jumped down from the trailer, swinging from a rain-shiny leg. Mud splattered up her bare white calves.
"If you, dis me, t'ought ... thought you were bad, I'd expec' you to brute me right now. But you don'. Even though you neba -- never have a gol before." Her strained speech started to crack, and she laughed nervously. "I was tol' abou' you 'en you came. About your prob -- lem." She looked at him curiously. "How do you feel?"
"Alive. And I wouldn't be too sure I'm not a danger. I've never had to control myself before."
The girl looked him over coquettishly.
"Mandala, it isn't all bad, no good," she said. "It took care ob you. Dat's good, is it no'?"
"When I go home," Jeshua said, drawing a breath, "I'm going to tell my people we should come and destroy the cities."
The girl frowned. "Li' take down?"
"Piece by piece."
"Too much to do. Nobod can do dat."
"Enough people can."
"No' good to do in firs' place. No' tall."
"It's because of them we're like savages now."
The girl shimmied up the spider's leg again and motioned for him to follow. He lifted himself and stood on the rounded lip of the back, watching her as she walked with arms balancing to the middle of the vehicle. "Look dis," she said. She pointed to the ranked legions of Mandala. The mist was starting to burn off. Shafts of sunlight cut through and brightened wide circles of the plain. "De polis, dey are li' not'ing else. Dey are de..." She sighed at her lapses. "They are the fines' thing we eba put together. We should try t'save dem."
But Jeshua was resolute. His face burned with anger as he looked out over the disassembled city. He jumped from the rim and landed in the pounded mud. "If there's no place for people in them, they're useless. Let the architect try to reclaim. I've got more immediate things to do."
The girl smiled slowly and shook her head. Jeshua stalked off between the vehicles and city parts.
Mandala, broken down, covered at least thirty square miles of the plain. Jeshua took his bearings from a tall rock pinnacle, chose the shortest distance to the edge, and sighted on a peak in Arat. He walked without trouble for a half hour and found himself approaching an attenuated concentration of city fragments. Grass grew up between flattened trails. Taking a final sprint, he stood on the edge of Mandala. He took a deep breath and looked behind to see if anything was following.
He still had his club. He held it in one hand, hefted it, and examined it closely, trying to decide what to do with it if he was bothered. He put it back in his belt, deciding he would need it for the long trip back to his expolis. Behind him, the ranks of vehicles and parts lurched and began to move. Mandala was beginning reconstruction. It was best to escape now.
He ran. The long grass made speed difficult, but he persisted until he stumbled into a burrow and fell over. He got up, rubbed his ankle, decided he was intact, and continued his clumsy springing gait.
In an hour he rested beneath the shade of a copse of trees and laughed to himself. The sun beat down heavily on the plain, and the grass shimmered with a golden heat. It was no time for travel. There was a small puddle held in the cup of a rock, and he drank from that, then slept for a while.
He was awakened by a shoe gently nudging him in the ribs.
"Jeshua Tubal Iben Daod," a voice said.
He rolled from his stomach and looked into the face of Sam Daniel the Catholic. Two women and another man, as well as three young children, were behind him jockeying for positions in the coolest shade.
"Have you calmed yourself in the wilderness?" the Catholic asked. Jeshua sat up and rubbed his eyes. He had nothing to fear. The chief of the guard wasn't acting in his professional capacity -- he was traveling, not searching. And besides, Jeshua was returning to the expolis.
"I am calmer, thank you," Jeshua said. "I apologize for my actions."
"It's only been a fortnight," Sam Daniel said. "Has so much changed
"If you, dis me, t'ought ... thought you were bad, I'd expec' you to brute me right now. But you don'. Even though you neba -- never have a gol before." Her strained speech started to crack, and she laughed nervously. "I was tol' abou' you 'en you came. About your prob -- lem." She looked at him curiously. "How do you feel?"
"Alive. And I wouldn't be too sure I'm not a danger. I've never had to control myself before."
The girl looked him over coquettishly.
"Mandala, it isn't all bad, no good," she said. "It took care ob you. Dat's good, is it no'?"
"When I go home," Jeshua said, drawing a breath, "I'm going to tell my people we should come and destroy the cities."
The girl frowned. "Li' take down?"
"Piece by piece."
"Too much to do. Nobod can do dat."
"Enough people can."
"No' good to do in firs' place. No' tall."
"It's because of them we're like savages now."
The girl shimmied up the spider's leg again and motioned for him to follow. He lifted himself and stood on the rounded lip of the back, watching her as she walked with arms balancing to the middle of the vehicle. "Look dis," she said. She pointed to the ranked legions of Mandala. The mist was starting to burn off. Shafts of sunlight cut through and brightened wide circles of the plain. "De polis, dey are li' not'ing else. Dey are de..." She sighed at her lapses. "They are the fines' thing we eba put together. We should try t'save dem."
But Jeshua was resolute. His face burned with anger as he looked out over the disassembled city. He jumped from the rim and landed in the pounded mud. "If there's no place for people in them, they're useless. Let the architect try to reclaim. I've got more immediate things to do."
The girl smiled slowly and shook her head. Jeshua stalked off between the vehicles and city parts.
Mandala, broken down, covered at least thirty square miles of the plain. Jeshua took his bearings from a tall rock pinnacle, chose the shortest distance to the edge, and sighted on a peak in Arat. He walked without trouble for a half hour and found himself approaching an attenuated concentration of city fragments. Grass grew up between flattened trails. Taking a final sprint, he stood on the edge of Mandala. He took a deep breath and looked behind to see if anything was following.
He still had his club. He held it in one hand, hefted it, and examined it closely, trying to decide what to do with it if he was bothered. He put it back in his belt, deciding he would need it for the long trip back to his expolis. Behind him, the ranks of vehicles and parts lurched and began to move. Mandala was beginning reconstruction. It was best to escape now.
He ran. The long grass made speed difficult, but he persisted until he stumbled into a burrow and fell over. He got up, rubbed his ankle, decided he was intact, and continued his clumsy springing gait.
In an hour he rested beneath the shade of a copse of trees and laughed to himself. The sun beat down heavily on the plain, and the grass shimmered with a golden heat. It was no time for travel. There was a small puddle held in the cup of a rock, and he drank from that, then slept for a while.
He was awakened by a shoe gently nudging him in the ribs.
"Jeshua Tubal Iben Daod," a voice said.
He rolled from his stomach and looked into the face of Sam Daniel the Catholic. Two women and another man, as well as three young children, were behind him jockeying for positions in the coolest shade.
"Have you calmed yourself in the wilderness?" the Catholic asked. Jeshua sat up and rubbed his eyes. He had nothing to fear. The chief of the guard wasn't acting in his professional capacity -- he was traveling, not searching. And besides, Jeshua was returning to the expolis.
"I am calmer, thank you," Jeshua said. "I apologize for my actions."
"It's only been a fortnight," Sam Daniel said. "Has so much changed
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