to put both hands against the stone, staring up and then to either side of the face, studying the dark stone as best he could in the faint light of the glowing croach.
"The ropes are far from here," hissed Kitai. "There is no escape for us."
"We don't need escape," Tavi said. He pressed his mouth to the stone and touched his tongue to it briefly, then spat out the sour taste of lime. "This way," he said. He picked up his pack and continued on through the green light of the Wax Forest, the rocky wall on his left. He dug in the pack as he went.
"They are surrounding us," Kitai said, voice cool. "Boxing us in."
"We don't need to get much farther," Tavi said. He tossed back one of the jars of oil to Kitai. "Hold that."
The Marat caught the jar awkwardly, then scowled at Tavi as they both ran on. "What is this?"
"Hold it a minute," Tavi said. "I have an idea."
Orange eyes flickered on his right, and Tavi didn't see the Keeper hurtling toward him until it was already halfway there. Kitai's foot kicked at his own and sent him stumbling to the forest floor.
The spider hurtled over him, missing him by a hair. It landed on the wall, its legs clinging to the nearly vertical surface, then spun on all of its legs, whistling. Its mandibles clicked and snapped against its carapace.
Tavi watched as Kitai drew his stone knife and hurled it. The glassy blade entered the creature's head, drawing a sudden fount of greenish glowing fluid, mixed in with something dark and acrid smelling. The Keeper hurled its body out again, but unguided it simply bucked in a high arch and landed on the ground, twitching and convulsing.
Kitai hauled Tavi to his feet and said, "I hope it is a good idea, Aleran."
Tavi felt himself quivering with terror and nodded jerkily. "Yeah. Yeah, so do I." He started running again, Kitai close behind him.
The sound of trickling water came to Tavi a moment later, and he lengthened his strides, leaping over another twisted root. Before him, the rock wall had parted in a long, narrow fissure. Water trickled out of it in a slow, steady stream, meltwater from the ambient heat of the croach. At the base of the fissure was a long, narrow pool, an area where the croach had not grown over the bare earth. The pool looked hideously dark, and Tavi could not see how deep it was.
"We cannot climb this, Aleran," panted Kitai. Another shriek sounded from near at hand, and Kitai twisted in place, body crouching in tension.
"Shut up," Tavi said "Give me the oil" He took the jar from Kitai's hand, jerked the broad cork out of its mouth He turned to the area behind himself and Kitai and stomped hard on the ground several times, breaking the surface of the wax and drawing out more of the sludgy, glowing fluid
More outraged, chittering shrieks rose through the glowing forest
"What are you doing'" hissed Kitai "You show them where we are'"
"Yes," Tavi said "Exactly " He dumped the oil onto the croach, into the depression his boots had made, and took the firestone box into his hand He opened the two separate chambers and took the firestones into his hand, kneeling beside the oil He looked up to see the glowing orange dots of dozens of eyes closing in on him with that same weird, alien grace, knobby legs rippling across the surface of the croach
"Whatever you are doing," Kitai half-shouted, "hurry'"
Tavi waited until the eyes were close And then he reached down to the oil and struck the firestones together
They sparked brightly, glowing motes falling down, into the spilled oil One of them found a spot where the oil was not deep enough to drown it, and in a rush, the whole of the small pool took sudden, brilliant flame Fire leapt up from the depression in the croach, as high as Tavi's chest
The boy recoiled from the flames, grabbed Kitai by the Marat boy's one-piece smock, and hauled him toward the pool They tumbled into the cold water together, and Tavi pulled them both down
The water was shallow, no more than thigh deep, and viciously chill Tavi and Kitai gasped together at the cold Then the Aleran boy stared at the Keepers
The wax spiders had gone mad at the kindling of the fire Those nearest to him had fallen back and were scuttling in circles, letting out high