The hills reared upward, with sour black soil and peat bogs in between. Clouds swirled low overhead, opening to pass shafts of sunlight, closing as soon to throttle off the radiance. Few folk inhabited these regions except crofters, tin miners and outlaws.

Aillas marched without thought. He knew the burly back and tousled hair of the man in front of him and the catenary traced by the swinging chain between them. He ate on command, slept on command; he spoke to no one save an occasional mutter to Yane who hunched along beside him.

The column passed only half a mile inland from the fortified town Oaldes, where King Oriante had long held court, uttering sonorous commands which were seldom obeyed and spending much time in the palace garden among his tame white rabbits. At the sight of Ska troops, the portcullis dropped with a clang and archers mounted the walls. The Ska paid no heed and continued along the coast road, with Atlantic swells crashing into surf along the shore.

A Ska patrol rode up with news which quickly filtered down to the Skalings: King Oriante had died in a convulsion and feeble-minded Quilcy had succeeded to the throne of South Ulfland. He shared his father's interest in white rabbits and was said to eat nothing but custard, honey buns and trifle.

Yane explained to Aillas why the Ska allowed Oriante and now Quilcy to reign unmolested. "They cause the Ska no inconvenience.

From the Ska point of view Quilcy can reign forever, so long as he keeps to his doll houses."

The column entered North Ulfland, the boundary marked only by a cairn beside the road. Fishing villages along the way were deserted except for old men and women, the able-bodied having fled to avoid indenture.

On a dreary morning, with the wind carrying salt spume a hundred yards inshore, the column passed under an ancient Firbolg beacontower, built to raise the clans against Danaan raiders, and so entered the Foreshore, in effect Ska territory. The villages now were totally deserted, with the former inhabitants killed, enslaved, or driven away. At Vax, the column broke into several components. A few took ship for Skaghane; a few continued along the coastal road toward the granite quarries, where certain intractable Skalings would spend the rest of their lives chipping granite. Another contingent, including Taussig and his platoon, swung inland toward Castle Sank, the seat of Duke* Luhalcx and a staging station for Skaling convoys en route to Poelitetz.

*Memorandum: 'King,' 'prince', 'duke,' 'lord,' 'baron,'

'ordinary,' are used arbitrarily and inexactly to indicate somewhat similar levels of status among the Ska.

Functionally, the differences in rank are peculiar to the Ska, in that only 'king,' 'prince,' and 'duke,' are hereditary, and all save 'king' may be earned by valor or other notable achievement. Thus, an 'ordinary,' having killed or captured five armed enemies becomes a 'knight" By other exactly codified achievements he becomes a ,baron'

then ,lord', 'duke, then finally 'grand duke' or 'prince The king is elected by vote of the dukes; his dynasty persists along direct male lineage, until the line becomes extinct or is voted out of power at a conclave of dukes.

*For a brief discussion of Ska history see Glossary III.

Chapter 22

AT CASTLE SANK TAUSSIG'S GANG was assigned to the saw-mill. A

ponderous water-wheel, moving a linkage of iron levers, raised and lowered a straight-bladed saw of forged steel nine feet long and worth its weight in gold. The saw squared timbers and cut planks with a speed and accuracy Aillas found remarkable. Skalings with long experience controlled the mechanism, lovingly sharpened the teeth, and apparently worked without coercion or supervision.

Taussig's gang was assigned to the seasoning shed, where they stacked and restacked planks.

Over the weeks Aillas gradually, a trifle at at a time, incurred Taussig's disfavor and dislike. Taussig despised Aillas'

fastidious habits and his disinclination to work any more energetically than was absolutely necessary. Yane shared Taussig's disfavor because he managed to achieve his share of the work without perceptible effort, which caused Taussig to suspect him of shirking, though he could never demonstrate as much.

At first Taussig tried to reason with Aillas. "Look you now! I've been watching and you don't deceive me an instant! Why do you give yourself such airs, as if you were a former lord? You will never better yourself by such means. Do you know what happens to shirkers and fiddity-didjets? They are put to work in the lead mines, and if they short their stint they are sent to the sword factory and their bodies' blood hardens the steel. I advise you to show me somewhat more zeal."

Aillas responded as politely as possible. "The Ska took me against my will; they broke apart my life; they have done me great harm; why should I exert myself for their benefit?"

"Your life has changed; true!" argued Taussig. "Make the best of it, like the rest of us! Think! Thirty years is not so long a time! They will either send you away a free man with ten gold coins, or they will give you a farmstead with a hut, a woman, animals; and your children are free from indenture. Is that not generous?"

"For the best part of my life?" Aillas sneered and turned away.

Taussig angrily called him back. "Perhaps you scorn the future!

Not I! When my gang performs poorly, I take demerits. I want none on your account!" Taussig hopped away, his face mottled with fury.

Two days later Taussig led Aillas and Yane to the yard at the rear of Castle Sank. He spoke no word, but the jerk of his elbows, the bob of his head were freighted with portent.

Where the gate opened into the yard, he swung about and at last gave vent to his rage. "They were wanting a pair of house-servants and I spoke up with my heart full! Now I am free of you both and Imboden the steward is your master. Try him with your provocations and learn what boon it brings you!"

Aillas studied the congested face thrust toward his own, then shrugged and turned away. Yane stood in despondent boredom. There was nothing more to be said.

Taussig called across the yard to a scullion. "Summon Imboden; bring him here!" He turned a darkling leer over his shoulder.

"Neither of you will like Imboden. He has the vanity of a peacock and the soul of a stoat. Your easy days of loitering in the sunshine are over."

Imboden came out on a porch overlooking the yard: a man of late maturity, narrow-shouldered with thin arms, long thin shanks, a swag of a belly. Dank locks clung to his scalp; he seemed to have no face, only a cluster of large features: long ears, a long lumpy nose, round black eyes encircled by arsenical rings, a drooping gray mouth. He made an imperious gesture toward Taussig, who roared: "Over here! I will not set foot in the castle yard!"

Imboden uttered an impatient oath, descended the steps and crossed the yard, using a peculiar strutting gait, which aroused Taussig's levity. "Come along now, you peculiar old goat! I haven't all day to waste!" To Aillas and Yane he said: "He's half-Ska, a bastard by a Celt woman: the worst of all worlds for a Skaling and he makes everyone know it."

Imboden halted at the gate. "Well, what now?"

"Here's a pair of house-monkeys for you. This one is finicky and washes overmuch; this one thinks himself wiser than the rest of us, principally me. Take them in good health."

Imboden looked the two up and down. He jerked his thumb at Aillas.

"This one has a strange wild look for one so young. He is not sick?"

"Sound as a hero in limb and lung!"

Imboden inspected Yane. "This one has the cast of a villain. I suppose he is sweet as honey?"

"He is deft and quick and walks as quiet as the ghost of a dead cat."