It was obvious that Naxa had never thought about the origin of his ability to control the animals. And if he hadn't—probably no one else had. They had no reason to. They simply accepted the powers of talkers as one of the facts of life.
Ideas slipped towards each other in his mind, like the pieces of a puzzle joining together. He had told Kerk that the native life of Pyrrus had joined in battle against mankind, he didn't know why. Well—he still didn't know why, but he was getting an idea of the "how."
"About how far are we from the city?" Jason asked. "Do you have an idea how long it would take us to get there by dorym?"
"Half a day there—half back. Why? Y'want to go?"
"I don't want to get into the city, not yet. But I would like to get close to it," Jason told him.
"See what Rhes say," was Naxa's answer.
Rhes granted instant permission without asking any questions. They saddled up and left at once, in order to complete the round trip before dark.
They had been traveling less than an hour before Jason knew they were going in the direction of the city. With each minute the feeling grew stronger. Naxa was aware of it too, stirring in the saddle with unvoiced feelings. They had to keep touching and reassuring their mounts which were growing skittish and restless.
"This is far enough," Jason said. Naxa gratefully pulled to a stop.