wrong society at the wrong time. Earlier he would have been quietly disposed of so as not to contaminate the gene pool with his undesirable characteristics. Later he could make a place for himself as a thinker, a poet or an artist, a planner or a teacher. Now he was caught between two fires, tearing himself apart with the desire to prove himself according to the customs of his Family yet lacking the physical attributes which would make it possible.
But he would try and, trying, he would die.
Dumarest turned, thinking of his own problems.
An hour after the great bell sounded at dawn he would have to fight and, from what he had seen of Galbrene, the man was no stranger to combat. The badges he wore proved that, each a trophy of victory as the gun he carried showed his courage against the olcept. And, as Lekhard had pointed out, the man had not been satisfied with a minor kill. He had gone after bigger game and Dumarest knew what it took to face a ravening beast with nothing but a scrap of edged and pointed steel.
He heard the knock and had risen and was at the door before it could come again. The passage outside was lit with a smokey yellow light which gleamed from the gems set in the mane of auburn hair.
'Earl?' Dephine glanced at the naked blade in his hand. 'Did you expect an assassin?'
'Get inside.' He closed the door after her, thrusting home the thick, wooden latch. 'What do you want?'
'To talk. I couldn't sleep and I missed you.' Her eyes met his as she tilted back her head. 'A light?'
The curtains rasped from their rings as he drew the thick material across the panes. An unnecessary precaution, perhaps, but it was late and curiosity could be aroused. For a second he fumbled in the gloom then, as light blazed from the lamp, Dephine came towards him, arms extended.
'Earl!'
He ignored the invitation.
'Galbrene was a surprise,' he said, dryly. 'One I could have done without. Could there be others?'
'I didn't know, Earl,' she said, quickly. 'I told you that. It shouldn't have happened and, on any other world, it wouldn't have mattered. He could have been taken care of without all this ridiculous formality.'
'On any other world it wouldn't have been necessary.' Dumarest watched as she poured wine. 'Theft, lies and harlotry,' he murmured. 'How long ago was it, Dephine? Eight years? Ten? Twelve?'
'Why?'
'Galbrene has either a long memory or you made a hell of an impression.'
'Both.' She met his eyes without smiling and deliberately drank some wine. 'Do you want me to pretend that I'm a pure little innocent who didn't know what she was doing? All right, so I'm guilty of everything he accuses me of, but so what? Are you any better? A killer? A man who lives by violence? Have you any right to judge?'
'Have I judged?'
'No,' she admitted. 'You haven't. Not from the very first. You took me for what I was, but treated me as if I were all the things a man hopes to find in a woman. Not as a cheap whore or a thief or a liar or someone who should have known better. Not like these fools who look at me and then at you and decide it would pay them to keep a shut mouth. You, Earl-you're a man!'
'Tell me about Galbrene.'
'What is there to tell? He wanted me and, yes, we were betrothed. It was an arrangement and one of the reasons I wanted to get away. And I stole also, that I admit, but I needed money for passage and other things. And I didn't know that I'd ever want to come back. I didn't know that until after I'd met you and then, in the ship, with death all around and you lying so ill, dying I thought-Earl, if I'd known how to pray I'd have done it then! Prayed for you to live and to love me as I love you. To want to be with me so that we could find happiness together. To build a home, Earl. A home!'
The dream of every wanderer of space; to find a woman who would look at him with love in her eyes, to have a place to call his own, to rear children, to put an end to loneliness.
Yet his home was not here. It had to be on Earth-if he could find it.
He watched as she turned away from him and drank the rest of her wine. His own he left untouched and she looked at it then to where he stood. 'Earl?'
'I asked about Galbrene.'
'To hell with him! I've told you-'
'Nothing of importance,' he said coldly. 'I want to know how he thinks, how he feels, the way he gets himself ready for action. Has he a weakness which could be exploited? What is his strength?'
'I don't know, Earl,' she admitted. 'It's been too long and, anyway, his tactics might have changed. He's older now. Anyway, what does it matter? You can beat him. You can take him in any way you want. Just keep him moving and-'
'He'll fall in my lap?' Dumarest shook his head. 'If you think that then you're a fool. No fight is ever certain. Always there is the unknown factor. No man is invincible no matter what he thinks. Or,' he added grimly, 'what others might like to think. He could win, Dephine, remember that.'
For a moment she stared at him, wide-eyed, then turned to pour wine, the neck of the decanter rattling against the rim of her glass.
'Earl, you mustn't die! You musn't.'
He smiled at her intensity.
'I mean it, damn you!' She threw the glass of wine to one side, coming to stand before him, hands resting on his shoulders. 'No matter how you do it, Earl, you must live. Life has so much to offer when this is over. I'll be fully accepted and we could many and settle on land to the south or close to the field if you'd prefer it. Well have money enough to live comfortably. Enough to support children, Earl. Children!'
Her voice, her body, held temptation. There was strength in her and fire and a beauty which belonged more to the wild than to the conglomerations of civilization. A temptation which she enhanced as her arms lifted to wreath his neck, the full warmth of her body pressing against him with familiar urgency.
'Earl!' she whispered. 'Earl, my love! My love!'
A fighter who dallied with women before a bout was a fool. Gently Dumarest pushed her away.
'Goodnight, Dephine.'
'Earl? You-'
'Goodnight.'
* * * * *
Dawn broke with a flood of color, streamers of red and orange, russet and gold, amber and strands of purple which hung like gaudy banners in the sky. Banners matched by the pennants surrounding the combat-area, the bright badges worn by the spectators on tunics and sashes.
The stands were packed but there was no jostling, no voices raised in argument and Dumarest knew why. An armed society is a polite one; when a look or word can bring injury or death then neither are lightly given. And surrounded by people ready to gun down anyone killing without cause an aggressor was forced to have regard for the code.
Hendaza said, 'You have no doubts as to the procedure, Earl? If there is anything you need to know don't hesitate to ask. As your official mentor and aide it is my duty to help you in any way I can.'
He had done his best, arriving an hour before dawn, fussing as Dumarest had bathed, worried at the little he had eaten. Now he stood at his side in the opening leading to the arena-a courtyard ringed with rising tiers of stone which served as seats. In another opening across the empty space Galbrene would be waiting.
Dumarest said, in order to please the man, 'Are all challenges fought like this?'
'Not exactly. We stand as you are now but we are armed. Pistols-and the first one down or hit yields the day. We walk at the signal and fire at will.' He rubbed at his chin, perturbed, torn with conflicting loyalties. Dumarest was a stranger, Galbrene was not, yet he liked Dephine despite what she had done.
'But all serious challenges are to the death?'
'Yes.'
'And if the victor should decide to be merciful?'
'I don't know.' Hendaza frowned. 'I don't think it has ever happened. But if-'
The blast of a trumpet drowned what he was saying. A second note and the ritual began.
