Into Darkness

57

Sang looked around at the silent Glee watching them. They seemed to be shaken by Richard’s words as they looked at one another, but Richard didn’t hear their voices. At least they weren’t running away. He wondered if they were talking among themselves or voicing their objections to Sang alone, or maybe even arguing among themselves and they didn’t want him to hear.

It was even possible that they were all about to decide that they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, fight and in the end they would all walk away, leaving it to him. He couldn’t do this alone with only Vika to help him. He feared that they were so shaken by all they had heard that they would end up saying no. He knew that once the Glee had made that switch to hunting and killing, they lost all reluctance, but these Glee had not made that transition to being killers.

He knew that he might be able to kill the goddess, but that would not by itself stop the beliefs that she and her followers held. If these Glee would not fight for their own lives, then in the end, the most realistic thing he could do would be to save the people in his own world by destroying the device that allowed them to go to different worlds to hunt people. That might be enough to save his world, but it would not save this one, and he and Vika were going to have to live out their lives in this world.

Finally Sang turned back to Richard, as if having heard what the others had all had to say. “Lord Rahl, we understand and appreciate the very meaningful sacrifice you have made to save your kind, and your world, as well as to help save our world and preserve our way of life. We have helped you in coming here so that you might stop the goddess and save your world. We also understand the threat the goddess poses to our lives.

“But even if we agreed to do this, you must understand that we would die out there in those barren, dry, empty lands. It is too far for us to travel away from here, away from the water where we gather our food and live. We could not survive out there. We would die.”

“And what you need to understand is that I know about fighting wars. I’m telling you, if the goddess believes there is only one way in, then that is the only place she will guard and the only place they will stand ready to fight. If we could instead go in behind where they least expect us, and surprise them—”

“I am telling you, we could not do it,” Sang said, lifting his arms in frustration. “We would die out there.”

“Not necessarily,” Richard said.

Sang shook his head in apparent exasperation. “We cannot go that way and hope to live to fight them.”

Richard smiled. “That’s what the goddess believes. That is why it would give us the element of surprise on our side, and surprise is one of the best weapons you could have in a fight. Surprise will help all of you prevail even though you are not experienced at fighting. It would be even better if we could come in at night. When does it get dark here?”

Sang hissed his frustration that Richard just didn’t seem to get the point. He gestured to the sky. “There is always at least some light in the sky. When the sun goes down, there are moons that provide light.”

“Moons?” Richard asked. “How many moons are there?”

“Two. It does get darker when the sun goes down, but with the light of the twin moons it never gets to be such a dark night like it sometimes does in your world.”

“Is that when they sleep? When the sun goes down and it’s darker?”

“Yes. When the sun goes down and day grows still, we all sleep then. When night comes, we sleep partly in the water to stay wet, and also to be safe. The wild boars like the mud, but they are afraid of water, so they won’t come right up to the banks to attack us.”

“How much longer until then?” he asked. “Until they sleep?”

Sang looked to the sky, shielding his eyes with one claw. With such thick, continually heaving and rolling clouds, it was hard to tell where the sun was, but apparently the Glee had learned how to judge it. Sang thought a moment, trying to think of a way to explain it. Finally he did.

“You know how long it took us to come here from the device on the mountain? It will be the quiet time when the Glee sleep in probably three of those journeys. That long. We have never crossed the drylands, but it would be at least two days and nights. We could not survive that long there.”

Richard pinched his bottom lip as he considered. It was a problem that it wasn’t darker at night. Still, if the goddess and her followers were asleep, that helped. He consulted the map Sang had drawn on the ground, and again looked at the sky.

“Then we must go now, around the way they would not expect us, in order to arrive at their place when it is dark,” he announced to the crowd watching him.

Sang shook his head along with many of those in the crowd watching. “You are not listening to my words. We would die, so we can be of no help to you in fighting them if we go that way. If you wish to go that way, then you and Vika will have to go alone.”

“If there was a way that you could cross the drylands, without getting too dry or suffering, would you all agree to come with me, show me the way, and fight with me against them? If there was a way, would you help me for your survival and your world?”

Sang looked around. A number of the Glee finally nodded. Richard knew that they were probably all nodding because they felt it was impossible, so they could easily commit to something they thought they would never have to do.

Sang shrugged. “If there was a way, then yes. But there is no way for us to do this, so we cannot go with you.”

Now Richard knew for sure that he had just gotten them to commit to something they all thought was impossible. It was easy to agree when you never thought it was possible and so you wouldn’t have to do it. He was about to use that commitment to his advantage.

He looked over at the pile of float weed Sang had pulled up before and thrown on the rocks. He turned back to Sang.

“I would like you to show me the water plants you use to get the jelly that protects you when you travel to my world.”

“The scrum?” Sang asked.

“Yes,” Richard said. “Collect a big pile of the scrum plants for me.”