"We have visitors," she said. By the custom of her people, only her husband could welcome guests to their khreima.

Ajaman nodded. "I hear them." Turning to the entrance, he called the host's traditional greeting, "Has somebody come to my khreima in need of help?"

"Time for the watch," came the reply. Ruha didn't recognize the deep voice, but that was to be expected. She had not been a member of the Qahtan tribe until her marriage.

Ajaman scowled. "It can't be dusk so soon."

"You have the night watch?" Ruha asked, frowning at the memory of her premonition. "We've only been married two days. Let someone else take the duty."

"And shame our family so soon?" Ajaman replied, rising from the carpet.

Given her husband's reply, Ruha knew arguing the point would do no good. If Ajaman considered the watch a matter of family integrity, even the certain knowledge of impending death would not have stopped him from going. Like all Bedine, he considered honor more important than his life.

"Besides," Ajaman added, "there is danger of raiding tonight. The Mtair Dhafir is not the only khowwan within riding distance, you know."

The Mtair Dhafir was the tribe of Ruha's father. Her marriage to Ajaman had sealed an alliance between their tribes. There would be no raiding between the two khowwans while both Ajaman and Ruha lived. Unfortunately, there were many other tribes with whom the Qahtan had no such ties.

It was not raiding that worried Ruha, however. By his pale skin, she knew that the one-eyed foreigner did not belong to any Bedine tribe. Whatever his reason for coming to the camp of the Qahtan, it was not intertribal raiding.

"Come, Ajaman," grumbled the deep voice outside. "We're due at our posts."