Reith had only a vague perception of events, so tired was he. When he and Marot were helped down from their mounts, they stood in an apelike slouch, unable to straighten their cramped legs and backs save slowly, a centimeter at a time. Later, when a Krishnan approached them with a plate of food, he found both men already asleep on the schoolhouse floor.
Next morning a Krishnan who entered the schoolhouse with two bowls of hot stew found the Terrans gingerly doing knee bends and groaning over each stiff muscle. The Krishnan said: "What do ye, aliens? Prayers and obeisance to some Terran god?"
"Yes," said Reith with a wry grin. "We are paying our respects to Hercules, the god of muscles. Let's have that food!
I could eat an aya, bones, hide, and all. How much farther to Jeshang?"
"An early start and a brisk all-day ride should fetch us to the Great Temple by this even."
Reith and Marot groaned again, this time in unison.
Roqir had not quite set when Reith and Marot were delivered to the Great Temple of Bákh. Dazed with fatigue, they were hauled from their mounts and hustled through the vast front door of the marble edifice. Inside, they were led through endless halls and passages, where the flames of copper torcheres were reflected from gilded ornaments and picture frames and shone on mural paintings showing scenes from the Book of Bákh.
At some point, the ragamuffin appearance of their captors gave way to the chain mail and smart black-and-white uniforms of the Temple guards. These led the prisoners to a corridor, somewhere in the rear of the huge building, lined on both sides by rows of barred cells. An officer unlocked a door with a metallic clank; the hinges squealed, and Reith and Marot were thrust inside.
The cell had two small, barred windows, high up, through which the prisoners could see a patch of green-tinged evening sky. Mattresses, three stools, a small table, and a washstand provided the cell's spartan comforts.
As Reith and Marot entered, an Earthman, brooding on one of the stools with his back to the door, rose and faced them. Like Reith, this man was of good height and lean build. The light of the setting sun revealed that he had once been disguised as a Krishnan, but that the disguise had begun to wear off. One of his antennae was missing; one of the false points on his ears was partly broken away; and his skin showed the Krishnan olive-green tinge only in patches. Moreover, the man's jaw was shadowed by a ten-days' growth of heavy black beard, which so changed his appearance that it took Reith a few seconds to recognize Warren Foltz.
As Foltz perceived Reith beneath his coating of dirt and dust, he bounded to his feet, snarling: "You!"
Although a minute earlier, Reith was so fatigued that he thought he could not even swat a fly, he sprang at Foltz like a madman. With bestial growls, the two men closed, punching, kicking, gouging, and clawing for each other's throats. Foltz jammed an elbow into Reith's eye; Reith in turn sank his teeth into Foltz's groping arm as they clinched, fell, and rolled on the rough wooden floor. Reith seized Foltz's throat; while Foltz, making strangled sounds, clawed at Reith's crotch.
"Stop!" shouted Marot, trying in vain to pull the furious fighters apart. The cell door flew open, and a squad of Temple guards rushed in. Seizing the limbs of each combatant, they managed to drag the two maddened Earthmen loose.
At length the combatants stood in opposite corners, breathing hard and bleeding from many cuts and scratches, while a pair of guards held each by the arms. Reith's right eye was bloodshot and half closed, while Foltz's bitten arm showed the pattern of Reith's teeth, each tooth mark seeping blood.
The leader of the detail scowled at his guards. "What ninny commanded that these twain be clapped up together? 'Tis known that there's bad blood betwixt them." He turned to Marot. "What's all this with you Ertsuma? If this be how learned Earthmen behave, Bákh deliver us from real Terran ruffians!"
"Sir," said Marot, "you must keep my fiery colleagues well apart, lest they kill each other."
"What ails them?"
"They hate each other, because of rivalry over an Earth-woman."
"Ohé! I begin to understand," said the officer. He spoke to the other guards: "Put the new arrivals in Number Nine, and move furnishings in from the other cells." His lips curled in the Krishnan version of a sardonic smile. "With such mutual hatred, they'll make a lively spectacle at the hearing."
"What hearing is this?" said Marot. "We do not yet know why we have been brought here."
"Why, the hearing wherefor ye've been fetched hither, to answer charges laid against you by Master Foltus."
"When will it be?"
"On the morrow, Bákh willing."
Marot said: "We are exhausted after a strenuous, two-day ride. Could we not have a day of rest and restore our forces?"
"I'll pass word of your request to my superior; but count not upon any easement. The High Priestess wishes to conclude the matter with dispatch."
Reith slept a one-handed Krishnan clock around and woke stiff and sore but alert. He did a few calisthenics to stretch his aching muscles, wincing at the pain from his bruises, then plunged into a hearty breakfast. Marot studied him appraisingly, saying:
"Fergus, you have the most beautiful oeuil poché—I think you call it the blue eye?"
"Black eye. This safari of ours will go down in history as the black-and-blue paleontological expedition. I've never had so many bruises as I've collected in the past moon." Reith frowned somberly. "A couple of years ago, if you'd told me I'd try to kill another man with my bare hands over a woman, I'd have said you were out of your calabash. But something took hold of me ..."
"Then, my friend, perhaps you can understand what it is that makes the little Alicia do irrational, contraproductive things."
"You've got a point," said Reith. "But knowing that I have such weaknesses doesn't make her any easier to live with."
The captain of the temple guard, who had conducted them to their cell the night before, entered the cell with brisk authority. "God den, Terrans! Yestereve ye besought the lieutenant to have today's hearing put off, to give you time to recover from your ride. The High Priestess hath given her consent, holding it unjust that one adversary be in the pink of perfection whilst t'other gasps for life. Thus the hearing will take place at this hour on the morrow. May the best Terran win!"
The captain seemed not unfriendly. Reith suspected that the guards would await the outcome of the trial before deciding which prisoners they might mistreat with impunity and which they had better be kind to, lest an exonorated prisoner retaliate against them. Reith said:
"Would it be possible, Captain, for us to bathe and shave? We are unsuitably groomed for such a public event."
He ran his bruised fingers through the coppery stubble that sprouted over his jaw. Krishnans thought Terran whiskers repulsive, having but a few scattered hairs on their own chins. Therefore Earth men on Krishna were careful to appear cleanshaven, even when, as happened every few decades, beards were fashionable on Earth. The officer replied:
"A bath ye may have, belike; but what's this shaving?"
"Scraping the face with a razor." Reith scratched his cheek. "What is a razor?"
"A very sharp knife, used by Terrans to remove facial hair."
"Nay, we've no such object. I can lend you a pair of tweezers, wherewith to pluck out the offending strands."
Reith sighed. "Not practical with a beard as thick as mine. But the baths will be appreciated."
Cleaned up, Reith and Marot spent the morning discussing the questions they might be asked and the replies they thought they should give. They agreed that, if permitted, Marot should field questions of a religious or philosophical nature, while Reith handled those having to do with Terran activities on Krishna. They shot questions at each other to hone their wits and criticized each other's answers. When Reith began to yawn and let his attention stray, Marot said: