Everyone was infected by the boy’s enthusiasm, running behind him, though Ryan, J.B. and Jak still had their blasters drawn and cocked.
And suddenly there it was.
“Byby all the stars that shine in the bright diadem,” Doc breathed, leaning on the silver lion’s-head hilt of his ebony cane.
It was possibly the most beautiful place that Ryan had ever seen.
The pool was about one hundred feet across, surrounded by banks of emerald grass. Beyond that came a circle of flowering bushes, dripping delicious scents into the still air. And surrounding the shrubs were the mighty trees, great giants of the tropical rain forest, soaring two and three hundred feet into the cloudless blue sky.
The water in the pool was clear and limpid. Waxen lilies were scattered across the surface, filling the day with their deep, sensuous smell.
“Like a picture in a kids’ book of the Garden of Eden,” Mildred said, awed.
“Gaia! I can’t believe that a place like this exists in Deathlands.” Krysty shook her head. “Stupe! Course. Forgot for a moment we aren’t in Deathlands.”
“Can I swim, Dad?”
“Hold off a minute. Don’t just go jumping in blind, son. Let’s take a long, careful look at this. See the way the sun’s reflecting off the surface?”
“Sure. So what?”
Ryan sighed. “Times I don’t think you’ll ever learn anything properly, Dean. Sun means you can’t see much of anything. Can’t see what’s living in the pool. Could be gators, snakes, any kind of dangerous mutie creature.”
“But it looks so lovely, Dad.”
“Prairie rattler’s one of the most beautiful of God’s creatures,” J.B. said. “Doesn’t stop him from putting you in the boneyard, Dean.”
“I guess so. But”
Ryan walked on the lush grass, shading his eye against the dappled sunlight that lanced through the gently waving branches above him. The pool seemed to have a bottom of clean stone and looked to be roughly ten feet deep. But the water was so crystalline that it was very difficult to judge the true depth. As far as he could see, there was no menacing life lurking in the pool, just a large number of slow-moving, tiny fish, brilliantly patterned in the brightest of colors.
“Don’t know,” he said finally. “Those pretty little fish might be the kind to strip an ox to its bones in thirty seconds. Then again, they might not be.”
Mildred had knelt and cupped water in her hands, sipping at it, rolling it around her mouth before swallowing it.
“Good?” Jak asked, licking his dry lips. “Good, clean water?”
“Well, if it’s been poisoned, then they used something midway between ambrosia and nectar,” the woman replied. “Because that is as sweet and pure as anything I ever tasted. If you could’ve bottled this back in the predark times, you could have knocked all the other designer waters down the drain.”
The others didn’t need any invitation. Dean, Doc and Krysty threw themselves down flat at the side of the small lake, drinking in great gulps, letting the water run through their hair and over faces and necks.
“It is quite wonderful,” Doc gasped. “Washes away all the horrid, beastly stickiness of the humid forest. Cleanses in a magical moment.”
Ryan, J.B. and Jak were, instinctively, much more cautious. All of them peered around the clearing, looking and listening for any threat of danger.
“Seems quiet,” the Armorer commented. “Want me to cover while you all drink?”
Ryan nodded. “Sure. Do the same for you in a couple of minutes.”
Jak knelt, head turning as he lowered his face toward the mirrored surface of the water. His dazzling white hair drooped down, becoming wet, the fine strands clinging together.
Ryan laid the Steyr in the grass, kneeling and cupping his hands to drink. The others had been right. It was cool, fresh and utterly wonderful.
Even as he sipped at the delicious water, Ryan looked around the clearing. Trader used to say that as long as you always expected trouble, you’d never be disappointed and you’d never be taken by surprise.
J.B. had his turn, then straightened, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He reslung the scattergun across his shoulders, holding the Uzi at the ready.