Running From the Deity by Alan Dean Foster

Author:Alan Dean Foster [Foster, Alan Dean]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Young Adult
ISBN: 9780345461612
Google: OhcgPvjPf6gC
Amazon: B000FCKGKM
Goodreads: 23391
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2005-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

9

He is not a god.”

Counselor Noble Treappyn sat in the bath beneath one of several stone spouts carved in the shape of a vomiting cyklaria, letting the warm, mildly acidic liquid that spilled from its gray-blue mouth cascade over him. The smelly solution exfoliated his skin and enhanced the flexibility of his gripping flanges. One just had to be careful to keep the eyes closed when submerged, or when enjoying a shower as he was now. A little of the sparkling fluid would clear the eyes. Too much would start to dissolve them.

Across from him, the Highborn Pyrrpallinda lay half in and half out of the elaborate bath, the four forelimbs of his August body sprawled in all directions. It was not a dignified posture, but other than Treappyn and counselor Srinballa there were none present to see it. Given the especially sensitive nature of Treappyn’s report, even the usual attendants had been banned from the royal bath.

Unusually for him, Srinballa looked satisfied. “Then it can be killed.”

“In theory, yes.” Treappyn had no hesitation in agreeing with the senior counselor’s assessment. “In practice … ” He let the implication trail off.

Srinballa was persistent. “What is to prevent such a course of action, should someone wish to take it?”

Raising one pair of forearms, Treappyn used them to stroke clean first one Sensitive, then another, dipping the appendages forward down toward his eyes to make them easier to reach. He did not need a mirror to see what he was doing. It was an instinctive, and ancient, Dwarran behavior.

“It is difficult to see how an assassination might be successfully carried out on a being who can sense the emotions of anyone in his vicinity merely by perceiving their intent, and without having to make physical contact via Sensitives. Also, the alien, who calls himself Flinx, is never far from the company of a small winged animal that he claims can do the same and, furthermore, has the ability to spit a deadly toxin.” Sliding out from beneath the gushing spout, Treappyn steadfastly regarded the other counselor who was his senior in age if not authority.

“That is what I have learned from having observed and spoken with the creature. Of perhaps more significance is what I was not able to observe. This being possesses many wonderful instruments for healing. It would be foolish in the extreme to assume he does not also possess similarly advanced means for defending his own person.”

“Why would we want to kill it, anyway?” Shifting from a slanted to a squatting position in the deep rectangular basement pool, Pyrrpallinda allowed one of the tiny chouult that lived in the acidic hot-water spring to scour and scrub his lower body for parasites. “It hasn’t threatened us and it heals, without asking for payment, the ill and injured of Wullsakaa.”

“Well, not entirely without payment, Highborn.” Treappyn proceeded to detail the means by which the alien’s hosts went about extracting money from arriving supplicants.

Pyrrpallinda wheezed a combination of indifference and mild admiration. “Good for them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.