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feet were tied painfully tight, and turned her head to one side. She retched
miserably for a long time, but her stomach was completely empty.
For a while it seemed that her mind was completely empty too. Then sounds and
sights from the world around her gradually sorted themselves out. She was
lying under a bush at the edge of the clearing.
A look down at herself told her the pains were all real. From her breasts down
to her thighs she was a mass of bruises, as though a dozen men had pounded on
her with clubs.
Out in the clearing the leader was sitting on the grass, watching the six
undefeated warriors digging in the ground with their spearpoints. The other
three the one Katerina had killed and the two she'd wounded lay on their
backs. All three were dead. Apparently these people killed those wounded who
were too badly hurt to travel.
The leader now noticed that she was conscious. With the help of two warriors
he staggered to his feet and walked slowly over to her. Katerina tensed. Was
he going to take his turn with her now? She knew that she could not stand it,
and that she would have to. She had been afraid and she was still afraid.
She would not show it again, and she would not die. Or at least she would not
die until she'd killed a few of these sons of bitches!
The leader stepped away from his two supporters and stood looking down at
Katerina, swaying slightly on his feet. He seemed to be appraising her, like a
meat-buyer appraising a collective farm's prize steer. When he finally spoke,
she was able to listen almost calmly.
"Woman, you have been met by the Ganthi as are all Strangers who enter our
lands. You have been defeated, as are all Strangers. The Ganthi are mighty
warriors. If you were a man, you would now be dead, for our land is not for
Strangers.
"But you are a woman. You are a woman who yet has the strength and skill of a
warrior. This we have seen, we, the Brothers of the Hunt. We see only that
which is true. So you are what you seem, and not what evil spirits may have
put before us to make us afraid. I, Stul, an Elder Brother of the Hunt, say
this:" The other warriors bowed their heads at these words.
"You shall be taken to Thessu, and you shall live among the Ganthi as a woman
taken in war. You will bear sons who will grow to be warriors and Hunters of
the Ganthi, and daughters who will bear more
sons. They will be strong, for you are a strong woman. This I say.
"I also say that you shall be first offered to Geddo, High Chief of the
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Ganthi. He is a man who needs many women, and takes them whenever he needs
them. Those who please him may have great honor when they bear his sons. Think
of this. I, Stul, say it."
Stul turned away. By now Katerina had prodded and pushed her sluggish wits
into thinking up a strategy to improve her position here among the Ganthi. Or
at least it would keep her alive a little longer.
She pitched her voice to be firm but not too commanding.
"Stul, I would speak."
The Elder Brother stopped and turned, then stared down at her again, trying to
read her expression.
Katerina kept her face expressionless and waited. Finally Stul nodded. "You
may speak."
"I am to be offered to your greatest warrior, is that not so?"
"It is so. Such is the High Chief of the Ganthi."
"Can I be given to him, unclean as I am? For you of the Hunters have indeed
treated me as a woman, without any rites. You have made me unclean by the laws
of my people."
"The laws of your people are not the laws of the Ganthi, woman."
"They are the laws I obey, Stul. I say this you Hunters shall not make me
unclean again. If you do I
shall not be fit in my own eyes to be given to the High Chief. I shall not let
myself live to be brought before him. I was a warrior, I know how to bring
death upon myself, and none of the Ganthi can stop me if I wish it. If I am
made unclean again, I shall wish it."
It was a risky bluff, but not a hopeless one. Stul obviously hoped to give her
as a gift to the High
Chief of the Ganthi. She would be an unusual, even an exotic gift a warrior
woman and Geddo would presumably be grateful. Stul would not want anything to
happen to her between here and Thessu. If she threatened to kill herself if
she was raped again, Stul might just possibly decide that he and his men
should behave themselves. That would only give her a few extra days to recover
her strength. But every little bit would help.
Stul stood in silence for quite a while, head tilted sideways and one hand
stroking his chin. He was either thinking deeply or trying to give that
impression. Finally he nodded.
"It is understood. You shall be permitted to become clean again according to
your own laws. It shall be done before we reach Thessu. I, Stul, say this."
"How far is it to Thessu?"
"Seven days, not less."
"That will be as much time as I will need." She kept her voice level and her
face straight. She wanted to smile or even laugh. Seven days to look around
her and make plans without fear hanging over her.
Seven days she could put to good use if Stul kept his promise and controlled
his Hunters.
Stul turned out to be a man who kept promises even to woman captives, as well
as a leader whose
Hunters obeyed him. The week-long trip to Thessu was not exactly a luxury
cruise down the Volga for
Katerina. But none of her captors touched her again during the whole trip. In
fact, they carried her most of the way on an improvised litter. They gave her
the best food and water they could find in the jungle, and even let her bathe
regularly. She felt her strength and self-confidence returning bit by bit as
the pain of her bruises faded.
Of course she had to continue to appear humbled and submissive every waking
minute. That rankled.
She also had to carry out some convincing "cleansing" ritual each day. She
solved that problem easily.
Every evening she sat down in lotus position and recited for half an hour
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passages from her training manuals or from the Short History of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union. She found that by concentrating hard she could
still think and speak in Russian, which made her recitations even more
mysterious. Stul and the other Hunters were appropriately impressed.
Katerina was walking almost normally by the time they reached Thessu, on the
morning of the eighth day. Something unusual was obviously happening in the
town. Several large fires sent smoke clouds up from behind the mud and
thorn-bush walls. Scores of cloth banners floated from spears held by warriors
standing on top of the walls. Warriors, workers, and slaves were dashing about
like ants from an upset hill. Many of the workers were leading animals large
lizards or things that looked like one-horned goats or carrying heavy baskets
of fruits and vegetables toward the gates of Thessu.
"It seems that they prepare a Warriors' Feast," said Stul. He shaded his eyes
against the glare of the sun and scanned the walls. "Yes, it must be that. But
how is this so? The Feast for this year is not for another season yet. I must
ask what is happening before we bring this gift before Geddo." He was
obviously nervous, and the other Hunters caught that nervousness. They formed
a tighter circle around
Katerina and increased their pace.
Just outside the gate they met another warrior with the headdress of an Elder
Brother of the Hunt, leading out a band of a dozen Hunters. Instead of spears [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
