Winter in Eden

his sammad. At this thought he laughed into the darkness. A strange sammad it would be! A sammadar who could rarely shoot an arrow straight, a hunter with a hole in his skull put there by his former sammadar, a woman, a baby—and two frightened murgu! A sammad indeed to strike fear into the hearts of others—if not into that of the sammadar himself.
    What else could he do with the poor, helpless creatures? To leave them here would mean certain death; better to kill them himself than abandon them to that. And they would not return to the female Yilanè, which was very understandable. Yet if they went north with him they would surely die in the snow. Then what could he do? Take them out of here—then what?
    An idea began to form and the more he thought about it the more possible it became. It was clear by morning and he slept on it.
    Ortnar was waiting for him in the ambesed, with all of his weapons, his pack upon his back.
    Winter in Eden - Harry Harrison
    "We go later today," Kerrick said. "Leave your things here and come with me for I want to study our track north." They went to the still-intact model that the Yilanè had built, of the land on all sides of the city, and Kerrick looked at it closely.
    "There is no need," Ortnar said. "I know the track well, have been over it many times."
    "We will go a different way, at least at the beginning. Tell me, Ortnar, will you obey my orders, even if they do not suit you, or will you go to another sammad?"
    "It may be that one day I will, since a hunter only obeys a sammadar who is right in what he says. But not now, not until we have gone north to find Armun and your son. For I feel I did wrong in not helping her when she first asked for aid. Because of that I will follow wherever you lead until we have done that thing."
    "Those are hard words to say and I believe every one of them. Then you will go north with me—even though the two murgu males come with us?"
    "They mean nothing to me. They will die in the snow in any case."
    "Good. We will go after midday, when the hunters have gone, since I feel that the Tanu who leave now would enjoy using their new death-sticks on the males."
    "I would enjoy doing that myself—were you not my sammadar."
    "I can believe that. Now let us get a large supply of murgu meat from the store. If anyone asks you why we are taking the murgu north with us, it is because they will carry much meat for us so we can go faster and not stop to hunt. Tell them that we will kill the males when the meat is used up and we no longer need them."
    "Now I understand, sammadar. It is a good plan and I will let you kill them yourself when the time comes."
    They went to the hanalè then, and when they entered the two Yilanè eyed the newcomer with great fright.
    "Act like males," Kerrick ordered. "We all travel together and you must get used to one another. This is Ortnar who follows me."
    "He smells of death-smoke, horrible," Imehei said, shuddering delicately.
    "And he thinks that your breath is foul from eating raw meat. Now be still while I fit these on you."
    Ortnar had made leather packs to hold the meat and the two Yilanè were already wailing over the weight Winter in Eden - Harry Harrison
    of their loads.
    "Silence!" Kerrick ordered, "or I will give you more to carry. You are like still-wet fargi and have never worked in your lives. Outside the hanalè there is much work to be done and you will have to share it. Or do you wish to go south—to the birth-beaches?"
    They were silent after that, though Imehei made a movement of extreme hatred when he thought Kerrick had looked away. Good. A little anger would be of big help to them. Nadaske turned and reached up to the niche in the wall and took down the metal sculpture of a nenitesk that long-dead Alipol had made.
    "Where we go this goes," Nadaske said firmly. Kerrick signed agreement.
    "Wrap it well and put it in the pack. Then remain here with the ustuzou until I return," he said, then turned to Ortnar and spoke in Marbak. "I am going for my pack and weapons. Remain with these murgu until I return."
    "With these?" Ortnar said, worried, grasping his spear. "They have teeth and claws—and are two to one."
    "They are more afraid of you than you are of them. You will all have to be together without me at some time. Now is that time."
    "We die, death is upon us," Nadaske moaned. "When you go through the door the ustuzou will spear us. I sing my death song…"
    "Silence!" Kerrick ordered, speaking as