flooded his mind.
The nerves must grow stronger. Or the impact of the nirvana effect must be lessened.
A thousand solutions flashed to him. He picked out the best few, keeping in mind that he wouldn’t be trancing during most of whatever conditioning he planned. Pain shut-off would not really be an option. He rolled to his next question.
What is my plan? And Mahanta’s plan…is it true? Can Mahanta be trusted?
And perhaps a more relevant question: Can I trust myself?
Tapping. Something was tapping Edward’s cheek. He opened his eyes. Mahanta was slapping his face hard . It felt like a gentle nudge each time. Edward instantly turned his present-time perceptions back on. His face stung like hell. His arm, too; Mahanta must have pinched him there to no avail.
“Do you hear it?” asked Mahanta.
Of course he did. As soon as his perceptions were running a wealth of data came rushing to him.
A fight. A challenge. The b usy hubbub, the shouts as clear as though he were in the thick of it.
“What’s happening? I can’ t tell from here outside of trance.”
Tien. Dook. Edward heard their names murmured, rippling through the crowd.
“A challenge,” Edward answered. “Dook has challenged Tien. They are fighting now . The crowd surrounds them .”
“Dook challenged Tien?“ asked Mahanta. “I would have thought the reverse.”
Edward furrowed his brow. It was not easy picking out single voices in the crowd, but he could do it. H e got his answer from a conversation to a newcomer. “Dook challenges that Tien insulted your honor and conspired with Nockwe to challenge you .”
“Nockwe?”
“Yes. I believe he is there,” said Edward. He did not hear Nockwe’s voice, but rather heard a pocket of quiet in one area of the crowd.
“Dook lies, of course,” said Mahanta. “He is making his move. We must hurry.”
Mahanta sprinted out of the hut. Edward followed him. It was the first time Edward tried to run while in trance, and it was a bit like first learning to walk. He was too aware of his body, so that the curling of his feet and the pumping of his leg muscles seemed unnatural and the cause of study. He rapidly got the hang of it, and after a dozen steps was catching up with Mahanta. In the trance Edward was able to perfectly place his feet and push forward. He remembered Mahanta’s inhuman sprinting into the woods, as though a rocket were strapped to his back
The conflict was only fifty yards from the temple. A hundred tribesmen circled and watched.
Edward studied every one of them. He observed their stances, the way they seemed slack, almost grief-str icken when they looked at Tien. Those with their eyes on Dook had an angry tension about them. A handful had various other reactions. Edward noted those down as possible allies of Dook. I t was apparent that the majority of the tribe wanted Tien to live.
Edward and Mahanta pushed through the crowd toward the edge of the ring of natives . Edward examined these possible members of Dook’s cabal . They looked nervous, but by all signs, none of them were intending to cheat for Dook. They were only spectators today.
A woman was crying hysterically, as were a few babies.
Dook and Tien circled one another warily. No one had struck, yet. Dook had a knife in either hand, while Tien had only one long dagger. It was the same he’d tried to use on Edward just a day before.
Edward spotted that no ally was needed to cheat for Dook. Dook had already done his dirty work. Tien’s skin was a shade of green, and he shook almost imperceptibly. Not just nerves .
“Dook poisoned him,” Edward muttered to Mahanta.
Mahanta cursed and spit.
A trib esman standing next to them jerked his head up in Mahanta’s direction. Recognition dawned. The man backed five feet and knelt at the same time, exclaiming, “Manassa!” He collided into several people
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