Survivor (26 page)

"I didn't have any Missionary inhibitions about pairing with a Kohn man," she said. "After I got used to the way Diut looked, I was glad the match had been made." She laughed suddenly. "We were at least equally strange-looking to each other."

"Not strange enough. How can you laugh about it?"

"It's past. He said I looked deformed, wrong. That's why he was curious about me. It didn't seem possible to him that I was really a woman."

Neila made a sound of disgust. "And what happens when the sick novelty of having a deformed woman wears off? Will he start to beat you again? Will he throw you out? Or will he just kill you to be certain he's rid of you? Since he kills so easily."

"That novelty wore off as quickly for him as it did for me. I think you know that." Alanna paused. "You saw him put his life in my hands tonight."

"…yes."

"And he put himself in danger for all three of us. It really would have been easier for him to lead the Garkohn on a chase around the settlement—if he hadn't been afraid of what they'd do to us before they got the chase started.
Us
, not some anonymous unskilled Missionaries."

Neila said nothing.

"Do you know the meaning of the hand-to-throat gesture?"

"It's a caress." Neila sounded harassed. "It's one of the things they do instead of kissing."

"It's that, yes. But it began as an expression of trust. You don't let anyone that close to your neck unless you trust him. The words that went with the gesture were, 'I hold your life, and do not take it.'"

Neila sighed, shook her head. "All right, Lanna. You've made your decision. I only hope your trust isn't misplaced."

Suddenly there was noise outside. Shouting, the sound of the gate being opened. Jules slipped silently into the house.

"Garkohn," he said. "Two of them came over the wall blood-red with paint, and opened the gate for the others. Image of God, if we only had our guns!"

"Is everyone under cover?" asked Neila.

"Yes. Now if only the Tehkohn can get in here before we're dragged out again."

Alanna got up and blew out the room's single lamp. Then she went to the small front window and looked out. The Garkohn were gathering on the common, building up the dying fire, and apparently quarreling among themselves. Most were smeared with red paint. Some were injured. Natahk was nowhere in sight—nor was Diut.

The argument on the common seemed to intensify and Alanna saw a huntress strike a hunter down. It was then that Alanna recognized the huntress as Gehl. Alanna watched her more alertly now. What was it she wanted her fighters to do?

Gehl pointed out a storehouse that Alanna knew was full of Missionary supplies, and two Garkohn went into it. When they came out, one was carrying a full bucket. Clearly, Gehl meant to take up where Natahk had left off. Alanna did not even wait to be certain which house was to be the huntress' target. She knew. She went for her bow.

She found it quickly in the dark, took it and the quiver to the door. She opened the door and nocked an arrow.

Gehl had taken the bucket herself and was coming toward the house with it. Aiming quickly, carefully, Alanna put her first arrow through the huntress' neck. It was a foolish target, Alanna knew—a small target obscured by the huntress' mane. But Alanna took grim pride in having made the shot.

As the huntress fell, Alanna took another arrow, aimed, and shot the Garkohn who had been bringing Gehl's torch. By then, the rest of the Garkohn had had time to hide themselves. But they were pinned down. They had hidden in the Missionary way of simply crouching behind a tree or building. They were all too well covered with red paint to camouflage themselves.

Alanna shut the door and barred it. She went to the window and lifted out the plastic pane—plastic from the ship. It would be more difficult to shoot accurately through the small window, but it would be safer than continuing to shoot from the door. It would lessen the possibility of an unpainted Garkohn catching her unaware and forcing his way in.

Even as Alanna thought of this, she saw a Garkohn run from the storehouse. She followed the bobbing patch of red for a second, then released a third arrow. The Garkohn flared yellow, fell, then managed to drag himself behind a tree. Alanna could have hit him a second time, but she chose not to. She had only five arrows left. Deliberately, she set two aside for Diut—just in case.

Abruptly, Alanna realized that the storehouse that the Garkohn had run from was afire. She could just see the flickering yellow and orange glow in the high small windows. As she was calling Jules and Neila to see, some of the lamp oil stored there exploded.

The sound was like muffled thunder. There were other explosions. The flames were clearly visible now as they began to eat through the walls. Then some movement near the gate caught Alanna's attention. Tehkohn were pouring into the settlement.

Alanna noticed that some of them too were smeared with red paint. She put her bow down, fearing that she might accidentally shoot an ally. If only the Tehkohn were quick. How long would it take sparks and flying embers to ignite the dry wood of the houses near the storehouse.

There was fighting almost immediately. The painted Garkohn could conceal themselves from Alanna behind trees and houses, but they could not hide from Tehkohn who were moving around actively seeking them. Also, the fire now lit the common brightly, aiding the Tehkohn. Alanna saw several Garkohn try to go over the wall, scaling the rough sheer face like insects until quicker Tehkohn judges pulled them back. And there were Tehkohn on guard at the gate.

Suddenly Neila screamed. When Alanna turned to see what was wrong, she found herself looking through the door of her own bedroom into a wall of flame.

She could hear it now, would have heard it much sooner crackling along with the burning storehouse, had she not been so intent on the battle outside.

Jules moved at once to the pile of supplies in the corner beside the fireplace. Understanding, Alanna and Neila moved to help him. These were essentials. Everything else was to be abandoned anyway.

Bundles were carried out under the eyes of the Tehkohn gate guards, and placed near the wall. The Garkohn all seemed too busy to take any notice of what the three Missionaries were doing—yet at least one Garkohn had found time to set fire to the house. That thought made Alanna watchful as she set her load down. Jules and Neila hurried back for the rest. Alanna was about to follow them

when her watchfulness paid off. She saw the partially camouflaged Natahk just before he reached her. His camouflage was good, but he had paint on one shoulder. What Alanna saw first was little more than a flash of red coming at her out of the shadows.

Instantly, she launched herself to one side, barely avoiding the grasping hands. Even as she moved, she remembered his speed. He was so much faster than he should have been as a hunter—possibly faster than she was. He was, after all, the best of the Garkohn hunters.

She fell, rolled, kicked savagely, seeing that he was almost upon her. He had taken almost no time at all to recover from his futile lunge. She could not let him get his hands on her. With his skill and strength, he could kill her without exerting himself.

She leaped to her feet as he regained his balance after her kick. But again his recovery was too swift. He managed to seize her arm.

Instantly, she folded to him, unexpectedly yielding. She raked the short hard nails of her free hand across his eyes.

He flared yellow, made a choked sound of pain, threw her to the ground with stunning force.

For a moment, the scene was frozen. Natahk, his body glowing yellow with pain, stood silent, hands to face; and Alanna only half conscious on the ground. Alanna was dimly aware of people gathering. Someone took hold of her shoulders to drag her away from Natahk. At that instant, Natahk came to life. He swept up Alanna's rescuer much as Diut had lifted a Garkohn earlier, and threw him at the surrounding Tehkohn.

Clearly, he could still see. Alanna tried to focus on him. Yes, he could still see. Out of one eye.

He dragged her to her feet by her hair and one arm. The arm he twisted agonizingly behind her. The hair he looped around his hand and used to pull her head back so far that she almost forgot the pain of her arm. Apparently, this stopped the advancing Tehkohn.

"I thought so," said Natahk. "Now who will keep me from the gate? Who will cause me to kill the wife of the Tehkohn Hao?"

Pain made it difficult for her to think. The extreme angle of her head made speech almost impossible. She felt herself dragged toward the gate, heard Natahk's command.

"Open it! And if there are Tehkohn outside, clear me a path through them."

She heard someone open the gates, but for what seemed a long time, Natahk did not move with her. She felt herself losing consciousness. Her eyes refused to focus and her head throbbed. She thought she heard Missionary voices—Jules and Neila calling. Others shouting. Then she heard another voice, quite close. Diut.

"If you kill her, I'll make your Garkohn tortures seem pleasant to you."

"Let me pass," said Natahk. "And she need not die."

"I would kill her myself before I would leave her to you."

Impasse.

Alanna fought to remain conscious, strained to hear past the roaring in her ears.

"Release her," said Diut. "And my people will not harm you."

"And you?"

"We fight. Defeat me, and you go free. I command it now. If you kill me, my people are to let you go."

"Fight a Hao!"

"Did you not tell your people that I was no more than a man?"

"A man with two eyes!"

"And one arm."

The words shocked Alanna to full consciousness. His arm? If only she could lower her head to see him.

"Broken," commented Natahk. "But it will heal—if you live. It is no payment for an eye. I must see that you are better paid!"

Without warning, Alanna felt herself literally thrown forward. She stumbled a few steps blindly, somehow managing to keep her feet until someone caught her. She knew it was Diut when he passed her quickly to someone else.

"You shame my teaching," she heard him mutter. "How could you have missed his other eye?"

She wondered herself. She willed her legs to support her and stood away from whoever held her. Not until then did she realize that it was Jules. The moment he saw that she was able to stand alone, he released her.

She looked around for Diut and saw him in the midst of a wide ring of Tehkohn. Just as she focused on him, he blocked a blow with his left arm, then dodged sharply backward away from a quick second blow that he could not block. His right arm, Natahk's right eye. The two circled each other warily. They seemed to spar as though in a friendly mock duel. Diut was limping again, worse this time, and he looked as though handfuls of his fur had been torn out here and there. Natahk looked unhurt except for the eye. But the eye was important. Aside from the distracting pain, the agony, that it had to be giving, it made him nervous and overcautious. And it made him highly protective of the other eye. He could not take proper advantage of Diut's disability while he was protecting his eye from Diut's potentially deadly jabs.

Diut kicked sharply, using his feet where he could not use his arm. They danced, every now and then striking a blow that would have killed anyone else. It looked deceptively simple. Once Natahk went down, but was on his feet again before the clearly weary Diut could use the advantage.

Then Diut fell, knocked down by £ blow he could neither dodge nor block. Natahk tried to kick him in the face or throat, but Diut caught his foot one-handed, twisted it, threw him off balance. Natahk fell, got up limping as Diut rose.

Favoring Natahk's blind side, Diut strove to end the fighting. He drove the Garkohn back, scattering a group of onlookers.

Abruptly, Natahk stopped running, launched himself at Diut as though at an animal. Natahk's size alone would have made such a move enough to unnerve a lesser opponent. The two fell together, Natahk shifting his weight deliberately so that Diut could not help falling on his injured arm.

For the first time, Alanna heard Diut scream in pain. For a moment he lay still, Natahk atop him. Natahk seized him by the fur of his head, pulled the head back to expose the throat. Unexpectedly, Diut rolled, made a sound like an animal snarl as he unseated Natahk. He struck the Garkohn a heavy blow to the side of the head—the blind side. The blow was hard enough to stun anyone else, but it only slowed Natahk down for a moment. The moment was enough.

Diut stood up. Natahk had just managed to rise to his knees. He looked up at Diut just as Diut drove a hoof-hard foot into his throat. Natahk flared luminescent yellow, collapsed, and slowly faded to the mottled death yellow. The last fighting of the battle was over.

Alanna

My child, a thickly furred, deep green little girl was an instant celebrity. Curious Tehkohn came visiting as soon as Diut would let them, came looking to see how blue the child was and how different. Her dark coloring pleased them, but they said it was shaded strangely. They said the shape of her eyes was strange. They thought her hands and feet were wrong somehow. Then they looked at my hands and feet and saw where the "wrongness" would probably lead. They visited often, and I grew weary of them, weary of then- observations. Diut enjoyed their attention but I didn't.

Sometimes I took refuge with Tahneh, taking the child with me—Tien, Diut had named her. I wanted to keep her with me as much as I could before I had to give her up to her nonfighter second-parents. She would become their charge completely for the twenty-five-day separation period that would begin as soon as she had her welcoming ceremony. After the twenty-five days, I could see her when I wanted to, when I had time, but until she was older and less vulnerable, her home would be in the protected nonfighter section of the dwelling. That was something I tried not to think about. Diut did not mention it as the days passed, but finally, Tahneh reminded me.

I had escaped my "guests," and gone to her apartment where I could sit comfortably against a wall and nurse Tien in peace.