him like this in front of Nafai of all people. Oh, and of course, here come Vas and Obring, they have to be here to see Elemak showing him such disdain as to rag him in front of Nafai. "So suddenly baboons are the sacred animal?" asked Meb.
"You don't kill them, you don't eat them," said Elemak.
"Why not?"
"Because they do no harm, and eating them would be like cannibalism."
"I get it," said Meb. "You're one of those people who believe that boons are magical. They've got a pot of gold hidden away somewhere, every tribe of them, and if you're really nice and feed them, then, after they've stripped your land bare of every edible thing and torn apart your house looking for more, they'll rush off to their hiding place and bring the pot of gold to you."
"More than one lost wanderer on the desert has been led to safety by baboons."
"Right," said Meb. "So that means we should let them all live forever? Let me tell you a secret, Elya. They'll all die eventually, so why not now, for target practice? I'm not saying we have to eat it or anything."
"And I'm saying you're through hunting. Give me your pulse."
"Oh, swell," said Meb. "I'm supposed to be the only man without a pulse?"
"The pulses are for hunting. Nafai's going to be a good hunter, and you're not."
"How do you know? It's only the first day of serious work on it."
"You're not because you're never going to have a pulse in your hands again as long as I live."
It stung Mebbekew to the heart. Elemak was stripping away all his dignity, and for what? Because of a stupid baboon. How could Elya do this to him? And in front of Nafai, no less. "Oh, I get it," said Meb. "This is how you show your worship for King Nafai."
There was a moment's pause in which Meb wondered if he might have goaded Elya just a speck too far and maybe this was the time Elemak was going to kill him or beat him to a pulp. Then Elemak spoke. "Head back to camp with the hare, Nafai," he said. "Zdorab will want to get it into the coldbox until he starts the stew in the morning."
"Yes," said Nafai. Immediately he scampered down the hill to the valley floor.
"You can follow him," Elemak said to Vas and Obring, who had just clattered down the slope, both of them landing on their butts.
Vas arose and dusted himself off. "Don't do anything stupid, Elya," said Vas. Then he turned and started down the nontrail that Nafai had used.
Since Meb figured these words from Vas were all the support he was going to get, he decided to make the most of it. "When you get back to camp, tell my father that the reason I'm dead is because Elya's little accident with his pulse wasn't an accident at all."
"Yes, tell Father that," said Elemak. "It'll prove to him what he's long suspected, that Meb is out of his dear little mind."
"I'll tell him nothing at all, for now - unlessyou two don't get back to camp right away," said Vas. "Come on, Obring."
"I'm not your puppy," said Obring.
"All right then, stay," said Vas.
"Stay and do what?" asked Obring.
"If you have to ask, you'd better come with me," said Vas. "We don't want to interfere in this little family quarrel."
Meb didn't want them to go. He wanted witnesses to whatever it was Elya was planning to do. "Elemak's just superstitious!" he called after them. "He believes those old stories about how if you kill a baboon, his whole troop comes and carries off your babies! Eiadh must be pregnant, that's all! Come on back, we can all walk to camp together!"
But they didn't come back.
"Listen, I'm sorry," said Meb. "You don't need to make such a fuss about it. If s not as if I hit the boon or anything."
Elemak leaned in close to him. "You'll never take a pulse in your hands again."
"Nafai was the one who shot at me," said Meb. "You'll take away my pulse for shooting at a boon, and Nafai shoots at me and he gets to keep his?"
"You don't kill animals you don't plan to eat. That's a law of the desert, too. But you know why I'm taking your pulse, and it isn't the baboon."
"What, then?"
"Your fingers were itching," said Elemak. "To kill Nafai."