A nice place, he thought, to take a shallow boat and skim along, smelling the flowers, seeing the no doubt charming small birds and animals that lived among them, perhaps a nice place to stop and picnic, a nice place to make love in one of those little buildings.
He wondered if Dern knew about the lake, and then realized that of course Dern did. Everyone did. But they weren’t telling. No news of this lake had been sent out into System, anymore than there had been news of the canyon west of Settlement One, or the New Forest, or any of the other recent wonders. These were Hobbs Land things. No one wanted curious outlanders flooding in, asking questions, threatening the … the what? The whatever it was.
So, before he went on with his work, worthwhile work, which he was anticipating with pleasure, before he saw his friends at CM again, it would be appropriate to see the Thykerites off Hobbs Land, to get them on their way, before they had a chance to do any further explorations.
Spiggy felt the High Baidee should go as soon as possible, for they would not understand the way, the convenience, the kindness which was manifesting itself on Hobbs Land.
TWO
• “We’re going tomorrow,” said Sam to Theseus in the night hours, as they stood in the Temple of Poseidon, upon a shining hill, watching phantom horses grazing in the meadows. “The thing is, I want to talk to him. To Phaed. To my father.”
“What do you want to say?” asked the hero.
“I don’t know. I mean, I figure it out, but then it doesn’t seem to be the right thing.”
Theseus tossed his sword in the air, spinning, and caught it by the hilt. “I’ll pretend to be him, and you can practice. How would that be?”
Sam was doubtful. “You don’t look like him at all.”
“Oh, I can be him,” said Theseus, sitting down on the hillside and compressing himself, becoming squattier and bulkier. A moment later he looked up at Sam, slantwise, with Phaed’s remembered face, exactly, even to the big cap hiding most of his hair. “Well, hello, boy! And where’d you drop in from?”
Sam was silent, shocked. It was the voice he remembered, too, and the very words.
“Hello, Dad,” said Sam after a moment. “I’ve come all the way from Hobbs Land to see you.”
“That’s a long way to come. I always hoped you would, though, no matter how far it is.”
“Well, if you missed me, you could have come to me, Dad.”
“Not really, boy. I mean, when your mam went away, it was because she wanted to be rid of me, wasn’t it? So what kind of man would I have been to go invading her privacy, showing up in her town?”
“You were thinking of her?”
“Well, of course, boy. She’s my wife. Mother of my children. I always think of her.”
“So you love her still, do you?”
“We’re man and wife, Sammy. We made vows …” The man looked off into the distance, sadness in his eyes.
“Dad.”
“Yes, Sammy.”
“I need you to explain something. About when Maechy died.”
“Oh, sad, sad, that was.”
“Mam said you didn’t grieve. She said you just cursed the man for not shooting straight.”
The huddled figure shook with sobs. “Oh, I grieved, Sammy. By the Almighty, I grieved. I cursed at the fool who killed him, and I grieved. He was my son, too. Not my eldest, not you, Sam, only a tiny boy, but he was my son, too. The pain was so deep I couldn’t weep, boy. I thought I’d die with the sorrow of it. All I could do was curse or I’d have died …”
“Then they weren’t your men who killed him?”
“My men? What men is that, Sammy? I have no men who would do such a thing. Your poor mam always thought I was involved in things like that, but I was only a farmer, only a man seeing to flocks and fields, as you do, lad. We farmer kings are the true heroes, don’t you think? It makes me proud to see you, following in my footsteps so to speak.”
Sam turned away, tears in his eyes. It would be something like that. When he really came to it, it would be like that.
“Did you say what you wanted to say?” asked Theseus, back in his own form, tossing up his sword again, spinning, up and up until it almost touched the heavy beams above.
Sam nodded. Yes. Something like that.
Later that night, Sam walked back to the village, his face reflecting only calm, his belt and helmet no longer causing the apprehension they once had. Lots of people wandered about at night, now, going out to Bubble Lake for a swim or into the newly discovered marsh district to hunt phoenix feathers, or down to the Grove of Fabulous Beasts with the children. Night-wandering was no longer odd.
He found Maire waiting for him at the brotherhouse, wanting to go over her plan once more, to see if she had forgotten anything.
“Tomorrow we go to Ahabar,” she said. “The Door takes us to Fenice, the capital city. We will go from there to Jeramish, the area bordering Green Hurrah, where Commander Karth has offered us hospitality and protection. He will keep us safe from being seized up and made off with. At least, so he says in the messages he has sent me.
Sam had heard this a dozen times, but he had never wondered until now how
