'He cuts the hedges.'
'At night?'
'What are you doing here, laborer?' This was directed at Var.
'I have to talk to-a girl,' he. said, realizing that he was hurting himself by his directness.
'Which girl?'
There was a huddle behind the light. Var remembered that they had renamed Soli for school purposes, in the interest of minimizing her vulgar origin. The name he had used was not familiar to them, and he could avoid the truth even now. 'The one you guard-betrothed to Ch'in.'
'Bring him to the barracks,' the officer snapped.
They brought him. 'What do you want of this girl?' the officer demanded, in the privacy of the temporary building the soldiers used.
'To take her away, if she wants to come.' The truth comforted him in the telling, despite the effect it had on these men. He did want Soli, even though it might cost her luxury. He knew that now.
'Do you understand that we shall kill anyone who tries such a thing?'
'Yes.'
The officer paused, thinking him a fool or a simpleton.
'You struck down the sentry?'
'Yes.'
'Why do you want to take this particular girl?'
'I love her.'
'Why do you think she might go with you, an ugly hunchback, when the pinnacle is within her reach by staying?'
'I brought her.'
'You knew her before?'
'For four years we traveled together.'
'Fetch the matron,' the officer said to one of the men. 'Heat the knife,' he said to another. And to Var: 'If she denies your story, you shall die as an example to those who would thwart Ch'in. If she confirms it, you will merely lose your interest in this girl. In any girl.'
Var watched the knife being turned over and over in the flame of a great candle and pondered how many he could kill before that blade touched him.
The matron came. 'It is true,' she said. 'He brought her, and has paid for her keep by his labors, and kept her here when she wanted to escape. It is his right to take her away again-if she wishes to accompany him.'
'It was his right,' the officer said grimly, 'until the Emperor Ch'in selected her for his retinue. No other rights exist.'
She faced him without alarm. 'We are not in Ch'in's demesne.'
'You may readily be added to it, madam.'
She shrugged. 'A strike into this region at this time would unite the enemies of Ch'in in the north, at a time when his main force is occupied to the south. Is one bride worth it?'
The officer pondered, taken aback by the political acumen of the matron. 'The Emperor does not wish bloodshed to mar his wedding day. We shall pay this man a fair price for his prior claim, and deport him unharmed from the vicinity. Should he return before the nuptial, he will be held until that day is passed-then suffer the death of a thousand cuts.' He fetched a bag of coins. 'This will cover it.'
The matron looked at Var soberly. 'His compromise is reasonable. Accept it, nomad. And take this too.' She handed him a packet
Var was reminded of the manner of Minos, god of New Crete, as he gave Soli the keys to the power boat. He realized that
