“Typical of a pet, not to be around when it could be useful,” she said dryly.
“Were you concerned for me,kerima?”
“Certainly not,” she snorted. “It was big, but you’re still bigger.”
“Then that was not your scream I heard?”
“Must have been some bird,” she quipped.
To her chagrin, Challen threw back his head and laughed at the blatant lie. And then he started toward her, and she was beginning to think she could read minds, for she had little doubt what was now on his.
She put out a hand to stop him. “You can hold it right there, warrior. You’re all covered in blood, if you hadn’t noticed. And you’ve done enough advantage-taking for one day, so just turn yourself around and head for the water to clean up. I’d like to reach this town of yours before dark and any moresa’abornshow up, if it’s all the same to you.”
He didn’t answer, but surprisingly, he did do as she suggested. Yet he was smiling in a very pleased way as he turned toward the stream, and Tedra could guess why. The farden warrior liked the idea that she’d been concerned about him. She, on the other hand, didn’t like it at all.
Chapter Eighteen
Sha-Ka-Ra wasnotwhat Tedra had anticipated. Perched on a flat plateau high up the side of Mount Raik, it was reached by a steep, winding road with barren hillsides on either side of it. This made the town ideally located for defense, especially with a solid mountain face behind it, yet she was relieved to see no high walls surrounding it, so obviously defense wasn’t necessary. She hadn’t been there long enough to consider that defense might simply be disdained.
Tedra got to see Sha-Ka-Ra from a distance, for it was visible as soon as they left the forest, flat cultivated land stretching for several miles before it. She could judge its size, which was impressive, and the types of buildings, all only one or two stories high, except for one. Smack in the center of the town was a white stonecastle,for Stars’ sake, with some round sections, some square or rectangular, but all seeming to be of different heights and shapes, as if each room inside had to be unique unto itself. A square tower in the center was the tallest section, spiral-roofed with a crenelated walkway at the top. It likely commanded a view of the entire countryside clear to the Bolcar Range, and maybe even beyond.
Tedra had seen computer-simulated castles, created from the Ancients’ detailed descriptions of such dwellings from their own times, but nothing like this magnificent barbarian structure that towered over the town like a benevolent guardian. Likely it was cold, gloomy, and dreadfully primitive inside, but that white stone gave it an impression of warmth and welcome from a distance.
It could only be the residence of the town’sshodan,so Tedra was delighted by the expectation that eventually she would get to see inside this primitive marvel, for surely she would meet with the lordly leader to discuss trade and the hiring of his warriors. But right now, as they approached the first buildings at the entrance of Sha-Ka-Ra, she was feeling nothing but nervous dread to be facing people again, to have them see her as she was, her wrists bound before her, her hair in wild disarray, her feet and legs bare, wearing only a farden scrap of fur. This was not how she had envisioned entering her first town on her first discovered planet, though she had to admit she was going to make an impression anyway, just not the right one.
The warriors who had returned before them must have given notice that something of interest would be corning along soon, for it seemed the whole town was turning out to watch Challen ride slowly down the Wide main street. In windows, in doorways, in small and large groups standing about, there were barbarians everywhere. And if she had thought Challen’s small band of warriors was unique in height and brawn, she was now shown otherwise. All the men of Sha-Ka-Ra were the same, give or take a half foot in height, and the same golden-to-brown coloring prevailed, too, in both hair and eyes, and this in both men and women.
Her first sight of the women she found of particular interest. She didn’t know what she had expected, but it wasn’t quite such blatant femininity portraying an image of softness, shyness, helplessness, their thin, scarflike gowns and cloaks floating around them in sections only adding to this image. Many of them might have the height for a Sec, but there wasn’t a firm muscle or aggressive bone among them. And children! Stars, it had been so long since Tedra had seen children—in fact, not since she herself was a child. Yet here she saw dozens, of all ages, some held in women’s arms, some holding the hands of warriors, some older boys even sporting swords. She stared with as much curiosity as they did at seeing a black-haired, aqua-eyed foreigner.
“What think you of Sha-Ka-Ra, woman?”
She wished he hadn’t asked. She saw clean streets lined with trees and gaali stone posts, orderly marketplaces where goods and foods were sold or traded, a lovely green park dotted with shade trees and a small pond where children cavorted. Houses bore beautifully carved arches, large glass windows of different shapes and sizes, some with railed balconies or roof decks open to the sun, and each had its own grass yard, its own garden and stable.
The town was civilized but still primitive, the golden-skinned people handsome, wearing beautiful materials and jewels, yet also still primitive. Every man wore a sword, be he merchant, craftsman, or warrior; every woman and child were accompanied by a man, not allowed to venture forth alone even in the safety of their own town. So how did Tedra answer him, a man who had shown these people’s attitudes to be the most primitive of all? Next to Kystran, this was the dark ages.
“Your town is … well, it’s lovely, of course, open, sanitary, much more than I expected.”
“Why do I sense constraint in your answer?”
“That’s merely surprise. Remember, I was expecting caves. And at least your women aren’t running around in animal skins like you men.”
That was unfair. Thezaalskinleather of his tight blackbracswas so expertly conditioned, it could have come out of a factory. The men in town wore the same, but with shirts, or to be more precise, a vestlike garment that was sleeveless in deference to the weather, fell just below the hips, and was merely wrapped and belted closed so that a deep V was left to show off the large round medallions they all seemed to favor. Which brought to mind …
“What is it, a warrior thing, that you men go out to face danger nearly naked, but wear more clothes at home?”
“The less restriction the better.”
Didn’t she know it, but she said, “You might not buy this, but most warriors, soldiers, or whatever you care to call fighters prefer a little protection in the way of armor or long-range weapons. It tends to increase life expectancy somewhat.”
He chuckled at her dry tone. “Such warriors must then be lacking in skill.”
“Oh, great. Conceit before preservation. I should have known.”
He ignored her sarcasm this time. “We carry shields to war or raid. That is enough”
“You people war on each other?” But she answered her own question. “Yes, of course you must. How else would you gain the captives you mentioned, those poor creatures that your rules demand you bind up like you have me?” The bitterness was back, but she couldn’t seem to help it. “I should be grateful,” she added. “At least the rule doesn’t say nakedandchained. Our own Ancients used to do that, drag the defeated through the towns in such an ignoble fashion.”
“So too do we.”
