Nada sat up and dried her eyes. "I will not cry any more," she said quietly. "Let us talk of other things."
Dylara pressed her hand in quick understanding. "Of course. Tell me, Nada, what will happen to me in Sephar?"
"You are a slave," Nada replied, "and belong to Urim, whose own warriors captured you. Perhaps you will be given certain duties in the palace, or the mate or daughter of some noble may ask for you as a hand-maiden. As a rule they treat us kindly; but if we are troublesome they whip us, or sometimes give us to the priests. That is the worst of all."
"They have gods, then?" Dylara asked.
"Only one, who is both good and evil. If they fall in battle, He has caused it; if they come through untouched, He has helped them."
The Cro-Magnon girl could not grasp this strange contradiction, for she knew certain gods sought to destroy man, while other gods tried to protect him....
"Then I must spend the rest of my life as a slave?" she asked.
"Yes—unless some free man asks for you as a mate. And that may happen because you are very beautiful."
The girl shook her head. "I do not want that," she declared. "I want only to return to my father and people."
"It will be best," Nada said, "to give up that foolish dream. Sometimes cave-men escape from Sephar; the women, never."