«Nayung, you shall not come before the Ulungas for one half-moon of time. You are bidden not to leave Brona. You shall spend four hours of each day in meditating on your evil in bringing before the Ulungas such a man as Blade.»

Blade could see that Nayung's face was twisted with surprise and the beginnings of anger. But an outburst of anger now would do nothing except make matters worse. Blade clamped a hand down hard on Nayung's shoulder. He himself bowed his head submissively, in case anybody was looking at them through a peephole. Then he spoke.

«We submit to the decision of the Ulungas speaking as the voice of the Sky Father. But they have not said what I, Richard Blade, am to do if I cannot come before the king. Am I to go forth into the plains like once of the beasts of your herds, to live or die there as the Sky Father wills it?»

Blade's tone and words must have come as a surprise to the listening spokesmen, because there was another silence, even longer than the first one. Then the voice came again, more quietly than before. «Richard Blade, you shall live in Brona for the time of six full moons. You shall do only women's work during that time, as it seems to please you so much. You may not raise your hand to any warrior of Zunga, nor speak to him without being spoken to first. At the beginning of the seventh moon, if you show that you understand the laws of the Zungans as the Sky Father has given them, you shall then come before the Ulungas.»

«It shall be so. I submit to the judgment of the Ulungas,» said Blade. Quickly he turned and headed for the outer door, practically dragging Nayung after him. He did not breathe freely until they were out in the sun again, and he did not speak until they were well outside the Ulungas' compound and hopefully out of earshot of anyone connected with it. Then he turned to Nayung.

«What do we do now, my friend?»

Nayung's face was still working with astonishment, frustration, and rage. It was a minute or so before he managed to answer. Finally he clenched his fists and said quietly, «The Ulungas have become involved in a game Chamba is playing. I did not think that they could stoop so low.»

Blade refrained from putting in his own opinion. In his experience political priesthoods could indeed stoop that low, or even lower. Instead he only shrugged and said, «I think you are right. They-or Chamba-do not want us to go before King Afuno for a very long time. Why does Chamba want to do this? Surely he cannot wish that the Zungans remain ignorant of the fighting arts that I could teach them?» He did not add that he suspected the Ulungas themselves did not want that. The notion that the official priests of his people would endanger that people to preserve «the laws as given by the Sky Father» would be too much for Nayung to accept.

Nayung appeared to be having trouble deciding whether or not to speak. Finally he said, «Blade, I think you must be told some things even I would rather you did not know.»

Blade hastily raised a hand. «Do not endanger yourself by telling me these things, please. It would not be worth it for you.»

Nayung shook his head angrily. «Blade, if I do not tell you, the whole people of Zunga will be in danger! You are a wise man as well as a warrior. Perhaps you can help me if you know what the dangers are. But what I am going to tell you is about divisions among the Zungans, so you must swear that you will never use it to endanger our people: If you swear, and then break your oath, I will kill you myself, and I will feed your guts to the pigs.»

Blade nodded. «Nayung, by the Sky Father, lawgiver to the Zungans, and by the god of the English, I swear that what you tell me now will never pass my lips to the harm of the Zungans. If I break my oath, may the spirits of my body depart at once, and may my whole, entire body be fed to the pigs of the people I have betrayed.»

Nayung heaved a sigh. «That is good. Although still, I trust you in part because I have no choice. However…» He shook himself all over like a dog shaking itself after a bath: Some of the strain and anger left his face. Then he drew Blade aside into a niche in the wall of a dark, narrow alley between two huts, and told him in brief the situation of the Zungans.

There were two factions among them. The more conservative wished to keep everything-laws, rites, beliefs, even methods of slaughtering cattle or fighting-as it had always been. This side had the support of the Ulungas, which gave them a great advantage. Anybody who disagreed with them was likely to find that he could not go before the Ulungas and was thus an outcast for the time being. Those who balked and protested at this frequently wound up dead. Punished by the Sky Father, the Ulungas would say. But Nayung was certain that most of these deaths were the work of agents of the Ulungas-such as Chamba.

So much for the narrow-minded Zungans. The more open-minded ones believed that the customs of the Zungans should be changed if it were necessary to keep the people alive. They were particularly interested in new ways of fighting, to make it possible to defeat the slave raiders of Kanda and Rulam. They even thought that perhaps the Ulungas could not properly speak for the Sky Father any more. If he was the guardian of the Zungans, would he permit them or require them to continue along the old ways to their doom? But very few were bold enough to say this last out loud. Those who did usually died sooner or later from the «wrath of the Sky Father,» as the Ulungas put it.

What kept the two factions from coming to open civil warfare was the influence of the king. King Afuno had reigned forty years with the respect and often the love of all the Zungans. He had been a mighty warrior in his youth and was now a wise statesman and judge in his old age. Except for the Ulungas, there were few Zungans who would go against his wishes.

But even Afuno could not go against the Ulungas. Too many of the ordinary warriors and the women took every claim of the Ulungas seriously, and would fight to preserve the priests' authority. For King Afuno to go openly against the Ulungas would also mean civil war in Zunga.

But now that Prince Makuluno was dead, King Afuno had a new problem. Makuluno had been his last surviving son, and Afuno was perhaps too old to beget another. He was certainly too old to live until his son was of a warrior's age. In such a case it was in the Zungan custom to pick the best and wisest warrior among the Zungans and marry him to the eldest daughter of the king. They would rule jointly during their lifetimes, and afterward their eldest son would rule as sole king. Thus did the royal house keep its line alive and its hand upon the Zungans.

Over the course of time Chamba had come to be a candidate of the conservatives for the hand of Princess Aumara, Afuno's eldest daughter. Though he was only a M'nor, a leader of thirty-six, he was an immensely strong and fast fighter. Wisdom he obviously lacked, but ambition filled him. That made him a ready tool for the Ulungas and the others who would rather see the Zungans die as a people than see their customs change.

The more progressive faction had no single candidate, unfortunately. There were too many able and ambitious warriors among it. All of them saw not only the beauty of Princess Aumara and a chance to sit on the throne of Zunga, but also saw a chance to settle many years' accumulated scores with the Ulungas. So they fought each other almost as bitterly as they fought the Ulungas.

Nayung was one of the strongest of the candidates. He was a D'bor and likely to become a Great D'bor (a commander over a force of 1296 men) very soon. He was as skilled in single combat as he was wise as a commander against the slave raiders. He was young enough that he would probably live until at least one of his sons was grown. And he was known to hold the Ulungas in sufficient respect so that the conservatives might not make a great uproar if he became king and consort.