'Work?' he asked.
'Yes,' I said. 'We must prepare to leave the delta.'
33 Night
Marcus and I moved very slowly, our faces darkened, on our bellies, through the grass, approaching the fellow's position from opposite sides. We had, the previous night, reconnoitered this area. There were five such positions, and a hut a few hundred yards to the back, where the bounty hunters kept their grisly trophies. Two nights ago, wading, we had reconnoitered the edge of the swamp. There, in the rence, near the delta's edge, we had found two bodies, half afloat, partly rotted, partly eaten, presumably by small fish and tharlarion. The bounty hunters would apparently discard the bodies in the swamp, after they had removed the heads, these to be presented for bounty fees. One of the bodies we had found had been that of a Cosian. Bounty hunters are not always particular about the heads they collect, and their paymasters usually, of course, have no way of telling the head of a fellow of Ar from that, say, of a Cosian or rencer.
In the darkness, when one is alert, tense, and such, it is difficult not to react to even small noises.
Marcus would now be in position, I assumed. Certainly, now, I was. I was no more than a yard from the fellow. I could see the outline of his head against the darkness.
I then heard the tiny noise made by Marcus, almost inaudible, a tiny clicking noise, not unlike one of the phonetic tongue clicks used in some of languages spoken east of Schendi, in the interior. Instantly the fellow responded to this tiny sound, turning toward its source. I then approached him from the other side and cut his throat.
Marcus joined me in the fellow's position, dug in the grass.
'That should be the last one,' I said, 'except for the fellow, or fellows, in the hut.'
'Here,' said Marcus, bitterly, lifting up an object, 'is his sack.'
'I have an idea,' I said.
34 The Hut
I did not take care to conceal my approach to the hut. I approached it boldly. Marcus was a few feet behind me. We were both in garments removed from bounty hunters. They would need them no longer. The cloak of one, hooded, was about me. Over my shoulder was a sack.
I pushed open the door of the hut.
Only one fellow was within, and he was crouching near a small fire, in a hearth, at one end of the hut, tending a pot of stew, away from the door. The smell of this simple concoction was almost intoxicating to me. It had been a long time since' I had had any cooked food, not since the gants on the abandoned slave barge, weeks ago, with Ina. I did not think he would mind if I 'shared his kettle,' as some of the Goreans say. When I entered he did not even turn about.
'What luck?' he asked.
I threw the sack I carried down beside him, by the hearth.
'It is heavy,' he said, excitedly. 'How many?' He turned about. 'I stood near him, the hood about my face, concealing my features. I held up my hand.
'Five!' said he. 'Excellent! A good night's work!'
I myself thought so.
He eagerly opened the sack. 'These had best be all fellows of Ar,' said he. 'Anesidemus is becoming suspicious.'
He emptied the sack out, on the stones, beside the hearth. I do not think he heard my sword leave its sheath.
He held up one of the heads by the hair. 'Barsis!' he said. Aghast he regarded the other heads which, too, he doubtless recognized. Then he turned toward me, and then he was dead.
'Enter,' said I to Marcus.
My young friend entered the hut.
'We have here another body for the marsh,' I said. 'These fellows, as nearly as I can tell, are not even mercenaries, but brigands of some sort.'
'Apparently they were successful in their work,' said Marcus, glancing to one side.
'We shall discard all such things in the marsh,' I said. 'If Cosians should happen by, they will find nothing here to suggest that fate which we have seen fit to impose upon these fellows. Not expecting discipline or reliability of such hunts-men, they will presumably assume these fellows have gone elsewhere, either to hunt or, more likely, to turn in their trophies for pay.'
'Why would more than one, or, say, two, have to do that?' asked Marcus.
'If they were fellows of honor,' I said, 'one, or two, to carry the trophies, would suffice.'
'I see,' said Marcus. 'All would wish to be present at the accounting.'
'I would think so,' I said.
'A way has now been cleared out of the delta,' said Marcus. 'A narrow path,' I said, 'for at least a few Ahn.'
'It should be enough,' said Marcus.
'There will still be much danger,' I said.
'I will help you with these things,' he said. 'No,' I said. 'Fetch the others.'
'There is little time to waste,' he said. 'Precisely,' I said.'
35 Farewells
'And what will you do?' I asked Labienus, in the hut of the brigands, near the delta's edge.
We and the others had finished the brigand's repast, not that there was that much, for so many. Yet we had fed. I had even given Ina some.
'I must make my report to Saphronicus, in Holmesk,' said Labienus.
'Of course,' I said. I regretted deeply the loss of his mind.
'Plenius and Titus,' said Labienus, 'will attempt to see me to the lines of Ar.'
'I see,' I said.
Most of those with us had already, after feeding, scattered. We had attempted to teach the new fellows, those who had been pursuing Marcus, both by instruction and example, such things as the concealment of camps and survival in an enemy area. Many of them had elected to leave the delta with one or more of our fellows. In this way I think they increased their chances of survival, particularly if going either east or south. To be sure, the larger the group the greater the danger of its being detected.
'You insist upon carrying your uniform with you?' I asked Labienus. If he were stopped, of course, and it were found in his pack it might be regarded as equivalent to a death sentence.
'Yes,' he said. 'I wish to wear it while reporting.'
I looked at Plenius.
'It is all right,' said Plenius.
'You are all brave men,' I said.
'We, Titus, and I,' said Plenius, 'if possible, will go only so far as territory controlled by Ar. We shall then put him on a road, with a stick.'
'Even so,' I said, 'the risks are considerable.'
'He is our captain,' said Plenius.
