At sun-up, Marcellus washed himself in the stream nearby and began to prepare more food for their breakfast. Radulf, struggling to wake, peered around him anxiously, rubbed his eyes, and got steadily to his feet.

'Now you will have to kill me,' he said, remembering the events of the previous evening.

'You are determined, then, to go back to the city?' Marcellus asked.

'I am. You will not stop me.'

The youth started to walk away from the camp.

'Radulf!'

'Yes?'

'I do not wish to kill you. There has already been too much killing in an unjust cause. Your father went to fight against the Warikeewa and the Hunyapi because he was told they had transgressed the laws, broken the treaty with Barbessel.'

Radulf swung round to face his captor.

'That is the way I understand it.'

'That is not the way it was.'

'You will never make me believe you.'

'At least hear my story. Give me an hour of your time. If you still wish to return to the city after that, I will not try to stop you.'

Radulf nodded.

'That seems fair.' He returned to the fire, where Marcellus was cooking the remainder of the meat, and sat down. 'When the sun goes to the mountain top, I am leaving.'

'Unless I persuade you to remain with me.'

'Unlikely.'

'In the first place, I uncovered a plot to overthrow the governments of Heraklion by Vitellius and his allies. I came to the plains bronzeskins from the western sub-continent, which they call Zindora. I was imprisoned by the bronzeskins. My companions were killed, one by one, and I was humiliated by the men, abused by the women.'

'It is no less than you deserve.'

'How can I make you understand? Try this. Vitellius came to Barbessel with a story about the bronzeskins rising against our homelands. He persuaded our military to ride against the bronzeskins, and when they were vindicated, defeating the Hor-Lakis, the story was put out that the bronzeskins had spread disease throughout our people returning from the wars. Suppose, just suppose, that Vitellius was lying, turned Barbessel against the bronzeskins, with whom there has always been an alliance, and in fact the diseases came from his own troops?'

'You are in no position to prove such a thing.'

'Come with me to the lands of the Warikeewa and the Hunyapi.'

'If I did?'

'I would answer your question with one of my own. What would you expect to see there? Ordinary, healthy plains bronzeskins, recovering from a bloody war, or a nation of disfigured, wasted, hideous men, women and children?'

'I cannot say.'

'Come with me, then. Hear the story from the bronzeskins' point of view.'

'It would prove nothing to me. I would simply assume that the diseased members of the population had either been hidden from our view, or else had perished.'

Marcellus smiled. It was going to be hard persuading someone so stubborn as this.

'The sun is nearly to the mountain top.'

'I see it.'

'You have run out of time.'

'One last thing, Radulf.'

'What is it?'

'Your knife. I return it to you.'

He tossed the blade casually. Radulf caught it and sheathed it.

'That is it? You are not going to attempt to fill my head with more of your nonsense?'

'It is a waste of time. You face a certain gaol penalty if you return to the city, but I can see that you are a man of honour. I am truly sorry about your father.'

'I wish that you still fought on our side.'

'You cannot believe to understand, my friend.'

'You cannot be totally bad.'

'Let me ask you one more thing, Radulf. You are young, and honourable, and obey orders unquestioningly. That is a good thing. At what point was the order given for the treaty with the bronzeskins to be rescinded?'

'Was there ever such a treaty?'

'Oh yes. To a certainty. They agreed to remain in their lands, in Pekeesh, and we agreed not to raid their territory, hunt their washak, take their women.'

'I know of no such treaty. For as long as I can remember we have been at war with the bronzeskins.'

'You joined the service when, exactly?'

Radulf drew himself proudly to his full height.

'I have seen nineteen summers. And winters. I have been a guardsman for three years.'

Marcellus nodded.

'It was only just over a year ago that I arrived in Shar-Mak, on the orders of the Lady Claudia of Barbessel. Before that I was a year in Hethoum, and a year in Ancyros.'

'Ancyros? You have been to Ancyros? Did you visit the holy city of Prakussara?'

'I brought girls from Prakussara, intending to fetch them to Barbessel.'

'That would have been an illegal act!'

'True enough. I was acting under orders.'

'I thought you were a man of honour!'

'It is a long story. I am not sure I wish to tell it now. Not to you.'

'I am leaving!'

'Before I was in Hethoum, there was a treaty with the bronzeskins. Something happened to destroy it. Something that Kestren did.'

'You have wasted enough of my time. Had you told me right from the start that you were a - a pirate, I would not have stayed!'

Marcellus grinned.

'You are right, Radulf, my friend.....'

'Do not call me your friend!'

'.....I have wasted enough of your time. It is time for me to be moving on.' He put his fingers to his lips and whistled. A moment later a gandh emerged from the shadows.

'Just ask yourself this, Radulf, my friend. If you studied the laws and histories of our homelands, and throughout those histories there was constant mention of a treaty with the bronzeskins, and then, suddenly, a man from the west arrived, and overnight the treaty with the bronzeskins was dissolved, would you not think there was something suspicious going on? I wish I had been in Horta when all this was going on. Ah! It does not pay to stray from one's homelands, does it.'

He slung his pack over the gandh’s back and patted it affectionately on the nose. Then he carefully put out the fire with his booted foot, and covered the ashes with earth so that there was no smoke to give away his position. Finally, he held out his hand to the glowering Radulf.

'I wish you no harm, Radulf. I can only repeat to you that I have always held the interests of the homelands dearest to my heart. I have not committed treason, I am not a traitor. I wish you had believed me. Here is my hand on it.'

But as Radulf's hand lifted to take Marcellus' hand, the latter's fist once more connected with his chin and the youth again lapsed into instant unconsciousness. Marcellus lifted him easily and slung him across the pony's back, securing his wrists to his ankles beneath the pony's belly.

'I am truly sorry, my young friend,' Marcellus said. 'I wish you could have returned safely to the city, if only to be with your father during his last, painful days. But if I let you go back to Horta, I will be sending you back to certain death. I do not want your death on my conscience. For the time being, your destiny lies with mine.' Slapping the gandh on the rump, he struck off from the designated path and began to climb the foothills to Pekeesh.

'Where are we now?'

'Getting near to Warikeewa camp.'

'I am so thirsty.'

'We will be there soon. I do not want to stop now. The pony is tired.'

'You can untie me now, I cannot find my way back to Barbessel.'

'If we stop now, the gandh will not want to start again. We are just a couple of hours from Warikeewa camp.'

'Just cut the bonds, the gandh can keep on walking, I will slip down from its back.'

Marcellus nodded and took out his knife. A second later the young man was walking beside him, nursing his wrists. He looked longingly at the water bags slung over the gandh, and again Marcellus nodded. He took one of the bags and drank some of the delicious juice Marcellus had given him the previous evening. They topped a ridge that looked out across the beginning of the great plains. Before them, as far as the eye could see, the land was totally flat, green, lush pasture. Here and there a herd of washak could be seen wandering aimlessly. It was almost sundown. Radulf had been conscious since the early afternoon. Once they had stopped and Marcellus had put ice cold water from a brook onto Radulf's chin, to ease the bruising. Neither had spoken.

'See the smoke. That is Warikeewa camp,' Marcellus said.

'It is a long way.'

'It is not so far. We will be there before dark.'

'Will they feed us?'

'Of course. They are my friends.'

'Will they still come looking for us from the city?'

'No.'

'Why not? I am a deserter.'

'They will have tracked us to the foothills, then turned back. They will have realised by now that you have joined with me.'

'I have not joined with you!'

'Not yet. But they do not know that. As far as they are concerned, you left the city with me. There was no sign of a struggle. You got the key and opened the gate, when Garain was otherwise occupied, and assisted me in escaping from the city.'

'You are not an honourable man.'

Marcellus shrugged his massive shoulders.

'I have been through too much to worry about honour,' he said. 'I nearly fell into a trap of Kestren's making because of honour. I owed him my allegiance, and he abused it. He set a trap for me. Unluckily for him, he was the one who suffered more. I no longer know whom to trust. Therefore I will trust no one.'

They walked on in silence. By sundown they were approaching the fenced camp of the Warikeewa. One solitary bronzeskin was on guard. He made no attempt to raise the alarm, but held up his hand as Marcellus and Radulf approached.

'Angry Wolf.'

'Makoma.'

'You are welcome here, Angry Wolf.'

'My thanks to you, Makoma.'

'He is not,' Makoma said, pointing at Radulf.

'He is with me.'

'He is not welcome. Do you bring him as your prisoner?'

'Why is he not welcome?'

'He is Barbesselian.'

'So am I.'

'Did you not spend many moons with the Warikeewa, Angry Wolf? Did you not fight alongside Keewa and Kotsoteka?'

'You know that I did.'

'For this reason are you welcome. Because he is Barbesselian, he is not.'

'He is with me,' Marcellus repeated.

Makoma's face did not alter. He had not smiled.

'Bring him as your prisoner, and I will gladly let you into Warikeewa camp. Otherwise, you may enter, he may not.'

'I would discuss this with Keewa.'

'There is no point.'

'It is my right and my privilege. Keewa and I are blood brothers.'

'I am aware that Angry Wolf is blood brother to Keewa,' Makoma said. 'You are aware that Warikeewa camp guard has full authority of admission.'

Marcellus nodded. Makoma had spoken the truth. He was not, simply, a guard, or a lookout. He was a senior representative of the tribe, and his word was the law. While he remained at the camp entrance, he had power of admission over anyone who came to the camp.

'If I bring him as my prisoner?'

'You may enter.'

Again Marcellus nodded.

'It is a reasonable request. His case will be presented to the camp elders.'

'He must be hobbled to the gandh.'

All this time Radulf had remained silent, seemingly impassive. Suddenly he burst into life.

'I am not a prisoner!' he cried. 'I can return to Barbessel whenever I please!'

'Then return to Barbessel,' Makoma said, his face never changing.

'We have discussed this many times over,' Marcellus said to Radulf. 'You cannot go back to Barbessel.'

'I will not be led into the camp of savages tied across the flanks of your gandh!'

'There is one alternative,' Marcellus said, rubbing his knuckles. Radulf was seething with anger, but he did not want to go down to Marcellus' fist again.

'Take him to the long hut,' Makoma said to the two bronzeskins who came in answer to his call. Marcellus remained at the camp entrance with Makoma.

'Are Warikeewa people at war with Barbessel now, then?' he asked.

'You know that we are.'

'I thought there was a treaty between Barbessel and Warikeewa people.'

'There was such a treaty. As I recall, you left Warikeewa camp to return to your homelands to muster your people to come and fight with us.'

Marcellus nodded.

'I did.'

'You return empty-handed.'

'I do.'

'Have you an explanation?'

'I have not. Only that the treaty was dissolved without my knowledge, and by men who have taken control of Barbessel who should not have control.'

'That is of great comfort,' Makoma said with a degree of sarcasm.

'The matter was out of my hands.'

'You were forced to leave?'

'You should not assume that.'

'You left Warikeewa camp to return to your homelands to muster your people to come and fight with us.'

'I did.'

'We were given to understand that you were held in as great esteem by your own people as by Warikeewa, Angry Wolf.'

'I was not aware that I had given that impression.'

'You did not.'

'Who did?'

'The fat man. Publius Maximus, you call him. We call him the Fat Man.'

'He spoke of me with regard to my own people?'

'He did.'

'Is he still here, in Warikeewa camp?'

'He is not.'

'Where did he go?'

'He did not say, though it is my belief that he went to your homelands. To deliver a message. And to speak of you to your own people.'

'He was evidently wrong about the esteem in which he thought they held me.'

'He was not wrong.'

'I return empty-handed.'

'With no promise of help.'

'No prospect of help, Makoma,' Marcellus said gravely.

'Which means that you were forced to leave.'

Marcellus nodded, grinning.

'I was forced to leave, as you have correctly surmised.'

'I am sorry to hear it.'

'Not as sorry as I.'

'You will present yourself to the council this night.' It was a command rather than a question.

'I will. Keewa is here, and Kotsoteka?'

'No.'

'No?'

'No. There is further trouble at the border with Hor-Lak.'

Marcellus groaned.

'I feared as much.'

'They left three days ago.'

'Three days?' Marcellus repeated with some surprise.

'It is a long time.'

'It is indeed a long time. Has no one been sent to look for them? How many went?'

'Keewa, Kotsoteka and twenty-five others.'

'To the border with Hor-Lak.'

'As I said.'

'The matter should be discussed at council this night.'

'It will.'

'Makoma, it has been good to talk with you again, after all this time. I will speak more with you later.'

'That is certain,' Makoma said gravely, and Marcellus went to the long hut, where his gandh was tied up. The long hut was a part-stone, part-wooden building, as were all of the other buildings in Warikeewa camp. The ground had been excavated to a depth of about six feet, then a stone wall raised to a height of around four feet, and on top of that a renewable wooden structure comprising the upper walls and the roof. In the centre of the floor the earth had been dug out further and a stone firehouse erected. A corresponding hole in the timber roof allowed smoke from the fire to escape. Finally, the roof was covered in large bunches of leaves and vines, sealed with a mixture of mud and clay to prevent the elements from getting in.

Against the far wall, Radulf had been tied by the ankles and the wrists to pegs set into the wall. The two bronzeskins who had brought him there from the camp entrance sat either side of him, stone-faced, impassive.

'I have come to relieve you,' Marcellus said. The two youths exchanged glances, nodded, and left the hut.

'They are treating you well, I see,' Marcellus remarked.

'Painted savages!' breathed Radulf.

'Much as I first thought, before I came among them and learned their ways, shared their beliefs and their experiences.'

'What will they do to me?'

Marcellus thought he detected a note of anxiety in the youth's voice, though outwardly he appeared calm, and full of bravado.

'I should have known,' Marcellus said, not answering him, remembering how the Warikeewa had treated Flekwan, the Tuarassa Bronzeskin, when he had crossed into Pekeesh with him and Cunyana from Eskishehir.

'They will torture me and send me back to Barbessel in pieces,' Radulf said.

'No, they will not do that,' Marcellus replied, his face betraying no emotion.

'What, then?'

'They will torture you and cut you into pieces, certainly.'

'Ah!'

'But they will not send you back to Barbessel.'

'No?'

'They will eat you.'

Radulf's eyes went wide with astonishment, and Marcellus laughed softly.

'You will be safe enough with me, I promise you.'

'You call this safe? I am tied to the wall.'

'Do you have a pressing desire to be doing anything else at this precise moment in time?'

'No,' the youth replied, though his bowels were churning, and he did not think it would be too long before they moved.

'Then relax and wait for something to happen. You are not too uncomfortable, surely?'

'No.' In fact, the ropes were of sufficient length for Radulf to sit comfortably on the ground and move both sets of limbs. He could walk about the hut to a distance of about eight feet in three directions.

'Then I do not know what all the fuss is about. You are safe. They will not touch you. You are with me. At the council, I will plead for you.'

'Plead for me.'

'I have to make the case that Barbessel is not the enemy of the Warikeewa.'

'They are.'

'No, they are not. They never have been. It is a mistake.'

'We have been at war with Pekeesh for three years.'

'It is a mistake,' Marcellus persisted, though in his heart he knew that Radulf was right, and that when he came to speak for him at the council of the elders, he would not be able to use Barbessel's erstwhile friendship with Pekeesh. In truth he did not know what he was going to say, except that the youth was his personal friend, and would never consider harming a Warikeewa or any of the other great plains bronzeskins of Pekeesh.

Radulf shook his head angrily.

'Do you have your sword with you?'

'Of course. Why do you ask?'

'Better to kill me now than to turn me over to these savages!'

'They are no more savage than you.'

'I come from a great, civilised nation!' Radulf said defiantly.

'And because you live in a brick-and-plaster hut, and wear different clothing, and eat different food, do you think that makes you better than them?'

Radulf's answer was both immediate and candid.

'Yes,' he said.

Marcellus grimaced.

'I thought that the civility and intelligence with which you are blessed would stand you in good stead when it came to the appraisal of other cultures.'

'I have been told about the bronzeskins. I have been told what they do, how they live.'

'And in your opinion, it is so different from the way you live?'

'Yes.'

'They live in large communities, as we do. They care for their sick, and their needy. No one goes hungry, for the hunt is shared between everyone in the community. They defend themselves. Not too far removed from Barbessel, is it?'

'Why did you bring me here, Marcellus? I mean, apart from the fact that you made my position in Horta untenable, why did you bring me here? Why did you not leave me to die in the foothills?'

'You are my countryman.'

'But you must have had some reason for bringing me here to this camp?'

'I don't know, maybe I wanted to convince you that you were wrong, and that all of the people of Barbessel who believe as you do are also wrong. I wanted you to see for yourself how it is with the bronzeskins.'

'There is little chance of that.'

'I will intercede for you.'

'They will not believe you. I cannot recant my belief. Not even to save my life.'

'Then maybe you will get what you deserve from this life.'

'Maybe.'

They were interrupted as a young woman, wearing a thin cotton tunic and a buckskin skirt entered the long hut. She was carrying a tray of food and dropped to her knees before Marcellus.

'Forgive me, Angry Wolf,' she said, addressing him, 'Makoma gave instructions that the prisoner should be fed and given drink.'

'You should not kneel before me, Miki,' Marcellus replied, recognising her as Keewa's youngest and most beautiful daughter. 'I am only a visitor.'

'Angry Wolf is too modest,' she said with a pretty smile. She stood up and set the tray on the floor before Radulf.

'He is to be released from the ropes,' she explained.

'Makoma said to do this?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'He gave no reason.'

'It is because the prisoner is my companion, and my countryman.'

'That must be it.'

'Thank you for the food. And the drink. I will cut him free.'

Miki nodded. It had not gone unnoticed that Radulf's eyes never left her from the second she entered the hut.

'I will watch for you about the camp,' Miki said, and turned to leave, but Marcellus called her back.

'Miki, I would have news of my friends in Warikeewa camp. Wanikiwana, and Kanchankikiwana, they are well, I trust?'

'They are well. Wanikiwana awaits news of Keewa with much eagerness.'

'Osatai?' Osatai was chief medicine man of the Warikeewa.

'Osatai died during the fall.'

'I am not sorry to hear that. Hidalgo?'

'He too died during the fall.'

'I am sorry for that too.'

'I must go. I will watch for you about the camp. You will eat with us?' Marcellus nodded silently. He noted to himself that although she had been addressing him, her eyes had ever been on Radulf. He took out his knife and cut through the bonds that secured Radulf to the wall of the hut.

'Eat the food,' he directed him. 'It is hard come by, particularly during the winter months.'

'I am not hungry.'

Marcellus' hand was around the youth's throat in an instant, pinning him to the wall once more. He spoke through clenched teeth, his anger no longer hidden.

'You will eat, and when you have eaten, you will drink, and after that, you will thank your hosts for sharing their food with you. Do I make myself clear?'

'Yes.'

'Then now we understand each other. Bear it in mind that so far no one in this camp has offered you harm. You are as good as a guest. These are not ignorant savages, as you have been made to believe by evil and scheming men. But they are poor, and they have great pride. It will be expected that you thank your hosts for sharing their food with you.'

'You have made yourself perfectly clear.....Angry Wolf.'

Marcellus released him at last. Reluctantly he sat cross-legged on the floor of the hut and picked at the food, which consisted of freshly cooked meat and maize.

'I imagine, because you have been released, that you are free to come and go as you please about the camp,' Marcellus said.

'I will remain here.'

'You are a stubborn fool.'

Marcellus left the hut and went in search of Kanchankikiwana, finding her in the hut he had shared with her and seven other women during his first few days in the camp. She, overjoyed at seeing him again, threw her arms about his neck and covered his face with kisses. He, feeling the beating of her heart and the firm curved swell of her bosom against his chest, clasped her close to him and beamed happily, recalling the happy times they had spent together,in each other's arms.

'I did not think you would return,' she breathed, radiant in her happiness.

'I could not stay away,' he told her.

'You will stay in our hut?'

'Of course.'

'You will stay forever?'

'I have business to attend to.'

'Golden Hair?'

'Golden Hair' was the name the Warikeewa had given to Saria, the girl he previously thought had betrayed him and sent him to his death. It was also the name they had given to Lucinda, her twin sister, who had been captured by the Hunyapi and had lost all of her memory since being abducted from Prakussara. She had met an untimely death at the hands of the Warikeewa.

'She.'

'Will you find her?'

'I have done her a great wrong.'

'She is only a woman.'

'She is special to me.'

Kanchankikiwana nodded.

'I understand.'

'You have a great capacity for understanding, my little dove.'

'Where will you look for her?'

'As far as I know, she is still in Eskishehir.'

'I do not know where that is.'

'It is across the permafrost, in the land that lies far away to the west,' he explained. 'The Tuarassa live there.'

She shuddered.

'I was thinking of accompanying you on your journey, Angry Wolf, but I do not think I would like to go through Tuarassa lands.'

'You would be quite safe. You would be gathered by them and paired with someone, or sold at auction.'

'They would kill me.'

'They would not kill you.'

'We kill them.'

'Maybe they are more enlightened than you!'

'Have you eaten?' she asked, changing the subject abruptly.

'No, I have not eaten.'

'Will you eat first?' she said with a seductive smile playing about her lips.

'Seeing you has made me hungry.....'

'Oh!' she cried, failing to hide her disappointment.

'.....for a tumble with you,' he finished, and bent to pick her up. Moments later he had deposited her on the soft furs at the back of the hut. He put his fingers to the knot that tied her bodice about her throat, and loosened it sufficiently for him to put his hand gently inside, cupping her breast, feeling the nipple harden to his touch. Her eyes closed, and her breathing became shallow as he deftly untied the two knots at her waist that secured the cord from which depended the single length of soft hide which constituted her nether garment. As he slipped out of his own clothing, her arms went around his neck and she began to nibble at his ear lobe. Then he was between her legs, raising her knees with his hands, resting on his forearms, caressing her face and covering her mouth with his own.

'Ay!' she breathed, and thrust her body upward to meet his gentle, languid movement. She was already moist, and inviting, and he entered her easily, carefully, lovingly. He was conscious immediately of the vast difference in their lovemaking to that he was more used to, with slave girls, and commented to himself how much more pleasant was this experience.

'Ay!' she cried again, nipping gently at his shoulder with her strong, white teeth. Her jet black hair was quite damp, plastered across her face, and she was breathing more heavily now. Her hands were at his buttocks, urging him, pulling him, and pushing him into her as her pelvic thrust met his and found its rhythm. At last he spent himself inside her and lay there, slightly to one side so that he did not squash her slight frame with his powerful, massive body. As he made to withdraw from her, she pulled him back, closer, and began to kiss him again, fastening his hand on her breast.

'Stay inside me, Angry Wolf,' she whispered, and her eyes closed. He watched her nostrils flutter slightly as she breathed, and nestled his face against her neck. Then his eyes closed too, but for just an instant, as she took his hand and put is between her legs, making him explore her body with his fingers. Slowly and sensually she gyrated her buttocks about his hand, and he was fascinated to watch as her second orgasm tore through her. At last she subsided and rolled away from him, then pushed her backside against him as he again cupped her breast.

'Now we sleep, then we eat,' she said.