‘You haven’t!’
‘No, it’s cat,’ he said, withdrawing a small, skinned, headless and pawless carcass. ‘Canal flavoured, alas.’
‘Another gift from Rucket?’
‘No, oddly enough. The canal.’
‘Ugh.’
‘Smells fresh enough-’
‘What’s that wire trailing from it?’
The manservant lifted the carcass higher, then took the dangling wire between two fingers and followed it back until it vanished in the flesh. He tugged, then grunted.
‘What?’ Tehol asked.
‘The wire leads to a large, barbed hook.’
‘Oh.’
‘And the wire’s snapped at this end – I thought something broke my fall.’ He tore a small sliver of meat from one of the cat’s legs, broke it in two, then placed one piece at each end of the insect named Ezgara. It settled to feed. ‘Anyway, a quick rinse and we’re ahead by two, if not three meals. Quite a run of fortune, master, of late.’
‘Yes,’ Tehol mused. ‘Now I’m nervous. So, have you any news to tell me?’
‘Do you realize, master, that Gerun Eberict would have had to kill on average between ten and fifteen people a day in order to achieve his annual dividend? How does he find the time to do anything else?’
‘Perhaps he’s recruited thugs sharing his insane appetites.’
‘Indeed. Anyway, Shurq has disappeared – both Harlest and Ublala are distraught-’
‘Why Harlest?’
‘He had only Ublala to whom he could show off his new fangs and talons, and Ublala was less than impressed, so much so that he pushed Harlest into the sarcophagus and sealed him in.’
‘Poor Harlest.’
‘He adjusted quickly enough,’ said Bugg, ‘and now contemplates his dramatic resurrection – whenever it occurs.’
‘Disturbing news about Shurq Elalle.’
‘Why?’
‘It means she didn’t change her mind. It means she’s going to break into the Tolls Repository. Perhaps even this very night.’
Bugg glanced over at the guard. ‘Master…’
‘Oops, that was careless, wasn’t it?’ He rose and walked over. ‘He hears all, it’s true. My friend, we can at least agree on one thing, can’t we?’
The eyes flickered as the man stared at Tehol.
‘Any thief attempting the Repository is as good as dead, right?’ He smiled, then swung back to face his manservant.
Bugg began removing his wet clothes. ‘I believe I’ve caught a chill.’
‘The canal is notoriously noxious-’
‘No, from earlier, master. The Fifth Wing. I’ve managed to successfully shore up the foundations-’
‘Already? Why, that’s extraordinary.’
‘It is, isn’t it? In any case, it’s chilly in those tunnels… now.’
‘Dare I ask?’
Bugg stood naked, eyes on the faint stars overhead. ‘Best not, master.’
‘And what of the Fourth Wing?’
‘Well, that’s where my crews are working at the moment. A week, perhaps ten days. There’s an old drainage course beneath it. Rather than fight it, we’re installing a fired-clay conduit-’
‘A sewage pipe.’
‘In the trade, it’s a fired-clay conduit.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Which we’ll then pack with gravel. I don’t know why Grum didn’t do that in the first place, but it’s his loss and our gain.’
‘Are you dry yet, Bugg? Please say you’re dry. Look at our guard here, he’s horrified. Speechless.’
‘I can tell, and I apologize.’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many scars on one person,’ Tehol said. ‘What do you do in your spare time, Bugg, wrestle angry cacti?’
‘I don’t understand. Why would they have to be angry?’
‘Wouldn’t you be if you attacked you for no reason? Hey, that’s a question I could ask our guard here, isn’t it?’
‘Only if he – or they – were similarly afflicted, master.’
‘Good point. And he’d have to take his clothes off for us to find out.’
‘Not likely.’
‘No. Now, Bugg, here’s my shirt. Put it on, and be thankful for the sacrifices I make on your behalf.’
‘Thank you, master.’
‘Good. Ready? It’s time to go.’
‘Where?’
‘Familiar territory for you, or so I was surprised to discover. You are a man of many mysteries, Bugg. Occasional priest, healer, the Waiting Man, consorter with demons and worse. Were I not so self-centred, I’d be intrigued.’
‘I am ever grateful for your self-centredness, master.’
‘That’s only right, Bugg. Now, presumably, our silent bodyguard will be accompanying us. Thus, we three. Marching purposefully off into the night. Shall we?’
Into the maze of shanties on the east side of Letheras. The night air was hot, redolent and turgid. Things skittered through the heaps of rotting rubbish, wild dogs slunk through shadows in ill-tempered packs looking for trouble – threatening enough to cause the bodyguard to draw his sword. Sight of the bared blade was enough to send the beasts scampering.
Those few homeless indigents brave or desperate enough to risk the dangers of the alleys and streets had used rubbish to build barricades and hovels. Others had begged for space on the sagging roofs of creaky huts and slept fitfully or not at all. Tehol could feel countless pairs of eyes looking down upon them, tracking their passage deeper into the heart of the ghetto.
As they walked, Tehol spoke. ‘… the assumption is the foundation stone of Letherii society, perhaps all societies the world over. The notion of inequity, my friends. For from inequity derives the concept of value, whether measured by money or the countless other means of gauging human worth. Simply put, there resides in all of us the unchallenged belief that the poor and the starving are in some way deserving of their fate. In other words, there will always be poor people. A truism to grant structure to the continual task of comparison, the establishment through observation of not our mutual similarities, but our essential differences.
‘I know what you’re thinking, to which I have no choice but to challenge you both. Like this. Imagine walking down this street, doling out coins by the thousands. Until everyone here is in possession of vast wealth. A solution? No, you say, because among these suddenly rich folk there will be perhaps a majority who will prove wasteful, profligate and foolish, and before long they will be poor once again. Besides, if wealth were distributed in such a fashion, the coins themselves would lose all value – they would cease being useful. And without such utility, the entire social structure we love so dearly would collapse.
‘Ah, but to that I say, so what? There are other ways of measuring self-worth. To which you both heatedly reply: with no value applicable to labour, all sense of worth vanishes! And in answer to that I simply smile and shake my head. Labour and its product become the negotiable commodities. But wait, you object, then value sneaks in after all! Because a man who makes bricks cannot be equated with, say, a man who paints portraits. Material is inherently value-laden, on the basis of our need to assert comparison – but ah, was I not challenging the very assumption that one must proceed with such intricate structures of value?
