“Troublel” he wailed and raked his fingers through his beard. “I should never have gotten involved. They will catch you, kill you, me too…”

“Relax, look at this.” I held the money bag in the beam of light from the grating above and let the coins trickle between my fingers. “A happy retirement, aplace in the country, a barrel of beer and a plate of porkchops every day, think of all the joys this will bring.”

He thought and the sight of the clinking coins had great calming effect. When his fingers had stopped shaking I gave him a handful of money which he clutched happily.

“There. A down payment to show that we are friends. Now think about this—the more I know about what I will find when I get ashore the easier it will be for me to get away. You won’t be involved. Now… speak.”

“I know little,” he mumbled, most of his attention on the shining coins. ‘There are the docks, the market behind. All surrounded by a high wall. I have never been past the wall.”

“Are there gates?”

“Yes, large ones, but they are guarded.”

“Is the market very large?”

“Gigantic. It is the center of trade for the entire country. It stretches for many myldyryow along the coast.”

“How big is a myldyryowP”

“Myldyr, myldyryow is plural. One of them is seven hundred lathow.”

“Thanks. I’ll just have to see for myself.”

Grbonja, with much grunting and gasping, threw open a hatch in the deck and vanished below, undoubtedly to hide the coins I had given him. I realized then that I had had enough of the cabin so I went out on deck, up to the bow where I would not be under foot. The sun was burning off the morning haze and I saw that we were passing close to an immense tower that rose up from the water. It was scarred, ancient, certainly centuries old. They had built well in those days. The mist lifted and revealed more and more of the structure, stretching up out of sight. I had to lean back to see the top, high, high above.

With the remains of the fractured bridge hanging from it. The once-suspended roadway hung crumpled and broken, dipping down into the ocean close by. Rusted, twisted, heaped with the broken supporting cables which were over two meters thick. I wondered what catastrophe had brought it down.

Or ha~ it t)f*e"n Clplihpy~tp3 tfari i-tic* nI1Prc ,F Tpvp,~phla destroyed it to cut themselves free from the continent that was slowly sinking back into barbarism? A good possibility. And if they had done this they showed a firmness of mind that made my penetration of their island that much more difficult.

Before I could worry about this a more immediate threat presented itself, A lean, gray ship bristling with guns came thundering up from ahead. It cut across our bow and turned sharply around our stern; our sailing ship bobbed in its wake and the sails flapped. I emulated the sailors and tried to ignore the deadly presence, the pointed weapons that could blow us out of the water in an instant. We were here on legitimate business—weren’t we?

The gunboat’s commander must have believed this as well because, with an insulting blare on their horn, the vessel changed course again and blasted away across the sea. When the ship had dwindled into the distance one of the sailors shook his fist after them and said something bitter and incomprehensible that I agreed with completely.

Nevenkebia rose out of the mists ahead. Cliffs and green hills backing an immense, storied city that rose up from a circular harbor. Factories and mineheads beyond, plumes of smoke from industry already busy in the early morning. And forts at the water’s edge, great guns gloaming. Another fort at the end of the seawall as we entered the harbor. I could feel the glare of suspicious eyes behind the gunsights as the black mouths of the barrels followed us as we passed. These guys were not kidding.

And I was going to tackle this entire country singlehanded?

“Sure you are, Jim,” I said aloud with great braggadocio, swinging my club so that it whistled– in tight arcs. “You’ll show them. They don’t stand a chance against fighting Jimmy diGriz.”

Which would have been fine if my voice had not cracked as I said it.

Chapter 5

“Down sails,” an amplified voice roared. “Take our line aboard.” A high-prowed tug came chuntering up with its loudhailer bellowing. Grbonja swiftly translated the commands to the crew.

Nothing’ was left to chance in Nevenkebia: all matters were highly organized. Even before the sail was down we were secured safely to the tug and being towed to our berth at the crowded wharfside. Sailing craft of interesting variety and form were already unloading cargo there. We were moved into a vacant berth among the others.

“They come long ways,” Grbonja wheezed, stumbling up beside me, pointing at the other ships. “From Penpilick, Grampound, even Praze-an-Beeble—may everyone there suffer from a lifetime of dysesya! Tie up outside harbor at night. You give me the money now, too dangerous on shore!”

“A deal’s a deal, grandpop. Too late to back out now. “ He sweated and muttered and looked at the land coming close. “I go ahead first, talk to freightmaster. Only then we unload. Thfey take your papers and give you dock badge. After that you will see me. Give me the money.”

“No sweat. Just keep your mind on the sunny future of happy retirement.”

Two armed guards glowered down at us as we tied up.

A steam winch dropped the gangway into place and Grbonja puffed up the incline and onto the dock. To turn me in? Maybe I should have paid him in advance? My heart gave a few quick thuds as it shifted into worry mode.

In a few minutes—or was it centuries?—Grbonja had returned and was shouting instructions at the crew. I left my club in the cabin and put the dagger inside my shirt where it couldn’t be seen. My lockpick and remaining coins were in a pouch inside my shirt as well. I was ready as I was ever going to be. When I came out of the cabin the sailors were already staying to unload. I picked up a bag and followed the others up the gangway. Each of them held out his identity papers: I did the same. As they reached the dock the officer there took each man’s papers and stuffed them into a box. Then pinned an identification tag to the man’s clothes. He looked bored by the job. I tried not to tremble as I came up to him.

It was just routine. “Next,” he called out, whipped the papers from my hand and pinned the tag to my chest. Or rather pinned it through the fabric into my skin. I jumped but kept my mouth shut. He grinned, with a touch of sadism in the turn of his mouth, and pushed me on. “Keep moving, lunkhead. Next.”

I was safely ashore and undetected. Following the bent back of the man ahead of me into the dark warehouse. Grbonja was standing by the growing pile of sacks. When he saw me he called out an incomprehensible instruction and pointed to the next bay.

“The money, now,” he burbled as I dumped the sack. I slipped it to him and he staggered away muttering with relief. I looked around at the solid cement and steel walls and went back for another sack.

By the time I had carried in my third sack I was getting desperate. After a few more trips the ship would be unloaded and that would be the end of that. I would have had an expensive round trip and done some hard Work. Nothing more. Because I could see no way out of the building—and no place to hide within, it. They obviously did not relish uninvited visitors to Nevenkebia. I needed more time.

“Call a beer break,” I whispered to Grbonja as I passed him at the head of the gangway. The checker-inner had gone but the two unsmiling guards still stood watch. “We never stop—it is not the custom.”

“It is today. It’s a hot day. You don’t want me to tell them you were hired to smuggle me here?”

He groaned aloud, then called out. “Beer, we stop for beer!”