of his cloak and held it ready.

"Ho, one comes to speak with Nodren--Nodren of the Hill!"

Only the dog snapped and snarled. Ashe rubbed his forearm across his
face, the gesture of a weary and heartsick man, smearing the ash and
grime into an awesome mask.

"Who speaks to Nodren--?" There was a different twist to the
pronunciation of some words, but Ross was able to understand.

"One who has hunted with him and feasted with him. The one who gave into
his hand the friendship gift of the ever-sharp knife. It is Assha of the
traders----"

"Go far from us, man of ill luck. You who are hunted by the evil
spirits." The last was a shrill cry.

Ashe remained where he was, facing into the bushes which hid the
tribesman.

"Who speaks for Nodren yet not with the voice of Nodren?" he demanded.
"This is Assha who asks. We have drunk blood together and faced the
white wolf and the wild boar in their fury. Nodren lets not others speak
for him, for Nodren is a man and a chief!"

"And you are cursed!" A stone flew through the air, striking a rain pool
and spattering mud on Ashe's boots. "Go and take your evil with you!"

"Is it from the hand of Nodren or Nodren's young men that doom came upon
those of my blood? Have war arrows passed between the place of the
traders and the town of Nodren? Is that why you hide in the shadows so
that I, Assha, cannot look upon the face of one who speaks boldly and
throws stones?"

"No war arrows between us, trader. _We_ do not provoke the spirits of
the hills. No fire comes from the sky at night to eat us up with a noise
of many thunders. Lurgha speaks in such thunders; Lurgha's hand smites
with such fire. You have the Wrath of Lurgha upon you, trader! Keep
away from us lest Lurgha's wrath fall upon us also."

Lurgha was the local storm god, Ross recalled. The sound of thunder and
fire coming out of the sky at night--the bomb! Perhaps the very method
of attack on the post would defeat Ashe's attempt to learn anything from
these neighbors. The superstitions of the people would lead them to shun
both the site of the post and Ashe himself as cursed and taboo.

"If the Wrath of Lurgha had struck at Assha, would Assha still live to
walk upon this road?" Ashe prodded the ground with the tip of his
bowstave. "Yet Assha walks, as you see him; Assha talks, as you hear
him. It is ridiculous to answer him with the nonsense of little
children----"

"Spirits so walk and talk to unlucky men," retorted