Aslan put her hand on his arm. “I know. It’s why we do what we do. Save a little so when the bad times are past people can reclaim what they had.”
He pulled his arm away, started the jit turning. “That doesn’t help right now, Scholar.”
He tensed as he took the ramp back onto the causeway, slapped in the accelerod until the jit was roaring along at its top speed. “Don’t hesitate, Scholar. If the telltale whispers, sweep that stunner through a one eighty, then drop.”
They were almost to the bridge when the first buzz sounded.
He slowed the jit to a crawl when they reached the far side of the river and mopped at his head again. “I’m going after him,” he said. “That spy. I’m going to kill that bastard.” He glanced at the single barge tied up at the landing and took the roundabout instead of the direct route to the Gate since the trade ground was busy today.
“Marrin…”
“Don’t tell me to leave it to the Goлs. He may be slick as a greased sikker when it comes to trade, but he hasn’t got a clue how to fight this kind of war.”
“I’m not trying to tell you anything, Marrin. Only think about what you’re risking.”
“I get kicked off University?”
“No. That’s not the problem. You could get killed.”
“That’s not a problem.”
“You so sure of yourself?”
“No, but the dead don’t give a hot jak about anything.”
“It’ll be harder for you to find projects.”
“You saying you won’t recommend me?”
“Tsah! Marrin, you want to get killed?”
“I’m not suicidal, if that’s what you’re thinking. You didn’t answer me.”
“Yes. I’ll recommend you. But you know how rumors bloom round those halls. You’ll be giving away a big edge if you get a reputation for jumping in the sun.”
“If that’s all that’s bothering you…” He stopped the jit outside the gate to the Enclave, hit the horn. “Ahhh! Sometimes… You remind me far too much of a man called Quale. Nice guy, but he drives me crazy sometimes.”
Carefully not smiling, Marrin watched Aslan smiling and subtly flattering the Goлs before she got to the hard bargaining. The Yarak was enjoying it, too, quite aware of what was happening. It confirmed that part of his opinion about the Goлs, a really good trader and exec. But he had the weakness that went with the gift, a conviction that people were always persuadable and that, ultimately, reason won over passion. An illusion, that. Sometimes a fatal one.
“… nearly finished what we can do in the Dumel. I’d like to shut down the station in Alsekum and head out along the Menguid on one of the sailbarges. More than just for study, I must confess. For the past several nights the harper Shadith has not been in communication with us. University will be most unhappy if something serious has happened to her. While she is quite competent at taking care of herself, I am determined to discover what happened.” She drew in a long breath. “All the more since something very troubling has happened.”
Marrin looked down at his hands, concentrated on keeping them relaxed as Aslan sketched out the events of the past several days.
“… from the gossip of the swampies. Not just gossip now. In my eyes, the reports are amply confirmed by the cutter my Aide discovered beside the chorek’s body. And by the crease you’ll find cut into the body of the jit, if you go down and examine it. A souvenir of today’s attack.”
“If you’ll wait here a moment…” The Goлs rose with the elastic grace of the Yaraka, leaving the room with as much haste as he thought comported with his dignity.
Aslan leaned back in her pulochair, closed her eyes. Marrin looked round the luxurious office. Only the
Goлs’ second best office at that. Running the show on gall and charm, a double-hinged tongue his best weapon. Seven techs, a handful of aides, a few guards and god only knows how many laborers. Less than a dozen probably. Contract labor. Won’t arm them, so they’re no use. Spies? Who knows. Yaraka and Chandavasi don’t usually go head on head like this. They stay in their own realms. Bad time to be low on the learning curve.
Aslan and Marrin stood as the Goлs came striding in. “As always in an entry situation,” he said with a graceful wave of his hand that meant they should sit down and be comfortable-which they carefully refrained from doing until he was seated. “We are short of hands to do the work. However, I have managed to detach a few guards from other duties. They will take a few locals with them and check the fringes of the Marish to dislodge any ambushes and carry in any of the um choreks you might have caught with the stunners. As to your intention of traveling in-country, I don’t see how I can permit that. Not until we know more about how deeply the spy has penetrated into local society. You did say that the young musician you brought along is not associated officially with University?”
“Shadith is rather more than a simple musician, Goлs Koraka hoeh Dexios. She has a number of interesting friends whom you might not care to annoy. You will have heard of the Hunters of Wolff, more specifically a Hunter by name Aleytys; they are closer than sisters. You will also have heard of the Dyslaera of Voallts Korlach on Spotchals. She was adopted into the Voallts clan as daughter of Miralys. There are others I could name. Life could be very unpleasant if these folks somehow got the notion you interfered with our efforts to locate her.”
“Threats, Scholar?”
“Certainly not, Goлs. Merely an objective and measured assessment of the situation.”
“I see. And if a flake of this conversation were sent to the head of your School?”
“That is your privilege, Goлs. Feel free to do whatever you choose.”
“I see. If I allow you to leave, you’ll sign a release?”
“For myself and if I’m allowed to write it, yes. And if you have a Register File intact. University has a standard form which should be acceptable to your legal department.” She smiled. “This isn’t the first time the problem has arisen. As to Aide Ola and Manager Shears, they will have to speak for themselves.”
“If you’ll provide a flake for the legalware to look over, I’m sure we can work something out. When were you thinking of leaving?”-
“That will depend upon how soon we can get passage on a barge. I wanted to clear matters with you, Goлs Koraka, before I started making arrangements.” She stood. “If you want my testimony under Verifier, it is yours without condition. I do not like what is being done to these people.”
Marrin drove past the track parked at the beginning of the causeway. “And we hope they’re finally doing their job since their being here makes Shears’ telltales useless.”
“I know. You rank me right up with the Goлs for cluelessness, don’t you.”
“From what I can see, Scholar, you’ve led a singularly sheltered life.” He kept his eyes moving, scanning the silent green front of the Marish as if the flicker of the leaves and the flutter of hanging lichen webs could give him the answers the telltale wouldn’t.
“Tactful. And very like my mother.” She was silent a while. The darkness under the trees, the stagnant water with its reeds and clouds of insects, the gauzy lichen like ancient webs of gigantic spiders, the stillness of the place, all of that seemed to settle over her and give her voice an oddly muffled quality when she finally spoke. “It has always amazed me how most physically competent, practical people have such a low opinion of a Scholar’s imaginative competence even when they are very bright themselves.”
“In my case, if you want a serious answer, Scholar…”
“I would prefer one, yes.”
He frowned at the stretch of causeway left, glanced over his shoulder, reached up and tapped on the telltale. “On Picabral, men whose skills lay only in the mind generally died before puberty. It gives one a viewpoint perhaps a little skewed.”
“I see.”
“A dull and bloody place, Scholar. You wouldn’t find much interesting there. Such a world tends to a deadly uniformity, the more so since anyone with a touch of your imaginative competence… by the way, I rather like that phrase… removes himself at the first possible moment.” He sighed with relief as he started down the ramp. “Though I wouldn’t put you among those who only dream. But you have been sheltered from a great deal that might help you plan right now.”