Shardik

thought that she must be unaware of his presence. Then, with a conclusive and sceptical glance, like that of some shrewd peasant woman in the market, she looked into his face and raised her eyebrows, as much as to say, 'And have you finished now, my child?'

'You bitch!' cried Ta-Kominion. 'I'll strangle you!' He wrenched at the bandage; and the deep, suppurating wound along his sword-arm, which for more than two days had been pouring poison into his body, burst open upon the rain-pitted dust of the track where he lay. For a moment he jerked his head up, then fell back and opened his eyes, crying, 'Zelda!' But it was Kelderek whom he saw bending over him.

22 Tie Cage

Throughout the latter part of the night and on into the dawn that appeared at last, grey and muffled, behind the clouds piled in the cast, Baltis and his men slowly hauled the cage above the forests of the Telthearna. Behind and below them the miles of tree-tops -that secluded, shining haunt of the great butterflies – appeared, like waves seen from a cliff-top, to be creeping stealthily down-wind. Far off, the line of the river shone in the cloudy light with a glint dull as a sword's, the blackened north bank dim in the horizon haze.

The bear lay inert as though dead. Its eyes remained closed, the dry tongue protruded, and with the jolting of the boards the head shook as a block of stone vibrates on the quarry floor at the thudding of rocky masses falling about it. Some of the dusty, footsore girls clung to the ramshackle structure to steady it as it went, while others walked ahead, removing stones from the track or filling ruts and holes before the wheels reached them. Behind the cage plodded Sencred, the wheelwright, watching for the beginnings of play in the wheels or sagging in the axle- trees, and from time to time calling up the rope-lines for a halt while he checked the pins.

Kelderek took his turn at the ropes with the others, but when at length they stopped to rest – the girls pushing heavy stones for blocks behind the wheels – he and Baltis left the men and walked back to where Sencred and Zilthe stood leaning against the cage. Zilthe had thrust her arm through the bars and was caressing one of the bear's fore-paws, with its curved sheaf of claws longer than her own hand. 'Waken, waken to destroy Bekla,

Waken, Lord Shardik, na kora, na ro,' she sang softly, rubbing her sweating forehead against the cool iron.

Full of sudden misgiving, Kelderek stared at the bear's corpse-like stillness. There seemed not the least swell of breathing in the flank and the flies were settling about the cars and muzzle. 'What is this drug? Are you sure it has not killed him?'

'He is not dead, my lord,' said Zilthc, smiling. 'Seel' She drew her knife, bent forward and held it under Shardik's nostrils. The blade clouded very slightly and cleared, clouded and cleared once more; she drew it back and held the flat, warm and moist, against Kelderek's wrist.

'Theltocarna is powerful, my lord; but she who is dead knew -none better – how it should be used. He will not die.' 'When will he wake?' 'Perhaps this evening, or during the night I cannot tell. For many creatures we know the dose and the effect, but his body is like that of no other creature and we can only guess.' 'Will he eat then? Drink?' 'Creatures that wake from theltocarna are always dangerous. Often there is a frenzy more violent than that before the trance, and then the creature will attack anything that it encounters. I have seen a stag break a rope as thick as one of these bars, and then kill two oxen.' 'When?' asked Kelderek wonderingly.

She began to tell him of Quiso and the sacred rites of the spring equinox, but Baltis interrupted her. 'If what you're saying's true, then those bars won't hold him.'

'The roof's not stout enough to hold him either,' said Sencred. 'He's only got to stand upright and it'll smash like a pie-crust.'

'We've been wasting our time,' said Baltis, spitting in the dust. 'He might as well not be the other side of those bars at all. He'll get up and go when he wants. But I'll tell you this, I'll go first.' 'We shall have to drug him again, then,' said Kelderek.

'That would certainly kill him, my lord,' put in Sheldra. 'Theltocarna is a poison. It cannot be used twice – no, not twice in ten days.' There was a murmer of agreement from the other girls.

'Where is the Tuginda?' asked Nito. 'Is she with Lord Ta-Kominion? She would know what to do.'

Kelderek made no answer but, walking back up the track, began getting the men to their feet again.

An hour later the going became easier as the ascent flattened off and the road grew less steep. As near as he could judge from the confused, murky sky, it was about noon when at last they came into Gelt. The square was littered as though after a riot There was scarcely a living creature to be seen, but a smouldering reek hung in the air and a smell of garbage and ordure. A solitary, ragged urchin loitered, watching them from a safe distance. 'Smells like a herd of bloody apes,' muttered Baltis.

'Tell your men to eat and rest,' said Kelderek. 'I'll try to find out how long the army's been gone.'

He crossed the square and stood looking about him in perplexity at the shut doors and empty alleys beyond. Suddenly he felt a sharp, momentary pain, like the sting of an insect, in the lobe of his left ear. He put his hand to the place and drew it away with blood between finger and thumb; and in the same instant realized that the arrow that had grazed him was sticking in the doorpost across the way. He spun round quickly, but saw only another deserted lane running between closed doors and shuttered windows. Without turning his head, he stepped slowly backwards into the square and remained watching the blank, silent hovels for any sign of movement

'What's up?' asked Baltis, coming up behind him. Kelderek touched his ear again and held out his fingers. Baltis whistled. 'That's nasty,' he said, 'Throwing stones, eh?'

'An arrow,' said Kelderek, nodding at the doorpost Baltis whistled again.

At that moment with a grating sound upon the threshold, a nearby door opened, and a bleary, dirty old woman appeared. She was hobbling and staggering beneath the weight of a child in her arms. As she came nearer Kelderek saw with a start that it was dead. The old woman tottered up to him and laid the child on the ground at his feet. It was a girl, about eight years old, blood matted in her hair and a conjunctive, yellow discharge round the open eyes. The old woman, bent and muttering, remained standing before him.

'What do you want grandmother?' asked Kelderek. 'What's happened?'

The old woman looked up at him from eyes bloodshot with years of crouching over wood fires.

'Think no one sees. They think no one sees,' she whispered. 'But God sees. God sees everything.'

'What happened?' asked Kelderek again, stepping over the child's body and grasping the stick-thin wrist beneath the rags.

'Ay, that's right, better ask them – ask them what happened,' said the old woman. 'You'll catch 'cm if you're quick. They're not gone far – they're not gone long.'

At this moment two men came striding side by side round the corner. They kept their eyes fixed before them and their faces bore the tense, resolute expression of those who knowingly run a risk. Without speaking to Kelderek they grasped the old woman's arms and began leading her away between them. For a moment she struggled, protesting shrilly.

'It's the governor-man from Bekla! The governor-man! I'm telling him -'

'Now just you come along, mother,' said one of the men. 'Just come along with us now. You don't want to be standing about here. Come along now -'

They shut the door behind them and a moment later came the sound of a heavy bar falling into place.

Kelderek and Baltis left the child's body on the ground and returned across the square. The men had formed a ring round the girls and were looking nervously about

'I don't think we ought to stop here,' said Sencred, pointing. 'There's not enough of us to make it safe.' A crowd of men had gathered at the far end of a lane leading off the square, talking and gesticulating among themselves. A few were carrying weapons.

Kelderek took off his belt, laid his bow and quiver on the ground and walked towards them.

'Careful,' called Baltis after him. Kelderek ignored him and walked on until he was thirty paces from the men. Holding his hands open on either side of him, he called, 'We don't want to hurt you. We're your friends.'

There was a burst of jeering laughter and then a big man with grey hair and a broken nose stepped forward and answered, 'You've done enough. Let us alone, or we'll kill you.' Kelderek felt less afraid than exasperated. Try and kill us, then, you fools I' he shouted. 'Try it!'

'Ah, and have his friends come back,' said another man. 'Why don't you go and catch your friends up?