Ulysses said, "Theythink?"
"Well," Ghlikh answered, "they cannot under-stand why you took the part of the Wufea when they were only intent on bringing you to this village where you could be properly honoured, or what they think is such."
Ulysses wanted to push on and ignore the creature, who was making him somewhat queasy. But Awina had told him that the bat-people were the couriers, the representatives, the gossipers, and the functionaries of many things. It was protocol that a bat-man act as arbitrator between two parties who wished to make arrangements for peace, trade or sometimes for a limited war. In addition, the batmen sometimes became traders themselves, flying in with small, lightweight, but much desired goods from some unknown country, perhaps their own.
"You tell them that I was attacked by two of their number. And for this I punished all of them," Ulysses said.
"I will tell them so," Ghlikh said. "And do you plan any more punishment?"
"Not unless they do something to deserve it."
Ghlikh hesitated and swallowed audibly, his craggy Adam's apple jumping like a monkey on a stick. Evidently he was not as superior as he pretended to be. Or perhaps he knew that he was vulnerable while on the ground, however lofty his opinion of himself was.
"The Wagarondit say that it is only fair that they should ask even a god to prove that he is a god."
Awina, standing behind Ulysses, whispered, "Lord, forgive me. But a word of advice might help. These arrogant Wagarondit need a lesson, and if you let them push you around. "
Ulysses agreed with her, but he did not want advice unless he asked for it. He held up his hand to indicate that she should be quiet. To Ghlikh he said, "I do not have to prove anything, but I can be petitioned."
Ghlikh smiled as if he had guessed that Ulysses would say that. The sun struck pale flames in his cat-yellow eyes. He said, "The Wagarondit, then, beg you to kill The Old Being With The Long Hand. The monster has been ravaging the fields and even the villages for many years. He has destroyed many crops and storehouses and sometimes puts entire villages close to starvation. The Old Being has killed many warriors close to starvation. The Old Being has killed many warriors sent out against him, crippled others, and always conquered. Or he has run away, eluding whole hunting parties, only to show up elsewhere and tromp down and eat whole fields of corn or crush houses and push over great palisades of heavy logs."
"I will consider their petition," Ulysses said, "and I will answer in the next few days. Meanwhile, unless there is something else to talk about, let us go on."
"There is only trivia, news and gossip I bring from many villages of many tribes of different peoples," Ghlikh said. "You may find some of it entertaining or even instructive, my Lord."
Ulysses did not know if that last was a sneer at the supposed omniscience of a god, but he decided to let it pass. However, if it became necessary, he would grab hold of the skinny little monster and wring his neck as an object lesson. The bat-people might be scared, or at least privileged, but if this fellow became too insulting, he could damage Ulysses' image as a god.
They walked down the hill and across the floor of the valley, passing over a wooden bridge over a creek about three hundred feet wide. On the other side were fields of corn and other plants and also meadows on which a red-wooled sheep with three crumpled horns chomped on the long blue-green grass. The number of stone and wooden hoes and scythes left in the fields showed that the women and children had been working up to the last moment.
To the beat of the drums, the Wufea marched up to the gates, and here Ulysses confronted the chiefs and the priests. The bat-man had launched himself from the hillside and had flown above them as they had marched across the valley. Now he glided in and landed a few feet away from Ulysses, running a little distance after coming to earth. He came back, waddling on his bowed legs, his leathery boneribbed wings half-open.
There was more talk, conducted with Ghlikh as go-between. Then the overchief, Djiidaumokh, sank to his knees and rubbed Ulysses' hand on his forehead. The other chiefs and priests followed, and Ulysses and his band entered the village.
There were several days of feasting and speech-making before Ulysses continued his march. He visited ten Wagarondit villages in all. Ulysses was curious about what payment Ghlikh got for his services. Ghlikh by now rode with them on the back of a Wagarondit brave, his bandy legs wrapped around the thick furry neck.
"My payment!" he said, waving his hand airily. "Oh, I am fed and lodged and a few other of my needs are taken care of. I am a simple person. I only want to talk to many different peoples, to converse, to satisfy my curiosity and theirs, to be of service. I derive my greatest joy from being of service."
"That is all you ask?"
"Oh, sometimes I accept a few baubles, some gemstones or excellently carved figurines or objects like that. But my main item of trade is information,"
Ulysses did not comment, but he felt that there was more to Ghlikh's business than he said.
On the way back to the first Wagarondit village, the chief, Djiidaumokh, asked him what he meant to do about the Old Being With The Long Hand.
"The people of Nisheymanakh, the third village we visited, have sent a messenger saying that The Old Being has ravaged one of their fields again. He killed two warriors who went after him."
Ulysses sighed. Noblesse oblige could not be put off.
He said, "Let us go after this creature at once."
He called Ghlikh to him and said, "Have the Wagarondit ever used you to locate The Old Being With The Long Hand?"
"Never," Ghlikh said.
"Why not?"
"They never thought of it, I suppose."
"And you never thought of telling them how valuable you could be?"
"No. I suppose that The Old Being is more valuable to me alive than dead. If he is dead, then I have just that much less exciting news."
"You will locate The Old Being," Ulysses said.
Ghlikh's eyes narrowed, and his thin lips became a thread. But he said, "Of course, my Lord."
Ulysses knew from conversations he had overheard that at least four generations of Wagarondit had known The Old Being. But he was not always in Wagarondit territory. Sometimes he disappeared for years, and he must then be ravaging the unknown peoples to the north, the west and perhaps in the great forest to the east. He was a huge animal and he had a big territory to cover.
From the description he had pieced together, Ulysses knew that The Old Being had to be an elephant of some sort. But what an elephant! He must be twenty feet high at the shoulder and he had four tusks! The upper tusks curved upward and the lower tusks curved down and back. The Long Hand was the proboscis.
The Old Being's wiliness, his avoidance of traps, his deadly ambushes, his ability to disappear, were legendary.
"He has far more intelligence than you would expect from a nonsentient," Ulysses said to Ghlikh. Awina stood near them.
"Who said he was one who had no speech?" Ghlikh said.
Ulysses was surprised. "You mean, hecan talk?"
Ghlikh's eyelids lowered. He said, "I would not know, of course. I was merely pointing out that no one actually knows whether or not he can talk."
"Is he the only one of his kind?" Ulysses said.
"I would not know. There are those who say that there are many of his kind many marches to the north. I do not know."
"You should," Ulysses said. "You get around a lot. You fly far, and even if you do not go north, surely there are others of your people who do."
"I do not know," Ghlikh said, but Ulysses thought he detected a barely repressed amusement on his face.
He shoved down his anger, however, and said, "Tell me, Ghlikh, have you ever seen.?" and then he halted. There was no word for metal in the Wufea speech. Not as far as he knew, anyway. He proceeded to describe metal. Then, remembering his knife, he brought it out and unfolded it. Ghlikh, his eyes wide, breathing harder than he should, asked permission to handle the blade. Ulysses watched him while the long skinny fingers felt the steel, gently ran the edge of his thumb over the edge, tasted it with his warty tongue, and held it flat against the vellum cheek. Finally, Ghlikh handed the knife back.
The Neshgai, he continued in response to Ulysses' questioning, were a race of giants who lived in a giant village of giant houses made of some strange material. Their city was on the southern coast of this land. On the other side of Wurutana. The Neshgai walked on two legs, and their tusks were only two and very tiny compared to those of The Old Being. But they had big ears and a long nose that fell to their waists. They looked as if they were descended from a creature something like The Old Being.
Ulysses was so full of questions he did not know which to ask first.
"What is your idea of Wurutana?" he said.