Nafai strode forward and reached out his hand toward the thumbscreen. As he did, however, he leaned his head dose to the guard and said, quietly, "And what if the man who reported such an absurd lie was the murderer himself?"
The guard recoiled, surprised at the voice and hardly making sense of the words. Then he looked down at the screen and saw the name that the city computer showed there. He paused a moment, thinking.
Oversold, give this man wit. Let him understand the truth, and act on it.
Thank you for submitting to the law, Lord Gaballufix," said the guard. He pressed the clear button, and Nafai saw his name disappear. No one else could have seen it.
. Without a backward glance, Nafai strode out through the gate. He heard Zdorab pattering along behind him. "Did I do right, sir?" asked Zdorab. "I mean, it seemed as though you were reluctant to give your thumb to it, and so I ... Where are we going? Isn't it a little dark to be cutting through the brush here? Couldn't we stick to the road, Lord Gaballufix? Of course, there's a moon, so it's not that dark, but-"
With Zdorab's babbling, it was impossible to be subtle as they moved straight toward the spot where Nafai had left his brothers to wait for him. And now Zdorab had loudly called him by the name Gaballufix. It was hardly a surprise when Nafai saw a flurry of movement and heard footsteps, running away. Of course-they thought Nafai had been caught, that he had betrayed them, that Gabal- lufix had come to kill them. What could they see, except the costume?
Nafai fumbled with the controls. How could he tell whether it was off or not? Finally he yanked the costume off over his head, and then called out as loudly as he dared, and in his own voice. "Elemak! Issya! Meb! It's me-don't run!"
They stopped running.
"Nafai!" said Meb.
"In Gaballufix's clothing!" said Elemak.
"You did it!" cried Issib, laughing.
A tiny screech just behind him reminded Nafai that this sweet reunion scene would seem just a little less than happy to poor Zdorab, who had just discovered that he had been following the very man accused of murdering Roptat only a few hours before, and who had almost certainly done something quite similar to Gaballufix.
Nafai turned in time to see Zdorab turning tail and starting to run, "I'm very fleet of foot," Zdorab had said earlier, but now Nafai learned that it wasn't true. He outran the man in half a dozen steps, knocked him down, and wrestled with him on the stony ground for only a few moments before he had him pinned, with his hand over the poor man's mouth. The guards were no more than fifty meters away. No doubt the Oversoul had kept them from paying attention to the shouting that had just gone on, but there were limits to the Oversoul's ability to make people stupid.
"Listen to me," Nafai whispered fiercely. "If you do what I say, Zdorab, I won't kill you. Do you understand?"
Under his hand, Nafai felt the head nod up and down.
"I give you my oath by the Oversoul that I did not murder Roptat. Your master Gaballufix caused Roptat's death and gave orders for me and my brothers to be killed. He was the murderer, but now I've killed Gaballufix and that was justice. Do you understand me? I'm not one who kills for pleasure. I don't want to kill you. Will you be silent if I uncover your mouth?"
Again the nod. Nafai uncovered his mouth.
"I'm glad you don't want to kill me," Zdorab whispered. "I don't want to be dead."
"Do you believe my words?" Nafai asked.
"Would you believe my answer?" asked Zdorab. "I think we're in one of those situations where people will say pretty much whatever they think the other person wants to hear, wouldn't you say?"
He had a point. "Zdorab, I can't let you go back into the city, do you understand me? I guess what it Comes down to is this-if you really are one of Gaballufix's men, one of the louts that he hires to do his dirty work in Basilica, then I can't trust anything you say and I might as well kill you now and have done. But I don't think that's who you are. I think you're a librarian, a record-keeper, a clerk who had no idea what working for Gaballufix entailed."
"I kept seeing things but nobody else seemed to think they were strange and no one would ever answer my questions so I kept to myself and held my tongue. Mostly."
"We're going out into the desert. If you go with us, and stay with us-if you give me your word by the Oversoul-then you'll be a free man, part of our household, the equal of any other. We don't want you for a servant; we'll only have you as a friend."
"Of course I'll give my oath. But how will you know whether to believe me?"
"Swear by the Oversoul, my friend Zdorab, and I'll know."
"By the Oversoul, then, I swear to stay with you and be your loyal friend forever. On the condition that you don't kill me. Though I guess if you killed me then the rest of it would be moot, wouldn't it."
Nafai could see that his brothers were now gathered around. They had heard the oath, of course, and had their own opinions. "Kill him," Meb said. "He's one of Gaballufix's men, you can't believe them."
"I'll do it, if it must be done," said Elemak.
"How can we know?" asked Issib.
But Nafai didn't hear them. He was listening for the Oversoul, and the answer was clear. Trust the man.
"I accept your oath," said Nafai. "And I swear by the Oversold that neither I nor anyone in my family will harm you, as long as you keep your oath. All of you-swear it."
"This is absurd!" said Mebbekew. "You're putting us all at risk."
"For this night the Oversoul gave me the command," said Nafai, "and you promised to obey. I came out of the city with the Index, didn't I? And Gaballufix is dead. Swear to this man!"
They took the oath, all of them.
"Now," said Nafai to Zdorab, "give me the Index."
"I can't," said Zdorab.
"See?" said Meb.
"I mean-when you knocked me down, I dropped it."
"Wonderful," said Elemak. "All this way to get this precious Index, and now we're going to be picking up pieces of it all over the desert."
Issib found it, though, only a meter away, and when Elemak picked it up, it seemed unharmed. By moonlight, at least, there didn't seem to be even a scratch.
Mebbekew also took a close look at it, handled it, hefted it. "Just a ball. A metal ball."
"It doesn't even look like an index," said Issib.
Nafai reached out his hands and took the thing from Mebbekew. Immediately it began to glow. Lights appeared under it.
"You've got it upside down, I think," said Zdorab.
Nafai turned it over. In the air over the ball, a holographic arrow pointed southwest. Above the arrow were several words, but in a language Nafai didn't understand.
"That's ancient Puckyi," said Issib. "Nobody speaks it now."
The letters changed. It was a single word. Chair.
"The arrow," said Issib. "It's pointing toward where I left my chair."
"Let me see that," said Elemak.
Nafai handed him the Index. The moment it left Nafai's hands, the display disappeared.
Nafai reached out to take the Index back. Elemak looked at him steadily, his eyes like ice, and then he handed Nafai the metal ball. When Nafai touched it again, the display reappeared. Nafai turned to Zdorab. "What does this mean?"
"I dorrt know," said Zdorab. "It never did anything before. I thought it was broken."
"Let me try," said Issib.
"Please, no," said Nafai. "Let's wrap it up and carry it home to Father without looking at it again. Elemak knows the way. He should lead us."
"Right," said Mebbekew.
"Whatever," said Issib.
"Which one's Elemak?" asked Zdorab.
Elemak strode away toward High Road, toward the place where Issib's chair was waiting for them. By the rime they got back to the camels, the sky was just beginning to lighten in the east. Nafai wrapped the Index and gave it to Elemak to stow it on a pack frame.