'You babbled. Big promises, long names, great rewards. What's so special about being Hedren Angado Nossak Karroum?'
'The seventh,' said Nossak bitterly. 'Don't forget the number. And if you want you can stick a title in front. Lord Hedren-' He broke off and spat. 'To hell with it. Why can't I have one name like you, Earl?'
'You can. Pick one. Angado. From now on that's it.' Dumarest sat and picked up the bone the other had dropped. Handing it back he said. 'Eat. We can't afford to waste a thing. Now why would anyone want to see you dead?'
'I don't know.'
Dumarest sighed. 'Just talk,' he suggested. 'Fill me in on your background.'
It was much what he'd expected, an old and established family suffering from inbreeding and decay. The sharp edge which had originally lifted them to power and carved a position of authority weakened by petty rivalries and jealousy. Angado, the seventh to hold the name and title, had an ambitious cousin. One who had made him a tempting offer.
'Just to travel,' said Angado. 'A regular income paid as long as I stayed away from home. I could go where I liked, do as I liked, but only on that condition. So you see why the very thought of anyone wanting to kill me is ridiculous.'
A fool-as he had shown at the card table; any child could have computed the logical outcome of such an arrangement. One fee paid to a skilled assassin and no more payments. No threat of the wanderer's return. No focus for any dissatisfied associates to use as the basis of a rebellion.
'Perotto is hard but fair,' said Angado. 'He made a bargain and will stick to it. I'd stake my life on that.'
He had and almost lost. Dumarest said, casually, 'Is Lychen your home world?'
'Yes, do you know it?'
'I've heard of it.'
From Shakira of the circus of Chen Wei. The name of the planet on which he could find someone able and willing to help him to find Earth.
* * *
They headed out at noon, moving toward the north where Dumarest had seen the lavender flash. Behind them the fire sent up a thin column of smoke which he used to check their direction.
As it finally fell below the horizon Angado said, 'Well, if they ever come looking for us, they'll never find us now.'
'No one will come looking.'
'I suppose not. Krogstad didn't strike me as the sort of captain who'd burn atoms unless he was paid.' Angado shrugged and looked around. 'A hell of a place.'
The plain stretched around them on all sides. Flat, gently undulating, covered with thick grass, featureless.
Dumarest halted to sniff at the wind. It came from the east, a soft breeze which barely moved the tufted tips of the grass, and the odors it carried were the same as those all around. At a distance birds rose, wheeling, settling as he watched.
'Too far.' Angado had misread his interest. 'We'd never be able to bring them down.' He grunted as Dumarest made no comment. 'You ever hunted?'
'At times.'
'Big game hunting?'
'Not if I could avoid it.'
'There's a thrill to it,' said Angado. 'Pitting your wits and skill against something which could tread you into the ground if given the chance. Standing, waiting, finger on the trigger. Holding your aim and watching for that one moment to fire. It gets you, Earl. Like a fire in the blood.' He frowned as Dumarest remained silent. 'If you've hunted you must know what I'm talking about.'
Dumarest said, 'Did you hunt for food?'
'Of course not. It was for sport.'
'Butchery, you mean. Killing for the pleasure of it. Standing in a hide and waiting for the beaters to drive the creature toward you. Waiting for it with a gun. What chance did it have?' Dumarest looked at his companion. 'I've seen it. Spoiled bastards, rich, pampered, having fun. They don't see what they leave behind. The hurt beasts, wounded by too hasty a shot, dragging themselves away with their guts trailing after them. Some with broken legs or no leg at all. Animals blinded and left to starve. Hunting! Don't boast to me about hunting!'
'It wasn't like that.'
'How do you know? You hired men to clean up the mess but did they do it? Did you check or were you too busy showing off your trophy?'
Angado said, 'I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way about it. I guessed you were a hunter and you killed that beast-'
'For food and because it threatened us.' Dumarest added, 'There's a difference. By the time this trip is over you may recognize it.'
They moved on over the plain, which was as featureless as a sea. Only the compass kept them on a straight line; without it they would have wandered in circles despite the guiding light of the sun. As it swung toward the horizon Dumarest looked for somewhere to camp. It had to be soon; Angado was showing signs of distress but refused to give in to his weakness. A stubborn man who insisted on gathering fuel for the fire and was reluctant to take his share of water.
'We ought to save it, Earl. Ration it.'
'Ration it, yes, but not save it,' Dumarest tried to explain. 'It's best to store it in our bodies not in a canteen. The same with food. We need all the energy we can get and all the strength. If a chance comes we must be strong enough to take it.'
'A chance?'
'For food, water, anything which could help us to survive. This plain can't go on forever. Drink up, now.'
Later, when the stars glowed above, he studied the sleeping figure of the younger man. One maybe a decade younger than himself but centuries his junior in experience. A man cosseted when young, spoiled by fawning servants, convinced by his peers that he was not like the majority. The product of wealth and influence who had much to learn. With luck he would learn it before he died.
Dumarest wished they had never met.
Rising he looked toward the north hoping for more of the reports, the lavender flash. He saw nothing but the stars and a rising mist which blurred their light. One which thickened into a fog which closed around like a wall of growing darkness. From it, to the west, he heard a shrill screaming and he added more fuel to the fire.
'Earl?' The screaming had awakened Angado and he reared, voice anxious. 'What's that?'
'A hunter at work.'
'A predator? Like the one you killed?'
'Maybe.'
'Do you think it will attack us?'
'It might.'
Angado rose and came to sit with Dumarest at the fire. As he settled he said, 'You don't like me, do you? On the ship it didn't matter, we were just passing strangers, but here it's different. You told me about the hunting but what else is wrong? My title?'
'You were born to it.'
'And so can't be blamed. Right? Any more than a slave can be blamed for being a slave. We don't use them on Lychen, you know. Contract workers, yes, but not slaves. In the old days we had them but not for a long time now.' Angado held out his hands to the fire. 'I guess that's what you'd call progress.'
'Would you?'
'What else? There's a difference between being a slave and being a contract worker. Workers are in it from choice.'
'Unless they owe money,' reminded Dumarest. 'Or were sold under sentence.'
