“They are gone, so your fear must go as well. I saw the one who leads; she and another swam to safety. They are gone, all gone. Now you must remain here and keep watch in case they return.”

This was a positive command, something to do. Meskawino raised his mattock like a weapon. “I will watch,” he said, turning and looking out to sea. When he did this he saw the slumped body of the guard for the first time and began to wail.

“He too—my brother!” The mattock slipped to the ground as he stumbled over to the body and dropped to his knees beside it.

More killing and more death, Kerrick thought, looking out at the now empty harbor. Vaintè, the creature of death. Yet it could not be her alone. She would receive no aid from the cities were it not for the cold winters that brought fear to the Yilanè of Entoban* where one city stretched out to brush against another city. When winter came to the northern cities they could stay and die. Or cross the ocean—and make war. That was what Vaintè told them; he had heard her, knew that she would go on doing that until she was killed.

Someday. Not now; she was beyond his reach. What he must do now was to get inside her head and discover what she was planning. He knew her as well as anyone did, far better than the other Yilanè. So what would she do next?

One thing was certain, she was not alone. An entire fleet of uruketo could be lying just over the horizon, filled with armed fargi, ready to invade. It was a frightening thought. A wail of agony cut through his thoughts and he turned to see that the Sasku had arrived. Sanone came first, the women following behind tearing at their hair when they saw the dead hunter. Sanone looked from the corpse to Kerrick, then out to sea.

“They have returned as you said they would. Now we must defend ourselves. What must we do?”

“Post guards night and day. The beaches and all of the ways into the city must be watched. They will come back.”

“By sea?”

Kerrick hesitated. “I don’t know. They have always attacked from the ocean before, when they could, that is their way. But that was when they had this city and small boats. And they did attack us by land. No, it won’t be from the water next time, I am sure of that. We must keep watch here—and on all sides.”

“Is that all that we do? Just stand and watch and wait like animals to be slaughtered?” Kerrick caught the bitterness in his voice.