There was no answer to this so Kerrick was silent, while all of the others were much amused. He looked at the stupid features of the creature at the other end of the lead and felt nothing but burning hatred. Then he noticed that Vaintè was looking closely at him and he silently expressed resignation and acceptance. She approved.
“This fargi has a new name,” Vaintè said, and they all grew silent. “From this moment on she shall be named Inlènu* for her mighty body shall make the entire world a prison for the ustuzou. Do you know your name, strong one?”
“Inlènu*,” she said with great satisfaction, knowing that she had been named by the Eistaa herself and would now serve the Eistaa.
Kerrick’s posture of acceptance was as false as the pleasure of all the rest in the chamber was true. He reached out slowly with his toe and rolled it over the length of the lead where it lay on the floor, already thinking of possible ways to sever it.
* * *
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Es mo tarril drepastar, er em so man drija.
If my brother is wounded, it is I who will bleed.
The evening sky was as red as fire behind the black outlines of the trees, while over the ocean the first bright stars had appeared, tharms of the strongest warriors. But the four men on the beach faced away from the stars, stared instead at the dark wall of the jungle before them, for they feared the unseen beasts that were hidden there. They crouched with their backs against the wooden side of their boat, taking some strength from its solidity. It had brought them here and would, they fervently hoped, take them safely away again from this place of many dangers.
Ortnar could no longer keep silent, and he spoke the thoughts of all of them.
“There could be murgu in there, watching us right now, ready to attack. We should not be here.” He chewed his lip with apprehension, his imagination filling the darkness with unseen dangers: he was a lean and nervous man much given to worry.
“Herilak told us to wait here,” Tellges said, and this decided the matter for him. He did not fear what he could not see, and much preferred taking orders to giving them. He would wait patiently until the sammadar returned.
“But he has been gone all day. He could be dead, eaten by the murgu.” Ortnar was possessed by the terror of his thoughts. “We should never have come this far south. We passed herds of deer, we could have hunted…”
“We hunt when we return,” Serriak said, catching some of Ortnar’s fear. “Now shut your mouth.”
“Why? Because I speak the truth, that is why. Because Herilak seeks revenge we will all die. We should not have come…”
“Be silent,” Henver said. “There is something moving along the beach.”
They crouched, spears ready, lowering them with relief only when Herilak’s silhouette was clear against the sky as he climbed the dune.
“You have been gone all day,” Ortnar said when the sammadar came close, the reproof clear in his voice. Herilak chose not to hear it, standing before them and leaning wearily on his spear.
“Bring me water,” he ordered, “then listen to what I have to say.” He drank thirstily, then dropped the gourd onto the sand and lowered himself beside it. When he spoke his voice was low and distant as he talked first of things they knew.
“The sammad of Amahast is no more, all killed, you saw their bones upon the shore. You see Amahast’s skymetal knife now around my neck and know that I took it from among his bones. What I found on that beach, among those skeletons, led me to believe that death came to them from the south. I chose you to come with me to find that death. I chose you because you are strong hunters. We have come south for many days, stopping only to kill for meat to fill our bellies. We have come south to the country of the murgu and have seen many of them. But yesterday we found something different. We found trails that were not animal trails. I followed those trails to wherie they led. I will tell you now what I found.”