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Old 05-15-2004, 01:51 PM   #206
piosenniel
Desultory Dwimmerlaik
 
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Mus’ad and Nizar

‘Yes, it’s me,’ whispered Mus’ad, crawling close to his brother. ‘What’s happened to Tinar?’ Nizar explained with an economy of words how he had attempted to follow the sparrow. ‘He was barely keeping up with the men, and to be truthful, I was barely keeping up with the lot of them. And then . . . he changed . . . and I couldn’t keep track of him at all.’

‘You mean the dog form?’ Mus’ad asked, his tongue flicking in and out as he tried to fathom why the pigeon could not keep up with the cur. ‘No, not the dog!’ Nizar whispered what he’d seen. ‘Well, then we’ve lost him, haven’t we?’ the lizard snorted. ‘I thought we could just go along with the men and camels,’ offered Nizar. ‘He seems to be following them.’

‘And what if he’s decided something else, eh?’ asked Mus’ad. ‘Then we’ll be riding who knows how far in this musty pack.’ Nizar watched as his brother twitched his tail in irritation. ‘Best we get off when we can and head back,’ came the lizard.’

‘Head back?!’ squeaked Nizar. ‘What about Wyrma and the job she set us?’

Mus’ad tapped his pads on the side of the back, then his mouth curved up in the semblance of a smile. ‘We’ll go back, collect our things and send her a note by messenger – tell her what you saw and all. Then, we’ll go south toward Latif’s . . . disappear for a while . . . til things cool down.’

A number of hours later, the waterskin was passed round again and the man on whose camel the pack was secured got off to ‘stretch his legs’, he said. The two tiny hitchhikers scrabbled down the side of the pack and onto the camel’s rump. The beast, irritated by the crawly sensation as they moved over his hide, stomped his hind leg and twitched his hindquarters. Lizard and bug lost their purchase on the camel’s backside and went flying off in a falling arc. Not caring now if their presence were known, Mus’ad called out to his brother. ‘Follow me!’

Two pigeons flapped madly toward the city, leaving a surprised and irritated camel behind them.

Last edited by piosenniel; 05-16-2004 at 09:23 AM.
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