Hyrcanus was small, the town named after the planet, the only town the world contained. The field was a patch of dirt seared and torn and dotted with discarded rubbish. The fence was a ring of scrub delineating the area, but there were ships waiting to leave and cargo needing to be loaded. From the window of his room in the tavern, Dumarest could see it all.
As could Dilys, at his side.
'That's the Shalarius,' she said, pointing. 'It's bound for Mucianus. And that's the Zloth. It's bound for Egremond.'
'And that?'
'A private charter I think. Sealed hull, no contact, handler like a zombie.'
Caradoc's vessel, and Dumarest wondered how long it would wait before sending out a rescue party. Not too long, he guessed, and it would be well to be far away when the cyber was found.
The woman seemed to be following his thoughts. 'Did you mean it, Earl? About sending back help?'
'Yes.'
'But you didn't specify just when.' She frowned, thinking, trying to fill out gaps. 'Why did you save him?'
'Bochner?'
'No. The cyber. You could have killed him. Thrown him after the acolyte. Why didn't you, Earl? He was after you, wasn't he? Chasing you, as Bochner said. Why leave him alive?'
Dumarest said, dryly, 'A thousand miles, Dilys. A long way over unknown ground, and we weren't fit to begin with. How long do you think it would have taken?'
'Too long, if we could have made it at all. But what's that lot to do with it?' She blinked, understanding. 'The raft. Caradoc brought us the raft.'
'Yes.'
'And saved us from having to walk. Perhaps he even saved our lives. And you spared his because of that?'
Because of that, and because the man had been hurt, helpless and dying, perhaps already dead if Bochner had failed to administer aid, or the wound had proved beyond treatment.
'You're a strange man, Earl.' Dilys reached out to touch his hair, her fingers traveling down over his cheek to linger on his lips. 'So hard and strong, at times, and so gentle at others. I think I sensed it from the first. It was something I needed. Something I shall always need. Earl-must it end?'
She read the answer in his eyes.
'Yes, I suppose it must, something else I've known from the beginning. But it hurts. Poor Jumoke-how it hurts!'
But not for long, and not as badly as she chose to think, at the moment. A quick, clean cut, with a minimum of pain, leaving a wound which quickly healed. She would not be left alone.
Dumarest turned from the window as Egulus entered the room. 'And luck?'
'Some.' The captain sat down, lifted the bottle standing on the table and poured himself a glass of wine. Lifting it, he looked at the murky amber of the local produce and said,
'The Shalarius can give us all passage if we can pay. High only, no Low--the journey is too short for that. On Mucianus, I've word of a friend who has a ship undergoing repair. I think he could use an ex-captain.'
'And an engineer?'
'I guess so.' Egulus looked at the woman then at Dumarest. 'But I thought-'
'I belong with you, Yarn. We share the same world.' Her hand fell to his shoulder to squeeze with a warm intimacy which squared his shoulders and took years from his face. 'We'll get along.'
'Without money?'
'We have money.' Dumarest reached into his pocket and spread the table with sparkling glitters. The stones he had taken from Threnond's belt which the man had used as a repository for his wealth. 'These can be sold to gain enough for our passages.'
'Ours?' Egulus looked the question. 'Are you coming with us?'
Dumarest shook his head. 'No. I'll make my own way.'
'On the Zloth? It's heading back into the Rift.'
Back into the region where suns were close and space was a maze of conflicting energies. Where a ship could hide and a man get lost. To where once again he could take up his search for Earth.
The End.
