Time Traders II: The Defiant Agents Key Out of Time by Andre Norton

accented English.
    "I am Travis Fox, of the Apaches."
    "The Apaches," the shaman repeated. "You are of the West, the American West, then."
    "You know much, man of spirit talk."
    "One remembers. At times one remembers," Menlik answered almost absently. "How does an Apache find his way across the stars?"
    "The same way Menlik and his people did," Travis returned. "You were sent to settle this planet, and so were we."
    "There are many more of you?" countered Menlik swiftly.
    "Are there not many of the Horde? Would one man, or three, or four, be sent to hold a world?" Travis fenced. "You hold the north, we the south of this land."
    "But they are not governed by a machine!" Kaydessa cut in. "They are free!"
    Menlik frowned at the girl. "Woman, this is a matter for warriors. Keep your tongue silent between your jaws!"
    She stamped one foot, standing with her fists on her hips.
    "I am a Daughter of the Blue Wolf. And we are all warriors—men and women alike—so shall we be as long as the Horde is not free to ride where we wish! These men have won their freedom; it is well that we learn how."
    Menlik's expression did not change, but his lids drooped over his eyes as a murmur of what might be agreement came from the group. More than one of them must have understood enough English to translate for the others. Travis wondered about that. Had these men and women who had outwardly reverted to the life of their nomad ancestors once been well educated in the modern sense, educated enough to learn the basic language of the nation their rulers regarded as their principal enemy?
    "So you ride the land south of the mountains?" the shaman continued.
    "That is true."
    "Then why did you come hither?"
    Travis shrugged. "Why does anyone ride or travel into new lands? There is a desire to see what may lie beyond—"
    "Or to scout before the march of warriors!" Menlik snapped. "There is no peace between your rulers and mine. Do you ride now to take the herds and pastures of the Horde—or to try to do so?"
    Travis turned his head deliberately from side to side, allowing them all to witness his slow and openly contemptuous appraisal of their camp.
    " This is your Horde, Shaman? Fifteen warriors? Much has changed since the days of Temujin, has it not?"
    "What do you know of Temujin—you, who are a man of no ancestors, out of the West?"
    "What do I know of Temujin? That he was a leader of warriors and became Genghis Khan, the great lord of the East. But the Apaches had their warlords also, rider of the barren lands. And I am of those who raided over two nations when Victorio and Cochise scattered their enemies as a man scatters a handful of dust in the wind."
    "You talk bold, Apache. . . ." There was a hint of threat in that.
    "I speak as any warrior, Shaman. Or are you so used to talking with spirits instead of men that you do not realize that?"
    He might have been alienating the shaman by such a sharp reply, but Travis thought he judged the temper of these people. To face them boldly was the only way to impress them. They would not treat with an inferior, and he was already at a disadvantage coming on foot, without any backing in force, into a territory held by horsemen who were suspicious and jealous of their recently acquired freedom. His only chance was to establish himself as an equal and then try to convince them that Apache and Tatar-Mongol had a common cause against the Russians who controlled the settlement on the northern plains.
    Menlik's right hand went to his sash-girdle and plucked out a carved stick which he waved between them, muttering phrases Travis could not understand. Had the shaman retreated so far along the road to his past that he now believed in his own supernatural powers? Or was this to impress his watching followers?
    "You call upon your spirits for aid, Menlik? But the Apache has the companionship of the ga-n . Ask of Kaydessa: Who hunts with the Fox in the wilds?" Travis' sharp challenge stopped that wand in mid-air.