"And what of these other two?" I asked, indicating Ginger and Evelyn.
"By means of them I can communicate with the red-haired girl," he said. "Intheir barbarous tongue they can make clear to her, and quickly, the nature ofher condition, and the efficiency, intimacy and totality of the services thatwill be required of her. Too, they can teach her some Gorean, which will keepthem all busy, and help me train her."
"I see," I said.
He adjusted the remainder of the chains and collars on his shoulder. He had notcome to the sales barn, apparently, knowing exactly how many girls he wouldpurchase. It is difficult to anticipate such things accurately, of course,particularly when buying in lots. Much depends on what is available and whatturns out to be the going prices, on a given night. "The treks can be long," hesaid.
"Treks?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"I note," I said, "that all of these girls are barbarians, even the second andthird girl. Why have you not purchased some Gorean girls for your pack train?"
"For pack animals it is surely more appropriate to use meaningless barbariansthan Gorean girls," he said.
"Of course," I granted him.
"But there is, of course," he grinned, "another reason, as well."
"What is that?" I asked.
"These barbarian girls will march along in their coffle as ignorant and innocentas kaiila," he said.
"Whereas?" I asked.
"Whereas," he grinned, "Gorean girls might die of fear."
Ginger and Evelyn moaned.
"These slaves," I said, indicating the two former tavern girls, "seem nottotally ignorant."
"Even these slaves," he said, indicating Ginger and Evelyn, ",who seem sotransfixed with terror, do not even begin, I assure you, to have any idea as towhat might lie before them."
The two girls shuddered. Their will, of course, was nothing. They, like theanimals they were, must go where their masters pleased.
"I take it that you, with your pack train, intend to enter the Barrens," I said.
"Yes," said he.
"Tomorrow morning?" I asked.
"Yes," said he.
"You are, then, a trader?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"I have sought along the perimeter for one named "Grunt'," I said.
"That is known to me," he said.
"None seemed to know of his whereabouts, or clearly", I said.
"Oh? ' he said.
"I found that unusual," I said.
"Why?" he asked.
"This fellow, Grunt," I said, "is presumably a well-known trader. Does it notseem strange, then, that no one would have a clear idea as to his location?"
"That does seem a bit strange," agreed the fellow.
"It is my thought," I said, "that this fellow, Grunt, has many friends, that heinspires loyalty, that these friends desire to protect him."
"If that is so," he said, "then this Grunt, in at least some respects, must be alucky man."
"Do you know him?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Do you know where he is?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Do you think you could direct me to his whereabouts?" I asked.
"I am he," he said.
"I thought so," I said.
9 We Cross the Ihanke
"It is here," said Grant, turning about on his kaiila. "See the wands?"
"Yes," I said. We were now some two pasangs east of Kailiauk.
"Here is one," said Grunt, "and there is another, and another."
"I see," I said, shading my eyes.
The grass was to the knees of the kaiila. It came to the thighs of the slavegirls, in brief one-piece slave tunics, of brown rep-cloth, with deep cleavages,in throat coffle, bearing burdens on their heads.
The wand before us was some seven or eight feet high. It is of this height,apparently, that it may be seen above the snow, during the winter moons, such asWaniyetuwi and Wanicokanwi. It was of peeled Ka-la-na wood and, from its top,there dangled two long, narrow, yellow, black-tipped feathers, from the tail ofthe taloned Herlit, a large, broad winged, carnivorous bird, sometimes in Goreancalled the Sun Striker, or, more literally, though in clumsier English,Out-of-the-sun-it-strikes, presumably from its habit of making its descent and. strike on prey, like the tarn, with the sun above and behind it. Similar wands Icould see some two hundred yards away, on either side, to the left and right.
According to Grunt such wands line the perimeter, though usually not in suchproximity to one another. They are spaced more closely together, naturally,nearer areas of white habitation.
Grunt now turned back on his kaiila to look out, eastward over the broad grassesand low, rolling hills. The terrain beyond the wands did not appear muchdifferent from the terrain leading up to them. The hills, the grass, the archingblue sky, the white clouds, seemed much the same on both sides of the wands. Thewands seemed an oddity, a geographical irrelevance. Surely, thrust in the earth,supple in the wind, with the rustling feathers, they could betoken nothing ofsignificance. The wind was fresh. I shivered on the kaiila.
For those who might be interested in such things, we came to the wands in theearly spring, early in Magaksicaagliwi, which is the Moon of the ReturningGants. The preceding moon was the Sore-Eye Moon, or Istawicayazanwi. Because ofits uncertain weather, the possible freezes and storms, and its harsh winds,this month had been avoided by Grunt. The next moon was Wozupiwi, the PlantingMoon, which term, in the context, I find extremely interesting. It seems to makeclear that the folk of the area, at one time, were settled, agriculturalpeoples. That, of course, would have been before the acquisition of the kaiila,which seems to have wrought a local cultural transformation of the firstmagnitude. One often thinks of a hunting economy representing a lower, in somesense, stage of cultural development than an agricultural economy. Perhaps thisis because, commonly, agriculture provides a stabler cultural milieu and can,normally, support larger populations on less territory. A single human being canbe agriculturally supported by less than an acre of land. The same human being,if surviving by hunting, would require a territory of several square miles.
Here, however, we seem to have a case where peoples deliberately chose thewidely ranging, nomadic hunting economy over an agricultural economy. Themobility afforded by the kaiila and the abundance of the kailiauk doubtless madethis choice possible, the choice of the widely ranging hunter, the proud andfree warrior, over the farmer, denied distant horizons, he who must live at themercy of the elements and in bondage to his own soil.
Grunt sat astride his kaiila, a lofty, yellow animal, looking eastward, outbeyond the wands. Behind him there was a pack kaiila, laden with goods. A thongran from the pierced nose of the beast to a ring at the back of his saddle. I,too, was astride my kaiila, a black, silken, high-necked, long fanged beast. Tomy saddle, too, was tethered a pack kaiila. Various goods were borne by our packanimals, both of the four-legged and two-legged varieties. My goods were allladen on my pack kaiila. Grunt's goods, on the other hand, of course, weredistributed over his eleven beasts of burden, the kaiila and the ten other packanimals. My goods, substantially, consisted of blankets, colored cloths,ribbons, mirrors and beads, kettles and pans, popular in the grasslands, hardcandies, cake sugar and chemical dyes. Grunt carried similar articles but he, aswell, as I had not, carried such items as long nails, rivets, hatchets, metalarrowheads, metal lance points, knife blades and butcher knives. The knifeblades and long nails are sometimes mounted in clubs. The blades, of course, mayalso be fitted into carved handles, of wood and bone. The rivets are useful infastening blades in handles and lance shafts. The metal arrowhead is aconvenience. It is ready-made and easy to mount. It is not likely to fracture asa stone point might. Similarly it makes dangerous trips to flint-rich areasunnecessary. The butcher knives are usually ground down into a narrow, concaveshape. They do not have the sturdiness for combat. They are used, generally, forthe swift acquisition of bloody trophies.