West of Eden by Harry Harrison Read Free Book Online

she felt the chill. The cloak was well-fed and warm. It also concealed her identity—and there was nothing West of Eden - Harry Harrison
    wrong with that. Had it not been for the slaughter on the beach she would have insisted on a formal welcome when the uruketo had arrived. That would be unseemly to do now. She would make her way quietly into Alpèasak, so that when the news of the killing reached the city she would be there to guide them. The deaths would not be forgotten, but they would be remembered as the end of the bad period, the beginning of the good. She made solemn promise to herself that everything would be very, very different from now on.
    CHAPTER FOUR
    Vaintè's arrival did not go unnoticed. As the boat drew up at the dock she saw that someone was standing there, tight-wrapped in a cloak and obviously waiting for her. arrival. "Who is that?" Vaintè asked.
    Inlènat followed her gaze.
    "I have heard her called Vanalpè. Her rank is the highest. She has never spoken to me."
    Vaintè knew her, at least knew her reports. Business-like and formal with never a word about personalities or difficulties. She was the esekaksopa, literally she-who-changed-the-shape-of-things, for she was one of the very few who knew the art of breeding plants and beasts into new and useful forms.
    Now she was the one with responsibility for the design and actual growth of the city. While Vaintè was Eistaa, the leader of the new city and its inhabitants, Vanalpè had the ultimate responsibility for the physical shape of the city itself. Vaintè tried not let the sudden tension show: this first meeting was of vital importance for it could shape their entire relationship. And upon that relationship depended the fate and the future of Alpèasak itself.
    "I am Vaintè," she said as she stepped out onto the raw wood of the dock.
    "I greet you and I welcome you to Alpèasak. One of the fargi saw the uruketo and the approach of this boat and reported to me. It was my greatest wish that it be you. My name is Vanalpè, one who serves,"
    she said formally, making the sign of submission to a superior. She did it in the old-fashioned way, the full double-hand motion, not in the usual and more modern shortened way. After that she stood square-legged and solid, waiting for orders. Vaintè warmed to her at once and on impulse seized her hand in a gesture of friendship.
    "I have read your reports. You have worked hard for Alpèasak. Did the fargi tell you anything else… did she speak of the beach?"
    "No, just of your arrival. What of the beach?"
    Vaintè opened her mouth to speak—and realized that she could not. Since that single scream of pain she had kept her feelings under perfect control. But she felt that now, if she spoke of the slaughter of the West of Eden - Harry Harrison
    males and the young, that her anger and horror would push through. That would not be politic nor help the image of cold efficiency that she always maintained in public.
    "Inlènat," she ordered. "Tell Vanalpè what we found on the beach."
    Vaintè paced down the length of the dock and back, not listening to the voices, planning the order of all the things that she must do. When the voices fell still she looked up and found them both waiting for her to speak.
    "Now you understand," she said.
    "Monstrous. The creatures who did this must be found and destroyed."
    "Do you know what they possibly can be?"
    "No, but I know one who does. Stallan, who works with me."
    "She is named huntress by design?"
    "She is truly named. She alone has ventured into the jungle and forests that surround the city. She knows what is to be found there. Knowing this I have made modifications of the city design that I must give you details…"
    "Later. Though I am now Eistaa the less pressing duties can wait until something is done about the killings. The city goes well—there are no immediate problems?"
    "None that cannot wait. It goes as it should. The fever has been stopped. A few died."
    "Deeste