uch a guardianship must be a double charge,
shared by my people as well. For if they suspect that you alone control
these powers and their secret, there will be envy, hatred, fear, a
division between us from the first--war ... raids.... This is a large
land and neither of our groups numbers many. Shall we split apart
fatally from this day when there is room for all? If these ancient
things are evil, then let us both guard them with a common taboo."

He was right, of course. And they would have to face the truth squarely.
To both Apache and Mongol any off-world ship, no matter from which side,
would be a menace. Here was where they would remain and set roots. The
sooner they began thinking of themselves as people with a common bond,
the better it would be. And Menlik's suggestion provided a tie.

"You speak well," Buck was saying. "This shall be a thing we share. We
are three who know. Do you be three also, but choose well, Menlik!"

"Be assured that I will!" the Tatar returned. "We start a new life here;
there is no going back. But as I have said: The land is wide. We have no
quarrel with one another, and perhaps our two peoples shall become one;
after all, we do not differ too greatly...." He smiled and gestured to
the fire and the dancers.

Among the Mongols another man had gone into action, his head thrown back
as he leaped and twirled, voicing a deep war cry. Travis recognized
Deklay. Apache, Mongol--both raiders, horsemen, hunters, fighters when
the need arose. No, there was no great difference. Both had been tricked
into coming here, and they had no allegiance now for those who had sent
them.

Perhaps clan and Horde would combine or perhaps they would drift
apart--time would tell. But there would be the bond of the guardianship,
the determination that what slept in the towers would not be roused--in
their lifetime or many lifetimes!

Travis smiled a bit crookedly. A new religion of sorts, a priesthood
with sacred and forbidden knowledge ... in time a whole new life and
civilization stemming from this night. The bleak cold of his early
thought cut less deep. There was a different kind of adventure here.

He reached out and gathered up the bundle of the burners, glancing from
Buck to Jil-Lee to Menlik. Then he stood up, the weight of the burden in
his arms, the feeling of a greater weight inside him.

"Shall we go?"

To get the weapons back--that was of first importance. Maybe then he
could sleep soundly,