Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 53

had proved skillful at doctoring, so they let her live. She had reddish hair,
her voice was very soft, her name was Estrel. Beyond this he knew nothing
about her; and she had not asked him anything at all about himself, not
even his name.
He had escaped lightly, all things considered. Paris-tolis, the Noble
Matter of ancient Cetian science, would not explode nor take fire, so the
slider had not blown up under him, though its controls were wrecked. The
bursting missile had chewed the left side of his head and upper body with
fine shrapnel, but Estrel was there with the skill and a few of the materials
of medicine. There was no infection; he recuperated fast, and within a few
days of his blood-christening as Horressins he was planning escape with
her.
But the days went on and no chances came. A defensive society: a
wary, jealous people, all their actions rigidly scheduled by rite, custom,
and tabu. Though each Hunter had his tent, women were held in common
and all a man's doings were done with other men; .they were less a
community than a club or herd, interdependent members of one entity. In
this effort to attain security, independence and privacy of course were
suspect; Falk and Estrel had to snatch at any chance to talk for a moment.
She did not know the Forest dialect, but they could use Galaktika, which
the Basnasska spoke only in a pidgin form.
"The time to try," she said once, "might be during a snowstorm, when
the snow would hide us and our tracks. But how far could we get on foot
in a buzzard? You've got a compass; but the cold…"
Falk's wintercloth clothing had been confiscated, along with
everything else he possessed, even the gold ring he had always worn. They
had left him one gun: that was integral with his being a Hunter and could
not be taken from him. But the clothes he had worn so long now covered
the bony ribs and shanks of the Old Hunter Kess-nokaty and he had his
compass only because Estrel had got it and hidden it before they went
through his pack. He and she were well enough clothed in Basnasska
buckskin shirts and leggings, with boots and parkas of red cowhide; but
nothing was adequate shelter from one of the prairie blizzards, with their
hard subfreezing winds, except walls, roof and a fire.
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