“Hold!” he cried, his broad face creased with a wide smile as he inspected me. “Bellinard may not be entered even by one as tempting as you, girl, save she be given permission by gate guards. Perhaps you seek to smuggle items past us, eh?”
“How would she smuggle, Dominar?” laughed another, coming toward the first. “She and her kan are almost equally bare!”
The other armed males joined in the laughter, and all approached my warriors and me. These males wore the same short covering of all city males topped with a contrivance of leather and metal, designed, I fancied, to protect from arrow and sword thrust. The metal was reinforced at those points where a warrior’s sword would be most likely to concentrate. The leather and metal rose high to guard the males’ throats as well, leaving their heads entirely bare. What sense was there, I wondered, in guarding throat and body, when the head is left completely unprotected?
“Do not scold the girl for her manner of dress,” laughed the one called Dominar. “Should the decision be left to me, I would see all females dressed so. And perhaps she smuggles beneath that strip of cloth at her hips. I feel it my duty to investigate the place personally.”
Amid guffaws from the others, the male left the head of my kan and approached me more closely, his hand outstretched to touch my clan covering. I waited till he was well within range, then quickly raised my leg and kicked him in his unprotected face. The blow sent him flying backward, his arms swinging wildly in a vain attempt to remain upright. He sprawled in the dirt upon his back, the breath knocked from his body, and the remaining armed males laughed as though they would burst. I found little amusement in such foolishness, and could not understand the glee of the others.
“We wish to enter the city of Bellinard,” I announced above the raucous laughter. “Must we do battle first?”
Another of the armed males, controlling, somewhat, his mirth, approached me and stopped with his fists upon his hips, a clear distance from the swing of my leg. He, too, inspected me briefly, then turned to my warriors.
“Do any of you carry anything to be declared to the High Seat of Bellinard, so that the High Seat may subtract his rightful proportion?” he asked. I had not the faintest idea what he meant; I only knew we carried nothing of concern to any in Bellinard.
“We have nothing of interest to you,” I answered “and would now be on our way.”
“That, pretty child, is a lie.” He laughed. “But not a lie for which you might be detained. You have much we would find interesting, but you may, in spite of that, enter. Perhaps we shall meet again when I am no longer on duty.”
His gaze was hot, and he was not unattractive, but I had important matters to attend to. I therefore took no note of him and kicked my kan into motion, guiding it past the male who was only now regaining his feet. My warriors and I rode past them all, farther into the city of Bellinard.
I had much difficulty at first in comprehending what I saw. Never before had I been in the midst of so many hurrying males and slavewomen. The ways of Bellinard were broader than the road to Islat, but were clogged with bodies both human and animal, all seemingly going in every direction. I stared with dismay upon the confused motion, and my warriors, too, seemed struck by the masses, as we gazed about in disbelief.
I soon felt a terrible sense of imprisonment and wanted to turn back to the land of the Hosta. The dwellings to either side of the ways were not as lofty as trees of the forest, but they stood one close upon another, to hover massively and threateningly above our heads. Strips of cloth hung from some of the windows in these dwellings, and many of them were open in the lower part of their fronts, with broad steps leading to their interiors. Males and slavewomen came and went from these dwellings, for what purpose only Mida would know. I swallowed down the fear a war leader should never feel, and slowly led my warriors to the flow of the throng.
We rode along, going we knew not where, no pleasure in our hearts. The noise which surrounded us was deafening, and even the sound of my kan’s hooves upon the stones of the way was inaudible. Lengths of wood had been placed above the entrances of many of the dwellings, and strange slashes appeared upon them. Some also possessed drawings, somewhat like the carving of a life sign, yet even the drawings made little sense to me. For what conceivable purpose would one mark her dwelling with the drawing of a male beside a kan, or a slavewoman holding a tall, thin pot filled with liquid, or even a heavy, horned beast beside a small, feathered one? In the midst of these things I felt weakened, and was sickened by the numerous smells that assaulted me, so mingled that I could not tell one from the other. A glance at my warriors showed that they, too, were pale with the attack upon their senses. Much, indeed, would I have given for a single breath of pure, forest air, or even for the scent I had disliked in the dwelling of Maranu. There was no hope for that, though, and we merely rode on, miserable in our duty.
Those about us stared at us without recognition. We were unknown to the city folk of Bellinard, and I had some difficulty deciding whether that was just as well. Granted, we were not called upon to bloody our swords and thereby bring unwelcome attention, but it was necessary to kick and cuff many males from us, as though they thought us something we were not. Many, too, were the slavewomen who looked as if they thought us responsible for their state of slavehood. I understood almost nothing of what I saw, heard and smelled, nor was I anxious to extend my investigations to touch and taste. A city is a vile place; I would have been much happier to have learned nothing of it.
The crowds seemed to be going in all directions but were in reality moving only in one major direction. This I discovered when we were at last carried toward a wide, open space, surrounded by small, tentlike dwellings in many colors, where grass and a tree or two might be seen. My heart leapt, and I urged my kan toward the place, brushing past male and female alike in my haste. My warriors came behind me, and we were able to leave the crush of bodies as soon as we passed the line of small tents. I rode to a thin, scraggly tree, then dismounted to draw a breath of almost fresh air. My warriors also dismounted, and we stood and looked at one another.
“Jalav, I shall not fail you,” said Fayan weakly, a much wilted look to her. “I ask but a moment before we must reenter that Mida-forsaken city.”
The others nodded their agreement, only I saw what they did not see. “We have not left the city,” I said. “Look you there, beyond that unbelievable dwelling in the distance, past these open fields. Is that not the wall of the city, proving that we are yet within?”
They turned to where I had pointed, and the slump of their shoulders confirmed my statement. We had not, as they had thought, left the city, but were still well within its bounds.
“Is that truly a dwelling?” asked Larid, raising her hand to shade her eyes as she peered into the distance. “Never had I thought so large a thing might be!”
“How may one know?” I asked in turn, also studying the vast structure. It contained many windows, a wide, easily seen entrance above loftily piled steps, and it appeared that armed males stood before the entrance. I could conceive of no rationale for so large a dwelling, yet how may a warrior know the thinking of those of the cities?
We tied our kand to the tree, then sat upon the grass in an attempt to restore ourselves. Many were the city folk who entered the open area, some moving toward one or another of the differently colored tents, some adding their own tents to the ring already begun. Those who moved about the tents often emerged from them with items in their hands, pelts, and cloth, and food, and tall, thin, strangely made pots. One slavewoman emerged with a male, both laughing gaily. They paused to examine her bright armlet, then the woman took the male’s arm and walked off with him. Had the woman won an honor of sorts, that the male looked so proudly upon her?