Questioner fixed him with a stare, but before she could say anything, the Corojum cried, “And here is our tunneler. This is as you say, last lap. It will not be long.”
54—Assembly At The Fauxi-dizalonz:
The tunneler bearing Questioner, Mouche, Ornery, and the Corojum traveled with a muffled roar interspersed with periods of almost silence that Questioner interpreted as movement through something more yielding than rock. Soil, perhaps. Or even predrilled tunnels. These relatively silent periods grew more frequent as they progressed, and the last part of their journey was accomplished in relative quiet. The tunneler stopped moving; the mouth end gaped large; and from the complicated structures beside the creature’s mouth, its voice said, “We have arrived near the Fauxi-dizalonz. Others will be coming soon. Some are already here.”
Almost drowsily, as though they had been long hypnotized by the motion and the sound, the three followed the Corojum out of the creature’s mouth to find themselves on a high, wide ledge with sky and air everywhere but behind them. There the mouths of highly polished tunnels gaped, explaining the silence of their arrival. These ways had been cut long since, and among them were several smooth-walled caves, in one of which the Corojum suggested Mouche and Ornery deposit the packs before coming to stand beside itself and Questioner at the rim of the world.
They stood at the top of a sheer cliff that swooped in an unbroken wall to the bottom of the caldera where the jewel-green disk of a largish lake shone brightly in the morning sun.
“The Fauxi-dizalonz,” said the Corojum, pointing at the lake below. “Your people are there, and I will collect them for you.”
“Don’t hurry on my account,” said Questioner, moving a little back from the rim. “I’m really most concerned about Ellin and Bao, the two dancers. Have you done anything to them?”
The Corojum shook his head. “After what happened with the jongau, Bofusdiaga is reluctant to try it again. When you come, Bofusdiaga thinks we may arrive at a better way.”
“One would hope,” she murmured.
The Corojum went to the rim of the ledge, whistled, and was answered from the air. Within moments, a huge, four-eyed bird dropped from the sky, plucked up the Corojum in its talons, and plunged toward the distant pond.
“An interesting mode of travel,” Questioner began, interrupted by a slithering shush that proved to be another tunneler, emerging from another portal onto the same ledge. When it opened its mouth, five disheveled persons staggered out: Madame, the two Hags, Calvy, and Simon.
“Madame, Simon!” cried Mouche, delightedly, then, “Revered Hag,” with a deep bow to D’Jevier.
D’Jevier turned very pale.
Madame cried, “Mouche! What has happened to you? Who did that to your face?”
“Bane,” said Mouche. “I can put on my veils … “
“Of course not,” snapped D’Jevier. “Let me see.” She came close and ran her fingers down the healing wound, turning to Madame to say, “We must get him to the med-machines.”
“I’m afraid it will have to wait,” said Questioner.
D’Jevier started to speak, but was distracted by the sudden and noisy departure of the tunneler, rattling itself away in one of the bores.
“Come,” said Questioner. “I have not met the gentlemen. Would someone introduce us?”
“Calvy g’Valdet,” Calvy murmured. “And Madame’s assistant, Simon. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we don’t know the correct form of address.”
“At the moment we are being informal. Please call me Questioner. I do weary from all the unearned reverence I’m subjected to.”
“Hardly unearned,” murmured Calvy with a bow. “Your reputation is unsullied, certainly a matter for reverence.”
Questioner laughed, a truly amused sound that seemed to draw all of them from their various reveries. “Come,” she said. “Let us admire the view.”
Accordingly, they turned their attention to their surroundings, though both Madame and D’Jevier found it difficult to take their eyes from Mouche’s face.
At their right, a roadway opened upon the ledge, an avenue that stretched down and across the wilderness, straight as a rule.
“That doesn’t appear on the orbital surveys,” said Calvy. “None of this does!”
At right angles to this road, continuing the line of the ledge, a narrower way descended in a gentle slope eight-tenths of the way around the caldera before making a switchback that returned it to a point almost beneath them. The road continued in descending arcs, back and forth, back and forth, at last reaching the floor of the caldera, where it ran around the emerald lake and thence through a gap in the caldera wall to their left.