domination.'
'When I step aside I am showing that I have been intimidated?'
'Yes, Master, but perhaps it is best. After all, you do not want to call attention to yourself.'
But Duwan was young enough to feel the injury to his pride. If it was a question of dominance, he had seen no one for whom he would step aside in willing admission that he was the lesser. The next time a Devourer male came striding toward him he looked the fellow in the eye, his orange eyes seeming to glow with fire, and, at the last second the Enemy stepped aside. No more did Duwan give way.
On the south side of the city, beyond the great square, sprawling in squalor just under the defensive wall, were the slave pens. There the stench was greater, the air thick with it. Inside the wooden barrier Duwan saw ragged females cooking over open fires, children swaddled in all kinds of cast-off rags standing or sitting listlessly.
'That was my home,' Jai said, with a shudder. 'My shelter was there, directly against the wall.' She pointed and Duwan felt a great wave of compassion for her, and for all the Drinkers, so ignorant of their true nature, who were herded into the crowded, filthy pens each night after a day of slave labor in the city.
Aside from the smartly uniformed guards who had paraded in the square, he saw no evidence of defensive capability, save for the stout walls. He was feeling optimistic. The well trained warriors of the valley Drinkers would each be a match for five of the enemy. All Enemy males went armed, true, but he saw evidence of neglect of weapons in the form of rusted hilts and frayed sheaths.
'I have seen enough,' he said. 'We will sleep, and then we will leave this place with the first light of Du.'
Jai knew the city well. She guided them back toward the inn through narrow streets where there were fewer encounters, and they were almost back to the central square when a tall, well-built Devourer in the uniform of the High Master's guard seemed to fill all available space in the narrow street. Duwan's first impulse was to give way and step aside, but he had seen the sword exercises of those smartly uniformed men and he was wondering if their skill would be effective in serious fighting instead of parade ground show. Then, too, he was Drinker, and he was in the land of his ancestors, and he was young and prideful. He narrowed his orange eyes and marched directly toward the oncoming guardsman.
'Master, Master,' Jai was whispering from one pace behind him, a bit of panic in her voice.
Just as it appeared that the two males could walk directly into each other, when one more pace on the part of either would have resulted in a nose to nose collision, both halted, faces inches apart, eyes locked. The guardsman had pale green eyes.
'You have the space of one breath to move aside,' the guardsman said.
'Does the law of this city give the High Master's guard the right of way?' Duwan asked, his voice low and polite.
'This gives me the right of way,' the guardsman said, patting the hilt of his longsword.
'Then I will be breaking no law if I contest?' Duwan asked. 'I am a stranger, and I do not, of course, want to break any laws.' The green eyes of the guardsman narrowed. 'I see that you are armed in the ancient manner, in the manner of our ancestors. I seldom find it necessary to use two swords, one being quite adequate.'
'I can understand that,' Duwan said. 'It is rare that one has the skill of hand to handle both long and short swords.'
'Since you have stated that you are a stranger and do not want to break any of the laws of Arutan, I will explain to you that dueling in the streets, while not unlawful, is frowned upon.'
'Perhaps there is an isolated place?' Duwan asked. The guardsman's eyes shifted, examined Duwan from head to foot. 'Do you refuse to give way?'
'Unless I am breaking some law, yes.'
Jai drew near, cringing. 'Master, Master, beg forgiveness of this officer.'
Duwan ignored her. The guardsman nodded.
'I will turn and make my way back to the square. We will settle this matter there, if that is your wish.' the guardsman said. Duwan nodded. The uniformed enemy turned and walked away, back stiff.
'Master, don't be foolish,' Jai begged. 'You will have to fight him in the center of the square, and every eye in the city will be on you.'
'And if I kill him?'
'The weapons will be padded,' Jai said, 'but whether you win or lose, Master, great attention will be focused on you.
