“Even though Diut was Verrick’s prisoner at the time?”
Alanna manufactured cold anger. “And was he really a prisoner, First Hunter—yours or ours—when you forbade the Missionaries to paint him? When your own people obeyed him? Perhaps you would have believed his threats too if you had ever dared go near enough to him to hear him speak!”
She thought he would hit her. In fact, she expected him to hit her. She feared his strength less than she feared his questions now. But he only stood watching her. “You sided with the blue one, counseled your father to accept his word.”
Again, she did not feel that an answer was necessary.
“Even so, that should not have been enough. There is something missing. Something to do with your husband perhaps?”
“You know Jules doesn’t know about him.” She forced a note of bitterness into her voice. “And he’s out of favor with Diut—because of me. I only wish he did have enough influence to help.”
Natahk made a sound of disgust. “Somehow, you are lying. You are worthless. Gehl was right. She said it would be better to kill you.”
Had she? Then somehow Gehl too had noticed what Alanna could not help noticing. Natahk had b2en careless. But at least now, Alanna knew how to stop his questions. She looked at him calmly. “You are not going to kill me.”
He stared back at her for a moment without speaking. “So you realize that.” He whitened slightly. ”We will speak of it then, in a moment. Were the Missionaries to be taken to the mountain dwelling?”
The question did not take her by surprise, but she chose to pretend that it had. She hesitated as though nervous, then answered, “I don’t know.”
“Don’t you?” His voice was comfortingly filled with suspicion. “And what use could the Tehkohn have for a tribe of your kind?”
She feigned annoyance. “Why bother to ask me questions if you’re not going to believe my answers?”
His coloring became iridescent, flecks of yellow glinting within the green. Doubt. “You are a worthy enemy, Alanna, with your half truths and your lies. It will be interesting to reshape you and make you less of an enemy.”
“That, you will never do.” Deliberate challenge. But now was the time for it.
His iridescence faded to white. “Did I not say that all in this valley submitted to me? You will see. What was the name of your husband?”
“Natahk…” She shook her head. “Would you have me invent a name and give it to you?”
“I would have you obey me and answer my questions!”
“Yahnoh is my husband.”
Natahk lifted his head slightly. “I know of a Tehkohn judge called Yahnoh.”
“Of course. My husband.”
“‘Of course,’” he mimicked. “I think I will give you a meklah fruit to swallow back your next lie with.”
Frightened, Alanna said nothing. The risk had always been there. She might have to undergo a third withdrawal. But she was not weak or sick now. She would not sell either group of her people to avoid readdiction— any more than Jules had.
But Natahk’s mood seemed to change. His anger faded and he moved closer to her. As he spoke he touched her throat lightly. “And even with that threat, I will not stop you from lying or counseling your Missionaries to side with the Tehkohn. But soon I will stop them from listening to you. I wonder if the Tehkohn have really found some use for them. Or if they only planned to kill them.”
Alanna pulled away from the caressing fingers in disgust and stood up. At least he was diverted from his questioning.
“Be still,” he said quietly. He touched her again. “Am I so different from your husband? After all, judge that he is, even he is not the leader of his people.”
“He’s my husband. What more does he have to be than that to bar your way?”
“A Tehkohn marriage means nothing to us.”
She frowned at him. He was more right than he knew about one thing. He sounded far too much like Diut—like the Diut who had demanded a liaison with her such a short time ago. But Diut had changed, had allowed her to mold him as he molded her. And Diut was trying to help the Missionaries while Natahk was endangering them.
“Why should you want me?” she asked him. “You have Gehl now. You could have any other without trouble.”
“You must become part of the tie,” he said. “That will turn your people away from you so that you can no longer counsel them against me—also, it will protect you from their foolish customs. My only other choice would be to kill you and I don’t want to do that. We’re much alike, Alanna, you and I. I risk the anger of my hunters by saving and tying in with the Missionaries because I can see that in spite of the Missionaries’ weakness, their knowledge will strengthen us. And you risk the anger, the savagery, of your people as you try to save them from me.”
Another parallel. He was right, of course. However much she hated him, she and Natahk had similar goals— they worked for the good of their respective peoples. But they were not as alike as he wished. “I will not accept a liaison with you,” she said.
“So? Shall I give you to another hunter? Or perhaps several other hunters until one of them becomes your husband.”
“Why should you choose my mate? That is not the custom.”
