him to his own world, the only
way he would ever get there, since he had no drugs--he agreed readily
to lead them.
"But we must be careful," said Martt. "Never let him get larger than
ourselves. And watch him, always."
At Degg's direction, first they diminished their stature until,
compared to the buildings of Reaf, they were about fifty feet tall.
Degg said, in Zee's language, "We wade now into the black river. Rokk
likes to swim--but wading is easier."
They were ready to start. Soon they would be beyond this world--up into
largeness unfathomable. Martt said, "We must leave some message for
Brett. Let him know what became of us."
There was no way to leave a written message. Conspicuously on a rock
near the shore, Martt left the broad belt of his jacket. As he turned
away, Degg was calling softly, "_Ae!_ Eeff! Eeff, come here!" The
green-white, headless thing was lurking among the rocks. "Eeff, come
here!"
It advanced, whimpering. Compared to Martt's fifty-foot stature it
seemed now no bigger than a rat. Martt conquered his aversion and stood
waiting while it approached. In the starlight it glowed unreal; its eye
on the stalk pointed distrustfully at Martt. It stood at Degg's feet;
whimpering--and mumbling words.
Degg said to Zee, "It is afraid of your man. I tell it you will do no
harm. It wants to come with us." He stooped over. "Eeff, you come with
us?"
It understood, partly the words spoken in Zee's language, and partly
the gesture. It said mouthingly, "Yes, Eeff come--with you."
Uncanny! Horrible! Martt shuddered. Degg was saying, "It is a very good
friend to me. May we take it?"
"All right," said Martt shortly, when Zee translated. But it worried
him. He resolved more than ever to watch Degg carefully, and to watch
this headless thing Degg called a friend.
They fed a small morsel of the drug to Eeff, until it had grown to a
size normal to them. Then they started. The black mouth of the river,
to them in this size, seemed a passageway ten or twelve feet high and
twice as broad. The river swirled about their legs; hot, with steam
rising. Soon they were in darkness, following the river around a bend.
But only for a moment. Martt and Zee were hand in hand. Degg was in
advance; Martt could just distinguish Degg's figure with the shining
blob of Eeff in the water beside him.
Darkness. But Martt's eyes were growing accustomed to it. And now the
rocks of the caverns seemed to be giving light--a dim phosphorescence.
The cavern expanded. They waded across a broad, shallow lake where
the water was calm. Then again into a tunnel. Miles down its tortuous
course with the river swirling and tumbling about them.
Sometimes there was a dry ledge upon which they could walk. Sometimes
the river deepened, and they had to swim. Always Degg advanced grimly,
steadily, and silently. A foreboding grew upon Martt. Were they going
right? Was this the way Frannie and Leela had gone? Once he whispered,
"Do you think, Zee, that he's tricking us?"