The form continues its coalescence. Billy regards an exact double of himself, similarly garbed, holding a knife the exact counterpart of his own, looking back at him. It is smiling.
Then how can you be amused?
I enjoy my one function.
Billy raises the point of his blade.
Then what are you waiting for? Come down and be about it.
The double turns and leaps to his left, landing on the farther side of the heap. Billy rushes around it, but by the time he reaches him the other has regained his footing. He wipes his brow with his free hand, for the rain still descends.
Then he drops into a crouch, both hands extended, low, knees bent. The other does the same.
Billy backs away as the other advances, then shuffles to his right, feinting, beginning the circle. He studies the ground quickly, hoping to steer the other into a slippery place. As his eyes move, his double lunges. He blocks with his left forearm and thrusts for the body. The point of the other"s blade pierces his jacket sleeve and enters his arm.
He is certain his own blade has bitten deeply into his adversary"s left side, but the double gives no sign of it and Billy sees no blood.
"I am beginning to believe you," he says aloud, feeling his own blood dampen his arm. "Perhaps I cannot kill you."
"True. But I can kill you," the other replies. "I will kill you".
Billy parries the blade, slashes the other"s cheek. No wound opens. No blood appears.
"So why do you not give up?" the other says.
"Supposing I were to throw down my knife and say to h.e.l.l with it?" he asks.
"I would kill you."
"You say you will kill me whether I fight or do not fight?"
"Yes."
"Then I might as well fight," Billy says, thrusting again, parrying again, slashing low, moving back, thrusting high, circling.
"Why?"
"Warrior tradition. Why not? It"s the best fight around."
As he backs away from a fresh attack, Billy almost stumbles when his right foot strikes an apple-sized stone.
But he recovers and brushes it backward as if it were an annoyance. He slashes and thrusts furiously then, halting the other. Then he takes a big step back, positioning his foot just so....
He kicks the stone as hard as he can, directly toward his double. It flies as from a catapult, striking the other"s right kneecap with a satisfying thunk.
The figure bends forward, blade lowering. His head falls into a tempting position and Billy swings his left fist as hard as he can against the right side of his adversary"s jaw.
The double falls back onto his left side, and Billy kicks again, toward the knife hand. His boot makes contact and the blade goes clattering across rocks into the distance. He flings himself upon the fallen form, his own blade upraised.
As he drives the blade downward toward the other"s throat, his adversary"s left hand flies up and the fingers wrap around his wrist. His arm stops as if it has encountered a wall. The pressure on his wrist is enormous. Then the right hand rises and he knows somehow that it is about to go for his throat.
He drives another left against the other"s jaw. The head rolls to the side and the grip on his wrist slackens slightly.
He strikes again and again. Then he feels a powerful move- ment beneath him.
His adversary bunches his legs, leans forward and begins to rise, bearing Billy along with him. He strikes again, but it seems to make no difference. The other"s movement carries them both to their feet and that right hand is coming forward again. Billy seizes the extending wrist and barely manages to halt it. He pushes as hard as he can but he is unable to advance his knife hand.
Then, gradually, his left hand is forced back. His right wrist feels as if it is about to snap.
"You chindis are strong sons of b.i.t.c.hes," he says.
The other snarls and flexes his fingers. Billy drives his knee into his groin. The double grunts and bends forward.
Billy"s knife advances slightly.
But as the other bends forward, Billy sees over him, beyond him. And he begins singing the song the old man taught him, the calling of Ikne"etso, the Big Thunder, recall- ing now when he had transferred power from the sandpaint- ing to his own hand.
Sees ...
First, to where the totem stands - the same four figures below; but now, crowning the spirit pole, the shadowy fifth form has grown more distinct and is shining with an un- earthly glow. It seems to be smiling at him.
You have, I see, gambled. Good, it seems to say, and then the pole begins to elongate, stretching toward the now brightened heavens....
To where, second, the rainbow now arches in full spec- trum.
And his gaze continues to mount, to the rainbow"s crest.
There he sees the Warrior Twins regarding him as on that occasion so long ago. A dark form circles above them.
Nayenezgani strings his great bow. He puts an arrow to it, draws it partway back and begins to raise it. The dark form descends, and Black-G.o.d comes to sit upon Nayenezgani"s shoulder.
The double tightens his grip and twists, and the knife falls from Billy"s hand. He can feel the blood running up his left arm as the strength begins to ebb and the other draws him nearer. He continues to utter the words of the song, call- ing....
The pole stands to an enormous height now, and the figum atop it - now a man from the waist up - is raising his right hand and lowering his left, pointing at him. He is reaching, reaching....
The drumbeat grows louder, comes faster. The rattling sounds like a hailstorm.
Despite a final effort to thrust him back, the double stands his ground and draws Billy into a crushing embrace. But Billy continues to choke out the words.
Nayenezgani draws his bowstring all the way back, re-
leases the arrow with a forward snapping motion of his left arm.
The world explodes in a flash more brilliant than sunlight.
In that moment he knows that he has entered his double and his double has entered him, that he has fused with the divided one, that the pieces of himself, scattered, have come home, have rea.s.sembled, that he has won....
And that is all that he knows.
The Fourth Day
DISK IV.
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA COMPUTER.
PLEADS NOLO CONTENDERE.
STRAGEAN TRADE AGREEMENT NEARER REALITY.
DOLPHINS SETTLE OUT OF COURT.
ILI REPORTS MISSING METAMORPH.
Now you travel your own trail, alone.
What you have become, we do not know.
What your clan is now, we do not know.
Now, now on, now, you are something not of this world.
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC TO.
PREMIERE LEVIATHAN" SYMPHONY.
Charlie, an aged humpback whale who makes his home in Scammon Lagoon, will hear the first instrumental perfor- mance of his composition via a satellite hookup to full- fidelity underwater speakers. Although he has refused to comment on the rehearsals, Charlie seemed
TAXTONIES DO IT AGAIN.
When their leader"s clone"s bullet-riddled body was found in the East River, a potential riot situation was only tempo- rarily averted
SMUDGE POTS IN VOLCANO CRATER CAUSE PANIC.
ALIENS REPRIMANDED.
A pair of tourists from Jetax-5, whose culture is noted for its eccentric sense of humor, admitted to
GENERAL ACCEPTS n.o.bEL PEACE PRIZE.
crawling, he made it into a sheltered place. He leaned his back against a wall and dipped his finger into the blood.
Reaching out
WHOOPING CRANE FLOCKS TO BE PRUNED.
Hunting permits will be issued to deal with the overpopu- lation problem in flocks of the once rare crane which has now become a nuisance.
"Who can sleep with all that whooping?" complained residents
BERSERK FACTORY DESTROYS OUTPUT.
HOLDS OFF NATIONAL GUARD FOR 8 HOURS.
HOSTAOES RELEASED UNHARMED.