You don't have one by any chance?"
After the men had turned in, Cuinn patrolling the camp, halted a minute
beside me and cocked his head toward the rustling forest.
"What's going on in there?"
"Who knows? Catmen on the prowl, probably, thinking the horses would
make a good meal, or maybe that we would."
"Think it will come to a fight?"
"I wouldn't know."
He surveyed me for a moment without speaking. "And if it did?"
"We'd fight." Then I sucked in my breath, for Cuinn had spoken Terran
Standard, and I, without thinking had answered in the same language. He
grinned, showing white teeth filed to a point.
"I thought so!"
I seized his shoulder and demanded roughly, "And what are you going to
do about it?"
"That depends on you," he answered, "and what you want in Shainsa. Tell
me the truth. What were you doing in the Terran Zone?" He gave me no
chance to answer. "You know who Kyral is, don't you?"
"A trader," I said, "who pays my wages and minds his own affairs." I
moved backward, hand on my skean, braced for a sudden rush.
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