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.Clinging to the boat, breathless with the speed of her race and with some underlying excitement, Soft Ripple babbled out an incoherent story about Black Pearl's being dead.She added something to the effect that the treacherous Cosmo was to blame.Gesner and Bonar sat up straight in their boat at the mention of that last name.But Zoltan had frozen in horror at what he heard.With the clarity of dazed detachment, he saw that Soft Ripple was holding up something she now wore on a fine chain about her neck.And he could recognize Page 95ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthe amulet that Black Pearl had been wearing the last time he saw her.The mermaid quieted a little when she saw the unfamiliar face of Prince Mark looking over the prow at her.Lady Yambu, coming up into the prow of the other boat, was sharply soothing, and helped the girl to get herself under control."Are you certain Black Pearl is dead? Have you seen her body?" It was Yambu who asked the questions."I am certain, lady.I have seen.""Then show us."Presently Soft Ripple was swimming again, more slowly this time, leading both boats in thefile:///F|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Saberhagen,%20.Lost%20Swords%204%20-%20Fars layer's%20Story.txt (88 of 111) [2/4/03 9:53:07 PM]file:///F|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Saberhagen,%20Fred%20-%20Lost%20Swords%204%20-%20Farslayer's%20Story.txt direction of a marshy area along the south bank of the river.This marsh was not far from the outlet of the stream that Black Pearl had ascended, with such difficulty, to visit the hermit.Before long both boats were sliding and crunching in among the tall green reeds, their rowers swearing at the difficulty, and Bonar muttering his fears of ambush to anyone who would pay attention.No one was paying attention to him for very long.The mermaid, slithering rapidly through the reedy shallows, and calling back frequently for the boats to follow, remained always a little ahead.Soon Zoltan saw something floating in the almost stagnant backwater ahead.With a choked cry he leaped from the boat into the waist-deep water, and went thrashing after the pale-skinned, dark-haired floating thing.When Zoltan came within reach of the body, he felt a rush of relief, intense but brief.This body had two legs, it could not be that of a mermaid.Nor could it be Black Pearl, he thought, perhaps not even a real corpse, though the thing was floating facedown.Whatever had happened to cause death could not have left her looking so shrunken, almost waxlike and inhuman."This is no mermaid!"Soft Ripple looked at him with rage and pity in her face."It is, it is.We all of us get our legs back when we die.Did you not know that?"He looked at her, shaking his head.He had never had any suspicion of such a thing.Ben of Purkinje, leaning from his boat as it drifted nearer, took hold of the body with a huge hand and turned it over gently.At the first human touch, a little swarm of almost invisible powers, like half-material insects, deserted the corpse and went whining and buzzing their way up into the empyrean.Ben rumbled: "Aye, this is demon-death if ever I've seen it.Hard to tell how long she's been here, though.""No!" Zoltan screamed the word.Now he had seen the face.It seemed a modeled parody of BlackPearl's.Mark put a hand on his nephew's shoulder.Lady Yambu asked Soft Ripple sharply: "Is it really true that your kind always reverts to having legs at death?""It is true of all our kind in this river.I have seen it often enough; I ought to know." The bitter hatred in her glared suddenly at Prince Mark, as if he had been Black Pearl's killer."We are allowed only a few years of life at best.""I am sorry." Yambu's voice was kind and soft."How did you come to find the body?"Coaxed by Lady Yambu, Soft Ripple explained how she had come to make the discovery.Page 96ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I have been worried about Pearl for some time, and yesterday I followed her to see where she was going.I saw her start to struggle up the shallow creek here, and I wondered what her goal could possibly be.She was swimming and floundering her way upstream toward the place where the hermit is said to live.I became very worried, and thought of following her even there, but then I gave up that idea, because I thought it was really crazy for a mermaid to try to ascend such a stream."So I waited in the river nearby for her to come down again.After a long time, hours, a demon came roaring through the air, and I was terrified.I heard a screaming inhuman sound, and I saw a mysterious and ugly shadow hurtling across the sky.I could see it even from under the water, and I could feel the sickness that the creature brought with it.I wanted to hide, because I thought that the treacherous magician might have called a demon up to kill me but it wasn't me that the thing was after.""What treacherous magician?"file:///F|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Saberhagen,%20.Lost%20Swords%204%20-%20Fars layer's%20Story.txt (89 of 111) [2/4/03 9:53:07 PM]file:///F|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Saberhagen,%20Fred%20-%20Lost%20Swords%204%20-%20Farslayer's%20Story.txtThe mermaid spat the words."Cosmo Malolo is the name he's known by in the world."Bonar, shocked, demanded: "Cosmo is still alive?"Soft Ripple ignored the clan leader's question.She said: "I didn't dare to come back here until this morning.I hadn't had any contact with Pearl all night, and I was more worried than ever.I looked for her, and I found her here like this."Gesner until now had been listening to the mermaid's story in silence
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