"Down ye go!" said Tokh.
"What's down there?" said Alicia nervously.
Reith bent over the edge of the opening. "Seems to be mostly stacks of loot. Gentlemen precede ladies on stairs. Come on!" He backed into the hole, and soon all four stood on the floor of the hold. The pirates pulled up the ladder and replaced the grating.
Reith looked about. Little squares of sunlight through the grating relieved the gloom, and as his eyes adjusted to the dark, Reith found he could see quite well. The hold extended for most of the length of the ship, ending at wooden bulkheads fore and aft. The bare deck stretched around for many meters; but at bow and stem the space was crowded by chests, jars, and crates.
"Their hold's about half full," said Reith, "so they'll plan a few more captures before returning to base."
Alicia discovered a large, untidy pile of garments. She darted to it and burrowed into the heap, throwing kilts, jackets, and mantles aside.
"I'm looking for my own clothes," she said. "Nakedness is all very well in this heat, but I'm tired of getting splinters in me whenever I sit down. Some of these clothes look nice. I wouldn't mind owning this!"
She held up a black kilt of velvetlike material, with a waistband and a hem sparkling with spangles.
"Take it," said Reith.
She slipped on the kilt and continued to hunt. She next found a little crimson bolero with short sleeves, open in front.
"To hell with my old khakis!" she said. "I like this better. With all this looted stuff, we can have a one-woman fashion show."
Marot said: "You are amazing, Alicia. Nothing keeps you down for long."
Gendu grumbled: "If ye'd talk in a speech that I can understand, instead of that off-world chatter, we might get on better."
"We beg your pardon," said Marot.
"Our next order of business," said Reith in a low voice, slipping back into Gozashtandou, "is to find a way out."
"Ye dream, Ertsu!" said Gendu. "We lack a ladder wherewith to gain the deck. Best await our ransoming with such patience as we can muster."
"We certainly shan't escape if we never try," said Reith.
"Besides," said Alicia, "High Priestess Lazdai somehow got word to Tondi that she'd pay well for us. I don't know how they'd get us from here to Chilihagh without detection; but still ..."
"I daresay they have ways," said Reith. "In any case, I'm not going to sit still while Lazdai has her kettle fired up again. I'll take a look around, to see what might be useful."
He strolled among the piles and ranks of loot. Towards the ends of the hold, where the light was too dim to make objects out clearly, he fingered the materials. At last he paused at a row of chests, neatly lined up. He opened one and found it full of heavy cloth, perhaps for blankets. Another held plates and tableware. A third was full of rolls of Krishnan paper, each tied up with a colored ribbon.
"They look like wills and deeds, the way they do them up here," murmured Alicia at Reith's elbow.
"They must be from some Krishnan lawyer's archives. Now why should Tondi keep a chest full of legal papers?"
Alicia shrugged. "I suppose she hopes to find someone who'll pay for their return, on a no-questions-asked basis."
The next chest brought a squeal of joy from Alicia. Even the gloom could not conceal the sparkle of a heap of bejeweled necklaces, bracelets, and other gauds. She dug her fingers into the mass and held up piece after piece to the dim light.
"Looks like costume jewelry," grunted Reith. "You won't find any valuable stones there—just brass and colored glass."
"I don't care! I'm tired of being a mere female scientist in dirty khaki. I want to be a womanly woman for a change. How's this?"
Around her neck she clasped an ornate necklace—a lacelike collar of golden filigree in which was set a dazzling array of colored stones resembling emeralds, rubies, sapphires, amethysts, garnets, and Bákh knew what else. Each large stone was surrounded by a circlet of winking diamonds, or at least rhinestones, whence depended a fringe of lesser gems in graduated sizes. She said:
"It looks like the neckpiece worn by that entertainer at Angur's. Do look, Fergus!"
"Very pretty," said Reith absently. "But you'd better hide it before the pirates see it on you."
Alicia danced over to the pile of assorted garments and dug among them until she found a scarf. This she tied around her neck so as to hide the necklace.
Meanwhile, Reith opened the next chest. After an astounded pause, he called in an excited whisper: "Hey, Aristide! Gendu! Come here!"
The chest was half full of swords—fancy weapons with jeweled hilts, and scabbards decorated with gold and silver filigree. The other males drew in sharp breaths. Reith said in a low voice:
"These must have been made for rich lordlings." He picked out a sword, unsheathed it, and gave a disappointed grunt. "Purely a parade weapon—no edge."
Marot handled another. "This one seems sharp."
They hunted through the chest, thumbing each blade. Of the fourteen swords, five proved fighting weapons.
"All very well," grumbled Gendu, "but locked in this crypt, we shall have little use for them."
"Don't be too sure of that," said Reith.
The day crawled past. The prisoners told each other stories and jokes to while away the time and to take their minds off their ever-growing pangs of hunger. Even the glum, irascible Gendu was persuaded to recount tales from his seagoing career. Eventually lack of water dried out their throats and brought their speech to a halt.
When the daylight was fading, a pirate called down: "Come up for dinner, prisoners. 'Ware ladder!"
- "Should we take swords in hand and set upon them?" whispered Marot.
"No," said Reith. "It's still daylight, and they'll be watching us. But I'm getting an idea."
Roqir was half occluded by the jagged hills of Cape Dirkash when the pirates directed their prisoners to a section of deck. There, sitting on the boards in a circle, they were served bowls of some sort of stew, on top of which had been dumped a number of rock-hard biscuits.
"Eat hearty, my bullies," said the pirate assigned to watch them. 'Twice a day is all the repasts ye shall get."
Marot took one bite and proffered his bowl to the others. 'Take it, my friends, if you are hungry. With the mal de mer, I could not keep it down."
"Thanks," said Reith. "I could eat enough for three. Take your share, Gendu. Yours, too, Alicia. The trick is to soften the biscuits in the gravy; otherwise you may break a tooth on them."
Tondi appeared. At the sight of Alicia in her spangled kilt, jacket, and scarf, she cried: "Ho, Earthwoman, what do ye in those garments? They're our property by right of conquest!"
"Oh, please don't be angry, Captain!" said Alicia in her most winsome manner. "I was awakened from sleep and didn't have time to put anything on. I couldn't find my own clothes in that pile downstairs, so I took the liberty of borrowing these." She rose and spun around. "Do you like them on me?"
Tondi gave a snort of laughter. "Well, I'll add the value of those fripperies to your ransom fee, and ye may keep them."
She touched Marot's shoulder. "As for you, when ye finish your repast, I'm fain to have you in my cabin. I've never been futtered by an Ertsu, and here's a chance to try it. Dost understand?"
"Of a certainty!" He looked a sigh at Reith. "Je ferai tout mon petit possible; mais, elle pue!"
When Reith, Alicia, and Gendu had been returned to the hold, Reith said: "We'd better make our try tonight."
"Why?" said Gendu. "We're a man short. Why not wait till all be present?"