Victory on Janus by Andre Norton

Author:Andre Norton [Norton, Andre]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-02-13T05:18:27.128000+00:00

XI

Could or did it see him? He had no chance against an attack with only a sword for defense. Then his mind steadied. If the suit was inhabited he might have to fear it, but if it were empty the sword energy ought to render it helpless. His confidence flooded back. But prudently he stepped to the left, out of its direct path.

It did not pause or show any interest in him, but stamped on into the corridor, leaving Ayyar free to explore the room. All the cylinders with liquid in them were so murky that he could only see shadowy forms floating within. But the number was astounding for the chamber was very large and the filled containers stood like a forest of evil trees. There were surely more here than the numbers of false Iftin they had seen, unless those formed a real army. But these--if the patterns for the false Iftin were bottled here--who were they? Changelings caught in the net ofThat ? Or--Ayyar's heart beat faster--were they from the old days, captives taken by the Larsh? And if so--could they be restored to life again?

As he returned, he glanced at the container that had so recently been given an occupant. The red liquid flowed now about the chin of the motionless off-worlder, lapping against his lips. In him was no sign of life.

Where wasThat which controlled all this? Ayyar had seen nothing moving except the suits. Should he seek a higher level or a lower? And where did these burrows lie--under the mounds or the rock walls of the valley cliffs?

He turned left as he came out, heading into the unknown, watching for any wall plates. There was a pair farther on, and this time he did not shatter them. Rather, he went to floor level, wriggling past on his belly, rising only when he was well beyond their frames.

Some time past, Ayyar had stopped depending upon his nose, for the mingling of what were, for him, stenches blocked his ability to select any to follow. But now he did smell something, and it was like the clean blade of a knife cutting a foul kalcrok web.

For an Ift, you could not disguise the smell of growing things. He needed that as he had needed it in the valley where he had left Illylle. So he followed that scent eagerly, yet not so headlong that he failed to take note of his going and of any pitfall that might lie ahead.

No stairs--but a sloping downward of the passage, and ever the scent of true life. But--this was winter--and what he drew into wide nostrils was the odor of spring! Caution dampened his first excitement. It would seem that inThat 's domain even the seasons could be controlled.

He crawled past two more of the wall crystals and then was out in the open. From a point below rose the heady fragrance of what might have been the Forest of Iftcan itself!

The light was silver moon radiance. Ayyar

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