Ignoring the woman, I gestured to the battered Argzoon to draw his sword. He did so with a sharp grin and came at me suddenly.

He was an excellent swordsman and, still recovering from my drop into his tent, I was forced to fight a defensive duel for a few moments.

I had little time to do what I had come to accomplish. I met his thrusts with the fastest parries I have ever made, returned them with thrusts and lunges of my own. Our swords crossed perhaps a score of times before I saw a break in his guard and moved in swiftly, catching him in the heart and running him through.

At that moment several more Argzoon rushed into the tent. I turned to meet them but before we could engage the woman cried imperiously:

"Enough! Do not kill him yet. I wish to question him."

I remained on guard, suspecting a ruse of some sort, but the warriors seemed to be in the habit of obeying the woman's orders. They stood their ground.

Cautiously I turned to look at her. She was exotically beautiful in her wild, dark way, and her eyes smouldered mockingly.

"You are not of the Karnala," she said.

"How do you know that?"

"Your skin is the wrong texture, your hair is short—there is something about the set of your shoulders. I have never seen a man like you. Where are you from?"

"You would not believe me if I told you."

"Tell me!" She spoke fiercely.

I shrugged. "I come from Negalu," I said, using the Martian name for Earth.

"That is impossible. There are no men on Negalu."

"Not now. There will be."

She frowned. "You seem to speak truthfully but in some sort of riddle. You are perhaps a—a . . ."

She seemed to regret what she was about to say, and stopped. "A what?"

"What do you know of Raharumara?" "Nothing."

This seemed to satisfy her. She put her knuckles to her mouth and seemed to gnaw them. Suddenly she looked up at me again.

"If you are not of the Karnala, why do you fight with them? Why did you jump into this tent and kill Ranak Mard?" She indicated the fallen Argzoon.

"Why do you think?"

She shook her head. "Why risk your life just to kill one Argzoon captain?"

"Is that all I did?"

She smiled suddenly. "Aha! I think I know. Yes, that is all you did."

My spirits sank. So I had been wrong. The tent did not hold some great Argzoon battle-leader. Perhaps it was a deliberate blind and the leader was elsewhere.

"What of you?" I said. "Are you a prisoner of these folk—a prisoner with some power?"

"Call me a prisoner if you like. I am Horguhl of the Vladnyar nation."

"Where lies Vladnyar?"

"You do not know? It lies to the north of Karnala, beyond Narvaash. The Vladnyar are ancient enemies of the Karnala."