Ikemei opened one of the parcels and took out a bundle of prints. They were grainy, black and white, but very impressive. She had arranged them in dramatic order. First a field of white with black dots upon it. Then the swoop, the dots took shape, then were clear. Four-legged, fur-covered ustuzou. One of them grew, filled the print, looked up with snarling jaws, curved teeth protruding. Then jumped aside at the threat of the attacking bird. This last print was the most dramatic of all for the wing-spread shadow of the raptor lay across the longtooth and the snow. When Malsas< had finished looking at them Vaintè took the pictures with eager hands, excitement growing as she went through them.

“It can be trained to search for any creature?”

“Any.”

“Even the ustuzou I brought from Alpèasak?”

“Particularly that ustuzou. It will search and it will find and it will return. Where it has been can easily be determined by using the pictures of its flight to prepare a map.”

“This is the weapon I need! The ustuzou move in small packs, while the country is large. We found one pack and destroyed it easily. Now we will find the others . . .

“And you will destroy them in the same way,” Malsas< said.

“We will. I promise you—we will.”

“I am pleased. Vaintè, remain. Everyone else will now retire.”

Malsas< sat in frozen silence until the heavy doors had closed behind their backs. Only then did she move, and as she turned to face Vaintè she expressed unhappiness and more than a suggestion of fear. The Eistaa of Inegban* unhappy and afraid? There could be only one cause. Vaintè understood, and her movements echoed those of Malsas< as she spoke.

“It is the Daughters of Death, is it not?”

“It is. They will not die—and their numbers grow.”

“Nor will they die in Alpèasak. In the beginning, yes, the work was hard and the dangers many. But now that we have grown and prospered it is not the same. They are injured, some die. But not enough.”

“You will take some of the worst offenders with you in the uruketo when you return. The ones that talk in public, who make converts.”

“I will. But each one I take means one less armed fargi. In Alpèasak these deathless creatures impede me because they will not aid in the destruction of the ustuzou. They are a burden.”

“Equally so in Inegban*.”

“I will take them. But only in the new and unproven uruketo.”

Malsas<’s sign of assent had small overtones of respect.

“You are hard and dangerous, Vaintè. If the young uruketo fail to cross the ocean, their failure will also be a success.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Good. We will talk of these matters again before you return to Alpèasak. Now—I am tired and the day has been long.”