«Blade think good, even more than other Hairless Ones,» said Nugun with a broad grin.
Blade appreciated the compliment. But it did not take much «good thinking» to realize what a ridiculous project the Blenar had conceived. No number of Senar could hope to make headway against the bows and swords and throwing ropes of the fighting women of Brega. Perhaps in the forest they might have a chance. But the Blenar were apparently talking of a war down on the plains around the city. There the women would be on their home territory, fighting for their own way of life. And how many of the Senar could make the journey from the mountains, through the forest, and down to the plain? Ten thousand? That would be a generous estimate.
Blade sighed. Once more he seemed to have landed in a dimension where none of the people had anything worth taking back, or even worth fighting for. Blade could not help feeling that the wisest thing for him to do would be to give both Wyala and Nugun the slip. Then he could spend the rest of his time in this Godforsaken dimension prowling the forest, living on what he could catch and pick. Summer seemed to be coming on, and Blade knew more than enough about survival in the field.
But Wyala and Nugun had put themselves under his protection, and he could not abandon them. He would go with them to the Mountains of Brega. At least the mountain people would be less likely to shoot him on sight than the women of the city.
But Nugun was looking at Blade with a worried expression on his face. He appeared to be feeling for words to ask a question of his own.
«Blade, not tell woman about Hairless Ones?»
«Why not?»
«Women not know about Hairless Ones. If they know, they maybe come into mountains. Kill all men, take women back to city. Hairless Ones make women in city afraid.»
That made good sense to Blade. As long as the women of Brega thought they had only the violent but comparatively stupid Senar to deal with, they would continue to play their vicious little games with them in the forest. But if they realized that the men had now developed brains as well as brawn, a war of extermination might begin.
«I understand, Nugun. You are right. I will not tell Wyala.» He doubted that he would ever even have the chance to break that promise. Wyala had been gone for nearly ten hours now. It seemed more than a little unlikely that she would ever be coming back.
But Blade still took the night guard duty. If Wyala did slip back in the hours of darkness, Blade wanted to be the one awake and on watch to greet her. Nugun had sworn to keep his hands off Blade's woman. But if Wyala returned to the camp while Blade was sound asleep, armed only with her knife-Blade didn't want to tempt Nugun that much right now.
Just as the eastern sky began to turn pale, he heard a soft voice calling from the trees on the far side of the stream.
«Blade? Are you there?»
«Is that you, Wyala?»
There was a small, indignant snort. «Of course it's me.»
Blade nocked an arrow to the bow and trained it in the general direction of the voice. «Are you alone?»
«Yes.»
«Then step out onto the bank of the stream.» Blade almost trusted Wyala. But she might have fallen in with a hunting party from the city and changed her mind. Or the hunting party might be using her to bait a trap.
There was a rustling in the underbrush beyond the stream, and a familiar slim figure stepped out onto the bank. Blade examined her all over as carefully as the dim light permitted, without letting the arrow drop away from his bow. She looked more tired and dirty than before, but that was all.
Finally he nodded and called, «All right, you can come on over.» She obeyed with a speed that suggested she was far from happy about standing there with her back to the dark forest. As she stepped up on the near bank of the stream, she saw Nugun's sleeping form sprawled on the ground beyond the campfire. She gave a little gasp.
«Is he dead?»
«No, only sleeping.»
«Did you-beat him?»
«Yes. I defeated him in a fair fight, with my bare hands. The warriors of my people are taught to fight that way, as well as with weapons.»
«But-is it-is he-?»
«He knows that you are my woman.» Blade smiled reassuringly.
Wyala snorted indignantly. «No woman of the city can belong to a man. It is against the Laws of-«
«Perhaps,» said Blade sharply. «But keep your voice down, you little fool! The Laws of Mother Kina have nothing to do with the way we are living now, here in the forest. Nugun cannot understand them, and I could not make him do so. As long as he thinks you are my woman, he will not touch you or harm you.
He has sworn to be my friend, to die for me if necessary, and to protect what is mine, even including my woman.»
«But I tell you, I am not-«
«For your own safety, you had best keep your mouth shut about that. If Nugun comes to believe you are not really my woman-well, he will think he can do to you whatever he wants. Do you want to risk that, Wyala?»
Wyala gasped, then was silent. The silence continued.
«Well?» said Blade coolly.
Wyala swallowed. «I will be your woman, Blade.»
«Good,» said Blade. He went over to the sleeping Nugun and shook him by one thick-muscled shoulder. «Wake up, my friend. It is almost dawn, and my woman has returned. It is time to start on our march to the mountains.»
They spent the first part of the day's march retracing the path Blade and Wyala had followed the morning before. They stopped about noon to refill their water bottles at a spring. Nugun dug under a bush with his bare hands, turning up half a dozen or so pale yellowish tubers about the size of small potatoes. He presented them to Blade with the air of one giving a valuable gift.
«Good to eat,» he said. «Senar eat, in forests.» Blade thanked the man and stowed the tubers away in his own sack. Then they moved on.
The afternoon's march took them into territory strange not only to Blade, but even to Wyala. Apparently the hunting parties from the city never went much farther west than their night's campsite, at least not any more. Once they had done so, but now the Senar in the western parts of the forests were too numerous. Some of the hunting parties that had gone far toward the mountains had never come back. Blade wondered if ambushes laid by the Blenar had something to do with this.
He also knew he would just as soon not find out from personal experience. With a little luck and a lot of care he could easily protect Wyala from Nugun. But he doubted if he could do so against a dozen or a score of armed Senar, perhaps led by a Blenar. The farther west they got, the more careful they would have to be about hiding their tracks and camps and keeping a watch at night. He explained this to Nugun very carefully.
The Senar nodded. «I help you hide. Nugun know forest. Other Senar not get Blade's woman.»
«Good,» said Blade. Wyala merely sighed with relief. But she still did not take her hand far from the hilt of her knife.
Nugun did indeed know the forest and kept his promise better than Blade had dared hope. The Senar was brilliant at finding hard ground that would leave no tracks, leading them through streams to break their trails, and so forth. He even found a campsite for the night near another growth of the yellowish tubers. He dug up nearly two dozen more of them and showed Blade and Wyala how to split them and roast them on sticks over the fire. They were tasteless but filling.
After all three had eaten their fill, Nugun pointed to the ground. «Blade and woman sleep. Nugun watch tonight.»
Blade was more than willing to lie down and drop off into a deep sleep. He had been marching or fighting or keeping watch for the better part of two days. But Wyala's eyes widened in fear. She stepped up close to Blade and whispered in his ear, «Can we trust him? Suppose he betrays us to all the other Senar? They would kill you and-«