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no man could best Prince Mefto the Kazzur in single combat. So they would play in these Kazz-Jikaida
games. And when it was the turn of Konec and his people of Mandua to meet Mefto and his people of
Shanodrin, why, then, they would simply move their pieces up the board, and consigning the strict rules
of Jikaida to a Herrelldrin Hell, charge him in a body and before his pieces could react butcher him and
have done.
That was their plan.
I said, after I closed my mouth and swallowed and so opened my crusty old lips again: The Bowmen of
Loh will not tolerate so flagrant a breach of the rules. They will shaft you all.
Of course, said Strom Nath. But Mefto will be gone and our country will face the future with hope.
And you would all give your lives ?
If there was more we could give, that, too, we would willingly pay, said Konec, and there was no
mocking his dignity as he spoke although I wanted to mock this so-called plan. By Zair! What a lot!
And what I had got myself into!
They were standing, all looking at me with a hard bright regard. Konec said, You look You are not
willing to give your life to save your country?
Only if there is no other way. But I have as tender a regard for my own neck as I have for my country.
At that they would have grown angry; but I said: Let me think. There has to be another way.
You disappoint me, Jak, said Dav. And, in truth, he looked cast down. I had thought you a man
among men.
The time was not suitable for me to make the classic rejoinder to that one: I d sooner be a man among
women. But, by Vox, there had to be another way!
Then I saw Bevon the Brukaj, drinking quietly to himself in a corner. He had acquitted himself well today
and proved himself a fine swordsman, for that, he had said, was his weapon.
Bevon, I said. He was by way of becoming a Jikaidast. Let me speak to him. He has a head on his
shoulders.
The arguments went on a long time; but they were tired and wrung out, and the drink was working on
them, and, truth to tell, although I did not doubt for a single instant their burning determination to give their
lives, they would welcome another and better way in which they did not face certain death. So we
parted, amicably, with my promise that if we could not discover a method of dealing with Mefto, I would
join their party and take part in their suicidal plan.
The clincher came when I said, Your force has been reduced. You are too few to get at Mefto in a
body and fight off his men; and they will fight, mark it well.
D you think we don t know that! said Dav, and the agony in him twisted in me, too, for him... And
there is no one here we may ask or trust save you, Jak the Nameless.
And yet you would still have gone on?
Aye!
After we left the Noumjiksirn with the bokkertu of the ransom of the Yellow Princess duly finalized, I
met Pompino. He came into the room we shared looking the worse for wear. He threw himself on the
bed, and yawned, and said, By Horato the Potent! If I had a golden deldy for each copper ob I spent
tonight I would be a rich man.
Lucky you.
He regarded me, sharply enough, and sat up. I have to see Ineldar the Kaktu first thing. He has kept
open two places, but he will not hold them past the Bur of Fretch. That was two burs after the suns
rose. We must be up betimes.
I shall not be taking a place in Ineldar s caravan guard.
What? He scowled at me as though I d sprouted a Kataki tail. You don t mean that? What of the
Everoinye
There is a task I must do
You said you were desperate to go home back to Hyrklana.
I was. But now
You are going to act as a piece in Kazz-Jikaida!
Yes.
Fambly! Onker! You ll be chopped. What in Panachreem can?
There is a duty I owe which must be honored. A task has been set to my hands and I must do it.
Ah! He suddenly understood, or thought he did. The Gdoinye has visited you. You have a service for
the Everoinye ?
No. What I do is not for the Star Lords.
He looked shocked. There is nothing in Kregen more important than laboring for the Star Lords!
Yes, I said. There is.
Chapter Eighteen
Of an Encounter in an Armory
Pompino shared my view that the Star Lords had acted in a way far different from their usual abrupt
course when they had set us the task of protecting the lady Yasuri. For one thing; we had both been
aware that the threat of the Ochs was more apparent than real. I had been warned of the impending
mission in a new way, although Pompino told me that he usually received some prior notice. We felt that
the Ochs had been laid on in some way so as to introduce us to the lady Yasuri and secure our
employment with her.
Her escort under that rascal Rordan the Negus returned in time. We did a good job, but
Yes, the escort would have just been in time. So the Star Lords set that up for us. Not like most of the
times I have been dumped down unceremoniously right in the thick of it.
Pompino was intrigued. I told him a little of some of the occasions when I had done the Star Lord s
bidding, and he expressed astonishment. We were up early and making his preparations to leave. I would
be sorry to see him go, and I felt he shared that opinion of me; but nothing he said could make me change
my mind. We drank early-morning ale companionably together as we watched the suns rise.
So you actually arrive when the action has begun?
Too right. Usually I have to scout around pretty sharpish for a weapon.
He shook his head, his foxy face surprised.
When I am called the Everoinye place me carefully, and I can size up the situation and take the best
course.
Ha! This, of course, merely confirmed my own early opinion of the Star Lords that had been changing
over the seasons. If I don t get stuck in pretty sharpish I d be done for. Then, to be fair, I added:
Well, most of the time.
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