'I think the dark guest would speak with you,' she said.
'Yes,' I said.
'But, why, Master?' she asked. 'What have you to do with the dark guest? And how is it that among your things there is a translator?'
I smiled.
'Who is it, to whom I belong?' she asked.
'Curiosity,' I said, 'is not becoming in a Kajira.'
'Forgive me, Master,' she said, putting her head down. I decided I would not, this time, whip her.
'I am going to the lodge of the dark guest,' I said. 'We will speak together.'
'But what, Master, am I to do?' she asked.
'Surely you have woman's work to attend to,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Attened to it,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
Chapter 55
THE COMMINGLINGS OF BLOOD
Cuwignaka's knife moved on his own forearm, and then on mine, and then on Hci's.
'You cannot be a member of the Sleen Soldiers of the All Comrades,' had said Hci, 'for you are not Kaiila, and you do not know our dances and mysteries, the contents of our medicine bundles.'
'There is another thing,' had said Cuwignaka, 'which can be done.'
'Do it,' had said Hci.
Cuwignaka held his arm to mine, and then I held my arm to that of Hci, and then Hci, in turn, held his arm to that of Cuwignaka. Thus was the circle of blood closed.
'It is done,' said Cuwignaka.
'Brothers,'I said.
'Brothers,' said Hci.
'Brothers,' said Cuwignaka.
Chapter 56
I TAKE MY LEAVE FROM THE CAMP
I tied Mira's hands together before her body.
'When we reach civilization,' I told her, 'I will have you properly collared and branded.'
'I am a slave,' she said, 'I shall look forward to my collaring and branding.'
'Taht will confirm your status upon you,' I said, 'legally, and in the eyes of all.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I looked down upon her.
'Do you think that I will be slain in Port Kar?' she asked.
'I do not think so,' I said, 'but I would speak freely, and in great detail, if I were you.'
She shuddered. 'I will do so,' she said.
The house of Samos in Port Kar was famous for its methods of interrogation. They would be used without reservation, of course, in the case of mere slaves.
'You are not as terrified now,' I said, 'as last night.' It had been last night when I, after returning the translator to my things, had bound her hand and foot, and then informed her of the identity of her master. She had squirmed in misery and terror at my feet, her worst suspisions having been confirmed. She, a former agent of Kurii, had fallen into the hands of one who had done service for Priest-Kings, one who had doings with Samos of Port Kar, one who was known to some as Tarl Cabot, to others as Bosk of Port Kar.
'If you are perfectly cooperative,' I had told the terrorized girl, 'you may, afterward, be permitted to live as a woman-and a slave.'
'I will be perfectly cooperative,' she had whispered, '-Master.'
I smiled at her.
'No, Master,' she said, 'I am not as terrified as I was last night.'
'Good,' I said.
I hoisted her to the back of the kaiila and she, to keep her balance,momentarily frightened, clutched at its mane, fastening her fingers in it. I took a long strap and tied it about her right ankle and then, drawing it tight under the belly of the kaiila, looped it twice about her left ankle. I then jerked the entire arrangement tight again and fastened her left ankle in place. Her thighs were then tied tightly about the great chest of the kaiila; they were held, bound as she was, flattened against, and pressed deeply into, the body of the animal; I saw them move with its breathing; on thier interiors, later, would be found the marks of the beast's warm, silken coat and oil from its hide.
The beast did not have reins but a neck rope. I took this neck rope, a long one, and slung it about the pommel of my saddle.
'Master has not seen fit to permit me clothing,' she said.
'That is true,' I said. I had taken from her even the insignificant rags I had permitted her to wear, weeks ago, in what was thenthe compound of the Waniyanpi.
'I shall be brought back from the Barrens, then,' she said, 'as a naked slave.
'Yes,' I said. This seemed fitting for one who had entered them as a proud free woman, and an agent of Kurii.
We were on a rise near the victory camp. It was near dawn.
I could see some folk making their way towards our position.
Farewells were rapidly spoken.
I then slung some supplies on the kaiila on which the girl tied, was mounted. These I put both before her and behind her. Among those behind her, in saddle sacks, balanced by sheaves of meat, was a translator.
I mounted.
I then made my way, slowly, down from the rise, moving in a westward direction.
I did not take with me the tarn I had captured in the tarn country. I thought it preferable that it, a trained bird, be left with the Kaiila. Tarns were precious to them, particularly in connection with acquiring new tarns. They would need every tarn, I conjectured, which they could obtain. Indeed, I suspected that they would soon attempt to obtain them even through channels of trade. As the appearance of kaiila in the Barrens, long ago, had wrought a social and cultraul revolution among the tribes, so, too, I suspected, now might the tarn. The tarn, as the kaiila before it, might now bring about a transformation on the prairies. I was apprehensive when I thought of the skills of red savages on the kaiila. How fearsome might they then become astride the mighty tarn. Yet, it seemed to me that the mastery of the tarn, in its way, was perhaps the key to assuring the continued stability of the Barrens. If tribes without tarns could not hold their own against those who had them, then these other trives would presumably be forced from their lands and into westward migration or so, it seemed clear that the integrity of the Ihanke itself might be threatened. Too often in the histories of worlds had the displacements of peoples become the prelude to lengthy and bloody wars. Stability's key, in the paradoxes of martial reality, is commonly combative parity.
I stopped the kaiila and turned about, to look back. Many of my friends were on the rise near the camp.
Zarendargar was not among them.
Two days ago I had been summoned to his lodge. There, with Zarendargar, was the eighth Kur, unbound.
