The Mantooth by Christopher Leadem
'So it was that after a time very long and yet very short, creaturesof flesh came to swim in Earth's oceans, later to walk upon the land.But still I perceived a great void: there were none to look back andwonder, as I did, at the mystery of Universe which had spawned them.And so, as if it were always meant to be, Man came forward, in truthmore of himself than by any action of mine. He was by far the mostgifted of Earth's children, with hands freed to toil and mind free tothink. He was a wonder of perception and dexterity.
'But man possessed a terrible flaw, a fault unforeseen in any of myeager, nuptial thought. Because of his greater intelligence, manperceived that he would one day grow old and die, a certainty unknown tohis animal brothers, only guessed at by the wisest. Realizing this, hecould also foresee the inevitable sorrows of sickness and despair, alongwith a host of imagined terrors his mind could not even give names to.It was from this knowledge that the Demon was born: the Demon of Fear.
'And this fear eventually destroyed man. Through all his generationshe could not overcome it. Great men rose up, and some who were morethan men, to challenge the demon and cast it aside. Victories were won,but they were not lasting. Always the fear would change shape and riseagain, equally hideous, and often more powerful than before.
'It was in its way a glorious struggle, and at times it seemed thatEternity held its very breath, as ten thousand eyes from above lookeddown to see the forces of good and evil do battle in such broad andsweeping strokes. But the cost in human suffering was enormous, andafter so many years I knew in my heart that an end was drawing nigh uponit. For Nature carries its own purposes, and will not be denied in theexercising of its sharp and merciful will.
'So it was that on a day whose horror I shall never be able to blockfrom my thoughts, the evil that had grown in Man finally and decisivelyovercame the good. The mind that was given to create, used its cunninginstead to devise weapons so powerful and heedless that nothing on Earthcould stop them. And when fear took the hearts and minds of themultitudes they were unleashed, thoughtlessly, one in answer to theother, until all reasons for the conflict were lost among the fury andpanic of destruction.
'Only a handful survived. Six billion voices cried out to me, to savethem from the onslaught. But I haven't the power, young ones..... Ihaven't the power.' The air grew thick and heavy around them.
'The seed of Man was all but destroyed, left to sleep for centuriesin the blackened voids of Time. It slept, and even had I wished to Icould not of my own will revive it. Only Nature heals the wounds oftime.' The Voice paused, as if gathering itself for a final effort.
'But now the flame is alive once more, cradled in your young andwilling hearts. I implore you both, for the sake of those who struggledso long and hard before you, spread that flame anew. Feel the onepassion that can yet save us, the one emotion that moves even thecoldest distant star: the perfect glory of human love.
'Indeed, it is the one gift I have left to give you. Even now mytime grows short, for this place is no longer mine to command. Kalus, Iwould ask that you take to your heart the young woman, Sylviana. Be toher strength and shelter, for she is dearer to me than any words canhope to express.
'But you must both know, I can promise you nothing. Your survivalmust depend on your ability to learn from the ways of Nature, and uponyour will and desire to endure. Kalus, as it is still within my power,I return to you now the gift of speech. Use it wisely. Farewell.'
Then both voice and spirit were gone, and only Earth-life remained inthe chamber.
'Wait!' cried Sylviana. 'You can't leave me here, please.Come BACK.'
But even as she spoke the image in the mirror faded, and a narrow beamof violet light shot forth from its place in the glass. Coming to restin the center of Kalus' forehead, it seemed to hold him there againsthis will. He felt his whole body tingling with an electric sensationthat centered at the base of his spine, intensifying as it reached thesmooth-folding membranes at the uppermost portion of his brain. Hismind churned with unfamiliar sounds and images, as if a thousand tinydoors had suddenly burst open from within, flooding a dark chamber withnew and unimagined light.
Then the feeling was gone and the beam released him. The firelightreturned with its dancing glow, as Kalus slumped to the ground.Recovering himself enough to be awe-struck, he turned to the girl forwhatever explanation she might offer.
'It's all right,' she said reassuringly, though not at all sureherself what it meant.
Deep in her own thoughts, she still hadn't noticed the wolf, who hadslipped in through the darkness once more to be with the woman-child hehad befriended. Sensing her mood it had not tried to attract herattention, but waited patiently instead a short distance from the altar.Kalus saw him. He pointed.
Grateful for the intrusion, Sylviana descended the steps and went togreet him. Going down on one knee she gently stroked the soft,silver-gray fur, ruffling his ear and gazing into the peaceful,intelligent eyes. He seemed to readily accept the presence of theman-child, and now reminded her more of a harmless pup than of thesavage predator she knew he must be in the world outside. It was Akar,of course.
'It's all right,' she began again, turning back to her humancompanion. 'He won't hurt you. The wolf is my friend.'
'Yes,' answered Kalus without thinking. 'I know him well---
'Sylviana!' he stammered. 'I speak! My mind is all around me.How can these things be?'
'I'm not sure,' she replied honestly. 'But I'm gratefulfor your company all the same. I've been here alone for solong.....' She stopped when she saw the weary, washed-out confusionof his face. Though far from happy herself, she realized that in thismoment his need was still greater.
'I'm sorry,' she whispered sadly, eyes to the ground. 'Youhave enough to think about already.' Slowly the words came to her.'Try not to worry. Things will work out for us, you'll see.Right now you should eat, then I'll check your bandages and you cansleep a while longer.' He nodded gratefully.
Sitting weakly on one of the steps, Kalus let his mind go blank.Sylviana went to prepare a meal as best she could, and the he-wolfretired to a favorite corner to lie down. For the moment, at least, allwas as it should have been.
A very rare moment, indeed.
Chapter 4
Kalus woke feeling strangely insecure. It was a feeling he had knownbefore, and one he had come to respect. Rising quickly, heinstinctively scanned his surroundings. At first he could not rememberwhere he was. The events of the day before had struck so suddenly, andwith such sweeping change that he found his mind racing, trying to putback the pieces of all that had happened, and think what he must now doin answer.
Slowly it came back to him. The piled furs on which he sat had beenplaced for him there by Sylviana, the young woman-child who lived inthis place, some sort of wide underground passageway. She had nursedhis wounds and spoken strangely of a land he would never see. Of therest he was still quite uncertain, but at least sensed that he was safe,a knowledge that helped quiet his fears, and soothe the angry horde ofquestions that kept pounding at his brain. Looking across the room hesaw that the girl lay sleeping a short distance away, lying in a similarbed among the shadows of the far wall. She had tried to make him sleepthere instead but he refused, it being so foolishly placed beneath theunprotected shaft. At her feet rested the he-wolf, Akar, the creaturemost largely responsible for his present plight. Seeing him Kalusremembered his banishment, an event which had yet to make its fullimpact upon him. He shook his head in dismay.
HOW WILL I STAY ALIVE? he found himself asking. EVEN THE WOLF BARELYLIVES, AND HE IS BY FAR A GREATER HUNTER THAN I.
Though the thought itself was depressing, Kalus marveled at how quicklyand clearly it had formed in his mind. Forced to live without thecertainty of words, all previous thought patterns had of necessity beenbased around images and memory, a slow, tedious process that had almostalways stifled him in any attempt at higher thinking. He thought of thegod whose voice he had heard---was that
His thoughts returning to his own survival, he began to search thechamber for food. The girl seemed well fed, and there must doubtless bea reason. He had known upon sight that she was not a hunter. Her eyesshowed no trace of the desperate aggression so permanently ingrained inthe predators of the Valley. There was a certain look a seasonedcarnivore developed, a hardened gleam, hungry and haunting, thatidentified it instantly to others of its kind. Sylviana's eyes werepeaceful and trusting, something which had puzzled him from their firstmeeting. And though he could not put the feeling into words, a part ofhim deeply resented the apparent ease with which she survived. HER bodywas clean and unscarred. Her stomach was full, and her muscles smoothand round. He knew without looking that his own body, though young andstrong, bore countless reminders of his own, day to day struggle.
Finding no food in the curving, main chamber, he turned his attentiontoward a high arching gateway that led deeper into what he nowrecognized as a large cave. Though he had not been certain the nightbefore, the soft light of an early morning sun now clearly illuminatedits entrance, behind him and to his right, removing any fear that he hadfallen into some dark and treacherous underground maze.
But the sheer size of the alcove he now entered, gave rise to a wholenew series of questions, the answers to which he feared he would notlike. For all around him lay great mounds of treasure, and strangeartifacts his mind could not begin to identify. Piled bronze and silvercoins, chalices studded with diamonds and emeralds, rusting weapons ofevery shape and description met his eyes.
Yet these were not what puzzled him. Such things could also be foundalong the banks of the river which led to the Island. No, again it wasthe sheer size of it all which troubled him. For both the entrance tothe frontal chamber and the arch he had just passed through, were easilylarge enough to give passage to creatures infinitely more powerful thanthe girl. Why had they not claimed the shelter as their own, or at thevery least, made short work of both the girl and her wolf companion?
Searching among the shadowy back reaches of the cave, he found hisanswer. There in the darkness, packed together in thick, faintlyluminous clusters of yellow-green wax, lay several large deposits ofsebreum, self-synthesized food of the giant praying mantis.
'So that is why she is so well fed,' he scoffed, though deepinside he trembled. 'She has been living from the labors of anothercreature's food supply.' It also explained why no predator, nosmart predator at least, had ever dared enter the cave. He knew thatsomewhere just outside it, in plain sight for all to see, the massivecreature had left its unmistakable mark of possession---the jaggedoutline of a pyramid, burned into the rock by the acidic secretions ofspecial glands in its throat. It was a mark none would dare question,and to trespass in such a place meant certain death.
For the Mantis, though not the largest, was without question thestrongest and most widely feared monarch of the Valley. Its triangularjaws could sever trees in an instant, and the sharp rows of teeth on theinstep of its foreclaw could tear even the thickest hide to ribbons. Healso knew that it must soon return to claim the shelter, and would nothesitate to kill them all if it found them still lingering near itsjealously guarded treasure room.
Kalus paced nervously, trying to resolve an irresolvable conflict withinhim. Sylviana had said the night before that she could never leave thisplace, that she was somehow protected here from the perils of theoutside world. Every instinct and emotion he possessed told him notleave her. But the Mantis..... He had no way of knowing that even nowthe question was being rendered academic.
Hearing Akar's deep growl, followed by a scream, he rushed wildlyback toward the frontal chamber. Fearing the worst he drew out hiscrude stone knife. But at the thought of the Mantis it began to feelvery small and useless in his hand. He turned the bend of the enclosure.
Though the creature he found there was not the one he expected, thedanger was equally great. An enormous woolly land spider, too primitiveto understand the markings above the cave's entrance, stoodmotionless on the ledge just beyond it, peering into the shelter withcautious uncertainty. Searching for a home, food had not been its mainobjective. But Kalus knew it could change its mind at any moment, andwas quite capable of devouring them all.
'Sylviana!' he cried desperately. 'To the shaft through whichI entered..... Quickly!'
But the girl, seeing the real-life manifestation of her darkestimaginings, could not find it within herself to turn and run. Insteadshe stood paralyzed in the center of the floor, staring with totaldisbelief into the eyes of certain death.
Only the spider's cautious hesitation saved them. Seizing her by thearm, Kalus forced her hurriedly toward the opening above her bed. Herethe wall sloped sharply to meet it. Helping her up the pitted incline,they entered a broad and irregular chimney in the rock. Followed by thegirl he began winding his way up through the spiraling, almost verticalpassageway.
'Wait!' cried the girl, regaining her senses. 'What about thewolf?'
'He will have to fend for himself!' retorted Kalus angrily.Taking her by the arm once more, he forced her onward.
Seeing a pale yellow light filter down from above, he finally relented,slowing their pace. Stopping to rest on a narrow ledge far beyond thepoint where the spider could reach them, he felt his heart poundinguncontrollably. As it did so it sent angry waves of blood pulsingsharply through his veins, aggravating the deep head wound he hadsustained the day before. The pain, though not excruciating, combinedwith the fear and frustration of the moment to form the totally negativeand inescapably fatalistic frame of mind which had haunted him sincechildhood. All his thoughts, worded and otherwise, now seemed to crashin upon themselves like the breaking of a wave, crushing and smotheringevery positive impulse, every hopeful thought inside him. Hanging hishead in a gesture of forced surrender he breathed heavily, mouth open,and waited for the feeling to pass.
Seeing his despair, Sylviana was moved in a way she could not explain.Having lived most of her life in sheltered seclusion, all such powerfulemotions had existed for her only in books, and always seemed somehowpretentious and unreal. To see it now in undeniable reality, affected adual response within her. She felt at once both selflesslycompassionate, and selfishly afraid. Again she thought of her friend.
'Kalus?' she asked softly, trying hard not to upset him. 'Whatwill happen to the wolf?' He started to answer gruffly, but seeingher anguish, mellowed his tone.
'He will be all right,' he said. 'Akar knows the ways ofescape like no other..... The spider has the mind of an ant. He is notin danger.' Though he had stretched the truth, he hoped she wouldbelieve him. In his heart he knew that the wolf was probably dead, orat best, trapped in some dark corner of the cave, hoping the spiderwould not find him.
But if he intended to calm her he had failed miserably. Something hesaid unknowingly, had upset her even more. 'Are all the insects ofyour world as large as the spider?' She asked sincerely, hoping toGod the answer was no. The thought of a swarm of giant ants had sent achill straight through her.
'Insects?'
'Crawling things with many legs.'
'Of course not,' he said, shaking his head at her ignorance. Howcould she have lived so long and still know so little of the ways of theValley? But he was no longer angry with her. The intensity of the paindying down, he had actually begun to derive some new sort of pleasurefrom hearing the sound of her voice.
'Except for the spider and the mantis,' he continued, 'Theyrarely grow to be much longer than your hand.' Though the answer washardly reassuring, at least she sensed that he meant well, something shehad not been at all sure of before.
'Come,' he said, feeling unusually benevolent. 'There is asmall cave just ahead. We will be safe there.' Taking her by thehand, they climbed the remaining distance carefully, coming at last tothe wide, shoulder-high cavity th
He searched it quickly before letting the girl enter. But finding ituninhabited, he helped her up, then lay down and basked in the firstreal safety he had known for several days, seeming to take no furthernotice.
But Sylviana could find no such release. Crouching on one knee in thelight of the smaller cave's entrance, she could think only of herfriend, the gentle wolf, trapped beyond all help in the lower cave.
Realizing there was nothing more she could do, she remained there inuncertain melancholy, her mind buried deep in her thoughts.
Chapter 5
Peering down at the entrance of the larger cave, Sylviana kept hervigil. Kalus had long since fallen asleep, something which troubled herdeeply. She could not understand how he could be so indifferent aboutthe fate of her only friend. She herself had remained on the lip ofrock just beyond the smaller niche for what seemed an eternity, andstill had seen no sign of either wolf or spider.
She had passed much of the time by studying the awesome landscape thatopened so broadly before her, her first unobstructed view. And shecould summon just enough geology and topography to be both puzzled andintrigued by the inexplicable diversity of it.