The Bones of Zora

XII - THE SEAPORT

As the suburbs of Majbur rocked past the train windows, Reith raised his voice above the rattle of couplings, the squeal of axles, the creak of wooden car frames, and the rumble of the bishtar's six huge feet on the cross ties: "We've got to figure out how to get to Novo. Thank Bákh, Majbur is a place where our credit is good. We can buy ayas and ride, or take passage on a riverboat. Those boats move slowly upstream, so we'd probably save a few days by riding."

Alicia groaned. "I'm worn out from all we've been through, Fergus. I couldn't face another long ride until I've rested up."

"Permit me to express identical sentiments," said Marot. "I, too, am exhausted. How long is the passage by boat?"

"Let me think. It's about three hundred and seventy kilometers to Novorecife. At the normal rate of upstream travel ..."

Reith closed his eyes. "It would take a minimum of nine days. Allow ten or even eleven if we count the inevitable delays, compared to five or six by road."

Marot said: "These people make sophisticated carriages, drawn by ayas. Could we not buy or hire such an equipage here and drive it? It would be more comfortable than the saddle."

"Can you drive one of those rigs?"

"Alas, no. I have never learned this type of manège."

"Same with me," said Reith.

"Why, Fergus!" said Alicia. "I thought you could do everything, like Ivan Skavinsky Skavar."

"Sorry to reveal my feet of clay. I'll try to learn."

"Could we not hire a driver?" persisted Marot.

"I suppose so; but to assemble carriage, ayas, driver, and all, and try them out, itself would take several days. What's your deadline for return?"

Marot: "I have space reserved on the Juruá. This will be in something more than a moon—perhaps twenty-five days."

"You, Alicia?"

"I have no plans," said Alicia, studying her hands. "If the Juruá brings me more grant money, I thought I'd go to Suruskand to investigate their system. If not, I may return to Earth, if they have room and I can borrow the fare. Otherwise ..." She shrugged, with a long look at Reith, whose face remained impassive. Alicia continued: "If a riverboat leaves soon, we'll have plenty of time to get to Novo before blastoff. Besides, I have a reason for preferring a boat."

"What's that?" asked Reith.

"As soon as I get some pencils and paper, I'm going to start rewriting my notes from memory. A peaceful riverboat is a perfect place for writing. I couldn't do it in a carriage, let alone on ayaback."

The train pulled into Majbur's South Station, amid a squeal of brakes and shouts of the mahout astride the bishtar's neck. The three Terrans climbed stiffly down. They looked anything but prosperous travelers, in their rumpled doming with Marot's bag of fossils their only baggage.

Reith still wore his khakis, much the worse for wear. His cheeks glowed with a coppery stubble, on its way to becoming a full red beard. Alicia looked like a Gypsy in her bedraggled bolero, skirt, and scarf from the Haghrib's hold.

Marot had been forced to board the train in his ragged undershorts. During the overnight stop at Yantr, all three had bought crude leather slippers for their painfully abraded feet; and Marot, with Reith's help, had purchased a second-hand jacket and kilt. Although these patched garments were in their last stage of decrepitude, Marot shrugged off their seediness.

"Dressed like a vagabond," he said, scratching his newly sprouted pepper-and-salt beard, "none thinks me worth the robbing. Where are you taking us tonight?"

"I'll first drop in on Gorbovast," said Reith. "We need money to square our debt with the railroad and buy us passage home. His office is about six blocks from here."

Gorbovast bad-Sar, Resident Commissioner in Majbur for King Eqrar of Gozashtand, less formally known as Novorecife's principal intelligence agent and general trouble shooter, proved a small, elderly Krishnan with a face ridged with tiny wrinkles and hair faded to pale jade. When he saw Reith, he cried in English:

"Ah, Mr. Reese! What an exquisite pleasure to see you again! What tale of misfortune dire have you to tell zis time?"

"Tale enough," said Reith. "We've just arrived from Jazmurian on our way to Novo, flat broke, without shelter, and far from home."

"A pity! I would urge you to use my house as your own, save zat a score of my kindred have come hither to celebrate ze hatchday of my latest grandchild. Still, you must bring your friends to my house for dinner on ze morrow, and tell ze tale of your adventures."

"It'll be a confession of my shortcomings," said Reith with a self-deprecating grin. "Adventures are a sign of incompetence. My tours are successful to the degree that they go smoothly to the point of dullness." He introduced his companions.

"I sought I recognized ze beautiful Doctor Dyckman," said Gorbovast, "from ze time you came here wiz Mr. Mjipa. Let me sink ... Am I correctly informed zat you and Mr. Reese are man and wife?"

"Were," said Reith shortly.

"Oh, excuse! So sorry! I did not mean ..."

"Forget it, Commissioner," said Reith. "We Terrans have all sorts of bizarre arrangements."

Gorbovast turned to Marot. "Doctor, do I hear a certain Terran accent? Vous êtes frangais, Monsieur?"

"Mais oui!" cried Marot. "Comme j'aime entendre la lan-gue de la civilisation!"

"Ah, comme je m' étonne de cette belle civilisation!" exclaimed Gorbovast.

Not to be outdone, Reith continued the conversation in his stiff, bookish French, rusty from lack of practice. "First, we have need of the money. Then we have need of a place to stay until we find the transportation."

"How will you travel?"

"If a riverboat leaves for Novo soon, we want to take passage thereon. Know you the dates of the next sailings?"

"A moment, please." Gorbovast dug into a desk and brought out a fistful of papers, through which he riffled. "Alas, I cannot find that list of departures, Menshu!"

"Here, sir." A clerk emerged from a back room.

"Mount your scooter and hasten to the riverfront. Learn what towboat next leaves for Novorecife and when. Tarry not!"

When Menshu had departed, Gorbovast, still speaking French, said: "How came you from Jazmurian? Did you have difficulties?"

"Bien sûr!" said Reith. "We were abducted between Jazmurian and Kolsafid—"

"You were perhaps on the train stopped by raiders, who tore up the track?"

"Yes. They took us to Jeshang, and threatened us with the death by boiling, from which Doctor Dyckman rescued us comme marée en carême. Then when we tried to voyage here by sea, we were captured by pirates. We sank the pirate ship and swam ashore. Aside from that, it was an uneventful trip."

"Great Dashmok! Mon dieul J'ai râm! I am afire wiz impatience to hear ze whole story. How came you hither from the shore to which you swam?"

"A Mikardando knight flagged down a train from Kolsafid and persuaded the conductor to carry us on credit. The rest will have to wait, because we are weary and have much to do. We still owe the railroad for our fares."

"I understand. About the money, I must fill out some papers. ... Seat yourselves, I pray you ..."

Gorbovast vanished into the inner office. By the time the clerk returned, Reith's pockets bulged with coin. Gorbovast said: "You had better avoid the waterfront with so much money on your person. Menshu, what learned you touching the riv-erboats?"

"Captain Ozum's Zaidun sails the day after tomorrow, sir."

"That's good luck for us," said Reith. "Ozum runs a stout ship, and he's the most honest skipper around. Dashmok must be on our side for a change." Reith smiled at his companions.

"That'll give us a day's shopping, before our host's most welcome dinner. Then off for home!"

"Fine!" said the commissioner. "Menshu, kindly conduct my friends to Khaminé's Inn. Tell Master Khaminé I wish them to be accommodated as a special favor. When you have delivered them safely, hunt down Captain Ozum and pay for three berths on his boat to Novorecife. Bon soir! À demain, sans faute!"

At Khaminé's, Reith ordered a single and a double room as before. At the door of the smaller room, he waved Alicia in. She paused, looking hopefully at Reith, and murmured:

"Fergus, is this your way of saying we can never go back to the way things were, before Ghulindé?"

"That's right," he said.

"I'm so sorry, Fergus. It was such glorious fun, being your amorex."

"I'm sorry, too; but I think it's the best—the only way."

"Even if I solemnly promise never to do anything like that again?"

"No. After that hoax you and Vizman tried to pull, with drink and a dancing girl, I could never again trust one of your promises."

"I didn't mean to hurt you. If I'd known Vizman's plan in advance, I could have discussed it with you. Then, if you refused—"

"My dear Alicia, if I'd said 'no!', you'd have replied: 'It's my body, to do with what I please!' And off you'd go in a fury."

"Oh, come, Fergus! I'm not an utter—but anyway, I figured that, if I gave in to Vizman and you never found out, I might help to end a great injustice to those mine slaves. What would be the harm? Vizman first brought the matter up at dinner. I couldn't very well call out: 'Hey, Fergus, the President wants me for his bedmate tonight! Is that okay with you?' I asked for time to think it over, hoping I'd have a chance to discuss it with you; but no, Vizman wanted his answer right away. So I had to decide quickly, and I chose what seemed the right course."

Reith nodded. "No doubt you did what seemed right to you; and now I'm doing what seems right to me. But let's not further hash over this unfortunate business."

"Oh, all right, Mr. neo-Puritan. Any time you can't stand the primal urge any more, you'll know where to find me."

Reith changed the subject in a marked manner. "How about that shopping spree we've been looking forward to? We can buy necessities today and luxuries tomorrow."

"Oh, good!" she cried, seizing Reith by the neck and planting a lush, moist kiss on his lips. "I want a dress like the one the Sainians gave me." Her eyes lit up with the feral gleam of a carnivore stalking its prey.

When Reith returned to the larger bedroom, Marot said: "I infer, my friend, that the affair is now over, fini?"

"Yep," said Reith.

"A pity. I shall miss my single bed; for you are given to the thrashing and the groaning in your sleep."

"If you like, I'll ask Khaminé—"

"No, no, do not consider it. I am not serious. But the little one, I am sure she most sincerely repents her dalliance with that soi-disant President. She told me all about it after you left the palace. He had cleverly maneuvered her into a position where she had to choose between her ideals and her love for you."

Reith growled: "I might have come to accept her sleeping with Vizman, in time, as I had the Foltz affair. But what really browned me off was her trying to hoax me with the liquor and the dancing girl. There are people you can trust—a very small class—and people you can't. Until that night, I thought she was one of the first kind."

"But you see, Vizman arranged things so that she should have no time to consider the alternatives. When he offered her a seeming way to retain both her ideals and your affection, she yielded to the temptation. Have you never yielded to the temptation?"

"Yes," said Reith, remembering how he had been lured into an affair with Princess Vázni. "It's an unfortunate business all around; but I'm still not going back. If you want to court her, Aristide, feel free."

"You mean to sue in your behalf, like that fellow Miles Standing?"

"Standish, I think you mean. No, I mean in your own behalf."

Marot threw up his hands. "May the good God forbid! If you, with all your experience and force of personality, cannot domesticate this tornado of energy, how could a naive old pedant like me hope to do so? I know my limitations, and I would never, never attempt such a folly."

A half-hour later, the three ragamuffin travelers were canvassing the shops of Majbur for essentials. Knowing the city and its ways, Reith managed their purchases with efficient dispatch.

At last they reentered the inn, cleansed in the public bathhouse, the men freshly shaven and wearing new baldrics and swords over new jackets and divided kilts. Alicia looked a legendary princess in a simple lilac tunic of linenlike fabric, embellished by her necklace and her freshly washed and cropped shining hair.

The clerk at first failed to recognize the former vagabonds. When he realized who they were, he bowed so low that he nearly lost his balance. Reith grinned at the sudden deference and said: "Kindly show us to the dining room."

Alicia brightened at the sight of a dance floor. "Oh, wonderful! Tonight we can dance as late as we want!"

"Good God, woman," laughed Reith. "I thought you were all worn out?"

"Shopping invigorates me," she said. "Poor Fergus, if you are exhausted, you can go to bed right after dinner." She slid an arm through Marot's. "Aristide and I will have fun tonight, won't we?"

"My dear Alicia," said Marot, "me, I have not danced in many years. I warn you, I shall be as maladroit as a bull on the roof."

"If you two can take it, I guess I can," said Reith. "Don't want to spoil my image as a superman."

The entreé was a kind of sea slug with tentacles, which had the unnerving property of continuing to wriggle after being boiled. When the orchestra struck up with the Krishnan equivalents of harps, flutes, clarinets, and trumpets, Alicia fixed Marot with her piercing sapphire eyes. "Let's dance!"

"As I have remarked," said Marot in plaintive tones, "I am hopelessly out of practice ..."

"Aristide! You're going to dance, and that's that! Come along!" She rose and tugged on the Frenchman's wrist.

With a sigh, Marot let himself be cowed into compliance. He cast an appealing glance at Reith, who replied with a flicker of a smirk. As they circled the floor, Reith observed that Alicia was such an exquisite dancer that she could make even the awkward scientist look proficient.

As they returned to their table, the orchestra struck up again. Reith rose and bowed. "May I have the pleasure?"

The band played an athletic dance tune; and Reith and Alicia skipped about the floor with two other lively couples. As the music ended and the musicians tuned their harps and polished their wind instruments, Alicia said: "Fergus, think of all the fun we missed when we were mm—you know—because you didn't take those dancing lessons sooner."

"No doubt," he said dryly, "or to put it another way, because we didn't stay married long enough for me to get around to those lessons."

Alicia sighed. "I know, darling; it's all my fault. Let's make the most of our chances from now on."

When the music resumed, Alicia again bullied the compliant Marot out on the floor. As Reith sat watching them, he became aware that he in turn was being watched by a young Krishnan, who was seated by himself across the room.

The watcher wore baggy black trousers tucked into soft-leather boots, and a jacket of heavy green stuff, which he had opened to bare his chest against the heat. A scabbarded sword lay beneath his table. The garb bespoke a resident of the Empire of Dur, north of the stormy Va'andao Sea.

At last the Krishnan rose and walked unsteadily across the dance floor, narrowly missing a pair of dancers. Reith watched his approach uncertainly. Halting, the Duru said:

"I crave pardon, but are you not Sir Fergus Reese, once consort of the Princess Vázni of Dur?"

Reith rose. "Who are you, and why are you asking that question?"

The Duru swayed, staring at Reith. "Ah, I see that you are indeed he. Then, sir, I name you foul traitor, caitiff knave, vile rogue, and recreant treacher. I will now prove my words with steel upon your odious body. Prepare to defend yourself!"

"What in Hishkak?" said Reith. "I don't know what you're talking about. And what am I supposed to defend myself with?"

The Krishnan wobbled drunkenly back to his table, picked up his scabbard, and drew the sword. Shouting: "Now shall you see how a knight of Dur avenges an insult to his sovran lady!" he charged across the dance floor, whirling his blade and causing the dancers to scatter with cries of alarm.

Reith, who had just sat down, leaped up again and snatched up his chair. All the dancers fled from the floor but one. That was Alicia Dyckman who, darting forward, thrust a shapely leg into the Duru's path to trip him. The Duru fell sprawling, his sword skittering across the qong-wood floor. Coming around the table, Reith brought his chair down with a crash on the fallen Krishnan's head.

"What's this? What's this?" cried Khaminé the taverner, bustling forward. "No brawling on my premises! Gorbovast assured me—"

"He's a perfect stranger to me," said Reith, explaining what had happened. "He may have mistaken me for someone. Ask any witness."

"Would ye file a complaint? I like not to call the watch."

"I'll tell you, Master Khaminé, I wish to get to the bottom of this affair. Let me and my friend take this person to our room for a while. Sit in with us if you like. If it's a mere misunderstanding, no official action will be needed. If not ..."

Reith shrugged.

"Aye, that makes sense," said the taverner. "I'll give you a hand with him. The rest of you, on with the dance!"

"Thanks for your help, Alicia," said Reith.

In the large bedroom, the unconscious Duru was tied to a chair. Cold, wet towels applied to his face and neck finally brought him round. He rolled bloodshot eyes and asked: "Where am I? Gods, my head aches!"

As Khaminé sat down in the other chair, Alicia and Marot took posts on the bed. Reith explained where the Krishnan was and how he got there.

"Now," said Reith, "who are you?"

"Sir Vaklaf bak-Khazir, a knight of Dur."

"What are you doing in Majbur?"

"Studying at the university."

"Why did you attack me?"

"Well—ah—I knew you from pictures in the palace at Baianch. They had a photographer up from Hershid for your wedding to Vázni. Knowing how foully you had deserted the sweet lady, I saw it my duty to administer condign chastisement. 'Twas bad enough that the Regent wed his cousin to an off-worlder; but to let that slimy alien dishonor Krishnan womanhood by deserting her was too unmannerly to be brooked."

"Your sins are catching up with you, Fergus," said Alicia with a barely-suppressed smile.

Sternly, Reith said to the youth: "I take it you hadn't heard the full story of my connection with Vázni?"

"I am aware of the official account."

"Which is about as truthful as any man of experience would expect. Do you wish to hear my telling of the tale?"

"What is your story then, alien?"

Ignoring the Duru's truculence, Reith told how he had brought his first party of tourists to Dur; how the Regent Tashian en trapped him into intimacy with Vázni; how he was forced into marriage, literally at sword's point; and how he escaped. He explained:

"Tashian's motives were clear. He likes being Regent and running things; and he's full of ideas about what's good for Dur. He thought that if Vázni married a Krishnan, there would be offspring, one of which would grow up to become emperor. That would spell the end of Tashian's power. I know, because Tashian asked me if there was any chance of offspring between a Krishnan and a Terran."

Sir Vaklaf sneered. "Why should I believe the tale of a slippery alien over that of the noble Tashian?"

"Believe what you like; but if you dig into the matter, you'll find that I speak the truth. And I must remind you, Sir Vaklaf, that you have put yourself in a most precarious position."

"Mean you to murder me?"

"Perhaps; but there are alternatives. I can have you imprisoned, or expelled from the university, or stripped of your knightly rank. Having been a knight of Dur myself, I know the duelling regulations, and you flagrantly violated all of them."

Vaklaf stared at the toes of his boots. In a less defiant tone he said: "I must have drunk too much kvad."

"Doubtless. I'll let you go without further ado, if you'll agree to answer a few questions and give your knightly word to take no further actions against me."

"I promise, Sir Fergus."

"All right, then. First, Are you in any way connected with the cult of Bákh of Chilihagh?"

"Nay. Do they in sooth worship Bákh there?"

"They do. Did anyone suggest, urge, or offer you money to attack me?"

"You are offensive, sir! A knight of Dur, bribed to assault another? Perish the thought! After all, I am who I am!"

"In my experience, men of your rank come good, bad, and indifferent, like the rest of your species. Next: Where is Vázni now?"

"That's part of the great scandal that you caused! A few months after you fled from Dur, the lady eloped with a young male with whom she had formed an attachment. They settled in Hershid, where Dour Eqrar holds them in protective custody for bargaining with Regent Tashian. That little fussbudget Eqrar performed some ceremony to legitimatize their union. Any day we may hear that their first egg hath hatched."

Reith smiled. "I hope my little Vázni is happy at last. Better a proper mate of her own species than an unwilling alien."

"You may have some reason on your side. But an insult is an insult, and can only be erased in blood!"

Reith sighed. "On my world, a poet once wrote: 'Against stupidity the very gods do strive in vain.' He must have had youths like you in mind. Now swear your oath ..."

When Vaklaf had sworn on his knightly honor to pester Reith no more, Reith said: "Untie him, pray. Master Khaminé. Run along to your studies, Vaklaf."

The student went out. Alicia said: "Fergus, would you like to make me very happy?"

"That depends," said Reith warily. "What do you want?"

"Let's go back to the dining room. Since you've become such a splendid dancer, I want all the dances with you I can get."

Reith sighed once more. "Yes, my dear."

The great shopping spree took place the next morning. Marot bought new undergarments and a pair of Krishnan eyeglasses. Since they were poorly ground by Terran standards and not made to his prescription, he found that continual usage made his head ache. "At least," he said, "I am no longer an illiterate." He also purchased another flutelike instrument to replace the one lost in the piracy.

Alicia had formed a passion for a dress as much as possible like the filmy, bare-breasted gown that the rancher's wife had given her. After hours of trudging from shop to shop, Reith's and Marot's feet were sore from Majbur's cobblestoned streets and their knees ached from standing in shops. Reith grumbled:

"I must be getting old despite my LPs. I find a quarter-hour of shopping more fatiguing than a fifty-kilometer hike."

"Oh, you poor little man!" said Alicia. "You, the hero of a hundred fights and flights, worn out from looking at a few dresses? Come on! I'm just getting into my stride. There's a likely-looking shop!"

"Aristide," said Reith wearily, "they've found cures for lots of things, like cancer, alcoholism, and homosexuality; but nobody has found a remedy for the female addiction to shopping."

Alicia darted into the next shop and, by haranguing the proprietor in fluent Majburo dialect, got him to bring out a score of gowns of the type she sought. Eventually she found one enough like the Chilihagho dress to suit. When she tried it on and looked in the steel mirror, she gave a cry of delight, kissed both Reith and Marot, and spun round and round in a little dance of joy.

As they passed a jeweler's window, Alicia paused to stare at the baubles spread out there. Marot said: "Fergus, I see a bench for customers within. If the little Alicia goes in and asks for an appraisal of her necklace, you and I can enjoy a respite from standing."

So pleased was Alicia with this proposal that for once she forgot to take umbrage at Marot's form of addressing her. Reith said: "Okay. I still think it's junk—glass and brass—but I don't mind getting a professional opinion."

Inside, they found a small, wizened Krishnan behind a polished showcase. His face was wreathed in a Krishnan smile, and he bowed obsequiously. "Welcome, my Terran lords! How can your servant serve you?"

Alicia unwound the scarf that hid her necklace, unclasped the necklace, and stretched it across the jeweler's pad of soft black cloth, saying: "Good my sir, have you a pair of earrings that would go well with this?"

The jeweler stared at the necklace through his jeweler's loupe. The only sound was the drip of water in a clepsydra. At last he said:

"I pray you, my lady, do but wait an instant."

He called, and from the rear of the shop an even older Krishnan, bent and wrinkled, tottered out to examine the necklace in his turn. He uttered an unprofessional gasp. The two muttered to each other, and finally the first jeweler said:

"I'll do my best, my lady; albeit I doubt that my Finest gems could match those of your royal neckpiece. It is very old and of excellent workmanship. Did it descend to you from some noble family?"

"I have been so told," said Alicia warily. Reith and Marot exchanged startled glances.

The jeweler took out a huge key, unlocked a strongbox that lay behind a panel in the wall, and brought out a small, velvet-lined case. When he opened it, a dazzling array of fine stones sparkled in the sunlight that slanted through the window. He said:

"Though nought in my modest establishment can match your princely mass of jewels, belike these might complement your necklace not badly." From the case he picked a pair of splendid ruby earrings. "A bargain at five hundred karda," he said.

Reith exclaimed in English: "Good lord, Alicia! We can't afford anything like that. Our funds are limited, and—"

"My friend," Marot interrupted, "for the lady who has saved our wretched lives, and more than once, nothing is too costly. I shall pay half, and you can use your tessara for credit."

Reith shrugged. "Oh, all right. But let me bargain; I'm sure I can get them for less."

"Also," said Marot, "it appears that Alicia's necklace is a great deal more than the 'junk' you called it. Let us ask for the appraisal."

Reith haggled the jeweler down to four hundred and fifty karda and produced the jadeoid rectangle in payment. When the necessary papers had been written up, Reith said: "Now, master jeweler, be so good as to tell us the value of the necklace."

The jeweler called the older Krishnan back, and the two peered at the necklace, muttered, and scribbled notes. At last the first jeweler said: "I will give five thousand karda for it, instanter."

With a wry grin, Reith said in English: "That means I could bargain him up to ten thousand, and he could sell the thing for at least twenty. As an amateur gemologist, I guess I'm just a competent tour guide."

"I thank you," said Alicia to the jeweler in her great-lady manner. "But, of course, we do not intend to sell. Tonight we shall dine with King Eqrar's Commissioner, and the earrings and necklace will nicely embellish my gown."

When they were outside again, she seized both Reith and Marot in turn and kissed them vigorously, causing a few Majburuma to pause and stare. 'Thank you, darlings, for my lovely earrings! We'll show old Gorbovast and his people we can put on the dog as well as any of them!"

On the way back to Khaminé, Reith detoured to show Marot the war galleys in die harbor, the great brazen statue of the god Dashmok, and a couple of the temples. Most of the afternoon they slept away; then, clad in their best, they set out in a hired carriage for Gorbovast's mansion in the suburbs.

Gorbovast's Lucullan dinner had been eaten; the swarm of shrieking Gorbovast grandchildren had been put to bed; and the host of Gorbovast kin had plied the Terrans with questions about their adventures. A brief silence permitted Reith to pose some queries of his own. He asked:

"Commissioner, you know everything that goes on around the Triple Seas. What's the latest from Chilihagh? We've been told that the Dasht failed to make good his revolt against the Bákhites and is besieged in his palace."

"Aye," said Gorbovast. "That's the situation as I last heard it, with one small addendum: his General Gurshman, being a worshiper of Qondyor and not of Bákh, hath joined the struggle on the side of the Dasht. He is said to be gathering the frontier forces in an essay to break the siege of the palace."

"Anyway," said Reith, "it's evident that we still have to watch out for fanatical Balchites trying to haul us back to Jeshang for boiling. Do you know of anyone else, Commissioner, who wants to make life hard for us?"

"Now that you allude thereto," said Gorbovast, "I did, indeed, this very day, receive an inkling of such. It had slipped my mind—a thing that, alas, takes place increasingly as the years advance."

"What happened?"

"An informant averred that one approached him offering money, would he but employ his singular skill upon an alien creature."

"Your Excellency," said Reith, "I'm not so tactless as to ask the name of your informant. But tell me, at least, what his peculiar skill consists of?"

"He is a murderer. Further details I sought in vain from him to elicit: the identities of him who made the offer and him— or her—on whom he was to demonstrate his skill. The 'alien creature' could be your esteemed self; or any of an hundred other off-worlders now resident in Majbur. In any case, my informant said he did decline the offer. But, dear Fergus, I do beseech you and your companions, the utmost prudent care to take."

"That we will," said Reith grimly. "One more question, please: Have you heard news from Qirib?"

"Aye; I had a letter thence but yestermorn. The President hath hanged that last surviving leader of the opposition. Rumor saith he means to change the constitution, his lifelong tenure of his office to assure."

Alicia, regally fair in her new gown, put a hand against her mouth in a gesture of dismay. She started to ask a question but seemed unable to force the words out: "Have you heard—has he—did he issue ..."

"She wishes to know," said Reith, "whether slavery has been abolished in Qirib."

"Strange that you should ask! My informant saith that Vizman did indeed draw up such an ordinance, having thereto been persuaded by some Terran passerby. On second thought, how-somever, he judged the time unripe and therefore hath deferred this plan to a future indefinite."

Alicia gasped. Reith was tempted to flash her a triumphant smile, which said: "I told you so!" But love, and pity for the pain she must be feeling, stopped him. Instead, he reached over and gave her hand a light squeeze. With what Reith knew was intense self-control, she turned to their host, saying:

"Sir Commissioner, we shall remember your feast as long as we live. But the hour grows late, and tomorrow we must be up with the bijars to catch our boat up the river. Will Your Excellency pray excuse us?"

Thanking their host profusely, Reith and Marot escorted Alicia out.

On the carriage ride back to the inn, Alicia sat silently, now and then biting her lip, while Marot talked of how much he would have enjoyed leading another Krishnan fossil hunt, with Reith as guide.

"I fear, however," he added, "that the life on this planet is too strenuous for one of my age and temperament. So another hand must undertake the task."

"Not every Krishnan guided tour provides the adventures we've had," said Reith. "I'd taken half a dozen tours out before you hired me, and only the first had this sort of excitement. The problems on the other expeditions were simple things— you know—tourists losing their belongings, or crabbing about their accommodations, or failing to show up on time, or taking violent dislikes to one another."

Glancing at Alicia, Reith saw the moonlight glisten on a tear. He patted her hand and tried to distract her by saying: "I don't know for sure that anybody's out to scrag us; but we shouldn't take chances. Let's check out from Khaminé's tonight and go straight to the Zaidun. Captain Ozum won't like being roused at all hours; but he'll put up with it because I'm an old friend and a good customer."

At the inn, Reith told the coachman to wait. He paid the taverner's account while Marot and Alicia went up to their rooms to pack. A few minutes later he joined Marot and was filling his duffel bag when he heard a piercing scream, followed by a crash. Seizing his sword, he rushed around to Alicia's small bedroom, expecting to find her being robbed, raped, or murdered."

Instead, she was lying prone across her bed, beating the pillow with her fists. By one wall lay the shattered remains of a small vase that had stood on the bedside table. The green and crimson plant and the dirt in which it had been rooted lay among the shards.

"Alicia!" said Reith, grasping her shoulder. "What is it?"

She rolled over and sat up, unmindful of a tear-streaked face. "That bastard!" she said in a choked voice. "That son of a bitch! That turd! To think that I sacrificed my one real love, for nothing!"

"There, there," said Reith, gathering her gently into his arms. "I know your intentions were good. But politicians are no more to be trusted here than back on Terra."

"He really did write that proclamation; he showed it to me. I suppose I ought to have ..."

"Sure. But when and if he issues it, it'll be on a basis of political calculation, regardless of any favors he might enjoy from a lovely Terran visitor."

"I wish I were dead!" Alicia wept for a while against Reith's shirt front, then straightened up and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry I broke Khaminé's vase, but I had to let off steam. I'll pay for it, of course. If you ever get a chance to do Vizman one in the eye, you have my blessing."

"That's the spirit!" said Reith. "We all do stupid things; the trick is not to make the same mistake twice. I'll bet Vizman planned the whole thing in advance! Otherwise he wouldn't have ordered Shei to get me drunk and out of the way. We walked into his trap."

"I guess we did." She managed a weak smile, followed by a lingering look. "Fergus, do you—suppose—if you'd like—"

"Alicia dear! We've got to clear out fast, depressa! I don't know who may be after us this time, though I can guess several possibilities. But the quicker we're aboard the Zaidun the better. So pack that bag, byant-hao!"

As Alicia rose to carry out Reith's command, there came a knock on the door. The taverner's voice called: "Doctor Dyck-man! Is aught amiss? We heard a crash."

"Come in, come in!" said Alicia, hastily wiping her tear-streaked face on the bedding. "Master Khaminé, I fear I owe you the price of a vase."

"What befell?" said Khaminé in the doorway.

"As I was packing to depart, I looked up and saw a ghost. I think it was the ghost of one of the former queens of Qirib. In a moment of panic I threw the vase, which of course went right through the phantom."

Khaminé clucked disapprovingly. "Ghosts in my establishment! If ye say nought of this visitation, I'll not charge you for the vase. More than one innkeeper hath been ruined by a rumor that his hostelry Was haunted. These dead queens are doubtless enraged by the fall of the matriarchate and seek revenge on all Terrans, whom they blame for their fall. Goodnight! It hath been a pleasure to serve you and your eminent Terran companions." Khaminé bowed himself out.