To Battle The Gods

10 The strangers at last—and truths are discussed

I awoke with great difficulty and filled with anger, for I had dreamed that Ceralt and Mehrayn had indeed sold my use. I pulled myself more firmly from the mists of sleep, and at once became aware of the softness I lay belly down upon, a softness which lacked the smell of a lenga pelt. Indeed was there a strangeness to the odors all about me, a strangeness even greater than that to be found in the cities of males. I forced myself to hands and knees, head hanging down as I strove to open my eyes and regain the aid of sight, and in doing so found that my breech remained upon me, the feel of my leg bands an accompanying presence. My eyes seemed vastly reluctant to open, yet when they did I thought that dreams continued to grip me.

White was the cloth upon which I knelt, a white as pure as the snows to the north, soft and yielding as though there were furs beneath, each yielding place rising again as my weight was removed from it. I had raised one hand from the cloth to learn this, to push back the hair which threatened my vision, and then did I raise my head to look about, and discovered that a vision which was doubted was of little use.

Much did it seem that it was an enclosure in which I knelt, one perhaps three paces by three, seemingly the same in height, clearly an enclosure despite the lack of metal to be seen. In place of metal were there expanses of what almost seemed like maglessa weave, but more easily seen through and without the faint lines of the weave. In the enclosure beside mine, to the left, was Aysayn, sitting with head in hands as though he experienced what difficulty I did in regaining full awareness. The enclosure beyond him held Ceralt, the next Mehrayn, and both lay upon their white floors, moving somewhat as they struggled to depart the darkness. With some little effort I moved to that which separated me from Aysayn and put one hand upon it, finding it cool to the touch rather than warm as the air all about. It was also rigid and unyielding, far from the softness of maglessa and possessing far greater strength, clearly the reason it was able to stand unsupported, like the walls of a chamber. Also clearly would I be unable to pull it down and free myself from its confinement, yet to what I would have escaped I knew not. No more was to be seen beyond the forward wall than an empty chamber, light coming from that which I was unable to see, walls and floor of a dark orange, the ceiling white. Perhaps wood or stone lay beneath the brightness of these colors, yet did it somehow seem more like a strange metal. If it was there at all and not a dream.

“Are you not able to tear the weave, wench?” came Aysayn’s voice of a sudden, strangely hollow. “Give me another moment to regain my strength, and we may make the attempt together.”

“The thing is not maglessa weave,” I replied, noting the flatness of my own voice, looking upon him to see that he now moved his head about to loosen the knots I was able to feel in my own neck. The male wore his black covering as I wore my breech, yet were his sword and dagger gone, as were those of Ceralt and Mehrayn. Coverings, it seemed, had been left to us, yet not our weapons.

“What else might it be save maglessa weave?” asked the male, somewhat distressed. “What other thing might appear so like the weave?”

“I know not,” said I, of a sudden noting that the smell of the air about was not entirely as unknown as I had thought it. Once before had I smelled something near it, yet had that been when I had been in Mida’s Realm upon this world. Also had it been the same in Sigurr’s Realm, for the short time I had been able to be aware of it, an odor as though metal floated unseen in the air. It came to me to wonder, then, how the two odors might be so near the same—and then was the answer mine as well, entirely without effort. Those who are enemies to the gods must surely be gods themselves, had said Ennat, and indeed had the Keeper spoken truth.

“Perhaps this is all unreal and I but dream,” said Aysayn, looking about to see what I had seen. “You and I and Ceralt and Mehrayn in a place I have never before come upon. Perhaps they fought, and you as well, and I now seek sleep to deny the loss of all three.”

“There was no battle between them, nor did I raise weapon,” I corrected the male, seating myself upon the softness so that I might look upon him more easily. “No more occurred than the appearance of a thing, and then we slept. Perhaps we should not have so often chided the strangers for failing to arrive.”

“I had hoped that that, too, was merely a dream,” said he, raising his knees so that he might hang his forearms upon them. “So we have been taken captive by those we were meant to face in battle, and how pleased the gods will be to learn of that! Our warriors sit elsewhere, the while we walk blindly into their hands!”

“And yet, how might it be so?” I protested, pulling at my hair in annoyance. “Was it not Mida herself who said that the strangers would appear near Bellinard? How might the goddess have been mistaken?”

“Perhaps it was not she who was mistaken,” said Aysayn, a thoughtful look to him. “Was it Bellinard the city which was spoken of—or Bellinard the settlement? The settlement, you must recall, was not far from where we were taken.”

“It was the city which my Midanna were required to capture,” said I, attempting to cast my mind back to the time of discussion with the goddess. “Also was I told of the Sigurri who were held in that city. Mehrayn and the others were indeed found there—yet does it somehow seem that the goddess was unaware of a second Bellinard. How might a goddess be unaware of what occurs in her own world?”

“And how might Sigurr be also unaware?” asked Aysayn, disturbance in the dark of his eyes. “Should your Mida have had the wrong of it, for what reason did he not correct the mistake? Those who were to lead their warriors in battle against their enemies have now been taken captive, and all through an oversight? Sigurr forgive me the blasphemy, yet I know of no other way to put the query.”

“Nor I,” said I, sharing much of Aysayn’s distress. Though it had been some time since last I had thought of Mida with reverence, surely did she continue in my eyes to be the goddess that she was. A goddess may easily be displeased with one who means to challenge her, and therefore withdraw her support from that one; yet how might she, through error, withdraw support from herself? With the Midanna about Bellinard the city, and Jalav taken near Bellinard the settlement, how were Mida’s warriors to stand in defense of their goddess?

Aysayn and I shared the silence of depression till Mehrayn and Ceralt had come to themselves, and then did Aysayn speak to the others of what he and I suspected. Easily was he able to hear Ceralt, yet I not so easily and Mehrayn not at all. Mehrayn must speak to Ceralt and Ceralt to Aysayn and then Aysayn to me if all were to easily hear and be heard, a cumbersome method of communicating surely meant to disrupt full discussion upon the matter of escape. We none of us were able to conceive of a manner in which we might depart that place, for none of us were able to find so much as a hint of a door leading out. Full solid were the walls of our enclosures, which neither the strength of the males nor the most forceful kick taught me by Chaldrin were able to breech. The others wondered at how we had been placed therein, and then was it necessary that I speak of the mist used by Mida and Sigurr to take them about. In no manner had doors been necessary with the mist, and were our captors not they who were enemies to the gods? What is possessed by one god may be possessed by another, and foolish would mortals be to question that.

Another time of silence passed the while we again examined the enclosure which held us, yet all to no avail. The walls we had attempted attack upon had scarcely shaken despite the force of that attack, and Aysayn and I had kicked together at the wall between us with no more than a handspan separating the two points of impact. Had the wall been of wood it would surely have shattered, yet we were merely bounced away, to sprawl upon the softness we had previously stood upon. It disturbed me that I had not the skill and strength of Chaldrin, yet was I well pleased that Chaldrin was not with us. Had it been he who failed to breech the wall, surely would the failure have been more keenly felt.

The males had sat themselves upon the white softnesses of their enclosures and I had walked to the far side of mine to look into the nearest empty enclosure, when a section of the far wall beyond our enclosures slid aside to reveal a large number of males and females. These began entering the area at once, their eyes moving from one to the other of us, an air of great excitement clearly upon them. My companions rose to their feet and I moved quickly to the front wall of my enclosure, for never had I seen folk such as these. All were clad alike and in a similar color, yet what that color was was difficult to say. A shimmering, many-hued gray-black did it seem, now a green gray-black, now a blue gray-black, now a red gray-black. The coverings themselves were also odd, fitting to each of those who wore them as the leathers of Ceralt’s village folk fit, yet without the separation of chest covering to breech to leg coverings to boots. All of a single piece were they, naught of openings evident, and their boots were of a shiny something, clearly not fur and colored in black.

Beyond their coverings did these folk themselves hold my eye, for even more outlandish than city folk did they appear. Their females—for females they were as their breasts were discernible beneath the tightness of the coverings upon them—wore their hair in many different manners, some so short that even males would not have done the same, some with it about the tops of their shoulders, all seemingly having forced it to stand about in odd postures rather than allowing it to lie flat as hair should. Also were the shades of it rather strange, most especially one of a glaring red. The males, too, seemed to have done the same, and none of them appeared to have ears, though they did. Strangest of all, however, was the size of these strangers, for Mida had been of a size with me, and Sigurr larger yet. They who were enemies to the gods were in no manner the same, for the largest of the males was a good half-head below me, and I a head below the males I journeyed with. Their females were far smaller yet, and much did I feel as though I stood in capture to no more than warriors-to-be.

“Lord, look at the size of them!” breathed a male who was not among the largest, surely what seemed to be awe in his voice as he looked from one to the other of us. “Even the girl’s a giant! And I thought the scout crew had to be exaggerating.”

“Probably selective breeding had a lot to do with it,” said another male beside the first, mouthing incomprehensibilities the other failed to question. “Take the biggest and the best and mix ’em up, kill off the ones who don’t cut it, and that’s what you’ll get. Pretty damned spectacular, though, and I’ll be the first to admit it.”

“And I’d be the first to take that one aside for a private word or two,” said a third male, his eyes moving near to me as though he wished to gaze directly yet dared not. “Everything before her would be nothing but practice, and man, would I like to put that practice to work.”

“Who would you borrow the ladder from?” asked the second of the third, he clearly amused. “And what would you do if you got lost?”

“Do you two have to be so vulgar?” asked the red-haired female, turning about to look upon the males with great disapproval. “You’re here because you’re supposed to be scientists; would you like to be confined to quarters instead, with black marks entered in your records?”

“No, ma’am,” replied the second male, considerably crestfallen, and “Sorry, ma’am,” said the third, looking toward the floor, both replies causing the female to nod with satisfaction before turning herself from them again. Though understanding little or naught of what the strangers said, Aysayn and I exchanged looks of surprise. Less than city males did these stranger males seem, for how great a warrior might so small a female be?

Those who stood about and stared were not long left to indulge in their pastime; others appeared in the newly made doorway behind them, paused a moment to look about at those who had come before, then stepped briskly within the chamber. Three females and a hand of males were they, she who led them as large as the largest of all the males, and quickly did those who stood about make way for those newly come.

“What are you all doing here?” demanded the female who led, irritability clear in her voice and manner as she looked about herself. Light of hair and eyes was this female, seemingly well made beneath her covering, her hair no more than twisted about itself rather than forced to stand in some manner like the hair of the others. Her covering was topped by a collar of bright yellow, and then did I see that the collars of the others were of other colors, those of the males most often darker than those of the females.

“With a new ship day about to start, why aren’t you people where you’re supposed to be?” demanded the female of those about her, causing them all to avoid her gaze. “You’ll all get to see these subjects in due time, no need to stand about gawking like tourists.”

“You won’t be requiring immediate physicals, ma’am?” asked the male who had spoken first, his manner most diffident. Blue was the color of the collar of this roundish male, a blue lighter than that of the other males about him. “We thought you would, so we made certain to . . . .”

“Physicals?” interrupted the female with a laugh of scorn, putting fists to hips as she looked upon the male. “Certainly, Doctor, I’d love to see you conduct a physical. Why don’t you just step into the cell with, say, that blond, and start giving him a physical? Take your entire staff if you like.”

The male who had spoken moved his eyes to Aysayn, examined the manner in which Sigurr’s Shadow stood with arms folded across chest, raised his eyes to look up into the dark gaze which regarded him steadily, then merely stood with widened eyes.

“Exactly,” said the female with distant amusement, clearly aware of the discomfort of the male. “You can’t expect to work on savages, not until my people and I have tamed them for you. The blood samples we took show them healthy enough and free of infection, and that will have to do for now. Your real work won’t start until we have access to the entire population, so you may as well go back to your sick bay. And the rest of you move along, too. We have work to do here, and you’re keeping us from it.”

Without demurral did those who had come first take themselves off again, she of the strange red hair as well, leaving none save the three females and the hand of males they led, as well as one other. A sixth male had appeared as those who had come first were departing, and once those others were gone, he brought himself into the chamber to join those who remained. Large indeed by stranger standards was this male, nearly of a size with me, the collar of his covering a white such as that which I stood upon. Light of hair was he, with gray eyes set in the squareness of his face, and he halted beside the light-haired female.

“I’ve sent their belongings to Research and Investigation, so we ought to know the source of that power signal in just a little while,” said the male to the female, faint annoyance in the voice of him. “If you weren’t such a stickler for Reclamation regs, we would have had it an hour after we had them.”

“Are you really thinking about trying to steal my thunder, Captain?” the female asked with something of a smile, evidently having comprehended the meaninglessness spoken by the male. “Reclamation is in charge of this project, and I’m in charge of Reclamation. As project Leader all kudos go to me, no matter who discovers what. Waiting to find out about that power source won’t matter, not in the long run, and it will probably turn out to be one of the crystals they recently rediscovered. Why waste your time on that when you can be looking at them?”

“I’ll decide I’m wasting my time when I have that report,” returned the male, yet were the words lacking in force for the disagreement they seemed to be. The female had been looking upon Aysayn and Ceralt and Mehrayn, yet the eyes of the male had come to me instead, and examined me with a directness the others had not shown. I returned the light gaze with the little interest I felt, and oddly the male grew amused. “As far as looking at them goes,” said he, “that I don’t mind in the least.”

“Don’t be disgusting, Aram,” said the female with a glance of disapproval for the male, less than the barest touch of her eyes for me. “I was talking about the unbelievable find they represent, the first in almost a hundred years. Descendants of colonists our own people sent out, retrogressed to the level of utter barbarity, far below any others found in the last two centuries, and I’ll be the one remembered as having reclaimed them. I can’t wait to get started teaching them.”

“You’d be smarter if you started by finding out if there was anything they can teach you,” said the male, moving closer to the front wall of my enclosure. “You insisted on playing this according to regulations, Tia, but I don’t think you thought the thing all the way through. Can you understand me, girl? What’s your name?”

Clearly were the male’s last remarks addressed to me, yet had he in some manner increased the annoyance of the female. She left those who had not yet uttered a sound, and moved to the side of the male where he stood before me.

“What do you mean, I didn’t think things all the way through?” she demanded, looking up to the male she stood beside. “And stop talking to that female. Don’t you realize that barbarian groups like the one these four belong to are male dominated? She’s probably their slave, and you’ll lose face for all of us by your stupidity.”

“Jalav is slave to neither mortal nor god,” said I, replying to the sole comment I was able to understand. “Should the stranger female doubt this, she may search for the courage to face her.”

“Oh!” exclaimed the female in startlement, raising her eyes to mine with great fluster. The male beside her was deeply amused, a thing which added to the discomfort of the female.

“So much for your slave theory,” said the male, sparing the female no more than a glance. “If you’d used your eyes instead of your mouth, you would have noticed that this girl isn’t anybody’s slave. She meets your eyes too directly, then dismisses you with the arrogance of a Sender. Are you going to accept her offer and face her? You might lose a lot of standing if you don’t.”

“Don’t be absurd!” snapped the female, a tinge of red continuing to color her cheeks, anger in her eyes. I stood calmly with arms afold as I gazed down upon her, and no more was she able to meet my gaze than a disobedient warrior-to-be. “I’m here to teach these barbarians, not get into fights with them!” said she, now looking solely upon the male. “Tell me what you meant about my insisting on following regulations.”

“It couldn’t be simpler,” said the male with a shrug, refusing to move his eyes to the female. “The regulations you insisted on make you senior to me on this project, but only as long as you don’t make a mistake. If you do make a mistake, it’s to be recorded in the log when you’re relieved by the next highest officer, preferably the captain of this ship, in other words, me. One slip and you’re not only out, Tia, you’re also under. I might even have to put you in the cell next to hers.”

“Why, you miserable, vindictive—man!” spluttered the female, far too outraged to recall my presence, her small fists clenched as she glared upon the male. “Just because I happened to point out to you last night how little you can expect to get out of this as opposed to what I’ll get out of it! You’re jealous, that’s what you are, jealous! And you won’t get away with it!”

“The only thing you can do to keep me from getting away with it is not make any mistakes,” said the male, at last turning his head to look down upon her. “You and the rest of your bunch insist you can do the job, so get busy and start doing it. If you’re worried about competition, that’s just too bad. In our society competition’s the new name of the game, especially since that’s the only way men can get ahead. Prove you can do the job better than a woman, and they have to give it to you to keep from starting riots. That’s the way I got to be captain of this ship, and that’s the way I’ll get everything else I want. Some men don’t mind spending their lives taking orders from women; I do. And I also think I can handle this better than you will. I don’t believe in looking at people as specimens.”

“Well, that happens to be just one of your mistakes,” returned the female stiffly, greatly affronted by whatever had been told her. “You can’t look at barbarians as anything but specimens, not and keep from sneering at how backward they are. If you knew anything at all, you’d know that much. As far as I’m concerned, you can watch me for mistakes all you like; you won’t find any, and you just might learn something. The procedures I’ll be using will be strictly regulation; go ahead and make something out of that.”

With a final toss of her head the female turned from him, then returned with stiffened back to those who awaited her. The hand of males and two females attended her immediately, and the male before me looked upon me again with a grin.

“If that doesn’t make her do something stupid, she really does deserve to have the job,” said he in a lowered voice which failed to reach the female. “You seem to follow everything that’s being said, but I wonder how much of it makes sense to you. Do you understand what’s going on?”

“Jalav understands that she is now in capture to Strangers,” said I, watching as the female spoke briskly to those about her. “As you are male, perhaps it shall be you who accepts my challenge. Save that you, too, fear to face me.”

With the last of my words did I return my gaze to the light-haired male, attempting to bring him sufficient anger through scorn to see myself released from the enclosure. Much was I beginning to believe that never would these strangers stand in answer to a challenge, and indeed did the male’s amusement increase rather than decrease.

“Is that the way you always greet strangers?” he asked, raising one arm to rest it upon the maglessa-like material between us. “By challenging them? What if they want to be friends?”

“Those who have no wish to be enemies take care to refrain from taking captives,” said I. “Am I to understand that you refuse challenge?”

“For the moment,” he agreed with a nod. “Why can’t you think of yourself as a guest rather than a captive? Then you’d have no reason to give any challenges.”

“Guests are free to come and go as they will,” said I, continuing to find difficulty with the outlandish words he spoke. “Allow me to come and go as I please, and then shall challenge perhaps be withdrawn.”

“I’ll bet you’re one hell of a horse trader,” said the male with a laugh of true amusement. “If I give you what you want, maybe I’ll get what I want. I’ll have to think about that for a while, but in the meantime I have a question. Tia was right about the sort of society you have, and I can’t help but wonder who that challenge is coming from. If I decide to agree to it, who do I have to fight? You or those oversize boyfriends of yours?”

“For what reason would I give challenge in the name of another?” I asked, annoyed that these strangers had no true concept of honor. “What challenge I give, I alone shall answer; should Aysayn or Ceralt or Mehrayn wish to face you they may give challenge of their own.”

“I see,” said he, and then did he lower his arm so that he might turn to look upon Aysayn, who stood so that he might hear what words were exchanged between the stranger male and myself. “I take it you’re the Aysayn she referred to?” he asked. At Aysayn’s nod he continued, “Then I’d like to know what would happen if I agreed to face her. Assuming you were free at the time, what would you do?”

“I would do naught,” replied Aysayn, looking upon the smaller male with faint amusement. “Should it be your wish to lay down all the burdens of this life, for what reason would I attempt to dissuade you?”

“Then—you think she would win,” said the stranger male, grinning at last as though it were Aysayn whose words were difficult to comprehend. “You think she’s better than a man?”

“My sister has taken the lives of many men,” said Aysayn, speaking with a quiet pride which warmed me. “To best her with swords would take a skill few if any possess. Should it be your decision to face her in such a way, you may judge for yourself. ”

“Swords,” the stranger male repeated, continuing to look upon Aysayn. “That wasn’t quite what I had in mind. And you two can’t really be sister and brother, so I’m assuming there’s a blood-brother type of relationship between you. What would happen if . . . .”

“Captain, I thought I made myself clear about not wanting you to speak to the specimens,” interrupted the female who had been named Tia, she and a small number of her followers approaching. “Since that—female interests you so much, I’ve decided to let you do as you please with her, but I absolutely forbid you to speak to the males. My team and I don’t want our work made any harder. Kira will help you with the female and make sure you don’t blunder too badly, but you’re not to go near the others. Do you understand me?”

“Oh, absolutely, ma’am,” returned the male in tones most grave, raising one hand strangely to the vicinity of his brow. “Anything you say, Leader.”

“That’s something you’d better remember,” said the female with a smugness upon her, and then did she turn to look up to Aysayn. “Now, then: How you called, boy? What your name?”

Aysayn looked upon the female and the greater strangeness she now spoke with amusement, yet did he make no effort to reply to her. Little courtesy was there in the manner she had adopted, therefore was there naught of courtesy due in return.

“You not savvy me, boy?” the female then demanded, clearly growing annoyed. “You be plenty scared from what we got, but we not hurt you if you good. You tell me you name and how many boys in you village.”

In no manner did the words of the female convey meaning, and Aysayn quickly lost interest in her mouthings. He and I had both seen that others now attempted speech with Ceralt and Mehrayn, therefore did he take himself off to the far side of his enclosure, to see what they were about. The very last of the female’s words were to his departing back, which brought her great indignation.

“Oh! The nerve of that—that—barbarian!” she exclaimed in outrage, then angrily stalked off after one whose patience she would be unwise to try. The male who silently accompanied her followed hurriedly after, however not before casting a final glance toward me.

“And that’s the drivel she expects to get somewhere with?” the stranger male before me muttered as he watched her departure, greatly disapproving. “We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t start a war.”

“Stop being so hard on her, Aram,” said the female who had been left behind, her words as soft as the male’s had been. Not so large as the other was this female, her pale brown hair worn to her shoulders and bent upwards, her dark eyes large in a slender face. Clearly female was she beneath the covering she wore, and that despite her lack of size.

“It’s not her fault if she was born into the wrong family,” continued the female, looking up toward the male with a calm the first female had lacked. “Her grandmother’s a big shot, her mother’s a big shot, so she has to be one, too. If she’d inherited their Sending talent there would have been no problem, but she didn’t so there is. You’re just annoyed with her for not being bright enough to keep from bragging to the man she’s in bed with.”

“A mistake I’m sure you’ve never made, Kira,” returned the male, looking down upon her enigmatically. “Doesn’t it bother you that she has the job you should have?”

“In another year or so I’ll have my own command,” replied the female with a shrug and something of a grin. “My family isn’t as important as hers, but then I don’t need the help as badly. What I’ve got I’ve earned on my own, without the help of anyone, including my mother.”

“My mother was usually upset with me,” said the male, faint amusement returning to him. “She could never understand why I couldn’t settle down the way a man should, but had to have the ambition of a woman. Would you like to meet Jalav?”

“I don’t know if I have the nerve,” said the female, turning wryly amused eyes upon me. “I know you like them big, Aram, but aren’t you overdoing it a little with one like her? She may even have you by an inch or so.”

“I thought women were able to appreciate the benefit in size,” said the male with a chuckle, then did he, too, turn his eyes to me. “Jalav, this is Kira, a brat of a female who nevertheless knows what she’s doing. I’d like you to listen while she explains why we’re here.”

“I am already aware of the reasons for your presence,” I said, looking to both male and female with little warmth. “You think to take us and make us your slaves, yet such a thing shall never be. My Midanna shall not allow it, nor shall the Sigurri. ”

“But we’re not here to make slaves of anyone,” protested the female, true upset in the dark of her eyes. “We’ve come here to help you, to give you the knowledge you would have had if you hadn’t gotten cut off from the rest of us so long ago. Your people won’t have to suffer and die while they’re still young, after a life filled with nothing but privation and the need to fight for what little they have. We’ve come to make things better for you.”

“How shall the lot of Midanna be bettered, should they be deprived of the glory of death in battle?” I asked, disturbed that the stranger female seemed truly sincere. “Without death in battle, the return to life in the Blessed Realm would be pointless, for only those who die in glory may indulge in the pleasure of battle for all eternity. And what of the time we shall spend before death? Is a warrior to spend all of her feyd only hunting, raising weapon in no other way? No warrior would allow such a thing; sooner would she spend her life ending those who would see it so.”

The stranger female stood silent before the quiet words I had spoken, large eyes widened even further in upset, and the male, too, appeared disturbed.

“Meaning us,” said he, the words quiet as mine and without amusement. “To protect your way of life you’d see us all dead, even if it meant dying yourself. I don’t think Tia or anyone else in Reclamation expected such strong objections to our help. You mentioned your Midanna, and something like Sigurri. Who or what are those?”

“The Midanna and the Sigurri are warriors,” I said, of a sudden deeming it unwise to mention those in whose names we rode. These stranger folk before me appeared to be naught save pawns to those who were true enemies to the gods, naught save unknowing pets the entity spoken of as Reclamation paraded before us, seeking to put us off our guard. Likely best would be to frighten these pets and send them scurrying for their masters, the sooner to draw them out into facing us in their own selves.

“Jalav is war leader to all the clans of the Midanna,” I said, again looking upon both male and female. “Aysayn and Mehrayn lead their Sigurri, male warriors as the Midanna are female, yet greatly skilled nonetheless. Ceralt is High Rider to those village males called Belsayah, scarcely warriors, yet as willing as we to give their lives to cast off the chains of slavery. Should we four be slain, there are others to lead our warriors in our stead.”

“Good lord, we picked up the top brass of their armed forces!” said the female, a pained expression clear in the eyes which regarded me, happily not aware of my lie. “If they hadn’t gassed them to keep them from panicking, we probably would have lost the entire scout crew.”

“That’s what happens when you barge in and break up high-level strategy sessions,” muttered the male, sending a hand through his hair in vexation. “No wonder your ‘brother’ Aysayn has such a high opinion of you. Now what do we do, Kira?”

“We have to make them understand we mean them no harm,” said the female, glancing to the male with a look of frustration. “We may have lucked out in picking up the four most influential people in that area, but they’ll probably be ten times harder than anyone else to convince. If we do swing them over, though, we can probably avoid a lot of bloodshed. Specifically, ours.”

“I’d say that sounds like something worth working for,” replied the male, sending a grin to the female who stood beside him. “But how are we supposed to win them over if we keep them locked up in detention cells? Jalav has already told me that in her opinion guests aren’t treated like unregenerate criminals.”

“Oh, Aram, you can’t seriously be talking about letting them out of there,” said the female in scoffing, disbelieving disagreement, looking up to meet the eyes of the male. “You heard what the girl said; all they’re interested in doing right now is cutting our throats, the sooner the better. If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to keep my throat just the way it is.”

“And a very pretty throat it is, too,” said the male with laughter, putting one finger to the female just above her deep yellow collar. “The only thing wrong with it is the way it tries to avoid admitting what has to be done. How far do you think we’ll get convincing them of anything while they believe they’re our prisoners? Guests at least pretend to listen to what their hosts are saying; prisoners don’t bother.”

“Sure they’ll listen,” nodded the female Kira, folding arms in continuing disagreement. “First they’ll listen, and then they’ll cut our throats. If you think they won’t, you’re forgetting what sort of culture they come from.”

“As a matter of fact, I’m not,” said the male Aram, also called Captain, turning his head to regard me. “Jalav, Kira and I can arrange to get you out of that cell, but considering how you feel about us, we aren’t sure what you’ll do if we let you out. Do your—Midanna—believe in keeping their word once it’s given?”

“What warrior of honor would not keep her given word?” I asked with the great disapproval I felt, yet was I scarcely surprised to be asked such a thing. How might those who serve the enemy be conversant with the demands of honor?

“There you go,” said the male Aram to the female Kira, an easy grin upon him. “The more primitive the society, the stricter the personal codes of honor. The liar and cheat tends to be wiped out, leaving behind only those who are good to their word. That means we can let her out any time we like. ”

“You’re overlooking something, Captain Know-It-All,” returned the female, in some manner less than pleased with the male. “All you’ve established is that she’ll keep her word. Are you forgetting that she hasn’t given her word?”

“Not at all,” said the male with a laugh. “She’s reasonable enough to make that the easy part. Jalav, if you give us your word not to cause any trouble, we can let you out of there right now. What do you say?”

“You believe I would betray those who follow me and those who ride with me, merely to be freed from captivity?” I asked with true ridicule, finding no insult in the words of one lacking all concept of honor. “Perhaps the male Aram Captain Know-It-All also believes he speaks with one of the cities. ”

“The easy part, huh?” said the female Kira with a greatly amused laugh to the male who had abruptly lost his own amusement to look pained, then did the female turn to me. “Jalav, we’re not asking you to betray anyone,” said she in an earnestly urging tone. “We would just like an opportunity to show you that we’re not as bad as you’re all picturing, that we only want to help your people. Can’t we call a truce of some sort until we’ve explained things to you, a temporary peace that won’t mean you’ve made any promises you don’t want to make? You’ll only have to listen, and if after listening you decide that you still feel the way you do now, we’ll simply bring you back here and the truce will be over. Is that something you can accept?”

So small was the female, far smaller than Rogon who was small among the Midanna, yet did she possess something of Rogon’s strength and humor. These stranger folk were pawns, I knew, having learned naught of honor from those they served, yet was it possible that they might be made to see what lacks their lives contained, what more might be had from committing themselves to a proper cause. This thought made me pause, and into the breech stepped the female Tia.

“This is absolutely impossible!” she fumed, striding angrily into the midst of the other two stranger folk, failing to see that they were occupied with something other than her distress. “That blond one won’t even admit I’m alive, and the other two are worse! That black-haired beast said something about how women need to be taught their place, and the red-head agreed and said the best place was something he called a use-floor for temple slaves! They won’t answer any of my questions, and keep asking how many ‘warriors’ I have! I’m going back to my cabin to check my copy of regulations. If there’s anything I can legally use to teach them some manners, I’ll do it!”

The female ended her words with a firm nod then took herself off, having given not a single glance to those she supposedly addressed, the third female and hand of males hurrying in her wake. The male Aram and female Kira exchanged a look of mild amusement, then returned their eyes to me.

“I have not the right to speak for any save the Midanna,” said I to the questioning in the paired gaze, again folding my arms as I returned their regard. “Should your offer of a truce be accepted, the Sigurri must be allowed to speak for themselves.”

“There goes that horse-trading again,” sighed the male, yet the meaningless comment did not seem refusal. “I can appreciate your point, Jalav, and that’s what’s bothering me. We do have to talk to more than just you, but if we try letting all of you out, Tia will throw a fit. How about you and just one of the Sigurri? But we’d have to have the word of both of you.”

“Should we agree, you shall have the word of both,” said I with a nod of satisfaction. “I shall discuss the matter with the others, and then inform you of our decision.”

“ ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you,’ ” muttered the female Kira, and then did she smile at a hidden amusement. “Suppose the Captain and I wait on the far side of the room until this discussion is over? I can’t say I’m crazy about the idea of including one of those monsters in on this deal, but if Aram gets to have what to look at, I should be entitled to at least as much. Do you mind if we wait?”

“Should that be your wish, you may wait,” said I with a shrug, seeing the amusement which had returned to the male beside Kira. “Our decision may perhaps be quickly arrived at.”

“I’m beginning to really hate that word ‘perhaps,’ ” said the male, his unexplained amusement increasing. “Every time I hear it I feel like a child being told that ‘maybe’ he’ll get what he wants—if he’s good. When the decision gets made, just call us back.”

The two stranger folk turned then and walked to the far wall of the chamber, halting beside the place a door had been made to appear, their backs to the enclosures the others and I stood in. I waited no longer than to see that before looking toward Aysayn to find that he had again come to the mageless wall between us, the few words heard by him having put questioning in the dark of his eyes. I gestured to him to accompany me to the rear of our enclosures, then seated myself cross-legged very near to the wall the while he did the same. Had it been possible to speak to Ceralt and Mehrayn as well I would have done so, yet was such a thing then impossible.

“The strangers have requested a truce,” said I to Aysayn, attempting to keep my voice from carrying to any save he. “They would speak to us concerning the reason for their being here, seeking to enlist us in the cause they serve for their masters. They wish us to give our word as to their safety during this truce, for they mean to see two of us freed.”

“They would enlist us in their cause?” asked Aysayn with amusement, his voice now a soft hollowness. “And you believe there are others whom they serve, others we have not as yet seen?”

“Having encountered the foolishness of the female Tia, are you able to doubt it?” I asked with full contempt, again attempting to pull the hair from beneath me. “Those others who have chosen to speak with me are not of the same ilk, therefore has it come to me that they may be persuaded to call forth their masters—or, perhaps, be made to see the greater honor and glory in following another. They have made no mention of those we ride for, therefore have I done the same. Also must it be realized that should the truce produce naught save time gone in useless effort, it will be ended with our return here. Honor demands that we refrain from attack during a period of truce, yet once it has ended . . .”

“Honor no longer binds us,” said Aysayn with a slow nod to complete the words I had left unspoken. “Those who were left confined may then be freed, and once reunited all four might then recover their weapons. Have they named the two who are to be released?”

“Myself and one other,” I said, “a Sigurri. The strangers fear males, yet do they look upon this Midanna with naught save dismissal despite their words of supposed caution. Both see only a female.”

“The blind may not be given blame for their lacks,” said Aysayn with deeper amusement, seeing at once that such blindness would be the undoing of the strangers. “Ceralt will not be pleased to be excluded, yet so shall another of us be the same. Am I to accompany you, or Mehrayn?”

“You believe I would have Mehrayn?” I asked with ridicule, annoyed to see Aysayn’s continued amusement. “Have I not given my word that I shall not choose between those two? In naught save battle shall I accept one beside me, and the time for battle has not yet come.”

“The decision is entirely yours, sister,” said Aysayn with a chuckle, preparing himself to rise. “Should it be your wish to be thrown to the shoulder of one of them and carried off despite your protests, none have the right to deny you. I shall inform the others of what we are about.”

He rose then and walked to where Ceralt waited within his own enclosure, and the two sat and were quickly in the midst of converse. No single word was I able to hear, but I was able to see Mehrayn in the last of the enclosures, his eyes upon Ceralt and Aysayn, his impatience clear in the presence of his palms to the maglessa wall. The annoyance given me by Aysayn attempted to rise within me to the level of true anger, yet is the warrior who falls to anger amidst enemies, from whatever cause, a fool. I turned upon the white softness beneath me to stretch out upon my right side, legs somewhat bent, elbow supporting weight, hair again draped about me, back to the males. Thrown to the shoulder of one and carried off indeed!

Not long was the time which passed in discussion. The strangers had continued to remain beside the far wall of the outer chamber, doing naught save speaking softly to one another the while the male Aram opened yet another door in the wall, this time a far smaller door. From within the opening did he withdraw a contrivance which appeared to be leather, and then was the opening once again concealed. The contrivance he held was then placed about his middle, as though he donned a swordbelt, yet was the thing thicker and wider than any swordbelt, and also was it constructed in error to be that. Save for those few whose left hands contained more skill than their right, the scabbard for a warrior’s sword hung to her left, where she might draw her weapon with ease. The scabbard of this odd swordbelt hung to the male’s right, far too short for any sword I had ever seen, longer than the daggers preferred by Midanna. Also was it secured to the male’s thigh with a strap, which caused it to be held stiffly in place. Within the short scabbard was there a thing seemingly made of metal, perhaps a metal heavy enough to cause harm if thrown. I snorted softly in contempt as this thought came to me, for if such was the concept of a weapon to these strangers, it would be one with the balance of their thoughts and doings so far shown us. When once the contrivance was in place upon the male, he turned from the wall to look again toward our enclosures, saw the words being exchanged by Aysayn and Ceralt, then brought his gaze to me. His head raised somewhat as he regarded me, and from then on no further words were exchanged between himself and the female Kira.

A short time later a tap sounded upon the maglessa wall behind me, and I sat up and turned about to see that Aysayn crouched beside the wall between us. Ceralt stood to the far wall of his enclosure nearly shoulder to shoulder with Mehrayn, and none save Aysayn appeared in any manner pleased.

“Our brothers have now been informed of our intentions,” said Sigurr’s Shadow, a look of anticipation to the set of his body. “They would both of them prefer to accompany you, yet am I preferable to one without the other. We must see this matter of the strangers quickly done with, so that all may return to more serious concerns such as courting. ”

“The male Aysayn finds himself greatly amused,” I observed as I took myself to my feet, raising my eyes to his as he straightened as well. “Best would be that he understand that the Harra would find themselves as easily able to make slaves of three as two.”

I turned from his soft chuckling to walk to the front wall of my enclosure, and those who awaited a decision straightened where they stood, understanding that the decision they awaited was at hand. When I gestured them to me they came with an odd sort of eager hesitation, and when they stood again before the maglessa wall, the male Aram smiled faintly.

“If the Union ever has royalty, and that royalty ends up in a detention cell, I now know what they’ll look like,” said he, seemingly indulging an ever-present need for obscurity. “I take it you’ve made up your minds?”

“We have made the decision to agree to your request for a truce,” said I, speaking the thing in words more readily understandable, wondering in passing at the wry amusement to be seen upon the face of the female Kira. “Aysayn and I shall hear your words, yet no more do we pledge than that.”

“That’s all we want you to do,” said the male Aram, pleased satisfaction now upon him. “And your agreeing to the truce means you won’t be trying to give your lives for the sake of home and mother? Or taking ours in the same good cause? Both of you?”

“He means he wants to know if we have your words that there won’t be any trouble,” said the female Kira with a small sigh of exasperation when she saw my frown indicating lack of understanding. “Not being warriors, we’ll feel better if we hear you say it.”

“We give our word to abide by the truce till the time of our return to these enclosures,” said I, somewhat amused at the need for reassurance shown by these stranger folk. So small were their skills with weapons, then, that they required oaths of peace when in the presence of warriors.

“And you?” said the female to Aysayn, looking up to him where he stood to my left, within his own enclosure. “Just to make us feel better.”

“I pledge the same as my sister,” returned Aysayn, looking down beyond folded arms upon the small stranger female, his amusement in the brightness of his eyes. “The truce will hold till we are returned to these enclosures.”

“That’s it, then,” said the male Aram, now more eager than hesitant. “Let’s get them out of there, Kira.”

“Sure, out, but out to where?” asked the female, reaching into the side of her covering by her hip for a flat piece of—something—which seemed neither metal nor cloth. Perhaps the length of a hand was it, red in color, with two small squares of white upon it. “If we give them the Grand Guided Tour half the personnel on this ship will faint, and the other half will run screaming for Tia. I don’t know how much time we’ll have with them before she finds out anyway, but I’d like it to be as long as possible.”

“Don’t waste your time worrying about Tia,” said the male in answer, lacking the concern of the female. “I’ve already got her covered, or soon will have. Right now we’ll take them to my cabin—unless you’d like to volunteer your own?”

“Yours will do,” said the female, her glance at the male of very short duration before she turned to hold the device in her hand somewhat before her. “I’d hate to make you trek all the way to mine when you find you can’t hold out any longer. Here goes nothing.”

The thumb of the female then touched the lower square of white upon the device, whereupon both she and the male were of a sudden more distinct to the eye than they had been. I knew not the reason behind such a happening till it came to me that the air before me was also cooler, and then did I see that a portion of the front maglessa wall of my enclosure no longer remained where it had been. A doorway had appeared in the wall, without indication of where the section previously there had gone, a doing not far removed from the mist used by both Mida and Sigurr. The male and female retreated a pair of steps as I raised a hand to assure myself that departure was indeed no longer denied me, then did they keep their eyes closely upon me as I emerged into the chamber. Wary was the look they bent upon me, as though doubting their safety despite the assurance given them, a doing fit for those who followed the enemy. Had I not agreed to the truce I might well have allowed the insult I felt free rein, however I had indeed agreed to the truce. I therefore turned from them with deliberate calm, and merely stood awaiting the release of Aysayn.

It was necessary for the female to position herself before Aysayn’s enclosure as she had done before mine, in order to see Sigurr’s Shadow freed. His doorway appeared as mine had done, without sound and nearly without notice, yet not immediately before him. It was necessary that he walk toward Ceralt’s enclosure before he might emerge, and this he did with a caution approaching that of the strangers. Once emerged he looked about himself with faint curiosity and calm, and those who had retreated somewhat before him attempted to recapture the eager satisfaction they had earlier shown.

“Well, it looks like we’re all ready to go,” said the male Aram, trying to hide the fact that his right hand hung very near to the short scabbard at his side. “Kira, why don’t you lead the way, our guests will follow, and I’ll bring up the rear. ”

“That sounds like a good idea,” responded the female with an odd smile, her hands held together before her. The device she had used had been returned to her covering, its presence apparently no longer required. “Is it my imagination, or are they bigger now than they were inside the cells?”

“Just remember that everyone in range of a stun charge is exactly the same size,” said the male truly amused by the female. “You have their words that there won’t be any trouble and now you can add mine to it, so just calm down and start thinking about what to say once we get to my cabin.”

“You expect thinking about what to say is going to calm me?” the female Kira asked, yet with more amusement than she had previously felt. “The more I understand how important this is, the closer I come to losing the language entirely. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let’s play follow the leader.”

With a gesture to Aysayn and myself the female then moved toward and through the doorway to the chamber, slowly enough so that she might be followed. Aysayn moved after her without hesitation, but I paused to look upon those who remained confined in enclosures, pleased to have them so despite the circumstances. Both stood before the front walls of their enclosures, Ceralt appearing vexed with both hands closed to fists at his sides, Mehrayn with great displeasure in the green of his eyes, arms afold across his chest. I showed the amusement I felt at their continued plight, bringing them true anger, then did I turn and follow leisurely after Aysayn.

“You enjoy living dangerously, don’t you?” remarked the male Aram as he brought himself after me, then moved to walk to my right. The area beyond the chamber was narrow, unadorned, and seemingly all of silvery metal, the feel of it beneath my bare feet odd indeed. “The rest of your party seemed to be unhappy about more than just being left locked up, and if you didn’t give them the horselaugh before walking out, I need to be relieved from my post for hallucinations. If there hadn’t been an unbreakable wall between you and them, there’s nothing that would have kept them from coming after you. Is there any particular reason why you did that?”

“You ask my reasons for angering Ceralt and Mehrayn, do you not?” said I, attempting to take meaning from all which had gone before. When the male nodded with rueful understanding that his words had been without full meaning for me, I felt some small sense of satisfaction. “I gave anger to them for they have earned such anger, attempting to make demands upon me which no Midanna would countenance nor allow. I, who am war leader to all the Midanna, may not be looked upon as no more than city slave-woman.”

The male watched to be sure that we followed along the hall of metal in the wake of the female Kira and Aysayn, yet did he seem as eager to look only upon me.

“You mean they tried to—take advantage of you?” he asked, an odd look to him. When he saw his words were again incomprehensible, he groped a moment then added, “Tried to—you know, force you to have sex with them.”

“They attempted to force me to choose between them,” said I, unsure that this time I answered what he asked. “Both desire the possession of one who has ever had her own possession of those males about her, one who has no wish to choose between them. They believe I might be taken despite my will to the contrary, in the same manner each of them have used in the past, and also seek to have me believe they will not face one another with swords should I obey them and choose one over the other. They will indeed face one another in such an event, and all about them know it.”

“Wait a minute, I don’t think I’m catching all this,” muttered the male, using one hand to rub at his face. “Are you saying they’re trying to make you accept one of them on a permanent basis, and don’t care that you don’t want to? That if you did choose one of them they would fight anyway, and if the one you didn’t choose won, you’d have to accept him instead? That he would force you to accept him instead?”

“Indeed,” said I, hoping my agreement was to the thoughts I believed I agreed to. “Each of those males has had me as captive and each believes it might be done again. City slave-women obey the commands of those males about them, and these two believe the same may be done with me.”

“I’ll be damned,” said the male, looking toward the female Kira, who had halted with Aysayn before a wall of metal somewhat different from those other walls all about. We had reached them some moments earlier, and the female, too, had heard the last of my words.

“Stop looking so impressed,” said the female to the male Aram, her amusement evident. “You knew this was a male-dominated culture, so what did you expect? Jalav sounds like she has the right attitude for being civilized, though. You’re not going to let them get away with that nonsense, are you, Jalav?”

“I shall certainly not allow them their will,” said I, again hoping I answered what was asked. “Should the need arise, I shall myself face them with swords.”

“You believe they will agree to face you with weapons?” asked Aysayn with a sound of ridicule, looking upon me with something close to annoyance. “They would no more raise weapon to you than I, and sooner would I do such a thing. One of them will have you, wench, and it would be best that you consider how they may be kept from facing one another once you have been claimed.”

“She has to do no such thing!” said the female Kira with great indignation before I, myself, might reply, looking up toward Aysayn with fists to hips. “No woman has to accept a man she doesn’t want, and that’s the law! She doesn’t even have to let him make a pass at her if she doesn’t want to. Without her permission, all he can do is talk to her! If those two want to beat each other to pulp like idiots, why should she care?”

“Kira, what law are you talking about?” asked the male Aram, drawing the angry gaze of the female to him. “These people don’t live under Union laws, and probably won’t until a full generation grows up under them. The men here take what they want, and the women have no choice but to go along with it. And those two men back there aren’t going to fight with their hands, they’re going to use swords. If they fight, one of them will die.”

“But that’s stupid,” said the female, her anger lost beneath frowning bewilderment, her eyes on the male Aram. “Why would they want to kill someone else or die themselves for something so unimportant? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Why do they automatically equate ‘stranger’ with ‘enemy’?” asked the male, his voice gentle yet implacable. “Why would they be in the middle of attacking us if we didn’t have a truce arranged? When you get down to the very basics of existence, that’s the sort of thought and action you find, something I’ve read about but wouldn’t have believed if I’d never come here. To us it’s something we’ve studied; to them it’s the only way of life they know.”

“But I still don’t understand why they would try to kill each other over a woman,” returned the female in exasperation, truly unable to comprehend what she spoke of. “No man as attractive as those two would have to worry about finding some woman to accept him, and would probably even have his choice. And why bother in the first place, when the woman involved has already said she won’t accept either of them? What can they possibly think they’ll get out of it?”

“What they’ll get out of it is the woman they want,” said the male, amusement to be seen in his eyes as he looked down upon the female. “Try to understand, Kira, that the men of this culture don’t wait to be chosen and accepted, they do the choosing and accepting themselves. You keep talking about male-dominated cultures; what do you think male-dominated means?”

“I know what male-dominated means,” said the female, nearly in a growl and nearly returned to her former anger. “But knowing about it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Jalav won’t stand for it, and neither would I.”

“But Jalav is a warrior,” said the male with a smoothness which seemed designed to cover the greater amusement he felt, unseen by the female as she had turned to press impatiently upon a section of the wall we had halted before. “And according to Aysayn, even she won’t get away with it. What chance do you think you’d have?”

“Who says she won’t get away with it?” demanded the female, turning quickly back to glare at the male. “You? You don’t know any more about it than the rest of us. Aysayn? He’s just the least bit prejudiced on the male side, don’t you think? My money is on Jalav—especially if she gets a little help.”

“What do you mean, a little help?” said the male, no longer amused, taking no note of the small chamber which had been abruptly brought to view by the sliding back of the section of the wall we stood before. The female Kira turned and stepped forward into the small chamber, gestured to Aysayn and myself to join her, then sent a smile of secret amusement to the male Aram.

“Well, that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?” asked Kira, looking upon the male as he, too, entered the chamber. “To give the people of this world help? What’s wrong with my doing what we came here to do?”

“We’re supposed to be giving all the people our help, not just the women,” returned the male, touching a white square which stood among other colored squares upon the chamber wall to his right, as he faced us. The wall which had opened to admit us to the chamber closed once more, confining us all within, yet the stranger folk seemed undisturbed. I sent a glance to Aysayn as he did the same with me, yet neither of us chose to speak upon the matter. Perhaps it was necessary to the customs of the strangers to be confined within a small chamber with those with whom they had executed a truce; should that be so, it would be idle to remark upon the thing. “If you try playing dirty, Kira,” said the male Aram, “this isn’t going to work out well at all.”

“What’s the matter, Captain, are you getting worried?” asked the female, smiling upon the male in a very abrasive manner, her hands clasped behind her. “Afraid you’ll be losing some vicarious thrills and excitement? Or did you have something else in mind? Just remember: if you can’t compete, get out of the game.”

“You know, Kira, you’re absolutely right,” said the male, folding his arms as he looked down upon her, an odd calm having returned to him. “I’d almost forgotten that competition is the name of the game. I appreciate the reminder, and I’ll also make sure you don’t have to say it again.”

He turned then to present his back to the small female, his calm continuing undisturbed, and the female looked upon that back with a frown of great suspicion. Much did it seem that she had garnered as little from the words of the male as had I, and also did it seem that she considered words of her own; before she might speak them, however, the wall which had closed again slid aside, and the male Aram strode forth out of the chamber.

When Aysayn and I were also directed forth by the female Kira, he and I again exchanged looks, this time of greater surprise and deeper lack of understanding. The area of corridor which we had left no more than moments earlier had in some manner been completely changed, so completely that surely did it appear to be another corridor entirely. No longer were the walls of the corridor silver, nor were those walls unbroken. Amid a background of light tan were a number of doors of white to be seen, and also was there a floor covering of tan beneath our feet. Also had the light brightened about us, as though a greater number of candles or torches had been lit, yet were neither candles nor torches evident to the eye. We followed slowly as the male Aram led us to the left of the small chamber, looking all about us in confusion, and the female Kira brought herself to walk beside me.

“We’re not likely to find anyone still hanging around their cabin at this time of the morning,” said she, also looking back toward that area from which we’d come. “As soon as we have you two inside, we’ll be safe for a while.”

The female then looked toward the male Aram where he had paused before the white door at the very end of the corridor, awaiting us expectantly. I, however, was becoming annoyed. So familiar did the words of the stranger folk seem, and yet how difficult they were to make full sense of! What might a “cabin” or a “morning,” be, and were we not already within, or, as the female had put it, “inside”? Was the safety they sought a safety from the wrath of their masters, or from those who were personal enemies? So few were those words to raise so large a number of questions, and so difficult was it growing to keep from betraying my foul mood. Aysayn merely looked about himself with calm curiosity, and this, too, I found to be annoying.

When we reached the male Aram he touched a place upon the wall beside the door, then led us within when the door slid aside. I entered behind him, wondering what would have been done to the corridor when we again emerged, and saw a chamber which was well suited to these stranger folk. Smooth were the white walls of the place, smoother even than the stone of the walls in the palace of the High Seat, no silk nor candle sconces to be seen upon them anywhere. Instead were there renderings hung here and there, renderings of a strange city grown many times the size of Bellinard in height, of a small valley as seen from the top of the mountain which overlooked it, of a female who seemed extremely pleased with some matter. Also were there renderings which held as little reason as the speech of the strangers, no more than color and line and shape all intertwined together. About the walls of this chamber were also two small platforms called tables, and a number of odd seats stood about with then upon the dark green of the floor cloth. No leather covered these seats but cloth, a cloth which was white with certain other colors upon it, principally dark green. Perhaps a third of the size of my reception chamber in the palace of the High Seat was it, and the female Kira looked about with as much curiosity as Aysayn and I.

“Not bad, Aram, not bad at all,” said Kira, allowing her gaze to fleetingly touch upon those things about her. “I didn’t know you had as much room as Tia and myself. I thought men’s quarters were smaller.”

“You’re forgetting that this is the captain’s cabin, and that captains are usually women,” said the male Aram, looking upon the female as she continued to look about. “If you were curious about it, though, all you had to do was ask. I would have been more than happy to show it to you.”

“The way you’re currently showing it to Tia?” asked the female, turning to look directly upon the male. “Entertaining the assistant project Leader wouldn’t do nearly as much for you as entertaining the project Leader herself, so why would you bother? Mustn’t waste all that precious effort, after all.”

“She’s the one who came to me,” returned the male in what was nearly a growl, his skin darkening in apparent discomfort despite the hardened look in his light eyes. “When a project Leader insists, even a captain has to go along with it; ambition isn’t involved and never was. If you had been willing to hear more than just conversation from me, you would have found that out a long time ago. And it still isn’t too late.”

“I don’t like crowds, and I don’t like standing in line,” said the female, continuing to hold the gaze of the male. “Maybe when Tia gets tired of you, I’ll think about it—if you haven’t been accepted by someone more interesting in the meantime.” Briefly did the eyes of the female come to me, and then did she begin taking herself toward the door we had entered by. “I’ll make sure the other subjects are fed, and then bring back something for our—guests.”

Quickly did the female depart the chamber without a further backward look, and the door closed the opening behind her as though acting of itself. Where the one who opened and closed the doors and walls was I knew not, nor was I able to see a space large enough to hold such a one. I looked more closely upon the walls beside what had been the door, thinking to find some small indication of the leather which moved it, and the male Aram made a sound of deep vexation.

“Damned, illogical females,” he growled angrily. “First they stack the deck against a man, then they blame him when he has no choice but to go along with the deal. What I wouldn’t give for just one hour—!”

“The wench takes your fancy, does she not?” asked Aysayn of the male Aram, speaking when the other broke off and failed to resume. “For what reason do you allow her to refuse you in such a manner? Is she forbidden you by your gods?”

“She’s forbidden me by more than gods,” said the male with a snort of something like amusement, yet did he continue vexed. “According to the laws of our culture, I can’t even touch her hand unless she tells me I can, but a woman of higher rank can drag me into bed. I’m free to refuse being dragged, of course, but only if I’m not interested in seeing my career move ahead beyond the point it’s already reached. And what do I do with myself once I refuse? Spend all night and half the day in cold showers? If a man starts refusing what’s offered him, he soon finds it isn’t being offered anymore—by any female. Why don’t you two sit down and help me figure out why I didn’t choose piracy as a career?”

The male gestured toward the odd seats which stood about the chamber, then himself took a narrow, aimless seat which stood behind him. Aysayn chose a seat with arms which appeared as though it had fed more often and more completely than that which the male Aram had chosen, yet was I of a mind to see myself with more room about me. Wide was one of the seats, as though more than one was meant to sit upon it, and that was what I chose as my own. Softer than what I had anticipated did it prove to be, taking my bottom easily and accepting my back in a similar manner, and then did it come to me to wonder if beneath the seat was where the one who opened doors might be found. I therefore leaned far forward to look beneath the thing I sat upon, parting my knees so that I might do so more easily, yet was able to see naught save emptiness before my hair fell all about, blocking the light. A sound of greatly amused laughter came from the male Aram, and when I raised my head once more, I found his eyes upon me.

“If you’d like to tell me what you’re looking for, maybe I can help you find it,” said the male, his light eyes filled with his amusement. “There are no hidden cameras or microphones, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I merely seek the place of the one who opens doors,” said I, throwing my hair back from about my arms with the annoyance I felt over the obscurity the male continued to indulge in. “And for what reason do those in this place not open doors with the strength of their own arms? Are you so weak, then, that you are unable to do so?”

“You’re looking for the one who opens doors,” said the male, and although he seemed much at a loss, also did he seem delighted. “No wonder you don’t understand half of what I’m saying. I wonder what you would do if I offered to show you my bedroom—you do know what a bedroom is?”

“Should you speak of a bed chamber, I know it for the place those of the cities take their rest,” said I, this time finding comprehension in the words of the male, yet none in his intent. “For what reason would a doing be required of me were I to see the place you take your rest?”

“My sister has not truly learned the doings of cities,” said Aysayn to the male Aram, his amusement both light and deep. “Nor have you learned what is needful of those wenches called Midanna. Men are most often taken by them for use, a thing known far too well by Ceralt and Mehrayn, and also myself. Is this what you seek? To be used by the one who is war leader to all Midanna?”

“You mean she would—take the advantage?” asked the male Aram, incredulous and somewhat indignant. “The women of my own culture may get to decide who shares their beds with them, but at least they don’t try taking over once they’re in those beds! Doesn’t any man ever get the best of these—Midanna?”

“Indeed,” said Aysayn, chuckling at the manner in which the other male showed his indignation. “Should a man find himself able to avoid the speed of her blade and withstand the strength of her attacks, he may then take what pleasure he wills. With this wench he would then also need to face Mehrayn and Ceralt, yet would the pleasure he took be adequate recompense for such disaccommodation. The wench is able to give great pleasure.”

“Disaccommodation,” echoed the male Aram with a short, thin laugh of ridicule. “Massacre would be more like it, and all for the privilege of being—‘taken for use’? I think I owe you my thanks for saving what little pride I have left, Aysayn. ”

“For what reason would you look upon Jalav with thoughts of use, when the one called Kira is your true interest?” asked Aysayn, his dark eyes upon the discomfort of the other male. “My sister is indeed toothsome and luring, yet is one easily able to see that you look upon her to keep from looking upon the other. Your words of explanation concerning the reasons you may not take her meant naught to me.”

“I wish they meant the same to me,” replied the male Aram with a sigh, leaning forward to rest his arms upon his thighs, hands clasped before him. “She’s very independent—very much interested in seeing to her own affairs—and won’t even let me tell her how much I want her. If she won’t listen, what can I do?”

“The wench has greater strength than you?” asked Aysayn, calm words covering the ridicule he undoubtedly felt. “Her size exceeds your own? Should there be a thing you wish to speak of to her, take her aside and command her to listen. Should she refuse to hear you out, beat her and then begin again.”

“In what place might I find my sword?” I interrupted, keeping my eyes upon Sigurr’s Shadow. That he would speak so like other males brought me great anger, yet did he bring his eyes to me and gesture aside my insult.

“I speak only of this man and the wench he covets,” said Aysayn, unaware of the deep discomfort with which he was then being looked upon by the other male. “The women of this place all seem greatly in need of a beating, to teach them to speak to those about them with courtesy, if naught else. Do you feel the need to take sword in hand to stand in protection of ones such as they?”

It was clear then that the female Tia had brought great annoyance to Aysayn, a male who, in the manner of Midanna, had fought and slain to achieve his place. One may speak any words one wishes to another, yet only if one is willing to defend those words with a sword. These stranger folk were not of that ilk and Aysayn, the Shadow of Sigurr upon this world, was displeased.

“Jalav feels no need to defend ones such as they,” I allowed, folding my legs before me upon the seat I had chosen. “The male you address, however, seems of another mind.”

“Is this so?” asked Aysayn, looking again upon the male Aram, whose upset had not yet eased. “You would keep these wenches from what their sharp tongues have earned them?”

“It’s not as easy as you make it sound,” said the male Aram, the complaint in his voice nearly pleading. “I’m not saying I haven’t had the same urge myself from time to time, but there’s the law to consider, and Kira herself . . . .”

“Then perhaps you are after all meant to go unheeded,” said Aysayn, looking upon the male with naught of pity and understanding. “As there are so many excellent reasons between you and your desires, best would be that you leave the wench Kira for another.”

The male Aram straightened in what was closely akin to insult, his stumbling words no longer forthcoming, his gaze completely upon Aysayn, yet no further was to be exchanged between the two. Again the door to the chamber slid aside, and the female Kira reappeared carrying a number of things odd in appearance. These she brought to the small platform beside the stranger male, then turned to him once they were upon it.

“I had to tell the galley crew I was entertaining,” said she, a look of great amusement to her. “It’s a good thing I only needed food for two, or there could have been talk. Did I miss anything while I was gone?”

“Nothing much,” replied the male, throwing off the look of anger brought him by the first of the female’s words. “Jalav’s been looking around, and tells me that what she’s looking for is ‘the one who opens doors.’ I thought I’d leave that one for you to field.”

“Thanks, pal,” responded the female with a sound much like dismayed amusement, then did she take on a look of vexation. From the large—pouch, it might perhaps be called, though made of something other than leather—she withdrew a small, round thing like the larger round things she had carried in her arm, then two things which seemed similar to goblets, though without their stems, and looked again upon the male Aram. “I’ll give these to Jalav and see if I can answer her question, and you give the rest to Aysayn. There’s toast and juice and coffee in the bag for him too, which should back up the ham and eggs and home fries on the platter. I have a feeling they’re both going to need more than this to stay alive, though.”

At the male’s nod the female turned to me with her burdens, coming close to seat herself beside me. The large round thing was handed to me with a smile, and I was then able to see that it was of a substance somewhat like leather yet drier and rougher, stiff yet without too great a brittleness. Also was it, like the others of the things she carried, covered over with a skin more like maglessa weave than the walls of my enclosure had been. Soft and yielding was the skin, and easily seen through, and although it clung tightly all about the outer edge of the round thing, there was no doubt it might be broached without undue effort. Beneath the skin, lying upon the round thing, was that which might well have been provender, yet was it scarcely appetizing in appearance, and perhaps enough to fill a very young warrior-to-be.

“First you pull the wrap off, and then you can start eating Jalav,” said Kira, reaching to the skin upon the small round thing she continued to hold, tearing it easily from where it clung. “If you’re thirsty, you can start with this juice.”

One of the goblet-like holders was then given me, and below the maglessa skin was a dark yellow, cloudy liquid to be seen. Much sooner would I have gone hungry in that place of strangers, yet had I agreed to a truce—and the hospitality which ever accompanies a truce such as that one. One allows one’s enemy to be one’s host only when that enemy is known to be honorable—or when one is willing to give one’s life to prove their dishonor. It was not my life I then sought to give, yet was there no honorable way I might refuse. I sent a glance to Kira, saw her smiling nod, then pulled away the maglessa skin and tasted of the thing called “juice.”

“It can’t be that bad,” said Kira with a laugh, clearly referring to the expression she was able to see upon me. “I had some of that this morning myself, and I thought it was pretty good.”

“Perhaps—it was meant for those who are not yet warriors,” said I, continuing to taste naught save the very great sweetness of the liquid. To criticize what is given one by one’s host is to give insult, yet these stranger folk seemed unprepared to feel insult over such a thing.

“Maybe it was,” agreed the female with no more than a small lessening of her amusement, taking the holder and offering the small round thing which had had the skin taken from it in place of the holder. “I hope you like the rest of the meal more than you did the beginning of it.”

My hopes joined those of the stranger female, for I would not have appeared dishonorable before those who had no true understanding of honor of their own, yet was it a near thing. That which lay beneath the skin upon the large round thing I held was provender in name alone, tasteless, barely warm, and seemingly prepared many hind, if not feyd, earlier. That which was held by the female was light baked grain, yet had it been burned in some manner and also tasted aged. The second liquid holder contained that which tasted much like the rangi drunk by those of the villages, yet was it lightened in some manner and sweetened as well; in the name of honor did I consume all which had been put before me, yet did I speak silent words in gratitude that there was so little of it. Had there been more, surely would I have shamed myself.

“Well, now that we’ve got you and Aysayn fed, I think it’s time we move on to the reason we brought you here in the first place,” said the female Kira as she took the last of the emptied holders from me. Aysayn, I saw, had done the same as I, yet had he been able to finish the liquid called “juice” as well. It came to me then that the male truly had greater strength than I, yet was I not of a mind to envy such strength and wish it for my own. Certain strengths are best left to those who possess them, for I had not again been offered the liquid of over-sweetness, nor had I been asked to finish it.

“Jalav, you asked about ‘the one who opens doors,’ said Kira, turning upon the seat beside me so that she might look more fully upon me. “Maybe we can get at a better answer if we start from another point. Do you know what a windmill is? Something that’s built to use the power of the wind to perform work that would otherwise have to be done by hand?”

I knew naught of such a device as the female spoke of, yet did Aysayn stir in his seat.

“I am familiar with a device of that sort,” said he to the female, his interest clear. “The windturn is used in Sigurr’s city to grind wheat for grain, and to bring clear, fresh water to all of the levels. Also is it used upon the outlying farms.”

“Good,” said the female in great satisfaction, now looking between Aysayn and myself. “The wind turns the windturn blades, and the movement does the work you want it to. But suppose someone came along on a day when there was no wind, someone who had lived underground all their lives, and wanted to know what turned the blades? How would you explain without having wind there to explain itself? Remember, that particular someone has never experienced wind, and doesn’t believe there is such a thing.”

“I would wait till the wind returned,” said Aysayn with a chuckle, yet did it seem that he was more fully aware of the meaning of the stranger female. “To speak of a thing to one who has never experienced it is more than difficult; sooner would I waste my own breath blowing upon the windturn blades. ”

“Or to speak of snow to one of the south,” said I, of a sudden recalling the derisive thoughts I had had concerning Tarla’s description of the thing—till I had seen it for myself.

“What is snow?” asked Aysayn, looking upon me as both stranger folk nodded with smiles. “Never have I heard the term save in reference to Pathfinders.”

“Snow falls from the skies as does rain, yet it is white and light and silent,” said I, recalling my time in the midst of it with a shudder for the memory of cold. “From low, gray skies does it fall, thickly and at times nearly impossible to see through, mounding upon the ground in deep soft drifts, colder than one would believe possible. Treacherous is the medium, and best left well behind a warrior of the south.”

“And I am to believe in such a thing?” asked Aysayn with ridicule, shaking his head at my words. “Do you take me for a child, that you offer such ridiculous tales?”

“As you would have me believe that wind might be taught to perform tasks,” I returned, attempting to deny the stiffness of insult. “All Midanna know the wind blows where it wills, unchainable and untrainable.”

“No, now, you’re both right and you’ve both seen the point,” said the female Kira, interrupting before Aysayn might speak further. “Someone who has never seen something will probably never believe in that something until he has seen it. If we went to your city, Aysayn, Jalav would be able to see a windturn working, and if we went to cold country Jalav, Aysayn would be able to see snow. But what would happen if you both had something that couldn’t be shown to someone else? Would that mean it wasn’t real, that it wasn’t true? You know it’s real, you’ve used it yourself, but it just isn’t something that can be shown to someone else. Does that make it unreal, and a lie?”

“That which is real may be shown to others,” said Aysayn with a frown, one hand rubbing at a broad shoulder. “Should it not be possible to show it to others, the thing is likely no more than a dream, without substance save in sleep. To believe a thing real does not make it so.”

“What of the Snows of a Pathfinder?” I asked as the stranger folk grew upset and began to deny Aysayn’s words. “Rarely are there more than one or two about able to reach them, yet is the truth of them beyond doubting. The Snows may not be shown you, yet they exist in truth.”

“That’s right, snow and one who finds a path through it,” said the female Kira with a smile as Aysayn nodded reluctant agreement. Much did it seem that the female meant the snow of the north rather than the Snows of the White Land, yet did she continue on with haste before I might correct her. “If someone has something that can’t be shown to others, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there—and that doesn’t mean what it does can’t be shown. Our people have found something that can’t be seen, and that can’t be collected except in very special jars, but once you collect this unseen thing, you can use it. The wind is always there, but without a windturn it can’t be used. This unseen force is also always there, in the air all around us, but if it isn’t collected, it can’t be used. Our people have collected it, and now use it to open doors.”

“Should one be unable to see a thing, how is one to know of its presence so that it might be collected?” asked Aysayn, his suspicion lulled with curiosity. “One need only feel a wind upon one’s face and body to know of its presence, and then one may consider how it is to be used. In what manner does one know of the unseen and the unfelt?”

“How was it discovered what a windturn might do?” asked the male Aram, drawing Aysayn’s eyes. “How many men had to feel wind on their faces and bodies before one of them thought about what could be done with it? I’m not that sort of man, but some men are always asking why, and how, and where, and all sorts of questions that never occur to the rest of us. There’s a way to sometimes see our unseen thing, in a form as wild and untamed as a wind storm, and a man who asked why saw it. Once he saw it he thought about a way to tame it and use it, and that’s why we now can.”

“And in a better, more complete way than he ever dreamed was possible,” said the female Kira, leaning forward to look soberly upon Sigurr’s Shadow. “Are your windturns used only for the original use they were first made, or have you found new uses for them since you’ve had them? I can see from your smile that you’ve found new uses above the original one, and I’d like to ask you a question about that: if the man who found a new use had spent all his time simply searching for food and fighting to stay alive, would he still have found that use? Would he have been able to do something like that if others hadn’t helped him to live while he thought and planned?”

“No,” said Aysayn, a glint to his eyes and a faint smile upon his lips. “Those who thought of the new uses have been men of our city, who found neither the need to hunt nor the need to stand with blade in hand. A new use was also thought of by one of a farm, but he was not alone on the farm. Those who must stand alone have not the time to think such thoughts.”

“Exactly,” said Kira with satisfaction, leaning back again where she sat. “The ones who think must be protected, otherwise they don’t have the time to think. Do you understand what we’re talking about, Jalav?”

“Perhaps in a small way,” I grudged, thinking upon the doings which had ever been a part of the Midanna. “Each kalod do the sister clans meet in the visiting, and to this visiting each clan must bring two new things which have been learned by them. Save for new forest lore, often are the new things brought to mind by those who have been wounded in battle and must keep to their sleeping leather till they have healed. When one lies upon one’s sleeping leather, feeding upon the efforts of one’s sisters in the hunt, relying upon the swords of others to see to their safety, what other thing is one to do save think?”

“Then you both understand the point,” said the female Kira with a slow nod, looking to both Aysayn and myself. “Those who ask the questions and search for the answers have to have the tinge to do the asking and searching, otherwise nothing new is learned. Now I have another question for you: what would these people learn to do if they never had to do anything but think? And how much new would there be if there were a lot of these thinking people, all thinking about different things?”

“One would be able to find the unseen and tame it for use,” said Aysayn with something of a smile, looking upon the stranger female with calm patience. I, too, wondered at the roundabout trail she had chosen to take her through the forest, for the end of the trees was not yet in sight.

“One certainly would,” said Kira with a laugh of delight, sharing with Aram the pleasure she felt in the glance she sent to him. “And now I have a story to tell you. A long time ago, a very long time ago, there was a large group of people. These people knew how to do a lot of things, but the one thing they couldn’t do was make more living space for themselves in the place they were. The number of their people just kept getting larger and larger, and they didn’t have enough room for them all, so one day some of them decided to move to a new place and start their group all over again, where there would be more room.

“Now, these people made their plans and took with them what they could of all the things they knew how to do, but the new place they moved to was very far away and they couldn’t go back and forth between the old place and the new. Once they got to the new place they had to stay there, and the new place had nothing that the old one did, nothing but the room to build what was already built in the old place. The first thing they had to build was houses, and they had to hunt and plant to feed themselves, and fight to keep from being killed by the wild beasts in the new place. But these people were very brave, and they knew that it would take time and effort, but they would soon be able to start building all the things the old place had. They knew about all those things, you see, but you can’t make wonderful things out of the air around you; to make a windturn, you first have to make the blades, then the tower, then arrange the job you want it to do. If you make the blades but can’t find what to make the tower out of, or build the tower and can’t make the blades right, you have no windturn. It all has to be put together right, or you have nothing.

“Now, the people in their new place had taken some of their learning with them, but they hadn’t had the room to take all of it. What’s the sense in knowing exactly how to collect the unseen from the air, if you first have to find a hundred different things before you can do it? Especially if half those things are hidden, and the other half must be made from a different hundred things? The people knew they could never go back to the old place to get the explanations of how to do all the things they wanted to do, but they also knew they didn’t have to go back. One of the things they were able to do was talk to the others they had left so far behind, and as long as they could talk to them, they didn’t have to go back.”

The female now looked upon Aysayn and myself warily, as though unsure as to the belief we felt, yet had Aysayn looked to me at her words, recalling the times I had told him of upon the journey to Bellinard, the times when Mida had spoken to me though her Realm lay an unknowable distance away. The gods were able to do many things, I knew, and were these strangers not servants of gods?

“Now, the people in the new place built their houses and got settled in, and then they were ready to start doing the first of the wonderful things they wanted to do,” said the female Kira, pleased that neither Aysayn nor I had protested her tale. “You must remember that when you build a house, knowing how to build a roof or even knowing that there’s supposed to be a roof, won’t help you if you don’t know how to build walls or don’t remember that you need walls. Most new things come from old things that are already known, but if you don’t know how to do those old things, you certainly can’t do the new ones. The people in the new place were ready to put down the floor of their building so that all the rest of it would have a strong foundation to stand on—and then they were cut off from the people in the old place. They knew the people were still there, but suddenly they couldn’t talk to them any longer. Do you know what happened then?”

“They likely found the need to begin again,” said I with a shrug. “Should Midanna wander very far in the hunt and find a place they would remain in for a while before returning to their home tents, they must make new home tents for the old have been left behind. One merely fashions new home tents from leather and saplings, then looks about as long as one pleases.”

“But what if they didn’t know how to make those home tents?” asked the female, her eagerness growing. “What if they knew tents could be made, but didn’t know where to get the leather from, and didn’t know which trees to look among for saplings? What would they do then?”

“They would live in the forests, without tents, paying for their foolish lack of knowledge with discomfort,” said I with a snort of disdain. “None save city folk or truly young warriors-to-be would not know so necessary a thing.”

“Well, in a way that’s exactly what these people were,” said the female, now more cautiously eager. “Most of them were certainly young, and had spent their time learning things that were only a small part of all that was known. You seem to know quite a lot about the forest; is it possible to learn that much about it without living in it most if not all of your life?”

“No,” said I, looking this time upon Aysayn, who rubbed wryly at his face. The Sigurri were warriors in truth, yet had they proven to know less of the forests than had the Midanna, during our journey to Bellinard. Much had Midanna warriors ragged those Sigurri they had come to know, and many a scuffle had developed between female warrior and male. Had swords been drawn by cause of it we would not have felt surprise, yet had naught occurred save scuffling.

“Well, the same is true for all knowledge,” said Kira, again pleased with my response. “In order to really know something, you have to study that and very little else. When the people in the new place found they couldn’t talk to the old place anymore, they got together and decided to try to do what you suggested, Jalav: they tried to start over. Each person tried to remember as much as he could of the wonderful things they all knew were possible, but a terrible thing happened: they found they didn’t have the time to think and remember. They didn’t have the wonderful knowledge to make their work easier, so the men had to spend their days planting and hunting and building herds of food animals, and the women had to spend their days cooking and taking care of the children, and making clothes for them all to wear. Furniture and places for the animals had to be built, and food had to be prepared and put away for the cold times, and by the time these men and women were able to sit down and rest after that long a day, they were too tired to think.

“But one or two of them made themselves think, and these one or two remembered how to do some of the wonderful things. They were very excited when they called the others together, but their excitement didn’t last long. In order to do even one of the wonderful things, a good number of the people had to work together—but everyone they asked to join them had something else to do. That man had to make posts for the fence he wanted to build to keep in his herd beasts, the fence he needed to make sure his family would be fed for the winter. That woman was too close to having a baby, a baby they could raise and teach to help out around their farm to make life a little easier. All the people had something else to do that they needed to do in order to live, and they didn’t have the time to think about searching for the wonderful knowledge they knew was there but couldn’t reach—or the time to try to get it back.

“And then the first of their children grew old enough to be told about what had been lost,” said Kira, her voice now more grim than pleased. “The children listened at night, before they went to bed, and in the morning they got up and worked all day long, the boys in the fields, the girls in the house. They never said so out loud, but they all knew their parents were telling them about things that weren’t so. After all, if you knew a wonderful way to plow a field in one day instead of all the days it took to do it by hand, wouldn’t you use that wonderful way instead? The children listened and worked, and when they grew old enough they had children of their own, and sometimes smiled when they thought of the stories they had been told, but very few told those stories to their own children. They had never seen these wonderful things, don’t forget, and not having seen them meant they didn’t believe those things were true. A very few of the things were saved, like reading, or how important it was to search for new things whenever you had the time, but all the rest of it died when the people who had first come to that place died. New children were born, and they grew up to have children of their own, and no one knew or remembered that there were still people left in the old place, people who hadn’t forgotten about them. Those people were having trouble too, but nothing that cut them off from all the wonderful knowledge they had. It took awhile to get their trouble settled, and then they had to pay attention to what they were doing to keep the trouble from starting again, but eventually they were able to sit down and think about the people who had gone to the new place. They knew they were their people even if the children didn’t know it, and you don’t forget about people who are yours. If they’re lost you try to find them, and once you find them you try to help them get back what they’ve had to do without for so very long.”

“There was more than one group of people who went out looking for new places,” said Aram, his voice gentle in the wake of Kira’s. “All these groups lost touch with the people they had left, but some for a shorter time than others. Some had built enough of the wonderful things for themselves that they didn’t lose the knowledge of the rest of it, and were able to go on alone. Some did lose the wonderful knowledge, but were found soon enough that they still remembered the tales they’d been told about where they came from. The hardest thing for the people in the old place was to find a new place with children who didn’t remember them at all. How can you expect children to believe in something they’ve never seen, something you can’t show them? How do you make them know they’re your people, and all you want to do is help them?”

A silence hung in the air after these final questions were put, a silence thick with confusion and discomfort. Both stranger folk looked to Aysayn and myself, yet Aysayn and I looked to each other. The things told us by Kira and Aram were things they clearly believed, yet were they not the things told us by Mida and Sigurr. Were we to believe the mouthings of those who had taken us captive—or the assurances of the gods we had pledged to follow?

“And yet,” said Aysayn at last, his voice calm and sure, “were the enemies of a people to find them, they might well look upon the skill of those people with fear, and conceive of a way to conquer them without the need to face them. To speak of their all being one people would be that way, to keep the swords of those they feared sheathed. In what manner might such a thing be proven or disproven? With two things to be believed, which is to be seen as truth?”

The two stranger folk heard the words spoken by Sigurr’s Shadow then turned their eyes to me, to see a calm and sobriety which matched Aysayn’s. Indeed the male had spoken my own doubts, and he and I were one in the thing. The male Aram let out a long breath of vexation and slumped low in his seat, and the female Kira shook her head with a sigh.

“I told you it wouldn’t be easy,” said Kira to the male, putting her head back to rest it upon the wall behind us. “Care to come up with a way to prove we’re the good guys and not the bad? I need a short break.”

“And I need a long drink,” muttered the male, running both hands through his light hair, then did a thought suddenly come to him, causing him to straighten again. “Wait a minute. We didn’t find them, they found us. That has to be it.”

“What?” asked the female Kira, raising her head again to look upon the male, yet was he too well concerned with looking between Aysayn and myself.

“You wanted to know how we could prove we were all one people, that the tale we told you was a true tale,” said Aram to those he had named guests, the eagerness having returned to him. “Do you know how we happened to find out about you? Do you know about the comm call that was made?”

“I know of the call,” said I, reluctant to speak of the thing, yet in some manner feeling that I must do so. “Aysayn knows no more of it than what he has been told. Ceralt and I were present at the sending of the call.”

“Jalav, you sound as though you’re admitting to a terrible crime,” said Aram in bewilderment, shaking his head somewhat. “I couldn’t be happier that you were there when the call was made. The comm you used must have been very old, but when the power crystals were properly mounted, it worked. You called us, and we answered, proving what Kira said about the small group being able to talk to the people they left. If you weren’t ours you couldn’t have called us, and if we weren’t yours we wouldn’t have been there to answer. Don’t you see? That’s the proof you wanted!”

Aysayn looked to me for confirmation of what the male had said, yet was I unwilling to voice such confirmation. It had been Mida’s will that the crystals not be brought together, yet they had been and the call had been made. For what reason had Mida been so set against the thing, yet had done naught of her own self to halt it? For what reason had the Hosta alone been set the task, when surely the goddess had known that nine clans of our sisterhood would be needed to take and hold a city of males? For what reason had it been necessary to raise both Midanna and Sigurri when no more than Aysayn and Mehrayn and Ceralt and I were meant to face the strangers? And should these stranger folk truly be lost kin to us, as even the voice from out of the comm had said, for what reason had they been named enemies instead by Mida and Sigurr? What of the gods the strangers served—and what of the gods served by Midanna and Sigurri?

“Could—those who received the call not be enemies who had previously slain or enslaved those we came from?” I asked, not the male Aram but Aysayn, feeling an illness in my middle undoubtedly due to the food I was given in place of true provender. At the look of upset in the eyes of Sigurr’s Shadow I lowered my face to my hands, knowing as well as he that any powerful enough to slay or enslave those with things of wonder, would have no need to fear the swords of Midanna and Sigurri. So easily had we four been taken captive, by a device which, so Aysayn had said, had fallen from the skies without damaging itself. The darkness which my eyes had found was safe and warm, a place of refuge I was greatly in need of, a place where thought might well not find me. I had no wish to give thought to that which was about me, yet the male Aram, as all males, would not be denied.

“You don’t really believe we’re not your people, do you, Jalav,” said the male, no question in the gentle manner of his speech. “You know now that we are what we say we are, and even suspect that if you don’t like something we try to teach you, you can refuse to learn it. If we were trying to make slaves of you, we’d insist on everything being done our way, but we won’t be insisting on that. We’ll just tell you what can be done, and you’ll decide whether you want to learn how to do it. We’re yours and you’re ours, and it’s time we got to know each other again.”

“Perhaps—it would be best if my sister and I were given the opportunity to speak between ourselves,” said Aysayn, with distress. “She has seen far more of this difficulty than I, and I would hear her thoughts upon the matter.”

“There shouldn’t be any problem in that,” said the male Aram, and I raised my head to see him rise from his seat. “There’s an empty cabin right here on this level, and there’s no reason why you can’t . . . .”

“Aram, they’re gone!” came a sudden outburst, and the female Tia nearly ran through the opening door to the male she called out to. “Two of those savages have gotten out of their cells, and there’s no telling how many people they’ve killed by now! You’ve got to sound a general alarm and help me find them!”

So odd was the situation that we four were only able to stare bemusedly upon the female, for she had crossed before Aysayn to reach Aram, and now stood within reach of his arm. I, who had taken seat opposite to Aysayn, was perhaps a bit less than two paces from her, the female Kira beside me, yet were we also unseen. For none other than Aram had she eyes, and the male before her suddenly grinned.

“Stop worrying, Tia,” said he with a drawl, folding his arms with easy unconcern. “I have complete confidence in those people. If they kill anybody, I’m sure they’ll take care to make it your project people and not my crew. Why get excited?”

“Aram, this isn’t a joke!” insisted the female, reaching a hand to his folded arms, her upset not to be soothed. “It’s deadly serious and I’m asking for your help! I need your help. You can’t really refuse me—can you?”

The female now looked up to the eyes of the male in a manner most strange, her body having moved nearer his, her voice having abruptly turned low and husky. Surely did she then appear the slave begging use from her master, yet the male failed to find interest in her.

“What’s the matter, Tia, are you afraid this is the mistake I was talking about?” he asked, a sharpness now appearing in his eyes beside the amusement, his voice having turned very soft. “Project Leaders are responsible for all subjects brought to the ship, aren’t they? If one of them gets loose and runs amok, it’s on your head no matter whose fault it is.”

“None of that matters if it doesn’t get into the log, darling,” returned the female, raising her hand to touch the back of it to the face of the male, her voice continuing huskily. “Just because you were lucky enough to have me choose you to relax with doesn’t mean you’ve had it all, you know. I think we can work something out to make you forget about everything but me.”

“That seems to be your main problem, Tia,” said the male, unfolding his arms to take the hand from his face. “When it comes to thinking, you don’t. You consider people so unimportant that you ignore them as you please, then expect them to jump through hoops when you whistle. It’s too bad you weren’t taught to be considerate instead of important.”

“Don’t be tiresome, Aram,” said the female in annoyance, no longer looking upon the male as she had. “You’ll never get anywhere until you learn that other people are unimportant. We’re the only ones who matter, and what matters right now is to find those savages. If I have to go down on this, you have my word I’ll be taking you right along with me.”

“This isn’t the one you’ll be going down on, Tia,” said the male, exasperation behind the calm he showed. “The mistake you get caught on will be yours alone, no matter who tries interpreting it differently. And just to set your mind at rest, let’s find one of your subjects for you.”

The female gasped with indignation as the male’s hands came to her arms, then did she cry out with alarm as he thrust her backward and to one side. Surely did the female believe that she would sprawl upon the floor covering, yet had she been thrust, not to the floor covering, but to Aysayn. The hands of Sigurr’s Shadow raised to take what the other male had given him, great amusement clear in the dark of his eyes as his fingers closed upon her arms, increasing at the cry of upset torn from her over being drawn into his lap.

“Well, there he is, Tia, and now you’ve got him,” said the male Aram, sharing Aysayn’s amusement as he smiled upon a wide-eyed, disbelieving, and fearfully unmoving female. “What did you intend doing with him?”

“Perhaps there is a thing I may do with her,” said Aysayn, looking down to the female he held. Not so small as Kira was this Tia, yet did she seem nearly a child in the massive arms which held her. Well aware was she of whose lap she had been thrust into, yet had she not as yet even turned about to look upon the face of him. This Aysayn saw to by putting a fist in her hair, and turning her head so that she must look up at him. The female drew her breath in sharply in fear at being handled so, and one trembling hand went unwillingly to the wide chest so near to her. “How might this covering be removed?” Aysayn asked the male Aram without moving his gaze from the female.

“Aram, don’t tell him!” whispered the female frantically, unable to take her eyes from Aysayn’s despite her attempts to back from him. “You can’t let him do this to me. I’m the project Leader! You’ve got to make him let me go!”

“Me?” asked the male Aram with ridiculing amusement, aware that the female was unable to see him. “You expect me to be able to make him do something he doesn’t want to do? If I ever decide on suicide, I might give it a try.”

“Aram, please, I’ll do anything you say,” whimpered the female, continuing to be held by the dark eyes above her. Aysayn’s fist was closed upon hair nearly as light as his own, yet was there naught of a feeling of kinship in the slight, trembling body his arm surrounded. It seemed that the female knew what use by him would be for her, for she had tried his patience far too greatly, always unwise with any of the males I called brother. Were Aysayn to use her she would be well punished, and this the female clearly understood.

“Are you sure you don’t want to show him some of the great stuff you were telling me about?” asked the male Aram in an easy drawl, that interrupted the high-pitched, incoherent howl of protest immediately begun by the female. “Okay, okay, don’t get hysterical. If I get you out of that, you agree to do anything I say? Without argument, without throwing your weight around, without hiding behind regulations?”

“Yes!” The female wept, both hands now to Aysayn’s chest, an attempt to keep herself from being drawn close. “I’ll do anything, anything!”

“I’ll take you at your word, then,” said Aram in satisfaction, glancing briefly toward Kira, who sat in silent discomfort beside me. “Aysayn, my friend, will you do me the favor of letting her go? We still have a lot of things to settle between us, and we’ll find that easier to do if she’s out from under foot.”

“Indeed, temple slaves have no place in talks between men,” said Aysayn with great insolence, looking upon the female in disapproval before releasing her. Immediately did she take herself from him, her haste so great that she fell to her hands and knees upon the floor cloth, her now-disheveled hair falling about her face. Great indeed was the bravery of the female Tia when a wall stood between her and those she scorned, and her head raised to see the disgust which was surely in my eyes. She stared at me a moment, a frown beginning, and then the male Aram bent to assist her to her feet.

“You’re all right, so just go back to your cabin and stay there,” said Aram to the female, brushing back the hair which threatened to come entirely loose. “Kira and I will see that your precious project gets off the ground in the right way, and all the credit will be yours without your having to lift a single finger. If I need you for something, I’ll send for you.”

The female stared upon him wordlessly, glanced to Kira, looked again at me, then turned and stumbled from the chamber. In no manner had she again looked upon Aysayn, and when the door hid all sight of her, Sigurr’s Shadow rose to his feet.

“There are certain females one does best to enslave quickly,” said he, sending a brief glance toward the door before giving his full attention to the male Aram. “So that the difficulty they make causes the least amount of harm, you understand. You began to tell of a place my sister and I might speak alone?”

“Yes, the empty cabin,” said Aram, seemingly considering Aysayn’s suggestion for a very brief time. “If you two will follow me, I’ll show you where it is.”

“Have you renth or falar?” I asked abruptly as I rose from the seat I had been upon, only slightly concerned over the lack of courtesy shown by my query. “Surely daru is unknown among you, yet would the others do in its stead.”

“I don’t know what they are,” said the male Aram, looking upon me with something of concern. “If you can give me some idea of what you need, I’ll be glad to supply it.”

“Perhaps when our talk is done,” said Aysayn, his gaze upon me as well, his concern deeper than that of the other male. No desire had he to see Jalav with adequate drink in hand, and this I did not understand. “First we must have a place to be alone,” said he in a manner which brooked no disagreement.

“This way,” said the male Aram, looking between us uneasily as I gazed upon Aysayn with the annoyance I felt. Without further words did the male take himself toward the door of the chamber, halting just beyond it so that he might be more easily followed. Aysayn stood where he had been, clearly demanding that I go before him, and this, too, riled me. With restrained anger I followed the male Aram then, and so great was my distraction that I failed to question him when I saw the corridor unchanged from what it had been when we entered his chamber. Straight ahead were we led, to a door separated from his by two others, and when it had slid aside the male gestured within.

“Take as much time as you need,” said he, allowing his eyes alone to follow as I stepped within, Aysayn no more than a pace behind. “Either Kira or I will stop by from time to time to see if there’s anything you need. If you want us instead, just come back to my cabin.”

“You have our thanks,” said Aysayn, clearly dismissing the other, a thing which Aram was swift to understand. The door closed itself as the stranger male took himself back to the place from which he had come, and still I did no more than look about at the chamber we had come into. It was considerably smaller than the other, and also differently filled. Far fewer seats and platforms were to be seen, naught of renderings upon the walls, and also was there a wide square of something upon the floor directly opposite to the door. Perhaps a hand in height was the something, with tan cloth upon it, too low and wide to be comfortably taken as a seat. All about was there the same light to be found in all chambers of that place, without source yet ever present, and this, too, brought me annoyance.

“I would now hear what disturbs you so greatly over what was said by the strangers,” said Aysayn, his voice composed of its usual calm. “Do you find belief in their claims?”

“I feel as though I were again beneath the ground in the Caverns of the Doomed,” said I, continuing to look about myself. “No least amount of feylight do these strangers allow within their chambers. Think you we are indeed beneath the ground?”

“I, too, feel the discomfort of confinement,” said Aysayn, and then was his great hand upon my shoulder. “To fail to speak of a thing does not make that thing untrue, should it contain truth to begin with, Jalav. The man Aram told of a call having been sent, a call you have previously made mention of. Is this call the proof Aram believes it to be? Has he convinced you that they are indeed lost kin to us?”

“What difference whether they be kin or not?” said I, at last turning to look up into Aysayn’s sober gaze. “The Midanna and the Sigurri have been commanded to greet the strangers with naked swords, not as brothers and sisters long lost to us. Are we to deny the commands of the gods we serve, renounce the oaths of fealty and service which were made? The wisdom of Sigurr’s Shadow is widely known; speak to me in your wisdom, O Shadow, and tell me in what manner it might be otherwise.”

“Now I understand what twists within you,” said Aysayn softly, lifting his hand to this time smooth my hair. “The dishonor of raising weapons to one’s kin is great, nearly as great as being forsworn. Your wenches must see the thing the same as we, and indeed are you convinced these folk are kin to us. Is there no least doubt within you, no smallest possibility they do indeed seek to cozen us?”

“There are many doubts within me,” said I, turning from him once more to pace about the chamber. “The tale they tell is greatly compelling, yet might it be no more than a child’s tale or one to cozen the credulous—were one to discount the call which was sent from the dwelling of Galiose, the call which elicited a similar response from she whose voice came out of the darkness born of the Crystals. At first I thought these strangers moved to the commands of those who were true enemies to the gods, those who were gods themselves, yet do they speak of wonders which any may learn to perform. That their words hold their own personal belief may not be denied; and yet how may mortals be taught what only gods are able to do? One must see from this that the strangers themselves are gods, else have they wonders which are not the doings of gods, merely the doings of mortals. Having seen Mida and Sigurr, I am unable to accept these folk as gods.”

“As am I,” said Aysayn in agreement, his voice troubled. “The possibility remains, however, that there are those behind these stranger folk, those who are indeed gods. It would be they we were meant to best, not the ones who hold us captive.”

“Should there be gods behind these stranger folk, we shall not find it possible to best them,” said I, turning to look upon him with the bitterness of undeniable truth. “Masters are ever more powerful than their servants, else would they not long remain masters. Were we to face these strangers with swords we would best them, yet are they scarcely likely to don swords to face us. Sigurr’s Shadow, Sigurr’s Sword and the High Rider of the Belsayah all stood armed at the appearance of these strangers; were they kept from capture by the presence of weapons and the skill to wield them? As easily as children were we four taken, and just so easily would we fall in a true battle. What hope would there be for us against any who might be masters to them?”

“The war leader Jalav now seeks assurances of victory before considering entering battle?” demanded Aysayn, angrily. “What of the glory to be found in battle, wench, most especially in a battle demanded of you by the gods?”

“One finds small glory in slaughter!” I snapped in return, raising my head to show my own anger. “Am I to lead my warriors to battleless, gloryless death which they have no hope of avoiding? Is this the reason I strove unceasingly to become war leader to all of the Midanna? To see them fall? Am I to see them ended as a result of the anger which Mida feels for their war leader? Sooner would I be forsworn than allow such a thing.”

“Anger?” said Aysayn, frowning. “What anger would the goddess feel toward the one who is her chosen? For what reason would she feel such anger?”

“Perhaps—perhaps for the reason of my intention to challenge her when the matter of the strangers is done,” said I, seeing the frown turn to incredulity upon the broad face of him. “No longer am I willing to accept what shaming and pain are given me by her in the name of punishment, no longer shall I allow her to deny me what males I would take for my own. Jalav shall stand free, else shall she find the endless dark.”

“You would refuse to enter battle with mortals possessing no more than mortal powers, yet seek to give challenge to a goddess?” demanded the male, outraged. “Have you lost what little wit you were possessed of? To even consider giving challenge to a god—!”

“In battle Jalav must lead the Midanna,” I returned with the stiffness of insult, my hand beginning to itch for a hilt. “To give challenge, only she need stand forth, and only she shall do so. Should she be answered with honor rather than treachery, one to one rather than another standing beside the one she challenges, then shall she pit her skill against . . .”

“Another standing beside the one who is challenged?” said Aysayn with bewildered impatience touched with outrage. “What other is required to stand beside a goddess who faces a mortal? And what other might there be who would add to the presence of a goddess, who would—”

Abruptly were his words ended as he looked upon me, his eyes widening, his light-haired head raising in complete disbelief and the beginnings of great anger. My own anger had caused me to speak the truth to one who would not be able to accept it, yet was I endlessly weary of remaining silent upon the matter of the gods. None knew them as well as I, not Keeper, nor Shadow, nor Sword, nor any who was mortal; to know them as I did, one would need to have felt my shame and pain.

“Many times have the Sigurri asked me of their god, the one who shares the Realm of Mida,” said I, not attempting to avoid the wordless outrage leveled at me. “Suffice it to say that they are cut from the same cloth, one no better than the other. The matter is one between Jalav and the gods, and should she be unable to face them separately, they will surely render her incapable of further blasphemies.”

With such words did I then begin to turn from him, finding no pleasure in casting doubt upon the beliefs of another. So empty had the life of Jalav become since she was no longer able to call to Mida in need; what glory in bringing such emptiness into the life of another? I began to turn from Aysayn, to leave him as much as I might, yet his hand came to my arm and pulled me back to face him.

“The words you speak are far from sufficient,” said he in a growl, his free hand coming to my other arm, the strength of his double grip giving me pain. “Sigurr is the greatest of gods, more powerful than any other, and also more honorable as well! Think you the Sigurri would follow one so low as to interfere in a matter of honor? You dare to defame one who is the very source of honor, the one whom mortals may do no more than attempt to emulate? You would dare to speak ill of him?”

The voice of Aysayn had risen to a shout, his fingers like metal in my arms, his furious strength shaking me as though I were made of cloth. No attempt did I make to break the hold of the male, so clearly did I feel the pain within him, yet was I unable to keep silent as I had intended.

“At the end of battle, your god fully expects his warriors to turn upon those Midanna they fought beside and slay them,” I whispered, the breath coming hard to my throat through the blazing pain of the grip I was held in. “Has he not yet spoken of it to those who lead his followers?”

“No!” said Aysayn with a shout, throwing me backwards from him to sprawl upon the low, wide, unexplained square, his tortured denial a complete and total rejection. So pale had he grown that surely did I believe him suddenly taken ill, and then did he fold to the floor cloth and lower his face to trembling hands. I sat straight where I had been thrown, pushing the hair from my eyes, never having seen the male as distraught as he then was, unsure of what might be said or done. A long moment passed with silence from us both, and then did Aysayn let his hands fall from a face whose eyes were closed tight.

“Much have I thought of late upon the wisdom of giving over my place as Sigurr’s Shadow when this matter of the strangers was done,” said he in a lifeless voice. “I thought myself ill, you see, for thrice have I dreamt that I stood in the presence of Sigurr, and each time the great god demanded that at battle’s end the wenches we fought beside be taken as slave or slain out of hand. I found myself unable to believe that Sigurr would demand a doing so lacking in honor, and saw the failure as mine instead. Now do you speak of that which you should not have known, save that you learned of it from Sigurr himself—and my dreams are truth rather than illness. Sooner would I have continued thinking myself mad.”

He lay upon his back on the floor cloth then, one leg bent at the knee, the heels of his hands to his still-closed eyes, the pain emanating from him as thick as early fog in spring. I saw then that the emptiness had already begun to touch him, and no longer regretted the words I had spoken.

“You are mistaken,” said I in the calm which was no longer his, sitting cross-legged where I had been thrown. “I learned the thing not from Sigurr but from Mida, for she wishes the Midanna to turn upon the Sigurri in a like manner, only first. As I said, the two are cut from the same cloth.”

“The goddess too?” said Aysayn in great surprise, turning his head to look upon me. “And you knew of this even before you came to us, yet spoke not a single word about it?”

“What need had I to speak upon it?” I asked with a shrug, meeting his gaze. “Once the Sigurri were known to me, I determined that never would I see them done in so honorless a manner. This, among other things, was the reason I came to believe there was no other course before me save challenge. My oath of fealty is held by one I have grown to despise above all others, and no longer may I allow such a state to continue.”

“I don’t understand,” said Aysayn, bewildered and disillusioned. “Ever has the great god been one men emulated willingly, happily, knowing they conducted themselves in all things with honor. For what reason would it not now be the same? Have we lost sight of that which we were truly being taught?”

“I think not,” said I with a headshake, nevertheless feeling again the many doubts that continued to plague me. “Ever have Midanna been taught that honor lies above all else, and these latest demands may not be considered honorable. The questions which now remain before us are two: will the Sigurri do as their god demands? And even before that, what is to be done concerning the strangers?”

“You believe our warriors would attack those they stand beside as allies, even should Mehrayn or I command them to it?” he asked with a sound of ridicule, gesturing aside so unacceptable a notion. “Have you learned to know Sigurri so shallowly then?”

“Why do you believe I determined that the Midanna would also not attack?” I asked in turn, equally ridiculing. “It seems we know our warriors far better than those in whose names they ride.”

“Indeed,” said Aysayn with a frown, clearly disturbed again. “And this, too, do I fail to understand. The great god has ever known well the men who serve him, yet now are we strangers to him.”

“Strangers,” said I, nodding in agreement. “In some manner like those who now claim to be kin to us, those whom we have no hope of besting. For what reason have we been prepared against their coming, when the skill of our arms has no hope of besting their wonders?”

“In one manner might we best them,” said Aysayn slowly, his eyes holding to my face. “Were we to avow belief in their words and intentions, and then invite them to visit with us in the city of Bellinard. The attack which then fell upon them would catch them unawares, and likely be successful. Does the concept not sit well with the other which has been presented us?”

“Indeed is it the very image of the other,” said I, meeting his gaze with the bleakness I felt. “This is the manner in which we are viewed by the gods, then; as ones who would greet strangers with smiles, and then bury daggers in their backs the moment they turned their faces from us. I would know what the Midanna have done to earn such an opinion of themselves.”

“They have done no more than the Sigurri,” said Aysayn, angry now. “I know not for what reason the gods look upon us so, yet am I aware of the fury such thoughts bring. You asked what is to be done about the strangers; now I ask you the same. What is there which may be done?”

“Honorably,” said I, knowing the word was meant by him and merely unspoken. “We are pledged to follow the dictates of the gods, yet may we not do so and still retain our honor. Should we inform the strangers with honor that we mean to stand against them, we have no hope of besting them. And even should we have such a hope, they may well be kin of ours, whose deaths would be further dishonor. To fail to act would bring dishonor, to act would do the same; how does one face and best such a trap of contradictions?”

The face of Aysayn was surely as disturbed as mine, yet were there no further words from him. As his lips parted to reply the door of the chamber slid open, though it was not Aram or Kira. Two who seemed male stood there, clad as all the strangers had been clad, their faces covered over with that which allowed no more than their eyes to be seen. As one they raised their arms and threw down a substance that shattered to release a thick, spreading mist, and then was all thought and consciousness stolen from us.