Part 65 (2/2)
The King unfolded his limbs, stood up and stretched. ”You help us make this gimcrack wire that we need, and you could be gazing into her loving eyes by Grand Tourney time.”
”Eye,” Tony corrected him. ”Oh ... very well. I'll give it my best shot. You have my word.”
”Send him out with the convoy tonight,” Aiken ordered Kuhal, and vanished.
The Earthshaker steered Tony toward the stairway. ”We'll leave the shackles on for safety's sake. They're not too uncomfortable. I wore them myself for a while.”
”No s.h.i.+t?” said Tony listlessly. Gla.s.s links extended from each wrist to a ring fastened about his torc. The chains were more symbolic than confining; nevertheless the humiliation quotient was sizeable. He brooded as they descended into the lower regions of the palace and made their way to the courtyard, where chalikos waited to take them to the Roniah docks.
”But at least I'm free of that band of Lowlife cutthroats who caught me in the swamp,” Tony remarked as he settled into the saddle. ”I presume they were showered with the royal favour.”
Kuhal said, ”The High King was pleased to grant their requests. They asked for free pa.s.sage back through the timegate, should it be reopened, and the opportunity to take with them such of their fellows who also yearn to return to Elder Earth.”
”Huh!” Tony was contemptuous. ”Good riddance, I say.”
Kuhal flashed him a sudden smile. ”I think the High King shares your sentiment, Creative Brother.”
A pang of remembrance went through the metallurgist's heart.
Creative Brother ... The Tanu in Finiah had called him that, and now this High Table member nonchalantly reaffirmed his adoption. Tony thought: I might be temporarily decla.s.se, but at least I have great expectations!
”I really meant it when I said I'd cooperate,” he said in a low voice.
”I know.” Kuhal was entirely amiable now. ”And the knowledge gladdens me. I myself am one of those who would pa.s.s through the time-gate into the Galactic Milieu.”
”You!” Tony cried, incredulous.
”If you do your work well and quickly, many people will owe you grat.i.tude. There are portentous events in the offing that you know not of, and your destiny may be crucial to that of thousands.”
Tony was struck dumb. They rode out of the palace grounds and through the Tanu quarter of Roniah. The city was ruled now by Condateyr Fulminator since the death of Bormol in the Great Flood, and the population was somewhat diminished. But for the most part, Roniah had scarcely been touched by the turmoil visited upon so many other parts of the land. Ramas scuttled about delivering packages, sweeping the cobbled streets, and tending the flowerbeds. Fountains tinkled into silver basins in the cool, tree-girt plazas. Roniah was not so baroquely magnificent as the City of Lights had been, but it was splendid enough, with its filigreed arches of frost-white marble, its dazzling buildings with their stained-gla.s.s windows, and the roofs of gold and blue tile punctuated by lacy spires.
Tony and Kuhal rode down to the esplanade. All around them were the Tanu and human inhabitants of the city, strolling or going about their business in the drowsy afternoon heat.
”I'd forgotten how nice a Tanu city could be,” the metallurgist said. ”After Finiah fell, the Lowlives had me trapped up north in the Iron Villages. G.o.d, it was squalid. I ran away.”
”And came to Nionel?” inquired the Earthshaker.
Tony grinned. ”Right at Grand Loving time. I never expected to get married. And after I was, I couldn't bear to stay, even though I loved Rowane. They'd cut off my silver torc and ... well, you know. But after I left and got into all sorts of trouble, I realized that I had to be with Rowane again. I just had to. It's very odd, really. We had very little in common. Rowane is a Howler.” He projected her astonis.h.i.+ng mental image, all softly haloed, and studied the reins of his chaliko. ”Strange thing, love. One doesn't pick and choose.”
”I understand, Brother. Better than you know.”
”I don't suppose-” Tony hesitated, then said, ”Would the King consider letting Rowane come to Goriah? If she'll forgive me for deserting her, that is?”
The beautiful, melancholy face of the Tanu was full of regret.
”There must be an incentive for great tasks, Brother. The King would say that Rowane is yours. But surely you will communicate freely with her. Through your golden torc, your hearts may meet across the leagues.”
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