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“Who hired it done?”
“One or the other of them. No shakhshoph.It is what I told you: one chooses a loyalty and remains constant; it is the only way we know to survive—as for instance my own lords know where my loyalty in this matter must logically lie, and so I shall need to stay out of sight until the crisis is resolved: a cup of poisoned wine, some such thing—it is only reasonable to eliminate those men known to serve the opposition. I am highly expendable; I am not of this karsh,and therefore I was given to the lord in the port. I also was meant to be eliminated at the port; and now it is essential that we both be silenced.”
“Why?” Aiela had lost his power to be shocked. His mind simply could not grasp the turns of amaut logic.
“Why, my lord nas kame, if the population of this colony realizes the bnesychserves the other lord, it would split the colony into two factions, with most bloody result. We are not a fighting people, no, but one protects his own nest, after all—and the bnesychhas many folk in this venture who are not of karshGomek: out- karshfolk, exiles, such as myself. Such loyalties can be lost quickly. There is always natural resentment toward a large karshwhen it mismanages. And if it no longer appears the action at the port was on human initiative, it would be most, most distressing in some quarters.” He pressed his broad-tipped fingers to Aiela’s brow, where there was a swelling raised. “Ai, sir, I am sorry for your unhappy state, and I did try to find you before you wandered into a trap, but you were most elusive. When I knew you had entered the headquarters and when I saw the northside lights out, I acted and disposed my human agents at once, or you would be in the other lord’s hands before dawn.”
“Get me to the ship at the port,” Aiela said, “or get me a means to contact them, or there are going to be people hurt.”
“Sir?” asked Kleph, his squat face much distressed. He gulped several times in amaut sorrow. “O sir, and must the great lords blame those who are guiltless? See, here am I, out- karsh,helping you. Surely then your masters will understand that not all of us in this colony are to blame. Surely they will realize how faithfully we serve them.”
It was impossible to tell Kleph that the iduve did not understand the custom of service and reward, or that harm and help were one and the same to them. Aiela made up his mind to a half-truth. “I will speak for you,” he said, “maybe—if you help me.”
“Sir, what you ask is impossible just now, if you only under—”
“It had better not be impossible,” Aiela said.
Kleph rocked back and forth uncomfortably. “The port—these tu
“Then take me to the port.” Aiela gathered his stiffening legs under him, straightening as much as he could in this lowceilinged chamber. Kleph scrambled up with much more agility and Aiela snatched at his collar, for it occurred to him Kleph could run away and leave him to die in these tu
“You recovered my gun,” Aiela said. “Give it back.”
Kleph did not like it. He bubbled and boomed in his throat and twisted about unhappily, but he extracted the weapon from his belly-pocket and surrendered it. Aiela holstered it without letting go Kleph’s collar, and then pushed at the little fellow to start him moving. They came to tu
Light burst suddenly like a sun exploding, heat hit their faces, and the stench of ozone mingled with the flood of outside air. A shadow of manlike shape dropped from above into their red-hazed vision, and Aiela hauled back on Kleph to flee. But the pain of the idoikkheparalyzed his arm and he collapsed to his knees, while beside him on his face Kleph groveled and gibbered in terror, his saucer eyes surely agony, for the amaut could scarcely bear noon daylight, let alone this.
“Aiela,” said a chill, familiar voice, and the idoikkhe’stouch was gentle now, a mere signature: Ashakh.
Aiela expelled his breath in one quick sob of relief and picked himself up to face the iduve, who stood amid the rubble of the tu
What of the amaut?asked the pulses of the idoikkhe. Will you be rid of him?
“No,” Aiela said quickly.
A response in which I find no wisdom,Ashakh replied. But he put the small hand weapon back in his belt and looked down on the amaut, coming closer. “Get up.”
Kleph obeyed, crouching low and bowing and bobbing in extreme agitation. The light at his wrist swung wildly, throwing hideous shadows, leaping up and down the rough walls. Ashakh was a darkness, dusky of complexion and clad in black, but his eyes cast an unca
This person was aiding you?Ashakh asked.
“If Kleph is right, bnesychGerlach was behind what happened at the port, and Kleph risked a great deal helping me.”
“Indeed,” mused Ashakh aloud. “Do you believe this?”
“I have reason to.”
As you have reason for letting this amaut live? I fail to understand the purpose of it.
“Kleph knows Weissmouth,” said Aiela, “and he will be willing to help us. Please,” he added, sweating, for the look on Ashakh’s grim face betokened a man in a hurry, and the iduve understood nothing of gratitude. He misliked being advocate for Kleph, but it was better than allowing the little fellow to be killed.
Chimele values your judgment; I do not agree with it.
But Ashakh said no more of killing Kleph, and Aiela understood the implication: it was on his shoulders, and vaikkawas his to pay if his judgment proved wrong.
“Yes, sir,” said Aiela. “What shall we do?”
“Have you a suggestion?”
“Get a ship and get the others out of Tejef’s hands.”
Ashakh frowned. “And have you a means to accomplish this?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, we shall go to the port, and this person will guide us.” Ashakh fixed the trembling amaut with a direct stare and Kleph scurried to get past him and take the lead. The tall iduve must bend to follow as they pursued their way through the winding passages.
“Do they know—does the Orithain know,” Aiela asked, “what happened?”
We had a full account from Tesyel, who commands the base ship.And then in un-Ashakh fashion, the iduve volunteered further conversation. Chimele sent me to find you. I was puzzled at first by the direction of the signal, but remembering the amaut’s subterranean habits I resolved the matter—not without giving any persons trying to track us a sure indication of the direction of our flight. We had best make all possible haste. And I still mislike this small furtive person, Aiela-kameth.
“I can only decide as a kallia, sir.”
Honor to your self-perception. What are your reasons for mistrusting Gerlach?
12
The touch of Rakhi’s mind came softly, most softly. It had hurt before, and Chaikhe accepted it cautiously, her nape hairs bristling at the male presence. She fought to subdue the rage that beat along her veins, and she felt Rakhi himself struggling against a very natural revulsion, for chanokhiaforbade intimacy with a katasathe.She was for gift-giving and for honor, not for touching.
And there was his own distinctive harachia,a humorous, subdued presence. His arastiethesuffered terribly at close range, much more than hers did, for although folk judged Rakhi scandalously careless of his reputation, he was not really a person of kutikkaseand his sense of chanokhiawas keen in some regards. He cared most intensely what others thought of him, and found even the disapproval of a nas kame painful; but where others bristled and had recourse to the idoikkheior engaged in petty vaikka,Rakhi laughed and turned inward. It was the shield of a nature as solitary in its own way as Ashakh’s, and of a man of surprising intelligence. Even Chimele scarcely understood how much Rakhi dreaded to be known, how much he loathed to be touched and to touch; but Chaikhe felt these things, and kept her distance.