Lothar stopped speaking. The bishop looked down at him, then up at Kin. He beckoned.

After a few seconds she slid off the horse's back, the cloak slipping from her as she landed. There was a rustle of voices from the crowd.

The bishop nodded and waddled off, beckoning Kin to follow him. The crowd pressed in silently behind her.

They went between the holy buildings to a stamped earth yard, full of long shadows in the sinking sunlight. Part of the yard was roofed. Under the roof were bars.

'I'm about to be locked up, Silver!' she hissed. 'Where the hell are you?'

'A wooded eminence outside the town. The bars do not look alarmingly thick. They may trust to them to guard you.'

'Silver, how can you see the bars?'

'Marco is behind you in the crowd. He is giving me eyewitness reports. Do not look for him.'

The bishop stopped by the middle cage, and swung open the door. When Kin stopped there was a gentle prod of a sword in her back. She stepped in.

The lock was primitive but big. The bars did not look alarmingly thick, according to Silver. They were six-inch posts. What was normally kept there that needed six-inch thick bars?

They left her sitting in the dirt and walked away. After a while the last of the crowd left the compound, leaving a group of bowmen who spread out, watching the sky. Presently a man brought her a bowl of scraps, dropped them within her reach, and bolted.

A few stars lit up. Beyond the compound's walls came the rattle of carts, and many shouts.

'Silver?' she said querulously.

There was a heart-stopping pause before the reply came back.

'Ah, Kin. I am now better informed. Your precise status is still to be determined. Your friend Lothar has at least saved you from arbitrary execution. I have also learned more about the current disc situation. Would you be interested in hearing it? We will not collect you until it is fully dark. I doubt if those bowmen can better Marco's excellent night vision.'

'Go ahead and amuse me,' said Kin, wrinkling her nose over the food bowl. It could make me sick, she decided, it looks as though it's already done so to someone else.

'This is all exceptionally interesting,' said Silver. 'There is no doubt among the populace that this is either the return of the Christ or the end of the disc or both. Fires are raging -- our ship, you understand. There have been strange signs in the sky. The town is divided between travellers hastening to the advent and those fleeing from it.'

Kin listened to the cries outside.

'What are they fleeing for?' she asked.

'He's a very choosy god.'

'How did you find out about this?'

There was a pause. At last Silver said, 'Promise me that if we get back home you won't reveal the information-gathering system we, uh, evolved. I could be subject to severe disciplinary action from the all-planet committee on anthropological research procedures.'

'My lips are sealed,' promised Kin.

'Marco slugs a likely-looking subject, flies him over here and knocks the shit out of him until I've heard enough.'

Kin grinned. 'It's not like drawing circles in the sand, is it?'

'Much more efficient, though.'

There was a commotion at the entrance to the compound. In the half-light Kin saw a knot of men approaching, surrounding a taller shape that moved across the ground in hops.

When it drew nearer the cages Kin saw that it was roughly man-shaped but at least three metres high. Once it reared and spread a pair of dark wings the size of sheets. One of the men darted forward. The tall shape whimpered, and cowered. Kin, pressed against the bars, got an impression of scales, and pectoral muscles like barrels.

She jumped back as the door of the neighbouring cage was opened and the thing prodded inside. She saw a stubby-horned head and glowing green eyes that narrowed when they saw her.

The door slammed shut and the men retreated quickly. The creature grunted, gave the door an experimental shake, went and sat down in the far corner of the cage with its arms around its knees.

The men returned, and they were carrying a small struggling body. Kin made out the shape of a creature like the one she had seen on the hilltop -- part-human, part-animal, part-insect. It whistled shrilly as it was carried. As one of the men let go to reopen the cage door, it screeched and raked his chest with a claw. When he fell back it wriggled free, kicked another man in the stomach with a small hoof, and sank its teeth into a third's arm before it was grabbed.

The man who had been clawed stood up silently and landed a swinging blow that crunched when it hit, like the crushing of beetles. It landed in a heap inside the cage, and lay still.

The men retreated but did not leave the area. After a while a watchman's fire sprang up. Kin called up Silver.

'They are staying,' she said. 'There must be ten of them now. Marco'll never get in!'

'I think the guard is for the benefit of your friend in the next cell,' said Silver. 'Marco has a plan, though. Two plans, in fact. If the first doesn't work, he proposes to explode the 'waiter's powerpack.'

Kin thought about it. 'That would kill us all,' she said, 'and leave a crater about a mile across.'

'Quite so. But we would have won.'

There had never been a man-kung war, just a few early skirmishes now diplomatically forgotten. Kung had no concept of conquest, mercy, prisoners or rules. Marco was tainted with human ideas, but...

'Is he serious?'

'I think he is frightened almost to death.'

The big winged creature was watching Kin. She was aware of two pale lights in the gloom.

'I have my own plan,' said Silver.

'Oh, good. I like listening to plans.'

'I have compiled a speech. When a priest next approaches you will recite it to him.

'You are an Ethiopian princess, left stranded in this country when your party was attacked by robbers. You demand to be released. You are a devout Christer, by the way. So is your father, who is a king, and who will be angry in very physical ways when he hears about this treatment.'

'It sounds a bit contrived,' said Kin. She was watching the giant in the next cell. Three metres high. What did it use for ankle bones?

'KIN ARAD' said the winged demon.

She stared. Nothing had moved. The creature was still slumped against the bars, watching her. When he spoke again -- Kin couldn't be sure in the dim light, but the lip movements didn't seem to coincide with the sounds she heard, as if something was being badly dubbed.

'I am Kin Arad,' she said.

'WHAT IS YOUR DOMINION?' said the demon in perfect allspeak.

'I don't know what you mean.'

'l AM SPHANDOR, OF THE DOMINION OF AGLIERAP. I CANNOT DETERMINE YOUR DOMINION OR PLACE.'

'It seems to be speaking shandi,' said Silver.

'SPEAK. ARE WE PARTNERS IN ADVERSITY?'

'I hear it in allspeak,' said Kin urgently. 'I think it's using some kind of direct mind stimulation. Its lips aren't moving properly.'

'DO NOT MUMBLE. DO YOU THINK I DO NOT KNOW OF THE CREATURES TO WHOM YOU TALK BY THE POWER OF THE LIGHTNING? THE THINKING BEAR AND THE UPRIGHT FROG WITH FOUR ARMS? AND THE MECHANICAL DEVICE THAT PREPARES FOOD BEYOND THE POWERS OF HUICTIIGRARAS?'

'Are you reading my mind?'

'OF COURSE I AM, YOU STUPID BITCH. BUT IT IS DIFFICULT. YOU ARE OF THIS WORLD YET NOT OF THIS WORLD, NEITHER ARE YOU OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE DAMNED, YET THE PRAYING ONES HAVE CAPTURED YOU.'

'Keep it talking,' said Silver.

'The Christers think I am a water sprite,' said Kin.

'SPRITES CANNOT SPEAK AND ARE OF LOW INTELLIGENCE, AS EVERYONE KNOWS. THEY ARE LIKE THIS THING.'

Sphandor kicked out and managed to hit the wheezing faun with a curved toenail. It whimpered.

'It's injured,' said Kin. 'Can we do anything to help it?'