9

Zluty was so thirsty that he kept picturing the pool in the cave, or the water shining in the well by the cottage. When he did manage to forget his thirst for a time, he worried about Bily and wondered what he would do if the stones kept falling so that it never got light enough for him to find his way out of the forest. He told himself it was silly to think the stonefall would not stop just as a rainfall did, but who knew what rules such a freakish storm would obey.

Suddenly an idea came to him of how to pass the remaining hours until morning. He could explore deeper in the forest simply by using the shining stones to mark the way from the earthbank. Of course, the stones were too few to take him far, but when he came to the end of them, he could just turn around and come back to the earthbank, collecting the stones as he went, and then strike out again in another direction.

His heart beat fast with excitement as he got up and emptied everything out of his bag but the pouch of stones and his little hammer. Slinging it over his head and shoulder, he took up his staff and carefully set one of the shining stones on the highest part of the earthbank, gouging an arrow beside it to show which direction he had first gone in. Then he set off at a measured pace, checking constantly over his shoulder to make sure he could see the shining stone. When he could only just see it, he put down another shining stone, and set off again.

He found nothing in his first journey out from the earthbank but a few bits of metal jutting up from the moss and several more of the metal tree trunks. He was surprised to find that the moss was mostly white, for he had always imagined it to be green like the moss at the edges of the forest. It was not until his third journey out that he noticed some rare black shelf mushrooms growing from a tree. Zluty was elated. Bily especially loved them for the strong spicy flavour the tiniest piece gave a soup or stew, and they lasted almost as well as those he had gathered at the earthbank.

He picked a few and carefully folded them in leaves to carry them back to the earthbank. He was tempted to stop and try to sleep again but he decided he would make one last trip out from the earthbank, for it would be a whole year before he would be able to explore again.

He made another gouge in the moss to show which way he had gone, and set off again, wishing he would find water. He had laid down seven stones when, through the gloom, he caught sight of something that made him forget his thirst.

It was a low wall of stone, ancient and crumbled. Zluty wondered who had built it and why. Then it occurred to him that if he walked along it, he need not leave a trail of stones to show him the way he had gone. He could walk as far as the wall went! He put one stone on the wall to show where he had joined it, for the wall ran in both directions out of sight, and then he set off walking to the right, holding the staff out before him.

He had thought he might find other ancient buildings, but aside from the wall there was nothing but more enormous trees and soft moss broken only by the occasional jut of metal. Zluty counted seventy steps before the wall ended quite suddenly at the edge of a great swathe of bare black earth.

He put one of the shining stones on the end of the wall and moved out onto the black earth. It crunched loudly under his feet and some of the brittle black chunks collapsed into soft powder. Kneeling to look more closely at the ground, Zluty discovered it was not earth but charcoal and ash under his feet. A fire had burned here so blazingly hot as to scorch the very earth.

He looked up, lifting his staff high, and saw that the dense forest canopy overhead was unbroken. The branches must be sewn together by such an intricate interlacing of threads and winding creepers that they had not fallen. Was it possible the fire was so ancient that the trees had grown up around the burned space?

Zluty knew he ought to go back, but he could not resist using his remaining stones to go as far as he could across the blackened earth.

Something caught his eye a few steps away. It was a smooth round object buried under the burnt ground. He knelt and laid down his staff so that he could use both hands to dig. Then he stopped, seeing that what he had found was an egg! Not the frail pale egg of a bird or even the hard horny black egg of a lizard, but a metal egg like the one from which he had Bily had hatched – only many, many times larger!

Zluty kept digging around its edge until he found the seam. It was cracked open, the gap wide enough for him to get the head of his staff through and peer in.

Zluty’s fur fluffed with shock at the sight of a white cluster of bones. Feeling ill, he realised that whatever had been inside the egg was long dead. His curiosity to know what the creature had been was stronger than the sudden fear that gripped him, and Zluty pushed the staff deeper into the metal egg. He wanted to see the shape made by the bones, but they were too big and the light of the stone too weak. Finally, he drew back and got to his feet, feeling oddly shaken.

Another glimmer of metal caught his eye. Again, he had to dig whatever it was out of the black stones, and again Zluty drew in a breath of amazed wonder. For it was another metal egg, this one small enough to fit into his hands.

He brought the head of the staff closer and studied the tiny egg. It had the same studs and seam as the enormous egg, only this one was still closed. He laid down the staff and picked it up, wondering how the eggs had got here and what they had to do with one another. Then he imagined Bily’s amazement when he saw the egg, for it was so small and light he could easily carry it home in the space left by the broken pots. There was no sense in leaving it. He had no idea if the creature inside it was alive, but if something did hatch, Bily would know how to look after it.

Thinking of Bily made Zluty long for his brother. He put the metal egg gently into his bag and turned back to the big egg. He took out his pipe and played the same solemn tune he played for the diggers when one of their number died, to mourn the enormous unknown beast that had never had the chance to live.

When the song was finished, Zluty returned to the wall, collecting the glowing stones as he went. As he walked, his thirst returned to torment him and it seemed a long time before he finally reached the earthbank. But to his great relief, even as he tucked away the last shining stone, he saw the familiar pallid greenish light of day in the distance and his heart leapt, for it meant that the long night and the deadly stonefall had both come to an end.

Eagerly, Zluty packed the mushroom bundles into his collecting bag with the metal egg and set off towards the plain. Never had he longed for anything so much as to be out in the open with nothing but the blue sky over him and sunlight warming his fur. Despite his burdens, he was almost trotting by the time he could see the plain through the gaps in the trees at the edge of the forest. The sky had a dull bruised look, but the great red cloud had vanished. The queer storm had spent itself in the night, or the wind had blown it beyond the forest to the edge of the world.

Either way, it was over.

Zluty made his way straight across the plain to the rift cave, stumbling a little over the hundreds of fallen stones. Inside the cave, he laid down his staff and bag and knelt to drink from the cool, wonderfully sweet pool of spring water. Then he stretched out on his bedroll, marvelling at his adventures. Never had so much happened on a trip to the forest. He would have to be careful how he told his tale, for he did not want to frighten Bily.

His eyes began to droop but he knew he had better trek to the forest hive to get honey and collect the pots of tree sap before he allowed himself to sleep, for he wanted to leave by dusk. If he moved quickly, there would still be time for a sleep before he left.

Returning to the forest, he was surprised at how reluctant he was to re-enter it after the long night he had just spent there. He made his way West along the outer edge of the forest until he came to the tree where the tree hive hung. He was saddened to find that it had been smashed to the ground by falling stones. There was no sign of the swarm that had inhabited it and he wondered if the bee Queen had survived. Most likely she had been killed, for being wingless she would have no way to escape. But the swarm would have taken the fledgling bee queens and that would enable them to establish a new hive. The loss of the hive would have dismayed him far more if he had not been gifted with a bee queen from the desert hive, though he was sure that in time he would locate the new forest hive.

He took enough honeycomb from the broken hive to fill the pots he had brought and then made his way back to collect the tree sap urns.

He stopped each urn with a plug of moss, pulled out the tap tubes and plugged the wounds in the trees with more moss. He was elated to discover that the urn he had left so close to the edge of the forest had survived the stonefall and was full of sap too.

Returning to the cave at midday, he stowed the urns and pots carefully in his pack, using the bundles of mushrooms to stop them banging together. Then he made a fire and cooked some pancakes for the journey as well as for his long overdue supper. When he unstoppered one of the little honey jars to use on the pancakes, the three male bees came buzzing out of their jar, drawn by the scent. Zluty told them about the forest hive and they sang a song of sympathy for the doomed Queen before taking a sample of the unfamiliar honey to carry the memories in it back to their little Queen. One of the bees lingered to ask when they had got to the vale of bellflowers.

Zluty told the bee he would leave that night and if all went well they would reach the cottage early on the fourth day of travel. Once the bee had returned to its jar, Zluty cleaned his dishes and filled the water bulbs, setting them in a neat row by the pack in readiness for his departure. Only then did he stretch himself out to sleep.

He was just drifting off when he heard a loud rushing sound from outside. Feeling he had had quite enough of new things for a while, Zluty reluctantly got to his feet and went to the cave entrance.

To his astonishment, he saw that it was beginning to rain.