approaching males, and he feared their puny bows less than their numbers. If they were determined enough, if enough of them would die, they could overcome him by their sheer mass.
He heard a tapping sound from within the cave and tensed, thinking that perhaps attack would come from two sides, but an ancient one appeared, his eyelids massed into wrinkles, squinting at the sun, his hair long, sere, and his body stiffened with the hardening disease. The tapping had come from the walking stick he used. He seemed disoriented at first, his watery eyes looking everywhere but at Duwan. Behind him there appeared other oldsters and behind them Tambol.
'I am Farnee, Eldest of the free runners,' the old one said. 'Come closer, warrior, for I see you but dimly.'
Jai held tight to Duwan's arm as he stepped closer. 'I bring you greetings of the blood of the Drinkers from the far north,' Duwan said.
'How?' Farnee asked, cupping a hand to his ear.
'He says he is from the far north,' another of the old ones shouted into Farnee's ear.
Farnee nodded ponderously. 'And yet we are told by Tambol that is it said you come from the earth.'
'We are all of the earth and for the earth,' Duwan said. 'Perhaps, honored one, we could be seated, where you will be more comfortable.' After that suggestion was imparted, in a shout, to Farnee, he nodded and, without speaking, turned and hobbled back into the cave. Duwan followed, and the others fell in behind him and Jai. Farnee seated himself on a stone covered with patched, stitched furs, leaned on his stick, and blinked in the dimness, lit by an open fire. The others ranged around the stone in a circle, surrounding Duwan and Jai.
'Now,' Farnee said, 'who has seen this one come from the earth?'
'I,' Jai said defiantly.
'And you are?' Farnee asked, at last finding her with his eyes.
'I am Jai.'
'You are not a free runner, by your dress, female,' an elder said. 'You expose your hide to the sun as the Devourers do.'
'I escaped from the pongpens of the city of Arutan,' Jai said, 'many months past. I saw this lord, growing from the rich earth, a divine flower. I saw this with my eyes, and I have seen, since, his magic, for he eats, and makes it possible for me to eat, the green poisons and grow fat.'
'Ha,' someone grunted.
'Enough,' Duwan said. 'I am Duwan the Drinker and I have come from the far north, past the land of fires, through the lands of the iron cold and the snows. That is all you need know of me, except that I come in friendship to all who oppose our Enemy, who wrested this land of Many Brothers from us in the time of the Great Alon.'
'Alon,' someone whispered. 'He speaks of the du.'
'I speak of Alon, the Great Leader, who took our people to the north to escape the all-devouring enemy. I come to determine the strength of this enemy, to find those who would stand by our side as we reclaim our land.' There was a buzz of talk among the seated elders. Farnee raised one hardened hand and made a sound in his throat and the elders fell silent.
'What do you know of our ancient legends, strange one?' Farnee asked.
'Enough to call ignorance and enemy lies by name when I am told that Drinkers are unholy offspring of a Devourer and animals of the field,' Duwan said.
Farnee nodded gravely. 'That is the teaching we allow our young to hear until they have reached an age of wisdom,' he said. Behind the elders, Tambol stirred uneasily.
'Yes, my son,' Farnee said, pointing his stick at Tambol, 'you, too.' He looked back at Duwan. 'To tell the young the truth would inflame their spirits, and then there would be war and death, death for all free runners in a war we could not hope to win.'
'And what is the age of wisdom?' Duwan asked.
'When the hide hardens, and the fires of youth are cooled,' an elder said.
'That is to say when one has reached the age where fighting would be impossible,' Duwan said, and Farnee nodded.
'If you have come to stir our young ones to war, we will not allow it,' Farnee said.
