Fall; or, Dodge in Hell - Neal Stephenson Page 0,298

different from dwelling in the Garden behind El’s palace. He sensed Eve’s aura as she came up behind him, and felt her hand as she clasped his.

He came to his senses then and remembered the night of the knife. With his free hand he grasped for it, not to draw it out of its sheath but just to confirm that it was there and to remind himself that it had not been a dream. He spoke to Captain, loudly enough that all in Camp could hear his words: “When Messenger of El came here, Eve and I learned just what would be entailed in ordering our lives as you suggest!” Letting go of Eve’s hand, he reached around behind her back and drew her to his side. “What Messenger of El did that night, and what was done to him, cannot be undone,” he continued. “We will go out into the world and be no worse off than when we were ejected from the Garden.” He turned to look at Cairn, Dusty, and the other souls of Camp, and noted that they were being joined by Thunk and Whirr and other members of their band, who were entering into the compound from the direction of the forest. Adam concluded, “I hold no authority over these other souls, many of whom are much older and wiser than me and Eve, and so I leave them to their own counsel.”

He supposed that Walksfar or one of the others might now have something to say in return. Instead he was distracted by a sudden movement of Eve, who first shrank against him and then ducked under his arm so as to move back. For a thin tendril of aura had reached out from Captain to grope at Eve’s belly, and his gaze was fixed upon her. Seeing that she did not like being probed in this way, Adam sidestepped to interpose himself between her and the Captain, and waved his arm back and forth in an effort to disrupt the aura. But Captain had already learned Eve’s secret. “Again you are with child!” he said. “The first time, you made new souls innocently and were blameless. But after the events Adam just spoke of, there can be no doubt in your minds that such doings are in defiance of El’s will. This must not be allowed to continue!” Captain made his mount step forward.

But then he and all the others were dazzled by a flare of light, bright as the sun, as Walksfar drew the sword from its dark scabbard.

“Before you utter another word in such a threatening tone,” said Walksfar, “I would that you consider this and recall the fate of him from whom we won it.”

The Captain’s mount reared up on its hind legs and backed away from the sword of Thingor, and for a moment it was all he could do to bring the beast under control. When it had settled down, the Captain spoke wrathfully. “There are more where that came from,” he reminded Walksfar, “whole armories of them in the vaults of the Palace.”

A whirring noise tore through the air and a stone smashed into the wall not far from the Captain, shattering a dry branch. All turned to see Whirr. Swinging from her hand was the sling she had just used to throw the stone, and she was already reaching into the pouch at her hip to select another. “Bring your swords from on high then,” she said to the Captain. “Down here is no lack of rocks.”

Adam had turned round to pay heed to Whirr. He was now distracted, though, by something impossible. A slender object, red and wet, was protruding from his chest, almost to the length of his arm. Disbelieving his eyes, he reached for it with one hand, then the other, and found that it was every bit as real as the ground under his feet. Most of it was a smooth wooden pole, but at its tip was a pointed, double-edged blade of forged iron. He grasped this and its honed edges cut deeply into his palm. The pole had transfixed his body from back to front.

He had been stabbed from behind by a spear such as the Autochthons carried to hold wolves at bay.

He felt a powerful twisting followed by pain such as he had never known, which forced him to turn around until he was facing Captain once more. This also brought him in view of Eve. Her form seemed