“I know them,” replied a tall warrior. “I am from Lar. There are six
others with me and we have been searching for these Korsars, who escaped
just before they were to have been burned at the stake. We will take
them back with us and Zural will rejoice that you have captured them.”
“You will take them nowhere,” said Fedol. “They are not Korsars. This
one,” and he placed a hand upon Stellara’s shoulder, “is my daughter,
and the man is a warrior from distant Sari. He is the son of the king of
that country, which lies far away upon a mainland unknown to us.”
“They told that same story to Zural,” said the warrior from Lar; “but we
did not believe them. None of us believed them. I was with Vulhan and
his party when we took them from the Korsar ship that brought them to
Amiocap.”
“At first I did not believe them,” said Fedol, “but Stellara convinced
me that she is my daughter, just as I can convince you of the truth of
her statement.”
“How?” demanded the warrior.
“By the birthmark on my left shoulder,” replied Fedol. “Look at it, and
then compare it with the one upon her left shoulder. No one who knew
Allara can doubt that Stellara is her daughter, so closely does the girl
resemble her mother, and being Allara’s daughter how could she inherit
the birthmark upon her left shoulder from any other sire than me?”
The warriors from Lar scratched their heads. “It would seem the best of
proof,” replied the warriors’ spokesman.
“It is the best of proof,” said Fedol. “It is all that I need. It is all
the people of Paraht need. Take the word to Zural and the people of Lar
and I believe that they will accept my daughter and Tanar as we are
accepting them, and I believe that they will be willing to protect them
as we intend to protect them from all enemies, whether from Amiocap or
elsewhere.”
“I shall take your message to Zural,” replied the warrior, and shortly
afterward they departed on the trail toward Lar.
Fedol prepared a room in his house for Stellara and assigned Tanar to a
large building that was occupied solely by bachelors.
Plans were made for a great feast to celebrate the coming of Stellara
and a hundred men were dispatched to fetch the ivory and the meat of the
tandor that Fedol and Tanar had slain.
Fedol decked Stellara with ornaments of bone and ivory and gold. She
wore the softest furs and the gorgeous plumage of rare birds. The people
of Paraht loved her and Stellara was happy.
Tanar was accepted at first by the men of the tribe with some
reservations, not untinged with suspicion. He was their guest by the
order of their chief and they treated him as such, but presently, when
they came to know him and particularly after he had hunted with them,
they liked him for himself and made him one of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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