Zenya

'Not really,' said Dumarest. 'They all came from the oldest plants I could find.'

'A bluff? Well, if so, it worked. No one thinks of blaming the Ayutha now. In fact, everyone wants to help them.' He paused, then added, 'As I want to help you, Earl. Chard owes you a hell of a lot. As I said, you can stay, but there's something you had better know. The Council has called on the Cyclan to help them in the emergency.'

And the first thing they would do would be to demand him as a part of their price. Dumarest said, 'It doesn't matter. They would have known I was here anyway. The Cyclan aren't fools. They would have known I landed on Paiyar and predicted where I would arrive. You know how they operate.'

'I know.' Paran drew a deep breath. 'I think we're going to need that army. Something to face up to the growers and the red swine they've employed. I've lived through something like this before, on Elchan… Well, that doesn't matter now. You're leaving, then?'

'Yes.'

'I thought you would. I've had the money owing you put into oils and loaded on the Topheir. I've had it held until you made a decision. It'll leave when you're ready.' Paran rose. 'There's not much else to say, Earl, aside from thanking you for what you've done.' He held out his hand in an old-fashioned gesture. His grip was hard. 'There's someone else outside who wants to see you.'

It was Salek. He came from a circle of light, to stand thin and a little forlorn in his robe. 'You've heard about Zenya?'

Dumarest nodded.

'She loves you, Earl. She killed just to save you. She will wait for you on Paiyar-she asked me to tell you that.'

'She'll wait a long time,' said Dumarest. 'I'm not going back to that world, and if you've any sense, neither will you, until your father is dead.'

'Earl!' Salek hesitated. 'There's something else. When Lisa was talking, she mentioned your interest in ancient things. That world you are looking for? Earth?'

Dumarest remembered what Chan Parect had said- that if he found Salek, he would find the answer to his search. A lie, he had thought, another bribe to add to the rest, yet there was always the thin chance that, for once, the old man had told the truth.

'You know where it is?'

'No, not exactly, that is…' Salek broke off, making a helpless gesture. 'I can't be sure,' he complained. 'But there are names. Sirius, Polaris, Alpha Centaurus, Procyon. Polaris was reputed to be the one star that didn't move. I'm not helping you much, but there's something more. A suspicion, but I think-in fact, I'm almost certain- that the Cyclan knows just where the planet is to be found.'

The one group he couldn't question.

'Does it help, Earl?'

'Yes,' said Dumarest. 'It helps.'

Then he turned and walked across the field to where the Topheir was waiting, Branchard standing at the foot of the ramp, grinning a welcome.

'Glad you could make it, Earl. Now, let's get on our way.'

Up and out on a series of random journeys impossible to predict, to move on to where the stars hung thin against the sky and ancient names were remembered. To the one world he was searching for and, one day, would find.