"Yes, there are these kilts. You can buy either the straight skirt kind or divided. The latter are the nearest thing they have to real pants here; they're better for riding. Ken Strachan wore a kilt like this one when he was courting Kristina. He marched back and forth beneath her window playing his bagpipes."
"I am not surprised that she chose the other suitor," said Marot.
The divided kilt was a pair of voluminous trousers, coming to just above the knee, low in the crotch and multiply-pleated.
"Looks good on you," said Reith, belting on his own selection, like Marot's a sober dark blue. "When we get farther south, we'll find them wearing oblongs of gauze or nothing at all."
They collected their three ay as from the stable at which they were boarded and took them out into the country for exercise. Returning from their ride, they paused at the livestock market outside the city walls. Reith ordered their three animals washed and rubbed down while he shopped for a fourth aya to replace the lost one. Having dismounted and handed his reins to a groom, he said to Marot:
"I'm not an old aya-trader, but I know a good beast from a bad one. I've dealt with these yucks. They'll think: aha, here come the rich, stupid Terrans! Now we can make a killing!" He turned to the stablemaster and switched from English to Mikardandou, explaining that he wanted to buy an aya. "It will be mainly used as a pack animal, so no fancy hunter or racer is needed. On the other hand, we want one that can be ridden, in case something befall one of our present beasts."
"Methinks we have just what ye need," said the boss. Making a trumpet of his hands, he shouted: "Pustá! Hither, pray!"
Soon a Krishnan groom appeared at a run, leading an aya by the bridle. As the animal trotted past, Reith said to Marot: "If they had crows on Krishna, we'd call that critter crow-bait. When ayas get swaybacked, they do it twice: once forward of the middle legs and once aft." To the stablemaster he said: "How much demand you for this beast?"
"For a gallant Terran like yourself, I'll make a special price of three hundred karda."
"Ha!" said Reith. "For that sorry bag of bones, thirty were too much. At three, I could at least slay the animal and sell its hide at a profit."
"Sir, ye are offensive! If ye be not lief to do business with us, take your custom elsewhere."
"Very well. Come along, Aristide."
"Are you really going to walk out?" murmured the paleontologist.
"Hush! You'll see."
As they neared the gate of the corral, the stablemaster caught up with them. "Depart not so hastily, gentlemen! With a modicum of patience, belike we can find a beast to fit both your crotch and your purse, eh? Come back, I do pray."
Reith let himself be cajoled into returning. More ayas were paraded, more prices bandied. At last Reith cast a receptive eye on a medium-sized roan. "Let us have another look at that one," he said.
As he approached the aya, the animal rolled its eyes, pricked its ears, snorted, and reared its fore-pair of legs off the ground. Reith tried to speak soothingly to it. But the more he tried, the more frantic became the aya's behavior, until he had to jump back lest he be hooked by a horn.
The stablemaster said: "Belike he's unused to the Terran stench—pardon, sir, I meant the distinctive Terran odor. 'Twill pass with usage."
Marot had wandered up behind Reith and, as Reith retreated, strode nearer the frantic animal. The aya became calmer and settled down on all six legs, although it still rolled a wary eye. In broken Mikardandou, Marot said:
"If you put saddle on, I will ride try."
"Hey!" said Reith. "You may get yourself killed!"
"But, as you see, he tolerates me much more than you. I do not think it is the smell, but your red hair; unlike Terran ungulates, these beasts have the color vision. One of us must prove him ridable; if I am killed, your fee is on deposit at Novo."
"But—but—" sputtered Reith, unable to think of a cogent argument. He had become fond of Aristide Marot and was upset at the thought of losing the amiable scientist.
In a few minutes, the aya was brought back saddled. Marot took a firm grip on the saddle, got a foot in the nigh stirrup, and swung aboard. The aya stood quietly the while, its head and ears drooping. Then the corral gate opened and two Mikardanduma, who had been out hacking, rode their ayas in.
As a groom prepared to close the gate, Marot's aya raised its head. Almost unseating its rider, it started with a bound and raced towards the still-ajar gate. The groom had barely time to look around when the beast was upon him. He sprang aside, but the aya's shoulder sent him rolling as the animal thundered through the opening, Marot clutching the saddle.
Shouts of "Stop them!" arose. The runaway aya disappeared in a cloud of dust before the first pursuer could set out.
Reith's three ayas had been led away for their wash. Of the two hackers who had just brought their animals in, one had dismounted from his fat spotted gray. Reith made a running leap and vaulted into the vacated saddle. The hacker still held the reins.
"Give me those reins!" yelled Reith.
"Give them not!" shouted a trader. "These filthy foreigners would rob us!"
Stable hands and aya-owners began streaming out the gate as their beasts were saddled. Reith leaned forward, got a hand on the reins, and wrenched them out of the grasp of the bewildered hacker. He turned the gray and headed out the gate with the rest. As he neared the main road, a pair of knights in jingling mail galloped past, waving swords and shouting: "Stop thief!"
Reith had a vision of his companion, mistaken for a miscreant, being carved into gobbets before anyone could explain. He spurred his aya. But the gray was a placid beast, which merely stepped up its canter a little and soon dropped back to a rocking-horse gait. Other pursuers raced past.
After several minutes, this onrush slowed as a tableau blocked the road ahead. When Reith maneuvered his aya through the throng, he found Marot sitting amid a low, spreading bush, which he had smashed in his fall. A trickle of blood ran down his face. The two knights, dismounted, stood above him with naked blades. Others of the posse—grooms, traders, hackers, and chance passers-by—stood about, mounted or afoot, gabbling and gesticulating, indulging the Krishnan proclivity for oratory to the full.
Marot looked up. "I have essayed to explain," he said, "but between their, excitement and my poor command of the language ... "
Raising his voice, Reith told the Krishnans that Marot had merely been the victim of a runaway. Another rider appeared, leading the truant roan.
"I caught it beyond yon hill," said he. The crowd murmured approval.
"These Terrans seem honest folk," said the stablemaster. "Let us return to the market."
"Are you hurt, Aristide?" asked Reith.
"A little bruised, that is all. When I saw that I could not guide this sacred beast, I looked for the softest spot to fall into."
"Why couldn't you stop it? Lose your reins?"
"No. I could have halted it, I am sure; but when it heard a thunder of hooves behind it, the creature ran faster than ever, regardless of how I pulled and sawed. How to get back to Mishé? I do not wish to try that devil aya again."
"The brute looks good, but he must be crazy. I'll have you boosted up behind me."
Reith asked the spectators for a hand, and a pair of brawny peasants lifted Marot into place. When they returned to the market, Reith asked the stablemaster:
"How much do you want for this nag we've been riding? She seems to suit us."
"Two hundred and fifty, sir."