said as she rummaged through the sack again and pulled out a parsnip. “You’ve got to know something about the Sinulu.”

“Fine,” she said as she began to dissect the parsnip. “When Sinulu women come of age, they bathe in warm mud for three days and then their hair is braided with jewellery. The men, on the other hand, are thrown into a pit and forced to fight each other to the death. That’s why there are more Sinulu women than men, and why you’ll never see a man without scars.”

“And you want to go and see them?”

She threw in the final chunk of parsnip, and after a little more rummaging pulled out a potato.

“They may be dangerous,” she said, her hands slicing deftly through the potato, “but they’re loyal. If y...

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