Episode 9 : The Valley of White Death - Part 2

"Na--"

 For a while, Ishtvan - and even Shiva and the other warriors of Rak - were stunned speechless.

"What the--?"

 After stuttering a few times, the mercenary finally squeezes out a faint, throaty voice.

"Cut through that?"

"Yes."

 Guin said sternly. In Shem's words, he repeats his decision so that Rak and the others can understand. Sheba and the others looked at each other and murmured bitterly.

"You've got to be kidding me."

 The mercenary says angrily.

"I don't joke."

"Then you've lost your mind. The two faces of Janus, the ruler of the light and dark of the spirit."

 Istvan made up his mind brusquely.

"Istvan, you are running out of time."

 Guin raised her voice a little. Then he turned back to Shiva and the others.

"You inhabitants of Nosferus, so to speak, live in the same house as the id. Do you know of any grass or beasts or anything that they do not like the smell of, and that the id would avoid if it were smeared on its body?"

"Ha! If there's such a good story lying around, who's going to have any trouble?"

 Istvan taunts. Guin controls him with his hand.

 Shiva became serious. He turned his head back to question his companions. But when he turned to Guin, his round eyes were clouded with disappointment.

"If you're old enough, you might know it, Liard. But we're ..."

"I see."

 Guin says, not sounding particularly disappointed. And..,

"Please wait."

 A young Rak, stretching out his head from behind Sheba, crossed Ro.

"What about you?"

"Sarai, Liard. I have never heard of such a plant, but I heard my father's father speak of it once. The Semites of Nosferus used to tame the id, the sandworm Rato, and the giant anteater and make them do their bidding. Perhaps there was once a spell that made them do as they were told."

"Hm."

 Guin pondered. It was an intriguing story, but at the moment, it could hardly help him to overcome the urgency of the situation. When Istvan urged him to tell him what they were talking about, Guin translated Sarai's words.

"Magic! If I could use magic, I wouldn't be here training the id at night. If I could use magic, I'd easily jump over this nasty valley and go down to the other side."

 Istvan laughed at him.

 But then, suddenly, he frowns and stares at Guin.

"What's the matter--Guin?"

"Hm, if that's the only way, then so be it."

 Guin said calmly, and Istvan rolled his eyes.

"Will you--?"

"Now you said... we're going to fly through the air and over this valley."

"Also, also--"

 The mercenary was about to say something with a suspicious look on his face, but Guin held him back,

"Of course we can't grow wings like the Baltic birds now. And this valley is a tad too wide for us to go flying. But the point is, as long as our bodies don't touch the id, we'll be fine."

 He repeated the same thing in Semitic, and added some instructions in that language which Istvan did not understand.

 The sheba's were listening attentively with their little heads cocked. Then, suddenly, they leapt out at a great speed.

"Hey, hey, what the hell are you up to? You can tell me what the hell you're up to--"

 When Istvan raised his voice in impatience, Angel Hair came swooping down on him, and the mercenary shouted and swatted it away with his hand.

 Guin stared thoughtfully at the white, reassuring glow.

"Hm, angel hair - or maybe it's a symbiotic thing, like where there's an id, there's always a certain kind of small fish that hangs around where there's a crocodile."

"Hey, we don't have time for such frivolous research!"

"Don't be hasty. It is not yet clear what pattern the yarn wheel is weaving."

 was Guin's answer.

 Istvan looked at the huge leopard-headed warrior, who was standing there with his arms folded with an expression as expressionless as ever.

"I don't know how you can think you're sitting in the middle of Nosferus, in your own house, like that! Unless, of course, this really is your home."

 He frowned like a mischievous boy, and spoke hatefully. Guin was about to reply, when Shiva returned with several companions, carrying a heap of things.

"It's warm."

"Yes, Liard."

 Shiva and his men carried it down to Guin. Istvan looked at it with interest and frowned.

"What the hell is this? It's a crystal."

 It was a strange long, thin, peeled rock, which is often seen because the rocky mountains in this area are much farther north.

 Guin told the Rak to strip the stone as thinly as they could, so that it would be clear but strong.

 The young men of Raku, who had dispersed in groups, returned in the same way, carrying the crystal stone.

"It would be easier if we could find a tall, strong tree, but no matter where we look in all of Nosferus, we cannot find a tree taller than the Semites, so we have no choice."

 Guin said curtly, still grabbing as many of the slender stones as he could get his hands on and testing their hardness.

"Hey, tell me--what are you going to do?"

 By this time, Istvan's curiosity had been aroused to an almost unbearable degree. He rolls his black eyes like a child and peers into Guin's hand.

"Stilts."

 Guin's answer was quite simple.

"Stilts--?"

"Ah... Though I don't expect to be able to easily cut through that valley with such a trifle. At least, as far as we can get our hands on this fragile material, the trouble is that it's too fragile to strip off for very long, and even more trouble is that it might be a bit heavy for Shem and the others to handle at will, and we I mean, you and me, we're too fragile to trust ourselves to."

"What are stilts?"

 Ignoring Guin's words, the Valakian asked in a bouncy voice.

"I mean, that's how--"

 Guin, handling it very carefully so that the long stick of stone would not be ripped off or broken any more, took a piece of rock, which he had scraped off very briefly, and bent it about a third of the way up the stick with a stout vine that carried Shem's bow and arrow. and his great hand was upon it. His large hands moved with a quickness and dexterity that belied his size, and soon he had two long stone sticks with identical footrests (though they were more like slabs than sticks, for the crystalline stone only came off flat).

 After testing it with his hands to see if it would hold, he looked around at the Rak and invited the largest of the young men, who was none other than Sarai, to join him.

"Sarai, put your foot on this ledge and stand on it. That's how I'm going to hold it."

"Yes, Liard."

 Sarai nimbly did as she was told. Instantly the little Semitic youth grew much taller than Guin, who held the middle of the stick and supported him.

"What do you say, Sarai-- can't you walk around with this stick?"

"I'll see what I can do, Liard.

 Without questioning him, the faithful Rak youth grasped the stick that Guin had removed from his hand, lifted it one foot at a time, and began to struggle to walk slowly.

 By this time, the other Rak had understood Guin's intentions and began to gather around him. Sarai seemed to have developed her motor skills to a great extent, and after falling down once or twice, she seemed to have picked up the hang of it quickly.

"Can you make it through the Id crowd?"

"I'll see what I can do, Liard. I can--probably. But this stick is ... very, very heavy."

 After a short rest on the ground, Sarai looked around wearily, and then added

"Me and Shiva can do it, but something smaller - Mano or Kai - can't."

"Neither can I, Sarai. Neither can this Istvan. If I get on that thing, it'll break that pliant stick."

 Guin said.

"It's okay. I'm not asking everyone to use this to cut through that valley. That's impossible. It'll take too long. We don't have that much stilts. If one or two brave souls can make it to the other side, that's all that matters."

"So they run to Rak's village, and we sit here and wait for help."

 Istvan will talk.

"It's not."

 Guin explained patiently.

"I've got a plan for what happens after."

"Ah! So, with the leopard head of your creator Silenos, you've figured out a way for us, who are twice as heavy as they are, to get there safely."

"I guess. Well, there's always a risk."

"You're not going to give up even in front of him, are you?"

 Istvan said bitterly, but there was something like a faint admiration shining in his dark eyes.

"Liard."

 Sarai looks up at Guin as if to ask for instructions on what to do with it.

"Well - now comes the big one."

 Guin looked down at his small, hairy, enthusiastic face.

"How about it, Sarai - do you have the courage to use those stilts to somehow get through this valley of the id?"

"Yes--yes, Liard!"

"If you lose your balance, or slip from exhaustion, or if these Id's go on longer than we can measure, you'll be right in the middle of them."

"I--I know."

 Sarai shuddered, but she was not frightened.

"The very survival of Raq-or all Sem, for that matter-depends on whether you make it through here in one piece."

 Guin said quietly, then signalled to them to come with the long ropes which he had made for them apart from the stilts. As there were no materials for such a thing in the rocky mountains around here, he had them bring out the vines that bound the bows and arrows on their backs, the belts that bound the furs they wore, and whatever else they could find, and tied them together tightly.

"You must carry this around your waist."

 Guin ordered. He tied the end of the rope tightly around Sarai's small waist and gave her detailed instructions.

"Coming, Liard.

"Good. Tie your feet together lightly so they don't slip. And--"

 I've been thinking about it for a while,

"Take a torch with you. I don't know how well it will protect you if you should step off, but at any rate, use it to burn away the invading id."

"It's okay, Liard.

 Sarai bared her teeth in a smile. Then she added.

"If I mess up, Shiva will do it for you.

 Guin nodded and silently tapped him on his small shoulder.

 Sarai's ready to leave. It was a rather strange death squad.

 To lighten his load, he threw away his bow and arrows, his stone axe, and almost all his clothes. He tied a hastily made rope around his waist, and hobbled to the footstool of the stone stilts on which Guin was supporting him, and tied a torch to the top of the pole. Again he looked down at Guin and his friends and smiled, and Sarai gave the signal that this was enough.

"All right, let's go. Wait here for a bit so Sarai can get a little less tired and I can carry her as far as I can before she goes any further."

 Guin instructed Raku and the others what they should do in the meantime, and he lifted the stone sticks with Sarai.

 Holding it in his right hand, he walked down toward the bottom of the valley where the id was unevenly distributed, paying attention to his footing. Even if he had been told not to follow, he could not have remained there. Shiva, Ishtvan and half of Raku followed Guin down from far behind and peered cautiously around the bend.

 Guin had become much more cautious. He lowered Sarai and narrowed his eyes, watching the Idols.

 The horrible, indeterminate monsters continue their eternal stirring. They do not remain intact for even a moment, but frequently change shape like the surface of the water ruffled by the wind, gently rising and falling into the air.

 If you look carefully, you can see that the pale, disgusting jelly is not made of the same substance from one end to the other, but that there are round things and wiggly things in it that seem to be very primitive sense organs, and that you can peep into them with a whiteness somewhat darker than that of the outer jelly.

 Whether they were aware of the intruders in the valley or not, they continued their undulating and gnarled groaning incessantly, while the whole of them also stretched and shrank like eternal, mad hunger and dissatisfaction itself.

 Sarai gazed fearlessly at the disgusting sea of raw impurity into which she was about to enter. She wielded a stick and tested it.

"You'll get there."

 Quite simply, Guin said.

"Yes, Liard."

 Sarai replied simply, and, handling her stilts carelessly, she plunged into the valley floor filled with id.

 Before he knew it, Sheba was right behind Guin. Her small face was tightly drawn.

"It's dangerous to be this close to the Id, Liard."

 Pulling Guin with small hairy hands .

"Mm-- yeah. I'm fine."

 Guin moved back a little, but not far enough to reach the corner of the red rock, where he was almost safe, and where a number of round heads were peering cautiously at him.

 The night is long gone. At the bottom of the darkness, there is only a pale id, buzzing and squirming. It seems that the id has a luminescent effect, though it is very small. However, given that the id that once attacked Istvan completely disguised itself in the color of darkness, it may have the ability to change its color according to the color of its surroundings.

"It's dangerous."

 Shiva also pulled on Guin's arm.

 Guin doesn't move. His Leopard head remains rigid and expressionless as he watches over Sarai.

 It resembled a reluctant boat on a sea of pale light. The feeble light of Sarai's torch pierced the darkness and flashed like a star in the east to guide the people. Slowly and cautiously, Sarai tested her footing, trying to get through the middle of the Ido.

 Sarai's feet are about two meters above the id. Whenever the stick is lowered into the id, the id around it moves in a whirling motion, as if it wants to know what stimulates it.

 But the id has no stickiness, so when Sarai moves her fulcrum to the other leg and raises it, it doesn't seem to hold her back much, and quietly returns to its own terrifying swell.

 Sarai's progress, while not unreasonable, was so slow as to be frustrating to watch. It seemed as if she might not be able to make it through the crowd of Id forever.

 Suddenly, a faint scream came from the mouth of one of the watchers. Sarai staggered and nearly lost her balance.

"Oh."

 Even Istvan groaned in fear, but Sarai managed to regain her balance.

"Liard."

 Sheba leaned down and put her mouth to Guin's ear.

"Liard, I'm going to practice so I can go with you.

"Do that."

 Guin said briefly. All the while, he couldn't take his eyes off Sarai's now-distant form.

 He looked calm, but a keen and penetrating observer would have seen that the calmness of his countenance was betrayed by the shaking of his muscles under his tanned skin, by the tremendous force of his arms and his fists. You would have noticed it immediately.

"Do so - but hopefully, you won't have to."

 As Sarai stepped forward, the rope around his waist became tighter and tighter. The other end of the rope was tied around Guin's hand, and as he pulled it out, he said again, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what to do. In fact, Shiva had already stepped back to carry out the order, so no one probably heard his murmur.

 Even if the crystal itself can be fetched from the area again, the material for the rope is already out of stock, and there are only a few torches left - even if we remove the bowstring and use it, I don't know if we can make a third attempt... ...)

 But at the end, even if no one was listening, he did not say anything. He stood there with both feet propped up in a confident and unfeeling manner, as if he could think of any number of ways to get out if this did not work, and watched Sarai's adventure in silence.

"Damn it... can't we get through yet? I wonder how far these rats have infiltrated from here."

 Istvan shouts from behind him. Guin looked down at the rope in his hand. It was also one of the most fragile materials. For the rope, which connected his hand to Sarai like a single lifeline, was being drawn out, and if there were more than half a tad of Ids in the colony, the length of the rope would not be enough. Without the rope, his plan would not have been half as successful as it was.

 This is when he turned his leopard's head as if to dispel all these vague and sinister thoughts.

 Suddenly,

"I can see over there! I can make it across!"

 Sarai's screams of joy were heard.

"Guin!"

"Liard!"

 From behind, Istvan and the Raks also shout for joy.

 Guin sat on his haunches and made a growling sound as he tried to see through the sea of id.

"You did it-- Sarai!"

 The rope in his hand was already stretched out to the utmost limit. The valley seemed to curve upward from the middle of it, and Sarai and his torchlight were not visible to them for some time.

 Now that rope in Guin's hand is the only bond that binds them to Sarai.

"Stay alert, Sarai-- just stay alert."

 Guin was about to scream at the top of her lungs--that's when it happened!

"Gaaaah!"

 Suddenly, the horrible scream of Sarai - a dying, sobbing moan - pierced their ears!

"Sarai!"

 Guin ranted. The rope suddenly hung slack in his hand.

 Sarai's foot slipped.