Madame was herself dressed appropriately for the occasion in heavy trousers and shirt, with stout boots on her feet. She regarded the Hags with some diffidence, saying, “I can’t claim to expertise, though a small group of friends and I have gone on lengthy cave hikes during the summers, exploring some of the badlands west of Naibah. I may have picked up some useful skills. I know that Simon and Calvy have had similar experience.”
D’Jevier nodded. “You are better equipped than we. How do you suggest that we proceed?”
Madame smiled. “By handling a question that arose during our trip here. Calvy and Simon have pointed out that it will be difficult for them to be useful if they keep their veils.”
“We are unlikely to be able to see through them underground,” said Calvy, making an apologetic gesture toward the Hags.
D’Jevier replied, “I have no objection to your removing your veils while on this expedition. It would be foolish to handicap you out of mere custom; Onsofruct and I have quite dependable self-control, and we promise not to assault you sexually.”
Madame merely smiled at this.
Calvy said, “Inasmuch as Simon and I are already carrying all we can manage, let’s proceed with all five of your Haggers. When and if we encounter water, we can decide then what baggage to leave behind, who will go on and who will return.”
D’Jevier nodded her assent, then led them around the house to a side entrance that gave directly upon stairs leading to the cellars. The room below had already been cleared of its sadistic machines, except for piles of scrap, and Onsofruct wasted no time in finding and opening the sneakway door, bowing Madame to enter first.
Madame stepped into the sneakway, looked and sniffed in both directions, and came to much the same conclusion Mouche had come to earlier. “That way goes back up into the mansion. This way leads down. I think we may rely upon it that they went down, though we’ll watch for their tracks to be sure.”
“If you’ll allow me,” said Calvy, drawing Madame out and taking her place in the narrow way. “I have done some tracking, and I am armed, which you are not.”
“Armed, Family Man?” asked D’Jevier, threateningly. “Our laws forbid Family Men carrying arms.”
“A canister of chemical repellant, Ma’am. Useful for dissuading vicious dogs while walking on the streets. And a rather large knife, useful for opening shipping crates. Both are allowed within the regulations. I am also carrying a staff which I have been trained to use.” He turned on the downward way and moved off with Madame and the Hags behind him, then Simon and the Haggers bringing up the rear.
Down they went, as Mouche, Ornery, and the Questioner had gone, making their slow way through the rooty tunnel until it intersected the stream. Because they had lighted their way throughout, they noticed no luminescence. Indeed, they had sent two Haggers back the way they had come, had inflated their boat and were well down the river before they turned out their lights and began to see the wonders of the world around them.
47—Round the Down Staircase
For Mouche and his companion, the drift-trip down the big river had seemed timeless. Both Mouche and Ornery had slept for long, lost periods of quiet and peace. Every now and then the boats had stopped at some sandy beached curve and let them go ashore to eat and drink and relieve themselves, and according to Questioner, who seemed to be keeping track, this happened several times each day for several days. They had eaten only a little food from their packs, for Questioner had reminded them they had no idea how long they would be on this journey and thus no idea how long their food would need to last.
“I think we could eat their food,” Mouche had said, indicating the darkness where pairs of silver eyes shone briefly from time to time. “I’ve smelled it, and it smells wonderful.”
“Do not worry over food,” came the voice from the darkness. “You will not be allowed to starve. You must come to the Fauxi-dizalonz in good health. When we come to the sea, we will feed you.”