I knew I would be sorry when
the walls of Shainsa rose on the horizon, bringing me back inescapably
to my own quest.
We swung wide, leaving the straight trail to Shainsa, and Kyral
announced his intention of stopping for half a day at Canarsa, one of
the walled nonhuman cities which lay well off the traveled road. To my
inadvertent show of surprise, he returned that he had trading
connections there.
"We all need a day's rest, and the Silent Ones will buy from me, though
they have few dealings with men. Look here, I owe you something. You
have lenses? You can get a better price in Canarsa than you'd get in
Ardcarran or Shainsa. Come along with me, and I'll vouch for you."
Kyral had been most friendly since the night I had dug him out from
under the catmen, and I knew no way to refuse without exposing myself
for the sham trader I was. But I was deathly apprehensive. Even with
Rakhal I had never entered any of the nonhuman towns.
On Wolf, human and nonhuman have lived side by side for centuries.
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