"Tasteless.” Kai snorted and shook a coating of dried herbs over everything. He ate quickly, cleaning a number of bowls, hoping that quantity might make up for quality. Petion ate slowly, savoring the variety of flavours.
"The different dishes have their own charm," he said. "But the flavors are very subtle never anything strong or overpowering like onion or garlic. If you make an effort to appreciate it, it's not too bad."
"It's terrible!" Kai said, pushing away the empty plates and belching. A plate of exotic fruits occupied his attention next.
It wasn't that the scream was particularly loud or terrifying. It was just unexpected and completely out of place. The peaceful murmur from the streets and the delicate music of the wind-stirred ceramic bells was rudely sliced into by the suddenness of the cry. Kai choked on a mouthful of fruit, his glass knife falling and shattering on the stone floor, — an ugly little gun appeared in his hand. Petion did nothing, just sat absolutely still and observed.
Waiters and customers, moving with haste unusual for Andriadans, crowded to the screen facing the street. Outside there were suddenly more people, pressing back against the walls on both sides of the street. They were all looking expectantly, and a little fearfully, in the same direction.
"What's the occasion?" Kai asked. The gun was gone now but he was still alert. The scream sounded again, closer and louder, and it was obvious now that it had been made by an animal of some kind.
"We'll know in a moment," Petion said. "Here they come."
Men pulled on ropes attached to the large wooden cage, others pushed on bars fixed to the sides. The cage moved slowly, lurching and scratching along on wooden runners — even though wheels were used on all of the other Andriadan vehicles. This was something special. Everything about the cage and the fixed, half-horrified attention of the crowd spelled out the importance of the event. It was only the animal in the cage that seemed very unimpressive for the stir it caused. A mottle-furred, long-toothed and clawed carnivore, about the size of a terrestrial lion. It paced the cage, looking in bewilderment at the crowd. Again it opened its mouth and roared piercingly. A ripple of motion passed across the tall Andriadans.
"What is that beast?" Petion asked the customer nearest to him.
"Sinnd…" the man said and shuddered. "What are they going to do with it?"
This question was obviously the wrong one, because the man turned shocked eyes on the Earthman. When Petion returned his gaze the Andriadan blushed and murmured something and turned quickly away.
"Pay the bill.” Petion told Kai, "and let's follow that cage. This is something that is definitely not mentioned in the guidebooks." The Sinnd's cry, muffled now by distance, echoed in the empty street.
By the time they had caught up with it the cage had almost reached its destination, an open field just below the palace. The cage had been pulled onto a raised platform and men with ropes gathered around it. Getting close enough to watch was no problem, since the native An-driadans seemed torn between horrified attraction and repugnance. There were large gaps in the crowd that stirred and shifted in an unceasing Brownian movement. An empty space surrounded the platform. Petion and Kai stood in the first rank and watched the strange ceremony approach its climax.
A webwork of ropes now held the Sinnd immobile. It mewled in terror as a noose pulled its head up, stretching its neck to the utmost. Thin white cloth was now wrapped firmly round and round its neck. The entire affair seemed meaningless.
"Look!" Kai hissed. "The man in the white nightshirt. Recognize him from the photographs?"
"The King.” Petion said. "This is getting more interesting all the time."
Nothing was said from the platform and the affair proceeded at breakneck speed. It was over in less than thirty seconds. The King looked only once at the crowd and lowered his chin. A rustle swept the field as the gathered thousands bowed in answer. The King turned and took the sword from an attendant. With a single quick thrust he plunged it into the white wrappings, severing the bound beast's throat.
A voiceless gasp swept the audience as they drew in their breaths, almost in unison. Struggling against its bindings, the Sinnd burbled a last horrible cry, then slumped down. The King withdrew the sword and the white bindings turned a brilliant scarlet. Next to Petion a man bent over and vomited on the ground.
He wasn't the only one; the repugnance seemed universal. There were only a few women in the crowd, and all had apparently fainted at the moment of execution, as had a number of the men. Their friends were quickly carrying them off. The field cleared with suspicious speed; even the King and officials from the platform joined the exodus. Within a minute the two offworlders and the dead beast were alone.
"Well I'll be damned!" Kai exploded. "It wasn't that bad. Why, I've seen infinitely worse things than that. I can recall—"
"Save your sordid reminiscences.” Petion told him. "I've heard them all. In addition to which — you are correct. It wasn't that bad, particularly with the bandage to cover the wound." He walked over and looked pensively at the slain Sinnd, freed of life and bondage at last.
"What does it all mean?" Kai asked.
"We're going to have to find out. The whole thing seems meaningless now, but it was obviously of great importance to the locals. Let's get back to the base and talk to Rissby. He's been stationed here nine years, and should know what it's about."
"So you've uncovered the local secret," Commander Rissby said. "It's hard to tell if they are ashamed or proud of it. Anyway they make no attempt to stop people from watching, though they do fight strongly against any kind of publicity or official attention. Our policy during ninety-six years of occupation has been simply hands off."
"Is it a religious ceremony?" Petion asked.
"Might be, Honorable Sir. We had an anthropology team through here once, and they were getting interested until they were officially requested to leave. One of them told me that the ceremony has an historical necessity that developed into a public ritual of exorcism."
"How?"
"I don't know how much you know of this planet's history, Honorable Petion. .?" He hesitated, afraid to presume too much.
"For Empress's sake, tell us man!" Kai snapped. "If you think Sir Petion has the time to bone up on the history of every off-trail planet — you're completely wrong. He knows what I tell him because I handle the mechanics of these investigations and keep the records. All he has to do is solve the problem. We know next to nothing about this rock; we came here direct from the last job and never got back to the archives."
"Then you'll forgive a short lecture," Commander Rissby said placidly, still not knowing where he stood in the chain of command. "Early history is obscure, but it is obvious this planet passed through a simple agrarian economy after being settled. Almost Stone Age, at least as far as artifacts go, since Andriad has no heavy metals. If the Honorable Sir has deemed it necessary to make a study of anthropology he will know that one of the theories of the development of mankind on Earth concerned man's using his long legs for running, to escape predators. This happened, in actuality, right here. With no real mountains or forests, Andriad is a perfect habitat for herbivores. You've seen the gigantic herds that still roam the grasslands. Of course, as part of the ecology, there were the carnivores. One species dominated almost completely, the Sinnd that you saw today."
"Men are better carnivores.” Kai said. "So they knocked the Sinnd over the head and ate the ruminants themselves?"
"Quite the contrary. They ran away along with the other animals." Kai snorted in contempt, but the other two ignored him. "They became pure vegetarians — as they still are today. This period of food gathering and flight must have lasted quite a number of years."