Butler, Octavia - Survivor

The question did not take her by surprise, but she chose to pretend that it had. She hesitated as though nervous, then answered, “I don’t know.”

“Don’t you?” His voice was comfortingly filled with suspicion. “And what use could the Tehkohn have for a tribe of your kind?”

She feigned annoyance. “Why bother to ask me questions if you’re not going to believe my answers?”

His coloring became iridescent, flecks of yellow glinting within the green. Doubt. “You are a worthy enemy, Alanna, with your half truths and your lies. It will be interesting to reshape you and make you less of an enemy.”

“That, you will never do.” Deliberate challenge. But now was the time for it.

His iridescence faded to white. “Did I not say that all in this valley submitted to me? You will see. What was the name of your husband?”

“Natahk…” She shook her head. “Would you have me invent a name and give it to you?”

“I would have you obey me and answer my questions!”

“Yahnoh is my husband.”

Natahk lifted his head slightly. “I know of a Tehkohn judge called Yahnoh.”

“Of course. My husband.”

“‘Of course,’” he mimicked. “I think I will give you a meklah fruit to swallow back your next lie with.”

Frightened, Alanna said nothing. The risk had always been there. She might have to undergo a third withdrawal. But she was not weak or sick now. She would not sell either group of her people to avoid readdiction—any more than Jules had.

But Natahk’s mood seemed to change. His anger faded and he moved closer to her. As he spoke he touched her throat lightly. “And even with that threat, I will not stop you from lying or counseling your Missionaries to side with the Tehkohn. But soon I will stop them from listening to you. I wonder if the Tehkohn have really found some use for them. Or if they only planned to kill them.”

Alanna pulled away from the caressing fingers in disgust and stood up. At least he was diverted from his questioning.

“Be still,” he said quietly. He touched her again. “Am I so different from your husband? After all, judge that he is, even he is not the leader of his people.”

“He’s my husband. What more does he have to be than that to bar your way?”

“A Tehkohn marriage means nothing to us.”

She frowned at him. He was more right than he knew about one thing. He sounded far too much like Diut—like the Diut who had demanded a liaison with her such a short time ago. But Diut had changed, had allowed her to mold him as he molded her. And Diut was trying to help the Missionaries while Natahk was endangering them.

“Why should you want me?” she asked him. “You have Gehl now. You could have any other without trouble.”

“You must become part of the tie,” he said. “That will turn your people away from you so that you can no longer counsel them against me—also, it will protect you from their foolish customs. My only other choice would be to kill you and I don’t want to do that. We’re much alike, Alanna, you and I. I risk the anger of my hunters by saving and tying in with the Missionaries because I can see that in spite of the Missionaries’ weakness, their knowledge will strengthen us. And you risk the anger, the savagery, of your people as you try to save them from me.”

Another parallel. He was right, of course. However much she hated him, she and Natahk had similar goals—they worked for the good of their respective peoples. But they were not as alike as he wished. “I will not accept a liaison with you,” she said.

“So? Shall I give you to another hunter? Or perhaps several other hunters until one of them becomes your husband.”

“Why should you choose my mate? That is not the custom.”

“But you have no blue.” He smiled. “The power of the blue is a lie. My people believe it. I only use it. I killed a hunter and huntress bluer than myself to become First Hunter.” He clasped her throat between thumb and fingers, deliberately intimate. “And now, I will have the wife of a man blue enough to be called a judge—but not blue enough to stop me!”

Gehl opened the front door and came in.

Quickly, but seemingly casually, Natahk dropped his hand to his side. Knocking was not a Garkohn custom and Jules and Neila usually kept their door latched to avoid the most obvious intruders. But with all the recent coming and going, the latch had been left off. The Garkohn woman stood staring at Natahk and Alanna, noting, Alanna was certain, how close Natahk stood, and how Alanna had not moved away. Natahk had been bragging about his rank. Now Alanna remembered Gehl’s. She too had fought her way up, killing those who opposed her. Natahk himself held the only authority she accepted.

Eyes downcast, Alanna stepped away from Natahk. She could not yellow as another Kohn would have, but she hoped Gehl would understand. Alanna felt no shame at giving way. With her incomplete training, she was not ready to face such an opponent even if she had considered Natahk a prize worth righting for—which she did not.

Gehl could have him. In fact, as insurance against a possible future, Alanna hoped the huntress became pregnant.

Gehl spoke to Natahk. “There is trouble outside. Come out.”

“Trouble with the Missionaries? I told you…”

“Not with them. Come out.”

Natahk went to the door, then stopped as he noticed that Gehl remained behind. She was looking at Alanna. Natahk called her name once, sharply, then waited while she went out before him. When only Alanna could see him, he whitened considerably with amusement. He glanced at Alanna, then followed Gehl out the door, his coloring settling to normal.

After a moment, Alanna went to the door and looked out. There were a few Missionaries gathered on the common with bundles tied in blankets and handcarts haphazardly loaded. And a few Garkohn stood with them guarding them. But everyone’s attention was on the scene at the gate where several more Garkohn were gathered. Alanna could see that three of these were spattered with red paint, or with blood. And one of them sat on the ground, half propped up against the wall. This one seemed to be unconscious. And it was this one that Alanna recognized. He was one of those who had left with the load of Missionary weapons. The others were also from the weapons party. What was left of the weapons party.

Alanna withdrew back into the house, smiling grimly. Jules and Neila came in and she startled them by hugging them in sudden exuberant relief. Diut had not done the expected thing—had not taken his raiders and ex-prisoners and gone home to celebrate his successful raid. Perhaps it was nothing more than Alanna’s stubbornness and his concern for her that had kept him in the valley, but Alanna thought otherwise. He had his people back now, and the Garkohn could not threaten him. He was ready to move.

CHAPTER NINE

Diut

I had decided to make Alanna a judge. She had just the right combination of speed and strength to hold her own among my judges and she was learning quickly. I trained her intensively because the time was near when I would break with her. I had first thought to keep her for only a season and thus make her acceptable to any others she might choose to mate with. Before I had her, I thought a season would be enough. Especially since she fought against coming to me at all.

But she and I found far more pleasure in each other than I had expected. We came to know each other first by touch, as blind people finding beauty with our hands that we could not see with our eyes. Her skin was smooth and firm, and yet soft. Very good to touch. And her hands seemed to wander by themselves through my fur. But there were times when I looked at her starkly naked ill-colored body and wondered how I could want to touch it. And her eyes were wrong-poorly protected and too round. She said they were more narrow than any of the Missionaries she had left in the Garkohn valley, but still they were too round to be pleasing. Her nose was too large. I asked her once whether it would be considered large among her people and she was offended. “It is very ordinary,” she said. And then added, “Some Missionaries think the Kohn have no noses.”