I raised dripping wet fists to beat at the bars and mesh of the cage, then struck at them once only, but with the force of frustration and a screaming rage behind the blow. Those men had no right fighting over me, but they were doing it anyway, one to reclaim a needed possession, the other to defend a point of honor. Neither one was thinking about me, and I hated them both! They were contending over a Prime of the Centran Amalgamation, a thing of definite and specific value. I hadn’t attained the status of human being to either of them, and I probably never would.
Tammad and Garth raised their swords to what were probably defensive positions, then slowly began to close with each other. They circled warily, each watching the other closely, then Garth struck at his big opponent, more a testing stroke than an actual attempt to reach him. Tammad knocked the advancing point aside and replied almost casually, but Garth found himself defending frantically, just short of having his arm sliced open. They returned briefly to circling, exchanged attacks again and then a third time, and I realized then that although Garth had been able to keep himself from being hurt, his mind had turned numb with a deeper fear, a deeper understanding of his mortality. Tammad’s calm determination hadn’t changed, but Garth was no longer as he had been.
I suppose they kept at it for no more than ten or fifteen minutes, but the time somehow seemed endless. The rain poured down on me and on everyone else, drenching everyone and everything, leading me to wonder if rain would always be an aspect of Tammad’s entry into my life. There always seemed to be wetness for me when he was around, if not from the skies or my tears, then from other parts of me. One minute he and Garth were still at it, and the next Garth had slipped during an advance and had gone down to the sodden grass. Tammad had him then, an undeniable victory, but for some reason the barbarian didn’t press his advantage. He lowered his sword and stared briefly at the man who was slowly trying to get to his feet again, then he stepped forward and said something to his erstwhile opponent. Garth looked up and shook his head, his mind sick and resigned, then Tammad said something else. The surprise in Garth’s mind was so strong I could feel it like a blow. Tammad stepped even closer then crouched down, his sword still in his hand but seemingly forgotten, and then the two men began to talk.
The conversation lasted longer than the fight had. I was sitting on the sodden ground, my back against the bars of the cage next to the door, my eyes on the bright plumage of the birds huddled in the tree at the other side of the cage, when the birds began to stir uneasily and I heard a step behind me. I still didn’t have to turn to know who it was; there was only one man in the entire Amalgamation who could throw such deep calm on himself and make it feel natural.
“Come, Terril, it is time to depart,” he told my rounded back, his hand thumbing open the door catch. Some of the birds began fluttering wetly, fearfully, but they weren’t the quarry being pursued.
“I won’t come with you,” I said into the downpour, my voice weak and ineffective even in my own ears. “I’d rather stay locked in here than come with you.”
“I have not the time,” he said, reaching in to grab my arm and pull me out of the cage. “Once we have departed this place to return to Rimilia, we shall speak of that which disturbs you.”
He pulled me along beside him through the rain, moving obliquely to join the other men who had been with him. One of them helped a limping Garth, who must have twisted his ankle when he went down. The merchants and Kabran officers were nowhere to be seen, nor was anyone else left in the park. I moved alone through the rain, all around me a delegation of those who did as they pleased. Only I was denied that right, I, who should have had it before any of them.
The barbarian’s fingers were tight on my arm, making my mind seethe in a fury as useless as struggle would have been.
When we reached the park entrance where I had come in, two sleds were at the curb waiting for us. Tammad hesitated very briefly, then sent Garth to ride with those in the second sled before forcing me into the first one. I didn’t understand why Garth was going with us, but more than that I didn’t understand why Tammad had sent him to the second sled. He couldn’t have felt Garth’s vast reluctance to look me in the eye, the deep well of guilt he worked frantically to control—or his infinite relief when he saw he would not be riding in the same vehicle with me. I moved over as far as possible on the sled seat, seeing the water that dripped from me soak down into the seat cushions, ignoring the amusement coming from the other men in the sled. They were warriors, Tammad’s l’lendaa, and anything he did was perfectly right and proper to them. He was their leader, their denday, and kidnapping women was nothing new to them.
The sleds left the curb together and merged into the thinned stream of traffic, sliding past the suddenly emptied streets. No more than a handful of people were left afoot in the rain, and that handful hadn’t remained out of choice. Cold air began to fill the inside of the sled until Tammad spoke to the driver, then the cold air cut off and we were left with the stuffiness and damp. Even as sopping wet as I was, the stuffiness wasn’t very welcome.
The ride to the port didn’t take very long. I suppose I kept expecting officials of some sort to stop the sled and take me away from the unpleasant dream, escort me back to my accommodations, then assure me that everything would be fine. Instead, the two sleds stopped beside a small, official-looking transport, I was pulled back out into the rain, and then the transport’s ramp was right in front of me. I hung back against the fingers digging into my arm, more than reluctant to go up that ramp, feeling the hurry in the minds all around me, but sharing none of it. My mouth opened to scream for help, any help, but another big hand grabbed my other arm and I was half-carried, half dragged up the ramp and inside.
I wasn’t released until we stood in the middle of the transport’s common area, a section usually containing tables to eat at and couches to socialize on. Yellow and brown carpeting still covered the metal of the deck plates, but the tables and couches had been replaced with pillows of all colors and a few small hand tables. Why it had been done was obvious, but bow Tammad bad gotten an official transport for his own use was beyond me.
“Return us to Rimilia immediately,” Tammad told a man who bad followed us with the others into the transport, a man with captain’s insignia on his tunic. He was the same man who had spoken to Tammad in the park, explaining Garth’s position, and he nodded and began to turn away, then hesitantly turned back to the big barbarian.
“Tammad, are you sure this is all right?” he asked with concern. “Murdock McKenzie told me to do as you ordered and advise you if you needed advice, but this whole thing is beginning to bother me. The woman’s a Prime, and she doesn’t seem to want to go with you.”
“I don’t want to go with him!” I told the man as forcefully as I could. “Call the Port officials and tell them to make him let me go!”
“The woman is mine,” Tammad rumbled calmly, ignoring what I’d said in the same way that he ignored the captain’s increased indecision. “Was she reluctant to accompany me when first I approached her? What was done to cause the change you see?”
“I don’t know,” the man admitted, his tone heavy. “First she was glad to see you, then she was running away. I don’t know what happened.”