Those are the teeth of the cave, the cat explained. They rise up from the bottom or clamp down from the top. Fortunately, the cave bites very, very slowly and we moving creatures are quite fast by comparison, so we never get eaten.
“Never?”
Not in my lifetime anyway, or that of my mother or my mother’s mother or in her memory.
“Then you know that the cave is a Great Monster, too?”
The cave and all caves are Home, the cat said simply. And Home has what one needs. If we keep looking, we will find what you need here, too.
And much later, Coaxtl sat down and said, Ah. When the cat sat down, Goat-dung was forced to drop the tail, but that didn’t matter then, because the cave was filled with a light of its own, and a warmth as well, that seemed to emanate from fissures in the wall.
Goat-dung recoiled and the cat turned and glared at her with eyes bright and hot as fires, shining like the jewels the Shepherd adorned himself with on his birthday. Coaxtl looked extremely fierce then, but all she said was, If you’re not going to cook those birds after all this, then give them to me and I will eat them.
“No, I will eat them, once I cook them,” Goat-dung said, clasping the geese to her and turning slightly so the cat couldn’t swipe them away with one big paw.
Despite her fears, despite her sure knowledge that she was in the belly of the Great Monster, Goat-dung felt less afraid than she had before. Here it was warm and light with a soft glow. A small circle of rock in the center of the floor kindled briefly into a true flame. Maybe it would open beneath her feet and devour her. Perhaps it was a trap, but it reminded her of the cookfires and that she was truly very hungry indeed, and tired, as well. She walked to it, sat down, and began plucking the geese, while Coaxtl fell asleep beside the fire, her breath rumbling contentedly.
Goat-dung gutted and roasted the bird on the rocks beside the fire. Looking down into it, she could see no coals, no bottom to the hole in fact, and that frightened her; but the rock was very warm by the fire, and the bird cooked slowly, so she ate the outer bits a little at a time. Then she crawled over to the cat and fell asleep, dreaming the sweetest dreams she could remember having: of her mother and of her father’s voice and another cave.
She dreamed on and on, almost fearing to wake, until the soft furry support beside her was withdrawn and she slipped back against the cave floor with a thump. When she sat up, she realized that Coaxtl, too, was sitting up, listening to the voices that seemed to emanate from the walls of the cave.
Chapter 4
Mud is a great leveler and, although the military had put down plastic boardwalks so people could get around the muddy streets of Kilcoole, mud did provide a disguise of sorts. One mud-spattered person looked like any other, local or imported. As plastered with this camouflage as everyone else, Yana and Sean had no trouble reaching Adak’s snocle shed. His precious vehicles were now in the loft, and one battered antique 4×4 was parked outside.
“It’s not an official one,” Yana said, peering at the sides for any SpaceBase markings.
“It’s Adak’s, all right. I hate to think when they last made those, or what Adak traded to get a hold of one, but somehow he keeps it running,” Sean said, and, his hand on her back again, he propelled her quickly toward the mechanic’s crawlthrough set in the main door. He paused only briefly, listening. The only voice within earshot was Adak’s, so they pushed through and into the smell, now redolent with oil and fuel and mud.
Adak turned from his comm station to see who his visitors were and his face lit up.
“Yes sir, I got the message. Only official communications. Right ye be! Over.” He lifted the ear piece and rubbed exaggeratedly. “My, that man does go on. Slainte, Sean, Yana. Good to see you; what can I do to help? He glanced down at the comm unit and sniffed expressively.