Butler, Octavia - Survivor

“As with you?”

“With me it was different. You know that.”

“… yes.” I faced her squarely. ‘Did he tell you to advise me?”

“I’m not subject to his orders, Alanna. He does not tell me what to say.” Her blue glowed softly as she spoke. “I advise you because you need advice—and because I can see that he cares for you, and you for him. Sometimes I can see your anger when he looks at me. You can never take my place with him, but if you follow my advice, you can build a place for yourself. And also…” She stopped.

“What?”

“You can save yourself from Kehyo’s mistake.”

I sat still, watching her, knowing that I was close to finding out what Diut had refused to tell me. “What mistake?”

“He has told you nothing of her, even after last night?”

I glanced down, did not answer. Tahneh had not been present at the gathering the night before. But the Tehkohn dwelling was similar in at least one way to the Mission colony. There were no secrets.

Tahneh nickered iridescent for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. “She was his first mate, Alanna. She is the daughter of his mother’s brother. His mother came out of the air and she had a brother who was a judge.”

“Cousins!” I said startled. “He said nothing even of that.”

“They grew up together,” said Tahneh. “It is often done that way when there are cousins of similar age. They are placed with the same nonfighter second-parents so that when their time comes, they know each other well. There is no fear of rejection or ridicule. But Kehyo tied herself too tightly to him that first time. They came together once more later, but after that, Kehyo had a child by one of her judge mates, now her husband, Kahlahtkai. Sometimes I wonder if she has ever forgiven Kahlahtkai for that.

“Most often, she is reasonable and deserving of her high position. Diut has gambled much on her in war. But she is not content with her husband. She cannot seem to rid herself of the idea that she might have had a child by Diut if she had had one more liaison with him. Sometimes she seeks to frighten or humiliate Diut’s mates. She has been quiet recently, belatedly taking pleasure in her two older children, and perhaps maturing a little. Also, Diut has beaten her twice over this. Until last night, I thought she had given it up, but perhaps your differences incite her.”

“Will she challenge?”

“Not while you are with Diut. He has warned her. He cares deeply for her but if she tries that again, he will surely kill her.”

She had tried it before then. “What about when I… when our liaison has ended—and when she has had her child?”

“When you leave Diut, that should end her reason for resenting you.”

“Should.”

“She is a fool about this one thing. Who can say what she will do. Don’t worry about her though, Alanna. I don’t think Diut will let her interfere with you.”

But I did worry. When I left Tahneh, it was to look for Diut and find out what I could do to speed my training. I had a new reason now for wanting to become the best fighter that I could as soon as I could.

Natahk stood before the Missionaries gathered on the common and commanded them exactly as he would have commanded Garkohn.

“You will return to your homes and gather as many of your possessions as you can carry,” he said. “At least one of my hunters will watch in each house with you. When you have finished, you will return here and wait until the rest of your people are ready. Then, together, you will be moved south where you will make a new settlement, away from raiding Tehkohn.”

The people stared at him in shock, then looked at each other. Now that they had been disarmed, they were being abducted. What could they do? They called out to Natahk, to Jules, to each other. They argued and shouted and drowned each other out. Jules came out of the crowd to stand beside Natahk.

“Do as the First Hunter says,” he ordered quickly. “Obey him! We can replace buildings and fields if we must. We can’t replace lives.”

There was silence for a moment as the people digested this. Then someone called out: “But our homes…! Our crops…!”

“We’ve built new homes before,” said Jules. “And we have enough seed and enough time to plant new crops. We can start again. Whatever happens, we must start again.”

“Go to your homes,” commanded Natahk. “Do as I have told you.”

“What about all the work we’ve done here?” Alanna could see that the speaker was John Williamson, a square burly man who served as the settlement blacksmith. “Just how much can we walk away from and still survive as civilized people.”

“Obey!” roared Natahk. “Or you will not survive at all!”

No one dared speak in the face of the naked threat. There were already five bodies strewn around within the circle of Garkohn. Resistance would clearly not be tolerated. Slowly, hesitantly, the crowd began to fragment into smaller groups. The ring of Garkohn fragmented also, at least one going with each family group. Alanna noticed that the heavily muscled Williamson and his grown son drew three Garkohn. The natives were taking no chances.

Alanna came up to Jules and Natahk just in time to hear Jules speak in a low strained voice.

“Why couldn’t you have warned me that you planned to do this? Are you just trying to drive them to violence so that you’ll have reason to kill them?”

Natahk looked at him coldly. “I already have twelve reasons to kill them, Verrick. The twelve fighters that I lost last night. Be grateful that I do not use those reasons.”

He started to walk away. Jules and Alanna followed when they realized that he was going toward the Verrick house. Neila was already there with Gehl. No doubt it was because of Gehl that Neila was gathering food, clothing, and tools to load onto Jules’s handcart. Like everyone else, she appeared confused, angry, and frightened.

Natahk spoke to Gehl. “Keep watch outside. Bring me word when they have all gathered. If there is trouble, kill.”

Gehl flashed white, glanced briefly at Alanna, and went out.

Natahk sat down, looked at Jules. “Sit, Verrick, and we will talk.”

Jules obeyed. Alanna, wanting as little to do with Natahk as possible, moved away to help Neila pack.

“Alanna!” said Natahk sharply.

She stopped as she was about to enter her bedroom where Neila had gone. She turned to face Natahk. He said nothing more, but after a moment she returned tight-lipped to sit in Neila’s chair.

He watched her with something between amusement and contempt. “Did you think that I would tell you any part of my plans and then leave you to warn the Tehkohn?”

She did not answer.

Natahk looked at Jules. “She has led you foolishly, and you have followed. Were you completely unable to see that you were endangering your own people?”

“Was I?” said Jules. “By keeping them out of a battle that would have killed many of them?”

“What do you think the Tehkohn will do to you now that they no longer need fear for the safety of the prisoners?”

Jules opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. He could not tell the truth, and apparently, he had not yet thought of a lie that would fit.

“YQU have made some arrangement with the Tehkohn,” Natahk accused. “That is what I thought. They made you a few lying promises to save their people. And now that they have their people, how much do you think their promises are worth?”

Jules leaned back, watching Natahk. “I don’t think I could do any worse trusting the Tehkohn than I did trusting you.”

Natahk shrugged humanly. “I have never asked for your trust, Verrick. I am not asking for it now. I am telling you that it is in the best interests of the Tehkohn to kill you now before you can be of further use to me. That is why I am moving you. To save your foolish lives.”