“Come on, Hunkapa. If these two want to amuse themselves with silly nighttime fancies, they will have to hurry to catch up with us.” The massive, hirsute figure did not stir. Ehomba raised his voice slightly. “Hunkapa Aub? Come with me. There is no reason for us to wait here until these two finish their games.”
When the hulking shape still did not move, a puzzled Ehomba walked back toward him, retracing his steps across the lake bed. He knew he was retracing his steps because he could see where his feet had sunk a quarter inch or more into the bleached, caked surface. He was on the verge of reaching out to grab his ungainly companion’s shaggy wrist when something made him pause.
Despite Ehomba’s proximity, Hunkapa Aub had yet to acknowledge the herdsman’s presence. No, the tall southerner decided: It was worse than that. Hunkapa Aub was ignoring him completely, treating him as if he wasn’t there. Now Ehomba did reach out to take his massive companion’s hand. He pulled, none too gently. He might as well have been tugging on a tree growing from the side of a mountain. Hunkapa Aub did not budge, nor did he react in any way. Instead, he continued to stare straight ahead.
Turning uneasily to seek the source of the brute’s fascination, Ehomba found his gaze settling on a tall, heavily eroded pillar of salt.
A pillar of salt that looked exactly like Hunkapa Aub.
The resemblance was more than a fortuitous coincidence, went deeper than something that looked vaguely like a shaggy head attached to a cumbersome body and limbs. The degree of detail was frightening, from the flattened nose to the wide, deep-set eyes. Edging closer, the herdsman found himself staring intently into hollow pits of fractured salt crystal. Should they shift, however slightly, to look back at him, he was afraid that he might cry out.