Survivor (20 page)

"Now?" she asked, gesturing toward her spotted body.

"Even now, perhaps. But before the spots came, surely."

"No."

I frowned, not believing her, but not wanting to say so.

"He is still young, Alanna. He may yet find the woman who can give him children. Not that his childlessness is the fault of the women he has known. But he still hopes."

"You mean… you mean he can't…?"

"He is Hao. The blue often brings sorrow as well as power. I tried for as long as there was any hope to find a man who could give me a child. So often, Hao come out of the air, born to judges—not even high judges. But my father and both Diut's parents were Hao. Diut and I both grew up certain that we too would produce children. It is hard to see that dream die."

I said nothing for several seconds. Then finally, "I wondered why he had no wife."

Tahneh's blue yellowed to green. ' It is a capricious thing. No Hao ever knows for sure until the time comes to take a mate, until several mates have been taken without result.'

"I see."

"See too that he is near to giving up. And he cares deeply for you, Alanna. I think your strangeness pleases him more than he would say. Part from him without trouble when he asks it, and he will call you back after a little time."

"As with you?"

"With me it was different. You know that."

"… yes." I faced her squarely. 'Did he tell you to advise me?"

"I'm not subject to his orders, Alanna. He does not tell me what to say." Her blue glowed softly as she spoke. "I advise you because you need advice—and because I can see that he cares for you, and you for him. Sometimes I can see your anger when he looks at me. You can never take my place with him, but if you follow my advice, you can build a place for yourself. And also…" She stopped.

"What?"

"You can save yourself from Kehyo's mistake."

I sat still, watching her, knowing that I was close to finding out what Diut had refused to tell me. "What mistake?"

"He has told you nothing of her, even after last night?"

I glanced down, did not answer. Tahneh had not been present at the gathering the night before. But the Tehkohn dwelling was similar in at least one way to the Mission colony. There were no secrets.

Tahneh nickered iridescent for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. "She was his first mate, Alanna. She is the daughter of his mother's brother. His mother came out of the air and she had a brother who was a judge."

"Cousins!" I said startled. "He said nothing even of that."

"They grew up together," said Tahneh. "It is often done that way when there are cousins of similar age. They are placed with the same nonfighter second-parents so that when their time comes, they know each other well. There is no fear of rejection or ridicule. But Kehyo tied herself too tightly to him that first time. They came together once more later, but after that, Kehyo had a child by one of her judge mates, now her husband, Kahlahtkai. Sometimes I wonder if she has ever forgiven Kahlahtkai for that.

"Most often, she is reasonable and deserving of her high position. Diut has gambled much on her in war. But she is not content with her husband. She cannot seem to rid herself of the idea that she might have had a child by Diut if she had had one more liaison with him. Sometimes she seeks to frighten or humiliate Diut's mates. She has been quiet recently, belatedly taking pleasure in her two older children, and perhaps maturing a little. Also, Diut has beaten her twice over this. Until last night, I thought she had given it up, but perhaps your differences incite her."

"Will she challenge?"

"Not while you are with Diut. He has warned her. He cares deeply for her but if she tries that again, he will surely kill her."

She had tried it before then. "What about when I… when our liaison has ended—and when she has had her child?"

"When you leave Diut, that should end her reason for resenting you."

"Should."

"She is a fool about this one thing. Who can say what she will do. Don't worry about her though, Alanna. I don't think Diut will let her interfere with you."

But I did worry. When I left Tahneh, it was to look for Diut and find out what I could do to speed my training. I had a new reason now for wanting to become the best fighter that I could as soon as I could.

Natahk stood before the Missionaries gathered on the common and commanded them exactly as he would have commanded Garkohn.

"You will return to your homes and gather as many of your possessions as you can carry," he said. "At least one of my hunters will watch in each house with you. When you have finished, you will return here and wait until the rest of your people are ready. Then, together, you will be moved south where you will make a new settlement, away from raiding Tehkohn."

The people stared at him in shock, then looked at each other. Now that they had been disarmed, they were being abducted. What could they do? They called out to Natahk, to Jules, to each other. They argued and shouted and drowned each other out. Jules came out of the crowd to stand beside Natahk.

"Do as the First Hunter says," he ordered quickly. "Obey him! We can replace buildings and fields if we must. We can't replace lives."

There was silence for a moment as the people digested this. Then someone called out: "But our homes…! Our crops…!"

"We've built new homes before," said Jules. "And we have enough seed and enough time to plant new crops. We can start again. Whatever happens, we must start again."

"Go to your homes," commanded Natahk. "Do as I have told you."

"What about all the work we've done here?" Alanna could see that the speaker was John Williamson, a square burly man who served as the settlement blacksmith. "Just how much can we walk away from and still survive as civilized people."

"Obey!" roared Natahk. "Or you will not survive at all!"

No one dared speak in the face of the naked threat. There were already five bodies strewn around within the circle of Garkohn. Resistance would clearly not be tolerated. Slowly, hesitantly, the crowd began to fragment into smaller groups. The ring of Garkohn fragmented also, at least one going with each family group. Alanna noticed that the heavily muscled Williamson and his grown son drew three Garkohn. The natives were taking no chances.

Alanna came up to Jules and Natahk just in time to hear Jules speak in a low strained voice.

"Why couldn't you have warned me that you planned to do this? Are you just trying to drive them to violence so that you'll have reason to kill them?"

Natahk looked at him coldly. "I already have twelve reasons to kill them, Verrick. The twelve fighters that I lost last night. Be grateful that I do not use those reasons."

He started to walk away. Jules and Alanna followed when they realized that he was going toward the Verrick house. Neila was already there with Gehl. No doubt it was because of Gehl that Neila was gathering food, clothing, and tools to load onto Jules's handcart. Like everyone else, she appeared confused, angry, and frightened.

Natahk spoke to Gehl. "Keep watch outside. Bring me word when they have all gathered. If there is trouble, kill."

Gehl flashed white, glanced briefly at Alanna, and went out.

Natahk sat down, looked at Jules. "Sit, Verrick, and we will talk."

Jules obeyed. Alanna, wanting as little to do with Natahk as possible, moved away to help Neila pack.

"Alanna!" said Natahk sharply.

She stopped as she was about to enter her bedroom where Neila had gone. She turned to face Natahk. He said nothing more, but after a moment she returned tight-lipped to sit in Neila's chair.

He watched her with something between amusement and contempt. "Did you think that I would tell you any part of my plans and then leave you to warn the Tehkohn?"

She did not answer.

Natahk looked at Jules. "She has led you foolishly, and you have followed. Were you completely unable to see that you were endangering your own people?"

"Was I?" said Jules. "By keeping them out of a battle that would have killed many of them?"

"What do you think the Tehkohn will do to you now that they no longer need fear for the safety of the prisoners?"

Jules opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. He could not tell the truth, and apparently, he had not yet thought of a lie that would fit.

"YQU have made some arrangement with the Tehkohn," Natahk accused. "That is what I thought. They made you a few lying promises to save their people. And now that they have their people, how much do you think their promises are worth?"

Jules leaned back, watching Natahk. "I don't think I could do any worse trusting the Tehkohn than I did trusting you."

Natahk shrugged humanly. "I have never asked for your trust, Verrick. I am not asking for it now. I am telling you that it is in the best interests of the Tehkohn to kill you now before you can be of further use to me. That is why I am moving you. To save your foolish lives."

Alanna was startled to realize that Natahk was completely serious. He was not mocking now, in spite of his anger. He believed what he was saying. And, from his point of view, he was right. He knew of no reason for the Tehkohn not to move against the Missionaries. The trouble was, neither did Jules, really. He was simply, desperately, trusting Diut, trusting Alanna. If only he could hold that trust.

"With our weapons," said Jules, "we would have been willing to face the Tehkohn."

Natahk sighed. "With your weapons, you would have been willing to face anyone, including Garkohn. Your weapons helped to make you foolish. Without them, perhaps it will be possible for you to learn." He looked from Jules to Alanna. "Begin teaching your father. Tell him what he is."

"What he is?" asked Alanna frowning.

"What you are, what all Missionaries are now. Perhaps he will understand, hearing it from you."

"Oh." She knew what he wanted her to say, and the anger in his voice told her that it would do no good to protest. But her fear now that his plan might become a reality—that the Missionaries would be dragged away south before Diut could prevent it—made her protest anyway. "There is no need, Natahk. He knows. You have told him yourself."

"Let him hear it again."

She sat in silence, knowing that it was not only Jules that he was trying to reach. She was the actual collaborator, and Natahk knew it. She wondered whether he had some special punishment in mind for her. If he did, his sudden move now might give him the chance to carry it out.

"Alanna!"

Resigned, she spoke as though reciting. "We are a Garkohn people, united under your leadership with the other Garkohn of the valley."

"Not nearly as united as you will be," said Natahk. He looked at Jules. "Do you think I would accept a group of people so childishly weak that they fight only with the aid of weapons, and so without honor that they would use those weapons against other Garkohn?"

"All right," said Jules. "You've stripped us. We can't fight you. What happens now? Do we become your new judges?"

Natahk ignored his manner, answered the question seriously. "What happens after you are settled in the south is up to you, Verrick. You will become whatever you can become. It is possible that you will rouse yourselves and learn to fight, show the strength and stability you will need to become a fighter clan. Then, you may be judges of a
kind
, though with your blueless coloring, you will never command hunters. Or you might find your physical handicaps too great and become merely another nonfighter clan."

Alanna spoke up. "You hope for the former and expect the latter, don't you?"

He looked at her mildly. "Your minds are good. And we can use you either way. But we need fighters more than nonfighters."

"What of our needs?"

"Your…Mission?"

"At the very least," said Jules, "our Mission."

"Fulfill it. Breed, multiply, teach your young the glories of their past—as long as you can remember them. And as long as you remember that you are a part of us, subject to the orders of the First Hunter. You must change your thinking toward us, Verrick. You must learn the ways of the other clans so that you can deal with them without giving offense—just as they must learn your ways. And you must accept the tie. Other than that, you are free to stay together and live as you wish."

"You make it sound deceptively simple," said Alanna.

"It is simple," said Natahk. "You should be able to obey without trouble. Especially without the kind of trouble you have had. I think you know that Garkohn clans do not deal separately with non-Garkohn peoples. Especially not with proven enemies of the Garkohn." He paused, looked from Alanna to Jules. "Do you both understand what would be done to a hunter or an artisan or a farmer caught working with the Tehkohn?"

"We understand," said Alanna quickly. She was not eager to hear gruesome descriptions of Garkohn tortures. Diut had told her enough about them.

"I am not certain that Verrick knows, Alanna." His tone made her wish that she had not spoken. Again he was going to make her recite—ostensibly for Jules. And again the threat was actually for her. "You will tell him," Natahk ordered.

This time she was frightened enough not to argue. She spoke low-voiced to Jules. "A person caught working with an enemy tribe is painted red all over, and then he is blinded. They burn out his eyes. And they burn his hands until they can see that he will never use them again. Then they tie him with rope around his neck in the center of their dwelling, and wait to see whether or not he will live. If he lives, heals, they burn his legs. They burn behind the knee until the lower leg is useless. After that, he has to go on all fours if he wants to move. If he still lives, they keep him for sport, still tied by the neck like some special kind of animal, until someone gets too rough with him and he dies." She shuddered. "I have heard that some of them live a very long time."

"That part is wrong," said Natahk. "You should have been told that they cease to live as soon as they betray their people."

Jules looked at him with disgust. "All right, Natahk. You've made your point."