“Could he have—”
“And finally,” Okatar went on, relentlessly, “we have the very curious pattern of the fire itself.”
Okatar pointed to one of the warriors standing nearby, and the Komani switched in a huge floodlight that bathed the whole area in brightness.
“Look carefully at the scene of the fire,” Okatar said to Merdon. “Tell me what you see.”
Merdon said, “Blackened ground where the flames were burning. Some withered grass nearby. What else?”
“Starting here, where the Watchman’s tent stood,” Okatar said, striding to the scorched oval, “and looking outward toward the edge of the camp—what do you see?”
Merdon looked out along the direction indicated by the Kang’s outstretched arm. The evidence was clear;wo lanes of fire-blacked ground, and between them, a path of safety that led to the edge of the camp.
“I see,” Merdon said at last.
“Yes,” Okatar answered. “Now I ask you—who would have done this? Who would have committed this sabotage, and rescued the Watchman? One of my men, or one of yours?”
Merdon looked directly into the Komani chieftain’s eyes. “Perhaps neither,” he said evenly. “Perhaps it was the two Terrans who had escaped. They might have returned to free their fellow prisoner.”
“How would they know where he was being held?”
Merdon stroked his jaw for a moment. “They could have been watching the camp from those trees. Or the Watchman might have had some sort of miniature signaling device hidden on him.”
Okatar nodded. “Perhaps so. I had not considered that possibility.”
“My people have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with your warriors,” Merdon added. “There is no reason to think that they would have aided the Watchman, and done this damage to our cause.”