They went on and soon came within three hundred yards of a herd of the creatures, all grazing upon the rocks. There were young among them, awkwardly chasing each other in play or nursing from the mothers. Some of the bulls bray-wailed at the intruders, and one kept pace with them for a while. They passed antelope-like animals, marked with red diamond-shapes on white and with two horns that intertwined. Bone skates grew at the end of their legs.
Wolff began to look for a place to sleep. He led them into a semi-amphitheater, a level between four hills. “I’ll stand first watch,” he said. He designated Enion as next and Luvah after him. Enion protested, asking by what authority Wolff could pick him.
“You can refuse to take your share of responsibility, if you wish,” Wolff said. “But if you sleep when your turn comes, you may wake up in the jaws of that.”
He pointed past Enion’s shoulder, and Enion whirled so swiftly he lost his footing. The others looked in the direction in which Wolff’s finger was pointing. On top of one of the hills, a huge maned animal was glaring down at them. Its head was that of a short-snouted crocodile and its body was catshaped, the feet ending in broad cups.
Wolff put the the beamer on half-power and shot. He flicked the actuation plate briefly and aimed towards the hairs of the mane. The hairs crisped and smoked, and the beast roared, turned, and disappeared beyond the hill.
Wolff said, “Now, somebody has to be officially given authority. So far, we’ve avoided, that is, you’ve avoided, a decision. You’ve more or less let me run things. Mostly because you’re too lazy or too occupied with your own petty problems to face this issue. All right, now’s the time to settle this. Without a leader whose orders will be immediately obeyed in emergencies, we’re all lost. So what do you say?”
“Beloved brother,” Vala said, “I think that you have shown that you’re the man to follow. I vote for you. Besides, you have the beamer, and that makes you the most powerful of all. Unless, of course, some of us have hidden weapons we’ve not displayed as yet.”
“You’re the only one who has enough clothes to conceal weapons,” he said. “As for the beamer, whoever is on guard will have it.”
They all raised their eyebrows at this. He said, “It’s not because I trust your loyalty. It’s just that I don’t think any of you would be quite stupid enough to try to keep it for yourself or try to take off on your own. When we resume the march, I expect to get the beamer back.”
All then voted, except for Palamabron. He said that he did not have to vote, since it was obvious that he would be overruled by the majority, anyway.
“Surely brother, you were not going to nominate yourself,” Vala said. “Even you, with all your hideous egotism, could not think of that.”
Palamabron ignored her. To Wolff he said, “Why am I not one of the sentinels? Don’t you trust me?”
“You can stand first watch tomorrow night,” Wolff replied. “Now, let’s all get some sleep.”
Wolff sat guard while the others slept on their hard beds of white rock. He listened to the distant animal cries: the bray-wails, roars, and some new sounds, a shrill fluting, a plaintive sobbing, a whistling. Once, something beat out a gonging, and there was the flutter of wings overhead. He rose to his feet now and then and slowly pivoted around to cover all points of the compass. At the end of a half-hour, he woke up Enion and gave him the beamer. He had no watch to determine the tune, any more than the others did, but, like them, he knew the measured passage of tune. As a child, he had gone through a species of hypnosis which enabled him to clock the seconds as accurately as the most precise of chronometers.
For a while, he did not sleep. He was worried about the first watch of the next night, when Palamabron would be entrusted with the beamer. Of all the Lords, he was the most unstable. He hated Vala even more than the others. Could he withstand the temptation to kill her while she slept? Wolff decided he would have a talk with Palamabron in the morning. His cousin must understand that if he killed her, he would have to kill them all. This he could do with the beamer, but he would be alone from then on. This was a curious thing. Though the Lords could not stand to be with each other, they could stand the idea of being alone even less. In other circumstances, they would want no one but themselves, of course. In these, they shared a dread of their father and some comfort in having companions in misery and peril.