A typical Kurii foraging squad consists of six animals, called a “hand,” with its “eye,” or leader. Two such “hands” with their “eyes,” constitutes a “Kur,” or “Beast.” The military Kur, in this sense a unit, is commanded by a “Blood”This seems peculiar perhaps but is explained by ancient Kurii belief, that thought is a function of the blood. One “thinks” thus with one’s entire body, not just the brain. Contemporary Kurii understand, naturally, that cognitive processes brain-centered, or largely brain-centered, but the anc terminology, in their songs, poetry, and even military I con, remains. Analogously, humans continue to speak of affairs of the heart, a man of good heart, that someone h; big heart, etc., which terminology perhaps lingers from ti when the heart was regarded not as a chemomechanical pump but as the throne and home of the emotions.
The commander of a military Kur, thus, might better be thoughtof as the “brain” or “mind,” but continues, in their languages, to be spoken of as the “blood.” A “blood” thus commands the two eyes and the two hands. Twelve “Kurs,’ the sense of military units, constitutes one “Band.” This one hundred and eight animals, including subalterns leaders, and is itself commanded by a “Blood,” whose rank is indicated by two rings on the left arm. Twelve of these Bands constitutes a March. A March thus consists of 2160 animals, or, counting the commanders of each Band, 2,172 animals. A March is commanded by a Blood, whose rank is indicated by one ring on the left arm. The ring rank are quite plain, being of some reddish alloy, and are distinguished from decorative rings, of which many Kuriiare fond. Kurii, generally, like men, seem vain beasts, there appears to be an inverse correlation between height of rank and intricacy and variety of ornamentation. The higherthe rank the simpler is likely to be the ornamentation.
The commander, or Blood, of a March wears only a single, sin reddish ring. Whether or not this simplicity is honored duty, so to speak, or in their privacy, I do not know. I fur do not know the full significance of the rings. I do not understand how they are earned, orwhat is involved in movingfrom the “second ring” to the “first ring.” I do know that rings are welded on the wrists of the beasts. The iron files of the Goreans, incidentally, will not cut the alloy. They may be obtained, of course, by the severing of the arm. Why the conjunction of bands is spoken of as a “March” is also unclear. This may refer to a military march, of course, but, I suspect, the term being apparently ancient, that it may also refer to migrations in the remote history of the Kurii, on their own world, putatively no longer existent or viable. There is some indirect evidence that this may be the case, because twelve “Marches” are referred to not as a Division or Army, or some such unit, but rather as a “People”. A People would be commanded by a “Blood” of the People. Such a commander is said to stand “outside the rings.” I do not fully understand the meaning of this expression. The Kurii, as I may have mentioned, consist of several “Peoples.” Not all of these “Peoples” speak the same language, and, I gather, there are differences among, and within, each People. For example, differences in marking, in texture of fur, in temperament, in tooth arrangement, in ear shape, and so on. These differences, negligible from the point of view of humans, are apparently of considerable importance among the Kurii themselves. The human, pursued by such an animal, is not likely to be concerned about the width of its ears or the mottling of its fur. Kurii, in their past, at least, were apparently torn by internecine strife, disrupted by “racial” and ‘civil” wars among themselves. It is not impossible that the defertilization or destruction of their former home was a consequence of such altercations. No Kur, however, I am told, of whatever race or type, will eat the meat of another. This is interesting, considering the ferocity of their carnivorous dispositions. They hold the human, unfortunately, in no such regard. It will be noted that the military arrangements of the Kurii arebased on the number twelve or divisors and multiples of twelve. Kurii use, I understand, a basetwelve mathematics. The prehensible, appendage of the normal Kur is six digited.
Sometimes the foraging squads of the Kurii had been accompanied by trained sleen, often four of them. Twice, in my reconnoitering, I had had to kill such beasts. The sleen have various uses; some are merely used as watch animals or guard animals; others are used as points in the advance of squads, some trained to attack putative enemies, others to return to the squad, thus alerting it to the presence of a possible enemy; others are even more highly trained, and are used to hunt humans; of the human-hunting sleen, some are trained merely to kill, and others to hurry the quarry to a Kurii holding area; one type of sleen is trained to destroy males and herd females, distinguishing between the sexes by scent. A sleen may bring a girl in, stumbling and weeping, from pasangs away, driving her, as Kurii take little notice, through their very camp, until she is entered into a herd. Four days ago I had seen a girl drive, in which several sleen, fanning out over a large area of territory, had scented out scattered, hiding slave girls and, from various points, driven them into a blind canyon, where a waiting Kur had swung shut a wooden gate on them, fastening them inside. Sleen are also used to patrol the large return marches of groups of foraging expeditions, those marches between the temporary holding areas and the main camp. The order of such a march is typically as follows: captured humans, in single file, form its center. These humans are usually thralls and bond-maids, but not always. The spoils are carried by the captured male humans, unless there are too many, and then the residue is divided among the bond-maids. Kurii burden the males heavily; they can think of little more than the weight they carry, and the next step; furthermore, their wrists are usually tied to the straps of their improvised backpacks. Kurii, unlike Goreans, do not subject bond-maids to heavy labor; it toughens their meat; the bond-maids are separated from the males, that they be deprived of leadership; furthermore, the technique of keeping prisoners in single file, separating them by some feet, and preventing speech between them, tends to make conjoint action between them unlikely. Prowling the long single-file of prisoners, male and female, in alternate groups, bond-maids thus used to separate files of men from one another, will be sleen. Should any individual, either maleor female, depart by so much as a yard from the line of march, or attempt to close the gap between himself and a fellow prisoner, the sleen prevent this. Once I saw a girl stumble and two sleen, immediately, snarling and hissing, sprang toward her. She leaped, weeping, to her feet and darted to her precise place in the line, keeping it perfectly, casting terrified glances at the vicious predators. The line of prisoners and sleen is, on both sides, flanked by the Kurii foragers. There are thus five lines, the center line of prisoners and spoils, its flanking lines of sleen, and, on either side, the flanking lines of the Kur foragers. Human prisoners of Kurii, incidentally, are usually stripped; Kurii see no reason to give animals clothing.
I glanced to the Torvaldsberg.
The sun now glinted more fully on its height.
Below us, in the broad valley, the camp of the Kurii lay still in darkness. We heard, below, the howling of a sleen, lonely. I wondered if Kurii dreamed. I supposed they did.
“It is almost time,” said Ivar Forkbeard to me.
I nodded.
Then, from below, we heard the hunting cry of a sleen, and then of two others, then others.
I did not envy Hilda, Ivar’s slave. The Kurii would take little note of the sleen. Their cries were neither of alarm nor offury. They were only gathering in another animal, perhaps a new one, wandered too close to the camp, or a stray, to be expeditiously returned to its herd. The first light then began to touch the valley. From the noises of the sleen we could detect the progress of their hunt, and the location of the imbonded daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar.