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sat down quickly in the canoe and raised his paddle.
And the black ship rose in the air!
Rose up, held in the pointed jaws of a fish of such bulk that it dwarfed the
imagination. The thing's gleaming, ivory teeth, Hiero saw in numb fascination,
were each as long as his own body! Not a sound came from the crew. It was too
quick.
For one second the ship hung ten spans above the heaving, foaming surface;
then the incredible monster shook its vast head once and the big vessel simply
broke in half. As the two fragments" struck the surface, the leviathan
vanished m a boil
THE PERIL AND THE SAGE
195
of water. From out of this, there emerged a forked tail easily a hundred feet
across! With a smash that almost pierced the eardrums, it came down on the
lagoon squarely on top of the broken pieces of the Unclean ship and the
surviving men and Leemutes who now struggled and screamed in the water.
Brace yourselves', hold Klootz's legs, Hiero sent, seeing what was coming. A
great wave rushed up the islet's beach, and in an instant the two humans and
the bear were waist-deep in the surging water. The priest's warning had come
in the nick of time, for the big morse held firm and they with him. Gorm had
flung his strong forepaws around a leg as well, and Hiero had held on to both
a leg and Luchare.
The water raced back as swiftly as it had come, and the travelers stared out
at the transformed lagoon. There was a long smear of oil, a growing slick, and
vast rings of racing, foaming ripples, all coming from the place where the
Unclean ship had been. Of the ship and its sinister crew, nothing remained. In
less than thirty seconds they had been totally obliterated, as if they had
never been. Only the small canoe, now half-full of water, lay rocking on the
surging water a few hundred feet away, its solitary occupant staring sadly at
the fouled area of lagoon.
Hiero let go of Luchare and strode down through the soggy grass and shrubbery
to the water's edge. As he reached it, he saw the canoe shooting in toward
him, propelled by vigorous strokes of the paddle. In an instant its prow
grated on the sand and its tall occupant stepped onto the beach, his vigorous
movements belying his apparent age.
The two men stared at each other in appraisal. Hiero looked up at a face so
strong and yet so calm that it seemed to have grown almost beyond what could
be called human. The very dark brown, almost black, skin was lined by a
thousand wrinkles, yet the skin itself was clear and healthy. The broad snub
nose surmounted a sweeping, curly mustache which merged into the white beard
imperceptibly. The frizzy white locks fell evenly to the old man's shoulders
and were neatly combed.
But the eyes were the clue to the whole countenance. Black as night, dancing
with light, they seemed to bubble with humor and yet to be grave as a granite
monument at one and the same time. They were eyes which loved life, which had
seen everything, examined everything, and were still searching for, and
196
HlERO'S JOURNEY
finding, new things to examine. In them could be read great age and wisdom and
also the gusto and joy of healthy youth.
Hiero was won over on the instant. He extended his right hand, and a long,
lean hand met it in a grip as firm as his own, met it and held it.
"Per Desteen, 1 believe, of the Randan Universal Church," the deep voice said.
"A man currently much sought for, by many sorts of people, for good and ill."
With a shock, Hiero realized that Brother Aldo was speaking Metz, fluently and
with no accent at all. Before he could say anything, the old man smiled
sheepishly.
"Showing off again, Per Desteen. 1 used to be good at languages and I learned
all I could long ago. And whom have we here?" He turned and gave Luchare a
stare as frank as that he had given her lover.
She smiled and held out her hand. "You have killed our enemies. Father, and we
thank you for saving us."
"Yes, princess of D'alwah, I had to kill." He sighed, taking her extended hand
in his own left, for he still kept Hiero's in his right. He ignored the girl's
gasp at his knowledge of her.
"Killing is sometimes necessary," he went on in the same batwah, now looking
keenly at both of them. "But it ought never to be a pleasure. We do not need
to kill for food each day, as do the lower animals. A burden on my mind, all
those souls, weary with vice and evil though they were." He released their
hands.
"We have much to talk of, we three. Or rather, I should say, we four."
Creeling, friend, came the thought directed at Gorm, who had ambled up and now
sat gazing at the old man.
Greeting, Old One, the bear brain answered. We have much to thank you for. A
debt is incurred. It will be repaid.
If you fee! so, a debt there is, was the courteous reply. Now let us speak to
one another. I am, as the two humans have heard. Brother Aldo, an Elder,
albeit humble, of the Brotherhood of the Eleventh Commandment. I was sent to
find you, if I could, and bring you to a place of safety.
Why? It was Luchare who asked, her thought pattern ragged, but quite
intelligible, evidence of her increasing confidence.
Why? Brother Aldo looked hard at her. Have you forgotten one who promised you
safety long ago and passed into the enemy's hands to save you?
THE PERIL AND THE SAGE
197
"How could I?" She broke into speech in her agitation. "You mean Jone, don't
you. Father? Is he alive? Did you save him too?"
Yes, I meant Brother Jone, child. And I did not mean to sound so reproving.
And although I am indeed vastly older than any of you and probably all of you
at once, call me "brother." The fur-man here, and he indicated Gorm, knows me
as an "Old One." So I am. But being a father implies responsibility of a kind
I don't have or want. A father directs; I guide, at best.
"Per" means "father" in an old language, Hiero sent in somewhat truculent
meaning.
/ know, and I think your church makes a mistake using it. But why do I wander
so? I must be getting dimwitted. Let us sit and exchange thoughts.
When they were comfortably arranged on the fast-drying sand, Hiero asked the
next question.
Are we still in danger, immediate, I mean?
No, or I should not sit here. My brother out yonder will wait if I choose. He
nodded his head toward the still water. As they looked, first one battered
piece of wood broke the quiet ripples and then another. As they watched, a
growing collection of flotsam continued lo surface.
How do you control that thing? I never dreamed a creature that size existed,
or that if it did, that a level of intelligence that low could be mastered.
You have a few things to learn, then. Per Desteen, was the almost dry answer.
// would take a lot of training to teach you, and I don't mean to disparage
your own powers. But it happens, in this case, to be neural rather than
cerebral. And it's not always reliable. But let's say that control of our
younger brothers and communication with them are and always have been
specialties of ours. We are continually seeking contact with any life form we
can reach. Brother Aldo wrapped his arms around his knees before continuing.
Look time is important. Before we go further, I need information. This whole
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