'TH tell that to Lord Ta-Kominion."
At this moment a new, authoritative voice said, "What the hell's all this basting row? Weren't you told to keep quiet, eh?"
"It's some woman, tryzatt, off in those trees," said the second man.
"What the hell d'you mean, a woman?"
"Says she knows the commander; wants to see him. Knew his name an' all. Got a message, she says."
"I'm alone, tryzatt," called Maia. "Can I come and talk to you?"
The tryzatt was evidently a man of fairly quick mind. "Where did you meet the commander?"
"In Bekla, at the barrarz in the upper city, with Lord Bel-ka-Trazet and Lord Ged-la-Dan."
"What's his woman's name, then?"
"Berialtis: brought up on Quiso."
There was a pause.
"Come out steady," said the tryzatt at length, "hands on your head."
Maia did so. The three men confronting her were typical Ortelgans, stocky and dark, the tryzatt, who had a raw, barely-healed scar across his forehead, considerably older than the two soldiers.
"A place like this-how do you come to be here?" he asked, looking her up and down.
"I've no time to explain," answered Maia, with as much authority as she could muster. "My message is urgent, see, and it could very well save your lives. You got to take me to Lord Ta-Kominion at once." As he hesitated, she added more vehemently, "For Cran's sake, what harm do you think I can do? Why else would I be here alone, in the middle of the night-"
"Well, that's what I'd like to know," replied the tryzatt. But as he spoke he gripped her arm, turned and led her away with him.
They went fast through the trees and bushes. Soon Maia became aware that the tryzatt was picking their way among men lying on the bare ground. From what little she could see they were tattered and dirty, with a general look of ill-being. All were fully clothed, with their arms lying ready to hand. Most seemed asleep, but here and there a few, lifting their heads or propping themselves on their elbows, stared as she and the tryzatt went past. None spoke, however, and Maia guessed that their orders about silence were strict. Perhaps, indeed, orders were unnecessary: no doubt Chalcon had been a hard school.
They came to a rough shelter made of branches laid either side of a pole on two forked sticks; hardly more than a kennel, its ridge perhaps three feet from the ground. A sentry was standing beside it. The tryzatt addressed him in a whisper.
"This woman says she's got a message for the commander. Seems genuine enough."
"You're asking me to wake him?"
"That's for you to say."
"Well, be fair," replied the man. "You're the tryzatt, not me."
"You're his orderly, not me."
The man was beginning, "I'd best go and ask Captain Dy-Karn-" when from inside the shelter Ta-Kominion's voice said, "What is it, Klethu?"
"This is Maia Serrelinda here, my lord," said Maia quickly. "I need to speak to you urgently: for your sake, not for mine."
"Maia?" he replied in a tone of astonishment. Then, with a quick note of alarm in his voice, "Who's with you? What's happened?"
"There's nothing wrong, my lord, but-"
"Where have you come from? Who's sent you?"
"I've got some very important news for you."
"Wait, then."
After a few moments Ta-Kominion came elbowing his way feet first out of the shelter and stood up. He was wearing a ragged shirt and breeches and looked, as she could see even in the dim starlight, like a man utterly worn out; a very different figure from the high-spirited youth who had opened the bidding at the barrarz. Her expression, as she took his hands in greeting, must have revealed her feelings, for before she could speak he said, "You needn't waste your sympathy on me: we've plenty worse. But Maia, how in Cran's name do you come to be wandering about alone in a place like this? Are you on the run or something?"
"You could call it that. But now you must tell me something, my lord, 'cos I've got to know this if I'm to help you. Is this Kembri's whole army, or are you here on your own?"
He took her arm and led her away among the trees. Like the tryzatt, he spoke in whispers.
"Why do you ask me that? Why have you come?"
"Answer my question and I'll explain. It can't hurt to tell me: I can't leave here without you let me, can I?"
As he hesitated she took his hands once more, looking up into his bloodshot, hollow eyes.
"Honest, my lord, I only want to help you: and I've risked my hfe to come here."
"Everyone's life's at risk here," replied he. "I wouldn't give much for our chances now and that's the truth. We
left Kembri's army the night before last and we've been going ever since. The men are on their last legs. We've got no food left, either. But I'll get some of them back to Ortelga yet, you see if I don't."
"Listen to me, my lord. There's a way to put the whole thing right, if you'll only do as I say."
"But who's sent you?" he asked again, impatiently.
"Just listen, my lord, please! Sit down and listen to me."
Ta-Kominion sat down on the ground, his arms round his updrawn knees, looking up at her with an expression suggesting that although he would like to believe her, he felt that to do so would be foolish.
"About a mile away over there," said Maia, pointing, "is Lord Elleroth of Sarkid. He's on his own like you, and I should guess he's got about the same number of men."
Ta-Kominion seemed about to spring to his feet, but Maia restrained him.
"They know you're here, but they don't know yet whether it's only you or Kembri's whole army. What I'm trying to tell you is that they're as much afraid of you as what you are of them."
Ta-Kominion buried his face in his hands. "Oh, Shardik, that's about all we needed! Pinned against the river, too! That's basted everything!"
"No, it hasn't, my lord. Don't you see, if you're not fighting for the Leopards any more, Elleroth's got no quarrel with you? You ought to join him-he needs men-it'd be as big a weight off his mind as what it'd be off your'n. Why don't you come back with me now and talk to him?"
"It's a trick! A Beklan trick!" In the half-darkness the girl Berialtis had come up silently and was standing beside them, clutching a soldier's cloak round her. She was shivering in the hot night and looked no less wretched than everyone else whom Maia had seen. "Don't go, Komo! She's lying!"
Her dark eyes glared at Maia-the eyes of a fanatic, intensified by fear and privation.
Maia stood up and faced her. "All right, that's it, then; I done my best. My lord, I hope you'll have the kindness to let me go back where I come from."
"Be quiet, Berialtis," said Ta-Kominion. "I'm commanding here, not you. Maia, how can I be sure of this man Elleroth-heir of Sarkid, isn't he? How can I be sure I can trust him?"
"My lord, I'll be honest with you. Like I said, no one's sent me: I just thought this lot up on my own. Lord Elleroth doesn't even know I've come-"
"You're not his woman, then?"
"Oh, Cran, no! I just don't want to see the two of you tear each other to bits, that's all; 'cos that won't be no good to you nor nobody."
"Berialtis, go and wake Dy-Karn and bring him here. Don't argue; just do as I tell you for once."
"You let yourself be taken in by this Beklan bitch; an unbeliever! I haven't forgotten that filthy barrarz, if you have-"
"Neither have I," said Ta-Kominion, getting up. "I'll go myself: you'd better come with me, Maia."
Reaching his shelter, they found a group of four or five young men whispering together.