legs. 'I'm confused. Are we still at Ermine's?'
She nodded again. 'In my room.'
Oosik had circled the bed to hold his attention. 'Would it not be a
great thing, Calde, if we--if you and I, and His Cognizance--could
end this fighting before shadeup?'
With less confidence in his legs than he tried to show, Silk stood
to pull up and adjust his waistband. 'That's what I'd hoped to do.'
He sat as quickly as he could without loss of dignity.
'We will--'
Quetzal interposed, 'We must strike fast. We can't wait for you to
recover, Patera Calde. I wish we could. You were startled to see me
vested like this. My clothes always shock you. I'm afraid.'
'So it seems, Your Cognizance.'
'I'm under arrest, too, technically. But I'm trying to bring peace,
just as you are.'
'We've both failed, in that case, Your Cognizance.'
Oosik laid his hand upon Silk's; it felt warm and damp. thick with
muscle. 'Do not burden yourself with reproaches, Calde. No!
Success is possible still. Who had you in mind as commander of your
Civil Guard?'
The gods had gone, but one--perhaps crafty Thelxiepeia. whose
day was just beginning--had left behind a small gift of cunning. 'If
anyone could put an end to this bloodshed, he would surely deserve
a greater reward than that.'
'But if that were all the reward he asked?'
'I'd do everything I could to see that he obtained it.'
'Wise Silk!' Oreb cocked a bright black eye approvingly from the
bedpost.
Oosik smiled. 'You are better already, I think. I was greatly
concerned for you when I saw you.' He looked at the surgeon.
'What do you think, Doctor? Should our calde have more blood?'
Quetzal stiffened, and the surgeon shook his head.
'Achieving peace, Calde, may not be as difficult as you imagine.
Our men and yours must be made to understand that loyalty to the
Ayuntamiento is not disloyalty to you. Nor is loyalty to you
disloyalty to the Ayuntamiento. When I was a young man we had
both. Did you know that?'
Xiphias exclaimed, 'It's true, lad!'
'There is a vacancy on the Ayuntamiento. Clearly it must be
filled. On the other hand, there are councillors presently in the
Ayuntamiento. Their places are theirs. Why ought they not retain them?'
A compromise; Silk thought of Maytera Mint, small and
heartrendingly brave upon a white stallion in Sun Street. 'The
Alambrera--?'
'Cannot be permitted to fall. The morale of your Civil Guard
would not survive so crushing a humiliation.'
'I see.' He stood again, this time with more confidence; he felt
weak, yet paradoxically strong enough to face whatever had to be
faced. 'The poor, the poorest people of our quarter especially, who
began the insurrection, are anxious to release the convicts there.
They are their friends and relatives.'
Quetzal added, 'Echidna has commanded it.'
Oosik nodded, still smiling. 'So I have heard. Many of our
prisoners say so, and a few even claim to have seen her. I repeat,
however, that a successful assault on the Alambrera would be a
disaster. It cannot be permitted. But might not our calde, upon his
assumption of office, declare a general amnesty? A gesture at once
generous and humane?'
'I see,' Silk repeated. 'Yes, certainly, if it will end the fighting--if
there's even the slightest chance that it will end it. Must I come with
you, Generalissimo?'
'You must do more. You must address both the insurgents and
our own men, forcefully. It can be begun here, from your bed. I
have a means of transmitting your voice to my troops, defending
the Palatine. Afterward we will have to put you in a floater and
take you to the Alambrera, in order that both our men and Mint's
may see you, and see for themselves that there is no trickery. His
Cognizance has agreed to go with you to bless the peace. Many
know already that he has sided with you. When it is seen that my
brigade has come over to you as a body, the rest will come as well.'
Oreb crowed, 'Silk win!' from the bedpost.
'I'm coming, too,' Hyacinth declared.
'You must understand that there is to be no surrender, Calde.
Viron will have chosen to return to its Charter. A
calde--yourself--and an ayuntamiento.'
Oosik turned ponderously to Quetzal. 'Is that not the system of
government stipulated by Scylla. Your Cognizance?'
'It is, my son, and it is my fondest desire to see it reinstated.'
'If we're paraded through the city in this floater,' Silk said, 'many
of the people who see us are certain to guess that I've been
wounded.' In the nick of time he remembered to add, 'Generalissimo.'
'Nor will we attempt to conceal it, Calde. You yourself have
played a hero's part in the fighting! I must tell Gecko to work that
into your little speech.'
Oosik took two steps backward. 'Now someone must attend to all
these things, I fear, and there is no one capable of it but myself.
Your pardon, my lady.' He bowed. 'Your pardon, Calde. I will
return shortly. Your pardon, Your Cognizance.'
'Bad man?' mused Oreb
Silk shook his head. 'No one who ends murder and hatred is evil,
even if he does it for his own profit. We need such people too much
to let even the gods condemn them. Xiphias, I sent you away last
night at the same time that I sent away His Eminence. Did you leave
at once?'
The old fencing master was shamefaced. 'Did you say at once, lad?'
'I don't think so. If I did, I don't recall it.'
'I'd brought you this, lad, remember?' He bounded to the most
remote corner of the room and held up the silver-banded cane.
'Valuable!' He parried an imaginary opponents's thrust. 'Useful!
