"What's the matter?" he asked lightly. "Do I need a bath or something?"
She flashed white teeth in a bright smile. "Something, perhaps, but not a bath. You look very fine—very handsome. You know, you're a very wonderful man, Kris peKym."
Kris smiled a little. "In all modesty, I must admit that you are perfectly correct, my dear."
"Say that again," she said.
Kris shrugged amiably. "In all modesty—"
"No," she interrupted. "Not that part. Just the 'my dear.' "
Kris cocked his head to one side. "I do believe that you have something simmering inside that pretty head of yours. Have I been so busy with my work that I've missed something?"
Marja's eyes crinkled at the corners. "Actually, I haven't had a chance to talk to you since I've known you. It's been Earthmen, Earthmen, Earthmen. But now that they're gone, maybe you can find time to pay attention to other things."
Kris realized suddenly that he had been too busy to see something that had been right in front of him for a long time. "You know," he said slowly, "I think you've got a point there."
Loudly reverberating thunder sounded in Kris' ears. He blinked his eyes open, and the thundering resolved itself into a pounding on the door of his room.
He sat up in bed. What was going on? He'd left two men at the door with orders that he wasn't to be disturbed. He thumbed the sleep out of his eyes and pushed himself out of bed.
"Who is it?" he called.
"Norvis peKrin."
Kris opened the door just a crack. "What in Darkness do you want?" he growled irritably. Then he saw that Norvis was not alone; he was accompanied by Grandfather Marn peFulda Brajjyd, the Priest-Mayor of Vashcor. "Your pardon, Grandfather. I didn't see you. I'll be out in a minute."
He dressed quickly and went out into the hall, closing the door carelully behind him.
The Grandfather and Norvis were both smiling. No trouble afoot, Kris thought, relieved. "What is it?" he asked, straightening his vest.
"My blessing," said the Grandfather. "I have a message for you from the Ancient Grandfather, the Elder Kiv peGanz Brajjyd."
"Oh?" Kris said softly. "What does the Elder Grandfather want?"
Marn peFulda clasped his hands on his chest. "You and your Hundred are to appear this morning in the Square of Holy Light, at the Hour of Second Prayer. The Elder Grandfathers will address you then."
Kris folded his arms, a half-smile on his lips. "Do you have any idea what they have to say?"
The Grandfather shrugged slightly. "I can't say, officially. All I was told was that you, Kris peKym, having done something which has come to the attention of the Council, should be given the award you have earned."
Kris repressed the urge to grin happily, and instead merely inclined his head. "I thank you, Aged Grandfather."
"You're becoming quite an important man, Kris," Norvis said. "I went down to the Krand this morning and found that a third of the crew are missing. Evidently, they're having a time of it in town, bragging that they are the crew of the great Captain Kris peKym Yorgen."
Kris smiled. "I'll hang 'em by their feet from the yardarm if they show up too late. After I break open a few kegs of beer, of course. Let's go. Will you come with us, Aged Grandfather?"
Marn peFulda bowed. "I will, my son. It will be an honor."
The Hundred Men rode grandly into the Square of Holy Light. This time, there was no need for them to guard the entrances for their captain; each of the streets was blocked by Peacemen. Even the Uncle of Public Peace of Holy Gelusar was there, standing importantly just beneath the balcony.
Kris glanced up toward the steeple and saw an acolyte waiting there, mallet in hand.
That's good, he thought. I won't have to get Dran to ring it this time, He forced the smile from his face and moved his deest toward the balcony.
The Hundred Men arrayed themselves behind him. From the windows of the buildings that surrounded them, faces peered out, and Kris could see the yellow robes of acolytes of the Temple ranged all around the Square, looking down from the roofs of the surrounding buildings.
Kris stopped his animal just beneath the balcony. Reverently, he bowed his head in silent prayer.
The gong sounded.
Kris raised his head as the shutters of the balcony slid open.
The scene was strangely like that of the questioning of the Earthman —except that Smith was missing. Otherwise, all was the same. The Elders were clad in full dress; chains and coronets gleamed in the bright morning light. The sixteen old men made an imposing group, there on the balcony.
The Elder Grandfather Kiv peGanz stood up. Looking past Kris, he seemed to glance out over the crowd. He raised his arms, pronounced a blessing, then peered downward almost directly at Kris.
"Four days ago," Grandfather Kiv said solemnly, "a band of citizens, led by Kris peKym Yorgen, stormed the Bel-rogas School of Divine Law, destroyed it, and drove off the Earthmen."
Kris nodded. Yes, yes, he thought. And when do they call me up and pin the medal on me?
Suddenly, the Grandfather said sternly, "Since that time, we of the Council have received additional knowledge about Kris peKym."
There was an odd note in the Grandfather's voice. Kris looked long and hard at the old man, and he felt his lips growing dry. New knowledge about him? What did that mean? How much did Kiv actually know?
Grandfather Kiv peGanz looked down, and for the first time allowed his gaze to rest upon the face of the young man on the deest.
"Kris peKym Yorgen," he said, in a voice that carried loudly across the Square of Holy Light, "we have brought forth proof—absolute and undeniable proof—that you and your men were the ones who robbed the Bank of Dimay, that you and your men buried the metal on the campus of the School of Divine Law. We have incontrovertible proof that you have committed what is undoubtedly the foulest crime that has ever been done on Nidor.
"Therefore, Kris peKym Yorgen, I order your arrest in the Holy Name of the Great Light—on charges of sacrilege, blasphemy, murder, and high treason! Surrender for trial or die!"
Kris froze for an instant, unable to believe what he had heard. Wildly, Kris looked around him and saw that he had been trapped. All plans were smashed now; the vast and fantastic hoax he had planned had somehow been unmasked.
He glanced up. The acolytes and the Peacemen who surrounded the Square had been armed with rifles. At least two hundred firearms were leveled at him from the windows and the roofs of the buildings around him.
"We have you, Kris peKym," said the Elder Grandfather. "Surrender or I'll have you cut down like a peych-bean at harvest time!"
PART 3
SYNOPSIS
The world of Nidor had known only peace and stability for the first four thousand years of its recorded history. A firm priesthood ruled the one-continent planet, and the pattern of life was serene and unchanging.
And then the Earthmen had come. They appeared from the sky} claiming to be emissaries from the Great Light, and the ruling priesthood granted them the right to establish a School of Divine Law on Nidor. They did—and strange things began to happen. New ways of doing things emanated from the School, changing the set patterns of Nidor.
In the School's early days, one KIV peGANZ BRAJJYD touched off a minor economic crisis by his discovery of a new method of combating pests. Two generations later, his grandson, NORVIS peRAHN BRAJJYD, developed a growth hormone that would double the per-acre yield of Nidor's main crop, the peych-bean. Much to Norvis' astonishment, credit for this invention was willfully stolen from him by the head Earthman of the School, SMITH, and given to another. Norvis was expelled and forced to flee. After narrowly escaping death from stoning for blasphemy, he changed his name to NORVIS peKRIN DMORNO to give the impression that Norvis peRahn was actually dead.