Chapter Eight
Helm worried about the young men he had left behind on the staggered ridge of thornbush. They had been arguing as he followed Rasti down through the tangled growth of the eastern flank, and he did not like the tone of their words. He rather thought they had abandoned their clan, striking out after Jarli on impulse rather than with any settled plan for finding him. They did not seem to be very skilled travellers, to Helm’s mind. He did not know a great deal about the outclans, as by their very nature they had little to do with the tribes. He knew what he had learned from his mother: that outclans were groups of tribesfolk who had, for one reason or another, decided they no longer wished to follow tribal ways. Some resented the structure of the tribe that gave ultimate authori
