«Yes. And if we learn that the Blade is alive and dangerous to the Rutari, there are other things we can do about him than send our men to fall off cliffs after him!» They both laughed.

«May I take Cheeky with me to the Idol?» Ellspa then asked. Cheeky gently took his hand off Moyla's shoulder. Now he would be sure to have thoughts he did not want anyone to hear.

«You think he will become your First Friend or at least tell you about the Blade?»

«Maybe. But-I would like to be kind to him. He does not deserve to be unhappy, no matter what his Master has done.» What Ellspa was feeling told Cheeky that she was mostly telling the truth. She did hope to learn from him things about the Blade she did not know, but she also really wanted to make him happy.

Cheeky went over to Ellspa, yeeeped softly, and jumped up on her shoulder. «See,» she said. «He understands me. In time, maybe he will be my First Friend. Now-can I take him with me to the Idol?»

«Yes.»

Cheeky jumped down before there was any chance Ellspa could know why he was so happy and excited. He would learn where the Idol was and maybe even what it was. Then if the Master Blade was alive, and they ever met again, he would be able to tell Blade the things he most wanted to know! Then the Master Blade might forgive him for staying with Moyla.

However, that would be giving Blade something the Rutari did not want him to know. He would be making Ellspa unhappy after she tried to make him happy. The Wise One also might get angry with Ellspa, and punish her. Cheeky felt almost ashamed of himself for doing this to the woman. He knew it was a good thing to do for the Master Blade, but he very much wished the Master Blade was here so they could talk about it before he actually had to do it.

The Master Blade was not here, though. Cheeky would have to do what had to be done alone. For the first time he understood something about what the Master Blade felt all the times he had to do something like this alone.

Chapter 12

Richard Blade was still alive, but it wasn't because the Hungry Waters didn't live up to their name. As he'd once said, «I suppose I'm too stupid to know when I'm supposed to lie down and die. So I never do.»

The spray threw off his judgment of the height of the cliff, so he hit the water before he was ready. He went deep, striking the bottom and swallowing a throatful of icy water before he started to rise. Then he shot to the surface like a cork, just in time for a wave to submerge him again. This bobbing up and down went on for quite a while, and if Blade hadn't been able to get a breath each time he surfaced he would probably have drowned.

Finally he reached a calmer part of the river. It turned out to be calmer only because the water boomed through a stretch of the canyon as straight as a pipe. Blade slammed against rocks several times, fortunately receiving only glancing blows. He wasn't hurt except for some bruises and loss of a certain amount of skin, but he was soon bleeding enough to notice. At least he didn't have to worry about the blood attracting sharks!

He'd just started to catch his breath when he went over a waterfall. It must have been a good thirty feet high, straight down into a pool so deep Blade didn't worry about hitting bottom. He shot down and down and down into it, until the light began to fade and he started wondering if he would get back to the surface before his breath ran out. Or was he going to be sucked into an underwater cave, just for variety?

Neither happened. His head popped into fresh air, and he trod water until his lungs were back to normal. Then he looked around. The pool was broad enough to slow down the current. It was also far enough downstream from where he'd jumped that the runners' path was nowhere in sight. He still swam underwater most of the way to the far bank, in case some of the runners who'd seen his accident left the path to look for him.

As soon as he felt bottom under his feet, he stood with only his head out of the water, scanning the runners' side of the river. The slope on his side was gentle, but as bare of covering as a stripteaser at the end of her act. Anybody who reached the other bank before Blade got over the crest would see him standing out like a fly on a plate.

No sign of anyone, though. Blade swam the last few yards to shore underwater, surfaced, took several deep breaths, then charged out of the water. He didn't slow down until he was over the crest of the slope, then looked back at the opposite bank from the cover of a boulder.

He saw nobody, and he'd heard no shouts as he ran. Blade checked his plastic harness and wrist bracers and found himself grinning. Except for these bits of plastic he was practically back to where he'd been in the early days of the Project-alone and nearly naked, in a land full of dangers, both human and natural.

This time, though, he knew most of the dangers, including the Rutari and the Great Hunters. He knew where he was going and roughly how far he had to go to get there. He could even hope for a friendly reception when he arrived. Considering how easily he'd survived so many bare-arsed landings in entirely new Dimensions, there was nothing to worry about now.

Or at least nothing to worry about as far as his own survival was concerned. Leaving Cheeky behind was another matter.

On the morning of the fourth day after he climbed out of the Hungry Waters, Blade was perched in the branches of one of the blue-leaved trees, watching the camp of what he assumed was an Uchendi hunting party. At least they weren't Rutari, and Blade hadn't heard of a third major tribe in this Dimension.

Five of the six hunters in the party had left at dawn, just after Blade settled into place. They'd left a hunter who was lying down with a bandaged leg, a small boy, and a good-looking if somewhat plump young woman. Blade could tell this because the Uchendi wore about as much as the Rutari. The girl wore a leather headband, sandals with throngs to the knee, and something like a set of dyed leather swimming trunks. This left a lot of well-rounded bronzed skin exposed to Blade's eyes.

The girl and the boy had just finished changing the bandage on the injured hunter's leg. The boy went off toward the bank of a nearby stream, carrying a sack. The girl built up the fire until a large clay pot was bubbling nicely, then started dropping the bones of yesterday's kill into the water. When the pot was full, she banked up the fire to keep it simmering, then picked up a bulging sack and went to feed the hunters' mounts.

The lizard-horses of the Uchendi had even longer legs than those of the Rutari; they reminded Blade more of spiders than of anything intended for riding by human beings. The girl had to reach up to feed them, but she seemed to have a way with them, cooing and clucking until they lowered their heads to nibble their food from her hand. Blade watched her move among the animals, admiring the way her black braids swung down her back and the springiness of her breasts-

A high-pitched scream came from the stream. The girl whirled and the hunter sat up in time to see the boy sprinting frantically back toward the camp. His eyes and mouth were wide with terror, and he had good reason for it. Behind him lumbered one of the Great Hunters. It didn't look like a full-grown specimen, but it was still taller than Blade and probably strong enough to strangle him one-handed. Devouring the three Uchendi would only whet his hearty appetite.

Blade swung down to a lower branch, then dropped to the ground on the far side of the tree and began searching for some large round stones. He had the only weapon that would give any of them a chance against the Great Hunter. It wasn't a very good chance, but the other choices were either running like a rabbit or watching the Great Hunter slaughter the Uchendi.