At this moment, from somewhere in the darkness, a man whistled. Kelderek stood rigid. The blood pulsed in his head--five, six, seven, eight. Then, quietly but unmistakably, the whistler ran through the refrain of a song, "Senandril na kora, senandril na ro."
An instant later Sheldra grasped his wrist.
"Who is it, my lord?"
"I cannot tell," he whispered. "Wait."
The girl strung her bow with barely a sound and then guided his hand to the hilt of the knife at her belt. He drew it and crept forward. Close by, to his left, the bear growled and coughed. The thought of Lord Shardik pierced by the arrows of unseen enemies filled him with a desperate haste and anger. He began to push his way more quickly through the bushes. Immediately, from the darkness on his right, a low voice called, "Who's there?"
Whoever had spoken, at least he himself was now between him and Shardik. Peering, he could just make out the trunks of trees black against a paler darkness--the open sky above the river. A faint wind stirred the leaves and a star shone twinkling through.
Now came the sound of movement like his own--the snapping of sticks and rustle of foliage. Suddenly he saw what he had been waiting for--an instant's flicker between one tree and the next, so close that he was startled.
Ten paces--eight? He wondered whether Bal-ka-Trazet himself might be close at hand and in the same moment remembered the Baron's trick by the pool, when he had distracted the bear. His groping fingers could not find a stone, but he squeezed together a handful of moist earth and tossed it upward through the space between the tree trunks. It fell beyond with a disturbance of leaves, and as it did so he dashed forward. He blundered into a man's back--a tall man, for his head struck him between the shoulders. The man staggered and Kelderek, flinging one arm up and around his neck, jerked him backward. The man fell heavily on top of him and he twisted clear, raising Sheldra's knife.
The man had not uttered a sound and Kelderek thought, "He is alone." At this he felt less desperate, for Bel-ka-Trazet would have known better than to send one man to tackle Lord Shardik and his armed and devoted followers. He pressed the point of the knife against his throat and was about to call to Sheldra when the man spoke for the first time.
"Where is Lord Shardik?"
"What's that to you?" answered Kelderek, thrusting him back as he tried to sit up. "Who are you?"
The man, amazingly, laughed. "I? Oh, I'm a fellow who's come from Ortelga through the Dead Belt, with a fancy to be knocked half silly for whistling in the dark. Was it Lord Shardik that taught you to crush a man's throat from behind you like a Deelguy footpad?"
Whether really unafraid or only concealing his fear, he certainly seemed in no hurry to get away.
"Come through the Dead Belt by night?" said Kelderek, startled in spite of himself. "You're lying!"
"As you please," replied the other. "It's no matter now. But in case you don't know it, you're only a few yards from the Belt yourself. If the wind changes you'll smell the smoke of Ortelga. Shout loud and the nearest shendron will hear you."
This, then, was the cause of Shardik's uneasiness and sullen fear! He must already have smelled the town ahead. Suppose he should wander into the Dead Belt before morning? "God will protect him," thought Kelderek. "When daylight comes, he may turn back. But if he does not, I will follow him into the Belt myself."
It crossed his mind also that by morning the bear would be close to starving and therefore still more savage and dangerous; but he put the thought aside and spoke once more to the stranger.
"Why have you come?" he asked. "What are you seeking?"
"Are you the hunter, the man who first saw Lord Shardik?"
"My name is Kelderek, sometimes called Zenzuata. It was I who brought the news of Lord Shardik to the Tuginda."
"Then we have met already, in the Sindrad, on the night when you set out for Quiso. I am Ta-Kominion."
Kelderek remembered the tall young baron who had sat on the table and bantered him in his cups. He had felt confused and uncertain then, a common man among his betters, facing trouble alone. But matters had changed since.
"So Bel-ka-Trazet sent you to murder me," he said, "and you found me less helpless than you expected?"
"Well, you're right this far," replied Ta-Kominion. "It's true that Bel-ka-Trazet is seeking your death, and it's true that that's the reason why I'm here. But now listen to me, Kelderek Play-with-the-Children. If you suppose that I've come alone through the Dead Belt on the off chance of coming across one man in miles of forest and killing him, then you must believe I'm a sorcerer. No, I came to look for you because I want to talk to you; and I came by land and darkness because I didn't want Bel-ka-Trazet to know of it. I had no idea where you might be, but it seems I've been lucky--if what you call luck's a half-broken neck and a blow on the elbow. Now tell me, is Lord Shardik here?"
"He is not a bowshot away. Speak no ill of him, Ta-Kominion, if you want to live."
"You must understand me better, Kelderek. I'm here as Bel-ka-Trazet's enemy and the friend of Lord Shardik. Let me tell you something of what has been happening in Ortelga since you left."
"Wait!" Kelderek gripped the other's arm. Crouching together and listening, they could both hear Shardik moving in the forest.
"Sheldra!" called Kelderek. "Which way is he going?"
"He is returning, my lord, by the way he came. Shall I go back and warn the Tuginda?"
"Yes, but try not to lose him if he should wander further."
"So," said Ta-Kominion after a few moments, "they obey you, do they, Lord Kelderek? Well, if all I hear is true, you deserve it. Bel-ka-Trazet told the barons that you struck him down."
"I threw a stone. He was about to kill Lord Shardik while he lay helpless."
"So he said. He spoke to us of the folly and danger of allowing the people to believe that Lord Shardik had returned. 'Those women'll ruin us all,' he said, 'with that half-burnt bear they've got hold of. God knows what superstitious rubbish will come of it if they're not packed off where they belong. It'll be the end of all law and order.' He sent men out to look for you at the western end of the island, but you'd gone from there, it seems. One of them tracked you eastward almost as far as this; but when he came back, it was to me he spoke and not to Bel-ka-Trazet."
"Why?"
Ta-Kominion laid a hand on Kelderek's knee.
"The people know the truth," he said. "One of the Tuginda's girls came to Ortelga--but even if she had not, truth blows through the leaves and trickles between the stones. The people are weary of Bel-ka-Trazet's harshness. They are speaking secretly of Lord Shardik and waiting for him to come. If need be they are ready to die for him. In his heart, Bel-ka-Trazet knows this and he is afraid."
"Why," answered Kelderek, "that morning when he left the Tuginda, I saw the fear already in his eyes. I pitied him then and I still pity him, but he has set himself up against Lord Shardik. If a man chooses to stand in the path of a fire, can the fire take pity on him?"
"He thinks--"