Practically everything else the Kargoi needed was provided by the drends. The beasts drew the wagons and carried the mounted warriors. Their meat and milk fed everyone, from warriors down to newly weaned infants. Their hides became clothing, harness, and a hundred other things. Their sinews became thread, their bones and horns were tools and needles. Nothing was wasted. Even a slaughtered drend's tail usually ended up as the tassel of some mounted herder's staff.

In short, the Kargoi seemed to have everything-except the hope of a future that would have made them happy. They were launched on a journey into the unknown. At the end of that journey there might be a new homeland, as good as the one they'd left. There might also be nothing but a barren desert, a steaming, disease-ridden jungle, or a battle against a people who could sweep the Kargoi away like children.

In spite of all this, Blade heard a good deal of laughter as he walked around the camp. But it was brittle laughter. The Kargoi seemed to be a people who laughed because otherwise they might weep. That was courage of a very high order, and more and more Blade began to hope he could do something important to help them.

Blade returned to Paor's wagon as the raw colors of sunset began to spread across the sky. Again he drank water, ignored the smell of roasting meat, and got ready to sleep on the ground.

He was just pulling the cloak over himself when Paor returned. He looked down at Blade, amusement flickering across his face.

«You fear the clan ghosts in our wagon?» The smile took any insult out of the words.

Blade sat up. «No. The warriors of England worship the Earth Wisdom, among other things. So before a battle or an ordeal, we sleep upon the ground, to draw upon the Earth Wisdom.»

«I see,» said Paor. «Well, you would do well to draw on it-heavily. We will be staying in this camp for some days, to prepare for our march along the shore. So your testing will take place tomorrow.»

Chapter 7

«That is good,» said Blade. «Indeed, the baudzi of the Kargoi are men of honor. They will not make even a stranger wait for his testing.»

Paor nodded, but there was a look of doubt on his face that provoked Blade. «Or do I have too much faith in the baudzi of the Kargoi? I would not doubt them unless I have to, but-«

Paor raised a hand to stop Blade. «You must know that two of the baudzi had no wish to see you tested. One would have had you cast out of our camp, with food and water, while the other would have had you slain in the night. The decision went against them, so there is nothing they can do against you by law or custom. Still, there will be danger to you from their anger. Rehod, the one who would have had you slain, will be standing against you in the testing tomorrow.»

«Then I will see to it that Rehod can do nothing against me without danger to himself. If I can do that, I think it will be enough. I know the ways of men like Rehod. They seldom strike at those who can strike back.»

«I hope you are right, Blade,» said Paor. «We can do nothing against Rehod ourselves, not without risking a blood feud with his kin. That we cannot have, when we need all our warriors standing together. But I would not rejoice to see you slain by treachery and the honor of the Kargoi stained with your blood.»

«You will not see that,» said Blade. «Not while I have eyes in my head, breath in my body, and arms to strike at my enemies.» He made a contemptuous gesture. «Now, enough of this Rehod. What is the testing?»

It was much as Blade expected. He would be tested as an archer, both mounted and on foot. He would be tested as a rider of the drend, a runner, and a wrestler. Last of all he would be tested as a swordsman.

«You shall fight twice with the sword, once mounted and once on foot. There will be no great danger to either you or your opponents, for the swords will be blunted.» Paor drew a longsword from a scabbard across his back and held it out to Blade.

Blade examined the sword carefully. A long heavy strip of boiled leather reinforced with drend bone was tied along the edge and around the point. A strong blow with this sword would bruise painfully and possibly break bones, but it would not leave gaping, deadly wounds.

Blade stepped back and begin swinging the sword. He went through every movement that could be made with such a sword, then repeated the whole sequence twice more, faster each time. The padding made the sword considerably heavier and less well balanced, but not unwieldy. Blade was quite sure he could handle it well enough to prove himself a first-class warrior. For once his life didn't depend on the outcome of the fight.

At last Blade handed the sword back to Paor and raised a hand in farewell salute. «Until tomorrow, then?»

Paor raised his own hand and pressed his wrist against Blade's in the Kargoi's gesture of honorable friendship. «Until tomorrow.» A moment later he was gone.

Blade sat down cross-legged on the ground, considering what he'd learned and making his plans for tomorrow. The testing seemed simple and straightforward, but there was always a wide range of possible surprises in something like this.

Fortunately, Blade could always draw on an equally wide range of talents plus the ability to think on his feet. The surprises tomorrow would not be all on one side.

Gradually the camp settled down for the night. The sounds of tools and crying children faded, the cook fires died down, the mounted sentries took up their stations. Blade took a last drink of water, wrapped himself in the leather cloak, and lay down in the grass.

The testing began the next morning as soon as the colors of the sunrise faded into daylight. The testing place was on the open plain several miles west of the camp. Only a handful of baudzi and warriors were on hand, and mounted sentries rode about to make sure no one else approached. Fortunately Paor himself was on hand, so Blade knew that his back was as well-guarded as he could expect under the circumstances.

The first test was an easy one, a test of Blade's ability to handle a drend. The riding drends were not exactly docile, but they were too slow in their wits and on their feet to be able to do anything dangerous to an experienced rider. Blade had no trouble starting, stopping, or guiding a drend at a walk and a trot.

Then came the test in archery. The Kargoi bow was about four feet long, built up of layers of drend bone and hide and strung with drend sinews. It could easily send its short, thick arrows two hundred yards. It was not a bow to bring down large animals or armored opponents, but the Kargoi didn't need it for that. They'd never faced armored human enemies and didn't expect to. As for hunting, their method of killing even wild drends was to run up to them on foot, stun them with clubs, then cut their throats. So why a larger bow?

Blade could have given the Kargoi a long lecture on why. He also realized that until he passed all the tests it would be a waste of breath to say anything to the Kargoi about weapons or warfare.

So he kept his mouth shut and picked up his bow and arrows for the testing of his archery. The mark was the skull of a drend, mounted on a pole. Blade shot at it both sitting and standing, from fifty, a hundred, and a hundred and fifty yards. Then he mounted a drend and shot while it was standing still, while it was walking slowly, and while it was moving at full speed. Each time he fired six arrows, and five of the six times he was able to put all six into the target. From the looks on the faces of the baudzi watching him, thus was obviously more than good enough.

Then he decided it was time to put on a show. He turned to Paor and said quietly, «Have them take the skull off the pole. I will shoot again, using the pole alone as my mark.»