“The Lady Bina,” said Desmond, “is free.”
“We will have her marked, collared, and sold in Venna,” said Trachinos.
“You would leave us here, defenseless, with larls and sleen about, and without food?” said Desmond.
“It would not do, to have you return to Venna,” said Trachinos.
“May I inquire the purport of your recent signal to your band?” asked Desmond.
“I told you,” said Trachinos. “We have waited long enough. Too, the band grows restless. That is clear in the signals. They wish to act. These are not fellows of the Scarlet Caste. Discipline is fragile.”
“Do not signal them to act,” said Desmond.
“It is done,” said Trachinos.
“I am sorry,” said Desmond.
“They will be here, within two Ahn,” said Trachinos.
“Lykos may be dangerous,” said Akesinos.
“I do not think he will attack both of us,” said Trachinos.
“He will not,” said Desmond. “I spoke to him of this several days ago.”
“He will be reluctant to be disarmed,” said Trachinos.
“He does not expect to be disarmed,” said Desmond.
“I do not understand,” said Trachinos.
“Let us prepare our noon meal,” said Desmond. “After that we will try to ascertain the fate of your band.”
“What?” said Trachinos.
I later regretted accompanying our party higher into the mountains, not that I had any choice. Jane, Eve, and I had been roped together. Master Desmond thought this a wise precaution, given what might be found. Perhaps we might have scattered, or fled back down the slope. When we came over the rise, to a level place, where there were the ashes of an extinguished fire, and the signs of a small camp, I had quickly looked away. I do not think that either Jane or Eve were any more pleased. Trachinos was stunned, and white-faced. Even dark Akesinos had paled. The men examined the bodies, and parts of bodies, of nine men. The Lady Bina joined them. It seemed that she was less distressed than we. I sensed she might be familiar with such sights, from her former world. There had been, as I understood it, a revolution there, perhaps replete with such incidents.
“This is not the work of Grendel,” said the Lady Bina.
“Grendel?” said Lykos.
“My guard,” said she, “come with me from a far place.”
“Kur,” said Astrinax.
“In part,” said the Lady Bina.
“My informant,” explained Astrinax.
“What is Kur?” said Trachinos.
“A higher form of life,” said the Lady Bina, “compared to which we are but weak, disarmed beasts.”
“Surely not,” said Desmond.
“No,” she said, “it is not the work of Grendel.”
“Are you sure, Lady?” said Astrinax.
“There are nine men here,” she said, “and Grendel is but one, and it is daylight. He might kill nine at night, in the darkness. It is not likely he could kill nine in the bright day. Surely some would arm themselves, and manage to slay a single foe, or, at least, cry out, scatter, and escape, perhaps to be hunted down later.”
“He was with another, surely,” said Astrinax to the Lady Bina.
“The other,” she said, “would be left behind. It would be useless here.”
She referred, doubtless, to the blind Kur. Astrinax, I gathered, and perhaps Desmond, as well, did not realize the other Kur was blind. Desmond of Harfax had encountered it only in the darkness of the market of Cestias, long ago.
“This is the work of a larl,” said Trachinos, “a pride of larls.”
“Who did not eat the kill?” said Desmond.
“It must be,” said Trachinos, “heads bitten away, an arm gone, part of a leg.”
“That is not the way a larl kills,” said Lykos. “Commonly it pounces from behind, and bites through the back of the neck, or, approaching frontally, sinks its teeth in the shoulder, and, with its rear legs, disembowels the prey.”
“Kurii can do that,” said the Lady Bina.
“It must have been he whom you call your guard,” said Astrinax.
“You have that in your mind, my dear Astrinax,” said the Lady Bina, “doubtless from your night watches, so much so that you have not looked about you. Note some of the wounds here, the penetration and withdrawal of a single object. There is nothing of larls or Kurii there. Too, at the edge of the camp, and elsewhere, you will see tracks.”
Desmond and Lykos moved about.
“Tharlarion!” said Desmond.
“Tharlarion are not native here,” protested Astrinax.
“You are perceptive, Lady Bina,” said Desmond, admiringly.
I was suddenly jealous of the Lady Bina.
“A quality of perception is not involved here,” said the Lady Bina. “As I recognized it could not be the work of my guard, Grendel, I merely looked further.”
“Bipedalian tharlarion, hunting tharlarion,” said Lykos, “lancers.”
“I think now it is reasonably clear,” said Desmond of Harfax, “from the tracks, the grouping of the bodies, their attitudes. It was a simple closure attack. The lancers appeared there, and the men turned and fled, and encountered the waiting beasts.”
“You are no Metal Worker,” said Trachinos.
“You, and your fellow, good Akesinos,” said Astrinax, “must now decide what you will do.”
Trachinos and Akesinos backed away, a little, drawing their weapons.
Astrinax and Lykos, too, released the birds of steel from their housings.
“The odds,” said Desmond, “are no longer heavily in your favor.”
“We fear only Lykos,” said Trachinos. “And we are two.”
“And Astrinax,” said Desmond, “might engage, delay, or even strike, one of you, while Lykos and the other tested blade luck in the dark game.”
“I do not rely on blade luck,” said Lykos, measuring Trachinos.
“We would have given you your lives,” said Trachinos.
“To perish in the Voltai,” said Desmond.
“Give us your coin, and half the supplies,” said Trachinos.
“Surely you do not think Lykos is going to put down his weapon,” said Desmond.
“And the women,” said Trachinos.
“Take them, if you can,” said Lykos, eagerly.
As women we could be taken. My hands went to the rope about my neck, which held me to Jane and Eve.
“My blade is thirsty,” said Lykos.
“My dear Lykos,” said Desmond, “it would be better if it were to slake its thirst at another time, and from some other fountain. I would suppose we need every blade at our disposal.”
“Attend to Desmond of Harfax,” said the Lady Bina.
“Why should one attend to one who is not armed?” asked Trachinos.
“Look about you,” said the Lady Bina. “These bodies, as I understand it, are all of the band of Trachinos. If that is true it is quite possible that their assailants are not diminished in number. If they managed this carnage, nine men, quite possibly with ease, with little or no cost to themselves, it seems they might do as well with, say, five men. Accordingly, I think it would be wise, at least until we know differently, to regard them as strangers.”
Trachinos returned his blade to the scabbard. Akesinos did so, as well. Then, with a glance at Desmond of
