Alan Dean Foster Humanx 6 The howling stones

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being perpetually asleep. The long snout was shrunken and wrinkled, the lips
cracked and blackened, and most of his teeth were missing. Those that remained
in the aged jaws looked none too healthy.
But the delicate three-fingered hands did not shake as they traced the length
of Pulickel's comatose form. Fawn kept silent for as long as she could stand
it before finally stammering, "Can you help him?"
Ancient eyes turned to meet her own. The healer's voice was a lacework of
whispers, and she had to strain to make out the words. "I do not know. One who
has taken to such roads in ignorance may be doomed to wander them forever."
"Wander-but he's here," she protested.
The elder didn't argue with her. "I will try. But not here. To heal, two
stones are necessary. Two stones and two masters."
That much made sense. Based on what she now knew, no stone functioned on its
own. At least two were required and for all she knew, sometimes more.
"Where, then?"
"Torrelauapa." As he said this, several of the assembled big persons indicated
solemn assent, executing in unison the gestures she had come to recognize as
the Parramati equivalent of a nod.
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Insisting that the patient be stretchered so that Ijaju could watch over him,
and leery as always of the skimmer, the Torrelauapans carried Pulickel over
the mountain trail back to their village.
Lesser males and females looked on in silence as the line of big persons
conveyed the body to the longhouse of Solinna. Though subordinate in age and
status to the visiting Ijaju, her healing skills were respected throughout the
region.
No feasting, no celebration preceded the treatment. The villagers went about
their daily tasks as if nothing out of the ordinary was going to take place.
This was very different from the ceremony of the blessing of the planting that
Fawn had witnessed. Those youngsters whose innate high spirits could not be
restrained were gently guided away from the healer's longhouse. Several elders
whom Fawn had come to know well came up to her to offer condolences. Their
concern made her feel ashamed. None of this would have happened if they'd
simply left the stones alone.
Which they couldn't do, she knew with equal certainty. Not after the planting
ceremony, and especially not now. Pulickel would agree with her
absolutely-once he was able to agree to anything again.
She refused to countenance the possibility of that never happening.
Pulickel was placed on one of the most finely woven Parramati mats Fawn had
ever seen. Incense pots were placed at the four corners of the mat and lit.
Aromatic smoke filled the room, drifting out through a hole in the sharply
raked ceiling.
With two young villagers supporting him under either arm, Ijaju settled into a
resting squat close by the motionless xenologist's head. Solinna assumed the
lesser position, at the human's feet.
Chanting and waving pucici fronds, they set their respective healing stones
down in front of them.
These were typically unimpressive lumps of the same glassy green material Fawn
had seen before.
The chanting continued without a break, monotonous and uninspiring. Waving at
the smoke, she frequently stepped outside for some fresh air and sunshine. No
one could give her an idea of how long the ceremony might last. She knew that
by nightfall her companion's body would be demanding fluids even if he
couldn't come right out and ask for them. That would mean a return trip to the
station for the necessary equipment. Whether it interfered with the healing
ceremony or not, she
file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Allan%20...nx%20-%2006%20-%20The%20Howling
%20Stones.txt (74 of 112) [5/19/03 11:25:45 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Allan%20Dean%20Foster%20-%20Humanx%20-%200
6%20-%20The%20Howling%20Stones.txt had to at least get some sustaining glucose
solution into him.
She intercepted Ascela as the big person was bounding past. "I can't see that
anything is happening or that this is doing Pu'il any good. When does the
healing start?"
The weather stone master eyed her sympathetically. At least, Fawn thought it
was sympathetically.
Her knowledge of Parramati expressions was less than perfect.
"The healing has already begun, F'an." She took one of Fawn's hands in hers,
the long fingers wrapping completely around the smaller human hand, the middle
one twice. That gesture, at least, needed no interpreting. "They are seeking [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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