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 Caste of ForestersHere are relevant references from the Books where the Caste of Foresters is mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban Sleen have a strong, unmistakable odor. A forester or plainsman, or a sleen hunter, or one trained, can sometimes detect their scent more than two hundred yards away. "You are a forester?" I said. "Yes," he said. "You are in the precincts of the reserves of Port Kar," he said. "How is it that a forester," I said, "claims as his the Home Stone of Port Kar?" "I once lived there," he said, "before I took caste. At that time, long ago, there were few, if any, castes in Port Kar. She had no Home Stone. She was a den of thieves, as it was said, a lair of cutthroats, and such, a stinking maze of canals at the marshes, squalid and foul, and malignant." "And without honor," I said. "Yes," said he, "and without honor." "I think once she had no Home Stone," I said. "That is true," he said. "Can you conceive of a city, a town, a village, a hamlet, without a Home Stone?" "There are probably such places," I said. "Then," said he, "that changed. In a moment of crisis, in a time of confusion and terror, when a vulnerable Port Cos awaited the onslaught of the combined fleets of Tyros and Cos, the word spread, the startling mysterious word, a word like the flash of lightning, a word striking through the darkness, a word as mighty as the rallying of a thousand battle horns, as swift as the flight of a tarn, that there was now a Home Stone in Port Kar." "Jewel of Gleaming Thassa," I said. "Tatrix of the Sea," said he. "So you chose caste, that of the foresters, and came here, to serve the Home Stone hundreds of pasangs away?" "The Home Stone of Port Kar may be served here as well as at the gulf, as well as in the shops of the arsenal, as well as on the wharves, as well as on the decks and benches of her ships." "True," I said. "I am fond of the forests," he said. "Most are born to their caste. I chose mine." "Some do," I said. "Foresters," I said, "normally cluster their huts, in small palisaded enclaves, but I saw no other huts here, nor a palisade." Constantina cast a swift glance at me, and Pertinax looked down. "The village is elsewhere," he said. "This is an outpost hut, near the coast, where we may watch for round ships." "I think the tabuk strips, the suls and turpah, the soup, all, must be ready," said Pertinax. "Let us have supper." The hut was now redolent with the odors of which, for a forester, at least, must have seemed a feast. "There is paga," said Pertinax. "Of the brewery of Temus of Ar?" I asked. "Yes," said Pertinax. "It must be rare in the forests," I said. "Yes," said Pertinax. "It is my favorite," I said. "I am glad to hear it," said Pertinax. "I do not even know the caste of my Master," I said. "It is what I wish it to be," he said, "a Metal Worker a Forester, a Poet, or Singer, a Cloth Worker, a Peasant, a Scribe, such things." "It is sometimes convenient to be of one caste, sometimes of another." "It is a disguise," I said. "Of course," he said. "In some ventures, in some pursuits, it is well to blend in, to attract less attention." Looking ahead, I saw a figure emerging from the forest, in the green which I would come later to recognize as that of the foresters. As we entered the trees, I saw two fellows. They wore tunics of a mottled green and brown. As they stood very still, I did not even notice them until we were almost at their side. Each held a strung, but not drawn, bow, a large bow, with an arrow a long arrow light at the string, as though it might be ready for flight. I would later come to understand, too, that the path toward the fire had been cleared of dried leaves, and twigs. A forester might have noted such things, the lack of sound. Where the sleen ranges, peasants, foresters, and such, commonly remain indoors at night, or, if venturing out, are likely to do so in armed groups. "Is she of the Foresters?" he asked. "No," I said. "Why do you ask?" "It is a bold stratagem, " he said, "doubling back, to confuse the trail, though one unlikely to succeed, given sleen." Further, if foresters, or independent huntsmen, were in the vicinity, my shelter would be as invisible to them as it had been at first to me. |
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