Angado

'A quarter of face value.' Dumarest stacked coins on the table. 'Your share. All you're going to get. If you want to squander it go ahead. It's your money.'

Looking at it Angado said, slowly, 'What are you telling me?'

'You're dead. Officially dead. No cash and no credit. Your notes won't be met. From now on you make your own way.' Dumarest picked up his glass, lifted it in a mock toast. 'Freedom, Angado. Let's drink to it-you can't afford to waste the wine.'

He watched as Angado obeyed, the truth swallowed with the ruby liquid, cold realization dampening the euphoria of alcohol. As yet life to Angado had been an adventure, one padded by the cushions of wealth, now those cushions had been tweaked away and he was going to get hurt.

Dumarest said, 'Think of Lowtown. Remember it. That's where you could wind up unless you're careful. Bear it in mind, the dirt, the stink, the decay.' The grinding poverty, the pain, the desperation. An alien world to one accustomed to riches. A hostile one to a man arrogant with the memory of wealth. 'Do you still feel hungry?'

Angado shook his head, remembering the cost of the wine, the loss at the table.

'What are you going to do?'

'Get back to Lychen. There has to be some mistake. Perotto will correct it. He-'

'Wants you dead!' snapped Dumarest. 'And you're a fool not to see it. Remain a fool and you'll die alone. I mean it.'

'You'll leave me?'

'I've no time for a man who refuses to help himself. You're dead, Angado. It's only a matter of time before you're in the ground. That's just what will happen when you meet Perotto unless-' He broke off and waited for the other to recognize the obvious.

'I've got to get back home,' said Angado. 'But without Perotto suspecting I'm back until I'm ready to face him. You'll come with me, Earl? Help me?' Anxiety tinged his voice as Dumarest remained silent. 'You won't regret it. I swear to that. I'll give you anything you want.'

The gratitude of princes-but first it had to be earned.

* * *

Larbi Vargas was old, wizened, his face seamed with a mesh of lines as if it had been leather unoiled and left too long in the sun. Only his eyes were young, holding a shrewd brilliance, one which matched the razor-edged keenness of his mind. An entrepreneur, an agent, a go-between. A man like a spider sitting in a web of information. One drifting in the dim region lying in the strata between law and lawlessness, order and chaos. Men like him existed on every world and Dumarest had known how to track him down. To Angado he was an alien form of life.

Now he watched as the preliminaries were completed; the small cakes eaten with wine. The pleasantries. The handing over of scarce resources.

'You are a man after my own heart,' said Vargas. He wiped a crumb from his lips. 'Too many who come to me are impatient. They neglect the niceties of civilized conduct but you, obviously, are aware of ancient traditions. Some more wine?'

'Thank you, no.'

'You?' Vargas sighed and lowered the bottle as Angado shook his head. 'Your problem is a common one, my friends. How to escape a hostile world? Money is the answer, the key to all things. How to get it? That is a harder problem. Theft is difficult and dangerous but desperate men are willing to accept risks. If you are such something could be arranged. No?'

'No.'

'Then let us examine other prospects. Work at the mines is available but only for those willing to sign a contract. They pay is low and expenses high. I would not advise it. A party left last week for the northern hills to hunt kulighin. A beast as large as a man,' he explained. 'Vicious, cunning, valued for its hide and certain glands. Always some die on such a hunt and reward is never certain. But your stake is large enough to buy you a place in such a party if you can match it with experience and would be willing to take a lower share.'

'Too long,' said Dumarest. 'We want something fast. Passage on a ship heading to Lychen. One needing an engineer would be ideal.'

'Every vessel operating in the Burdinnion needs engineers,' said Vargas dryly. 'Which is why all ships carry them. If you were a captain would you trust your life and ship to an unknown? Someone lacking the years in which to have gained experience and without documents to prove his ability? Of course,' he added, 'such documents could be provided.'

In time and with money they couldn't spare. Things the old man knew but he worked in his own way and to press him would lessen his desire to cooperate.

Now he said, 'For one of you there is no real problem. If you just want passage away from Yuanka and are willing to do what is asked and spend what you have on bribes there are several ships on which I could arrange a passage. The Warton bound for Lome. The Koura bound for Balaban. A handler who can run a table and show a profit would be accepted.' His eyes rested on Dumarest. 'And there would be no need for him to pass through the gate.'

An extra bonus and an essential one for any wanted criminal.

Angado said, quickly, 'We must travel together.'

'Then your choice is limited. The Audran leaves tomorrow at dawn. They carry a cargo of mikha and need men to tend them. For the right price the captain will allow you to work your passage.'

'To where?'

'Haroun.' Vargas shrugged as Angado shook his head. 'The choice is yours but I suggest you take it. Haroun is less hostile than Yuanka.'

'The mikha?'

'A low order of life similar to leeches.' Vargas added, with the hint of a smile, 'They need to feed on human blood.'

* * *

At dusk a wind began to blow from the south carrying an acrid dust which caught at the nostrils and stung the eyes. As the purple haze deepened to night the wind ceased to leave a dusty film over the town. One stirred by pedestrian boots into flurries which rose to settle in new configurations.

'A hell of a world.' Angado turned from the window of the room they had hired. 'And a hell of a deal Vargas gave us. How much did you pay him, Earl? Whatever it was it was too much. Turn thief,' he sneered. 'Join a bunch of suicidal hunters. Feed parasites. He had to be joking.'

Dumarest made no comment, lying supine on one of the two narrow beds the room contained, looking at the cracked and stained ceiling. One typical of the rooming house with its sagging roof, creaking floors, dingy walls. At night parasites crawled out to feed.

'Earl?'

'He wasn't joking. We're taking his offer.'

'I'd rather steal!'

'Then you do it alone.' Dumarest sat upright and stared at the younger man. 'Vargas will set it up for you if you pay. Find a location, arrange to dispose of the loot, even put you in touch with help if you need it. To him it's just a matter of business. To you it will be your life.'

'If I'm caught.'

'You'll be caught. People living on worlds like this have learned to take care of their property. And they aren't gentle with those who try to take it. Both hands amputated, blinding, hamstringing-most likely you'll be sold to the mines to work until you die. That needn't take long.'

'But to feed parasites!'

'Most do it all their lives.' Dumarest rose from the cot. 'Maybe we can find the captain in a tavern; if not I'll go to the ship. But first we'll get something to eat.'