Still murmuring reluctance, Kade dismounted. Azak's mule, already stripped of its tack, was rolling in the thick gra.s.s with all four legs in the air, obviously agreeing with his opinion of this place.

In another half hour or so, the work was done. Azak had chopped saplings and branches from the woods and dragged them over to the copse to fashion a windbreak. Kade was sitting in there, brewing a peaceful pan of tea on a small fire. The mules were contentedly chomping gra.s.s at the end of long tethers, and Inos was standing on the riverbank with Azak. A brief inspection of the mounds had turned up nothing more interesting than old hearthstones, the day was not over yet, and she wasn't sure what she wanted to do next.

Azak was shielding his eyes with his hand as he studied the westering sun. Estimating time, likely.

Inos wondered idly how it would feel to throw her arms around that oversized camel jockey and kiss him till his beard smoked, to be herself kissed as Andor had once kissed her. Actually Andor's kiss had not been all that spectacular, even if he had used occult power. The kiss she really remembered, out of her very small collection, had been when Rap had been leaving for the spring drive and . . . but Rap was dead, and while she had a certain natural curiosity about how an overgrown, bushbearded sultan might kiss, she could not detect any real excitement in herself in considering the prospect. Nor any real desire to try it, even were Rasha's curse to be revoked. So perhaps she was not making much progress in the falling-in-love department.

She could not imagine any man she would rather have here to guard her against the dangers of a savage landa"as long as his curse was in place, of coursea"and very few men she could less easily imagine wanting to share the rest of her life with. Trust in love? Fun to have around, perhaps, but . . . every day? Every night?

G.o.ds, but he had noticed her stare! She turned quickly to face the wind. "Is that the sea I can smell?"

There was a heart-stopping pause, then he said, "I think so. It can't be very far offa" two days, maybe."

"Then we head west, to Qoble?"

"Maybe. We shall come to that large river, and we are on the wrong side of it."

She should have thought of that, of course! "I feel very grubby. This water will be warm, I expect."

He frowned at the arc of white sand fringing the meadow. "The current is swift, little kitten."

"Oh, I shan't go in deep. I can't swim. It's quiet this side." Near the sand, the water was barely bothering to move the leaves drifting on its surface, but the far bank had been undercut into a small cliff and there the river was bundled in glistening, motionless waves below the overhanging forest boughs. Even as she watched, a floating stick went leaping through those waves at an astonishing speed.

Azak grunted, peering upstream and downstream, and also across at the jungle, which was thick and dark, casting shadows on the river. "Crocodiles?"

"No!"

"Well, I can't see any," he admitted. "But don't trust floating logs, especially if they smile at you."

Inos shivered. "I shall certainly keep that in mind. But I will wash the clothesa"and me."

"I'll stay within earshot." He spoke seriously, his face expressionless.

Inos realized that she had been expecting a wisecrack, perhaps a joke about keeping careful watcha"the sort of racy retort she would have received from her friends among the stablehands and servants of Krasnegar. Even the young dandies at Kinvale would likely have tried to mask embarra.s.sment with wit. Not Azak. Of course the female body held no secrets for him, and to spy on her would be self-inflicted torment. His sense of fun was an intermittent, unpredictable thing anyway.

"You are going hunting!" she said firmly.

"Oh! I am?" He pursed his lips in astonishment.

"Yes, you are. You know we're short of supplies. Fresh meat will be a welcome change after all those pancakes and dates and things. You have time."

He nodded, amused. "And who will defend you?"

She began walking back to the shelter. "What is there to defend from? Mosquitoes?"

"Lions," he said, following. "No!"

"I saw some spoor, a long way back."

Tramping through knee-high gra.s.s, she said, "Don't lions hunt at night? "

"That depends on how hungry they are, and how appetizing the prey. Some people look very appetizing. Sunset is a favorite time. Besides, they might be tigers, and I trust those even less."

"I would enjoy a nice slice of venison, or a plump bird." She was not a witless city girl who panicked at a mention of lions. He shrugged. "As you wish. It won't take me long to find something."

Obviously he did not rank the lions and tigers very high as a danger if he was willing to leave two women alone for even a short while. They had all been together too much for too long; a break would do them all good.

"Don't mention lions to Kade."

"I won't, but you keep the other bow to hand while I am gone."

Clearly Inos was still one of the boys, and his faith in her competence was both flattering and rea.s.suring.

She sat and sipped a pan of scalding tea with Kade. By the time it was finished, Azak had saddled up the largest mule and ridden it off into the trees. The others snickered to it a few times and then lost interest. Kade was still strangely twitchy and nervous and obviously trying not to show it.

"He won't be gone long, will he?"

"Azak? No." How odd! Inos thought that Kade ought to be finding Azak's absence restfula"usually he made her jumpy. "Tell me what's wrong, Aunt."

Normally Kade's rosy cheeks were lighted by internal sunshine. Today strange shadows seemed to dull them. "Nothing! Nothing at all! Just superst.i.tion, the Accursed Land."

"Well, I have never met a name less suited. It's idyllic. Azak's quite sure there are no people here."

Kade nodded, uncertain. Then the old blue eyes steadied on Inos. "You're not changing your mind, dear, are you?"

"About what?" Inos had not seen Kade wear quite that expression since their first weeks together in Kinvale.

"Well, Azak. I know he's being very persistent." Kade blushed. "He's a very handsome man, in his way, anda""

"We're planning the announcement as soon as we arrive at . . ." Inos laughed and shook her head. "No, I have not changed my mind! I feel easier in his company than I did, maybe, and I do find him fun at times. But you needn't start polishing the state plate yet."

"Well, I just wondered. I hope you don't mind my asking?"

"Of course not! Now, do you want to sit here, or come and do laundry with me?"

Kade considered, and seemed to make an effort to overcome some daytime nightmare. "I'll stay here and watch the fire. I'll come and have a wash later."

Odd! But the mountains had been very hard going. A good night's rest was the least of what Kade needed, and had earned. Even an hour's solitude might be good for her.

And she might credit her niece with just a little more selfcontrol. Handsome man indeed! There were lots of handsome men. And nice outside didn't necessarily mean nice inside. Things like honesty and reliability didn't always show in faces. Andor had been handsome, and who could have been plainerlooking than Rap?

Leaving her aunt sitting in her shift, Inos bundled up their two robes and all the spare linen, and stalked off toward the sand and the river. About a third of the way there she remembered Azak's warning to keep weapons handy. She stopped and considered. The idea of her bringing down a charging lion or a brace of tigers was not a very convincing one. On the other hand, he had been serious and he had trusted her. Azak had a very harsh tongue for those who disobeyed his orders. How would she feel if something dangerous did come and she had ignored so obvious a precaution? Feeling rather foolish, she marched determinedly back to the shelter, added a bow and three arrows to her load, and set off again for the water.

She untied her robe, and was amused to find herself pausing and glancing around before continuing to undress, even though she knew there had been no snoopers in these parts for a thousand years. She left her shift on. Adding her outer clothes to the others, she knelt down in cool water and set to work as well as she could with only a sc.r.a.p of crude goat-tallow soap and with no rocks to beat them. Then she spread them on the long, warm gra.s.s to dry.

By that time, the air was chill on her skin, for the sun had ducked below the high treetops. As the air had cooled, so the water had seemed to become warmer. If she did not take her dip soon, the crocodiles might sneak up on her in the dark.

She took a careful look at the river and could see no floating logs, with or without smiles. A mule brayed in the distance, so Azak must be returning already, and she was surprised to discover how comforting that knowledge wasa"solitude had become an unfamiliar sensation.

Trying to remember when she had last been completely alone, she stripped to the skin and waded out into the river. Soon the current was unpleasantly strong, tugging at her legs and prizing the sand out from under her toes. By the time she was knee deep, she dared go no farther. She knelt and soaped, splashed and rubbed.

Two mules whinnied.

She ducked her head for one last rinse, then started back to the sh.o.r.e, squeezing water from her hair. She rubbed wetness off her skin with her hands, wishing she had some of those seductively soft towels from the palace in Arakkaran. She reluctantly concluded that she would have to dress in damp clothes . . .

Mules did not whinny!

Then she heard Kade scream.

2.

In the muddle of memories that Inos retained of the ensuing events, it always seemed as if the sun went down at that exact same instanta"as if she left the water in daylight, leaped across the sand and up the bank with one jump, and landed on the turf in dusk. Deep shadows of the high forest crown filled the meadow as she raced across it, her bow in one hand, three arrows and a wet shift in the other, pursued by every terror her mind could conjure. Twigs and small pebbles dug at her bare feet, and th.o.r.n.y flower stems under the long gra.s.s sc.r.a.ped her shins. She stumbled over tussocks and hidden ridges. Her damp skin was cool, to match the icy horror inside her, and her hair was a wet rag flopping on her back.

Kade! Oh, Kade!

The mules had not screamed as they would have done for lions. The mules were still there, eating contentedly. Inos could see them, vague shapes in the gathering dusk. The whinnynoises had been ponies, or horses.

Why would Kade have screamed just once?

And a sudden flash of claritya"what did Inos think she was doing racing across the meadow in the nude? Why, oh, why, did she never stop to think? She should have taken the three seconds necessary to pull on a robe, instead of just grabbing up a sodden sc.r.a.p of underwear that wasn't going to do very much good if the danger was human. Specifically, man-type human. That insight struck her about halfway from the river to the little windbreak; she stumbled, recovered, decided she could not desert Kade, and kept on running, heart pounding now from fear and exertion both.

Smoke still drifted from the tangled screen of branches Azak had woven between the saplings. Nothing looked disturbed. Kade was in there, or behind there. With what? With whom?

A mule brayed, and they all raised their heads.

Eight of them! Four mules and four horses. Saddled horses. Full-size horses, dim in the twilight. Well-trained horses, with their reins left dangling, cropping gra.s.s. Maybe a minute had pa.s.sed since Kade screamed, and then a man stepped out of the shelter.

Inos dug in her toes, windmilled her arms once, and stopped dead, gasping for breath and simultaneously tucking the arrows under her arm and trying to arrange her skimpy covering like a curtain in front of herself with her freehand. It wasn't very satisfactory.

He had seen her. He held out his hands in welcome and called something. She made out not a single word, but his meaning was clear enough: Here she comes. Three other men emerged at his side, indistinct in the gloom. She could see few details, but they were men, young men, and she had no clothes on.

For a moment Inos just gaped in horror and disbeliefa"Azak had been so certain there were no traces of people. And the four strangers likewise stood and gazed at her. These were no primitive savages; they were decked out in long pants and some sort of neat shirts or tunics, all of the same dark-green shade. Each man wore a jaunty forester's cap with a feather in it and they carried longbows, the longest bows she had ever seen.

Then the first one made a beckoning motion and shouted to her, inviting. Come all the way.

Inos's feet began backing up of their own accord. To meet four strange men in a forest was bad enough, but to do so with no clothes on was the stuff of nightmares.

There was no way she could even pull on her stupid slip without laying down her weapons.

The strangers conferred briefly. One gestured at the horses, and the others jeered at him. The leader said something and they laughed. They laid down their bows, slid the quivers from their shoulders, and dropped those also.

Again the leader called to her, and she made out enough to know he was telling her to disarm, also. She had three arrows, only three. Plus one bow and a white flag.

"Who are you?" she shouted. "What do you want?" She eased back a few more stepsa"nearer the river and the forest beyond, nearer her heap of clothes. Kade! What had they done to Kade?

What? the leader shouted. Or so she a.s.sumeda"he cupped an ear.

"What do you want?" she cried again, ashamed of her shrillness.

One of the others said something, and they all laughed again. The leader shouted, pointing: You!

Then one of the others made a joke, and they all laughed, and quickly spread out in a straight line. The leader glanced along the line, then called out two or three words. Then two more . . .

On your marks . . . Get set . . .

They were going to run her down on foot. She would be first prize in the men's cross-country sprint.

And perhaps all the other prizes, too.

If she tried to escape from the loop of the river, the men would run her down easily. She could not swim. Crocodiles were a trivial evil nowa"she whirled around and took to her heels. Another obvious shout: Go!

And a glance over her shoulder confirmed that word. The race was on.

Three arrows, four men, fading light . . . she would not dare shoot until they were at point-blank range, and if they charged her together, she would not have time to draw her bow a second time. Could she bring herself to shoot an arrow into a human being? Even to try might be a stupidity, for if she felled some or wounded some, then how would the others retaliate?

She ran as she had never run, and the river was horribly far off. Beyond it lay deep forest where she could hide if she could ever reach it alive. Harsh breathing and pounding heart and tangles of gra.s.s grabbing at her legs to trip her . . . Somewhere on the run her useless slip caught on a bush and was lost.

She would never make it. She had provoked enough chases in her life to know that female legs were no match for men's when it came to running. Even when she had been taller than Rap and Lin she had never been able to outrun them.

Then a chorus of mule noise in the distance, and a thump of hoovesa"Azak! With a cry of relief, Inos stopped and spun around. The men were dangerously near already, closing in on her like talons, but they had stopped and turned also, to see who came. And they had left their bows at the shelter! Had she had any breath left, Inos would have cheereda"Azak would ride them down and fill them full of arrows and chop their heads off in the first half minute.

The mule came into view, coming from the upstream side, the way Azak had gone.

A largish mule, riderless.

Skittering and jumpy, it raced around in terror and indecision, and then headed for the others. It was Azak's mule. No Azak. The implications of that were not thinkable.

The four men laughed and jabbered and lost interest in the new arrival. They turned to face their quarry again. They were so spread out that it was hard to keep all four in view.

The leader called out to her and she thought she picked out some of the words: lady . . . friends . . . be friends . . . He repeated the beckoning gesture he had used before. Inos shook her head and stepped back, speechless with terror and lack of breath.

Blood roared in her head. Terror . . .

The man laughed. He pointed an arm at the mules, then raised a hand high to indicate height. He pulled an imaginary bow, swung his arm around, jabbing a thumb in his chest. He made falling gestures. The other three gasped out fits of laughter at this dumbshow.

Azak bushwacked? Shot down from cover? So his panicdriven mount would have fled and then eventually circled back to join its companions.

Azak shot . . . What had they done to Kade? Azak . . . Kade . . .

Now Inos.

She dropped two arrows and heaved on her bow to string itfaster than she had ever done thata"and she had the third arrow notched at once, pointing at the leader. In this twilight, with her heart bouncing all around her chest, she was probably not capable of hitting a rain barrel from the inside.

The men on the ends were edging around, moving to encircle her. Again the leader called out in his singsong dialect, unfamiliar and yet teasingly close to being intelligible: hurt? . . . no, he meant not hurt. . . promise, promise, promise . . . She would trust his promise like a viper's kiss. The meanings came more in gesture and inflection than words, but the mockery and gloating came more clearly still.