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We saw two men ru
"Let us hurry," I said.
Chapter 22
CUWIGNAKA REQUESTS INSTRUCTION
"Use the lance!" I cried.
We had turned, startled, not more than a few yards from our lodge, from the interior of which Cuwignaka had recovered the lance.
The rider on the kaiila, bent low, his lance in the attack position, charged, dust scattering back from the pounding paws of the kaiila.
Cuwignaka ducked to the side, lifting and raising his arms, the long lance clutched in his fists. There was a shiver of wood as the two lances, Cuwignaka's on the iniside, struck twisting against one another. The point of the other's lance passed between Cuwignaka's arms and his neck. The man was taken from the back of the kaiila by Cuwignaka's lance. The kaiila sped away.
"He is dead," said Cuwignaka, looking down.
"Free your lance," I said.
Cuwignaka, his foot on the man's chest, drew loose the lance.
"It is safer in such an exchange," I said, "to strke from the outside, finding his lance away, trying to make your strike above and across it."
"He is dead," said Cuwignaka.
"If hehad dropped his lance more to the right you would have moved into it," I said.
"I killed him," said Cuwignaka.
"It is unfortunate that we did not obtain the kaiila," I said.
"He is dead," said Cuwignaka.
"Attend to my lessons," I said.
"Yes, Tatankasa," said Cuwignaka.
"Hurry," I said. "We are near Grunt's lodge."
"Are you all right?" I asked Wasnapohdi, entering Grunt's lodge.
"Yes," she said, kneeling fearfully in its recesses. "What is going on?" she asked.
"Watonka has betrayed the camp," I said. It is under attack by both tarnsmen and Yellow Knives. Has Grunt come back?"
"No," she said. "Cuwignaka, are you hurt?"
"No," he said, trembling. "The blood is not mine."
"Where are my weapons?" I asked Wasnapohdi.
"I killed a man," said Cuwignaka.
"Hre," said Wasnapohdi, going to a bundle at the side of the lodge, unwrapping it. Within it was my belt, with the scabbard and knife sheath, and the small bow I had purchased long ago in Kailiauk, with its sheaf of twenty arrows.
"Tatankasa," said Cuwignaka.
"Yes?" I said. I took the belt in my hands. I had not worn it since I had accepted the collar of Canka.
"Do not arm yourself," said Cuwignaka. "You might be spared as a slave."
I buckled the belt about myself, I lifted the short sword in the scabbard and dropped it back in place. I tested the draw of the knife. The sheath hold was firm but the draw was smooth. I bent the bow, stringing it. I slung the quiver over my shoulder. I would use the over-the-back draw. I took two arrows in my hand, with the bow, and set another to the string.
I looked at Cuwignaka.
"The camp is large, and populous," I said. "It ca
Cuwignaka shook his head, numbly. "I ca
"Come, Wasnapohdi," I said to the girl. "We will try to find others. I will try to get you back to Grunt."
She stood, to follow me.
"If necessary, Wasnapohdi," I said to her, "fall on your knees before Yellow Knives, and tear open your clothing, revealing your breasts to them. If they find you attractive they may not slay you. They may only put their ropes on you."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"But I do not need to tell you that, do I," I asked, "for you are a woman."
"No, Master," she whispered. Men are the warriors and women, she knew in her heart, were among the fitting spoils of their vicitories.
At the interior threshold of the lodge I turned again to face Cuwignaka.
"I killed a man," he said, shuddering. "I could never do that again. It is too terrible a thing."
"The first is the hardest," I said.
"I ca
"If you remain here," I said, "you must prepare to lie down and die with the i
"Do you respect me, Tatankasa?" he asked.
"Yes," I said, "but death will not. It respects on one. It respects nothing."
"Am I a coward?" he asked.
"No," I said.
"Am I wrong?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"I do not know what to do," he said. "I am troubled."
"I wish you well, mitakola, my friend," I said. "Come, Wasnapohdi."
I briefly reco
"Back!" I said. "Down!"
We stepped back and crouched down between a lodge. Eleven riders passed.
"Yellow Knives," I said.
In the belts of several of them were thrust bloddy scalps, the blood run down their thighs and the sides of their legs, across their paint.
"If you do not fight." I asked Cuwignaka, "who will protect the weak, the i
"I ca
"Where are we going, Master?" asked Wasnapohdi.
"Toward the place of the council lodge," I said.
"That is doubtless the center of the attack," said Cuwignaka.
"We do not have kaiila to flee with," I said. "If there is resistance it seems natural to expect it at that point, particularly if it is organized. That is the center of camp. Men can reach it most easily, and strike out from it most easily."
"That is true," said Cuwignaka.
"Come along," I said.
"Step carefully," I said. "Several have died here."
We picked our way through twisted bodies.
Wasnapohdi threw up.
"These are your people," I told Cuwignaka.
"I ca
The girl, lying on her back, nude, looked up at us, wildly. Her knees were drawn up. Her ankles were crossed and bound. Her wrists, behind her, were fastened at the small of her back and, by a double thong, looped twice, tightly, about her body, held in place there. I ran my finger under the belly thongs. She winced. In her body there were deep marks from them. I then let the tongus return to their place. The fellow who had tied her had done a good job. The thongs were merciless. A woman, of course, too, because of the glorious nature of her beauty, the sweet flaring of her hips, the lovely swelling of her upper body and breasts, ca
The girl, squirming, looked wildly up at me.
"Come along," I said to Cuwignaka and Wasnaphohdi.
We left the girl behind us, whimpering. She would stay where she was. Later her new master, if he remembered, would return for her, to claim her. If he did not she was, in any case, clearly marked. When the loot ws sorted out it would be at his feet she would be placed.
"Be quiet," I whispered. "There are others here. This is obviously a collection point."
"How horrifyingly they treat us," gasped Wasnapohdi. "How horrifyingly they tie us, and put us about, as though we might be cord wood."
Even as she spoke a white slave girl, naked her hands bound behind her, ru