before Gerhardt and I were even born. Now, we’ve come
back to see how you people are getting along, and to lend a
hand if necessary.”
He looked from Honath to Mathild, and back again. “Do
you follow me?” he said.
“I’m trying,” Honath said. “But you should go down to the
jungle-top, then. We’re not like the others; they are the people
you want to see.”
“We shall, in the morning. We just landed here. But, just
because you’re not like the others, we’re more interested in
you now. Tell me: has any condemned man ever escaped from
the jungle floor before?”
“No, never. That’s not surprising. There are monsters down
there.”
Jarl Eleven looked sidewise at the other Giant; he seemed
to be smiling. “When you see the films,” he remarked, “you’ll
call that the understatement of the century. Honath, how did
you three manage to escape, then?”
Haltingly, at first, and then with more confidence as the
memories came crowding vividly back, Honath told him.
When he mentioned the feast at the demon’s nest, Jarl Eleven
again looked significantly at Adier, but he did not interrupt.
“And, finally, we got to the top of the chimney and came
out on this flat space,” Honath said. “Alaskon was still with
us then, but when he saw you and the shining thing he threw
himself back down the pleft. He was a criminal like us,
but he should not have died. He was a brave man, and a wise
one.”
“Not wise enough to wait until all the evidence wai in,”
Adier said enigmatically. “All in all, Jarl, I’d say ‘prodigious’
is the word for it. This is really the most successful seeding