Owen's voice was filled with self-reproach as he moved off.
"Whatever courage I had I left beyond the Barrier."
"Damned fool!" Jared called softly. "Keep away from there!"
He spent the fourth period languishing in solitude, without even a single person bringing instructions. The fifth he tried congratulating himself on at least having escaped the Pit. But throughout the sixth, as he bemoaned aching muscles and insufferable fatigue, he realized he might as well have gotten the more severe punishment. And before the final stint of exhausting drudgery ended, he wished to Radiation he _had_ been sentenced to the Pit!
He finished wresting a final slab into place for one of the new grottoes, then pegged the echo caster into silence for the sleep period.
Numb with weariness, he dragged himself to the Fenton recess.
Romel was asleep, but the Prime Survivor was still lying awake. "I'm glad it's over, son," he comforted. "Now get some rest. Tomorrow you'll be escorted to the Upper Level for the Five Periods Preparatory to Declaration of Unification Intentions."
Lacking strength to argue, Jared collapsed on his ledge.
"There's something you ought to know," his father went on soberly.
"The Zivvers may be taking captives again. Owen went out to collect mushrooms four periods ago. He hasn't been heard from since."
Suddenly wide awake, Jared wasn't as exhausted as he had imagined. When the Prime Survivor fell asleep, he retrieved his clickstones and stole out of the Lower Level World, tempering condemnation of Owen's addleheaded pride with concern for his safety.
Fighting the impulse to drop in his tracks and sleep there forever, he pushed on past the place where he had encountered the Zivver child, along the bank beside the swift stream and into the smaller tunnel.
Sounding the depths of each pit along the way, he reached the Barrier and dragged himself over it. On the other side his foot brushed across something familiar--Owen's quiver!
Beside it were a broken lance and two arrows. The bow, his clickstones told him, lay against the wall, cracked almost in half. Sniffing what might have been the lingering scent of the Original World creature, he backed off toward the Barrier.
Owen didn't even have a chance to use his weapons.
CHAPTER THREE
At the entrance to the Upper Level, the unfamiliar tones of the central echo caster brought Jared crude impressions of a world much like his own, with grottoes, activity areas, and livestock compounds. In addition it had a natural ledge running along the right wail and sloping down to the ground nearby.
Waiting for his reception escort, he turned his thoughts grimly back to the discovery of Owen's weapons on the other side of the Barrier. All he could think of then was that the evil creature had been a punishment sent by Light Himself for his sacrilegious rejection of established beliefs.
Certainly he had been wrong. The Barrier had, after all, been erected solely to protect man from monster. Yet, he knew he would not forfeit his quest for Darkness. Nor would he let the uncertainty surrounding Owen's fate rest for very long.
"Jared
Fenton?"
The voice, coming from behind a boulder on his left, took him by surprise. Stepping out into the full sound of the central caster, the man said, "I'm Lorenz, Adviser to Wheel Anselm."
Lorenz's voice suggested a person of short stature, small lung capacity, depressed chest. Added to this composite was the indirect sonic impression of a face whose audible features were rough with creases and lacked the soft, moist prominences of exposed eyeballs.
"Ten Touches of Familiarization?" Jared offered formally.
But the Adviser declined. "My faculties are adequate. I never forget audible effects." He struck off down a path that coursed through the hot-springs area.
Jared followed. "The Wheel expecting me?" Which was an unnecessary question, since a runner had come ahead.
"I wouldn't be out here to meet you if he wasn't."
Detecting
"Whatever courage I had I left beyond the Barrier."
"Damned fool!" Jared called softly. "Keep away from there!"
He spent the fourth period languishing in solitude, without even a single person bringing instructions. The fifth he tried congratulating himself on at least having escaped the Pit. But throughout the sixth, as he bemoaned aching muscles and insufferable fatigue, he realized he might as well have gotten the more severe punishment. And before the final stint of exhausting drudgery ended, he wished to Radiation he _had_ been sentenced to the Pit!
He finished wresting a final slab into place for one of the new grottoes, then pegged the echo caster into silence for the sleep period.
Numb with weariness, he dragged himself to the Fenton recess.
Romel was asleep, but the Prime Survivor was still lying awake. "I'm glad it's over, son," he comforted. "Now get some rest. Tomorrow you'll be escorted to the Upper Level for the Five Periods Preparatory to Declaration of Unification Intentions."
Lacking strength to argue, Jared collapsed on his ledge.
"There's something you ought to know," his father went on soberly.
"The Zivvers may be taking captives again. Owen went out to collect mushrooms four periods ago. He hasn't been heard from since."
Suddenly wide awake, Jared wasn't as exhausted as he had imagined. When the Prime Survivor fell asleep, he retrieved his clickstones and stole out of the Lower Level World, tempering condemnation of Owen's addleheaded pride with concern for his safety.
Fighting the impulse to drop in his tracks and sleep there forever, he pushed on past the place where he had encountered the Zivver child, along the bank beside the swift stream and into the smaller tunnel.
Sounding the depths of each pit along the way, he reached the Barrier and dragged himself over it. On the other side his foot brushed across something familiar--Owen's quiver!
Beside it were a broken lance and two arrows. The bow, his clickstones told him, lay against the wall, cracked almost in half. Sniffing what might have been the lingering scent of the Original World creature, he backed off toward the Barrier.
Owen didn't even have a chance to use his weapons.
CHAPTER THREE
At the entrance to the Upper Level, the unfamiliar tones of the central echo caster brought Jared crude impressions of a world much like his own, with grottoes, activity areas, and livestock compounds. In addition it had a natural ledge running along the right wail and sloping down to the ground nearby.
Waiting for his reception escort, he turned his thoughts grimly back to the discovery of Owen's weapons on the other side of the Barrier. All he could think of then was that the evil creature had been a punishment sent by Light Himself for his sacrilegious rejection of established beliefs.
Certainly he had been wrong. The Barrier had, after all, been erected solely to protect man from monster. Yet, he knew he would not forfeit his quest for Darkness. Nor would he let the uncertainty surrounding Owen's fate rest for very long.
"Jared
Fenton?"
The voice, coming from behind a boulder on his left, took him by surprise. Stepping out into the full sound of the central caster, the man said, "I'm Lorenz, Adviser to Wheel Anselm."
Lorenz's voice suggested a person of short stature, small lung capacity, depressed chest. Added to this composite was the indirect sonic impression of a face whose audible features were rough with creases and lacked the soft, moist prominences of exposed eyeballs.
"Ten Touches of Familiarization?" Jared offered formally.
But the Adviser declined. "My faculties are adequate. I never forget audible effects." He struck off down a path that coursed through the hot-springs area.
Jared followed. "The Wheel expecting me?" Which was an unnecessary question, since a runner had come ahead.
"I wouldn't be out here to meet you if he wasn't."
Detecting
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