stones.

Kyral hesitated, but under the blazing eyes of the girl he quickly
poured himself a glass of the wine and drank a few sips, then flung down
the glass. He stepped forward and laid his hands on my shoulders. I
winced as he touched the welt of the lash and could not raise my own arm
to complete the ceremonial toast.

Kyral stepped away and shrugged. "Shall I have one of the women see to
your hurt?" He looked at Dallisa, but she twisted her mouth. "Do it
yourself!"

"It is nothing," I said, not truthfully. "But I demand in requital that
since we are bound by spilled blood under your roof, that you give me
what news you have of Rakhal, the spy and renegade."

Kyral said fiercely, "If I knew, would I be under my own roof?"

The old gaffer on the dais broke into shrill whining laughter. "You have
drunk wi' him, Kyral, now he's bound you not to do him harm! I know the
story of Rakhal! He was spy for Terra twelve years. Twelve years, and
then he fought and flung their filthy money in their faces and left 'em.
But his partner was some Dry-town halfbreed or Terran spy and they
fought wi' clawed gloves, and near killed one another except the
Terrans, who have no honor, stopped 'em. See the marks of the _kifirgh_
on his face!"

"By Sharra the golden-chained," said Kyral, gazing at me with something
like a grin. "You are, if nothing else, a very clever man. What are you,
spy, or half-caste of some Ardcarran slut?"

"What I am doesn't matter to you," I said. "You have blood-feud with
Rakhal, but mine is older than yours and his life is mine. As you are
bound in honor to kill"--the formal phrases came easily now to my
tongue; the Earthman had slipped away--"so you are bound in honor to
help me kill. If anyone beneath your roof knows anything of Rakhal--"

Kyral's smile bared his teeth.

"Rakhal works against the Son of the Ape," he said, using the insulting
Wolf term for the Terrans. "If we help you to kill him, we remove a goad
from their flanks. I prefer to let the filthy _Terranan_ spend their
strength trying to remove it themselves. Moreover, I believe you are
yourself an Earthman.

"You have no right to the courtesy I extend to we, the People of the
Sky. Yet you have drunk wine with me and I have no quarrel with you." He
raised his hand in dismissal, outfencing me. "Leave my roof in safety
and my city with honor."

I could not protest or plead. A man's _kihar_, his personal dignity, is
a precious thing in Sh