Kris nodded. "Thus far, my influence with the Council has held off the desires of the devil Earthmen, but I can't hold off much longer without help."
"What sort of help do you want?" Nibro asked.
Kris gestured with his hands. "We have to go to the aid of the Council," he said. "The Council needs us. Under the influence of the Earthmen, they're helpless. They have been unable to appeal to us— the common people. We must back our priesthood and throw the Earthmen off Nidor!"
He felt a fever of excitement course through him at this first public declaration of the doctrine he had held so long. If Del could hear this! he thought wryly.
"You say the priesthood is controlled by the Earthmen?" asked a small merchant in the corner.
"Of course," Nibro peDom said scornfully. "It's obvious, isn't it?"
Kris nodded. "We either help the Council against the Earthmen or we will be destroyed."
"Do you have a plan?" the baker asked.
"Of course I do," said Kris. "But I want you to think the matter over before I tell you what's in my mind."
They turned to one another, and a hushed buzz of conversation flowed from the group. Kris knew what they were thinking.
Here, they thought, was a man who knew when money was good and when it was not. He was a strong man, a man who knew how to lead. He was a man who knew what was good for Nidor.
Nibro the Baker turned to him and said, "We're with you, Kris peKym. We'll follow where you lead."
He could barely keep from jumping with glee. He could see the towers of the Bel-rogas School bright with flame even now, and old Del peFenn blustering with impotent rage as his young disciple single-handedly drove the Earthmen from the planet.
Kris glanced from one man's face to the next. They were angry, impassioned-looking men. They would follow his orders. He had them in his hand, now.
Here's the nucleus of my army, Kris thought. We'll start organizing at once—and march on Bel-rogas!
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, wondering just where he should begin to outline his plan to his eight merchants. But just as he was about to speak, he heard a rapid, excited knocking at the door.
"Just a minute," he said, frowning. He crossed the room and threw open the door.
A tired, bedraggled-looking man stood there, his body hair gray with road dust, swaying wearily, seeming as though he would collapse at any moment.
It took Kris a moment to recognize him. When he did, his voice was low and hoarse with astonishment. "Norvis! What's happened? What are you doing here?"
The Secretary coughed, as though the dust were not only clinging to his skin but to his lungs. "Step outside a moment, Kris."
His mind a frozen blank, Kris followed Norvis out into the hall, ignoring the puzzled glances from the merchants within. He grasped (he smaller man by the shoulder and whirled him around to face him. "What's going on, Norvis? Why are you here?"
Norvis seemed to gasp for breath. "We need you. We need help, and you're the only one who can give it now."
"We? Who's we? What are you talking about?"
"Del peFenn's daughter and son —and I. We had to flee Vashcor; someone is after our lives!"
Kris blinked unbelievingly. "Your lives? What about Del?"
Norvis peKrin's face became bleak. "Del peFenn was murdered two days ago. Shot from ambush by a rifle. We don't know who did it."
PART 2
SYNOPSIS
During the four thousand years of its recorded history, the people of the planet of Nidor had known only peace. Ruling the one-continent world from the Holy City of Gelusar, the Elders of the Sixteen Clans, backed by a firm priesthood, had led the people in the Way of their Ancestors according to the Law of the Great Light.
And then the Earthmen had come. Unlike the down-covered Nidorians, these strangers were relatively hairless except for the odd tufts that covered their heads and chins. They came from the eternally-clouded sky, claiming to be emissaries of the Great Light Himself—whom they refer to as a "blue-white star." With the consent of the Elders, the Earthmen established the Bel-rogas School of Divine Law and began to teach the Nidorian youth—only a few of which could pass the rigorous entrance requirements.
One of the earliest Bel-rogas graduates was KIV peGANZ BRAJJYD, who unwittingly touched off Nidor's first economic crisis with his discovery of a new method for killing the hugl, a small, insectlike creature which periodically devastated the peych-bean, the staple crop of Nidor. Kiv's process was the first significant change in the Nidorian way of doing things.
Two generations later, Kiv had become an Elder of the Council. His grandson, NORVIS peRAHN BRAJJYD, invented a growth hormone which would double the per-acre yield of the peych-bean crop. The invention, however, was stolen from Norvis by SMITH, the Earthman in charge of the School. The credit was given to another student, while Norvis was summarily dismissed.
After narrowly escaping death from stoning for blasphemy, Norvis fled from Gelusar, changing his name to NORVIS peKRIN DMORNO to leave the impression that Norvis peRahn was actually dead.
Deeming it unjust that only the farms of the Elders should have the new growth hormone, Norvis, with the aid of a priest-hating old sea captain named DEL peFENN VYLESS, secretly made the hormone and distributed it to farmers all over Nidor.
The result was an economic collapse that took fourteen years to straighten out. Deluged by a surfeit of food and fiber, which had become worthless in its plenty, and plagued by the excess of animal life which resulted, Nidor fell into the Great Depression. An unsuspected consequence of the hormone's use was to deplete the soil the following season —famine followed over-production.
At this crisis-point, Del swung into action, forming the Merchants' Party, an organization which he headed and of which Norvis was secretary. By applying pressure on the Council of Elders, the Party forced through corrective agricultural and economic measures which restored Nidor's balance to a certain extent.
But Nidorians were too used to stability. After the upheaval died down, Norvis and Del find that the Party no longer had much popular support, and, while Del won't admit it, it is believed that Del's fiery anti-priesthood tirades have cost them much popular sympathy. Norvis, hating the Earthmen for what they have done to him personally, and for what they have done to Nidor, still maintains his burning desire to drive the Earthmen off the planet.
Affairs are now at a crisis-point for the Merchants' Party, which no longer has the money to put through their program. In desperation, the leaders of the Parly come together to work out a plan.
They are, aside from Del and Norvis: KRIS peKYM YORGEN, the Parly's strong man, a tall, broad-shouldered, handsome young man, who, having been reared by Norvis since he was eight, also had an over-whelming hatred for the Earthmen; MARJA geDEL VYLESS, daughter of Del, a keenly intelligent girl of determined personality; and GANZ peDEL VYLESS, her brother, Del's only son.
The conspirators are seeking something which will result in panic on Nidor—something which could be blamed on the Earthmen. Norvis admits he has thought of several plans, but that the Party lacks the money to carry them out. Marja, cutting to the heart of the situation, suggests the appallingly bold stroke of robbing the Bank of the Province of Dimay and blaming it on the Earthmen. Norvis and the others approve, in Del's absence, and Kris peKym sails the Party ship, the Krand, to the seaport of Tammulcor, and there proceeds to rob the Bank. He carries the crime off with ease, since no Nidorian Bank had ever been robbed and no precautions against such an occurrence were thought necessary.