Prr't-casst-a vanished, returned a hunbeat later. " 'All right. You want me to call him and let him know?' "
"Yes, you'd better," Thrr-gilag nodded. "You can get a much more secure pathway than I can. No telling what kind of leakage we'd get if I tried calling him from here."
Klnn-dawan-a looked at Prr't-casst-a, wondering if she would take that as an implied insult to the reliability of Prr Elders. But if she was offended, she didn't show it before vanishing again. Maybe she was too preoccupied with her own troubles to notice. Or maybe she'd done her fair share of Elder gossiping and knew that Thrr-gilag was right.
Prr't-casst-a returned. " 'All right. Any idea how you're going to deliver your package to me?' "
"Not yet," Thrr-gilag said.
"Actually, I have an idea," Klnn-dawan-a spoke up. "We'll discuss it and get word back to you."
Prr't-casst-a looked a bit confused. "Do I repeat all of that?"
"Yes," Thrr-gilag told her. "Just make it clear along the pathway that Klnn-dawan-a said the second part."
"All right."
She vanished. "What idea is this?" Thrr-gilag asked Klnn-dawan-a.
"That I go out to Dorcas and deliver it to him," Klnn-dawan-a said. "With the leaders still making up their minds about our bond-engagement, I haven't got much else to do right now anyway."
"So naturally you want to spend this free time in a war zone?"
"Don't be sarcastic, dear," she chided. "And don't argue, either. You know as well as I do it's the only way. You have to get back to Oaccanv and get ready for your mission. And there's no one else we can trust with this."
Thrr-gilag made a face at her, but in his eyes she could see he knew she was right. That was one of the things she liked most about him: the fact that he judged other people's ideas against exactly the same standards and criteria as he did his own. "It is a war zone, though," he reminded her. "How would you get them to let you in?"
"There are a couple of ways," she said. "Best chance would be—"
She broke off as Prr't-casst-a reappeared. " 'The sooner the better. Things are beginning to happen here. I have to go now, my brother. Keep yourself safe, and I'll speak with you again soon.' "
"Right," Thrr-gilag murmured. "Farewell, my brother." He took a deep breath, nodded to Prr't-casst-a. "Deliver that message, then release the pathway. Then get me that travel communicator."
"I will," Prr't-casst-a said, and disappeared.
Klnn-dawan-a looked at Thrr-gilag. "What's the matter?" she asked him.
"I don't know," he said slowly, his face troubled. "Just the way he said that, about things beginning to happen there. It didn't sound good."
"You want to get the pathway back and ask him?"
Thrr-gilag's tongue flicked in a negative. "No. If he could talk about it, he would have." He waved a hand, as if trying to brush the thoughts and worries away. "Never mind that. He's a warrior; he knows what he's doing. You were telling me how you were going to get to Dorcas."
"I was saying the best way might be for me to collect some personal messages or items for Thrr-mezaz's second commander, Klnn-vavgi. He's a distant cousin of mine, remember."
"I didn't think you knew him very well."
"I don't," Klnn-dawan-a said. "But that doesn't matter. Close family or distant cousin are all the same to the Dhaa'rr. And personal messages are traditionally to be delivered by hand."
"Even in a war zone?"
"Even in a war zone. So. I can get regular passage from here to the Dhaa'rr routing center on Shamanv, and from there I should be able to get a ride on a supply ship headed out to Dorcas."
Thrr-gilag pondered that. "That should get you to orbit, anyway. But what if they won't let you land?"
"I'll just have to count on Thrr-mezaz to get me past that one."
They'd reached the railcar stop. "I don't like it," Thrr-gilag said, opening the door of the first car in line on the siding and ushering her inside. "But right now I can't see any better way to do it. All right. As soon as Prr't-casst-a finds us a travel communicator, we'll check on flights to Shamanv."
"Good," Klnn-dawan-a said as he sat down beside her and keyed in his value number and their destination. The car beeped, and they were off.
It was a good idea, she knew, her going off to Dorcas like this. The best delivery plan either of them had. Probably the best plan either of them were going to have.
But that didn't mean she had to like it. She'd faced the crossbows of a Chig war party and had had enough good luck to escape without being raised prematurely to Eldership. Whether that good luck would hold her against the far deadlier weapons of Human-Conqueror warriors wasn't a question she particularly wanted to test.
"You don't have to do this," Thrr-gilag said quietly from beside her. "We can find some other way."
"No," Klnn-dawan-a said, taking his hand again. "We all have responsibilities in life. Prr't-zevisti is a Dhaa'rr, and so am I. This is something I have to do."
Gently, he leaned over and touched her face with his tongue. "That's one of the things I really love about you, Klnn-dawan-a," he murmured. "That you're always willing to do what needs to be done."
20
Thrr-mezaz frowned at the image. A small Human-Conqueror aircraft, framed against the mountains it was coming in from. "Must be going pretty slow."
"Slow and high both," Klnn-vavgi said. "Not exactly your optimum profile for sneaking in on someone."
"Rather implies they want us to see them."
"That would be my guess, too," Klnn-vavgi nodded. "Question is, are they serious or just a distraction?"
"That's the question, all right," Thrr-mezaz agreed, throwing a quick look around the room at the other monitors. A half-dozen Zhirrzh aircraft were in the air ready to intercept, all ground defenses were activated and standing ready, all warriors were on full alert.
And across the landing field in their converted storehouse, oblivious to all the activity going on around them, the two Mrachanis were resting quietly....
"It's the Mrachanis," Thrr-mezaz said. "They saw the spacecraft land, and this is their response."
"Pretty fast reaction," Klnn-vavgi grunted. "You could be right, though. But it brings us right back to question one: what are they up to?"
Thrr-mezaz gazed at the image on the monitor, trying to put himself in the Human-Conquerors' commander's place. All right. He knew a Mrachani spacecraft had landed on Dorcas; one of his aircraft had observed the aliens' landing from a respectful distance. He'd had nearly five tentharcs now to mull over that fact, and to come up with this response. Whatever it was.
And the tone of the response might well indicate whether he considered the Mrachanis to be captive allies to be rescued or dangerous enemies to be destroyed.
Thrr-mezaz stepped over to the Stingbird monitor. "How many Stingbirds do we have in the air?" he asked.
"Four," the warrior at the monitor said. "The rest are standing ready and awaiting orders."
"Put them all up," Thrr-mezaz ordered. "Have them form a defense perimeter twenty thoustrides outside the village. They're to be alert for any Human-Conqueror activity."
"I obey, Commander," the warrior answered, setting to work.
"That goes for the Elders, too," Thrr-mezaz added, looking up at the Elders hovering overhead. "They're to keep close watch on all ground approaches."
"I obey," one of the Elders said, and vanished.
Thrr-mezaz stepped back to Klnn-vavgi. "Let's see how easily they can be scared off," he commented.