read the crowd better than I. But I really doubt it. I think I was much more aware, and had been earlier from my position and perspective, and my awareness of the mood of Ar, of its tenseness, its readiness, its ugliness, like a dark sky that might suddenly, without warning, blaze and shatter with destruction and thunder. Indeed, it was the mercenaries whom Marcus and I, I believe, as it was turning out, were rescuing.
'We yield to superior force,' said the first mercenary.
'We have no choice,' said the second, apparently similarly resigned, the one who had the prisoner in hand.
A murmur of victory, of elation, coursed through the crowd.
'There are only two of us,' I said to the mercenary who I took it was first of the two. 'Let us have it out with blades.'
'No, no, that is all right,' he said.
'Here is seems you have many allies,' said the second.
'I am sure they will be good fellows and not interfere,' I said.
'No, we will not interfere!' said a fellow enthusiastically.
'Clear some space,' said another.
The crowd began to move back.
'I tell you,' we surrender the prisoner,' said the first, somewhat unpleasantly. 'We are surrendering him. Do you understand?'
'Yes,' I said.
'We are yielding to superior force,' he said.
'There is no choice for us,' said the second.
'Very well,' I said.
They then turned about, and expeditiously withdrew.
'You must now escape,' said a man. 'They will inform guardsmen, they will return with reinforcements.'
'I do not think so,' I said.
Men looked at me, puzzled.
'My thanks, brothers!' said the prisoner. 'But our brethren of Ar are right! We must flee! Take me with you, hide me!'
I sheathed my blade, and so, too, did Marcus his.
'Hurry! Untie me! Let us make away!' said the prisoner.
'You do not seem to be well tied,' I said, inspecting his bonds.
'What are you doing?' he cried. 'Ugh!'
'Now,' I said, 'you are well tied.'
He struggled briefly, startled, frustratedly. Then he understood his helplessness.
'What is the meaning of this?' he said.
'What are you doing?' asked a fellow, puzzled.
I bent down and pushed the prisoner's ankles together, and then looped a thong about them, that they might not be able to move more than a hort or two apart. He could not now run. To be sure, he could stand.
'Untie me!' he said. 'We must escape!'
'You are of the Delta Brigade?' I inquired.
'Yes,' he said, 'as must be you!'
'Why do you say that?' I inquired.
'You have rescued me,' he said.
'You regard yourself as rescued?' I said.
'Surely you, like myself, are of the Delta Brigade!' he said.
'I do not think I know you,' I said.
'I am not of your component,' he said.
'But perhaps we are not of the Delta Brigade,' I said.
'But who then?' he said.
'Perhaps we are loyal fellows of Ar,' I said, 'who, as is presumably appropriate for those of the new Ar, hate the Delta Brigade, and are opposed to it, who see in it a threat to Ar's ignominious surrender, that is, to harmony and peace, who see in it a challenge to the imperious governance of Cos, that is, to the glorious friendship and alliance of the two great ubarates?'
'He speaks like the public boards,' said a fellow.
'Like part of them, at any rate,' said another.
'I thought only the pusillanimous, and naA?ve adolescents, took such twaddle seriously,' said another.
'I do not understand,' said the prisoner uncertainly.
'Are you for the old Ar or the new Ar?' I asked.
'I am of the Delta Brigade!' he said. 'And there is only one Ar, the old Ar, the true Ar!'
'Yes!' said a man.
'Brave fellow!' said a man.
'Release him, and hide him!' urged another.
'No,' said the prisoner. 'They are right. They must make certain of me! In their place I would do the same.'
'Make certain quickly then,' said a man. 'There may be little time!'
'Do not fear,' I said.
The prisoner now stood straighter, more proudly, more assuredly. He now suspected he was being tested. Indeed, he was, but not in the sense he thought. 'You then acknowledge,' I asked him, 'that the only Ar, and the true Ar, is the Ar of old, the Ar which was betrayed and which stands in defiance of Cos?' For a moment the prisoner turned white. Then he said, boldly, 'Yes, that is the true Ar.'
'And you further acknowledge that Seremides and the Ubara are traitors to Ar, and puppets of Cos?'
'Of course,' he said, after a moment.
Here and there there were gasps in the crowd. Whereas presumably there were few in the crowd who were not prepared to resent, and as possible, oppose Cos, not all were convinced of the depth and extent of the treason which had contributed so significantly to her victory. I thought it well to have the crowd hear these sentiments from the lips of the prisoner. To be sure, such understandings were surely not new to the Cosians of Ar, nor to many of the more reflective in Ar herself.
'Treason on the part of Seremides?' asked a man.
'Talena a traitor?' said another.
'Yes!' said the prisoner.
'Clearly he is of the Delta Brigade,' said a man. 'Release him!'
'You would have us hide you?' I asked.
'Yes,' said the prisoner.
'Take you into our confidence, bring you to our secret places, tell you our plans, introduce you to our leaders, our pervasive, secret networks of communication?'
'Only if later you deem me worthy of such trust,' he said.
I hoped by this last question to lead the crowd to believe that the Delta Brigade was a determined, disciplined, extensive, well-organized force in Ar, one which might realistically inspire hope in the populace and fear in the forces of occupation. Actually, of course, I had no idea of the nature or extent, or power, or resources, of the Delta Brigade. I was not even sure there was such an organization. At one time Marcus and I thought we were the Delta Brigade. Certainly at that time there had been no organization. Then, later, it seemed, there had been acts performed in the name of the Delta Brigade, sabotage, and such, in which we had had no part. These might have been the acts of individuals, or groups of individuals, for all we knew, perhaps patriots, or criminals, or fools, but not of an organization. There had apparently been concerted action in the existence of the «brigade». It could have been done by a small group of men, presumably mostly veterans of the delta, interested in making it difficult for Cos to trace there identities.
'Were you in the delta?' I asked.
'Certainly,' said he.
