This Kur, according to the beast, had been rescinded against Zarendargar.
He was now to be recalled to the Steel Worlds.
'Surely you do not believe this?' I asked Zarendargar, Half-Ear, though the translator.
'It was for this reason that my comrade sought me here, at great risk,' he said.
'Do you believe that?' I asked.
'Yes,' said Zarendargar. 'It is true.'
'How do you know?' I asked.
'He has sworn it, by the rings,' said Zarendargar.
'You will go with him?' I asked.
'Yes,' said Zarendargar. 'A rendezvous with the ship has been arranged.'
'When will you leave?' I asked.
'tomorrow,' said Zarendargar. 'The rendezvous is distant. The trek will be long.'
'Why has this sentence been rescinded?' I asked.
'A shift in political power has taken place in the Cliffs,' he said. 'Now, too, once again, it seems my services are desired.'
'To what end?' I asked.
The lips of that great shaggy face curled back, revealing the fangs. It was a Kur smile. 'I do not feel that it would be appropriate to say,' came from the translator.
'I suppose,' I said, 'as one who has upon occasion espoused the cause of Priest-Kings, I should attempt to slay you.'
'Surely it was not for that reason that you came to the Barrens,' he said.
'No,' I smiled.
'Nor was it for that reason that I had the story hide transmitted to the west.'
'You did that deliberately?' I asked.
'Yes,' he said. 'In this fashion I sought to draw the Death Squad to the Barrens where they might be dealt with and sought, too, to enlist your aid in my battle with them.'
'I do not understand,' I said.
'I assumed,' he said, 'they would attempt to enlist the aid of men in what, from their point of view, would seem to be a project of interest to men, my apprehension and destruction. Surely they would attempt to contact Samos of Port Kar and, in this, would presumably be apprising you, too, of their plans.'
'We rendered them no assistance,' I said. 'They had to make other arrangements, with mercenaries.'
'That is what I thought would happen,' said Zarendargar. 'I was a better judge of men, I think, then they.'
'Perhaps,' I said.
'You would come to the Barrens,' he said. 'I was sure of it.'
'You were correct,' I smiled.
'They did not expect you to come to the Barrens,' he said.
'Of course not,' I said.
'That was a serious miscalculation on their part,' he said. 'But perhaps they could not be blamed for it. They could not know something which I knew.'
'What is that?' I asked.
'That once, long ago,' he said, 'we shared paga.'
Yesterday, early, Zarendargar and his companion had left the victory camp. I did not, of course, attempt to follow them.
I continued to look back to the rise behind me. I lifted my hand to the folk gathered there.
Mahpiyasapa, civil chieftain of the Isbu Kaiila, was there, and his friend, Kahintokapa, of the Casmu, he of the Yellow-Kaiila Riders. His shield still bore the visage of Zarendargar. Grunt was there, too, and his son, by the Dust-Leg women. With him, as well, was his friend Wagmezahu, Corn Stalks, of the Fleer, who had come with the Fleer to Council Rock. Tomorrow Grunt and his son, with the Hobarts, and various slaves, would set forth for the Dust-Leg country, where he would winter. I saw Canka and Winyela, and Wasnapohdi and Waiyeyeca; and Oiputake, with her master, Wapike. Many others were there, too, come out from the camp, men such as Akihoka and Keglezeal. Too, prominent among those on the rise were two I had known even to the touchings of wounds, even to the comminglings of blood, my friends, my brothers, Hci and Cuwignaka.
I then turned away, again, and again, slowly, took my way westward, toward the Ihanke.
Toward noon I did look upward once, and behind me. In the sky there was a great black tarn.
I lifted my hand and arm to it, the palm of my hand facing inward, in Gorean salute. It turned then, taking its way eastward, I watched it until it disappeared, a distant speck in the blue skies over the vastness of the Barrens.
I then continued on my way, the neck tether of the kaiila behind me looped about the pommel of my saddle.
