Chapter 16

For the first two days after they arrived in Cold Wind's village, most of their time was spent celebrating the return of the chief's son while Vincent and his two women were treated with honour and much respect for having rescued Cold Wind and having helped him to return.

Round Stone, Cold Wind's father, gave Vincent and the two women, all sorts of gifts including many arrows and pelts.

It had been a very touching sight to see father and son reunited and there was no doubt in Vincent's mind that these people loved and respected their leader. At the end of the festivities of the first evening, much to Vincent's surprise, Round Stone offered one of his daughters to Vincent so that he could spend the night with her.

At first Vincent didn't want to accept Round Stone's gift, but Nika made him understand that it would be considered as an insult to both father and daughter if he were to refuse. Nika urged him to accept as she explained to him that it was quite common to be offered such a gift. The chief was giving him a great honour by offering his daughter to him.

He was to learn later that the chief's daughter had undergone a fertility ritual and it was hoped that she would get pregnant from Vincent, and thus perpetuate his presence in the village by means of a descendant.

Indeed it was impossible for him to refuse such an honour. He learned later that both Nika and Verla had also each been offered a warrior of the village to spend the night with. Much to Vincent's surprise they both had also accepted. It thus only confirmed what he already knew - that the rules of morality on this world were quite different than what they were on Earth.

On the second day he was finally able to talk to Kowa, even if only for a few minutes. Of course he had explained to Nika before they entered the village that she was to remove her metal knife and hide it just as he would do with his own knife. He didn't want anyone starting to ask them questions about these metal knives since metal was unknown to the natives of this world.

During these few minutes with Kowa, he became even more convinced that the sorcerer had something to hide. The first question that Kowa asked him as soon as he was able to talk to Vincent was why he wanted to travel in the direction of the south. It was the sort of question one did not ask in this world. A man or a woman's business was a private matter and it was no one else's affair. It was thus extremely unethical on the sorcerer's part to inquire about his reason to travel south.

But apart from his curiosity, he was a very friendly person and one felt immediately at ease in his presence. He had a facility with words and this by itself was quite uncommon. This plus his being in possession of the magic box were probably the reasons that he had risen to the position of the village sorcerer in less than two or three years.

At last, on the third day, the village life returned to a more normal pattern. Groups of men went hunting while women got busy taking care of the few children, cooking food and making garments. Vincent was thus able to walk about in the village and to observe Kowa more closely. After the chief, Kowa was the most important person in the village and everyone treated him with respect. It was also evident that most of the villagers were actually afraid of his magic.

In the middle of the afternoon Vincent had a visit from one of Kowa's women. She brought a message from Kowa. She said that the sorcerer wanted to talk to him about important matters and that he should follow her to his hut.

Vincent didn't like this sort of invitation that seemed more like an order than anything else, but he was very anxious to meet with the sorcerer, and this was his chance, so he followed her. Of course before leaving he explained to Nika and Verla where he was going just in case something were to happen to him. He then followed the almost completely naked woman between the rows of huts until they were in front of Kowa's hut in the centre of the village.

As soon as he entered the hut following the woman, he was able to make up his mind about Kowa. On a small shelf made of thin sticks, supported by two thick branches, was a manufactured object of black plastic-like material and leather. Although Vincent was not familiar with the model, it was very evident to him that it was some sort of radio. Even the three small knobs were evidence to that fact and so was the tiny hand microphone, which was hooked on its side support attached to the radio.

For a few seconds Vincent's eyes rested on the high-tech electronic device and before he was finally able to look elsewhere it was already too late. He knew that Kowa had already registered his reaction. He knew then that the radio had purposely been placed there in plain view so that Kowa, who was sitting on an animal skin on the ground, could watch his reaction. It had been a test and he had failed miserably.

There was now no doubt in Vincent's mind that Kowa knew that he had knowledge of the use of the radio. His staring at the radio for these long seconds, then his fast reaction in looking somewhere else when he realized that Kowa was observing him, had plainly revealed the fact that he had previous knowledge of its use. As soon as the woman left, the sorcerer invited him to sit on the fur in front of him. He then went right to the point.

"My questioning you, the last time that we talked, about your reason for travelling south must have seemed bad manners on my part and I apologize for this. The only reason I wanted to know is because I will soon be going in that direction also. My asking was only to let you know this and to offer you the possibility of us travelling together. Unfortunately I was interrupted by our chief before I could explain this."

Vincent did remember indeed that Round Stone had seemed much displeased when the sorcerer had questioned him about his reason for going south. The chief had interrupted the conversation by asking Vincent if he would follow him so that he could be introduced to the rest of his family.

"You don't need to explain, no offence was taken - and to answer your question, we are traveling south because we are looking for Nika's tribe. She was separated from them a while back and we were told that they did move in that direction."

"Well my offer still stands. If you wish it, we could be trekking together for a while at least. I have a good knowledge of that region and I do know what dangers are to be expected there."

"You mean you will leave your position here as second to the chief so that you can accompany us?"

"It is not the way it looks. I am leaving only for a while. I will return. My people live far to the south and I have not seen them in many years. Besides they might be able to help you find the tribe you are looking for."

In his mind, Vincent began to debate whether he should accept Kowa's proposition or not. He now knew that Kowa's only reason to join his group was so that he could spy on them and also probably report their progress by means of his radio.

On the other hand, he reasoned that it would be preferable to have him travelling with them instead of having him follow them. This way he could at least keep an eye on him. Besides, Vincent wanted to find out for whom he was doing his spying. The fact that he had the transmitter in his possession surely meant that Valdo was behind this - but still, Vincent needed proof.

It was then agreed that the following day, at dawn, the four of them - Kowa would be leaving his two women behind - would leave by canoe. Kowa explained to him that they would save a lot of time and hardship if they were to travel on a river that emptied into the lake. The waters of that river were mingling with those of the lake at its very southern tip. After entering the mouth of the river, they could go upstream for at least three hundred miles in a generally southern direction before it went east.

The following morning, most of the residents of the village were gathered on the shore of the lake to wish them all a safe trip and to thank them once again for rescuing Cold Wind. Round Stone and Cold Wind said goodbye to them in the fashion of their people - facing them each in turn with a hand on each of their shoulders - and they bid them farewell while extracting from them a promise that they would return to the village as soon as possible.

The canoe, like other floating contraptions constructed by the people of the village, was made of plant fibres. It consisted of long strips of the bark of a particular kind of tree set on a delicate wooden frame. The many joints were coated with a yellowish resin to prevent water from entering the delicate craft. Soon the bottom of the canoe was loaded with their supplies of dry meat, fruits and nuts of all kinds and their weapons were finally loaded.

As expected, Kowa had a bundle containing his private possession all wrapped in a pelt. Vincent was positive that inside was the small radio transmitter. In a little more than two hours, with the four of them paddling, they reached the southern tip of the lake where the river emptied into the water of the lake. They had covered a distance of forty miles by then. It had taken Vincent well over a day to walk that distance through the dense forest on his way to the village with Cold Wind.

Under the guidance of Kowa, they entered the mouth of the river that was to be their highway for the next three hundred miles. Their speed on the river was not as great as on the lake since they were going upstream and even though the current wasn't very strong it did add to their paddling effort. But still they managed to cover another 20 miles before it was too dark.

The following day they got another 40 miles or so upstream and Kowa explained to them that they still could expect to travel on the river for at least another two hundred miles. Of course he did not use the mile as the unit of distance, but Vincent had no difficulty converting Kowa's unit of distance into his more familiar unit, which was the mile.

It was on their second night stop, with their camp established near the river, that Vincent discovered definite proof of Kowa's true allegiance.

Previously the sorcerer had insisted in taking the last shift of guard duty, just after Vincent's turn. The moment that Vincent pretended to be asleep, he saw Kowa reach for his carefully wrapped bundle and watched him through half closed eyes as he quietly walked away into the darkness of the forest.

No sooner had Kowa disappeared than Vincent quietly arose and woke both Nika and Verla. After explaining to them what he had seen, he told them to remain where they were and to wait for him while he went in pursuit of Kowa.

Even though he couldn't see any tracks, he went in the general direction in which he had last seen Kowa enter the forest. After a short time he saw Kowa's black silhouette against a grey boulder.

While being very careful to not make any kind of noise, he went toward Kowa until he was standing about 30 feet from him. He then hid in the low foliage and waited. Kowa had the radio in his hands and he was busy adjusting the settings by turning a dial. In the starlight Vincent could also see the outline of a small parabolic antenna that had been placed on a rock nearby. It was probably connected to the radio my means of a wire that Vincent couldn't see. It therefore meant that there were satellites in orbit around this world and the small parabolic antenna had thus been aimed in the proper elevation as well as the proper angle to use one of the satellites as a means of reflecting the radio signal to it's intended target. Vincent would have given a lot to be able to examine closely this compact device that was a manufactured product from a completely different civilization than his own.

"Tiger One this is Baby Nine. Tiger One this is Baby Nine."

A few seconds later Kowa began to talk again. Vincent couldn't tell if he was holding a microphone in his hand or not but it was evident that he had a hearing device in his ears since there seemed to be no apparent answer from the radio as Kowa stood very still for long seconds. Then once again he began to talk.