The river, when at length they reached it some two or three hours after midnight, was much as Lenkrit had already described it to her-slow-flowing and about sixty feet wide, meandering across the plain between treeless banks. One of the young men took a cord from his pack, tied one end to the hilt of his knife and plumbed the depth. It was about five feet under the bank.

"We did better coming," said Lenkrit. "It was only waist-deep. Still, we can't spend time looking for a better place. We'll just have to flounder across as best we can."

"It's flowing so slowly, it'll be very little deeper in the middle," said Bayub-Otal. "We ought to be able to wade it, just."

"But do you think the bottom will be firm enough, Anda-Nokomis?" asked Tescon.

As they stood debating the matter among themselves, Maia began to feel a mixture of impatience and mischief. No one had consulted her: it had not even occurred to them that she, a girl, might be of any use.

In the near-darkness, she wandered quietly a little distance upstream. Then, sitting down on the bank, she slipped off her clothes, rolled them round her sandals and, holding the light bundle over her head, slid down into the water and turned on her back.

To get across took her less than half a minute. She had drifted scarcely any distance with the current. Pulling herself out, she walked back until she was opposite the Su-bans.

"My lord!"

They spun round, clutching their weapons as though Kembri himself were upon them. All but Pillan looked startled out of their wits. For a few moments none said a word. Then Bayub-Otal, taking care not to raise his voice, said, "Maia! How did you get over?"

"Swam, my lord. Would you like me to take the packs and that over for you?"

And without waiting for an answer she once more lowered herself into the water and swam across.

They were embarrassed out of countenance, these neck-or-nothing desperadoes. They would not look directly at her. After some moments Bayub-Otal said, "Come on, Lenkrit, give her your pack. We're lucky to have her to help us."

Without replying, Lenkrit stooped and lowered his pack down to her. She took it over dry and then came back for Thel's. When all the packs and weapons were across she offered to take their clothes, but the men would not undress, choosing to splash and flounder as best they could through the bed of the river, emerging wet from head to foot.

They sat on the bank slapping themselves and squeezing the water out of their sleeves. Maia, having dressed again, remained carefully silent. At length, with an air of mingled curiosity and resentment, Lenkrit said to her "You don't mind-men-seeing you naked?"

"All depends, my lord."

"On what?"

"Well, just struck me as I could help you, that's all." For the life of her she could not keep a note of irritation out of her voice. They might at least have thanked her, she thought; on impulse she added, "In Bekla no one'd think twice."

"Oh, wouldn't they?" replied Lenkrit contemptuously. "I see."

"Might be one or two things changed in Bekla 'fore long," muttered Th'el.

"Let her alone!" said Bayub-Otal sharply. "She helped you, didn't she?"

"Dare say she did," persisted the boy, with sullen obstinacy. "All the same, there's some things-"

"Stand up!" cried Bayub-Otal, himself springing to his feet. "Who am I? Answer me!"

"A-Anda-Nokomis," stammered Thel, facing him in the moonset. "I'm sorry-my km!-"

"Right, let's get on!" snapped Bayub-Otal, turning away and picking up his pack. "Now we're in Urtah we can stop as soon as it's light and get dry by somebody's fire." He touched Maia's hand. "Thank you, Maia. They're grateful, really. It's just that people in Suba see one or two things a little differently, you know."

It was on the tip of her tongue to reply "And silly they look with it," but she swallowed it down and set off behind him.

Two nights later Maia, wet through, was lying prone in a marshy thicket beside her five companions. Seventy or eighty yards away, on the nearer bank of the Valderra, firelight flickered between the trees, and from time to time could be heard voices, the snapping of sticks and the clink of a cooking-pot or a weapon.

"There's no telling how many of them there are," whispered Bayub-Otal. "Do you want to try somewhere else?"

"Again?" replied Lenkrit. "It'd be the same at any other ford: they're all watched. We've got to chance it, Anda-Nokomis. I doubt there are more than nine or ten men there at the most. What do you think, Tescon?"

"Ay, get in among the bastards, sir, 'fore they know what's happening." After a moment he added, "They're only damned Tonildans; they won't fight."

"They'll not be expecting anything from this direction,

sir," said Thel. "Their job's to watch the ford." He fingered his dagger.

"Waste of time going anywhere else, Anda-Nokomis," pursued Lenkrit. "It's getting on for first light now. It'd mean another night gone, and time's very short already. You ought to be down in Melvda as soon as you can. It'd look bad if Karnat decided to make a start without us, wouldn't it? Anyway, I've got to get back to my men. I've had enough of this."

And so had she, thought Maia. Physically she had never felt so worn out in her life. Since crossing the Olmen they had gone no more than twenty miles ins two days, but although Bayub-Otal, as usual, had shown her every con-sideration, the distance had proved more than enough. Her feet were blistered and she had an upset stomach. Although they had spent the previous night under a roof, she would honestly have felt better if they had not. The place called itself an inn. The kitchen, which was also their sleeping quarters, had a boarded partition down the middle, on the other side of which were stalled cattle. The supper had been cooked in rancid fat and the privy was so vile that she could not bring herself to use it. After an hour or two's sleep she had woken to find herself bitten from head to foot. Weeping from the sheer accumulation of discomfort, she had let herself out into the clean darkness, where Lespa's stars were paling in the first light, and lain on the grass for an hour. She had felt done up even before they set out.

Soon after nightfall they had approached the wooded eastern bank of the Valderra, making for the ford by which Lenkrit had crossed from Suba. As they made their way through the trees, however, it became clear from the noise and the number of fires that the Beklan outpost must have been strengthened. There seemed to be two or three dozen soldiers at least. Stealing away, they had gone about three miles north in the dark, through woodland, water-meadows and brooks, only to find at the next ford another strong outpost, where they had narrowly avoided blundering into a sentry.

It was now long after midnight; they had reached a third ford and Maia, chilled, aching and exhausted, felt past caring what happened.

All day she had been wondering whether she could not manage to get away from them: yet how, without help?

Kembri had told her that certain Leopard agents in Urtah might be able to get in touch with her, but none had made any approach. Last night she had had some idea of throwing herself on the mercy of the innkeeper and his wife, but (as the state of their house showed) even by rustic Urtan standards they were blockheads: there was no telling how they might have responded.

So, with ever-falling spirits, she had trudged on with the Subans. Yet until nightfall she had not really believed- had not really faced the fact that she was going to be taken across the Valderra. Something would surely happen to prevent that. Lespa would not let it happen. Yet here she was. And once across the Valderra, how could she ever hope to get back?

And then, suddenly-or so it seemed-opportunity was staring her in the face. If they were going to attack this outpost, could she not run away in the confusion? There must be some place-some house, some village-she could hope to reach. They would be wanting to get on across the river; they wouldn't want to waste time searching for her. What might happen after that was another matter; but anything-anything offered more hope than being taken across the Valderra.