Maia

"You're sure of that, are you?" said Zen-Kurel, smiling and helping himself to the cheese., "So sure that I'll be delighted to offer you an appointment as a captain in this band of ragamuffins, if you like," answered EUeroth. "We're a trifle short of officers at the moment. They will keep on doing such foolish things-"

"Not for lack of example, sir," put in one of his captains.

"I do set a bad example, I know," sighed EHeroth, nodding dolefully. "We don't actually pay anyone for participating in this rabble, you know," he went on, turning back to Zen-Kurel, "but if you'd care to take part in the loot of Bekla-"

"It's been looted already, sir, I rather think, both by the Palteshis and the Lapanese," replied Zen-Kurel.

"Yet you yourself succeeded in bringing away some- er-swag of this exceptional quality?" asked EUeroth, smiling towards Maia.

It was said as lightly and charmingly as any compliment ever paid, yet an awkward silence fell. Maia bit her lip and looked down at the table. EUeroth, perceiving that he had unwittingly said something unfortunate, hesitated, clearly hoping that someone would come to his rescue. It was Zen-Kurel himself who answered him.

"No, in point of fact it was she who brought us away: otherwise we'd still be there; or else dead. We're all greatly in her debt. But tell me, Lord Elleroth, if I'm not asking you to betray any secrets, what's your strategy in trying to reach Bekla through Purn? You've set yourselves an even harder job than Orthid this time, haven't you?"

"I'm sadly afraid we may have," replied Elleroth, taking his cue gratefully, "but if anyone can get us through that forest, Mollo will. We're lucky to have a pioneer commander like him. As for the strategy-well; that's supposed to be a little surprise for Kembri, really. You see, he knows where Santil is, but at the moment he doesn't know where we are: at least, I don't think he does. He must think his right flank's completely secure, resting on Purn. So I thought, well, supposing we were to go up through the forest, and then pop out-pop out, you know, just nip across and cut the Ikat-Bekla road behind him,

that might make him feel slightly uncomfortable. What d'you think?" It was clear that he respected Zen-Kurel and was genuinely seeking his opinion.

Zen-Kurel paused, reflecting. "If you can do it, yes; but the forest's very bad, you know. And it can't be long now until the rains, either. Besides, we don't know, do we?- Kembri may already be falling back on Bekla."

As their military talk continued, Maia began to feel so tired and drowsy that she could hardly keep her eyes open. Snatches of the conversation reached her meaninglessly through a daze. The discomfort of her period, the anxiety of the previous night in the forest, the long swim ending in the terror and near-disaster of the waterfall-all these had by now exhausted even her youthful vitality. Looking across at Meris, she could see that she was in little better case.

The young officers, delighted by the unexpected surprise of having two such girls as guests in the middle of a hard campaign, would hardly have noticed if she had made no response at all to their sallies and tall stories. They were perfectly happy just to look at her; to speak to her and merely to enjoy her presence. They were not going to let her go for as long as they could keep her. She realized that if she did not extricate herself, no one was going to do it for her.

She turned to Elleroth. "My lord, if you won't mind, I'm really that worn out I'd like to go to bed now. We've had a very hard day and I'm almost asleep as 'tis: I reckon Meris feels the same. Would you be so kind as to excuse us?"

Elleroth, as might have been expected, was immediately all courtesy, begging the girls' pardon for his lack of consideration and asking whether they needed anything else which he could provide. He was about to call a servant to accompany them back to their quarters when Zirek also begged to be excused, saying that he too felt very tired. One of the officers thereupon suggested that by way of an end to the evening they should all escort the girls to their shelter and sing them a song. This was enthusiastically received. Maia, only too glad that she was really going to be allowed to go to sleep, consented as gracefully as anyone could have wished; and thereupon she and Meris, amid much laughter and cheering, were carried shoulder-high into the sultry, brilliantly starred night and-after a little

tipsy altercation about the right way-back to their shelter, leaving Elleroth alone with Bayub-Otal and Zen-Kurel.