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the time to explain to her. Reith decided that he would kill her in the event
that capture became certain. Then he changed his mind: they would plunge over
the side of the boat and drown together ... Equally impractical; while there
was life there was hope.
The sun settled upon the horizon; the wind, as on the previous evening,
lessened. Sunset brought a dead calm with the boats rolling helplessly on the
waves.
Reith shipped the sweeps. As twilight settled over the ocean he pulled away
from the becalmed pirate ship toward shore. He rowed on through the night. The
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04%20-%20The%20Pnume.txt pink moon rose and then the blue moon, to project
tremulous trails across the water.
Ahead, one of the trails ended at a mass of dead black: the shore. Reith
stopped his rowing. Far to the west he saw a flickering light; to sea all was
dark. He threw out the anchor and lowered the sail. The two made a meal on
berries and pilgrim-pod, then lay down to sleep on the sails in the bottom of
the boat.
With morning came a breeze from the east. The boat lay at anchor a hundred
yards offshore, in water barely three feet deep. The pirate galley, if such it
was, could no longer be seen. Reith pulled up the anchor and hoisted the sail;
the boat moved jauntily off through the water.
Made cautious by the events of the previous afternoon, Reith sailed only a
quarter of a mile offshore, until the wind died, halfway through the
afternoon.
In the north a bank of clouds gave portent of a storm; taking up the sweeps,
Reith worked the boat into a lagoon at the mouth of a sluggish river. To the
side of the lagoon floated a raft of dried reeds, upon which two boys sat
fishing. After an initial stir they watched the approach of the boat in
attitudes of indifference.
Reith paused in his rowing to consider the situation. The unconcern of the
boys seemed unnatural. On Tschai unusual events almost always presaged danger.
Reith cautiously rowed the boat to within conversational distance. A hundred
feet distant on the bank sat three men, also fishing. They seemed to be Grays:
a people short and stocky, with strongly-featured faces, sparse brownish hair
and grayish skin. At least, thought Reith, they were not Khors, and not
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automatically hostile.
Reith let the boat drift forward. He called out: "Is there a town nearby?"
One of the boys pointed across the reeds to a grove of purple ouinga trees.
"Yonder."
"What town is it?"
"Zsafathra."
"Is there an inn or a tavern where we can find accommodation?"
"Speak to the men ashore."
Reith urged the boat toward the bank. One of the men called out in irritation:
"Easy with the tumult! You'll drive off every gobbulch in the lagoon."
"Sorry," said Reith. "Can we find accommodation in your town?"
The men regarded him with impersonal curiosity. "What do you here, along this
coast?"
"We are travelers, from the south of Kislovan, now returning home."
"You have traveled a remarkable distance in so small a craft," remarked one of
the men in a mildly skeptical voice.
"One which strongly resembles the craft of the Khors," noted another
"For a fact," Reith agreed, "it does look like a Khor boat. But all this
aside, what of lodging?"
"Anything is available to folk with sequins."
"We can pay reasonable charges."
The oldest of the men on the bank rose to his feet. "If nothing else," he
stated, "we are reasonable people." He signaled Reith to approach. As the boat
nosed into the reeds he jumped aboard. "So, then: you claim to be Khors?"
"Quite the reverse. We claim not to be Khors."
"What of the boat, then?"
Reith made an ambiguous gesture. "It is not as good as some, but better than
others; it has brought us this far."
A wintry grin crossed the man's face. "Proceed through the channel yonder.
Bear to the right."
For half an hour Reith rowed this way and that through a maze of channels with
the ouinga trees always behind islands of black reeds. Reich presently
understood that the Zsafathran either was having a joke or sought to confuse
him. He said, "I am tired; you row the rest of the way."
"No, no," declared the old man. "We are now there, just left through yonder
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04%20-%20The%20Pnume.txt channel, and toward the ouingas."
"Odd," said Reith. "We have gone back and forth past that channel a dozen
times."
"One channel looks much like another. And here we are."
The boat floated into a placid pond, surrounded by reed-thatched cottages on
stilts under the ouinga trees. At the far end of the pond stood a larger, more
elaborate structure. The poles were purple ouinga wood; the thatch was woven
in a complicated pattern of black, brown and gray.
"Our community free-house," explained the Zsafathran. "We are not so isolated
as you might think. Thangs come by with their troupes and carts, or Bihasu
peddlers, or wandering dignitaries like yourselves. All these we entertain at
our free-house."
"Thangs? We must be close upon Cape Braise!"
"Is three hundred miles close? The Thangs are as pervasive as sandflies; they
appear everywhere, more often than not when they are not wanted. Not too far
is the great Thang town of Urmank ... You and your woman both are of a race
strange to me. If the concept were not inherently ludicrous-but no, to
postulate nonsense is to lose my dignity; I will hazard nothing."
"We are from a remote place," said Reith. "You have never heard of it."
The old man made a sign of indifference. "Whatever you like; provided that you
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observe the ceremonies, and pay your score."
"Two questions," said Reith. "What are the 'ceremonies,' and how much must we
expect to pay as a daily charge?"
"The ceremonies are simple," said the Zsafathran. "An exchange of
pleasantries, so to speak. The charges will be perhaps four or five sequins a
day. Go ashore at the dock, if you will; then we must take your boat away, to
discourage speculation should a Thang or a Bihasu pass by."
Reith decided to make no objection. He worked the boat to the dock, a
construction of withe and reeds lashed to piles of ouingawood. The Zsafathran
jumped from the boat, and gallantly helped Zap 210 to the dock, inspecting her
closely as he did so.
Reith jumped ashore with a mooring line, which the Zsafathran took and passed
on to a lad with a set of muttered instructions. He led Reith and Zap 210
through the white pavilion and into the great freehouse. "So here you are,
take your ease. The cubicle yonder is at your service. Food and wine will be
served in due course."
"We want to bathe," said Reith, "and we would appreciate a change of clothes
if any such are available."
"The bathhouse is yonder. Fresh garments after the Zsafathran style can be
furnished at a price."
"And the price?"
"Ordinary suits of gray furze for withe-cutting or tillage are ten sequins
each. Since your present garments are little better than rags, I recommend the
expense."
"Under-linen is included in this price?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]