“Wouldn’t it be more sensible to go over there?”
To Niall’s surprise, Simeon said: “Yes, I suppose it’s a lot nearer.”
Five minutes later they were surrounded by a sea of cress-like leaves. Niall began to take deep breaths, and reflected that this air was literally like wine, producing the same glowing euphoria. The sensation was so pleasant that he decided to see whether it could be intensified by the thought mirror. He reached inside his tunic and turned the concave side inward.
The effect made him gasp; there was a sharp, stabbing pain across the back of his skull, and the sense of well-being evaporated as abruptly as the sun vanishing behind a cloud. The weight of his back-pack seemed to double. His first impulse was to turn the mirror back again, but he changed his mind even as his hand moved upward. Why should the mirror destroy his sense of clarity and control instead of increasing it? He fought against the headache, concentrating his mind. This made things far worse; he began to experience a feeling of suffocation and dizziness, and his legs seemed to have turned to stone. The temptation to turn the mirror became irresistible; he allowed his hand to creep inside his shirt. At that point, some impulse of stubbornness made him hesitate; because it seemed that relief was only a few seconds away, he deliberately endured the feelings of suffocation and nausea. Past experience told him that if he could bring these to a climax, they would vanish.
It happened exactly as he had expected. The headache increased until his eyes seemed to be about to leave their sockets; then the pain vanished, and was replaced by a sense of relief. But his limbs still felt heavy, and breathing remained difficult.
With astonishment, he suddenly realised what had been happening. The sense of euphoria had not been induced by the narcotic qualities of the plant, but by the curious life-force that permeated the Delta. In some mysterious way, the cress-like plant was able to accumulate and transmit this vitality, using the light that was reflected from the glossy surface of its leaves. Now he was aware what was happening, he could see that they were surrounded by the same sparkling shower of energy that he had observed in the flowers outside Doggins’ window, and that they were breathing in this energy as well as the narcotic vapours of the plant. Because the energy was far more powerful than the vapour, they were unaffected by the drug. But why should the plant deliberately neutralise its own opiate?
The answer came a few seconds later. Ulic, who had been talking incessantly, suddenly came to a halt, and looked around at his companions with an air of puzzlement. As Doggins started to ask “What is it?” he became very pale, and collapsed at their feet. Niall immediately stooped down and raised his head. Ulic’s face was already streaked with the milky froth.
The others were also looking grey and tired. As he saw Doggins blink and try to focus his eyes, Niall understood what had happened. The plant had simply ceased to transmit the sparks of vitality, leaving them at the mercy of the narcotic vapours. Niall removed Ulic’s back-pack, and handed it to Milo. “Give Simeon the Reaper, and carry the pack yourself.” He beckoned to Manetho. “Help me pick him up — we’ll have to carry him.”
Manetho was also looking pale, but he was able to call on reserves of physical strength. Without a word, he bent down, seized Ulic under the arms, and heaved him to his feet. Then he slung the limp body over his powerful shoulder.
Niall said: “I’ll take your pack.” He pulled it off Manetho’s back, and removed the Reaper, which he handed to Doggins; he slung the pack over one shoulder.
“We’ve got to hurry. Let’s head over there.” He pointed to the spot where the forest was closest. They began plunging through the cress, trampling its brittle stems underfoot. As they stumbled forward, Niall had the impression that the vegetation was trying to wrap itself round their ankles. His vision had blurred, and he felt like a drunken man who already feels the beginnings of a hangover. He had only one aim: to reach the edge of the forest, and to escape this clinging weed whose odour now seemed disgusting.
Then his feet ceased to encounter resistance. He saw they were treading on springy turf, and that the forest trees were less than a hundred yards away. He threw the back-packs on the ground, and sank down with his head between his knees. Manetho dropped Ulic beside him, and flung himself face down on the grass. Doggins was the last to emerge from the sea of green leaves; he stumbled as he reached the grass, and fell on all fours. Then he wrenched off his pack, turned on to his back, and lay with arms outspread.
They lay there for perhaps ten minutes, until the noonday heat became oppressive; then Niall forced himself to stumble into the shade of the nearest trees. The others soon joined him, Manetho dragging Ulic under the arms. Niall selected a small tree whose trunk was covered with smooth, silvery bark, and sat down with his back against it. The leaves overhead — broad green and red leaves, each one more than a hand in breadth — seemed to rustle, as if a wind had passed through them. But as he sat there, his eyes closed, Niall began to experience once again the cool, refreshing sensation, as if he was sitting in the spray of a waterfall. He opened his eyes, and became aware that the tree, like the narcotic weed, was able to transmit a shower of vital energy.
This, he now knew, meant that the tree was dangerous; the purpose of the shower of energy was to tempt him into staying there, and perhaps into falling asleep. Alerted to this possibility, he carefully observed what was happening. The outermost branches of the tree were slowly bending in towards him. It was a frightening sensation, like watching the slow movements of a hunting animal. But with the Reaper only a few inches from his fingertips, he felt he could afford to wait and see what happened. The branches drooped lower and lower, until they were almost touching the ground, and he was surrounded by a green tent that admitted hardly any sunlight. It was then that he became aware that the smooth bark against which he was resting had begun to quiver slightly, as if stirring into wakefulness. As he stared at it, the texture changed; the smoothness vanished, and tiny holes began to appear. A few seconds later, there was a slight hiss, like escaping gas, and he smelt a pleasant, sweet odour that sent a thrill of pleasure through his body. It seemed to induce a vision of wide grassy meadows and distant hills. This turned into a sensation of delicious lassitude, so that he was tempted to lie down on the grass and fall asleep. Instead, he sat up, and crawled on all fours out of the leafy tent, brushing easily through the lower extremities of the branches. From outside, it looked as if the tree had turned into a small green house. The leaves had come together to form an overlapping pattern; its obvious purpose was to prevent the escape of the narcotic gas. As Niall stood and watched, the branches very slowly moved apart, and rose up from the ground. Five minutes later the tree looked exactly as it had when Niall first sat underneath it.
The others were lying with closed eyes, apparently sleeping off the effect of the opiate plant; the sheltering branches above them looked reassuringly normal. Niall was struck by an idea. He seized Ulic by the wrists and dragged him under the tree with the silver bark. He propped his back against the trunk, then sat down beside him. The branches shuddered, and a few moments later the refreshing shower of life-energy surrounded them like fine spray. Ulic stirred and opened his eyes. He shook his head, then looked at Niall with a beatific smile. He asked cheerfully:
“How did I get here?”
“Manetho carried you.”
“That was good of him.” Ulic’s voice sounded perfectly normal.
“What happened?” By the time Niall had explained, the tree was exuding its narcotic gas, and its branches were moving slowly and silently towards the ground. Ulic was so absorbed that he did not even notice what was happening. When Niall pointed out that they were now enclosed in a tent of greenery, he looked around him with an air of mild surprise. “What does it intend to do?”
“Probably eat us. You can stay to find out if you want to.”
As they crawled out again into the sunlight, Niall observed that the colour had returned to Ulic’s cheeks, and his eyes were bright. His own feeling of lassitude had vanished completely, and he felt as though he had just awakened from a refreshing night’s sleep.