'A slave,' said the girl.
'Yes,' said Pimples.
'Do you think he would let me be less,' she asked, smiling, timidly, 'such aman?'
'No,' said Pimples. 'I, too, was once slave among the Kaiila. I know such men.
They will accept nothing less than abject, perfect service from a woman.'
'Even if he would permit me less,' said the red-haired girl, 'I would not want,even of my own free will, to give him less.'
I envied the young warrior his lovely, red-haired slave, Winyela. What man,truly, honestly, red or white, would not? But perhaps one must have had a slave,or least once in ones life, to understand this.
'Look at the happy, shameless slave,' I said. 'She may have been born for thatcollar.'
'Perhaps,' said Grunt.
'It may be just as well that your remonstrances proved ineffective.'
'She was meant for Mahpiyasapa, Black Clouds,' said Grant. 'That lad andMahpiyasapa are both of the Isbu Band. There is sure to be trouble. Too, I amnot getting paid for her.'
'That is true,' I granted him. 'What did the Yellow-Kailla Rider say to you,' Iasked, 'after he had spoken to the youth, before he had returned to his place?'
That the youth was within his rights,' said Grunt, 'that he could claim her,under the circumstances, by right of slave capture.'
'Which he did?' I asked.
'Of course,' said Grunt. 'Would you not have done the same?'
'Perhaps,' I smiled.
'At any rate, it is done now,' said Grunt. 'She is in his collar.'
That was true. The collar had now been tied on her neck. She was now,completely, the young man's property.
I looked at her. I saw that she was prepared to serve him well.
I noted, suddenly, looking about, that one of the two warriors who had beenbusying himself in the trade goods was now reaching for a certain bundle on myown kailla. It was that in which, rolled, was the story bide and, also, thetranslator I had brought from Port Kar, that acquired from Kog and Sardak, theKurii, in the abandoned tam complex, in the delta.
'Do not,' said Grunt to me.
But I was the side of the kaiila and firmly, I took the hand of the warrior fromthe bundle, and put it to the side. He looked at me, startled.
Our hands darted to our knife sheaths.
The lance of the young warrior interposed itself between us. We stepped apart.
I pointed to the goods on my pack kaiila. 'Mine!' I said, in Gorean. Too, Ijerked my thumb toward my body. This, in sign, signifies 'I,' 'Me,' or 'Mine,' depending on the context.
'Howo, Akiboka,' said the young man to the fellow squared off against me, bewhose hand I had taken from the packing on the kaiila. 'Howo, Keglezela,' saidhe then to the other fellow. He then slowly brought his kaiila about and walkedit slowly, to where the red youth, Cuwignaka, Woman's Dress, whom I had freedfrom the stakes, clung, supporting himself, to the Kaiila lance. He had donnedthe white dress of his own accord. He had shortened it earlier, and torn it atthe side, to permit himself more freedom of movement in it. The lad seemed weak,clinging to the lance. He had not, however, in the presence of the othersavages, deigned to eat or drink. They must be aware, I supposed, of thisgesture on his part. They would doubtless respect that. He, in spite of hisgarb, was showing them that he, in this at least, could be Kaiila. The twofellows, Akiboka and Keglezela, followed the young warrior. I adjusted thepacking ropes on the kaiila, securing the goods firmly in place. It interestedme that the young warrior had interposed his will as he had. In this, for somereason, he had protected me. I did not know him, however. I had never seen himbefore. It made no sense to me that he had acted as he had. I was puzzled. Whyhad be done this?
The young warrior had now ridden his kaiila about until he faced Woman's Dress.
I noted that his men, too, took up positions either at his sides, in lines, orrather behind him. They were drawn up, a few feet from Woman's Dress, fannedout, almost as if readying themselves for the charge. Woman's Dress looked up atthem, still holding to the lance, that he not fall. He showed not the least fearbefore him. I went to stand near Woman's Dress. Grunt, too, was near to us.
Winyela and Pimples stood to one side.
The young warrior, very clearly, began to speak. This language, to thoseunfamiliar with it, seems fraught with unfamiliar husky and guttural sounds init, rasping and sibilant. It is very fluent and expressive. Sometimes it seemsalmost as though it were exploding into sound, particularly when the speakerspeaks rapidly or is excited.
'Who has freed you?' translated Grunt. 'I am free. It does not matter.'
The young warrior spoke rapidly to Woman's Dress who, boldly, and in an almostfiery fashion, responded to him. It seemed to me incongruous that Woman's Dress,weakened, in the remains of the dress of a white female, should carry on sostoutly and resolutely with the young warrior. Both, of course, were Kaiila. Iwondered if both knew one another, from somewhere before. Woman's Dress, I saw,was a man.
'What is going on?' I asked Grunt.
'The young fellow wants to know who freed him, and Woman's Dress is protectingyou.'
'I freed him,' I said to the young warrior, stepping forward. 'Translate that,'
I told Grunt.
'I do not think that would be in your best interest,' said Grunt.
'Translate it,' I said.
Reluctantly, Grunt complied.
The young warrior regarded me.
'He is not surprised, of course,' said Grunt. 'It is what he would havesuspected.'
I nodded. I would surely have been the prime suspect in this matter. I wasobviously not one familiar with the Barrens. I could speak only a smattering ofDust Leg and Kaiila. Presumably, then, it would have been I who, in foolishness,or not knowing any better, would have had the temerity to cut the thongs.
'Canka, ' said the young warrior, striking himself on the chest with his fist.
'Akicita hemaca. Isbu hemaca. Kaiila hemaca!'
'I am Canka, Fire-Steel,' said Grunt. 'I am a warrior. I am of the LittleStones. I am of the Kaiila. '
'Tal' said I, 'I am Tarl Cabot.'
'Wopeton,' said Grunt, pointing to me. 'Hou, Hou, Kola.' Then he turned to me.
'Your name would be meaningless to them,' he said. 'I have called you 'Wopeton,or 'Trader' or 'Merchant'. That may serve as a name for you, you want another. Ihave also conveyed your greeting' I understand,' I said.
In the following I will give the gist of the conversation that then ensued.
Understand that Grunt, or Woman's Dress, upon occasion, acted as interpreter.
Understand, too, that more than this was said. Certain points only are hereconveyed. There were additional exchanges, which took place between Canka andCuwignaka, between Fire-Steel and Woman's Dress.
'It is as I thought,' sad Canka to me, 'it was you who freed this callowprisoner.'
'He has survived, and he is strong,' I said. 'He, like yourself, is Kaiila.
Respect him.'
'He was the slave of white men.'
'Now he is free,' I said.
'He would not carry arms,' said Canka. 'He would not take the warpath.'
'I had no quarrel with the Fleer,' said Cuwignaka.
'We put him in the dress of a woman and called him Cuwignaka,' said Canka.
'I had no quarrel with the Fleer,' said Cuwignaka.
'You shamed the Isbu,' said Canka.
'I had no quarrel with the Fleer,' said Cuwignaka.
'When again we went against the Fleer we gave him the opportunity to join us,the right to wear the
