The tent reeked of fire, of sweat, of the curious pungent leaf the Tamurlin chewed. One of his women lay in the corner against the wall, taking the leaves one by one. Her eyes had a fevered look. Sometimes the captain reached for one of the slim gray leaves and chewed at it half-heartedly. It perfumed the breath. Sweat began to bead on his temples. He grew calmer.
He offered the bowl of leaves to Kurt, insisting. At last Kurt took one, judiciously tucked it in his cheek, whole and un-bruised. Even so, it burned his mouth and spread a numbness that began to frighten him.
If he became drunk with it, he could say something he would not say: his capacity for the drug might be far less than Renols’.
“When,” asked Renols, “will the Ship come?”
“I told you. There’s machinery in my own ship. Let me in there and I can call my captain.”
Renols chewed and stared at him with his thick brows contracted. A dangerous look smoldered in his eyes. But he took another leaf and held out the bowl to Kurt a second time. His hands were stubby-fingered, the nails broken, the knuckles ridged with cut-scars.
Kurt took a second leaf and carefully eased that to the same place as the first.
The calculating look remained in Renols’ eyes. “What sort of man is he, this captain?”
The understanding began to come through. If a ship came, if Mother Aeolus did send it and all points of his prisoner’s tale proved true, then Renols would be faced with someone of greater authority than himself. He would perhaps become a little man. Renols must dread the Ship; it was in his own, selfish interests that there not be one.
But it was also remotely possible that his prisoner would be an important man in the near future, so Renols must fear him. Kurt reckoned that too, and reckoned uneasily that familiarity might well overcome Renols’ fear, when Aeolus’ messenger turned out to be only mortal.
“My captain,” said Kurt, embroidering the tale, “is named Ason, and Aeolus has given him all the weapons that you need. He will give them to you and show you their use before he returns to Aeolus to report.”
The answer evidently pleased Renols more than Renols had expected. He grunted, half a laugh, as if he took pleasure in the anticipation.
Then he gave orders to one of the sallow-faced women who sat nearby. She laid the child she had been nursing in the lap of the nearest woman, who slept in the after-effects of the leaf, and went out and brought them food. She offered first to Renols, then to Kurt.
Kurt took the greasy joint in his fingers and hesitated, suddenly fearing the Tamurlin might not be above cannibalism. He looked it over, relieved to find no comparison between this joint and human or nemet anatomy. Starvation and Renols’ suspicious stare overcame his other scruples and he ate the unidentified meat, careful with each bite not to swallow the leaves tucked in his cheek. The meat, despite the strong medicinal taste of the leaves, had a musty, mildewed flavor that almost made him retch. He held his breath and tried not to taste it, and wiped his hands on the earthen floor when he was done.
The captain offered him a second piece, and stopped in the act.
From outside there came a disturbance. Laughter. Someone shrieked in pain.
Renols put down the platter of meat and went out to speak with the man at the entry to the shelter.
“You swore,” said Kurt when he came back.
“We’re keeping yours,” said Renols. “The other one is ours.”
The confusion outside grew louder. Renols looked torn between annoyance at the interruption and desire to see what was passing outside. Abruptly he called in the man at the entry, tersely bidding him take Kurt to confinement.
The commotion sank away into silence. Kurt listened, teeth clamped tight against the heaving of his stomach. He had spit out the leaves there in the darkness of the shelter where they had left him, hands tied around one of the two support posts. He twisted until he could dig with his fingers in the hard dirt floor and bury the rejected leaves.
There was a bitter taste in his mouth now. His vision blurred, his pulse raced, his heart crashed against his ribs. He began to be hazy-minded, and slept a time.
Footsteps in the dust outside aroused him. Shadows entered the moonlight-striped shelter, pulling a loose-limbed body with them. It was Kta. They tied the semiconscious nemet to the other post and left him.
After a time Kta lifted his head and leaned it back against the post. He did not speak or look at Kurt, only stared off into the dark, his face and body oddly patterned with moonlight through the woven-work.
“Kta,” said Kurt finally. “Are you all right?”
Kta made no reply.
“Kta,” Kurt pleaded, reading anger in the set of the nemet’s jaw.
“Is it to you,” Kta’s hoarse voice replied, “is it to you that I owe my life? Do I understand that correctly? Or do I believe instead the tale you tell to the
umani?
”
“I am doing all I can.”
“What is it you want from me?”
“I am trying to save our lives,” Kurt said. “I am trying to get you out of here. You know me, Kta. Can you take seriously any of the things I have told them?”
There was a long silence. “Please,” said Kta in a broken voice, “please spare me your help from now on.”
“Listen to me. There are weapons in the ship if I can convince them to let me in there. If I can fire its engines I can burn this nest out.”
“I will forgive you,” said Kta, “when you do that.”
“Are you,” Kurt asked after a moment, “much hurt?”
“I am alive,” Kta answered. “Does that not satisfy you?—Shall I tell you what they did to the boy, honored friend?”
“I could not stop it,—Kta, look at me. Listen. Is there any hope at all from
Tavi?
If we could get free, could we find our way there?”
There was no answer.
“Kta,—where is your ship anchored?”
“Why? So you can buy our lives with that too?”
“Do you think I mean to tell—”
“They are your kind, human. It would be possible to survive,—if you could buy your life. I will not give you
Tavi.
”
Against such bitterness there was no answer. Kurt swallowed at the resentment and the hurt that rose in his throat; he held his peace after that. He wanted no more truth from Kta.
The silence wore on, two-sided. At last it was Kta who turned his head. “What are you fighting for?” he asked.
“I thought you had drawn your conclusion.”
“I am asking. What are you trying to do?”
“To save your life. And mine.”
“What use is that to either of us under these terms?”
Kurt twisted toward him. “What use is it to give in to them? Is it sense to let them kill you and do nothing to help yourself?”
“Stop protecting me. I am better dead.”
“Like
they
died? Like that?”
“Show me,” said Kta, his voice shaking, “show me what you can do against these creatures. Put a weapon in my hands or even get my hands free and I will die well enough. But what dignity is there in living like this? Give me a reason. Tell me something I could have told the men they killed, why I have to live, when I should have died before them.”
“Kta, tell me, is there any possible chance of reaching
Tavi?
”
“The coast is leagues away. They would overtake us. This ship of yours. Is it true what you said, that you could burn them out?”
“Everyone would die,—you too, Kta.”
“You know how much that means to me. Light of heaven, what manner of world is yours? Why did you have to interfere?”
“I did the best I knew to do.”
“You were wrong,” said Kta.
Kurt turned away and let the nemet alone, as he so evidently wanted to be. Kta had reason enough to hate humanity. Almost all he had ever loved was dead at the hands of humans, his home lost, his hearth dead, now even the few friends he had left slaughtered before his eyes. His parents,—Hef,—Mim,—himself. Elas was dying. To this had human friendship brought the lord of Elas, and most of it was his own friend’s doing.
In time, Kta seemed to sleep, his head sunk on his breast, his breathing heavy.
A shadow crept across the slatting outside, a ripple of darkness that bent at the door, crept inside the shelter. Kurt woke, moved, began a cry of warning. The shadow plummeted, holding him, clamping a rough, calloused hand over his mouth.
The movement wakened Kta, who jerked, and a knife flashed in the dim light as the intruder drove for Kta’s throat.
Kurt twisted, kicked furiously and threw the would-be assassin tumbling. He righted himself, and a feral human face stared at both of them, panting, the knife still clenched for use.
The human advanced the knife, demonstrating it to them, ready. “Quiet,” he hissed. “Stay quiet.”
Kurt shivered, reaction to the near-slaughter of Kta. The nemet was unharmed, breathing hard, his eyes also fixed on the wild-haired human.
“What do you want?” Kurt whispered.
The human crept close to him, tested the cords on his wrists. “I’m Garet,” said the man. “Listen. I will help you.”
“Help me?” Kurt echoed, still shuddering, for he thought the man might be mad. The leaf-smell was about him. Feverish hands sought his shoulders. The man leaned close to whisper yet more softly.
“You can’t trust Renols, he hates the thought of the Ship. He’ll find a way to kill you. He isn’t sure yet, but he’ll find a way. I could get you into your ship tonight. I could do that.”
“Cut me free,” Kurt replied, snatching at any chance.
“I
could
do that.”
“What do you want, then?”
“You’ll have the weapons in the little ship. You can kill Renols then.
I
will help you.
I
will be second and I will go on helping you.”
“You want to be captain?”
“You can make me that, if I help you.”
“It’s a deal,” said Kurt, and held his breath while the man made a final consideration. He dared not ask Kta’s freedom too. He dared not turn on Garet and take the knife. The slim chance there was in the situation kept him from risking it; in silence, once inside the ship, he could handle Garet and stand off Renols.
The knife haggled at the cords, parting the tough fiber and sending the blood excruciatingly back to his hands. He rose up carefully, for Garet held the knife ready against him if he moved suddenly.
Then Garet’s eyes swept toward Kta. He bent toward him, blade extended.
Kurt caught his arm, fronted instantly by Garet’s bewildered suspicion, and for a moment fear robbed Kurt of any sense to explain.
“He is mine,” Kurt said.
“We can catch a lot of nemet,” said Garet. “What’s this one to you?”
“I know him,” said Kurt. “And I can get cooperation out of him. He’s not about to cry out, because he knows he’d die; he knows I’m his only chance of staying alive, so eventually he’ll tell me all I ask of him.”
Kta looked up at both of them, well able to understand. Whether it was consummate acting or fear of Garet or fear of human treachery, he looked frightened. He was among aliens. Perhaps it even occurred to him that he could have been long deceived.
Garet glowered, but he thrust the knife into his belt and led the way out into the tangle of huts outside.
“Sentries?” Kurt breathed into his ear.
Garet shook his head, drew him further through the village, up to the landing struts, the extended ladder. A sentry did stand there. Garet poised to throw, knife balanced between his fingertips. He drew back—
—the hiss and
chunk!
of an arrow toppled him, clawing at the ground. The sentry crouched and whirled, and men poured out of the dark. Kurt went down under a triple assault, struggling and kicking as they hauled him where they would take him, up to the ladder.
Renols was there, ax in hand. He prodded Kurt in the belly with it. His ugly face contorted further in a snarl of anger.
“Why?” he asked.
“He came,” said Kurt, “threatened to kill me if I didn’t come at once. Then he told me you were planning to kill me. I didn’t know what to believe. But this one had a knife, so I kept quiet.”
“Sentries are dead,” another man reported. “Six men are dead, throats cut. One of our scouts hasn’t come back either.”
“Garet’s brothers,” Renols said, and looked at the men who surrounded him. “His folk’s doing. Find his women and his brats. Give them to the dead men’s families, whatever they like.”
“Captain,” said that man, biting his lip nervously. “Captain, the Garets are a big family. Their kin is in the Red band too. If they get to them with some story—”
“Get them,” said Renols. “Now.”
The men separated. Those who held Kurt remained. Renols looked up at the entry to the ship, thought silently, then nodded to his men, who brought Kurt away as they walked through the camp. They were quiet. Not a sound came from the encampment. Kurt walked obediently enough, although the men made it harder for him out of spite.
They came to the hut from which he had escaped. Renols stooped and looked inside, where Kta was still tied.
He straightened again. “The nemet is still alive,” he said. Then he looked at Kurt from under one brow. “Why didn’t Garet kill him?”
Kurt shrugged. “Garet hit him. I guess he was in a hurry.”
Renols’ scowl deepened. “That isn’t like Garet.”
“How should I know? Maybe Garet thought he might fail tonight and didn’t want a dead nemet for proof of his visit.”
Renols thought that over. “So. How did he know you wouldn’t raise an alarm?”
“He didn’t. But it makes sense I’d keep quiet. How am I to know whose story to believe?”
Renols snorted. “Put him inside. We’ll catch one of the Garets alive and then we’ll see about it.”
The human left. Kurt tested the strength of the new cords, which were unnecessarily tight and rapidly numbed his hands—a petty measure of their irritation with him. He sighed and leaned his head back against the post, ignoring Kta’s staring at him.