Chapter Twenty-seven
Challen rode hishataardeep into the woods before dismounting. Fog was trapped in pockets low to the ground, making it a gloomy place well suited to his mood. He wasn’t there to hunt, though the area teemed with animal life. Two plump graycuraki,likely mates, cooed down at him from a nearby tree. Akarrilslithered around the limb of another.Kisrakibolted when thehataargrazed too close to their warren, but the well-trained animal merely swished his tail.
Challen chose the tree thekarrilwas hunting in to sit under, almost hoping the slimy thing would drop down in his lap. He watched its slow progress along the tree limb without really seeing it, looking inward instead and not liking what he saw, any more than he had when his thoughts and lack of control had driven him from the castle earlier.
He had come socloseto challenging theshodanof Sha-lah for some ridiculous reason he could not even remember, and all because a woman had his emotions twisted in coils of regret, anger, confusion, exasperation, guilt, frustration; and, Droda help him, it was not lessening one bit. Half those emotions had been with him since the previous rising when Tamiron first told him of the woman’s misconduct.
He had felt anger, more anger than he could ever remember feeling, that she had put herself in danger by the use of her strange skills. Also present, but more unusual still, was a feeling of strong annoyance that she had not worn the colors that would proclaim her as his, regardless that he had not explained the necessity to her. It was a rule meant to avoid confusion and keep warriors from claiming protected women if they should happen to become separated from their escort for any reason. But Challen realized it was more important to him that Tedra De Arr simply not be bothered, that he wanted no other warrior getting close to her.
Confusion came next, because he was feeling things he did not understand, but mostly because his duty was suddenly abhorrent to him. The woman had to be punished. There could be no exceptions in this, and it was his responsibility to do it. But he wanted not to do it. And this reluctance was also something he had never felt before.
He had been punishing women since he had become old enough to be responsible for them, mostly for behavioral reasons, not for the breaking of rules. Women obeyed the rules that pertained to them because they knew those rules were for their protection and benefit. They also did not like punishment and tended to avoid it with proper behavior, so he had not punished many women. Doing so had never bothered him before. It was simply something that had to be done. But he had punished only a few women in the way he had punished his Kystrani, and only because they had been sharing his bed at the time.
Yet it was the most common form of discipline for a warrior to give his own woman, the one he most preferred to use if he felt more than normal concern for her, since it in no way did her harm, and it was quickly over with. Denying sustenance only made a warrior worry for his woman’s health. Giving total solitude only made them both suffer, as did other punishments such as Darasha labors, which caused exhaustion, discomfort from rarely used muscles, and any number of other lingering adverse effects. Arousal without release was the punishment women preferred, too, if given a choice, and for the same reasons, but also because they knew if their need had not diminished by the next day, it would be seen to, to their complete satisfaction.
Because itwaspreferable to women, he had thought Tedra would think so, too, but still he had not wanted to do it. That reluctance had led to his stupidity in thinking a double dose ofdhayajuice would make punishing her easier. It did. It also affected his mind somewhat, and now his memory, in that there was little he recalled of the actual punishment other than that he had been totally lacking in concern or mercy during the administering of it.
He did remember that, and not even caring that it was so, when both feelings were a prerequisite of discipline. But also absent had been all sense of time, only he did not know it until thedhayajuice had let go some of its hold near the new rising, enough for him to realize the punishment had continued much, much longer than it should have. And therein lay a guilt so strong, he wondered if he could ever face the woman again.
Thekarrildropped suddenly from the tree, landing a few feet from Challen’s bent legs. It was best not to startle the poisonous thing as it had startled him, so he remained still until it slithered off into the brush. But it had brought him back to an awareness of his surroundings, and to the Kystrani voice box he held in one hand.
He was not sure why he had brought the box with him. He fully intended to examine it, but there was no hurry to do that. Perhaps he had hoped it would speak to him, that he might learn from it a better understanding of his woman. But he knew not how to make it speak, or if it even would speak to anyone other than Tedra.
The box was white, with small gray things rising on its surface, some round, some rectangular. There was a smooth square black surface on one flat side, with a circle below it that contained many holes. In one end there was a deeper hole like an inverted cone, and all over the box were tiny raised markings similar to the scribbles in the scrolls kept by the Guardian of the Years.
Challen shook the box, but that did not wake the voice. He had seen Tedra point the box to give stillness to thetaraanand himself. Stunning, she had called it, but how she had made the red line that had touched them both come out of it he knew not. He had also seen her hit the box to make the voice silent. Could that also wake it?
He hit the box, and was so startled by the red line that shot out of it to touch the tree limbs above his head, he immediately dropped it to the ground. As soon as he had let go, however, the red line disappeared. He stared at the box now, unwilling to touch it again, but knew he would. He had managed to stun a tree. He would get the box to speak, too.
He picked it up again and carefully pointed the coned hole, which the red line had come out of, away from him. Then he began touching the gray shapes to see which one had made the line when he hit it. The first shape did not depress, but slid up and down, moving no more than an inch. Nothing happened in either direction. The second shape depressed and brought the line back. He played with that for a moment, intrigued because the line stayed on only while the round shape was depressed. The next shape was round with a line on it that pointed to markings. This turned, but did nothing that he could see. The next shape also depressed, and the noise that then came out of the box was so loud, Challen was again startled into dropping it.
“Where the hell have you been?!” the woman’s voice screeched up at him from the ground, and then there was silence.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Challen knew the woman inside the box was waiting for him to answer her question. But the question had not been meant for him, surely, so he said nothing. And also, he was not so sure now that he wanted to speak with her. What could she tell him, after all, that could assuage his guilt or aid him in making amends for what he had done?
And then the voice came again, in a much calmer tone.
“I retrieved your belt. I don’t have to tell you how disturbed I was that you weren’t in it.” Again there was the waiting silence, then, “Tedra, can’t you talk?”
The next silence worried him, being much longer. If he didn’t speak, the voice might go away, and he wasn’t sure if it had come by itself or if he had brought it.
“Tedra is not here.”
Immediately he was asked, “Who are you?” “Challen Ly-San-Ter.”
“A lot that tells me,” the voice grumbled. “Look, fella, be a good sport, why don’t you, and give the unit back to Tedra. You do know who she is, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And you know where she is?” “Certainly.”
“Certainly? Why do I get the feeling that word has a wealth of meaning in it?”.
“Are you Martha?”
“Ah, I thought so. So you know Tedra well enough for her to tell you about me. That’s good. That will make things much easier. But why don’t you pick up the unit and turn it around now? The grass on your world is interesting, but I’d rather see whom I’m talking to.”
