Slowly, he set the expensive imported communicator aside—but not before furtively fingering one touch-spot on its surface. “They do not answer.”
Sesesthi-toa’s head bobbed knowingly. “For some reason, I not surprised.”
He started backing away. As he did so, a host of armed clansfolk appeared in the doorway in response to the hasty emergency call he had placed via the communicator. Sesesthi-toa eyed the watchful arrivals impassively.
“So. This is how war chief of the A’Jah shares the spoils of battle with his allies.”
“There are no spoils of which you speak, I am tell you! There is no eight hundred thousand Commonwealth credits. This is a deception to bring good friends to blows. Look at yourselves: it working!”
Sesesthi-toa hesitated. One did not become war chief of a clan as prominent as the S’Toa by being a fool. But behind her, knives were already being drawn, and she felt emotional as well as spiritual pressure against her back. Purely as a precaution, she started to draw her own weapon.
Aniolo-jat was among the most composed of all Sakuntala. But he was not made of stone. Indeed, he did not even know what stone was, having never seen such a thing. As the six fingers of Sesesthi-toa’s left hand reached for the long knife at her waist, he brought his own weapon around in a horizontal slash. His intent was only to make her keep her distance. Unfortunately, she was pushed forward from behind and his blade sliced into her arm. Blood spurted.
Pandemonium filled the house as visitors and occupants clashed in violent but archetypal Sakuntala combat. By the time it ended with the arrival of Yeruna-hua and reinforcements, both Sesesthi-toa and Aniolo-jat were dead, along with an inexcusable number of warriors representing six different clans. Despite Yeruna-hua’s attempts to keep the incident quiet, word inevitably escaped. Across the settled Viisiiviisii, clan promptly set upon clan in time-honored Sakuntala tradition. With the indigenous thus engaged, apprehensive but hopeful Deyzara began to return to their abandoned dwellings and ransacked places of business.