Murdock’s eyes had gone to Garth, but there had been no curiosity or demands in his tone of voice. He very much wanted to know where Garth fit in, but he knew better than to demand information from Tammad.
“My companion has agreed to accompany me to my city,” Tammad answered smoothly, sounding as though the visit couldn’t be more casual—but not thinking the same. “It has occurred to me to wonder bow off-wonders will be treated among my people, and my friend will assist me in determining the truth of the matter. Should there be difficulty ahead of us, it would be wise to know of it as soon as possible.”
“Wise, indeed,” Murdock nodded, his suspicious nature considerably mollified. He wasn’t dismissing the question of Garth, but he wasn’t considering it a priority any longer. “I will be sure to send word to you when I return, to learn the results of your experiment. As always, you have my good wishes.”
Murdock nodded in farewell, undoubtedly adding his wintry smile, then turned slowly to be facing his ground car again. His hand came toward my arm as I turned with him, to guide me to his car, I thought, but another hand reached his shoulder before his hand reached my arm.
“Perhaps the Murdock McKenzie has forgotten,” Tammad’s voice came softly from right behind us. “The wenda he takes with him is mine.”
A sense of frustrated annoyance flashed briefly in Murdock’s mind, a fitting companion to the concern I, myself, felt. We both turned halfway back to the barbarian, but only Murdock was able to smile.
“My friend, I must ask your indulgence,” he said, leaning on his cane. “You now have no real need of Terrillian, while Central has a sudden urgency which only her talents might see to. Rathmore has asked me to bring her with me when I return—and would count her presence as the gift you mentioned earlier.”
“A gift which I was told was unnecessary,” Tammad countered, his voice still soft and overly mild, his light eyes calm but determined. “Yet, even that has no bearing. One does not tell another what gift to give, nor does one seek to deny a bargain already struck. Are you prepared to return the value given by me for the possession of this woman?”
“No!” Murdock said immediately. “No, I do not wish to return what was paid for her. I’m sure you are well aware of the fact that I cannot return what was paid for her. Is there no compromise we might find, a temporary loan, so to speak? You would find us very grateful, a state not without its benefits.”
“The gratitude of the Murdock McKenzie is a thing to covet,” Tammad allowed with a sober nod which encouraged Murdock to the point of returning his smile. “However,” the barbarian added, and suddenly his big hand was wrapped around my left wrist, “in this instance I must decline the honor. A woman belongs with him who has chosen and banded her, him to whom she was given. Is there any here who will challenge me for possession of this woman?”
His voice was loud enough to reach everyone in Murdock’s party, and every man there heard him. Almost as one they stared at Tammad, appalled at the size of him, at the musculature showing beneath his tanned skin, at the confidence fairly oozing from every inch of his giant body. Very quickly their eyes left him again, their minds trembling with the fear that Tammad might decide he’d been challenged, their bodies tense, their movements jerky. The only exception to that general reaction was Denny, who looked away to hide the amusement he felt. It suddenly came to me that Denny was hiding his friendship with the barbarian, keeping it a secret between just the two of them. Tammad had a secret ally among the strangers he dealt with, a valuable asset any way you looked at it.
“I see there are no challenges,” Tammad said after a minute, taking his eyes away from the rest of the men to bring them back to Murdock. “I will return to my people now, to continue the plans already begun. I wish the Murdock McKenzie a safe journey home.”
“Wait!” I cried as he began to turn away, my wrist still held in his hand. Murdock was furiously silent, his fist clenched in frustrated rage, his mind seething in impotence. There was nothing he could do to stop the barbarian, and I was desperate.
“Yes?” Tammad inquired, turning back to me to raise one eyebrow. “There is something you wish to say?”
“Yes,” I agreed with a grim nod, wishing my voice wouldn’t quaver. “If you want a challenge for possession of me, you’ve got one. I don’t want to go with you.”
He blinked at me in silence for a moment, his mind groping for meaning, and then he said, “The challenge comes from you? From a wenda?”
At that the five l’lendaa still with him began laughing, roaring out their amusement at the thought. A woman challenging a denday like Tammad was the biggest joke they’d ever heard.
“Yes, it comes from me,” I ground out over the laughter, clenching my teeth at the ridicule. “Are you too good to accept a challenge from me?”
“In what way would you see to such a challenge?” he asked, his tone soft and reasonable and free of the ridicule his men showed. His mind was under rigid control, biding whatever traces of amusement or annoyance he might be feeling, carefully centering on nothing more than our conversation. “How might I face you, hama, without exposing you to either danger or embarrassment? As I care for you, I would not have you exposed to either thing.”
“You don’t care for me!” I choked, suddenly losing control to such an extent that I tried pulling my wrist loose. “You only want to use me the way you use everyone else! And I don’t care how I face you, just as long as I have a chance to get free! One way or another I’ve got to be free of you!”
I was trembling so strongly with the emotions I felt that my whole body shook, sending echoes of the tremors through my mind. I stared at the barbarian wildly, more determined than I had ever been, and slowly, resolutely, he nodded his head.
“Very well,” he sighed, drawing me forward a good five feet before letting my wrist go. “As your need is so strong, I may do nothing other than see to it. I will face you with daggers.”
Daggers! I felt numb as he turned away from me, leaving me rooted to the spot. He planned on playing fair, I could see that in his mind, but I knew nothing of daggers, not to speak of fighting with them! I didn’t even want to touch one of the things, but there was nothing else I could do.
The barbarian spoke quietly to his men for a minute, took the dagger one of them proferred, then turned back to me. I watched him come closer, my eyes glued to the weapon in his hand, and then he was right in front of me, closing my fingers around the hilt of the blade he had brought.
“You are now armed,” he said, drawing the dagger he wore in the back of his swordbelt. “As am I. We may now begin.”
He took a step away from me and went into a slight crouch, his arms held ready in front of him, his weight balanced on both feet. The lowering sun gleamed off the blade in his fist, a blade that suddenly seemed completely a part of him. I stood in the thick grass where I’d been put, feeling the breeze stir my hair, tightening my fingers around the dagger I’d been given. He towered over me, he was a trained warrior, and he undoubtedly didn’t even need the weapon he held, but maybe I could still—
“Hai!” he cried, suddenly jumping at me, the dagger raised high and coming down at me. I screamed and stumbled back away from him, the grass tangling my bare feet, the dagger I’d had falling from my grasp as I frantically tried to get away from the wild man coming at me. I tripped and fell, plunging headlong into the grass, quickly burying my head in my arms as I screamed again. I was trembling violently, panic ready to come flooding out of me, already beginning to cry. He was going to hurt me, I knew he was going to hurt me, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
“Hama, are you all right?” he demanded, his hands, not his dagger coming to my arms. Gently he turned me over, rolling me toward him, and through my tears and terror I could see and feel his anger. “The thing has proven itself as foolish as I knew it to be,” be snapped, his anger growing higher the longer he looked at me. “Your challenge has been met and answered, and I will now return to my people—with my wenda! On your feet, woman!”