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.
XIII - THE RIVER
When the carriage drew up at the base of the Zaidun's pier, a fog was rising from the estuary of the Pichidé. Overhead the moons shone brightly; but a few meters away, people were becoming wraithlike and objects were being swallowed by the mist.
"Watch your step!" Reith warned his companions. "If you don't, you may find yourself in the river."
As they felt their way out on the pier to the Zaidun's berth, the bargeman on watch went to rouse the captain. Ozum, in a knee-length nightshirt, ran stubby fingers though his touseled hair and said:
"Nay, nay, no apologies. I know you well enough, Master Reese, to say ye'd not rouse me at midnight without cause. Come aboard, and sprackly!"
"Have you any other passengers?" asked Reith.
"Nay, not hitherto. We sail at sunrise. Take Cabins Two, Four, and Six. I'm back to Varzai's bosom."
As the morning sun dispersed the fog, the Zaidun, a much larger riverboat than Sarf's, cast off. Under oar and sail it beat its way up the estuary of the Pichidé. At the eastern end of the towpath, the vessel eased up to the bank while the shaihans were driven ashore and harnessed. The long tow to Novorecife had begun.
The passenger quarters were ten cabins in the after part of the deckhouse, five on a side, all opening on the deck. Since Ozum carried no other passengers, each Terran enjoyed the privacy of an entire cabin.
Alicia, wearing the simple Krishnan tunic she had bought in Majbur, disappeared into her cubicle and came out with a sheaf of pencils and a folder holding a ream of blank paper. Settling herself on deck, with her back against the deckhouse, she began scribbling. When Reith spoke, she laid a warning finger on her lips and went on writing.
As the tranquil passage continued, Reith made another effort to draw her into conversation. But she was in an impatient, irascible mood. Anything that distracted her from recording all she could remember brought a sharp retort.
Marot spent his days chipping away at his fossils and practicing his new musical instrument. "It has a lower register than the other," he said. "I should like to play Hayakawa's Moonlight on the Ruins, but I must first transpose all the notes."
Left to his own devices, Reith paced the deck, slept, did calisthenics, played piza with Captain Ozum, and practiced his rusty French on the cheerful Marot.
They were past the halfway point of their journey when, towards dinnertime, Alicia shut her folder with a snap. 'That's all I can remember now; although doubtless I'll add details from time to time. Sorry to have been beastly all these days, but the job had to be done."
She went to her cabin. When she came to dinner, it was not in her working clothes but in her new Majburo dinner dress. The rubies gleamed in her ears, and her face bore a trace of cosmetics. Reith whistled, and the eyes of even the austere Marot shone with admiration.
That evening, Alicia and Reith stood at the Zaidun's rail and watched the rise of Karrim, a silver shield just past the full and nearly twice the size of Terra's moon, behind the darkling trees along the shore. Alicia slipped an arm through Reith's and tipped her head back in such an inviting way that he could not resist the urge to kiss her.