"Greetings from Zarendargar," said the merchant.
"He awaits you," said the man in blue, "-at the world's end."
Of course, I thought. Kurii do not care for water. For them, not of Gorean background, the world's end could mean only one of the poles.
"He said the trap would fail," said the merchant. "He was right."
"So, too," I said, "did the earlier trap, that of the sleen."
"Zarendargar had naught to do with that," said the merchant.
"He disapproved of it," said the fellow in the robes of the scribe.
"He did not wish to he cheated of meeting you," said the merchant. "He was pleased that it failed."
"There are tensions in the Kurii high command," I said.
"Yes," said the merchant.
"But you," I said, "work only for Zarendargar?"
"Yes," said the merchant. "He will have it no other way. He must have his own men."
"The assailant and his confederates?" I asked.
"They are in a separate chain of command," said the merchant, "one emanating from the ships, one to which Zarendargar is subordinate."
"I see," I said.
I lifted the carving.
"You had this carving," I asked, "from a red hunter, a bare-chested fellow, with rope and bow about his shoulders?"
"Yes," said the merchant. "But he had it from another. He was told to bring it to us, that we would buy it."
"Of course," I said. "Thus, if the trap failed, I would supposedly detect nothing. You would then give me this carving, in gratitude for having driven away your assailant. I, seeing it, would understand its significance, and hurry to the north, thinking to take Half-Ear unsuspecting."
"Yes," said the merchant.
"But he would be waiting for me," I said.
"Yes," said the merchant.
"There is one part of this plan, however," I said, "which you have not fathomed."
"What is that?2 asked the merchant. Momentarily he gritted his teeth, in pain from his wounds.
"It was the intention of Half-Ear," I said, "that I understand full well, and with no possible mistake, that I would be expected."
The merchant looked puzzled.
"Else," I said, "he would have given orders for both of you to be slain."
They looked at one another, frightened. The fellow with whom I had grappled, who had called himself Bertram of Lydius, would have been fully capable of dispatching them both with ease.
"That would have put the badge of authenticity on the supposedly accidental discovery of the carving," I said.
They looked at one another.
"That you were not killed by one of the skill of the assailant," I said, "makes clear to a warrior's eye that you were not intended to die. And why not? Because you were confederates of Kurii. A twofold plan is thus manifested, a trap and a lure, but a lure which is obvious and explicit, not so much a lure as an invitation." I looked at them. "I accept the invitation," I said.
"Are you not going to kill us?" asked the merchant.
I went to the counter and thrust back the canvas. I slipped over the counter, feet first, and then turned to regard them.
I lifted the carving, which I had rewrapped in its fur. "I may have this?" I asked.
"It is for you," said the merchant.
"Are you not going to kill us?" asked the fellow in blue.
"No," I said.
They looked at me.
"You are only messengers," I said. "And you have done your work well." I threw them two golden tarn disks. I grinned at them. "Besides," I said, "violence is not permitted at the fair."
5
I Take My Departure From The House Of Samos
"The game," I said, "was an excellent one."
Samos rose to his feet, storming with rage. "While you sported at the fair," said he, "here in Port Kar catastrophe has struck!"
I had seen the flames in the arsenal as I had returned on tarn from the perimeters of the Sardar.
"He was mad," I said. "You know this to be true."
"Only he could have so approached the ship, only he could have done this!" cried Samos.
"Perhaps he was not satisfied with the design," I suggested. "Perhaps he feared to paint the eyes, perhaps he feared to commit his dream to the realities of Thassa."
Samos sat down, cross-legged, behind the low table in his hall. He wept. He struck the table with his fist.
"Are you sure it was he?" I asked.
"Yes," said Samos, bitterly. "It was indeed he."
"But why?" I asked.
"I do not know," said Samos. "1 do not know."
"Where is he now?" I asked.
"He has disappeared," said Samos. "Doubtless he has thrown himself into the canals."
"It meant so much to him," I said. "I do not understand it. There is a mystery here."
"He took a fee from Kurii agents," said Samos.
"No," I said. "Gold could not buy dreams from Tersites."
"The ship," said Samos, "is destroyed."
"What remains?" I asked.
"Ashes," said he, "blackened timbers,"
"And the plans?" I asked.
"Yes," said he, "the plans."
I nodded. "Then it might be rebuilt," I said.
"You must take the Dorna," said he, "or the Tesephone."
"It makes little sense to me," said I, "that Tersites would fire the ship."
"It is the end of our hopes," said Samos, "to meet Half-Eat at the world's end."
"I have spoken to you of that matter," I said.
"Yes," said Samos, bitterly, "I have seen your carving. Can you not recognize that as a ruse to mislead you northward, while Kurii pursue unimpeded their fierce schemes at the world's end?"
"Perhaps," I said. "But I sense that there is an honesty in this, as of the cruel sport of war. I think I sense the nature and being of this Zarendargar."
"Kurii," said Samos, "are without honor."
"There is a brotherhood of professional soldiers," I said, "which I suspect crosses the boundaries of species."
"We have only one choice," said Samos. "You must take another ship, the Dorna or the Tesephone, or you may take my flagship, the Thassa Ubara."
"But there is little hope," I smiled, "that such ships may reach the world's end."
"None have hitherto done so, or have done so and returned," said Samos. He looked at me. "I do not, of course, command that you undertake such a journey."
I nodded.
No sane leader could command this of a subordinate. A journey so far and terrible could be undertaken by none but volunteers.
"I am sorry about the ship," I said, "and I do not understand what has happened there, but I had previously determined, my dear Samos, that in any case I would venture not to the west but the north."
Samos looked at me, angrily.
"I hope, of course," said I, "to discover one day what occurred in the arsenal."
"I can command you," said Samos, "as one loyal to Priest-Kings, to remain in Port Kar."
"I am in my way a mercenary," I said. "I command myself. I choose my wars. I choose my loyalties."
"Would you betray Priest-Kings?" asked Samos.
"I will keep faith with them in my own way," I said.
"I order you to remain in Port Kar," said Samos, coldly.
I smiled at him. "That is an order you have no authority to issue," I told him. "I am a free soldier."
"You are a brigand and an adventurer!" he cried.
"I am curious to see the north," I said.
"The ship may have been destroyed by Tersites, in fee to Kurii," snapped Samos, "precisely to prevent you from reaching the world's end!"
"Perhaps," I admitted.
"That is where Zarendargar waits for you!" said Samos.
"We think of the world's end as lying betwixt Tyros and Cos, at the end of a hundred horizons," I said, "but who knows where a Kur would see it to be." I rose to my feet and strode to the map mosaic on the floor of the great hall. I pointed downwards. "There," I said, "may well be what a Kur regards as the world's end." I indicated the frozen north, the polar sea, the ice of the lonely pole. "Is that not a world's end?" I asked.