The Swords of Zinjaban

IX - The Dour of Qirib

The message hit Reith like a punch in the gut. What had happened? Had he said something that so offended Alicia that she had left both him and her job with Cosmic Productions? That was hardly like the conscientious Alicia. Had she become fed up with his prolonged hesitation? Or had she concluded that, since she could do better elsewhere, she should seize the opportunity? Had some potentate really dangled an irresistible lure before her?

Reith reread the letter. He had not studied Alicia's handwriting; he had only a hazy recollection of the letters she had written in the brief interval between their first meeting and their marriage, two decades before. Although the writing did look familiar, he could make no exact comparison.

The stilted, formal tone of the letter, however, did not sound like her. However angry she might be with him, she would hardly refer to Strachan, an old friend of both, as "Mr. Strachan" instead of "Ken." Nor would she add "Ph.D." to her signature. Neither was the English completely idiomatic.

Reith was baffled. The "small Khaldonian" sounded like his secretary Minyev disguised by a crimson beard; but how could Minyev have become involved? If Minyev so idolized Alicia, why should he take part in a kidnapping project?"

He sought out the innkeeper. "Master Bosyár, our companion Doctor Dyckman has disappeared. I suspect that she did not leave voluntarily."

"Indeed, sir?" said the taverner.

"I wish to examine her room. You can let me in with your passkey and stand by to make sure I respect her rights of property."

Bosyár looked doubtful. "I know not, sir ... Who is Mistress Dyckman's master? For whom doth she toil?"

"Oh, you want the approval of Master Stavrakos?" Reith led the way to the producer's room. He found Stavrakos lounging in a chair and Fodor sitting on the bed. The two had been arguing but fell silent when Reith strode in with the news.

Stavrakos shook his head. "That is bad. Still, I guess we can manage, so long as you and Strachan stick with us."

Fodor remained silent, but Reith thought he detected a glimmer of a smile. Fodor, he recalled, had opposed the hiring of Alicia in the first place. Now without opposition, the director would feel free to make as silly a Krishnan movie as he liked.

"Sure, go ahead and examine her baggage," said Stavrakos. "But what are you planning to do about it?"

"If I find a clue as to where she's gone—and I have my suspicions—I'll go after her."

"Hey! You can't do that! You have a contract with me, to stay with the crew until the movie's been shot. After that, if you want to go chasing after some dame—"

Reith contained his temper with difficulty. "Look here! I'm supposed to protect the whole lot of you. She's part of your crew, too, and she's the one in danger. The rest of you will do all right here in Mishé with Strachan to guide and interpret—"

"But your contract says you stay with us!" shouted Stavrakos. "If you want to hire a private eye—"

"Don't talk rubbish! They don't have private detectives—"

"Kostis!" boomed Fodor. "Listen to reason! You know I'd be just as happy to shoot my picture without Alicia's interference; but everybody knows—"

"Traitor!" yelled Stavrakos. "Your first loyalty belongs to me—"

"Shut up!" bellowed Fodor. "Everybody knows those two were once married and are still soft about each other. My barbarian honor says if a man wants to go hunting for his woman, he's entitled—"

As the voices of the quarreling executives merged into an unintelligible roar, Fairweather and Cassie Norris appeared in the doorway, asking: "What's this about Alicia being kidnapped?"

News of the abduction spread through the crew as if by telepathy. Other heads appeared in the hall behind the acting leads, until most of the shooting crew had either crowded into the bedroom or blocked the doorway. Stavrakos said: "If this son of a bitch goes off on a wild-goose chase, he's broken his contract, and I won't pay him—"

"Oh, won't you?" said Ordway. "You just try something like that, and I'll jolly well walk out on you, too. That gel's worth a hundred greasy dagoes like you! Well pull a strike!"

"You bet!" shrilled Cassie Norris.

"I'm with you, Cyril!" said Jacob White.

"Me, too!" called Ernesto Valdez.

When it became obvious that the entire crew was on Reith's side, Stavrakos grumbled, "Okay, okay. You're a bunch of lousy traitors and sentimental idiots; but I can't make a picture without a crew. So go on, Fergus; rescue your blond tornado, and try not to get yourself killed. If you do, I won't pay your estate one lefta!"

As Reith pushed out of the crowded room, Ordway said: "I say, Fergus! I want to go along with you and help out!"

"We'll discuss that later," said Reith, hastening back towards Alicia's room with the innkeeper in tow.

In her room, Reith found Alicia's clothes and toiletries scattered about; but she had always been untidy. Hanging from pegs on the wall, along with other clothing, were the topless lavender dress she had worn at Fodor's poker party and her crossbow-pistol, together with a leather case full of bolts. It looked as though Alicia had departed without taking a single possession other than the clothes she was wearing.

Reith appropriated the pistol and arranged with Bosyár to store Alicia's other effects until she could reclaim them.

"What the devil?" shouted Anthony Fallon in answer to Reith's knock. "Oh, it's you, Fergus. What brings you to my door at this time of night?" When Reith explained, Fallon said: "Oh! That's different. Come in, man. Do you need a drink?"

"No; I need information, and you're my best bet here in the outback."

They sat down in Fallon's living room, Fallon in an old green bathrobe and Reith in his dress Krishnan kilt and tunic. After discussion, Fallon asked: "What makes you so sure the note's a fake, and she didn't go voluntarily?"

"I'm not absolutely certain; but it's easier to believe she's been kidnapped than she'd leave without her favorite dress or even her toothbrushes." Reith paused. "Tony, when we were here last, you read us excerpts from the local newspaper. Wasn't there a feature called 'News of Royalty'?"

"Why, yes," said Fallon. "It's a gossip column about the ruling circles in the local kingdoms—though I daresay if the President of Suruskand ran off with the wife of the High Priest—"

"Have you a file of these papers?"

"My dear fellow, of course! Keeping up is my business. Sorry; I should have realized you were in a hurry." From a big filing cabinet, Fallon drew out a fistful of large folded sheets of the Mishé Defender. "Here! The one for the current ten-day is on top. You'll find the royalty column on the second page."

Reith unfolded the topmost sheet, found the column, and pored over it without result. In the preceding issue, he found an item, which in a free translation would read:

HOPEFUL MAMAS AGOG IN JAZMURIAN

We are informed that His bachelor Awesomeness. Dour Vizman of Qirib. hath the mothers of marriageable girls in a swivel because of his projected sojourn in their bustling city, whither he will shortly arrive from Ghulindé. Although royalty seldom gives out travel plans, a source close to the throne hath revealed that a stay of a moon or more is contemplated. The official report is that His Awesomeness wishes to familiarize himself with the state of manufacturing and trade in Qirib's leading commercial city, notwithstanding his oft-stated preference for life in the capital We wonder if Jazmurian hath not some attraction of a non-commercial sort...

Reith looked up. "Have you a map covering the country between here and Jazmurian?"

Fallon brought out a map from a drawer in his desk. Reith pored over it, saying: "She could have been carried off to any of half a dozen countries. Qirib looks the likeliest, since Vizman wrote inviting her to Ghulindé; she put him off with excuses. If you were in Jazmurian but had to travel to the borders of Mikardand to receive a kidnapee, what would you choose as a transfer point?"

Bending over the map, Fallon pointed to a spot on the shore of the Sadabao Sea. "Qa'la is on the border, here. The roads from Mishé to Qa'la are at least fair."

"But," objected Reith, "Qa'la is a good three hundred kilometers from Jazmurian. That would mean a trip of at least six days each way."

"Here's another possibility,'' suggested Fallon, "a little town on the Zigros called Qantesr. It's just over the border from Qiribo territory and only thirty-odd kilometers from Jazmurian. With a fast aya, one can make it in a day by the river road."

"I know Qantesr," said Reith. "I'm off while it's still dark, before the aqebats begin to croak."

"Shouldn't you wait for me to send out inquiries, before you leap on your fiery aya and gallop off in all directions?"

"I count on your making inquiries, old man, and getting Castanhoso to do likewise. Meanwhile I'm off to the countryside; if any mysterious party has passed through, I'll have a good chance of picking up the trail, with the help of my native friends, while it's still hot. tf I don't find any trace of my girl, I'll come back within a ten-day. Meanwhile you should have received answers to your questions."

"How do you expect to get her out of Vizman's grip, if that's what she's in? You couldn't cut your way single-handed through half the Qiribo army to rescue your lady—assuming she wants to be rescued."

"I don't think Vizman would bring half his army. I imagine he'll sneak quietly out of Jazmurian, ride up the Zigros with his personal guard, camp near the border, and wait for Alicia. If it turns out I'm wrong in any of these assumptions, I'll come back here to figure out my next move."

"Who's going with you?" asked Fallon, looking worried.

"Just my trusty Timásh. 'He travels the fastest who travels alone.' "

In midafternoon, six days after leaving Mishé, Reith and Timásh approached Qantesr. Each rode a sweat-damp aya, while the spare animal, saddled and bearing two small bags of personal gear, followed on a lead.

Reith took a dim view of Qantesr, because it was here, long ago, that Alicia had pushed him into the 'avval-infested river during a quarrel. Since the town was not really responsible, as Reith told himself, he compensated for his prejudice by being particularly pleasant to the townsfolk as he sought information.

Yes, they told him, everyone knew that the King of Balhib was camped a couple of hoda to the west, across the border. Yes, a carriage with window curtains drawn had, a few hours before, traveled eastward through the town with a pair of armed outriders. As soon as the vehicle cleared the village, its driver was seen whipping his ayas into a furious gallop. Reith smiled grimly to himself; his guess about Vizman must have been right!

Reith took a room for himself and Timásh, then wandered with elaborate nonchalance down the road towards the border. The border post had the usual cluster of shelters and storehouses. Before one of these a couple of bored soldiers lounged, dispiritedly playing games of chance while waiting for travelers to appear.

On each side of the border, a horizontal pole formed a barrier across the narrow road, while the forest on either side made detours impractical for mounted Krishnans or vehicles. Each pole was striped in the national colors; but whereas the green-and-purple pole on the Qiribo side was intact, the blue-and-orange pole on the Mikardando side had been broken off short. Looking at the splintered stump, Reith surmised the reason for the damage.

Two border guards on the Mikardando side were playing piza for small stakes. After watching for a while, Reith diffidently suggested that he join in. He allowed the guards to win a handful of arzuma, then engaged them in friendly chitchat.

"I hear rumors about a closed carriage, which lately came through the village headed for the border. Do you goodmen know anything about it?"

The soldiers exchanged glances. One said: "I know not that we should talk—"

"Oh, he seems a good fellow, for an alien," said the other. "Better he should hear the true tale from us than some fantastical rumor from another.

"Well, sir, we were standing here today, nigh unto noon, when these two bully-rooks rode up. One handed me a scroll, crying that it was authorization for his party to cross in haste, that the peace of our two nations depended upon it, and that we should raise the gate forthwith.

" 'A moment, good my sir,' said I, breaking the seal and unrolling the screed. Now, I can read a little; but this message was full of strange, long words, such as lawyers use. So I called Charvadir here to help decipher it. Whilst our heads were bent over this writing, the carriage came on at a dead run. The mounted man shouted: 'Ware, clumsy oafs!' We leaped out of the way and, ere we could blink, carriage, outriders, and all whirled through as if the fiends of Hishkak were in the saddle. Their animals struck the gate pole and broke it. Yon scrowles" (he indicated the two border guards on the other side) "had already raised their pole, so these runagates passed through without hindrance. When we protested, they did but laugh at us.

"Charvadir hunted up the Knight of the district, who berated us for failing to stop the carriage—what fancied he, that we should seize the galloping ayas' horns? —and promised to write to Mishé about the incident. The master carpenter in Qantesr is making us a new pole."

With assumed indifference, Reith left the border post, strolled up the road until out of sight of the guards, then cut back through the woods to examine the border barrier. This proved to be a simple wooden picket fence, rotted and sagging.

Back in Qantesr, Reith hunted up the town's master carpenter and rented one of his saws. As Roqir set, he and Timásh rode towards the border, leading their spare animal. Before they reached the boundary, they dismounted and led their ayas through the woods to the section of fence that Reith had already inspected. As Reith set to work with his saw, Timásh said: "Sir Fergus, these beasts could easily jump this little barrier. Why do ye saw it up?"

"Because we may be returning in a hurry, and I shouldn't care to make the jump in the dark ... Come on!"

They led their beasts through the new gap in the fence and on towards Vizman's camp. A prowl through the trees brought them within sight of the clearing, where a dozen small, bulbous tents clustered around a very large one, like piglets around their dam.

"Stop here and tie up the animals," said Reith softly. From a small sack he dug out a handful of soot, which he applied to his face, ears, and neck until he seemed in the gloaming like a headless man. He treated his hands and wrists likewise and ordered Timásh to do the same. When this had been done, he said: "Now untie the ayas and hold their bridles. If I return, we shan't have time to fiddle with tethers. Keep your sword handy and remember: in a fight, one good thrust is worth half a dozen cuts. Where's that black cape of mine?"

For the next half-hour, as full darkness settled down beneath a blanket of cloud, Reith scouted the edges of the clearing, moving warily behind a screen of bushes and tree trunks. Lamps burned brightly in the main tent—-doubtless the Dour's pavilion—and less assertively in the lesser tents. The animals were staked out in another, adjacent clearing; Reith could hear their restless stamping and smell their pungent odor.

Discernible by the fight of a dying cook fire, Reith glimpsed two sentries pacing the periphery of the camp, walking in opposite directions. He stationed himself near the point where the two met, exchanged passwords, saluted, and continued on. As soon as both had their backs to him, he cocked and charged Alicia's crossbow-pistol and, crouching, stole into the camp. He slipped into one of the gaps between the small tents and lay prone, virtually invisible in his hooded cloak and soot. After the sentries had passed again, he wormed his way towards the pavilion, separated from the ring of smaller tents by several meters of grassy terrain.

For another quarter-hour, Reith lay still among the crumpled herbs. As he had expected, another sentry patrolled this area, circling round and round the big tent. By wriggling his way toward the entrance to the pavilion, he established that two more guards stood there. He retreated until the curve of the tent hid them from view.

Having no idea of the internal architecture of the pavilion, Reith could not guess in which compartment Alicia might be found. So he continued to he prone and motionless, seeking a clue.

A faint pearly opalescence in the overcast sky told of the rising of one of the moons, which found Reith still immobile, watching and listening. Since he was learning nothing by his vigil outside the tent, he decided that, whatever the risk, he must get in. He tested the edge of his knife with his thumb. Satisfied, he picked up the pistol, rose, and took a step towards the pavilion.

A muffled exclamation, from around the curve of the big tent, caused Reith to turn. Tiptoeing towards the sound, he came in sight of the sentry, bending over something. By the faint light he perceived what looked like a giant larva hatching as it crawled from beneath the edge of the tent.

"Ha!" snorted the sentry. "Up to your Terran tricks, eh?" Reaching down, he hauled out a naked woman, clutching a bundle of clothing—a Terran woman whose blond hair shone even in that crepuscular light.

The woman fought gamely, but the sentry had a firm grip on her arms. Coming up behind the Krishnan on the run, Reith raised the crossbow-pistol within centimeters of the sentry's neck.

The bolt delivered its kiss with a smacking sound as it bored into the base of the soldier's skull. The sentry collapsed silently save for the muffled thud of his fall.

"Alicia?" whispered Reith.

"Who is it?" came the reply.

"It's Fergus."

"Sorry; seeing you all black ..."

"Pick up your clothes and come."

Reith pulled Alicia across the open space into the sheltering circle of smaller tents. Here he stopped, whispering: "Better put some clothes on."

On hands and knees they crept towards the edge of the campsite and lay still, scarcely breathing, until both sentries were headed away from them. Then they rose and fled into the woods.

"Ye fetched her!" cried Timásh. "I knew ye—"

"Hush up, idiot, and hurry!" snapped Reith. "Well each lead one aya to the border."

They set out afoot, feeling their way among the indiscernible trees. They were nearing the gap in the fence across their path to safety when, muffled by distance and foliage, a rising clamor wafted from Vizman's camp. Reith halted to listen. "What's going on, Lish? Have they just found the dead sentry?"

"It's more than that." Leaning closer, she whispered. "I killed Vizman."

"Oh-oh! We'd better mount. Hand up!"

She put her foot into Reith's clasped hands and mounted. They went at a fast walk, with their heads bowed against their ayas' necks. Branches still savagely scraped their feces, and thorns impeded their progress. At last they were through the fence and into Mikardando territory.

A half hour later, they pulled into the inn yard at Qantesr. Muffled in Reith's black cloak over her hiked-up dress, Alicia asked: "Are we stopping here, Fergus?"

"No; too close to the border. The Qiribuma will probably be running in circles; but it's barely possible they might try a quick raid to recapture you. Are you sure Vizman s dead?"

"I'm sure." She cast a glance at Timásh. "I'll tell you about it later. Ton employé comprend l'anglais."

"I get it. We'll go on to Ghushang, as soon as I pay up and get our stuff."

Soon Reith emerged with the taverner's pot boy, each carrying a small duffel bag. When Reith and Timásh had strapped their bags behind their saddles, they remounted and jogged off into the night.

A Krishnan hour later, they reached Ghushang. Reith stopped at the first house identified as an inn by the conventional animal's cranium mounted above the entrance. The door was locked. Reith knocked until at last a spy hole opened and a pair of Krishnan eyes, obliquely illuminated by a candle or lamp, looked out. Reith began: "We are travelers—"

The Krishnan shrieked: "Aroint ye, fiends from Hishkak! Begone! In the name of Bákh and Varzai and Qondyor and Hoi and all the good gods and goddesses, get ye hence! We are folk of unsullied virtue—"

"I'm sure you are," interrupted Reith, "but we are not demons; merely two Terrans and a human being benighted on the road—"

"Sneck up, ye black devils! Vanish! If ye be mortal, we'll soon see if your sooty hides can stop a crossbow bolt! Kavir, fetch my arbalest, byant-hao!"

Reith hastily turned away, grumbling: "I'd forgotten we still have our war paint on. There's a public aya trough in the main square, where we can wash. Come on!"

They found the square dark and silent save for a pair of fading crimson fires in cressets affixed to walls. As they wearily dismounted, the exhausted Reith almost fell from his mount. He fumbled in his bag until he brought out his one clean undershirt. Dipping it into the watering trough, he and Timásh scrubbed from their hands and faces most of the deceiving soot.

Two patrolmen of the night watch appeared in a side street, tramping along with halberds over their shoulders. With arms at port, they hurried across the square as Reith and Timásh were finishing their cleanup.

"Who be ye?" demanded the taller of the two. "What business have ye abroad at this hour?"

"Belated travelers," said Reith, "and lost upon the road. I am Fergus Reith, the Terran tour guide."

"Foor-giss Reet," said the shorter watchman. "That sounds like unto the Ertsu who made a stir, years agone, by escaping the clutch of the late High Priestess in Jeshang. Be ye that yare alien runagate?"

"I am he," said Reith, smiling, "with a visitor from my native world. My people and I need shelter before we fall asleep upon your cobblestones. We should be most grateful if you found us clean quarters and assured the taverner that we are harmless folk."

"An honor to serve you, Sir Foorgiss! Follow me!"

When at last they found an inn with a wiling innkeeper and two vacant bedrooms, Reith said to Alicia, "There's one single and one double. What's your preference?"

"I'll take the single. And oh, how I'd love some clean clothes! This dress is ruined."

"I can spare you my undershorts. Tomorrow we'll hunt up a proper riding outfit for you."

Reith followed Alicia into the smaller room and slumped on the edge of the bed. When she saw his haggard face in the lamplight, she exclaimed: "Fergus! I've never seen you look so exhausted!"

"Well, I haven't had much time for sleep lately. I've been on the go almost round the clock. But I'll sleep better if you tell me what happened."

"We don't want to start that now! Go to bed, for heaven's sake!"

"No, Lish. A little while ago I was so done in I almost fell asleep in the saddle. Now I'm so tired I'm wide awake."

"But you ought to—"

"Lish, if you won't tell me what happened, I'll lie awake all night imagining things. So you'd better talk."

"Are you sure you want to hear it? It's not a pretty story."

"I'm not looking for entertainment; but I want to know."

"Very well." She sat down beside him but remained silent until Reith pulled out the letter signed with her name, saying:

"By the way, did you write this?"

Alicia scanned it. "No! I never wrote anything remotely like—I hope you don't think I'd ever—ever—"

"It had a fishy smell, but I couldn't be absolutely sure. I think it's a forgery by Minyev." After another silence, he asked: "How did they get you away from Baghál's night club?"

"One of the Krishnans told me there had been an attempted murder; and the victim, a Terran, might die. But nobody could understand his speech, so they couldn't even find out who he was. They begged me to come along and interpret, assuring me they'd bring me back to Baghál's in a few minutes.

"I should of course have cleared it with you, or at least told Cyril and Gashigi where I was going; but they seemed so excited that I rushed out with them. That's what happens when you're caught by surprise."

"I know," murmured Reith; "even to smart people."

"Out in the street, they hustled me into a carriage. No sooner was I seated when one Krishnan grabbed me; another whipped a length of cloth around my face and twisted my arms to snap on some sort of handcuffs.

"When the carriage reached open country, they took off my gag but refused to answer questions. In the light of morning, I recognized the little fellow in the magenta beard on my left as Minyev. He wouldn't talk, either.

"There's not much to tell about the trip, except that I never did get used to rest stops with a couple of Krishnans standing by to make sure I didn't bolt.

"Around midday today—I guess it's yesterday by now—we crossed the border into Qirib, and I was hustled into Vizman's tent There they took off my bonds, let me wash up, and served me a meal. How did you ever catch up with us? As they say, a stern chase is a long chase."

"Timásh and I rode like hell, that's how. Go on; tell me everything."

After another moment of silence, Alicia resumed her tale. She had found herself in a compartment of the tent the size of an average bedroom, furnished with all the elegance of a room in a palace. There were two comfortable chairs, a dresser, a washstand, and a table, all decorated with Vizman's gilded royal symbol of a god astride a sea monster. In one corner stood a large bed with lace-trimmed bedding.

On the table reposed a three-dimensional colored photograph of Alicia, set in a silver-gilt frame emblazoned with rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. This picture, she reasoned, must have been bought or begged from some photographer in Novo, since native photography was still in the box-and-tripod, black-and-white picture stage.

After a servant in green-and-purple livery removed the food, Alicia curled up on the bed for a nap; but that nap turned into a sleep of exhaustion. When she awoke, darkness shrouded the compartment. Outside, nocturnal Krishnan creatures began their serenade of clicks, chirps, trills, and buzzes.

Abruptly the tentflap was lifted and Minyev, now without his crimson beard, slipped in, saying obsequiously in Mikardandou: "Ah, my lady! You slept well, I trust?"

"Minyev, what the devil is this about?"

"We shall discuss it presently. Do you wish a fresh repast?"

"No; the dinner they gave me sufficed. Now answer my question, damn it!"

"May I be seated, my lady?" he asked, promptly seating himself. "I said you should be a queen, and I meant it. You must pardon the extreme measures we have been compelled to take, to make you a queen in feet."

"Minyev!" cried Alicia. "What makes you think I want to be a queen?"

"All women, Terran as well as human, desire to be goddesses or royal consorts."

"You are mistaken, Minyev. I never wished to be a queen. If I had, I should long ago have accepted the proposal of King Ainkhist of Mutabwk. What has become of him, by the way?"

"An unknown murdered him." Minyev gave the equivalent of a shrug. "But to return: We have determined that for you to be Dour Vizman's queen would well serve Qirib and our world as well. We admire your superior abilities and commend your efforts to assure the common folk happiness and prosperity.

"King Vizman hath been besotted by his loss of you since you departed for the planet Terra. Never hath his passion wavered. If you but extend kindness to him, you will perceive his many splendid qualities and come to love him as he doth dote on you."

"You are entirely mad!" exclaimed Alicia. "Perhaps the women of your species react thus; but do not presume to predict how a Terran woman would feel, especially after having been snatched away from her friends by brute force. If your regard for me be anything like that which you profess, you must help me escape."

Minyev made the negative head motion. "Nay; our minds are set, and nought you say will change them. You shall receive His Awesomeness tonight in yonder bed; and your nuptials will be celebrated on your return to Jazmurian."

Alicia angrily tossed her golden hair. "And if I refuse to cooperate?"

"If you remain stubborn, His Awesomeness hath secret chambers in his palace, where intransigent subjects can meditate upon their faults. Unless he command their release, there they stay, unknown to the world, as if they had vanished into air."

"So you think you're doing me a favor by shutting me up for life?"

"Word it not so harshly, my lady," said Minyev. "We have only your ultimate best interests, as well as those of Qirib, upon our humble livers."

"Beware! My fellow Terrans will avenge me, as befell King Ainkhist."

"We have taken precautions, never fear," replied Minyev with a smugness that filled Alicia with grim desperation.

"What's your plan for tonight?"

"His Awesomeness is minded to give you pleasure in spite of your aloofness; and he is experienced in such matters. You were well-advised to bend with grace unto his will, lest he call in his minions to assist him. I do assure you, he will have his way.

"But let us speak of other things. For an aspirant diplomat, I have indeed been remiss in hospitality." Minyev went to a cupboard and returned with a bottle and two goblets. The goblets he filled with much ceremony and handed one to Alicia. "Let us drink to your future happiness as the beloved and noble consort of His Awesomeness. What joy that this delightful Terran custom of celebration hath reached this world!"

Taking a sip, Alicia found the kvad strong and of high quality. Minyev swallowed half his gobletful in one gulp, coughed, and wiped his mouth.

"By the way," said Minyev complacently, "should you entertain thoughts of fleeing Dour Vizman's custody to seek the arms of Sir Fergus Reit', let me assure you that my former employer will never marry you."

"What gives you that idea?" said Alicia sharply.

"I have been his confidant for years, have I not?"

"You'll never be that again, when he learns how you have betrayed his trust!"

"What objection will he have? I have done him no injury. Since he entertains no matrimonial designs upon you, your departure will cause him little grief. And, not wishing to leave Sir Fergus in an awkward predicament, I have asked my cousin Yinkham to take my place. He should soon reach Novo. Dear lady, as you see, I think of everything!"

"Oh, you're a monstrously clever fellow, all right. But what makes you positive that Mr. Reith will never wed me?"

"Dear madam, though you may be unaware, young Alister is much opposed. Sir Fergus hath promised not to wed without his son's approval."

Minyev finished a second goblet of kvad. Alicia sipped a drop at a time and sharply watched the Khaldonian. "Alister seemed to like me well enough, the few times we have met. I'm sure he would never force such a promise from his father."

"Ah, Lady Alicia, you do not grasp the youth's true feelings. He may admire you as a fellow Terran, but he is madly jealous of Sir Fergus's affections and unwilling to share them with another."

"I don't believe a word of this, Minyev. Why have you turned against your old employer?"

Minyev hiccuped. "My reasons are three: admiration for your superior qualities, sympathy for our lovelorn Dour, and a wish to bring together two spirits whom the gods plainly intend for one another."

"And besides, you are promised a substantial reward. Come now, old comrade, is it not so?" Alicia smiled disarmingly.

"Well, to tell the truth, Dour Vizman promises to finance my university degree, so that I can enter diplomatic service. Diplomats are a nation's first defense against the scourge of war; and I am devoted to the cause of peace."

Alicia continued. "And who are those others you call 'we'? Who abducted me?"

"Know you Enrique Schlegel?"

"Slightly. Are your accomplices active in his society?"

Minyev, taking a drink, made the affirmative head motion.

"And," continued Alicia, "doubtless the Dour has promised the society financial backing in return for me?"

"How clever you are, my lady! Much as we dislike distraining you against your will, you must see that we do but serve the greater good." Minyev drank deeply from his third goblet of strong liquor. "We commoners seldom taste so fine a beverage as this. Lady Alicia, you must surely be ready for a trifle more to wet your lovely lips!"

She shook her head. "You would not have me foil to give the Dour the welcome he desires. Do tell me more."

Minyev raised his goblet and swirled the golden liquid. "I perceive you have decided to take my sound advice. Some day you will be grateful to me. Now I must depart, ere His Awesomeness come to claim his royal rights." He downed the rest of his gobletful and set the vessel on the table with an air of finality.

"Oh, don't go yet!" said Alicia hastily. "Time enough when the Dour arrives. Tell me something of your personal life and your adventures."

"Well, I have a wife in a village near Sir Fergus's ranch, and a young son plus an egg in the incubator. The boy hath not, alas, inherited my splendid sensitive organs of smell ..." Minyev proudly fluttered the plumes of his own imposing antennae.

Two goblets more and several rambling reminiscences later, Minyev slumped back into his chair and closed his eyes. A faint snore escaped him.

Alicia sprang to her feet. When nudges failed to arouse the Khaldonian, she grasped him by his belt and dragged him into a corner. Then she drew his dagger, a sizable, needle-pointed weapon, from its sheath.

Next she pulled the coverlet from the bed and tossed it over Minyev's recumbent body, arranging it so that it looked as if carelessly discarded but still hid the Khaldonian completely. She hesitated before going on with the plan she had devised as she listened to Minyev's stories. Should she try to talk Vizman out of his intentions before taking extreme measures? She quickly dismissed the thought, knowing too much of the ways of Krishnan monarchs. If he was ruthless enough to have her dragged by force all the way from Mishé, he would not he balked at this late stage, either by piteous pleas or by rational reasoning.

Alicia slipped the dagger beneath her pillow, its pommel set to be within reach of her right hand when she lay supine. Then she turned down the lamp, stripped, and arranged herself upon the bed. After an intolerable wait, she heard the crunch of heavy footsteps outside. Vizman's voice called: "Minyev!"

"He's gone, but I am here," said Alicia, trying to feign eager anticipation.

The canvas flap rose; and in came Dour Vizman, a little heavier and a little slower than eighteen Krishnan years ago but otherwise the same bulky, middle-aged Krishnan politician. He wore the traditional Qiribo costume, a square of cloth pinned across one shoulder and under the opposing arm. At the sight of Alicia, Vizman paused with a gasp.

"Alicia!" he cried. "As beautiful as ever! My dear, I have dreamed of this moment for almost twenty years! Never hath my passion for your sweet self wavered by the thickness of a hair! I love you, and you shall love me, too."

Vizman cast off his exiguous garment and kicked off his slippers. "Ah, beloved, how I have yearned through the long years!" He ran a trembling hand along her thigh.

Her heart racing, Alicia forced her lips into an inviting smile. Vizman drew a long breath and threw himself upon her.

"Ah, Bákh!" he murmured. "What joy!" Then his body stiffened, his antennae quivered, and he tightly closed his eyes in ecstasy.

Gently, Alicia reached beneath the pillow, grasped the pommel of the dagger, and drew it forth. She raised her arms, embracing his massive torso, until she could grasp the dagger hilt with both hands while directing the point towards Vizman's back. While Vizman's breath came in gasps, Alicia suddenly pulled the weapon towards herself with a powerful thrust and drove the blade home.

As the dagger buried itself in the dour's body, Vizman's eyes snapped open. Disbelief distorted his heavy features before they relaxed in the expressionless calm of death.

Pinned beneath the Krishnan's huge, inert body, Alicia felt panic. Smothering an impulse to cry out, she managed to roll the cooling corpse aside and free herself. She hesitated over the dagger but decided to leave it protruding from the would-be lover's back. To be caught with the weapon in hand was a risk that she dared not take.

Blue-green blood made a slowly widening circle on the pristine sheet as Alicia shakily snatched up her dress and shoes, turned out the lamp, and sought a way out.

Moving catlike in the dark, she observed that three of the four walls glowed faintly, the canvas being illuminated by lights in the adjacent compartments. The remaining wall, black as the night must she inferred, mark the outer limits of the pavilion.

A cautious hand along the ground revealed that the loose canvas would permit an active person to squirm under it. Lying prone and raising the tent edge by a finger's breadth, Alicia peered out. At first she could see only velvet dark, save for the crimson spark of a luminous arthropod whirling past. As her eyes adjusted to the overcast night, she made out the faint, colorless bulge of a smaller tent several meters away.

Hearing nothing but the mating songs of Krishnan arthropods, she decided that no guards were near. Well, she thought, here goes. Still clutching her dress and shoes, she squirmed forward on her elbows. She had half emerged from the tent when a rough voice rumbled in the Qiribo dialect: "Well, fry my balls! What have we here?"

Hard hands seized her arms and hauled her, kicking and struggling, to the trampled herbage outside the tent.

"Ha!" said the soldier. "Up to your old Terran tricks, eh? The gods blind me, but if I weren't on duty I'd haul you off in the bushes for a quick go myself!"

"And then you arrived," Alicia said to Reith. "You've saved me once more from my own stupidity, though I sure don't deserve it."

"Nonsense!" said Reith, affecting a heartiness he did not feel. "You saved yourself. I merely happened along at the last minute, more by good luck than good management. You're a heroine, like that woman who seduced a conqueror in order to kill him—Judith, that's her name."

With eyes downcast, Alicia shook her head. "If I'd been smart, I wouldn't have gotten into that fix in the first place; and if you hadn't killed the sentry, the Qiribuma would now be arguing over what lingering death to give me."

Reith said "Tell me, Lish, could you ever have learned to love Vizman?"

"Fergus! Sometimes you make me angry! Me, let a medieval despot tell me what to do with my life? You know me better than that." She paused. "Still, I can't help feeling a little sorry for him. He seems to have loved me, in his way."

"Don't blame yourself, darling! If I'd been there, I'd have scragged him, and done it much more painfully. He knew the risk he was running; he just pushed his luck too far. The one I'm sorry for is that sentry I shot; he may have been a decent fellow."

"I suppose they'll do something horrible to Minyev, finding him dead drunk and his dagger in the king's back."

"Don't waste your sympathy on that twerp. For all his high-flown talk about the kingdom's welfare, all he really wanted was the scholarship Vizman offered him. Let's be glad we got out of this mess as well as we did. Let's think of—"

"Fergus," she interrupted, "I can't talk about it any more. What I really want is a bath. I feel—unclean."

Reith sighed. "Okay, a bath it is. I'll drag the innkeeper out of bed to heat the water. He won't like it, but a bit of Stavrakos's gold should pacify him."