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then at Jules. Alanna watched them all as though nothing they said had anything to do with her. Jules
was bluffing, feeling himself too valuable to be casually murdered. Natahk was bluffing. He might kill
others, but he had no intention of killing Alanna. Not yet. Jules was trying to salvage pride, and Natahk
was trying to intimidate. A game then. One miscalculation from either of them, and the people would be
destroyed because of the outcome of a game.
"Jules& " said Neila softly.
Jules glanced at her.
"You can't let him& " She went to stand beside Alanna, put an arm around her protectively.
"You won't do it," said Jules to Natahk. "You won't kill my daughter and then expect me to co-operate
with you."
Natahk stood up, stepped toward Alanna, and Alanna deliberately entered the game on Natahk's side.
She stood quickly, as though frightened, and moved so that her chair was between herself and Natahk.
"Jules!" cried Neila once more.
"All right!" Jules was on his feet. "Stop!" For his daughter, for his pleading wife, he could do what he
refused to do for himself.
Natahk stopped, looked at him.
"I'll do as you say. Leave them alone."
"What will you do?"
"I'll& I'll try to guide my people in the way you want, help them to accept their new lives& and you."
"You don't believe what you're saying," said Natahk. "But your saying it is a beginning. You will say it
again, and again. You will act as though it was true in order to deceive me. You will deceive yourself
instead. Your lie will become truth. You and your people are mine, Verrick."
Jules said nothing.
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"In time," said Natahk more softly, "you will realize that there is no shame in your submission. I don't
rule this valley through weakness. And all who live here submit to me in one way or another."
Still, Jules was silent.
Watching him, Natahk whitened slowly, then just as slowly settled back to his normal green. "You are
First Missionary then, Verrick. Go out to your people and see that no more of them throw their lives
away. Take your wife with you. I want to speak privately with Alanna."
Alanna had not thought anything could bring Jules's resistance back so quickly.
"You want to& My God, Natahk, haven't you done enough? Can't you leave us any peace at all?"
"I want only to speak with her, Verrick. I won't harm her as long as you obey me."
Alanna spoke up quickly. "Jules, it's all right. I'm not afraid." She was, but her fear was for him. "Go,
please. I'll be all right."
Jules stared at her with such a strange mixture of anger and concern that she was confused and silenced.
"My daughter?" he said to Natahk. "My house? You leave me no rights at all, do you, First Hunter?"
"The right to live your life with your family in peace, as long as you obey me. Go."
Alanna spoke up again. "Please, Jules. Go."
Jules looked from Natahk to Alanna, and finally to Neila. He gestured Neila to him, but she hesitated.
"Go," said Alanna urgently. "Don't let me be the cause of your getting hurt."
Neila went to Jules and they left the house together. Alanna looked after them sadly. Then she heard
Natahk sit down again and she turned to face him. "You are destroying him."
"If he cannot change, he will be destroyed. He knows that."
Alanna sighed and sat down. "What do you want of me, Natahk?"
"A narrative. Reasonably detailed, true."
It was what she had expected what he had promised her days before. She relaxed a little. "Where shall
I begin?"
"With your capture."
She obeyed, telling her story easily, altering only those facts that would indicate that her husband was
something more than a judge.
Natahk questioned her from time to time, but for the most part, he listened. She did not know how much
he believed, did not care. She kept to the truth as much as she could because her story was so long. She
wanted to be able to tell it over in the same way as many times as Natahk might wish without having to
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struggle to remember too many lies. But surprisingly, Natahk seemed content with one telling. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]