The Time Traders · Chapter
XV explained
Ross, alone and believing Ashe and McNeil dead after their raft broke up, struggles with despair but forces himself to keep moving.
What happens
Ross, alone and believing Ashe and McNeil dead after their raft broke up, struggles with despair but forces himself to keep moving. He is captured by a tall, fair-haired tribe of horsemen and brought before their chieftain Foscar. Forced to fight Ennar in a trial of strength, Ross uses dirty tactics and sheer will to finally knock him out, winning a measure of respect.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Resilience
Ross overcomes despair and physical exhaustion to fight for his life against Ennar, relying on training and sheer will.
The Misfit as Hero
Ross, a loner and misfit, uses unorthodox tactics (throwing grit, biting) to defeat a stronger opponent and earn grudging respect.
Characters to notice
- Ross Murdock
Alone and despairing after losing Ashe and McNeil, Ross is captured by a new tribe and forced to fight Ennar for his life.
- McNeil
Mentioned as missing and presumed dead after the raft broke up; his tied string is found by Ross.
- Ashe
Mentioned as missing and presumed dead after the raft broke up.
- Foscar
Chieftain of the tall, fair-haired tribe; he orders Ross to fight Ennar and shows a grudging respect for defiance.
- Ennar
Young tribesman forced to fight Ross; he is defeated when Ross knocks him out with a blow to the neck.
- Tulka
Ross's original captor; he reports to Foscar and confirms Ross's earlier defiance.
Key passages
“It was such a small thing, a tag of ragged stuff looped about a length of splintered sapling. Ross climbed stiffly over the welter of drift caught on the sand spit and pulled it loose, recognizing the string even before he touched it. That square knot was of McNeil's tying...”
Ross finds a piece of string tied by McNeil, confirming the raft broke apart and his companions are likely dead.
Ross's hope dies as he realizes he is alone in a strange time.
“He had always prided himself on being able to go it alone, had thought himself secure in that calculated loneliness. Now that belief had been washed away in the river...”
Ross's self-reliance is shattered by the loss of his companions and the hopelessness of his situation.
Ross confronts the limits of his independence.
“Child? From somewhere Ross raised that short laugh. 'Ask Tulka. I be no child, Foscar. Tulka's ax, Tulka's knife—they were in my hand. A horse Tulka had to use to bring me down.'”
Ross defiantly tells the chieftain Foscar that he is no child, boasting that he disarmed Tulka before being captured.
Ross uses bravado to win a chance to fight for his life.
“He had beaten into his bruised flesh knowledge of holds and blows intended to save his skin in just such an encounter. But then he had been well-fed, alert, prepared. He had not been knocked silly and then transported for miles slung across a horse after days of exposure and hard usage.”
Ross's combat training is put to the test, but he is exhausted and malnourished, making the fight much harder.
Ross's physical state undermines his training.
“Fingers clawed viciously at his eyes, and Ross did what he had never thought to do in any fight—he snapped wolfishly, his teeth closing on flesh as he brought up his knee and drove it home into the body wriggling on his.”
In desperation, Ross bites and knees his opponent, using dirty tactics to survive.
Ross abandons fair play to win the fight.
