Crystal Gorge (The Dreamers 3)

“Well put, Captain Sorgan,” Commander Narasan said.

After breakfast that morning they all returned to the place Dahlaine called “the war-chamber” to continue their study of Dahlaine’s map of the North country.

It was almost noon when a northern Matan named Tladak came into the map-room looking for Chief Two-Hands. “I could be wrong about this, Tlantar,” he said, “but it looks to me like the entire population of Atazakan is involved in this invasion. There are all those ones who call themselves ‘The Guardians of Divinity,’ of course, but there are others as well—including large numbers of women and children. That’s what’s giving us a lot of trouble. We don’t really want to throw our spears at the innocents, but the dreadfully brave ‘Guardians of Divinity’ are hiding behind them.”

“Did you happen to notice any very small ones that seem to be unusually pale?” Keselo asked the northern Matan.

“Oh, yes,” Tladak replied. “There are hundreds of those. They don’t look much like ordinary Atazaks, though.”

“They aren’t,” Keselo said. “They’re the ones responsible for this ‘unknown pestilence.’ They’re venomous—like certain varieties of snakes—and they’re spitting venom up into the air so that the wind from the east can carry it in your direction. If you’re unlucky enough to breathe it in, you’ll be poisoned, and you’ll die.”

Tladak turned to Dahlaine. “Isn’t there some way you could put a stop to that?” he demanded.

“We’re working on it, Tladak. For right now, though, tell your friends to avoid the Atazaks and their little friends. We haven’t yet found a way to deal with this ‘venom riding the wind’ problem.”

Then Longbow’s little friend Rabbit snapped his fingers. “I knew that we were overlooking something!” he exclaimed.

“We’ve been over it a dozen times, Rabbit,” Longbow said. “I’m sure that we’ve covered everything.”

“Not quite everything, Longbow,” Rabbit disagreed with a broad grin. “Reversing the wind and blowing the venom back into the faces of the Atazaks and their little friends might have worked out very well, except that Dahlaine and Veltan and Zelana aren’t permitted to kill anything—not even enemies who are trying to kill them. If it’s the wind that’s our problem, why not just shut it down? The venom won’t go anyplace if the wind isn’t blowing, so all Dahlaine has to do is to stop the wind.” He looked at Dahlaine. “You can do that, can’t you? If you just tell the wind to stop blowing, you won’t be using it to kill your enemies—even the ones trying to kill you. All you’ll really be doing will be calming everything down.”

Dahlaine blinked, and then an embarrassed expression came over his face.

“Were there any other problems you can’t solve, big brother?” Zelana asked with a sly little grin. “If there are, just let us know, and we’ll be more than happy to take care of them for you.”

“I should have thought of this myself,” Dahlaine ruefully said to his brother Veltan. “I’d say that Aracia’s not the only one of us whose mind’s shutting down.”

“That’s why we all went out and hired outlanders to help us, big brother,” Veltan replied. “They do our thinking for us. Life’s much more pleasing when you don’t have to spend all of your time thinking.”

They all followed Dahlaine out through the long, twisting passageway to the outside. There was a fairly stiff wind coming in from the east, but when Dahlaine raised his hand, the wind died immediately.

Veltan frowned. “I don’t want to offend you, big brother,” he said, “but won’t shutting down the wind interfere with the seasons?”

“I doubt it,” Dahlaine replied. “I didn’t actually shut the wind off. All I did was reach back ten miles or so and divert it. The wind’s still blowing, but it’s not coming this way anymore. We only need a dead calm where the creatures of the Wasteland are standing when they start spitting venom up into the air. The wind can blow all it wants to every place else.”

Sorgan Hook-Beak scratched his chin. “It’s likely to take those silly snake-men a while to realize that the wind isn’t there to help them anymore, wouldn’t you say?”

Dahlaine shrugged. “It’s possible, I suppose. Where are you going with this, Sorgan?”

“If they spit their venom straight up into the air and the wind’s not blowing, it’ll settle back down on top of them, won’t it? Would that break any of the rules that you’re not supposed to violate?”

Dahlaine smiled broadly. “None that I can think of. If they’re foolish enough to poison themselves, that’s not my responsibility.” Then he looked at Rabbit. “Don’t let this little man get away, Sorgan. He’s one of the most valuable people we’ve got working for us.”

Commander Narasan was frowning slightly as he looked at Chief Tlantar. “I’m not trying to be inquisitive or anything,” he said, “but how did you get ‘Two-Hands’ attached to your name?”

Tlantar shrugged. “Back when I was a beginner learning how to use the spear-thrower, our instructor got all worked up because I could use either hand when I wanted to throw a spear. After I showed him that I couldn’t miss with either hand, he started calling me ‘Two-Hands,’ and before very long, just about everybody in the tribe started to call me ‘Tlantar Two-Hands,’ as if it was a miracle of some kind. Actually, it’s always seemed peculiar to me that other people favor one hand or the other.”

Narasan looked at Keselo. “Have you ever heard of anything like this?” he asked.

Keselo nodded. “I had a teacher at the university who could write with either hand—or with both hands at the same time when he wanted to show off. He told us that it was quite rare. Most people favor one hand over the other—right or left—but people who don’t know the difference don’t come along very often.” Then he looked curiously at Tlantar. “Have you ever noticed any difference, Chief Tlantar?” he asked. “I mean, will your spear go farther if you throw it with your right hand instead of the left?”

Tlantar shook his head. “They’re pretty much the same,” he replied. “Sometimes the spear I throw with my right hand will go a few feet farther than the one I throw with my left, but on other days, the left one goes farther. It might depend on which side I slept on the previous night.”