Текст книги "At the Edge of Space (Brothers of Worlds; Hunter of Worlds)"

Автор книги: C. J. Cherryh

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Текущая страница: 35 (всего у книги 36 страниц)

Kill him!Rakhi’s voice in her mind was a shuddering echo and re-echo, down vast corridors of distance. Chimele’s strong nails bit into his/her shoulder, reminding them of calm. Other minds began to gather: Raxomeqh’s cold brilliance, Achiqh, Najadh, Tahjekh, like tiny points of light in a vast darkness. But Chaikhe concentrated deliberately on the horror of Gerlach, his oiliness, the grotesqueries of his waddling gait and panting wheezes for breath, learning what m’metaneicalled hate, a disunity beyond e-takkhe,a desire beyond vaikka-nasul,a lust beyond reason.

Dhisais, dhisais,Rakhi reminded her, Chimele’s incomprehensible orders twisted through his hearing and his mind. Be Chaikhe yet for a little time more. Restraint!

She had never been so treated in her life. Not even in the fierceness of katasakkehad she been compelled to be touched against her will. Did m’metaneisuffer such self-lessening in being kameth, in taking part in katasukke?The thought appalled her.

Stop it,Rakhi shuddered. Au, Chaikhe, this is obscene.

Male, he, it, this—dhisais, dhisais, akita, I—kill him. My honor, mine, male, mate, male,e-takkhe, I—

Rakhi’s fists slammed into the desk top, pain, pain, shattered plastics, bleeding, his wrists lacerated. The physical shock shuddered through Chaikhe’s body. She felt the wounds on her own wrists, the flow of the warm blood over her hands, tension ebbing.

We,he kept repeating into her mind, we, together, we.

For the last few moments, Ashakh had not moved. Aiela stared at him tensely, wondering how much longer the iduve could manage to stand. He rested still with his back against the corner, his arms folded tightly across his chest, eyes closed; and whether the bleeding had started again the cellar was too dark to show. From time to time his eyes would still open and glimmer roseate fire in the light of Toshi’s wrist-globe. The little amaut never varied the angle of the gun she trained upon the both of them. Aiela began to fear that it would come soon, that Ashakh’s growing weakness would end the stalemate and render them both helpless.

Dive for an exit,Daniel advised him. The second Ashakh falls, they’ll see only him. Dive for any way out you can take. Isande, Isande, you reason with him.

Peace,Aiela pleaded. He had another thing in mind, an attack before necessity came upon them. Toshi had one hand bandaged, thanks, no doubt, to Kleph’s hirelings outside the headquarters; and if Kleph, who huddled near Ashakh, had the will to fight, Kleph could handle Toshi—the only one of them now who had the strength for that. Aiela began instead to size up the two humans, wondering what chance he would have against the two of them.

Precious little,Daniel estimated. You’ve no instinct for it. Get yourself out of there. Get to Chaikhe. If you can’t send any more, Isande and I are cut apart, as good as dead too. We have nothing left without you.

Isande had no words: what she sent was yet more unfairly effective, and it took the heart from him. He hesitated.

Ashakh’s eyes opened slightly. “You still have the option,” he told Toshi, “to cast down your weapons and rescue yourselves.”

Toshi gave a nervous bubbling of laughter, to which the humans did not respond, not understanding.

“He said get out of here,” said Aiela, and the men looked at Ashakh as if they thought of laughing and then changed their minds. Iduve humor was something outsiders would not recognize, nor appreciate when they saw it in action. Ashakh was indulging in a bit of vaikka,he realized in chill fear, absolutely straight-faced and far from bluffing; likely as his own death was at the moment, arastietheforbade any unseemly behavior.

One human fled. Toshi did not let herself be distracted.

The cellar went to eye-wrenching light and dark and rumbled in collapse. Aiela and Kleph clenched themselves into a unified ball, seeking protection from the cascading cement and brick, and for a moment Aiela gave himself up to die, uncertain how much weight of concrete there was above. A large piece of it crashed into his head, bruising his protecting fingers, and at that he thought of Ashakh and scrambled the few feet to try to protect him.

In the next breath it was over, and Aiela found daylight flooding in through a gap where the door had been, and the side of the room where Toshi and the human had been was a solid mound of rubble.

A dusty and bloodied Ashakh dragged himself to his feet and leaned unsteadily on the edge of the basement steps. “ Niseth,” he proclaimed. “The effect considerably exceeded calculations.”

And upon that he nearly fainted, and would have fallen, but Kleph and Aiela held him on his feet and helped him up to daylight, where the air was free of dust.

“What was it, great lord?” Kleph bubbled nervously. “What happened?”

“Aiela,” said Ashakh, catching his breath, “Aiela, go down, see if you can locate our weapons.”

Aiela hurried, searching amid the grisly rubble, pulling brick aside and fearing further collapse. He knew by now what Ashakh had done, delicately mind-touching the weapon he had so casually dropped, and negating a considerable portion of the cellar.

His own gun lay accessible. When he found Ashakh’s, it looked unscathed too, and he brought it up into the daylight and put it into the iduve’s hand.

“Damaged,” Ashakh judged regretfully. His indigo face had acquired a certain grayish cast, and his hand seemed to have difficulty returning the weapon to his belt.

“Chaikhe,” he said, and could tell them little more than that. He shook off Kleph’s hand with a violence that left the little amaut nursing a sore wrist, and stumbled forward, unreasoning, heedless of their protests. There was nothing before them but open ground, the wide expanse of the port, Chaikhe’s ship with its ramp down and the base ship beyond: closest was Tejef’s ship, hatch opened, and a smallish figure toiling toward its ramp.

“Come back,” Kleph cried after Ashakh. “O great lord, come back, come back, let this small person help you.”

But Aiela hesitated only a moment: mad as the iduve was, that ramp was indeed down and access was possible. There would not be another chance, not with the sun inching its way toward zenith. He ran to catch up, and Kleph, with a squeal of dismay, suddenly began to run too, seizing the iduve’s other arm as Aiela sought to keep him from wasting his strength in haste.

Ashakh struck at Aiela, half-hearted, his violet eyes dilated and wild; but when he realized that Aiela meant only to keep him on his feet, he cooperated and leaned on him.

And after a few meismore, it was clear that Ashakh could summon no more strength: arastietheinsisted, but the iduve’s slender body was failing him. His knees buckled, and only Kleph’s strength saved him from a headlong collapse.

“We must get off this field,” cried Kleph in panic. “O lord nas kame, let us take him to the other ship and beg them to let us in.”

Ashakh pushed away from the amaut. His effort carried him a few steps to a fall from which he could not rise.

“Let us go,” cried Kleph.

Self-preservation insisted go. The base ship would lift off before Ashanomestruck. Daniel and Isande insisted so; but before them was Ashakh’s objective, and an open hatch that was the best chance and the last one.

“Get him to the greater ship,” Aiela shouted at Kleph, and began to run. “He can mind-touch the lock for you, get you in—move!”

He thought then that he had saved Ashakh’s life at least, for Kleph would not abandon him, thinking Ashakh his key to safety; and the bandy-legged fellow had the strength to manage that muscle-heavy body across the wide field.

Aiela, Aiela,mourned Isande, oh, no, Aiela.

He ran, ignoring her, mentally calculating a triangle of distance to that open hatch for himself and for the amaut that struggled along with his burden. He might make it. His side was splitting and his brain was pounding from the effort, but he might possibly make it before one instant’s notice from the iduve master of that ship could kill him.

Distract Tejef,he ordered his asuthi. Do anything you can to get free. I’m going to need all the help possible. Keep his mind from me.

Daniel cast about for a weapon, seized up a chair from its transit braces, and slammed it into monitor panel, door, walls, shouting like a madman and trying to do the maximum damage possible.

Only let one of the human staff respond to it,Daniel kept hoping. He meant to kill. The ease with which he slipped into that frame of mind affected Aiela and Isande with a certain queasiness, and stirred something primitive and shameful.

Isande began to pry at the switchplate, seeking some weakness that could trigger even the most minor alarm, but Aiela could not advise her. He could no longer think of anything but the amaut that was now striving to run under his burden.

Then his vision resolved what Ashakh’s takkhenoishad told him from a much greater distance.

That bundle of green was a woman, indigo-skinned and robed as a katasathe.

Aiela had his gun in hand: though it was not designed to kill, firing on a pregnant woman gave him pause—the shock and the fall together might kill her.

And the amaut whirled suddenly in midstep, and his hand that was under Chaikhe’s body held a weapon that was indeed lethal.

Aiela fired, reflexes quicker than choice, tumbling both amaut and iduve woman into a heap, unconscious.

There was no stopping to aid Chaikhe. He ran, holding his side, stumbled onto the glidewalk of the extended ramp, daring not activate it for fear of advising Tejef of his presence. He raced up it, the hatchway looming above. It came to him that if it started to close, it could well cut him in half.

It stayed open. He almost fell onto the level surface of the airlock, ran into the corridor, his boots echoing down the emptiness.

Then the idoikkhe’spain began, slowly pulsing, unnerving in its gradual increase. Coordination failed him and he fell, reaching for his gun, trying to brace his fingers to hold that essential weapon, expecting, hoping for Tejef’s appearance, if only, if only the iduve would once make the mistake of overconfidence.

Leave me, go!he cried at his asuthi, who tried to interfere between him and the pain.

Something was breaking. The light-dimming had ceased for a time, but now a steady crashing had begun down the hall, a thunderous booming that penetrated even Margaret’s drugged sleep. She grew more and more restless, and Arle’s soothing hand could not quiet her.

Someone cried out, thin and distant, and when Arle opened the infirmary door she could hear it more plainly.

It was Daniel’s voice, Daniel as she had heard him cry out once before in the hands of the amaut, and such crashing as Margaret’s body had made when Tejef struck her. That flashed into her mind, Margaret broken by a single unintended blow.

She cried out and began to run, hurrying down the hall to that corner room, the source of the blows and the shouting. Her knees felt undone as she reached it; almost she had not the courage to touch that switch and free it, but she did, and sprawled back with a shriek as a chair hurtled down on her.

The wreckage crashed down beside her on the floor; and then Daniel was kneeling, gathering her up and caressing her bruised head with anxious fingers, stilling her sobs by crushing her against him. He pulled her up with him in the next breath and ran, hitting another door-switch to open it.

A woman met them, of a kind that Arle had never seen, a woman whose skin was like a summer sky and whose hair was light through thistledown; and no less startling was the possessive caress she gave, assuming Arle into her affections like some unsuspected kin, taking her by the arm and compelling her attention.

“Khasif,” she said, “Arle—a man like Tejef, an iduve—have you seen him? Do you know where he is?”

Her command of human language was flawless. That alone startled Arle, who had found few of the strangers capable of any human words at all; and her assumption of acquaintance utterly robbed her of her power of thought.

“Arle,” Daniel pleaded with her.

Arle pointed. “There,” she said. “The middle door in the lab. Daniel!” she cried, for they left her at a run. She went a few paces to follow them, and then did not know what to do.

The kameth no longer resisted. Tejef saw the fingers of his left hand jerk spasmodically at the pistol, but the kallia no longer had the strength to complete the action. Tejef kicked the weapon spinning down the corridor, applied his foot to the kameth’s shoulder, and heaved him over onto his back.

Life still remained in him and the harachiaof that force worked at his nerves; but there was little enough point in killing one who could not feel, nor in committing the e-chanokhiaof destroying a kameth. The eyelids jerked a little but Tejef much doubted there was consciousness. He abandoned him there and went down the corridor to the airlock. It lacked a little of noon. Chimele had cast her final throw. He felt greatly satisfied by the realization that she had failed any personal vaikkaupon him, even though she would not fail to destroy him; and then he felt empty, for a moment only empty, the minds about him suddenly stilled, takkhenesalmost gone, the air full of a hush that settled about his heart.

Then came a touch, faint and bewildered, a thing waking, female and sensitive.

Chaikhe.

He willed the monitor into life and saw the field, four forms, three of which moved—a squat amaut dragging Ashakh’s limp body in undignified fashion. Ashakh too tall a man for such a small amaut to handle; and Gerlach lying very still by the ramp, and a mound of green stirring toward consciousness, feebly trying to rise.

Katasathe.The harachiaof the green robes and the realization that he had fired on her, once nas,hit his stomach like a blow. The sight of her tangled with Gerlach’s squat body—beautiful Chaikhe tumbled in the dust of the pavement—was a painful one. Such a prisoner as she, was a great honor to a nasul,a prize for katasakkeor kataberiheto an Orithain, the life within her for the dhisof her captors, great vaikka,if that nasulcould bend her to its will.

So long alone, always mateless; the illusions of kamethi melted into what they were– e-chanokhia,emptiness.

She arose, lifted her face: takkhenesreached and touched, an impact that slammed unease into his belly. She seemed to know he watched. Anger grew in her, a fierceness that overwhelmed.

He must kill her. Obscene as the idea was, he must kill her. He faltered, hesitated between the hatch control and the weaponry, and knew that the indecision itself was a sickness.

Her mind-touch seized the lock control, held it, felt toward other mechanisms. Uncertain then, he gave backward, realizing she would board the ship– dhisais, e-takkhewith him. He could not let it happen. In cold sanity he knew it was a risk to face her, but he could not reach her with the weapons now. She was ascending the ramp in firm control of the mechanisms. He gathered himself to wrest that control from her.

Takkhenesreached out for him, a fierceness of weincredibly strong, as if a multiplicity of minds turned on him—not Chaikhe’s alone, not Ashakh’s, whose mind was silent. It was as if thousands of minds bore upon him at once, focused through the lens of Chaikhe’s, like the takkhenes-nasulof all Ashanome,willing his death, declaring him e-takkhe,anomaly, ugliness, and alone, cosmically alone.

It acquired a new source, a muddled echo that had the essence of Khasif about it, leftward, same-level. Tejef realized that presence, felt it grow, and desperately reached his mind toward intervening door locks, knowing he must hold them.

They activated, opening, one after the other. Khasif was nearer, fully alert now, a fierceness and anger that yet lacked the force that Chaikhe sent.

Death took root in him, cold and certain, and the rage that he felt at Chimele was all that held it from him. He could not decide—Khasif or Chaikhe—he could not find strength to face either, caught between.

And Chimele, knowing: he felt it.

He turned, flight in his mind, to seize manual control of the ship and tear her aloft, self-destroying, taking the e-takkheiwith him to oblivion.

“Nasith.”

Chaikhe’s image occupied the screens now at her own will. Her dark and lovely face stared down at him. Doors refused to open to his mind: he operated them manually and ran.

A lock sprang open before he touched it. Khasif was there, the kamethi Isande and Daniel with him—and with a reaction quicker than reason Tejef went for Khasif, Khasif yet weak from his long inactivity and his wounds—Tejef’s takkhenoisgathered strength from that realization. The kamethi themselves attempted interference, dragging at them from behind.

He spun, swung wildly to clear them from him, and saw Isande’s face, in his mind Margaret, her look; that it was which kept the strength from his blow.

And a shout of anger beyond, from her asuthe the kallia, who had stumbled after, gun in hand. Tejef’s eyes widened, foreknowing.

Aiela fired, left-handed, saw Isande and the iduve hit the floor at once. He tried to reach her, but it was all he could do to lean against the wall and hold himself on his feet. Daniel was first to her side, gathered her up and held her, assuring him over and over again that she was alive. Above them both stood Khasif, whose sharp glance away from Isande warned Aiela even as a soft step sounded behind him.

Chaikhe.

The very act of breathing grew difficult, concentration impossible. The gun tumbled from Aiela’s fingers and crashed against the flooring, sounding distant.

“She is dhisais,” said Khasif. “And it was not wise for you to have interfered among iduve, kamethi. You have interfered in vaikka.”

Run,Daniel thought desperately; burdened with Isande’s weight, he tensed his muscles to try.

No!Aiela protested. He leaned against the wall, shut his eyes to remove the contact of Chaikhe’s; and hearing her move, he dared to look again.

She had turned, and walked back in the direction of controls.

Doors closed between them, and Khasif at last stirred from where he stood, looking down at Tejef with a long soft hiss.

The ship’s engines stirred to life.

“We are about to lift,” said Khasif softly, “and Tejef will give account of himself before Chimele; perhaps that is the greater vaikka.But it was not wise, kameth.”

“Ashakh,” Aiela exclaimed, remembering, hardly recognizing his own voice. “Ashakh—is still out there.”

“I am instructing Teysel on the base ship to take him up to Ashanome.For Priamos there is no longer need of haste. For us, there is. See to yourselves, kamethi.”

15

The melakhiswas in session, and the entire body of the nasulwith them, in the great hall beyond the paredre.The paredreprojected itself and a hundred Chimele’s, reflection into reflection, down the long central aisle of the hall, and thousands of iduve gathered, a sea of indigo faces, same projections, some not. There were no whisperings, for the sympathic iduve when assembled used other than words. Takkhenesgathered thick in the room, a heaviness of the air, a possession, a power that made it difficult even to draw breath, let alone to speak. Words seemed out of place; hearing came as through some vast gulf of distance.

And for a handful of m’metaneisummoned into the heart of the nasul,the silence was overwhelming. Hundreds, thousands of iduve faces were the walls of the paredre;and Chimele and Khasif were in the center of it. Another pair of figures materialized among those that lined the hall, Ashakh’s slim dark form and the shorter, stouter one of Rakhi—solid, both of them, who silently joined the company in the center. Ashakh’s presence surprised Aiela. The base ship had hardly more than made itself secure in the hangar deck, and here was the nasith,stiff with his injuries, but immaculately clean, bearing little resemblance to the dusty, bloody being that had exited the collapse of the basement. He joined Chimele, and received a nod of great respect from her, as did Rakhi.

Then Chimele looked toward the kamethi and beckoned. They moved carefully in that closeness of iduve, and Daniel kept a tight grip on Arle’s shoulder. Chimele greeted them courteously, but only Aiela and Isande responded to it: Daniel kept staring at her with ill-concealed anger. It rose in a surge of panic when he saw her take a black case and open it. The platinum band of an idoikkhegleamed within.

No!was in Daniel’s mind, frightening his asuthi. But they were by him, and Arle was there; and Daniel was prisoner of more than the iduve. He took it upon his wrist with that same helpless panic that Aiela had once felt, and was bitterly ashamed.

Is this whattakkhenes does tom’metanei? Aiela wondered to himself. Daniel hated Ashanome;indeed, he had not feared Tejef half so much as he feared Chimele. But he yielded, and Aiela himself could not imagine the degree of courage it would take for one m’metaneto have defied the nasul.

Outsiders both of you,Isande judged sadly. Oh, I am glad I never had to wrestle with your doubts. You are simply afraid of the iduve. Can’t you accept that? We are weaker than they. What does it take to make you content?

Chimele had grown interested in Arle now, and gazed upon the child’s face with that look Aiela knew and Daniel most hated, that bird-of-prey concentration that cast a spell over the recipient. Arle was drawn into that stillness and seemed more hypnotized than afraid.

“This is the child that was so important to you, Daniel-kameth, so important that your asuthi could not restrain you?”

Daniel’s heart thudded and seemed to stop as he realized that vaikkaneed not involve the real offender, that reward and punishment had no human virtue with the starlords. He would have said something if he could have gathered the words; as it was, he met Chimele’s eyes and fell into that amethyst gaze, that chill calm without pity as m’metaneiknew it. Perhaps Chimele was laughing. None of the kamethi could detect it in her. Perhaps it was a vaikkain itself, a demonstration of power.

“She has a certain chanokhia,” said Chimele. “Arrangements will be made for her proper care.”

“I can manage that,” said Daniel. It was the most restrained thing he could manage to say.

And suddenly the center of the paredreitself gave way to a projection, red and violet, Tashavodhand Mijanothe,Kharxanen and Thiane.

“Hail Ashanome,” said Thiane. “Are you satisfied?”

Chimele arose and inclined her head in reverence to the eldest of all iduve. “You are punctual, o Thiane, long-living.”

“It is the hour, o Ashanome,hunter of worlds, and Priamos still exists. We have seen ships rejoining you. I ask again: are you satisfied?”

“You have then noted, o Thiane, that all of our interference on the world of Priamos has ceased ahead of the time, and that all equipment and personnel have been evacuated.”

Thiane frowned, nettled by this mild vaikka.“There is only one being whose whereabouts matters, o Ashanome.”

“Then see.” Chimele looked to her left and extended her hand. Another projection took shape, a man in dark clothing, seated. His eyes widened as he realized where he was: he arose and Arle began an outcry, stopped by Isande’s fierce grip on her arm.

“This person,” said Chimele softly, “was once of Ashanome.We have him among us again, and we are capable of settling our own internal matters. We give you honor, Mijanothe,for the propriety you constantly observed in harathos.And, o Kharxanen of Tashavodh,be advised that Ashanomewill be ranging these zones for some time. In the interests of the ban on vaikkawhich the Orithanhe set upon us both, it seems to us that it would be proper for the nasul Tashavodhto seek some other field. We are in prior occupation of this space, and it is not proper for two orith-nasulito share so close quarters without the decency of akkhres-nasuliand its binding oaths.”

There was a silence. Kharxanen’s heavy face settled into yet a deeper frown; but he inclined himself in a stiff bow. “Hail Ashanome.We part without vaikka.These zones are without interest to us; we delight that Ashanomeis pleased to possess them. It seems to us an excellent means of disentangling our affairs. I give you farewell, Chimele.”

And without further courtesy, his image winked out.

It seemed, though one could not be certain, that a smile touched the face of Thiane, a smile which was no longer present as she turned to stare at the being who stood in the shaft of pale light. Then she inclined her head in respect to Chimele.

“Honor is yours, Ashanome,” declared Thiane. She set both hands on her staff and looked about her at all the assembly, the confident attitude of a great power among the iduve. Chimele resumed her chair, easy and comfortable in the gesture, undisturbed by the harachiaof Thiane.

And Thiane turned last to the image of Tejef in its shaft of light, and he bowed his head. All threat, all strength was gone from him; he looked far less imposing than Thiane.

“He is near,” said Chimele softly. “He is not held from joining us in the paredre:it has not been necessary to restrain him. Perhaps to honor you he would come to your summons.”

“Tejef,” said aged Thiane, looking full at him, and he glanced up. A low murmuring came from the nasul,the first sound and an ugly one. Suddenly Tejef tore himself from the area of the projection and vanished.

He was not long in coming, tangible amid the multitude of projections that lined the paredre.Isande’s mind went cold and fearful even to look upon him, but he passed her without giving her notice, though her fair complexion made her most obvious in the gathering. He stopped before Chimele and Thiane, and gave Thiane a bow of courtesy, lifting his eyes again to Thiane, as if the action were painful.

“Tejef,” said Thiane, “if you have a message for Tashavodh,I will bear it.”

“No, eldest of us all,” answered Tejef softly, and bowed again at this exceptional courtesy from Thiane.

“Was it properly done?” asked Thiane.

Tejef’s eyes went to Aiela; but perhaps to blame a m’metanewas too great a shame. There was no anger, only recognition; he did not answer Thiane.

“You have seen,” said Chimele to Thiane. “ Harathosis satisfied. And hereafter he is Ashanome’s and it is the business of the nasulwhat we do.”

“Hail Ashanome,ancient and akita.May we always meet in such a mind as we part now.”

“Hail Mijanothe,far-seeing. May your seekings be satisfied and your prosperity endless. And hail Thiane, whose honor and chanokhiawill be remembered in Ashanome.”

“As that of Chimele among us,” murmured Thiane, greatly pleased, and flicked out so quickly that her echoes were still dying.

Then it broke, the anger of Ashanome,a murmuring against Tejef that sent him to the center of the paredre,looking about at them and trying to show defiance when they crowded him. Two dhis-guardians, Tahjekh and Nophres, drew their ghiakaiand rested them point-down on the priceless carpets, crossed, barring his way to Chimele.

An iduve hand caught Aiela’s arm and the idoikkheistung the three of them simultaneously. “Out,” said Ashakh. “This is no place for m’metanei.”

Isande took a step to obey, but stopped, for Daniel was not coming, and Aiela stayed, terrified for what Daniel was likely to do.

Get the child out of here,Aiela appealed to him. But there was chaos already in the hall, iduve bodies intruding into the projection area, seeming to invade the paredre,real and unreal mingling in kaleidoscope combination. Tejef shrank back, less and less space for him. Someone dealt him a heavy blow; bodies were between and the kamethi could not see.

“Hold!” Khasif’s voice roared, bringing order; and Chimele arose and the iduve melted back from her. An uneasy silence settled.

“Tejef,” said Chimele.

He attempted to give a hiss of defiance. It was so subdued that it sounded far otherwise.

“There is a human female who claims to be your mate,” said Chimele. “She will have treatment for her injuries. It was remiss of you to neglect that—but of course, your abilities were limited. The amaut who sheltered in your protection have realized their error and are leaving Priamos in all possible haste. Your okkitan-asGerlach perished in the lifting of your ship: Chaikhe found no particular reason to clear him from beside the vessel. And as for karshGomek in general, I do not yet know whether we will choose to notice the inconvenience these beings have occasioned us. It is even possible the nasulwould choose not to notice your offenses, Tejef, if you were wise, if you made submission.”

The oppressive feeling in the air grew stronger. Tejef stood among them, sides heaving, sweat pouring down his indigo face. He shook his face to clear the sweat from his eyes and seemed likely to faint, a creature sadly fallen from the whole and terrible man who had faced them onworld. To yield,Daniel had heard from him once, is to die; morally and physically, it is to die;and if ever a man looked apt to die from such a cause, this one did, torn apart within.

Tejef’s wild shout of anger drowned all the rising murmur of the nasul.Iduve scattered from his first blows, voices shrieked and hissed. Isande snatched Arle and hugged the human child’s face against her breast, trying to shut out the awful sight and sound, for the ghiakaiof the guardians faced Tejef now, points level. When he would try to break free of the circle they would crowd him; and by now he was dazed and bleeding. With a shout he flung himself for Chimele; but there were the guardians and there was Khasif, and Khasif’s blow struck him to the floor.

Daniel thrust his way into the circle, jerked at the shoulder of a young iduve to push his way past before the youth realized what had happened—and cried out in pain, collapsing under the discipline of the idoikkhe.

Pain backwashed: Aiela forced his own way through the breach, trying to aid his stricken asuthe, cried out Chimele’s name and felt the impact of all that attention suddenly upon himself.

“ M’metanei,” said Chimele, “this is not a place for you. You are not noticed.” She lifted her hand and the iduve parted like grass before the wind, opening the way to the door. When Daniel opened his mouth to protest the dismissal: “Aiela,” she said most quietly. It was a last warning. He knew the tone of it.