I went to him, having once or twice to step a little to my left or right, and he goggled at me. "Go back now," I told him. "Don't forget to post those sentries, and don't forget that we are two leagues at most from the enemy. Rouse some men to defend the rest. If I'm not back by shadeup, you're in command until the people of Blanko decide otherwise."

I turned and climbed the gentle slope, then halted and waved to him and Valico, knowing they could not miss seeing me with Green behind me. Just then I heard Oreb crying "Silk? Silk?" above my head as he had when Silk deserted us at the entrance to the tunnels. I waved to him; but he was unable to reach me through the thorns until I held my staff up, grasping it near the tip so that the handle was high above my head. He settled upon it, and I drew him down to me and asked whether he had found Seawrack.

"No find. No sing."

"A beautiful, one-armed woman with golden hair?"

"No find," he croaked unhappily. "Big wet." And then, "Bird wet. No swim."

She has gone back into the sea, apparently, and I will hear her no more. I suppose I should be happy, but my heart aches as I write these words.

The enemy had camped some way up the northern slope. I halted where the thornbushes grew sparsely, and was able to study the few who remained awake at my leisure. Soon I saw what seemed a familiar face, then another. For a minute or more I tried fruitlessly to recall the names that went with those faces. One saw me, and I blessed them, making the sign of addition.

He came as near as the thornbushes permitted, his slug gun at the ready. "Rajan? Is that you, sir?"

"Yes," I said. "Have you left Hari Mau's employment?"

He nodded cautiously.

"He paid you? Did you get all your money? If not, I'll go back with you as soon as I can, and we'll get it."

"I got everything," he said.

By that time, another man was coming toward us; he seemed less suspicious, although he had his slug gun as well. It seemed clear that as long as I appeared afraid of them, they could not be expected to trust me; so I advanced until I was clear of the thornbushes.

The second man asked, "Do you remember me, Rajan? My name's Chaku."

It was a Gaonese name and he wore a cloth wrapped around his head as all the men do there; so I said I certainly did, and asked what he, a Gaonese, was doing here.

"A lot of us are Gaonese, Rajan. There wasn't much work for us after the fighting stopped, so we decided to go along with these fellows and try to earn a cardbit or two."

The first man said, "My name's Gorak. You talked to us before we went to fight." Others were gathering around as he spoke.

"I recall your face very well," I told him, "and I believe I might have come up with your name if I'd had a little more time."

A third trooper said, "You stopped and talked to me once when you were inspecting the trenches, Rajan. It was raining like the gods were emptying a year's worth of slops on us, remember?"

I told him I would never forget it, and asked whether he, or any of them, knew Eco.

A trooper who had not spoken before said, "He's not here, Rajan."

"But you know him?"

He nodded. "He was in my bunker down south, sir. A good man."

"He's on my side now," I said, "fighting for Blanko. Quite a few of you are." Just then, by great good luck, I recognized a lanky trooper with a scar across his chin, another Gaonese. I called softly, "Thody, how are you? It's good to see you again," and his smile warmed me.

Gorak said, "We don't have much, but we can offer you some tea." Chaku added, "And cinnamon bread. I'll get it."

I lifted my staff and my free hand for silence. "Wait, brothers. You may shoot me in a moment or two. You are with the Duko's horde?"

Several nodded.

"Then you ought to, and there's no sense in wasting your good food on someone about to die. Do you have one of your own officers? Or is one of the Duko's in charge here?"

"A man from Soldo." Gorak pointed toward a tent some distance down the slope.

"This is going to be very bad," I told them. "Very difficult."

"We won't shoot you," the man who had known Eco assured me.

"Listen to me," I told him, "before you make any such rash promises. Are you the advance guard, by the way?"

He and others nodded.

I sighed. "I am in command of the horde of Blanko, you see, and we-"

Chaku interrupted. "We captured their general two days ago."

I nodded as though I had known it, and another trooper said, "Their general and his daughter."

"That's why I'm in command now. I was advising him, and with him unable to perform his duties the entire responsibility has become mine."

"Good Silk!" Oreb assured them.

"I had planned to crush you tomorrow morning. I didn't know who you were then, of course. Now… Sacred Scylla, what am I to do?"

Oreb answered, "No fight!"

A moment or two later, Thody came and stood at my right hand, saying, "Anyone who would strike the rajan must strike me first!," and a chorus of voices declared that they intended no harm to either of us.

"Nor do I wish in the least to harm you," I told them. "In fact, I will go further. I will not fight you, no matter what happens."

For some time they whispered among themselves, seeming to sway like a field of grain stirred by the night wind. Chaku left them and came to stand on my left, his slug gun ready and his eyes upon his comrades.

"No fight," Oreb urged. "Come Silk."

"He's right," I said loudly. "Listen to me, brothers. I want to hire all of you. If you'll return whatever the Duko's paid you and come over to our side, we'll pay you the same rate you got in Gaon."

Someone said loudly, "The Duko's giving us a silver card every month."

"How much have you received so far?" I asked him.

"Nothing!" several voices answered.

"But you're getting good rations?" "No!"

"What the Duko intends is quite clear," I told them. "He hopes to take Blanko before he's got to pay you. Then he'll invoke some technicality and give you a tenth or less of what's due you. A tenth, perhaps, if you're lucky."

Many nodded.

"I can't offer you that much or half that much, because Blanko will actually pay the entire sum promised."

Deferentially, Gorak asked, "All right if I talk to them, Rajan?"

"Of course."

He raised his voice. "Men! All of you know me. I've been doing this longer than most. It's my fifth war."

Those who had begun talking among themselves fell silent.

"These troopers," he pointed to Chaku and Thody, "they're going to side with him 'cause he was their rajan. That doesn't mean a thing to me, and it shouldn't to you. He hired me a while back, I got my pay, and that's over and done with. If he was just the head man in some foreign town, I'd just as soon fight against him as for him. But there was spells he cast in that war. Real spells that worked. I never saw any of that, and I misdoubt anybody here did. But I talked to prisoners, and they had a lot to say. You want to fight him now? Well, I don't!"

He turned toward me as the contending voices of his fellow troopers rose behind him. "A lot's asleep, Rajan. More than's here, and there's the officer from Soldo. Can you wait till morning?"

Reminded unpleasantly of Green, I said that I could and would.

"We'll talk it over then, all of us. If you see us coming with our slug guns hanging crosswise down our backs and muzzle down, don't shoot, 'cause we'll be going over to you. And if we're going to stay with Soldo and fight you instead, we'll say so first."

Thus it ended. Half a dozen of them would have come with me if I had permitted it, but I ordered them stay behind to influence their comrades. And now I must sleep for a few hours at least.