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was the name of your husband?"
"Natahk& " She shook her head. "Would you have me invent a name and give it to you?"
"I would have you obey me and answer my questions!"
"Yahnoh is my husband."
Natahk lifted his head slightly. "I know of a Tehkohn judge called Yahnoh."
"Of course. My husband."
"'Of course,'" he mimicked. "I think I will give you a meklah fruit to swallow back your next lie with."
Frightened, Alanna said nothing. The risk had always been there. She might have to undergo a third
withdrawal. But she was not weak or sick now. She would not sell either group of her people to avoid
readdiction any more than Jules had.
But Natahk's mood seemed to change. His anger faded and he moved closer to her. As he spoke he
touched her throat lightly. "And even with that threat, I will not stop you from lying or counseling your
Missionaries to side with the Tehkohn. But soon I will stop them from listening to you. I wonder if the
Tehkohn have really found some use for them. Or if they only planned to kill them."
Alanna pulled away from the caressing fingers in disgust and stood up. At least he was diverted from his
questioning.
"Be still," he said quietly. He touched her again. "Am I so different from your husband? After all, judge
that he is, even he is not the leader of his people."
"He's my husband. What more does he have to be than that to bar your way?"
"A Tehkohn marriage means nothing to us."
She frowned at him. He was more right than he knew about one thing. He sounded far too much like
Diut like the Diut who had demanded a liaison with her such a short time ago. But Diut had changed,
had allowed her to mold him as he molded her. And Diut was trying to help the Missionaries while
Natahk was endangering them.
"Why should you want me?" she asked him. "You have Gehl now. You could have any other without
trouble."
"You must become part of the tie," he said. "That will turn your people away from you so that you can
no longer counsel them against me also, it will protect you from their foolish customs. My only other
choice would be to kill you and I don't want to do that. We're much alike, Alanna, you and I. I risk the
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r r
anger of my hunters by saving and tying in with the Missionaries because I can see that in spite of the
Missionaries' weakness, their knowledge will strengthen us. And you risk the anger, the savagery, of
your people as you try to save them from me."
Another parallel. He was right, of course. However much she hated him, she and Natahk had similar
goals they worked for the good of their respective peoples. But they were not as alike as he wished. "I
will not accept a liaison with you," she said.
"So? Shall I give you to another hunter? Or perhaps several other hunters until one of them becomes
your husband."
"Why should you choose my mate? That is not the custom."
"But you have no blue." He smiled. "The power of the blue is a lie. My people believe it. I only use it. I
killed a hunter and huntress bluer than myself to become First Hunter." He clasped her throat between
thumb and fingers, deliberately intimate. "And now, I will have the wife of a man blue enough to be
called a judge but not blue enough to stop me!"
Gehl opened the front door and came in.
Quickly, but seemingly casually, Natahk dropped his hand to his side. Knocking was not a Garkohn
custom and Jules and Neila usually kept their door latched to avoid the most obvious intruders. But with
all the recent coming and going, the latch had been left off. The Garkohn woman stood staring at Natahk
and Alanna, noting, Alanna was certain, how close Natahk stood, and how Alanna had not moved away.
Natahk had been bragging about his rank. Now Alanna remembered Gehl's. She too had fought her way
up, killing those who opposed her. Natahk himself held the only authority she accepted.
Eyes downcast, Alanna stepped away from Natahk. She could not yellow as another Kohn would have,
but she hoped Gehl would understand. Alanna felt no shame at giving way. With her incomplete
training, she was not ready to face such an opponent even if she had considered Natahk a prize worth [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]