Luet could see how both Kokor and her sister Sevet immediately touched their throats - for it was in the throat that Kokor had struck Sevet, nearly killing her and leaving her almost voiceless ever since. While Kokor's husband, Obring, who had been bouncing away just as merrily when Kokor found the two of them, was unscathed. It was viciously unkind and exactly appropriate for Elemak to remind them all of that event, because it completely silenced any kind of opposition to the new law from three of the four people most likely to oppose it: Kokor, Sevet, and Obring had nothing to say at all.
"You don't have the right to decide this," said Mebbekew. He was, of course, the fourth - but Luet knew that Elemak would have no trouble bringing him into line. He never did, with Meb.
"I not only have the right," said Elemak, "I have the duty.
This is a law necessary for the survival of our little company in the desert, and so it will be obeyed or I will enforce the only penalty that I cam enforce here, so many kilometers from civilization. If you can't grasp this idea, then I'm sure Lady Rasa can explain it to you."
He turned and faced Rasa, in a silent demand that she back him up. She did not disappoint him. "I tried and tried all night to think of another way to handle this," she said, "but we can't live without this law, and as Elya says, in the desert the only penalty that means anything at all is ... what he said. But not killing outright!" she said, clearly hating the whole idea of it. "Only binding and leaving a person."
"Only?" said Elemak disdainfully. "It's by far the crueler death."
"It leaves her in the hands of the Oversoul," Rasa said. "Perhaps to be rescued."
"You should pray not," said Elemak. "The animals are kinder than any rescuers she'd find out here."
"A lawbreaker is to be bound and abandoned, not killed!" Rasa insisted.
Luet thought: She fears it will be a daughter of hers who will first break this law. As for Elemak's rule that having only the woman die will better restrain the man, he has it backward. Few men think of consequences when they're filled with desire, but a woman can put off her own desires if a man she loves would be at risk.
"As the lady wishes," said Elemak. "The law of the desert leaves the choice up to the leader of the caravan. I would normally choose a quick, clean death by pulse, but let us hope that no such choice ever has to be made." He looked around at the whole group, turning to include in his gaze the ones who were behind him. "I don't ask for your consent in this," he said. "I simply tell you that this is the way it will be. So now raise your hand if you understand the law we will live by."
They all raised their hands, though clearly some were furious.
No, not quite all. "Meb," said Elemak. "Raise your hand. You're embarrassing your dear wife Dol. She's no doubt beginning to wonder who is the woman here whose love you consider so desirable that you would cause an imperfectly virtuous lady's certain death by pursuing it."
Now Meb raised his hand.
"Good," said Elemak. "And now for the other matter. We have a decision to make," he said.
The sun had not yet risen, so it was still bitterly cold - especially for the ones who had done very little of the work of striking the tents and loading the camels. So it might have been just the cold that made Mebbekew's voice tremble when he said, "I thought you were making all the decisions now."
"I make all the decisions that have to do with keeping us alive and moving," said Elemak. "But I don't fancy myself some kind of tyrant. The decisions that don't have to do with survival belong to the whole group, not to me. We can't survive unless we all stay together, so I'll tolerate no divisions among us. At the same time, I don't recall a point where anybody actually decided where it was we were going."
"We're going back to Father and Issib," said Nafai immediately. "You know they're counting on us to return."
"They have plenty of water as long as they stay put. They need someone to go and fetch them sometime in the next few months - they've got years of supplies, for