“Mister,” asked the Cytha, “what do we do now?”
“You should know,” Duncan told it. “You were the one who dug the pit.”
“I split myself,” the Cytha said. “A part of me dug the pit and the other part that stayed on the surface got me out when the job was done.”
“Convenient,” grunted Duncan.
And it was convenient. That was what had happened to the Cytha when he had shot at it—it had split into all its component parts and had got away. And that night beside the waterhole, it had spied on him, again in the form of all its separate parts, from the safety of the thicket.
“You are caught and so am I,” the Cytha said. “Both of us will die here. It seems a fitting end to our association. Do you not agree with me?”
“I'll get you out,” said Duncan wearily. “I have no quarrel with children.”
He
