Latest / Daily Sci-Fi Books / 07 - The Door Through Space - Marion Zimmer Bradley

Transcript

07 - The Door Through Space - Marion Zimmer Bradley · Daily Sci-Fi Books

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter seven, Shaine Saw first in the chain of dry
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: towns that lie in the bed of a long dried ocean.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Is set at the center of a great alkali plain,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: a dusty, parched city bleached by a million years of sun.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The houses are high, spreading buildings, with many rooms and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: wide windows. The poorer sort were made of sun dried brick,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the more imposing, being cut from the bleached salt stone
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: of the cliffs that rise behind the city. News travels
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: fast in the dry towns. If Recall were in the city,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: he'd soon know that I was here and guess who
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I was or why I'd come. I might disguise myself
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: so that my own sister or the mother who bore
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: me would not know me. But I had no illusions
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: about my ability to disguise myself from Recall. He had
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: created the disguise that was me. When the second sun set,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: red and burning behind the salt cliffs, I knew he
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: was not in Shane Saw, but I stayed on, waiting
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: for something to happen. At night, I slept in a
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: cubby hole behind a wine shop, paying an inordinate price
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: for that very dubious privilege. And every day in the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: sleepy silence of the blood red noon, I paced the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: public square of Shainsah. This went on for four days.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: No one took the slightest notice of another nameless man
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: in a shabby shirt cloak, without name or identity or
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: known business. No one appeared to see me, except the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: dusty children with pale, fleecy hair, who played their patient
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: games on the wind swept curbing of the square. They
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: surveyed my scarred face with neither curiosity or fear, and
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: it occurred to me that Rindy might be such another
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: as these. If I had still been thinking like an
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: earth man, I might have tried to question one of
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: the children or win their confidence. But I had a
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: deeper game in hand. On the fifth day, I was
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: so much a fixture that my pacing went unnoticed even
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: by the children. On the gray moss of the square,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: a few dried looking old men, their faces as faded
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: as their shirt cloaks, and bearing the knife scars of
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a hundred forgotten flights, drowsed on the stone benches and
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: along the flagged at the edge of the square. As
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: suddenly as an autumn storm in the salt flats, a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: woman came walking. She was tall, with a proud, swinging walk,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and a metallic clashing kept rhythm to her swift steps.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Her arms were fettered, each wrist bound with a jeweled bracelet,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: and the bracelets linked together by a long silver gilt chain,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: passed through a silken loop at her waist. From the
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: loop swung a tiny golden padlock, but in the lock
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: stood an even tinier key, signifying that she was a
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: higher caste than her husband or consort, and that her
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: fettering was by choice and not command. She stopped directly
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: before me and raised her arm in formal greeting like
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a man. The chain made a tinkling sound in the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: hushed square as her other hand was pulled up tight
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: against the silken loop at her waist. She stood surveying
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: me for a few moments, and finally I raised my
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: head and returned her gaze. I don't know why I
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: had expected her to have hair like spun black glass,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and eyes that burned with the red reflection of the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: burning star. This woman's eyes were darker than the poison
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: berries of the salt cliffs, and her mouth was a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: cut berry that looked just as dangerous. She was young,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: the slimness of her shoulders, and the narrow, steel chained
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: wrists told me how very young she was, But her
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: face had seen weather and storms, and her dark eyes
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: had weathered worse psychic storms than that. She did not
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: flinch at the sight of my scars, and met my
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: gaze without dropping her eyes. You are a stranger. What
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: is your business in Chainsaw? I met the direct question
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: with the insolence it demanded, hardly moving my lips. I
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: have come to buy women for the brothels of Ardkoran.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Perhaps when washed, you might be suitable. Who could arrange
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: for your sail? She took the rebuke impassively, though the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: bitter crimson of her mouth twitched a little in mischief
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: or rage, but she made no sign. The battle was
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: joined between us, and I knew already that it would
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: be fought to the end. From somewhere in her draperies,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: something fell to the ground with a little tinkle, But
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I knew that trick too, and I did not move. Finally,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: she went away without bending tretrieve it. And when I
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: looked around, I saw that all the fleecehaired children had
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: stolen away, leaving their playthings lying on the curb. But
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: one or two of the gaffers on the stone benches,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: who were old enough to show curiosity without losing face,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: were watching me with impassive eyes. I could have asked
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the woman's name then, but I held back, knowing it
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: could only lessen the prestige I had gained from the encounter.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I glanced down, without seeming to do so, at the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: tiny mirror which had fallen from the recesses of the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: fur robe. Her name might have been inscribed on the reverse,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: but I left it lying there to be picked up
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: by the children when they returned and went back to
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the wine shop. I had accomplished my first objective. If
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: you can't be inconspicuous, be so damned conspicuous that nobody
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: can miss you. And that in itself is a fair concealment.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: How many people can accurately describe a street riot. I
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: was finishing off a bad meal with a stone bottle
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of worse wine when the chalk came in. Disregarded the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: proprietor and made straight for me. He was furred immaculately white.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: His velvet muzzle was contracted as if the very smells
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: might soil it, and he kept a dainty paw outstretched
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: to ward off accidental contact with greasy counters or tables
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: or tapestries. His fur was scented and his throat circled
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: with a collar of embroidered silk. This pampered minion surveyed
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: me with the innocent malice of an uninvolved non human
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: for merely human intrigues, You are wanted in the great
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: House of Shanithath guard Man. He spoke the Shainsaw dialect
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: with an affected lisp. Will it please you to come
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: with me? I came with no more than polite protest,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: but was startled. I had not expected the encounter to
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: reach the great house so soon. Shainsa's Great House had
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: changed hands four times since I had last been in Shainsaw.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I wasn't overly anxious to appear there. The white chalk
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: as out of place in the rough, dry town as
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: a jewel in the streets or a rain drop in
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the desert. Led me along a winding, bold boulevard to
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: an outlying district. He made no attempt to engage me
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: in conversation, and indeed I got the distinct impression that
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: this coxcomb of a non human considered me well Beneath
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: his notice he seemed much more aware of the blowing
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: dust in the street, which ruffled and smudged his carefully
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: combed fur. The great house was carved from blocks of rough,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: pink basalt, the entry guarded by two great Carryadids, and
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: wrapped in chains of carved metal set somehow into the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: surface of the basalt. The guilt had long ago worn
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: away from the chains, so that it alternately gleamed gold
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: or smudged base metal. The Caryadids were patient and blind,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: their jewel eyes long vanished under a hotter sun than
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: to day's. The entrance hall was enormous. A Terran starship
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: could have stood upright inside. It was my first impression,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: but I dismissed that thought quickly. Any Terran thought was
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: apt to betray me. But the main hall was built
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: on a scale even more huge, and it was even
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: colder than the legendary hell of the Chalks. It was
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: far too big for the people in it. There was
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: a little solar heater in the ceiling, but it didn't
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: help much. A dim glow came from a metal brazier,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: but that didn't help much either. The chalk melted into
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the shadows, and I went down the steps into the
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: hall by myself, feeling carefully for each step with my feet,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: and trying not to seem to be doing so. My
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: comparative night blindness is the only significant way in which
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: I really differ from a native wolfin There were three men,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: two women, and a child in the room. They were
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: all dry towners and had an obscure family likeness, and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: they all wore rich garments of fur dyed in many colors.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: One of the men, old and stooped and withered, was
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: doing something to the brazier. A slim boy of fourteen
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: was sitting cross legged on a pile of cushions in
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the corner. There was something wrong with his legs. A
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: girl of ten, in a too short smock that showed long,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: spider thin legs above her low leather boots, was playing
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: with some sort of shimmery crystals, spilling them out into
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: patterns and scooping them up again from the uneven stones
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: of the floor. One of the women was a fat,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: creased slattern whose jewels and dyed furs did not disguise
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: her greasy slovenliness. Her hands were unchained, and she was
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: biting into a fruit which dripped red juice down the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: rich blue fur of her robe. The old man gave
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: her a look like murder as I came in, and
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: she straightened slightly, but did not discard the fruit. The
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: whole room had a curious look of austere, dignified poverty,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: to which the fat woman was the only discordant note.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: But it was the remaining man and woman who drew
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: my attention, so that I noticed the others only peripherally
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: in their outermost orbit. One was Kirral, standing at the
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: foot of the dais and glowering at me. The other
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: was the dark eyed woman I had rebuked to day
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: in the public square. Kirral said, so it's you, and
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: his voice held nothing, not rebuke, not friendliness or lack
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: of it, not even hatred. Nothing. There was only one
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: way to meet it. I faced the girl. She was
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: sitting on a throne like chair next to the fat
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: woman and looked like a doe next to a pig,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and said boldly, I assume this summons to mean that
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: you informed your kinsmen of my offer. She flushed, and
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: that was triumph enough. I held back the triumph, however,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: warry of overconfidence. The gaffer laughed. The high cackle of age,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and Kirral broke in with a sharp, angry monosyllable, by
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: which I knew that my remark had indeed been repeated,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: and had lost nothing in the telling. But only the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: line of his jaw betrayed the anger, as he said, calmly,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: be quiet, Delissa. Where did you pick this up? I
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: said boldly? The Great House has changed rulers since last
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I smelled the salt cliffs. Newcomers do not know my name,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: and theirs is unknown to me, the old gaffer said
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: thinly to Karl, our name has lost Kihar. One daughter
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: is lured away by the toy maker, and another babbles
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: with strangers in the square, and a homeless no good
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: of the streets does not know our name. My eyes,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: growing accustomed to the dark blaze of the brazier, saw
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: that Kiral was biting his lip and scowling. Then he
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: gesture to a table where an array of glassware was set,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: and at the gesture the white chalk came on noiseless
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: feet and poured wine. If you have no blood feud
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: with my family, will you drink with me? I will,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: I said, relaxing, Even if he had associated the trader
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: with the scarred earthmen of the spaceport. He seemed to
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: have decided to drop the matter. He seemed startled, but
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: he waited until I had lifted the glass and taken
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: a sip. Then, with a movement like lightning, he leaped
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: from the dais and struck the glass from my lips.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I staggered back, wiping my cut mouth in a split second,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: juggling possibilities. The insult was terrible and deadly. I could
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: do nothing now but fight men had been murdered in
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Chainsaw for far less. I had come to settle one feud,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: not involve myself in another. But even while these lightning
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: thoughts flickered in my mind, I had whipped out my skin,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: and I was surprised at the shrillness of my own voice.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: You can drive a fence beneath your own roof, spy
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: and renegade, ki all thundered. He did not touch his skein.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: From the table. He caught a long, forethonged whip, making
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: it whistle through the air. The long legged child scuttled backward.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: I stepped back one pace, trying to conceal my desperate puzzlement.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I could not guess what had prompted Kiral's attack, But
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: whatever it was, I must have made some bad mistake
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: and could count myself lucky to get out of there alive.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Kirral's voice perceptibly trembled with rage. You dare to come
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: into my own home after I have tracked you to
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the cars and back, blind fool that I was, But
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: now you shall pay. The whip sang through the air,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: hissing past my shoulders. I dodged to one side, retreating
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: step by step as Kiral swung the powerful thongs. It
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: cracked again, and a pain like the burning of red
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: hot iron seared my upper arm. My skein rattled down
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: from numb fingers. The whip whacked the floor. Pick up
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: your skin, said Karol, pick it up if your dare.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: He poised the lash again. The fat woman screamed. I
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: stood rigid, gaging my chances of disarming him with a
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: sudden leap. Suddenly, the girl Dollissa leaped from her seat
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: with a harsh, musical chiming of chains. Kiral, No, no, Kira.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: He moved slightly, but did not take his eyes from me.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Get back, Dollisa, no wait. She ran to him and
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: caught his whip arm, dragging it down and spoke to
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: him hurriedly and urgently. Kirl's face changed as she spoke.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: He drew a long breath and threw the whip down
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: beside my skin on the floor. Answer straight on your life,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: what are you doing in shane Saw? I could hardly
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: take it in that for the moment I was reprieved
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: from sudden death, from being beaten into bloody death here
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: at Karol's feet. The girl went back to her throne
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: like chair. Now I must either tell the truth or
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: a convincing lie, and I was lost in a game
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: where I didn't know the rules. The explanation I thought
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: might get me out alive might be the very one
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: which would bring down instant and painful death. Suddenly, with
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: a poignancy that was almost pain, I wish Rakhal were
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: standing here at my side, but I had to bluff
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: it out alone. If they had recognized me for Race Cargle,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: the Terran spy who had often been in Shainsaw, they
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: might release me. It was possible, I supposed that they
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: were tearing sympathizers. On the other hand, Kiral's shouts of
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: spy renegade seemed to suggest the opposite. I stood trying
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: to ignore the searing pain in my lashed arm, but
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I knew that blood was running hot down my shoulder. Finally,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I said, I came to settle blood feud. Kirrall's lips
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: thinned in what might have been meant for a smile.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: You shall, assuredly, but with whom remains to be seen.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Knowing I had nothing more to lose, I said, with
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: a renegade, called recall Censar. Only the old man echoed
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: my words, dully, recall Censar. I felt heartened, seeing I
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: wasn't dead yet I have sworn to kill him. Kirraal
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: suddenly clapped his hands and shouted to the white chalk
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: to clean up the broken glass on the floor. He said, huskily,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: you are not yourself. Recall Censar. I told you he wasn't,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: said Dallisa, high and hysterical. I told you he wasn't
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: a scarred man tall. What was I to think? Kirral
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: sounded and looked badly shaken. He filled a glass himself
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: and handed it to me, saying, hoarsely, I did not
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: believe even the renegade recall would break the codes. So
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: far as to drink with me, he would not. I
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: could be positive about this. The codes of Terra had
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: made some superficial impress on Recall, but down deep his
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: own world held sway. If these men were at blood
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: feud with Recall, and he stood here where I stood,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: he would have let himself be beaten into bloody rags
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: before tasting their wine. I took the glass, raised it,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: and drained it, Then holding it out for more, I said,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Recall's life is mine. But I swear by the red star,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: and by the unmoving mountains, by the black snow, and
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: by the ghost wind, I have no quarrel with any
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: beneath this roof. I cast the glass to the floor,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: where it shattered on the stones. Kirol hesitated, but under
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the blazing eyes of the girl, he quickly poured himself
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: a glass of wine and drank a few SIPs, then
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: flung down the glass. He stepped forward and laid his
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: hands on my shoulders. I winced as he touched the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: welt of the lash, and could not raise my own
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: arm to complete the ceremonial toast. Kill stepped away, shrugged.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Shall I have one of the women see to your hurt?
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: He looked at Dalisa, but she twisted her mouth. Do
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: it yourself. It is nothing, I said, not truthfully. But
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: I demand in requital that, since we are bound by
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: spilled blood under your roof, that you give me what
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: news you have of Recall this spy and renegade, Kiral said, fiercely.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: If I knew, would I be under my own roof.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: The old gaffer on the days broke into shrill, whining laughter.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: You have drunk with him, Kiirral. Now he's bound you
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: not to do him harm. I know the story of Racal.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: He was a spy for Terra twelve years twelve years,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: and then he fought and flung their filthy money in
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: their faces and left them. But his partner was some
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: dry town half breed or Terran spy. And they fought
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: with clawed gloves and near killed one another, except the Terrans,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: who have no honor, stopped em. See the marks of
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the Kafirra on his face, by sharer the golden chained,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: said Kiral, gazing at me with something like a grin.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: You are, if nothing else, a very clever man. What
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: are you spy or half caste, some ard koran slut?
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: What I am doesn't matter to you, I said. You
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: have blood feud with Recall, but mine is older than yours,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: and his life is mine. As you are bound in
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: honor to kill. The formal phrases came easily now to
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: my tongue. The earth man had slipped away. So you
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: are bound in honor to help me kill. If anyone
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: beneath your roof knows anything of Recall, Kirraal's smile bared
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: his teeth. Recall works against the son of the Ape,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: he said, using the insulting wolf term for the Terrans.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: If we help you to kill him, we remove a
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: gode from our flanks. I prefer to let the filthy
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Tehranin spend their strength trying to remove it themselves. Moreover,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: I believe you are yourself an earth man. You have
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: no right to the courtesy I extend to we the
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: people of the sky. Yet you have drunk wine with me,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: and I have no quarrel with you. He raised his
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: hand in dismissal, out fencing me. Leave my roof in
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: safety and my city with honor. I could not protest
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: or plead a man's kihar. His personal dignity is a
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: precious thing in Shainsa, and he had placed me, so
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: I could not compromise mine further in words. Yet I
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: lost Kirrhal equally if I left at his bidding like
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: an inferior dismissed one desperate gamble remained a word, I said,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: raising my hand, and while he half turned startled, believing
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I was indeed about to compromise my dignity by a
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: further plea, I flung it at him. I will bet
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: schegriy with you. His iron composure looked shaken. I had
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: delivered a blow to his belief that I was an
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: earth Man. For it is doubtful if there are six
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: earthmen on Wolf who know about Schegri, the dangerous game
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: of the dry towns. It is no ordinary gamble, for
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: what the better stakes is his life, possibly his reason.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Rarely indeed will a man beg Schegri unless he has
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: nothing further to lose. It is a cruel, possibly decadent game,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: which has no parallel anywhere in the known universe. But
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I had no choice. I had struck a cold trail
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: in Shainsaw, recal might be anywhere on the planet, and
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: half of Magnuson's month was already up unless I could
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: force Kirol to tell what he knew, I might as
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: well quit. So I repeated, I will bet Chegri with you,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: and Kial stood unmoving. For what the Chagrin wagers is
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: his courage and endurance in the face of torture and
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: an unknown fate on his side. The stakes are clearly
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: determined beforehand. But if he loses, his punishment or penalty
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: is at the whim of the one who has accepted him,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and he may be put to whatever doom the winner determines.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: And this is the contest. The Chagrin permits himself to
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: be tortured from sunrise to sunset. If he endures, he wins.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: It is as simple as that he can stop the
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: torture at any moment by a word, but to do
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: so is a concession of defeat. This is not as
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: dangerous as it might at first seem. The other party
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: to the bet is bound by the ironclad codes of
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Wolf to inflict no permanent physical damage, no injury that
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: will not heal with three sun courses. But from sunrise
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: to sunset, any torment or painful ingenuity which the half
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: human mentality of Wolf can devise must be endured. The
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: man who can outthink the torture of the moment, the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: man who can hold in his mind the single thought
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: of his goal. That man can claim the stakes he
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: has set, as well as other concessions made traditional. The
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: silence grew in the hall. Dallisa had straightened and was
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: watching me intently, her lips parted and the tip of
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: a little red tongue visible between her teeth. The only
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: sound was the tiny crunching as the fat woman nibbled
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: at nuts and cast their shells into the brazier. Even
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: the child on the steps had abandoned her game with
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the crystal dice and sat looking up at me with
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: her mouth open. Finally, Kirral demanded, your stakes, tell me
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: all you know of Recall, Censar, and keep silence about
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: me and shainsa by the red shadow. Kirall burst out,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: You have courage, Rascar, say only yes or no, I retorted, rebuked.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: He fell silent. Dalisa leaned forward and again, for some
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: unknown reason, I thought of a girl with hair like
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: spun black glass. Kirall raised his hand. I say no,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I have blood feud with Recall, and I will not
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: sell his death to another. Further, I believe you are
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Terran and I will not deal with you. And finally,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: you have twice saved my life, and I would find
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: small pleasure in torturing you. I say no, drink again
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: with me, and we part without a quarrel. Beaten, I
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: turned to go, wait, said Dallisa. She stood up and
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: came down the dais slowly, this time walking with dignity
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: to the rhythm of her musically clashing chains. I have
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: a quarrel with this man. I started to say that
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I did not quarrel with women, and stopped myself. The
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Terran concept of chivalry has no equivalent on wolf. She
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: looked at me with her dark poison berry eyes, icy
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and level, and amused, and said, I will bet schegri
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: with you unless you fear me Rascar and I knew
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: suddenly that if I lost, I might better have trusted
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: myself to Kraal and his whip or to the wild
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: beast things of the mountains. End of chapter seven