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intelligent, or a worthy opponent. In feet, it often helped a warrior to be a
little crazy. "You must tell me what you want me to do now, my lord," he
said earnestly. "I have followed your orders, and now you must give me
new ones."
"It has to be me?" Hunter replied, sounding as weary as Kirha felt.
"Why can't you just do what "
"Yes, my lord," Kirha told him firmly. "You must tell me personally
exactly what you wish me to do."
Hunter made a strange, strangled sound.
"Do it, St. John," the first man said- "And make sure you cover
everything he needs to do. Specifically and explicitly. Right down to when
and what he can eat. And eliminate. And anything else he might need to
do."
Kirha let his fur fluff a little with relief. Here, at least, was one human
who understood.
Hunter sat down. Kirha raised his ears to show his attentiveness. "All
right, Kirha," Hunter said, heaving out his breath. "Let's take this from
the top. First, go with these people to the place where Ralgha is. Eat what
they give you, if it's acceptable and if you're hungry, and if it isn't
acceptable, then tell them what you want. Sleep when you're tired. After a
few days, someone will come to take you to Confed High Command..."
Ralgha hoped that Kirha would be all right. Was the youngster flexible
enough to accept the addition to his loyalties? His first loyalty would
always be to Ralgha of course; until Ralgha took back that oath, the boy
would be his before he was Hunter's. But this seemed the best and surest
way to keep Kirha safe. Provided it didn't tip him over the edge with too
much change, too much stress, too soon.
At least these humans had enough honor to respect a surrender and a
safe-conduct. That was encouraging and promising as well. They had not
subjected him to any indignities; he could probably assume they would
not subject Kirha to any either.
In fact, thus far they had given him more courtesy than his own people
had; they had tended to his injuries, taken him to a quite comfortable
room, with chairs actually adapted for the use of beings with tails, and
had left him with water and a promise of drink and food later. He could
use both; the strain was beginning to tell on him.
Rest would be even more welcome, but for all three, he would have to
wait until these humans had satisfied themselves concerning him.
He had several moments to reflect but he was too tired to think,
much. The rush of fighting-hormones that had borne him up was spent,
and now he felt every year of his age, every cut and bruise, every
now-broken and once-broken bone, every old scar that pulled fur and skin
a little too tight.
He longed, suddenly, for home; for the rolling hills covered with grass,
for the bitter scent of merrgha leaves and the munching of the
herd-beasts. For the simple life of a Herdmaster, with no concerns of
Empire, only the prosperity of his family.
But before he could mire himself in regrets, the door slid open, and two
humans stepped through it, followed by two armed guards. By Kilrathi
standards, the uniforms the humans wore were pathetically plain, but
there were enough of the paltry things that passed for decorations of
honor on these two to denote some importance among the humans of this
ship.
Ralgha was somewhat surprised when they both addressed him in his
own language, until he saw the tiny translator-units attached to their
belts. Expensive technology, that which denoted both their importance
and his.
"This is Captain Thorn, kalrahr of the Tiger's Claw, Lord Ralgha," said
the younger of the two. "I am Colonel Halcyon, leader of the squadron you
surrendered to."
Ralgha nodded, but did not rise. These humans were important, but
did not outrank him. Besides, he didn't want to make them nervous, and
rising to his full height might do just that. He was tall, even for a Kilrathi,
and still in his warrior-prime. But it was good to see the kalrahr of the
squadron here; it indicated that the humans took honor seriously. This
Colonel Halcyon, like a good liege-lord, was taking responsibility for what
his oath-bound warriors did.
The two humans did not seem perturbed, but took seats opposite
Ralgha. The guards moved to stand silently beside the entrance. "I'm here
to assure you that we take your safe-conduct seriously, sir," Colonel
Halcyon said. "I stand personal surety for it, in feet. Your young liegeman
will be joining you when we are finished speaking, and you may verify that
we have caused him no harm for yourself."
Ralgha blinked gravely, but with a sense of satisfaction. It was good;
these humans did understand honor and decency, then.
"But we all know that you must have come to us, bringing your ship,
with your own agenda," Captain Thorn said. The man had a deep, tight
voice; Ralgha could hear it even through the flat tones of the translator.
"Let us be honest with each other, Lord Ralgha. This is the first time that
any of your people has exchanged anything with ours except an exchange
of fire. There must be something that you want from us."
This was a little more abrupt than Ralgha preferred, but such
directness was not altogether unexpected. He tilted his head to one side.
"I do want something from you, human," he replied. "I want something
from your alliance; something only you can give."
Carefully, slowly, with Halcyon and Thorn asking equally careful
questions, he explained the situation on Ghorah Khar; the Emperor,
seemingly so power-drunk that he no longer worried about the welfare of
his people, and the advisors who continued to urge war upon him, when
war gained them nothing, not even the good-will of the war-god. How,
after all, could Sivar approve of a war that held no true victories? How
could the god approve of a war in which, increasingly, the highest number
of deaths were among the women and children and in accident, not in
combat. Such deaths meant nothing to Sivar and they impoverished the
Kilrathi, destroyed the hope held in the blood of the young.
Then, only when he was certain that the humans understood as much
as they could, did he speak of the rebels and made certain that they knew
that there were no few of the priestesses of Sivar among them. He had to
digress long enough to make them aware of the important positions the
all-but-invisible females held among his people that just because the
humans never saw them, they were by no means powerless and
unimportant. In fact, the day-to-day administration of government and
estate-management could never succeed without them. And they were
prominent in the rebel cause, with ample opportunity for concealing
insurrection.
Finally, he flexed his shoulders and took a sip of water, then said,
simply, "We have done all we can. We need help." There he stopped, every
carefully-crafted word spent. He had said what he came to say. Now, it
remained for the humans to make their move.
He was not expecting an immediate offer of aid, so he was not
disappointed when Halcyon and Thorn exchanged looks that he could not
read, and Thorn made a coughing sound.
"You have to understand that we cannot speak for Confederation High
Command," Thorn said, so slowly that Ralgha suspected he was choosing
each word with the greatest of care. "We can give recommendations, we
can give you support but we do not make the decisions that will affect
the entire Confederation."
"No more than would the Emperor accept such a promise if I had made
it," Ralgha agreed. "We are all subject to the decisions of those who [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]