"I'm sorry I was beastly again. I don't know why I do those things. You 're a better person than I am. You make me look like an amoral opportunist."
"Oh, forget it!"
"I can't. I—I'd like to make it up to you—if you wanted me ..."
"With the professor in the next bunk? Who's crazy now? Anyway, we shall soon be home. So go to sleep!"
The wooded hills of Fossanderan at last inched up above the horizon. The shores of the Banjao Sea narrowed down to the Straits of Palindos, in the middle of which rose the island. Of the two channels between the island and the mainland, the eastern was normally used by ships. The western was too shallow, save at certain conjunctions of the moons, for anything larger than a dinghy. Beyond the straits, the Sadabao Sea opened out.
"Methinks there's a beach off to eastward," said Captain Farrá, "where we can safely anchor."
Hours passed, and the Tarvezid hove to in a bay, embraced by a broad crescent of beach. The anchor was dropped, and the sailors climbed down a rope ladder into the breast-deep water to wade ashore.
On the fantail, Mjipa untied the rope that held the raft to the stern. He called down: "You can paddle ashore."
"But what then?" asked Verar. "Won't ye tow us to Majbur?"
"Not on your life! You're on your own. You can easily reach the mainland, east to Ziada or west to Rakh, which belongs to the Republic of Suruskand."
"But we shall starve!"
"That's your problem. You might beg Captain Farrá for a couple of fishlines."
"Takh! Ye be a cruel, unfeeling monster!" yelled one of the Khaldonians, dancing up and down and shaking a fist.
"After you rascals wanted to cut off my head? Ha!"
"That was merely obeying orders," said Verar. "We're not to blame, that our lawful sovran be filled with unforgiving rancor. 'Tis our sacred duty to serve him unto death."
"Well, perform your sacred duties elsewhere." Mjipa went forward to see how the repair work was going.
The ship's carpenter, now the most important person aboard after the captain, went ashore in the dinghy with a box of tools. Mjipa could see him in the distance, prowling the beach with a pair of sailors carrying axes, as he examined trees near the beach.
The Khaldonians paddled their raft with their hands to the western end of the beach. They pulled the raft up on shore and disappeared into the trees.
At Mjipa's elbow, Alicia said: "I don't like to see those guys on the loose. I'm sure they'd do us more mischief if they could."
"You're probably right," said Mjipa. "So it's up to us to see they don't get a chance. When we go ashore, you'd better wear one of the spare swords."
"Then you'd better give me lessons in how to use it. I never set out to be Alicia the sword-maiden."
"All right, here's mine. Take the first guard position, like this ..."
Next day, Mjipa told Alicia: "I must admit that these coves know their business. Look at that mast, taking shape before our eyes!" He pointed shoreward, where the trunk of the felled tree, laid out on trestles, had been quickly stripped of branches and bark and was being planed down to size.
Doctor Isayin asked: "Mister Mjipa, could you accompany me to shore? I would fain make a study of local plants."
"Why can't you go yourself?"
"I—I am fearful of the tailed men and other creatures that lurk in the woods. You are far stronger than I, so with you and your trusty blade I should feel safe."
"Let's all go ashore and eat a picnic lunch!" said Alicia. "It'd be fun to get off this ooky tub for a change."
Mjipa at first demurred. But Alicia kept at him, begging prettily. Eventually Mjipa allowed himself, against his better judgment, to be persuaded. He, too, was tired of the Tarvezid's rocking deck and frowsty smells, and Alicia's proposal allured him.
"All right," he said. "Lish, get a sword. I'll borrow another pike for you, Doctor."
They went in the dinghy. When they had climbed out and waded ashore, Mjipa could have shouted with pleasure at feeling solid, unmoving ground beneath his feet.
"Don't get in the sailors' way," he said, as they walked past the Krishnans working on the mast. Mjipa still used the pike as a stick, for his leg was not yet altogether healed. They found a grassy hump in the forested strip above the beach, climbed the bank, and sat down to open their lunch basket. While Mjipa and Alicia ate, Isayin prowled, picking twigs and herbs and making notes. He said:
"Nay, I like not dining so early. Why could you not have waited till a civilized hour?"
Below, work on the mast continued. Eventually a whistle blew. The Krishnans stopped work and betook themselves to their own midday meal, which among Majburuma was eaten earlier than in the Khaldoni nations.
Suddenly a disturbance broke out. Four Khaldonians rushed out of the woods to where the sailors ate. As they ran, they snatched up anything edible as they passed.
Yells of anger arose from the sailors, who scrambled to their feet. Some searched for sticks, stones, or anything else to attack the raiders with. Others ran after them with knives. A few had been posted with pikes, against a possible attack by the tailed Krishnans. Some of these pursued the Khaldonians; one hurled his pike but missed.
"By Jove, look at that!" said Mjipa. "They'll—"
At that instant, a heavy blow descended on Percy Mjipa's head. The world spun before him; his eyes were filled with shooting stars; and he fell to his knees. Hearing a shriek from Alicia, he knew in a vague way that she, too, was being borne off, and that Isayin had fled. Mjipa tried to shout, but so muddled were his wits by the blow that nothing came out but a croak.
When full consciousness returned, Mjipa was sitting on the ground in a small natural clearing, deep in the forest of Fossanderan. His wrists were bound behind him, and his ankles were tied by a length of rope. He thought he recognized the rope by which the Tarvezid had towed the raft, and which he had carelessly tossed to the raft when he untied their craft from the ship.
Looking around, despite the shooting pains that the movement caused him, he saw that Alicia sat beside him likewise bound, with a tear streaking a runnel through the dirt on her face. Around the clearing stood or sat the Khaldonians, hungrily gnawing the scraps of food that the raiders had snatched. Several had rude clubs made of broken tree branches. Mjipa surmised that a blow from one of these had felled him.
"Well!" said Verar, standing before Mjipa with Mjipa's purple baldric crossing his naked torso. "So the mighty, all-wise Terran proves not invincible after all! He comes ashore with's cronies, bristling with arms. Yet so simple is he that a slight diversion, furnished by our raid on the sailors' provender, so distracts his attention that any ninny can steal up and rap his pate!"
"What do you want?" growled Mjipa.
"Why, the same thing as before, namely and to wit: that which your neck conjoins to your trunk—at least at the moment—to bear back to my mighty lord, along with your leman's noggin."
"She's not my leman. What earthly good would our heads do your Heshvavu, save to bring upon him endless trouble with Novorecife?"
"Ye understand not, having no proper sense of honor. The slight ye put upon my master is such that 'twere a defilement did he let you live. Were we to return to Mejvorosh without these trophies, our own heads might answer for't; whereas, an we fetch these mementoes home, we shall be rich for life.
"Understand, Terran, I have nought against you personally; but the commands of one's natural lord must be obeyed. And your deaths were but a just requital for the cruel wounds and deaths ye dealt us in Vuzhov's Tower."
Verar drew Mjipa's sword and thumbed the edge. " 'Twas generous of you to furnish us with the means of achieving this honorable end. Would we had had such a blade when we cut the rope into lengths; sawing with a sharp stone is tedious work. Now bow your head, that the deed shall be accomplished without needless pain."