Shallows of Night - 02 Read Online Free PDF Page B

below.
    Sleep.
    “Tomorrow night.”
    A small squat lamp hanging from a beam in the cabin’s low ceiling had been lit. It swung with the ship’s motion, shadows fleeing across the bulkheads.
    “What?” he said thickly.
    Through round crystal portals set in either bulkhead he saw that it was still dark out. It was warm and comfortable here and he closed his eyes, sighing.
    “We slept through the night,” said Borros from his berth across the cabin, “and all of the day.” He smiled wearily. “I got up once and it was near sunset, that is how I know. I went on deck and found that the wind had changed slightly. We were running more to the west than I wanted, as close as I could tell—the sun sets only roughly in the west—so I reset the wheel.” He stood up carefully. He looked thin and gaunt. “Hungry?” Ronin opened his eyes.
    They ate voraciously from the stores on ship; concentrates with unsatisfying flavors, but they filled the belly. Abruptly he remembered the frostbite of his face but, lifting a hand, he could feel no burn or discomfort.
    “The ancients anticipated that possibility also,” said the Magic Man. “You will find a packet of the unguent in one of the pockets of your suit. When I woke yesterday, I fixed us both up at the same time.” He smiled almost apologetically. “I did not see the need to wake you.” He lay back on his bunk, as if the talk had weakened him.
    “Are you all right?” Ronin asked.
    The Magic Man lifted a slender hand. “Only—it will take me somewhat more time than you to recover.” His lips turned up again in a watery smile. “The disadvantages of age, you understand.”
    Ronin turned away. “I have a surprise for you,” he said.
    “Ah, good. But first you must tell me of your journey to the City of Ten Thousand Paths.” Ronin looked back at him in time to see the sorrow and regret in his eyes. He shook his head ruefully. “I am so sorry, Ronin. I sent you on a madman’s quest, an impossible—”
    “But—”
    “They told me about G’fand—”
    “Ah.” His heart felt as cold as ice. “Did they?”
    “Yes.” He grimaced. “It was part of my treatment. Freidal had already subjected me to such prolonged physical torture”—unconsciously his thin fingers sought his forehead, where before Ronin had seen the terrifying marks of the Dehn spots—“in trying to pry out of me all that I knew of the Surface, that he felt it was time to change tactics. I knew all along that I had sent you down to the City of Ten Thousand Paths and he could have stopped you at any time—”
    “He wanted to see what I would return with, since he could not break you.”
    But Borros was not listening; he was remembering. “He was so clever, Chill take him! He came in and told them to stop; gave me water and let me rest. Told me that I had been through it all and had not given in; that it was useless for him to try any more. He—he said that he admired me”—his voice turned to a tremulous fluting—“that as soon as I had recovered, I was free to go.” He passed a frail hand across his eyes as if the gesture would blot out the nightmare that played in his mind and which, compulsively now, spewed from his mouth.
    “‘Oh, by the way,’ he said, as if it were the last thing on his mind, ‘we have taken Ronin into custody. He has just returned to the Freehold after making an unauthorized exit. We have asked him quite politely where he went; after all it is a Security matter. The safety of the Freehold is at stake; if he can egress, others may gain entrance. So you understand that we must find out where he went and why. It is a matter of utmost importance.’ Freidal sighed. ‘But so far he has been most reluctant to accommodate us. He refuses, Borros, to do his duty to the Freehold. You understand what must be done now.’ I did indeed; he meant to use the Dehn on you. ‘His disrespectful actions leave me no choice. Oh yes,’ he said then, ‘I almost forgot. The