How soon can you start on the steps for the cargo booms?"
"I still have to finish this. After the glue seasons I have to cut the peggingflush, sand the joins smooth, layer on some more glue, then cover everythingwith lacquer."
"All stuff that could be done by somebody else, under your supervision, whileyou're getting the other steps. What the hell is going on?"
Men were gathering in the bow of the unfinished ship, chattering and pointingtoward the harbor. Aaron followed the foreman forward to see what was up.
A huge galley was working her way in. She wore the gaudiest sail Aaron hadever seen. "Who is it?"
"Must be the new civil governor. Early. And now everything goes to hell whilewe fake up celebrations to show him how overjoyed Qushmarrah is that he'sfinally come."
Aaron leaned on the rail, watching the Herodian galley, and smiled slightly, remembering how cynical his father had been about government and those whogoverned.
Bel-Sidek was hard at it, holystoning the foredeck of a tubby merchantman outof Pella, a Herodian tributary where friends of the Living worked the docks.
Behind him, stevedores shuffled to the dock and back aboard, loading andunloading at the same time.
Sacks of something were going off and sacks of something else were coming onand bel-Sidek could not quite see the point because he could not distinguishone group of sacks from the other. But inside a few of those coming off therewould be lethal tools for the Living.
Someone hailed him from the dock. The voice was breathless. For a moment he feared it was going to be a warning that the customs goons were coming and hewould have to get his men scattered before they could be identified. But whenhe got to the rail he saw one of that very select group of men entrusted withcarrying messages between the khadifas. The man pointed toward the bay andshouted, "The new governor's ship is coming in."
Bel-Sidek cursed and signaled his understanding. "Early. The bald-headedlittle bastard would get here early." He tried to look for the ship but all hecould see in that direction was the tips of the lighthouses atop the Brothers.
The Pellans had taken the cheapest commercial wharfage available. That putthem behind a jungle of masts and spars belonging to Qushmarrah's fishermenand sponge and pearl divers. And small-time smugglers. If there was anydistinction between the bunch.
He limped off the ship and got himself to the nearest height where he couldsee the harbor. After a minute he began to chuckle. Other gawkers looked himaskance. He controlled himself.
The governor's ship and two fast war galleys escorting her had bulled theirway past commercial traffic beyond the Brothers and now several delayedvessels were coming in behind them. Including Meryel's two ships with the armsdown in their holds. There would be no trouble getting them off-loaded andsafely away. The whole Herodian colony would be going crazy and would cease tofunction for a few days.
Would the old man take the opportunity to welcome the new tyrant? He hadbefore. But if Meryel was right and there was some special operation shaping ... Could it have something to do with the new governor? Doubtful. The Generalhad talked in terms of months.
Might as well go back to work. The governor's arrival would make no differencein his life, at least today.
As he was passing the new shipyards, put up where the old public baths hadstood till they had been demolished because they offended Herodian morality, aman fell into step beside him. "So. Billygoat. Haven't seen you in a while.
What's up? What're you doing these days?"
"Working in the shipyard. As if you didn't know."
Bel-Sidek did know. He kept track of those few of his men who had come homefrom Dak-es-Souetta. "What is it?"
"The younger men there, they bring me their problems. I had a beauty turn uptoday. You were the only one I could think of who could maybe help solve it.
And like a gift from Aram, here you are. I saw you, it was like a command fromthe gods."
"I don't follow."
"Wait till I explain. I don't know if you're connected or not, but you're theonly one I could think of who might know somebody involved with the Living."
Bel-Sidek did not respond.
"One of the guys-certainly not connected in any way-has convinced himself he knows the identity of a Qushmarrahan who was as guilty of treason during thewar as al-Akla. He kept it to himself. But now he's stumbled across somethingto make him think the traitor is in a high place in the Living. He fears thatonce in Herodian pay, always bought."
"Eh!" Bel-Sidek rolled it around in his mind, a small part of him hoping hewasn't sweating, blanching, or otherwise giving himself away. "Exactly what doyou want, Sergeant?"
"Mainly, I want to figure out if the guy is imagining things. He believes it, but people believe impossible things every day. I never heard of any traitorbut al-Akla. I sure as hell ain't heard of one that was as important as him inhow things came out."
"I know of no such man myself but that doesn't mean one didn't exist. Come.
I'll buy you a lunch while we let reason gnaw at this." Bel-Sidek suspected hehad given himself away but had a feeling the risk would be worthwhile.
"I won't name you any names, Colonel."
You will, my friend. You will if we want you to. He glanced at the man. Andmaybe you wouldn't. You were always a stubborn bastard.
"We'll set the hounds of reason loose first, eh?"
They went into a place that served good bheghase, a thick and spicy fish andvegetable soup into which the fish was introduced two minutes before serving.
It was an indulgence bel-Sidek allowed himself too seldom.
He savored a few mouthfuls before saying, "Granting that no names need benamed, I'll have to have a clue or two with which to work. Is your friend aveteran?"
"Who isn't?"
"A point. Not many. Dak-es-Souetta?"
"No."
"Ah. Now we're getting somewhere. A vet, but not of Dak-es-Souetta. Works in ashipyard. Must be a building tradesman. Most of those were in the fieldengineer outfits assigned to the Seven Towers. I presume he knows aboutwhatever because he saw it happen. If it happened." He looked at Billygoat.
"You fishing for an opinion?"
"Yes."
"He believes it, like I said. If he hadn't sounded like a man trying to carryan unbearable load I wouldn't be here."
"The Seven Towers. I'll have to research it. The Herodians had me in chains while that was happening."
"I can suggest what to look for."
"Uhm?"
"The Seven Towers were supposed to hold out long enough for the allies, thereserves, and the survivors of Dak-es-Souetta to assemble on the Plain ofChordan. But they didn't."
"Could one traitor have been the reason the strategy didn't work?"
Billygoat shrugged. "I was five men down the chain from you."
"I'll find out. I'll ask someone who was there. Thank you, Sergeant. Enjoy thebheghase." Bel-Sidek limped away hurriedly, headed for the Pellan merchantman.
Two of the men on his stevedore crew had fought at the Seven Towers. One had been an officer, amilitary engineer.
He rounded the two up. "Take an early lunch."
One man, bel-Pedra, depended entirely upon his income from stevedoring. "We'reliable to get fired." There were limits to the sacrifices you could ask.
"I'll take care of it."
"What's going on, sir?"
"I've just discovered that I need some background about the Seven Towers andwhat happened there. Something's come up where it could be important for me toknow. Malachi?"
Malachi was the man who had not yet spoken. He got off the bale where he hadbeen seated, settled on the battered timber decking of the pier. "You've beenthrough the pass, sir?"
"Never. We went out along the coast road."
"Yes. Demolishing the bridges behind you so the enemy, if victorious, had tocome to Qushmarrah through the hills."
"Do I detect a critical note?"
"Call it a disgruntled note, sir. For five generations that was the strategy.
But when it was put to the test it didn't work."