“Kerrick.”
There was death in the name, so much so that Akotolp protested.
“You risk your own life, Eistaa, speaking in that manner. You are not well enough yet for such emotions.”
Vaintè leaned back on the soft coverings and signaled agreement, resting before she went on.
“I must give this much thought. When we attack the ustuzou in the future we must do it in a new and different manner. Our knowledge has been diminished because now we can believe the raptor’s pictures just half of the time. The daylight half. The ustuzou can move concealed by the darkness of night.” She turned to Akotolp. “You know of these things. Can pictures be made during the night?”
Akotolp stroked her fat wattles as she thought. “Such a thing may be possible. If it is, there are certain birds that fly at night. Something may be done.”
“You will start at once. Another question—is there a way to look at the pictures from the raptor in greater detail?”
“The meaning of your question escapes me, Eistaa.”
“Then listen again. If the ustuzou Kerrick arranged the attack, then he must have been with the band. Therefore he will be in one of the pictures. Can we discover that fact?”
“The question is clear. Details in the pictures may be expanded, enlarged so that a small detail will be many times bigger.”
“You have heard, Etdeerg. See that it is done.”
Etdeerg signed acceptance of the command and hurried away. Vaintè turned her attention back to Stallan.
“We will attack in a different manner in the future. Night defenses must be prepared as well. It will take much thought. This must never happen again.”
“We will need many more fargi,” Stallan said.
“That is one problem that already has a solution. While you were away we received the glorious news that all of the preparations have been completed. Inegban* comes to Alpèasak before the end of summer. The two cities will be one again, strong and complete.
“We will have all the resources we need to sweep the ustuzou from the face of the earth.”
Both Akotolp and Stallan signed happy acceptance of this fact, as did Vaintè herself. If this had happened any time before she had been wounded she would have had to find more formal ways of speaking of it, around it. Then her desire to rule Alpèasak had been her drive in life, her only and strongest ambition. Her hatred of Malsas< had been extreme because the Eistaa of Inegban* would be Eistaa of Alpèasak in her place when the two cities became one. Now she welcomed Malsas<'s arrival. The spearthrust that had driven her into darkness, illness, and pain had changed everything. As first dim consciousness had returned after her injury, she had remembered what had happened. What that ustuzou had done to her. The ustuzou whose life she had saved, the one that she had raised up to stand close beside her and to do her bidding. The ustuzou that had repaid all of this by attempting to kill her. This brutal act would not go unpunished. Thinking of Kerrick only made her more resolute in her desire to rid the earth of the blight of his kind of creature. All Yilanè would feel the same when they discovered what had been done to the fargi who had been sent north. When Inegban* came to Alpèasak the Yilanè would realize that existence here was far different from the life that they had known before this, at peace in a city of peace. When their own lives and future were threatened as well by the ustuzou there would be an upswelling of support. All of the might, the science, and the energy of the Yilanè would then be united behind a single idea. Destroy the ustuzou. Wipe all trace of them from the face of the earth. Mount a crusade that would sweep them away like the blight, the obscene disease that they were. A crusade that could have but a single leader. Vaintè saw her destiny at last. * * * CHAPTER EIGHT The air was so still beneath the tall trees that the cold fog hung there, unmoving. This chill silence was broken only by the dripping of water from the leaves, the distant calling of a bird. A rabbit hopped cautiously from under a bush and began nibbling at the thick grass in the clearing. It stopped suddenly and sat up, ears turning to listen, then disappeared in a single frightened bound.