'Nothing would please me more,' Hata said.
Duwan crouched and began to advance toward the captain, but he halted when Elnice pushed forward and stood by Hata's side.
'You will not find an easy death in battle, traitor,' she said. She turned to Hata. 'Take him.'
'I have never killed a female,' Duwan said, stalking toward Elnice and Hata, 'but when she represents evil—'
'Will you take him, or will you let him walk forward and kill me?' Elnice asked, her voice calm.
'Take him,' Hata thundered. 'Take him alive, or, by the dus, you will all be peeled.'
Hopelessly, the front ranks of the soldiers began to close on Duwan and his blades flashed and enemy died and then, lest they all die under his iron, they screamed and pushed forward without their weapons and in blood and screamings bore him down by sheer weight until his swords could flash no more, until his breath was forced out of his chest by their weight and he was helplessly screaming his rage and anger.
'Bring him, and any living wounded, to the camp,' Elnice ordered. He was carried, tied well, by four of the enemy. He fought against his bonds until he was exhausted, and then he closed his eyes, prayed to his Du, and tried to commune with the tall brothers, but all was silence from them. They tied him to the bole of a tall brother in an area where all green had been ruthlessly cut away. From where he stood he could see the grove of his grandmother, and he prayed that the enemy would do what he was going to do and leave the canyon before harm came to those new immortals, who had grown rather impressively since the plantings and were no longer recognizable as Drinkers.
Elnice stood before him. She had changed into something more comfortable than her uniform, a loose, short gown that showed her bud point and the shape of her legs clearly.
'Not that it matters, traitor,' she said, 'for all your deluded followers are now dead, but I will know your thinking, your methods, your lies that you told to the those doomed pongs. Talk.'
'I am Duwan the Drinker,' he said. 'Since I am not of you, how can I be a traitor?'
'You told me you were a wanderer,' Elnice said. 'But you were more. A Drinker? That is a word that means nothing. You are either pong or master. Which is it?'
'I drink of the sun, just as I have taught many to drink,' Duwan said.
'He has exposed his head to the sun and it has addled him,' someone said.
'Silence,' Elnice said. She whirled to Hata. 'Clear this area.' Within moments only Duwan, the High Mistress, and Hata were in the clearing.
'How did you know that you could drink energy from the sun?' Elnice asked.
'By the grace of Du,' Duwan said.
'And you eat of the green, growing things. How did you first know they were not, as you were taught, poisonous?'
Duwan started to answer, but he closed his mouth. He had led an army, had slain many foes, and the enemy was now alert and, perhaps, in spite of the victory, a bit frightened. He would not give this female enough information to alert her to a population of Drinkers in the far north. He doubted that Devourers could survive the journey, and find the way through the land of the fires, but he would say nothing to put his own people in the valley at risk.
'I asked you a question,' Elnice said.
'I am tired of talking,' Duwan said, with a little smile.
'They, the pongs we have peeled to get information, say that you came from the earth,' Elnice said, 'that you are a god, a new master. Did you come from the earth?'
It was safe to say, 'We are all, we Drinkers, of the earth and for the earth.'
'Don't prate superstition at me,' Elnice snarled. 'I can give you a quick death. That much I will do if you will tell me how you managed to convince pongs to bare themselves to the sun, to eat green.'
'Death, fast or slow, produces the same end result,' Duwan said. 'I will say that you will have ample opportunity to study the problem, for something has started in this land that you will not be able to stop, Elnice. All pongs know the truth, now, and if some are still fearful, they will come to believe. They will drink of the sun and they will eat and grow strong and then they will drive you and all Devourers back to the southern jungles from whence you came.'
