Hokanu lowered his head in agreement, then looked the magician in the eyes. “Milamber . . . Pug. I thank you for the ease you brought to my father. He spoke of the message Pug had carried from Kasumi. “May the gods of both worlds watch over you, Great One.” He bowed his head as a sign of respect and then silently turned his mount around.
In a short while Pug sat alone atop the pass through which no Tsurani had ridden in ages. Below him lay the forests of the north slope of the High Wall, and beyond them the ranges of the Thun. And beyond the tundra? A dream or legend perhaps. The alien creatures seen briefly in a vision each magician endured as he passed his final testing for the black robe. Those creatures known only as the Watchers. It was Pug’s hope they possessed some knowledge of the Enemy, some knowledge that might prove the difference in the coming battle. For as Pug sat atop his tired mount, on the wind-swept heights of the greatest mountains on Kelewan’s largest continent, he was certain some great struggle had begun, a struggle that could mean the destruction of two worlds.
Pug urged his horse forward, and the animal began moving downward, toward the tundra and the unknown.
Pug pulled back on the reins. Since leaving Hokanu’s patrol he had seen nothing in the hills as he rode down toward the tundra. Now, a day out of the foothills, a band of Thun were speeding to meet him. The centaur-like creatures hooted their battle songs as they ran, their powerful hooves beating the tundra in rhythmic concussion. But unlike the legendary centaur, the upper portion of this creature looked as if some form of lizard had grown to man shape above the torso of a heavy horse or mule. Like all other native life forms on Kelewan, they were hexapedal, and as with the other intelligent native race, the insectoid cho-ja, the upper limbs had developed into arms. Unlike humans, they had six fingers.
Pug waited quietly until the Thun were almost upon him, then he erected a mystic barrier and watched as they crashed into it. The Thun were all large, warrior males, though Pug couldn’t really imagine what a female of the species must look like. Still, these creatures, for all their alien appearance, acted as Pug would have expected young human warriors to act under the same circumstances, confused and angry. Several beat ineffectively against the barrier while the others retreated a short way off to observe. Then Pug removed the cape the Shinzawai lord had given him for the journey. Through the haze of the mystic barrier, one of the young Thun saw him wearing the black robe and shouted to his companions. They turned and fled.
For three days they followed him at a respectful distance. Some ran off, and for a time those remaining were joined by other Thun. This leaving and returning, with some Thun always behind him, continued unabated. At night, Pug erected a circle of protection about himself and his mount, and when he awoke the next morning, the Thun still watched. Then, on the fourth day, the Thun finally made peaceful contact.
A single Thun trotted toward him, awkwardly holding his hands above his head, palms together in the Tsurani parley sign. Pug could see as he came up to him that they had sent an elder.
“Honors to your tribe,” said Pug, hoping the creature could speak Tsurani.
An almost human chuckle answered. “A first that is, black one. Never honor have man given to me.” The speech was heavily accented, but understandable, and the strange, saurian features were surprisingly expressive. The Thun was unarmed, but old scars showed it had once been a powerful warrior. Now age had robbed it of much of its vigor.
Pug expressed a suspicion. “You are the sacrifice?”
“My life is yours to take. Bring down your sky fire, if that your wish. But not, I think, your wish.” Again the chuckle. “Black ones the Thun have faced. And why a one near the age of leaving should you take, when sky fire can a whole band burn? No, you move for purposes your own, do you not? Troubling those soon left to face the ice hunters, the pack killers, a purpose of yours is not.” Pug studied the Thun. He was almost at the day when he would be too old to keep pace with the moving band, when the tribe would abandon him to the predators of the tundra.
“Your age brings wisdom. I have no contention with the Thun. I simply seek to pass to the north.”
“Thun a Tsurani word. We are Lasura, the people. Black ones have I seen. You a troublesome lot. Fight almost won, then black ones sky fire bring. Tsurani fight bravely, and Tsurani head a great trophy is, but black ones? Leaving Lasura in peace, your business usually is not. Why our ranges seek you to cross?”
“There is a grave danger, from ages long gone. It is a danger to all on Kelewan, to Thun as well as Tsurani. I think there are those who may know how that danger may be met, those who live high in the ice.” He pointed to the north.