'A brandel that the bidding will not go above fifteen,' a third called out.
'Ten coppers that she will plead before it is finished.'
'A token and three that the first glass will be done before the contraction,' a woman in an embroidered gown next to Jemidon said to her companion. 'A token and three coppers against your token plain.'
The man accompanying her nodded and pulled a gleaming coin from a pouch. The woman produced hers and then frowned as she searched through her purse for the rest.
'Perhaps I can be of assistance to my lady.' Benedict suddenly appeared and patted the mechanism strapped to his waist. 'Brandels for tokens, coppers for silver galleons, dranbots from the south, regals of the inland. I can change them all. Only one extra for a fee, and whatever you have can be transformed into another.'
The woman nodded and reached a final time into her purse. 'All copper and silver,' she said as she dumped a pile of brass and tin into Benedict's palm. 'I expect to wager more before it is done.'
With a speed that Jemidon could hardly follow, Benedict inserted the coins into the slits in the top of the device at his waist. As the metal dattered downward, he tripped the levers near the bottom and his palm filled with another collection, different from the first.
'May your wagers be perfection,' Benedict said as he handed the money back to the woman. With a slight bow, he darted away into the crowd.
'Eighteen has been bid, but the debt is thirty-five.'
Jemidon turned his attention back to the center of the court. A man-at-arms with a red surcoat over his mail paced around the cube, shouting to the crowd.
'Expert trader Trocolar's due is thirty-five, and he will accept no less. Speak now, else the justice of Pluton will run its course.'
The crowd again fell silent as the guard made a final circuit of the box. He jerked his thumb upward and the prisoners were goaded onto the ladder at spear point. The first reached the top and hesitated, but one of the guards prodded him over the side. Jemidon heard a muffled thud as he hit the bottom and saw the chain pull tight on the one who followed. When the woman reached the top, she turned and looked out over the throng.
'Trocolar,' she shouted hoarsely, 'Trocolar. I cannot pay him, it is true, but my spirit will not rest until he suffers the same, if ever he becomes short even by one token only, then I charge your judgment to be no less than what you have prescribed for me.'
With her chin thrust out defiantly, she turned and leaped in after the others. Two of the men-at-arms grabbed the lid of the chest and arched it up over the hinges to clang shut. A blue flash like the one from Benedict's strongbox cut through the air overhead. Low-hanging banners about the court seared and smoldered, turning black along a thin horizontal line at precisely the height of the top of the coffer. One of the glasses was tipped over. As the sand began to fall, the crowd broke into another round of spirited betting.
Jemidon looked about, puzzled. No shouts could be heard coming from the box, nor any pounding on the walls. In perfect silence, it stood gleaming in the high morning sun. He watched the sand drain from the glass and, just as the last grains emptied, the starting of the other.
'There are three this time, rather than the usual pair,' Jemidon heard someone say. 'That is the reason. Without her, it would have long since been over.'
''But the pressure does not relent,' another replied. 'Three coppers that we will not see the turning of another glass.'
A sudden shimmer caught Jemidon's eye, and he glanced back at the cube. He saw the walls vibrate as if struck by a hammer and then a sudden jerking movement as they simultaneously contracted. Jemidon blinked at what he had seen. The cube was still perfectly formed as before, but, with no excess material or visible seams, it had shrunk to half its former size.
With a sickening feeling, Jemidon realized what was going to happen. Before he could turn away, the cube jerked a second time and then again. With each movement, it halved its dimensions, confining its contents closer together in smaller and smaller volumes. The vibrations of the walls intensified, so that a low-pitched hum filled the air of the courtyard. Drops of reddish pulp appeared at the end of the pipe at the bottom. With the next constriction, it gushed in a steady flow. Bits of cloth and shattered bone swirled out onto the courtyard. A thick, stringy liquid added its stain to the sunbleached blotch that was already there.
Jemidon turned away and staggered back through the entrance to Benedict's cubicle. On Pluton for less than an hour, and already he wanted to be away. He thought of the tangle of three bodies as they were cramped together and the woman's face that he had seen just moments before. He sagged into a chair, shook his head to clear the images away, and tried to focus on why he had come.
After a moment, he heard the slide of the curtain and looked up, thankful for the distraction as Benedict entered.
'Still here?' the divulgent asked. 'If you stay, the chair rent remains one copper.'
Jemidon started to rise, but then slowly settled back into the chair. Disgustedly he threw a coin on the table and placed his arms around his stomach. It would be worth the cost for a few more minutes to allow his insides to settle.
Benedict circled to the other side of the table and scooped up the copper. With a laugh, he slid it into the changer at his waist and patted it affectionately.
'Faster than any of the rest, and they know I am accurate as well,' he said. 'It garnishes only little profit, even when the courtyard is full, but each token I am able to accumulate brings me closer to Cumbrist's total.' With a practiced motion, he levered a half-dozen coins into his palm and then recycled them through the top.
'A curious device,' Jemidon said, reaching for any distraction to blur the memories of outside. 'It seems to be a collection of distinct columns fused together. The type of coins which come out the bottom of a particular shaft are all the same, even though a mixture is inserted in the single slit at the top. Somehow, internally they are permuted about.'
'A minor magic.' Benedict shrugged. 'Necessary to make the thing invulnerable. More of a puzzle than anything else.'
'Do it again, but more slowly so that I can watch.'
'Another copper,' Benedict said. 'I am no practiced performer, but it would be folly to give away my skill when fetching a price would be better.'
Jemidon scowled and waved the thought aside. 'Never mind, then. Let us return to why I am here. Where do I get this assay? Or must I pay for that information as well?'
Benedict pursed his lips. 'Everyone on Pluton would know. The value of the knowledge is worth far less than the smallest coin we could exchange.'
'Then answer more questions until I have received full value,' Jemidon said, bouncing a second coin on the table.
'Well enough.' Benedict nodded in agreement as he grabbed the copper. 'As for the first, any vault will perform the service for a small fee-even certify what is deposited in accounts other than their own.'
'Another small fee,' Jemidon said, 'given to a vault which also will probably charge for me to sit while I explain what I want.' He paused as another idea popped into his head. For a moment he turned it over, then shrugged, making up his mind.
'And the vault in the grotto,' he said at last. 'Will that serve as well as any other?'
Benedict ran his fingers over the small, weathered disk. 'I owe you still and so I will answer fairly. Of all the vaults on the island, that is the last with which I would entrust my wealth. The others have protection that is true magic, strongholds like mine, only large enough to hold the fortunes of many. But the one in the grotto-' He shook his head. 'It depends on the tide to protect it. I would not take the risk. No matter that it means the fees are smaller. Cumbrist does not choose such folly, and neither shall I.'
'I have no fortune to be so concerned,' Jemidon said, 'and on the sloop from Morgana, I heard that an Augusta earns her livelihood there. Perhaps she is none other than an old friend and will be less eager to demand a fee at every turn. Give me the directions to where she is, and then we will be done.'
'In the end, you will receive what you pay for.' Benedict shrugged. 'The difference is the degree of risk. And as for the consequences, think again of the exhibition in the court.'
'The ledger does not indicate that you are expected.' The clerk on the left looked up suspiciously from the paper-strewn desk. 'Surely one of us can handle your needs just as well.'
