Free A Triumph of Souls by Alan Dean Foster Page A

hulking Hunkapa, who stood open-mouthed behind him. Unsurprisingly,
     the shaggy mountain did not react to what the swordsman felt was his best sally in some time.
    Behind both of them, the black litah stood and stared in silence. From time to time its long tongue would emerge to lick heavy
     lips. The humans aboard were not alone in their fondness for the taste of crabmeat. The cat restrained the impulses that were
     surging through it. Ehomba had scolded him before for trying to eat an envoy. It was, the herdsman had pontificated at the
     time in no uncertain terms, not only bad manners but very poor diplomacy.
    But oh, Ahlitah mused, what a meal this visitor would make!
    Standing alone before the visitant, aware that those watching viewed it from perspectives as wildly different from one another
     as from his, Ehomba considered how best to proceed. The type of talking itself was no stranger to him. He had known it since
     childhood, albeit with a considerably lesser degree of eloquence. He simply did not want to get off on the wrong foot. Offend
     this noble creature and it would doubtless plunge itself right back into the depths it had risen from. It was not for nothing
     that its kind were called crabs.
    Raising both hands, he began to wiggle several of his fingers in a certain manner. Though when it came to sheer number of
     limbs his counterpart had him outgunned, not all could be used simultaneously for conversation. Out ofthe water, at least, several had to be used at all times to support the weighty body.
    “Well would you look at that!” Not for the first time Simna was all but struck dumb by an unexpected talent of his lanky companion.
     This time there was no question that sorcery was not involved. It was, as Ehomba had tried to explain, simply a different
     kind of speaking. One that made use of hand signs, or in the case of the crab king, foot signs, to express notions, emotions,
     and ideas.
    After several minutes the giant crustacean and the tall human were practically shouting, so rapid and intense had the movements
     of their respective limbs become. It was certain that much was being said, but what, not a man jack among the crew had a clue.
     Neither did Simna ibn Sind, or the black litah, and certainly not the utterly engrossed Hunkapa Aub, who had to pause to ponder
     the meaning of any sentence longer than ten words.
    Eventually the frenetic exchange of signs slowed. Bending low, Ehomba extended a hand. It was met by a thorny claw. They did
     not shake, exactly. The crustacean’s armature would not properly allow it. But there was a definite physical meeting, following
     which those remarkable legs proceeded to carry their owner once more up over the railing and down the side of the ship. Rushing
     to the rail, those members of the crew who had remained on deck watched as the spiny, starlike shape sank once more beneath
     the wavelets, swallowed up entire by water the color of blue-black ink.
    Direct as always, Stanager was first to question Ehomba. “Are we to make anything of that? Or was it no more than an unlikely
     dialogue?”
    Turning to her, the herdsman smiled. “They are going totry to help us. Not because it is in their nature to do so, or because it would ever happen under ordinary circumstances—but
     because the sargassum man asked it of them. As fellow creatures of the sea, it seems they have a compact of sorts that is
     very old, and inviolate. The king was reluctant, but as soon as he saw that I was able to speak with him, his last uncertainties
     disappeared.”
    “I’m glad they’re going to try to help us,” Simna put in. “If not, I’d hate to think we let such a superb meal just walk away.”
    Ehomba glanced over at his friend. “Odd you should say that, Simna. The king was thinking the same about you. About all of
     us. His people are quite fond of the taste of man, having dined on numerous occasions on the bodies of sailors drowned at
     sea. At the bottom of the