Angado

'The man who told me that told me more,' Pryor reached for his glass, found it empty, refilled it with a hand which created small chimes from the impact of the decanter with the rim. A quiver which sent ripples over the surface of the wine. 'It's nonsense, of course, as anyone can see, but an interesting concept in its way. You may have heard of it. Some profess to believe that all life originated on one planet. All the divergent races on one small world. Logic is against it. The numbers are of no importance, natural increase would account for that, but how to account for the diversity of color? How, under one sun, could people be white, black, brown, yellow and all the shades between? They would be affected by the same climatic conditions, the same radiation, water, air, food. How to account for the different germ plasm?' He drank and wiped droplets from his lips. 'As I said it's just an interesting concept. The image itself yields a certain tactile pleasure which you may enjoy. The story, of course, is nothing. An exercise in logic, you might say. No intelligent man would give it a moment's credence.'

And only a fool would have mentioned something he took such pains to deny.

Pryor was old but no fool and the figure meant more to him than he admitted despite his protestations. A gift for a service rendered, the most he could offer, and yet one it hurt to lose. The talk had been a cover for his emotions, the code by which he lived enforcing the gift as a matter of honor. As it would regard rejection as an insult. Dumarest must accept it or make an enemy and, on Lychen, he had only one friend.

Quietly he said, 'I am honored. I have seen an object like this once before. On a far world in a commune of those who claimed a common heritage and held a belief close to that you spoke of. They call themselves the Original People.' He saw the clenching of a thin hand, the sudden spatter of spilled wine. Without pause he continued, 'To them the figure was sacred. They kept it in a shrine.'

'So?'

'I think it a pleasant custom.' The hand and the spilled wine had been enough but if Pryor knew of the Original People or subscribed to their beliefs the secrecy shrouding them would block his tongue. A thing Dumarest knew and accepted. 'I receive this figure from you as a valued gift,' he said. 'But gifts should be shared and I return it into your keeping. To be guarded until such time as I choose to send for it. It is agreed?'

'I don't understand.' Pryor frowned, cheeks flushing with a dawning anger. 'Are you refusing-'

'No!' Dumarest was sharp. 'That is the last thing I intend. Let me explain. The plaque in the museum is yours, agreed? They are displaying it for you. Safeguarding it. I am asking that you do the same with my figure. I have reason for the request which I am sure you will appreciate.' His voice deepened, took on the echo of drums as he said, 'From terror they fled to find new places on which to expiate their sins. Only when cleansed will the race of Man be again united.'

The creed of the Original People and Pryor gulped, his eyes startled, veiling as he stared at Dumarest's enigmatic face.

'I see,' he said. 'I-yes, we understand each other. It will be an honor to do as you ask. But I feel at a loss. It is not right that you should leave this house without some token of my appreciation.' Pryor gestured with a thin hand. 'Look around. Choose. Anything you wish will be yours.'

'This.' Dumarest rose and picked up his wine. 'I choose what this glass contains.' He drank and added, 'The wine- and the name of the man for whom you collected old books.'

* * *

It was late when Dumarest returned to Angado's cavelike home and the apartment was deserted aside from servants who remained discreetly invisible. One answered his summons, a man who stood with quiet deference, eyes widening as Dumarest asked his question.

'A study, sir?'

'Something like that. A room with books and maps. Surely there are maps?'

'I can't be certain, sir. There was a clearance when the old owner died and the present master has been long absent. Also changes have been made.' A lift of his hands emphasized his inability to be precise. 'But if maps are present, sir, they could be in the desk.'

'And that is where?'

In a room barren of windows lit by lamps shielded by decorated plates of tinted transparency. One with a soft carpet on the floor and erotic paintings on the ceiling to match those writhing on the walls. A library of a kind but one which would have held a bed rather than books. Now it held neither- just a chair, a display cabinet holding small artifacts, a desk which dominated the room with its massively carved and ornamented bulk. The top remained closed beneath Dumarest's hands, the maps it may have contained beyond his reach.

A small irritation and one he ignored as he returned to the main salon and stood before the wide window watching the play of colored illumination streaming upward from the mist at the foot of the waterfall. In it the curtain of water became an artist's palette alive with vibrant hues; reds and greens, blues, oranges, dusty browns and limpid violets, shards of gold and streamers of silver, changing, blending, forming transient images which dissolved as soon as recognized. A magic reflected by the rock wall facing him across the chasm, the stone taking on a strangely disturbing aspect as if the stubborn material had softened and become the door to new and alien dimensions.

From behind him a woman said, 'It's beautiful, isn't it, Earl?'

She was tall, slim, wide shoulders adding to the hint of masculinity accentuated by the close-cropped silver hair which framed a broad face and deep-set eyes of vivid blue. A woman who moved with a boyish grace, no longer a girl, the maturity of near middle-age giving her a calm assurance. Her mouth, wide, the upper lip thin, curved into a smile, revealed neat and even teeth. She wore a masculine garb of pants and blouse, her femininity displayed in the fine weave, the intricate pattern of complex embroidery. Her voice was deep, resonant and Dumarest thought of the sound of fuming water.

'My lady?'

'So formal,' she said. 'So cautiously polite. Lhank said you were that.'

'Lhank?'

'Lord Hedren Angado Nossak Karroum. When there are so many names it helps to use initials.' Her laughter rose in genuine amusement. 'Don't look so startled. I have a key, see?' She lifted it swinging from her fingers. 'You were busy when I arrived. What did you think of the den? Lhank Five had some peculiar attributes and had a liking for the bizarre. Lhank Six was something of a prude and Lhank Seven-well, you know about him.'

'And nothing about you.'

'Nothing? He didn't mention me? His old and trusted friend?' Again her laughter drowned the murmur of the waterfall. 'Wynne Tewson. At times I like to think that he left Lychen because of unrequited love. Now he has returned and with a new friend. A hero.' Her eyes narrowed, became appraising. 'There are many who will envy him.'

Dumarest said, 'The key you have in your hand-will it fit the desk?'

'What?' She frowned as he explained. 'The desk in the den? What the hell is it doing there? Now if it was a bed maybe we could use it. Did you know that as the lights change color the paintings take on new and various forms? Speed the illumination and you get a kind of stroboscopic effect; one minute the walls are full of coupling shapes, the next a crowd of goggling voyeurs. Old Lhank certainly had imagination.'

'The desk?'

'Is just that, a desk. Put in the den to get it out of the way. I can't open it but even if I could it holds nothing of value. Why are you so interested.' She blinked as he told her. 'Maps? You are interested in maps?'

'Just of this area. This world. I like to know where I am.'

'Yes,' she said. 'That I can imagine. But there are other ways to find out aside from maps. How about a personally conducted tour? I've a raft waiting and we could take a ride. Go to the Steaming Hills or look at the Pearls of Toria. If you're really interested in old maps we could even pay a visit to Chenault.'

The name Pryor had given him, the same as that Shakira had mentioned back in the circus of Chen Wei. The man Dumarest needed to find-but without leaving a trail others could follow.

Casually he said, 'Is that why you are here? To take me on a conducted tour?'

'No. I came to bring you a message. Lhank wants you to join him.'

'Do you always do what Angado wants?'

'Angado?' She smiled with a secret amusement. 'Is that what you call him? How touching. Such a sweet name.'