Ice Trilogy (73 page)

The boy looked at them, opening his small, dim-witted mouth. He was wearing light underpants, woven from high mountain grasses. On his chest was a wide white bandage. The twins smiled at him, holding him by the shoulders. On Gorn’s lower lip a drop of saliva appeared, detached itself, and stretched heavily down. Skeye wiped his mouth with her fingers.

“Don’t you want to sleep some more?”

“Uh-huh,” he said, looking at Skeye.

Then he moved his gaze to Ak.

“We are your sisters,” the twins said simultaneously.

“Nuh-uh.” Gorn looked at them, immobile.

“We are your sisters,” the twins repeated once more.

“When?” said Gorn, licking his wet lips.

“Right now,” Skeye answered.

“You have lots of brothers and sisters. It’s just that before you didn’t know about it.” Ak took his hand. “My name is Ak.”

“Mine is Skeye.” Skeye took the boy’s other hand.

“But yo
u...
where?”

“We are here. With you. Forever.”

The boy turned his head, looking all around. A large black-and-yellow butterfly glided down and landed on the blue rose petals between the boy’s legs. He stared at the butterfly. The butterfly sat there, fanning its wings.

“Striped,” the boy muttered and licked his wet lips. “Big? Like that?”

The twins held him by the hands.

“Where is everybody?” Gorn asked, without taking his blue eyes off the flapping butterfly wings. “Where’s Mama? And Auntie Vera? Will they come?”

“We’ll tell you all about it now,” said Ak. “You just have to hug us tighter.”

“How?” Drooling, the boy stared, mesmerized, at the butterfly’s wings.

“Like this.” The twins took his arms, dove under them with their golden heads, and pressed against the boy.

Their arms entwined his white body, their tanned bodies pressed against the boy.

“
Hello
, brother Gorn!”

The twins’ hearts throbbed. And smoothly
took
Gorn’s heart.

The boy’s face quivered and his eyebrows flinched. The short blond hair on his head stood up.

“Catsundogs,” said his lips.

He farted. Four waves of a slight tremor passed through his body; his fixed eyes filled with moisture. Two birds, calling to each other in the branches of the cherry tree nearby, grew quiet.

The boy stopped trembling. He froze. Urine bubbled between his legs.

Pressed to him, the twins seemed to turn to stone. The boy shuddered without blinking or shifting position. And peed on himself again. The urine quietly streamed onto the white silk bed strewn with blue petals. The puddle between his legs grew, flowing across the fabric. The blue petals, floating on it, moved along. The urine reached the butterfly. The petal on which it sat rocked and floated away. And the butterfly flew off.

Ak, Gorn, and Skeye were locked together for forty-two minutes.

Finally the twins’ hearts
grew quiet
.

The twins shuddered, their lips opened, and greedily, with a moan and a sob, drew in the warm, humid, aromatic air of the tropics. The twins unwound their arms and fell back on the bed, knocking off some of the rose petals. The boy remained sitting, gazing straight ahead. Lying back on the rose petals, the twins greedily and joyfully breathed. The voices of the two birds awoke again in the branches.

Gorn blinked. And moved his right leg with his fingers. His wet lips quavered, his tongue moved in his mouth.

“A-m-m-
m...a...
m-m-
m...
but giv
e..
.” Gorn said, and found the twins with his eyes.

They breathed, gazing at him rapturously. Tears flowed from their eyes.

“Give me, giv
e..
.” Gorn bleated, and his arms stretched out to the twins.

Ak and Skeye took him by the hands.

“Give me, give me, giv
e..
.” Gorn mumbled, grabbing them and drooling.

The twins rose with some difficulty and embraced Gorn. Now it was they,
tired
of heart, who leaned on the boy. He
wanted
their hearts powerfully.

“Give me, give me, give!” he whimpered, clutching at the shoulders and heads of the swaying twins.

They cried silently, entwining him in their exhausted arms. Their hearts had
grown faint
in meeting Gorn’s heart: they had not yet met a heart of equal might. Even Khram’s powerful heart was nothing compared to this still very small heart, which exuded such amazing strength.

“Give me, give, give!” Gorn roared, and his face was distorted by a tortured grimace.

The twins
began to speak
with him again.

Gorn grew still. His eyes turned glassy. Saliva ran freely from his open mouth.

Another thirty-eight minutes passed.

The twins shuddered and with a moan fell back on the bed.

Gorn stirred. His face was blazing. His arms quivered. From his open, dried-out mouth came intermittent puffs of hot breath.

“An
d...
give me, and give, and give!” he whined.

The twins lay, barely breathing.

“And give me! Give! And give! And give!” Gorn roared.

Ak barely managed to wrest her gilded head from the bed. Skeye breathed in spurts, like a fish thrown on the shore. She didn’t have the strength to rise.

“And give me
!...
Give! Give!”

The forest surrounding the bed rustled. All the brothers and sisters of the ocean house had been here from the beginning
of the support
. Hidden behind wide leaves and thick trunks, they followed the first
conversation
. Now their hearts were
worried
.

“They need
help
. Support them!” Uf said, approaching the bed.

“They
won’t hold out!
” Shey yelped.

“He’s
stronger!
” Das cried out.

“They are
collapsing!
” Bork growled.

“And give me! Give! Give! And gi-i-i-i-vvvve!!!” Gorn roared as loud as he could and tore at the hair of the unconscious Skeye.

The foliage of the surrounding forest began to move. Dozens of arms stretched out toward Gorn, who was roaring. But he didn’t notice anything and continued to roar, shaking Skeye’s head, spitting tears and saliva. His awakened heart
desired
.

“I’ll
hold them up
.” Uf stepped forward.

“No!” Khram screeched,
stopping
everyone. “He
desires
them!
The first ones! You’ll extinguish it!
They must do it! We’ll help them! We’ll be their
support!
Everyone
stand behind
them!”

Dozens of arms lifted Ak and Skeye and pressed them to the boy. Gorn grabbed them greedily and grew still. Khram pressed against Ak’s back, Uf pressed against Skeye’s. Skeye opened her eyes.

“
Speak!
” ordered the hearts of those surrounding them.

And the twins again
began to speak
with Gorn.

The brothers and sisters
supported
them. Uf pressed Skeye to the boy; Khram, who didn’t have the strength to do this with Ak with her weak arms, pressed herself against Ak’s tanned back. Mef and Por supported Khram from behind. Shey, Bork, Niuz, and Pe held Uf. The rest surrounded the bed, stretching their arms in front of them and placing their heads on the bed. Their hearts
encompassed and supported
.

Another 23 minutes passed.

Ak’s and Skeye’s hearts
fell silent
. The twins were unconscious. The brothers’ arms lifted them and laid them down. Blood flowed from their ears and nostrils.

Gorn grew still and then shuddered. And everyone felt his heart
shine
for the first time. It had
been filled
. And acquired its
first
peace.

Gorn moved. And he saw everyone surrounding him. Everyone looked at him silently. He leaned his hands against the bed, rose up on his knees. Then he stood and straightened up. The look in his wide-open eyes had become more attentive and meaningful. His eyes seemed to have shed during the night, becoming more transparent. The blue in them had paled, drawn toward the pupils. His eyes slid over the surrounding world. Now the boy saw it differently: not yet as Gorn, but no longer as Misha Terekhov.

The world surrounded the boy. This world was new now. And still not fully understood. By itself it didn’t attract him. But something in it was
highly
desired. Something attracted him and tormented him. It was
infused
in the world.

Gorn cast his eyes about. He could vaguely
distinguish
.

Between the leaves, sky, branches, butterflies, grasses, and the bed with blue petals were those who had frozen, looking at him. And
it
was in them
.
The greatly desired. That which was stronger than the world. Without which it was already
impossible
to live.

Gorn walked, swaying, to the edge of the bed. The brothers and sisters stayed still, looking at him and
listening
closely. Reaching them, Gorn stretched out his hand. And touched a face. It was sister Shey. He touched her face. Shey’s heart
froze
. Ga, who had sat down near Shey and the bed, also froze. Gorn touched his face with his other hand.

None of the brothers or sisters made a sound.

The birds left the tiger tree that spread out over the bed.

Gorn’s open lips moved: “Bi-ig? Lik
e...
tha-at?”

Everyone stayed still, contemplating the Newly Acquired heart. A powerful heart. The one that they had waited for for
so
long and
so
desperately. Gorn’s every movement elicited
ecstasy
from the brothers and sisters. It was as though they were afraid to
scare off
the just- awakened heart.

Gorn touched Shey’s and Ga’s faces. He turned his gaze to Bi, Ut, and Forum, approached and began to touch them.

“A-a-a-lot? A-a-l-soo? The saaame?”

Khram was kneeling near Forum. Gorn stretched his hand to her. Their eyes met. But Gorn no longer looked with his eyes. He was
already
trying to
see
with his heart. Khram
felt
this.

“You, the same? Mi-i-ne?”

“
Yours! With the heart!
” Khram spoke, not only with her lips.

She took Gorn’s hands and placed them on her old, thin breast.

“
Yours! With the heart!
”

Gorn grew still. His heart
flared
with premonition. It began to
know
. His hands twined around Khram’s delicate, wrinkled neck. He pressed against her.

The still bodies of the brothers and sisters moved. They reached out toward Khram and Gorn. Their hearts
shone
.

“M-m-mi-mine. With the h-h-h-heart,” said Gorn.

“
With the heart
,” whispered Khram.

“With th-th-the h-heart,” Gorn repeated.

And he
understood
.

His heart
froze stiff
. The
past
awoke in him. Now it was
separate
. And it
arose
before his awakened heart in all its horror.

A tremor ran through Gorn’s body. He jerked violently and began to bend backward. His small mouth opened wide and a deep moan emerged.

Khram
understood
immediately what it was.

And they all
understood
.

The ring of Gorn’s arms released, his head arched back. And he fell flat onto the waiting palms of the brothers and sisters. Sobs wracked him.

Khram closed her eyes in a sweet exhaustion.

The heart crying seized Gorn. He sobbed, his legs flailing in spasms, his fingers scratching his white chest. His head arched back, tears and saliva flew into the faces of everyone helping.

“Thank the Light!” said Khram, joyfully clasping her bony elbows.

Dozens of arms lifted the sobbing boy and carried him along the stone path to the house. His weeping resounded in the wild tropical forest. Birds and animals listened cautiously and called to one another in the foliage warmed by the noonday sun.

Only Khram and Uf remained by the empty bed: Khram sat on the stone square, holding herself by her elbows and placing her head on the silk corner of the bed. Uf sat stock-still near the corner diagonally opposite. They were divided by the bed, strewn with crushed blue rose petals and soaked with Gorn’s urine.

Their hearts were silent in
exhaustion
. It was the very same
intoxicating
exhaustion of acquiring. And this time,
what
an acquisition! Khram and Uf
understood
what kind.

“He’s stronger than I
expected
,” said Khram, running her cheek over the cool silk.

“Much stronger,” Uf replied.

“He will be the
strongest
.”

“He
already
is the strongest.”

A gust of ocean wind rocked the tops of the trees and wafted through Khram’s long white hair.

The blue petals fell from the bed to the stone.

“We
held on
,” said Uf.

“The Light helped,” Khram whispered in a barely audible voice into the smooth corner of the bed.

From the tree a large blue-bronze beetle fell on the bed. He made a sort of lazy effort to turn over. His shiny black feet crumpled the roses.

“Now everything will fall on you,” Uf said.

“I’m
ready
. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life
,”
said Khram, and lifted her head.

“He’ll
lean
on you for support. Only on you. I won’t be with you.”

“I’ll
manage
. And I’ll
hold on
.”

“We’ll help with a Great Circle.”

“First we need a Middle one. And more than one.”

“They’re already getting together.”

“I have to have
support
.”

“It’s already there. We are supporting you.”

Uf stood up.

“You’re going back.” Khram
understood
.

“I
must return
.”

“I know you are
needed
ther
e...
The meat is coagulating. You will
hold it back
.”