Timber And Wind

"The Trouble Twisters," V.

I was not sure whether there was no wood or just little wood on Ikrananka but the answer was forthcoming. Stalks are spliced and glued together to form timber which is "...more costly than bronze..." (p. 125) and transported under armed guard.

Streets were cobbled when the land was less arid. It sounds as though the demons are winning their struggle to destroy the ordered environment and to return it to chaos.

Adzel's Ershoka (human) drinking companion suddenly acts suspiciously. No longer seeming inebriated, he withdraws, claiming a remembered errand, and leaves Adzel to walk alone into an ambush. When Adzel tries to hold the Ershoka's attention, he replies:

"'Later, later.' Wind ran down the empty street, driving sand, and ruffled the bronze hair. No one else was in sight." (pp. 131-132)

I cite this as yet another example of wind seeming to comment on the action. Others have withdrawn but the wind runs by as if in warning.

Another familiar theme recurs when Adzel, proceeding alone along the street, recalls his home planet, Woden:

"...a certain sense of belonging, an innocence, was forever gone." (p. 132)