“These stupid tyros! They’ve all bolted!”
Roland’s bellow faded into the distance. Rega and Paithan heard the sound of crashing, tearing leaves and vines, felt the pounding of his feet shiver the tree, and then silence.
“Tyros are tractable beasts. They don’t panic,” said Paithan, Swallowing to moisten his dry throat. “Not unless something really terrifies them.”
“Roland!” Rega yelled. “Let them go!”
“Hush, Rega. He can’t! They’re carrying the weapons-”
“I don’t give a damn!” she cried frantically. “The weapons and the dwarves and the money and you can go to the pit for all I care! Roland, come back!” She beat on the tree trunk with clenched fists. “Don’t leave us trapped down here! Roland!
“What was that-”
Rega whirled around, panting. Paithan, face ashen, stared out into the jungle.
“Nothing,” he said, lips stiff.
“You’re lying. You saw it!” she hissed. “You saw the jungle move!”
“It’s impossible. It’s a trick of our eyes. We’re tired, not enough sleep …”
A terrifying cry split the air above them.
“Roland!” Rega screamed. Pressing her body against the tree trunk, hands scrabbling at the wood, she tried to crawl up it. Paithan caught hold of her, dragged her down. Furiously, she fought and struggled in his arms.
Another hoarse scream and then there came a cry of “Reg-” The word broke off with a strangled choke.
Rega went suddenly limp, collapsing against Paithan. He held her fast, his hand on her head, pressing her face against his breast. When she was calmer, he backed her up against the tree trunk and moved to stand in front of her, shielding her with his body. Once she realized what he was doing, she tried to shove him aside.
“Rega, don’t. Stay where you are.”
“I want to see, damn it!” Her raztar flashed in her hand. “I can fight-”
“I don’t know what,” Paithan whispered. “And I don’t know how!”
He stood aside. Rega emerged from behind him, her eyes wide and staring. She shrank against him, her arm stealing around his waist. Paithan put his arm around her and held her tight. Clinging to each other, they watched the jungle move in silently, surrounding them.
They could see no heads, no eyes, no arms, no legs, no body, but they each had the intense impression that they were being watched and listened to and sought out by extremely intelligent, extremely malevolent beings.
And then Paithan saw them. Or rather, he didn’t see them. He saw what appeared to be a part of the jungle separate itself from its background and move toward him. Only when it was quite near him, when its head was almost level with his own, did he realize that he was confronting what appeared to be a gigantic human. He couid see the outline of two legs and two feet that walked the ground. Its head was even with his. It moved straight up to them, stared straight at them. A simple act, but the creature made this simple action horrible by the fact that it apparently couldn’t see what it stalked.
It had no eyes; a large hole surrounded by skin in the center had seemingly been bored into the center of its forehead.
“Don’t move!” Rega panted. “Don’t talk! Maybe it won’t find us.”
Paithan held her close, not answering, not wanting to destroy her hope. A moment before, they’d been making so much noise that a blind, deaf, and drunken elflord could have found them.
The giant approached, and now Paithan could see why it had seemed the jungle was moving. Its body was covered from head to toe with leaves and vines, its skin was the color and texture of tree bark. Even when the giant was extremely close, Paithan had difficulty separating it from its background. The bulbous head was bare and the crown and forehead, that were a whitish color and bald, stood out against the surroundings.
Glancing around swiftly, the elf saw that there were twenty or thirty of the giants emerging from the jungle, gliding toward them, their movements graceful and perfectly, unnaturally silent.
Paithan shrank back against the tree trunk, dragging Rega with him. It was a hopeless gesture, there was obviously no escape. The heads, with their awful dark and empty holes, stared straight at them. The one nearest put his hands upon the edge of the fungus and jerked on it.