By the time I rolled into my hangar, I’d long since made up my mind. A call to the peacemen would harm nothing, and Jan would one day be grateful. I followed Tammad to the speedster hatch, but instead of lifting me down, he took me by the waist, put me over his shoulder, and proceeded to carry me into the house.
“What are you doing?” I demanded of him. “Put me down immediately!”
“I shall not,” he answered without even slowing. “I see by your face that you are determined to court a further switching. I shall save you from it by occupying your time with other things.”
“Barbarian!” I screamed. “Let me go!” But he didn’t. He carried me to my bedroom, stripped the wrappings from me, and showed me what other things he meant. By the time he was through with me, I hadn’t the strength left to walk to the call.
4
I glared at Tammad over breakfast, but he just gazed back at me in amusement.
“Why do you thus look upon me?” he asked innocently “Have I done something amiss?”
“Everything you do is amiss!” I countered, wishing looks could kill. “Don’t even speak to me!”
“Words are not necessary between a man and his belonging,” he murmured, stroking my arm with his finger. I pulled my arm away as if it had been burned, and he laughed out loud. “Woman, it is not me you fear, but yourself. Was it not clear, but moments ago, that the fire burned high in you? That I took you and cooled your fire should not make you angry”
“The only thing you take is advantage of me!” I said, trying to crumple the eating prong in my fist. “I never invited you into my bed, and a gentleman would know when he wasn’t wanted. But, of course, I forgot. You don’t even know the meaning of the word, ‘gentleman’!”
“Exceedingly strange,” he sighed, applying himself to his food. “Perhaps your actions will become understandable when we have reached Rimilia. On this world, many things are unclear to me.”
I began to assure him that he would never understand me, when the visitor flash showed on the wall board. I left the food I had no real desire for, and went downramp to see who had come into my hall. Sandy Kemper stood there, an uncomfortable expression on his long, thin face.
“Well, well,” I drawled, folding my arms as I stopped in front of him. “To what wondrous good fortune do I owe this visit? If you’ve come to take the barbarian back, please, be my guest!”
“Now, Terry I’m sorry about what’s happened,” he mumbled, “but it wasn’t really my fault. I did tell you to go home, you know. If you had, you would not have gotten involved.”
“I wouldn’t have gotten involved if I could have stayed asleep,” I snapped. “Whose fault do you think that was?”
He looked even more uncomfortable, then glanced past my shoulder. Ah, Tammad,” he said in relief, “I came to give you a message from Murdock. Do you have a moment?”
“Of course,” Tammad answered as he came up to us. I noticed that he had his swim trunks on again, but was eyeing my sleep suit with considerably more disfavor than he had been showing. “Go you back to your food, woman. This talk does not concern you.”
“How would you know?” I countered. “You haven’t even heard what he has to say”
“I do not need to hear,” he answered. “Should some part of it concern you, you will be told.”
“I’ll just save you the trouble and stay around anyway,” I said, feeling the itch of another hunch. “Go ahead, Sandy, get it said.”
Sandy seemed upset, but Tammad didn’t hesitate. He lifted me off the floor under one great arm, carried me back upramp, and found the switch where he’d left it. By the time he returned to Sandy I was long since reduced to tears and sobbing. The switch is a painful instrument of teaching, and the barbarian’s arm had reminded me that he would stand only so much of my disobedience before the lesson was taught again. The second switching was more painful than the first, and I had no curiosity about a possible third.
I had nearly made up my mind to run away no matter what the consequences, when Tammad came back. He stood over me as I lay face down on a bed that was damp from my tears, and studied me. At last, he shook his head.
“In truth, the beating should not have been yours,” he said, almost in disgust, “Did your life not hinge upon your heeding of my word, I could not fault you for your actions. How else could you be, living your life among darayse?”
I sniffled and stared at him, and he crouched down to smooth my hair. “The Sandy Kemper asked what I had done to you to make you scream so. When I explained what I had done, and why it was necessary, a rage filled him. None but a barbarian would treat a Prime so, he shouted. A Prime was to be spoken to gently and persuaded, he insisted. And what, asked I, if she cannot be persuaded? Is her life to be lost should my tongue fail to be glib enough? He refused to consider this, maintaining only that a Prime is not to be touched. When he spoke his message and left, I was pleased to see him go.”
“What makes you so sure that you’re right?” I demanded weakly with a sniff. “I’ve never been beaten before in my life, yet I’ve managed to survive!”
“You were not upon Rimilia,” he said. “Therein lies the difference. But fear not, woman. I shall not save you from the lesser pain and allow you to be lost to the greater. I shall return you to your embassy as you will leave it. You may rest now until the soreness has passed.”
He stood straight again and left the room, graciously allowing me to rest. He was so sure that his way was best, so sure that I’d never survive without him. He, who had knowledge of no more than his one, small world, knew that I, who had visited dozens, would never survive! I was furious at that, furious that he considered himself so much better than I, furious that in his imagined superiority he dared to beat me. I resolved to teach him that he was wrong, to shame him as he had shamed me. I didn’t know when, but I knew I would do it.
He left me alone that day coming for me only when it was time to eat. I served him first, but was unable to sit at the table with him, instead carrying my plate back to my bedroom to eat, belly down, like an animal.
I was about to leave the kitchen with the last meal of the day, when the call sounded. Without thinking, I waved my hand in acknowledgment, and Murdock McKenzie’s face appeared on the screen. “Ah, Terrillian,” he said, his cold, narrow face wearing the faintest of smiles, “I’m pleased to see you looking so well.”
I blushed in embarrassment even though I knew he could see nothing more than my head and shoulders. The barbarian had stripped off my sleep suit to beat me, and I hadn’t dressed again.
“Sandros was most concerned about you,” he continued smoothly “He insisted that you were being mistreated abominably and that I was to do something at once. Tammad, my friend, have you been mistreating our Prime?”
“I have been teaching her obedience,” Tammad answered in a neutral tone, looking straight at the call. “It is something that should have been done sooner.”
“I’m afraid I’m forced to agree with you.” Murdock nodded with a rueful smile. “She is a most disobedient child, and is sorely in need of strict guidance. For her sake, I wish you success.”
“The Murdock McKenzie need have no fear,” Tammad murmured, showing a faint grin, knowing then that he wasn’t being criticized. “She shall be taught that which she needs to know”
“Good.” Murdock nodded again. “And when you go tomorrow to register for the voyage, have her show you Tallion City. You may not have the opportunity to see it again.”
“I shall do so,” Tammad agreed. “The Sandy Kemper felt she knew the location of where we must go. Is this true?”
“It is,” Murdock said. “Have you told her yet?”
“She will know when she must know,” Tammad answered. “There is time yet for the telling.”
“As you wish,” Murdock agreed, then moved his eyes back to me. “Terrillian, you’d do well to be on your best behavior. Tammad is not to be gotten around as easily as Sandros—or Jackson. Perhaps you’ve already discovered this?”