other hand, ought to take you. Isn't that so, Yuri?'
Yuri sheathed his knife, adjusted the position of his saber on his belt, and ran a hand down the black and gold embroidered pattern that decorated the sleeves of his red shirt.
'Yuri.'
'Yes, Sonia. Come on, Tess.' He led Tess off in silence, but as soon as they were away from the camp, out walking up a rise, the grass dragging at their knees and thighs, he was voluble enough. 'It isn't fair, having four sisters, and all of them older than you. Well, three, since Anna died with the baby. But it's always, Yuri do this and Yuri do that, and what am I to say? They don't have to face Bakhtiian. He would never dare raise his voice to them, and if he ever did-although I can't imagine him ever trying to-then Mother would find out, and then Ilya would hear about it.' He looked suddenly pleased with the image brought to him by this hypothetical turn of events. 'I'd like to hear that. But then,' and he looked at Tess with an impish smile, 'Ilya never makes mistakes, so it will never happen.'
'Yuri, I promise you, if Bakhtiian tries to blame you for bringing me with you, I'll deal with him.'
Yuri regarded her skeptically but did not reply.
It was a shorter walk than Tess expected to the huddle of tents standing next to a makeshift corral of banked earth, stakes, and ropes. Far enough away from the main camp to give privacy to the foreigners, but close enough, Tess judged, for easy access. She recognized the tall, thin silhouettes of the Chapalii immediately. They wore plain brown tunics and trousers, but as always, the clothing could not disguise their gauntness or their pallor. There were other men as well, men of the tribe, but by and large those men were engaged in riding and currying and otherwise examining-horses.
'Horses.' The word gusted out of her in a sharp breath. She stopped stock-still far enough away from the tents that no Chapalii ought to recognize her. These were nothing like the horses that Bakhtiian and Yuri, and she herself, had ridden. She knew without question, with that instinct carried down over millennia of Earth generations, that these were Earth horses. The horses from the shuttle's hold.
'They're very fine, aren't they?' said Yuri enthusiastically. ' 'They are a breed called-khuhaylan. When Ilya saw the first one, two years back, and the khepelli traders to him that he could have a hundred more just for helping them search for the lost haven of their god, of course he agreed. They're much stronger than they look. With such horses-He went pale. 'There he is. He's seen us.'
'Chapalii,' said Tess in Anglais, watching one dark figure detach itself from a cluster of men and start with determined and menacing stride toward them, 'don't believe in a god. Just in commerce and rank.'
'I beg your pardon?'
'Come on, Yuri.' She started for the nearest tent, where a lone Chapalii had stopped to stare at them.
'But Ilya-' He trailed after her, glancing over his shoulder at the approach of his cousin.
'I have business with these Chapalii, Yuri, not with Bakhtiian, who, need I remind you, let me walk for three days without food or water, and then-by God! — then the first time he spoke to me in Rhuian, asked me trick questions to see if I was really from Jeds.'
Yuri murmured something indistinguishable behind he Tess did not bother to ask him what it was.
CHAPTER FOUR
'Art is ever far better than strength.'
'I greet you with good favor, Cha Ishii Hokokul.' Tess halted in front of the Chapalii, whom she recognized as the one who had protested so vehemently against her presence on the Oshaki. A sickly shade of blue gave color to his face as he stared at her. Belatedly, he remembered to bow. Tess smiled. She was so angry at seeing him here, and at knowing that he had known all along of her plight, that she did not mind watching him squirm.
Eventually he found his voice. 'May I be allowed to offer good greetings on my part, Lady Terese,' he said, his voice as expressionless as any well-trained Chapalii's had to be, but the hint of blue in his cheeks betrayed his consternation.
' 'You may.'' For a moment she let her anger get the better of her, and she lapsed out of Chapalii and into Anglais. 'Just what the hell do you think you're doing on an Interdicted planet? Where your species is very specifically prohibited?'
He regarded her blankly. Of course, as a member of the ruling culture, he had no reason to learn her language. 'Cha Ishii, I feel sure that you are well aware that you and whatever people are with you are violating the duke's Interdiction order covering this planet. I think you must also be aware that / can have you stripped of all your wealth for this infraction.'
But his color faded, and he regained his pallor. 'You are also in violation of this edict, Lady Terese.'
'I am heir to this system. If I choose to journey through my brother's demesne, I do not need your permission.'
He flushed violet and then, looking up, went pale again. 'But I comprehend, Lady Terese, that we are here now, and to reveal us for what we are to these natives-if indeed they could understand it in any case-would be an even greater violation of your brother's edict.'
'Tess.' Yuri sounded nervous as he glanced from Tess to Cha Ishii and then behind her. She turned. Bakhtiian came up, looking grim, with Nikolai Sibirin in tow. He stopped equidistant from both Tess and Ishii.
'Evidently you know one another,' he said in Rhuian. He did not sound pleased. His gaze settled for one uncomfortable moment on Yuri, who looked distinctly anxious, and then flicked back to Tess and on to Ishii.
'Why, yes,' said Tess sweetly. 'We do. I was hired to act as an interpreter for their party. How unfortunate that we became separated. I am sure Cha Ishii will agree with me.' She added, in court Chapalii, 'You will, of course, agree, Cha Ishii. Do you require my efforts to translate for you?''
'I am not unprepared, Lady Terese. I speak some Rhuian.' He twisted to address Bakhtiian in that language. 'Certainly it was unfortunate.' Tess was stricken to silence by astonishment at his knowing such a primitive tongue. His command of the language was rough, but serviceable. 'I apologize for any inconvenience this oversight may have caused you.'
'No inconvenience at all,' replied Bakhtiian. Tess did not know him well enough to be sure if he meant the remark to be as sarcastic as it sounded to her. 'Had you mentioned her before, I might have been able to reunite you sooner.'
'But Ilya,' said Yuri, 'you knew someone was following them before we even met them at the lakeshore.'
'Yuri. The horses need water.'
Yuri reddened from neck to brow and mumbled something in khush, glancing back at Tess as he left.
His summary dismissal did not improve Tess's mood. 'I confess myself curious to know why I was left to walk that long when you knew I was following you.' She stared straight at Bakhtiian. 'But I now need to speak with Cha Ishii. Alone.'
Something subtle shifted in Bakhtiian's already severe expression, a narrowing of the eyes, a tenseness in his lips. 'Indeed,' he said, scrupulously formal. 'You introduced yourself to me before, Terese Soerensen.' He did not stumble, only slowed, over the awkward syllables. 'But I have never introduced myself. I am Ilyakoria Bakhtiian.' He gave a polite bow, like those Tess remembered from the court at Jeds, but she felt it was as much mocking as respectful. She returned it, mimicking him exactly. He did not smile. 'If you will excuse me.'
Someone, off in the group of men clustered around the corral, laughed, choked it back, and there was a murmur of voices that quieted abruptly as Bakhtiian turned away from Tess and returned to the horses. The older man lingered.
His short, light silvering hair and weathered face and hands offered Tess abundant signs of the natural aging that did not show in his posture. 'If I may interrupt a moment,' he said in heavily accented Rhuian. He inclined his head in a brief nod of greeting, not really waiting for their assent. 'We have not met. I am Nikolai Sibirin.'
Despite his sober expression, some light in his eyes made her want to smile at him. 'I am honored,' she
