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paced steadily through the opening, leaving behind the only home Bright
Eyes had ever known, which he would never see again. There was mist on the
land.
Strange and terrible portents had caused Bright Eyes to leave the
place. Unwilling to believe what they
implied, at first, Bright Eyes pursued the gentle patterns of his days-like
all the other days he had ever known, alone.
But finally, when the blood-red and gray colors washed in unholy
mixture down the skies, he knew what had happened, and that it was his
obligation to return to a place he had never seen, had only heard about
from others, centuries before, and do what had to be done. The others were
long-since dead: had been dead since before Christ took Barabbas place on
the cross. The place to which Bright Eyes must return had not even been
known, had not even existed, when the others left the world. Yet it was
Bright Eyes place, by default, and his obligation to all the others
who had passed before. Since he was the last of his kind, a race that
had no name, and had dwelled in the castle-place for millennia, he only
dimly understood what was demanded of him. Yet this he knew: the call had
been made, the portents cast into the night to be seen by him; and he must go.
It was a journey whose length even Bright Eyes could not surmise. The mist
seemed to cover the world in a soft shroud that promised little good luck on
this mission.
And, inexplicably, to Bright Eyes, there was a crushing sadness in him. A
sadness he did not fathom, could not plumb, dared not examine. His glowing
sight pierced through the mist, as steadily and stately, Thomas
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moved toward Bright Eyes final destination. And it would remain unknown, till
he reached it.
Out of the mist the giant rat swung jauntily. They had passed among
softly-rounded hills with water that dripped from above. Then the
shoulders had become black rock, and gleaming pinpoints of diamond
brilliance had shone in the rock, and Bright Eyes had realized they were in
caves. But had they come from the land, inside...or had they come from some
resting-land deep in the bowels of the Earth, into these less hidden
caverns; and would they continue to another outside?
Far ahead, a dim light pulsed and glowed, and Bright Eyes spurred Thomas
forward. The dim light grew more bold, more orange and yellow and menacing
with sudden soft roars of bubbling thunder. And as they rounded the
passage, the floor of the cave was gone, and in their path lay a boiling scar
in the stone. A lava pit torn up out of the solid stone, hissing and bubbling
fiercely with demonic abandon. The light burned at Bright Eyes, and the heat
was gagging. The sour stench of sulphur bit at his senses, and he made to turn
aside.
The giant rat suddenly bolted in panic, arching back, more like caterpillar
than rodent, and Bright Eyes was tossed to the floor of the cave, his net of
skulls rolling away from him. Thomas chittered in fear, and took steps away,
then paused and returned to his master. Bright Eyes rose and patted the
terrified beast several times. Thomas fell into quivering silence.
Bright Eyes retrieved the skulls. All but one, that had rolled across the
stone floor and disappeared with a vagrant hiss into the flame-pit. The
giant rat sniffed at the walls, first one, then the other, and settled against
the far one. Bright Eyes contemplated the gash in the stone floor. It
stretched completely across, and as far as he could tell, forward. Thomas
chittered.
Bright Eyes looked away from the flames, into the fear-streaked eyes of the
beast.  Well, Thomas? he asked.
The rat s snout twitched, and it hunkered closer to the wall. It looked up at
Bright Eyes imploringly. Bright Eyes came to the rat, crouched down, stroked
its neat, tight fur. Bright Eyes brushed the wall. It was not hot. It was
cool.
The rat knew.
Bright Eyes rose, walked back along the passage. He found the
parallel corridor half a mile back in the direction they had come.
Without turning, he knew Thomas had silently followed, and leading [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]