to feel inside. I felt about the link, to the limits, on both sides of the link, of the crevice. It was diagonal, and, at its deepest point, toward the link's center, about an inch in depth.
'What is it?' asked one of the men with me, an oarsman, behind me and to the right.
'They must have been working here about a quarter of an Ahn,' I said.
'How bad is it?' he asked.
'The chain has been weakened,' I said.
'What shall we do?' he asked.
'We shall continue to patrol the chain,' I said.
'Did you hear it?' asked one of the men with me.
'Yes,' I said.
'A fish?' asked one of the men.
'Divers, I think,' I said.
'What are you doing?' asked one of the men.
'Return for me in five Ehn,' I said.
I put aside my weapon, in its sheath, in the bottom of the longboat. I removed my sandals and tunic.
'Give me a knife,' I said.
'Here,' said one of my fellows. I put the blade between my teeth and, silently, lowered myself over the side of the longboat. I treaded water. The longboat, almost noiselessly, the oars muffled, the wood wrapped with thonged fur at the fulcrum points, the oarlocks similarly served, moved away.
It was cold and dark in the waters of the Vosk.
After a few Ehn the longboat returned, and I was hauled aboard.
'Here is your knife,' I told the fellow who had loaned me the weapon.
'Was it a fish?' asked a man.
'No,' I said.
'The knife is sticky,' said the man to whom I had returned it.
I spit into the Vosk. 'Rinse it,' I said.
'How many were there?' asked a man.
'Two,' I said. 'They were not patient. They returned to work too soon.'
'What shall we do?' asked one of the men.
'Return to the _Tina_,' I said 'We shall need our sleep. There will be war tomorrow.'
'Was the chain damaged?' asked a man.
'Yes,' I said.
'Seriously?' he asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'It could have been done in a hundred places,' said a man.
'I think so,' I said.
'Then, tomorrow,' said a man, hesitantly, 'the chain will not hold.'
'I do not think so,' I said.
'Perhaps we should flee while we can,' he said.
I shrugged. 'Let the crews and their commanders make decision on the matter,' I said.
'The divers,' said a man, 'did you kill them both?'
'Yes,' I said.
'Then the Voskjard will not know that the chain is weak at that point,' said a man.
'No,' I said, 'he will not know that it was weakened at that point.'
'But there will be other points,' said a man.
'Of course,' I said.
'It is impossible to protect the chain,' said a man.
'Sooner or later, if not this night, it will be cut,' said another man.
'The Voskjard has been delayed,' said one of the men. 'It is said he is not a patient man.'
'We are not naval personnel,' said another man. 'In a free battle, on the river, we will stand little chance against the swift ships of the Voskjard.'
'We have with us the ships of Port Cos,' said a man.
'There are too few of them,' said another man. 'Presumably, if the chain is cut, they will withdraw to protect Port Cos.'
'If the Voskjard should join with Policrates,' said another man, 'and the forces of Port Cos and Ar's Station are divided, no town on the river will be safe.'
'Pirates will own the Vosk,' said another man.
'We must flee,' said another man.
'Decision on that matter can be made in the morning by the commanders and their crews,' I said.
'But single men can flee,' said another.
'I will kill the first man who deserts his post,' I said.
'What manner of man are you?' asked a man.
'I do not know,' I told him.
'Command us,' said one.
'Put about,' I said. 'Return to the _Tina_. We shall think further on these matters in the morning.'
'Do you think that the urts of the Voskjard will discontinue their nibblings at the chain because we choose to rest?' asked a man.
'No,' I said.
'Then we must remain at the chain,' he said.
'No,' I said.
The longboat then put about and, slowly, made its way northward along the chain. The fate of the river, I had learned, did not lie in the fate of the chain.
We were hailed by men in pirate vessels, as we passed near them, but we did not respond.
'We have encountered no further evidence of work at the chain,' said a man, as we neared the location of the _Tina_, east of the chain, a single lantern swinging on one of her stem-castle lines.
'Perhaps the Voskjard has given up,' said a man.
'Perhaps no further work has been done,' said another man.
'Perhaps,' said another, 'the work has been completed by now, to his satisfaction.'
'The chain must hold,' said one of our oarsmen. 'It must!'
'What do you think, Jason?' asked a man.
'Let us hope, fervently,' I said to him, 'that it holds.'
'But do you think it will?' asked a man.
'No,' I said.
'We must flee,' said a man.
'Would you surrender the river to men such as Policrates and Ragnar Voskjard?' I asked.
'No,' he said.
'Is that you, Jason?' called Callimachus.
'It is,' I responded.
The _Tina_ then, in a few Ehn, came abeam of the chain. We threw lines up to her.
Chapter 3 — THE CHAIN HAS BEEN BROKEN IN THE NORTH
The long galley, some eighty feet Gorean, sped toward the chain. Its bow as lifted, unnaturally, from the water, did not even touch the water.
'Superb!' cried Callimachus, commending the enemy.
'What is it?' I called up to the stem castle.
