The Time Traders Andre Norton (electric book reader .TXT) đ
- Author: Andre Norton
Book online «The Time Traders Andre Norton (electric book reader .TXT) đ». Author Andre Norton
They headed northeast, with the mountains as a sharp green-and-white goal against the morning sky. Though Rossâs sense of direction was not too acute, he was certain that they were making for the general vicinity of the hidden village, which he believed the ship people had destroyed. He tried to discover something of the nature of the contact which had been made between the aliens and the horsemen.
âHow find other chief?â he asked Ennar.
The young man tossed one of his braids back across his shoulder and turned his head to face Ross squarely. âYour chief come our camp. Talk with Foscarâ âtwoâ âfour sleeps ago.â
âHow talk with Foscar? With hunter talk?â
For the first time Ennar did not appear altogether certain. He scowled and then snapped, âHe talkâ âFoscar, us. We hear right wordsâ ânot woods creeper talk. He speak to us good.â
Ross was puzzled. How could the alien out of time speak the proper language of a primitive tribe some thousands of years removed from his own era? Were the ship people also familiar with time travel? Did they have their own stations of transfer? Yet their fury with the Reds had been hot. This was a complete mystery.
âThis chiefâ âhe look like me?â
Again Ennar appeared at a loss. âHe wear covering like you.â
âBut was he like me?â persisted Ross. He didnât know what he was trying to learn, only that it seemed important at that moment to press home to at least one of the tribesmen that he was different from the man who had put a price on his head and to whom he was to be sold.
âNot like!â Tulka spoke over his shoulder. âYou look like hunter peopleâ âhair, eyesâ âStrange chief no hair on head, eyes not likeâ ââ
âYou saw him too?â Ross demanded eagerly.
âI saw. I ride to campâ âthey come so. Stand on rock, call to Foscar. Make magic with fireâ âit jump up!â He pointed his arm stiffly at a bush before them on the trail. âThey point little, little spearâ âfire come out of the ground and burn. They say burn our camp if we do not give them man. We sayâ ânot have man. Then they say many good things for us if we find and bring manâ ââ
âBut they are not my people,â Ross cut in. âYou see, I have hair, I am not like them. They are badâ ââ
âYou may be taken in war by themâ âchiefâs slave.â Ennar had a reply to that which was logical according to the customs of his own tribe. âThey want slave backâ âit is so.â
âMy people strong too, much magic,â Ross pushed. âTake me to bitter water and they pay muchâ âmore than stranger chief!â
Both tribesmen were amused. âWhere bitter water?â asked Tulka.
Ross jerked his head to the west. âSome sleeps awayâ ââ
âSome sleeps!â repeated Ennar jeeringly. âWe ride some sleeps, maybe many sleeps where we know not the trailsâ âmaybe no people there, maybe no bitter waterâ âall things you say with split tongue so that we not give you back to master. We go this way not even one sleepâ âfind chief, get good things. Why we do hard thing when we can do easy?â
What argument could Ross offer in rebuttal to the simple logic of his captors? For a moment he raged inwardly at his own helplessness. But long ago he had learned that giving away to hot fury was no good unless one did it deliberately to impress, and then only when one had the upper hand. Now Ross had no hand at all.
For the most part they kept to the open, whereas Ross and the other two agents had skulked in wooded areas on their flight through this same territory. So they approached the mountains from a different angle, and though he tried, Ross could pick out no familiar landmarks. If by some miracle he was able to free himself from his captors, he could only head due west and hope to strike the river.
At midday their party made camp in a grove of trees by a spring. The weather was as unseasonably warm as it had been the day before, and flies, brought out of cold-weather hiding, attacked the stamping horses and crawled over Ross. He tried to keep them off with swings of his bound hands, for their bites drew blood.
Having been tumbled from his mount, he remained fastened to a tree with a noose about his neck while the horsemen built a fire and broiled strips of deer meat.
It would seem that Foscar was in no hurry to get on, since after they had eaten, the men continued to lounge at ease, some even dropping off to sleep. When Ross counted faces he learned that Tulka and another had both disappeared, possibly to contact and warn the aliens they were coming.
It was midafternoon before the scouts reappeared, as unobtrusively as they had gone. They went before Foscar with a report which brought the chief over to Ross. âWe go. Your chief waitsâ ââ
Ross raised his swollen, bitten face and made his usual protest. âNot my chief!â
Foscar shrugged. âHe say so. He give good things to get you back under his hand. Soâ âhe your chief!â
Once again Ross was boosted on his mount, and bound. But this time the party split into two groups as they rode off. He was with Ennar again, just behind Foscar, with two other guards bringing up the rear. The rest of the men, leading their mounts, melted into the trees. Ross watched that quiet withdrawal speculatively. It argued that Foscar did not trust those he was about to do business with, that he was taking certain precautions of his own. Only Ross could not see how that distrust, which might be only ordinary prudence on Foscarâs part, could in any way be an advantage for him.
They rode at a pace hardly above a walk into a small open meadow narrowing at the east. Then for the first time Ross was able to place himself. They were at the entrance
Comments (0)