Ship! What are they doing to him?

Observe.

The injured one said: “You have traveled far to see this.”

Ship intruded on her shock: “He’s talking to you, Ekel. You can answer him.”

The dust of the crowd welled up around her and she choked on it before being able to speak, then: “How . . . how do you know how far I’ve come?”

It was an old woman’s cracked voice she heard issuing from her mouth.

“You are not hidden from me,” the injured one said.

One of the soldiers laughed at her then and thrust his spear in her direction. He did it almost playfully. “Get along, old woman. You may’ve traveled far but I can send you farther.”

His companions guffawed at the jest.

Hali recalled Ship’s reassurance: No one bothers an old woman. The injured man called out to her: “Let them know it was done!”

Then the angry shouts of the crowd and the swirling, odorous dust engulfed her. She almost choked as they moved past, caught by a coughing spasm which cleared her throat. When she could, she turned to gaze after the crowd and a gasp was forced from her. At the top of the hill beyond the crowd two men were hanging on tree constructions with crosspieces such as that being dragged along with the injured man.

A momentary opening in the crowd gave her another glimpse of the injured one and, turning back toward her, he shouted: “If anyone understands God’s will, you must.”

Once more, the milling crowd hid him from her.

God’s will?

A hand touched her arm and she jerked away in fright, whirling to see a young man in a long brown robe at her side. His breath smelled of sewage. And his voice was an unctuous whine.

“He says you come from afar, mother,” the foul-breathed one said. “Do you know him?”

The look in Foul-breath’s eyes made her acutely aware of the vulnerable old flesh which housed her consciousness. This was a dangerous man . . . very dangerous. The look in his eyes reminded her of Oakes. He could cause great pain.

“You had better answer me,” he said, and there was poison in his voice.

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

You call Avata “Firefly in the night of the sea.” Avata has doubts about such words because Avata sees the landscape of your mind. Avata moves through your landscape with difficulty. It shifts and twists and changes as Avata goes through. But Avata has made such journeys before. Avata is an explorer of such landscapes. Your phantoms are Avata’s glides. We are linked in motion.