[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
That will help. For now, let us find some not so rotten fruit to steal from
the poor animals and get some rest."
When she woke him, he frowned and rubbed his eyes, then saw that the first
light of a dismal gray day was already dawning. "It is too late," he mumbled.
"We have slept through the darkness."
"You slept through. I have been out and around half this village," she
responded, sounding very pleased with herself.
That woke him up fast. "What!"
"Ssssh! They are poor excuses for warriors. Two watched from across the way,
one almost across from the door here and the other from down the street. The
one across from us slept most of the night through, while the one down the
street kept leaving for drinks from a container inside and was seeing anything
but us.
The sleeping one was depending on a dog to wake him if we moved, but although
the dog saw me, it approached and wagged its tail, as if waiting for a treat
of food. When it found I had none, it followed a short distance, then lost
interest and returned to its still sleeping master. There are some very
mean-looking guards, it is true, but they guard the landing and the
storehouse, which is far
from here. Even they seemed bored and might not be impossible to get by."
"But you might have been killed!"
She smiled. "No, I am the prize, remember? You they might kill, my husband,
but me they want and will take if we do nothing. More, I have made a friend, I
think. One who might be of value to us."
"What? Who?"
"I do not know her name, nor her tribe, but it is certainly far down the
river.
Page 59
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
She is one of their slaves, a small, pretty woman aged far beyond her years.
She was the only one who surprised me, and it was very much by chance. I think
she rises in the middle of the night to prepare the big lodge where most of
them eat the morning meal. She just stepped out back and almost ran in to me.
She clearly knew who I was. I guess they all do."
"You say this is a friend, yet you do not know her name, her tribe, or her
work exactly, and she is a longtime slave here?"
"She could not tell me. She did not know the sign language or Hyiakutt. It
would not matter if she had seen you, however, who know so many tongues.
Someone, perhaps long ago, cut her tongue out."
That both angered and sickened him. "So what makes you say she is a friend who
comes from the south?"
"Anyone can get a few basic pieces of information across with hand, body, and
eyes. I believe she would help us just to spite them, but she also does not
wish me to join her. She may be of great help. Kitchens such as theirs have
sharp knives and hatchets."
Perhaps fortune was finally taking pity on them, although it certainly hadn't
up to now. He could understand the slave's situation and pity her. Here in a
culture as alien to her as his was to the Aztec, she would be lost and without
friends. Escape? To where? Even if her tribe was willing to take her back, the
chances of which were fifty-fifty, she would first have to get there, far to
the south, a young woman without even the power of speech in a wilderness
alien to her.
"We will check out the area and see what our true situation is," he told her.
"See what we can and cannot get away with, too. They have the respect of the
tough river traders, so that means they have influence beyond this small
village. They are not hunters but traders. They could not support all this
without something strong to trade."
"They are thieves!" she shot back.
"Yes, and more. They sell their protection, I think. If you trade with them,
on terms very generous to them, you have no problems. If not, well, the river
is wide and mostly desolate. You simply meet with an unfortunate accident, and
they have even more to trade."
"It is indecent if what you say is true! They have no honor at all! I cannot
understand why warriors such as these traders do not band together and wipe
out this snake nest!"
"Roaring Bull is clever and only as greedy as he knows he can be. He does not
demand so much that they will be injured by paying him, and he probably does
this only to those traders far from tribes and homes. The tribes of this
region he does not touch, and he probably also supplies them with the fire
drinks.
Perhaps he is very clever and keeps only what he extorts, letting the other
area tribes be the accidents. In any case, he keeps them happy and on his
side. He also knows, as do the traders, that if they were to come at him in
force, providing they could put aside all their tribal and national rivalries
and trust and cooperate with one another for that much, one of the other
tribes would simply move in and replace him."
"You are speaking as if we cannot get away even if we do escape," she noted.
"How far south would his voice reach?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
That will help. For now, let us find some not so rotten fruit to steal from
the poor animals and get some rest."
When she woke him, he frowned and rubbed his eyes, then saw that the first
light of a dismal gray day was already dawning. "It is too late," he mumbled.
"We have slept through the darkness."
"You slept through. I have been out and around half this village," she
responded, sounding very pleased with herself.
That woke him up fast. "What!"
"Ssssh! They are poor excuses for warriors. Two watched from across the way,
one almost across from the door here and the other from down the street. The
one across from us slept most of the night through, while the one down the
street kept leaving for drinks from a container inside and was seeing anything
but us.
The sleeping one was depending on a dog to wake him if we moved, but although
the dog saw me, it approached and wagged its tail, as if waiting for a treat
of food. When it found I had none, it followed a short distance, then lost
interest and returned to its still sleeping master. There are some very
mean-looking guards, it is true, but they guard the landing and the
storehouse, which is far
from here. Even they seemed bored and might not be impossible to get by."
"But you might have been killed!"
She smiled. "No, I am the prize, remember? You they might kill, my husband,
but me they want and will take if we do nothing. More, I have made a friend, I
think. One who might be of value to us."
"What? Who?"
"I do not know her name, nor her tribe, but it is certainly far down the
river.
Page 59
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
She is one of their slaves, a small, pretty woman aged far beyond her years.
She was the only one who surprised me, and it was very much by chance. I think
she rises in the middle of the night to prepare the big lodge where most of
them eat the morning meal. She just stepped out back and almost ran in to me.
She clearly knew who I was. I guess they all do."
"You say this is a friend, yet you do not know her name, her tribe, or her
work exactly, and she is a longtime slave here?"
"She could not tell me. She did not know the sign language or Hyiakutt. It
would not matter if she had seen you, however, who know so many tongues.
Someone, perhaps long ago, cut her tongue out."
That both angered and sickened him. "So what makes you say she is a friend who
comes from the south?"
"Anyone can get a few basic pieces of information across with hand, body, and
eyes. I believe she would help us just to spite them, but she also does not
wish me to join her. She may be of great help. Kitchens such as theirs have
sharp knives and hatchets."
Perhaps fortune was finally taking pity on them, although it certainly hadn't
up to now. He could understand the slave's situation and pity her. Here in a
culture as alien to her as his was to the Aztec, she would be lost and without
friends. Escape? To where? Even if her tribe was willing to take her back, the
chances of which were fifty-fifty, she would first have to get there, far to
the south, a young woman without even the power of speech in a wilderness
alien to her.
"We will check out the area and see what our true situation is," he told her.
"See what we can and cannot get away with, too. They have the respect of the
tough river traders, so that means they have influence beyond this small
village. They are not hunters but traders. They could not support all this
without something strong to trade."
"They are thieves!" she shot back.
"Yes, and more. They sell their protection, I think. If you trade with them,
on terms very generous to them, you have no problems. If not, well, the river
is wide and mostly desolate. You simply meet with an unfortunate accident, and
they have even more to trade."
"It is indecent if what you say is true! They have no honor at all! I cannot
understand why warriors such as these traders do not band together and wipe
out this snake nest!"
"Roaring Bull is clever and only as greedy as he knows he can be. He does not
demand so much that they will be injured by paying him, and he probably does
this only to those traders far from tribes and homes. The tribes of this
region he does not touch, and he probably also supplies them with the fire
drinks.
Perhaps he is very clever and keeps only what he extorts, letting the other
area tribes be the accidents. In any case, he keeps them happy and on his
side. He also knows, as do the traders, that if they were to come at him in
force, providing they could put aside all their tribal and national rivalries
and trust and cooperate with one another for that much, one of the other
tribes would simply move in and replace him."
"You are speaking as if we cannot get away even if we do escape," she noted.
"How far south would his voice reach?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]