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companions, but really for his own benefit, since the sound of his own voice
always cheered him and gave him courage.
"Our voyage is nearing its close, and before us opens up the romantic and
ancient city of Appsala, famed for its loathsome customs, murderous natives,
and archaic sanitation facilities, of which the watery channel this ship is
now entering seems to be the major cloaca. There are islands on both sides,
the smaller ones covered with hovels so decrepit that in comparison the holes
in the grounds of the humblest animals are as palaces, while the larger
islands seem to be forts, each one walled and barbicaned, and presenting a
warlike face to the world. There couldn't be that many forts in a town this
size, so I am led to believe that each one is undoubtedly the guarded
stronghold of one of the tribes, groups, or clans that our friend Judas told
us about. Look on these monuments to ultimate selfishness and beware: this is
the end product of the system that begins with slaveholders like the former
Ch'aka with their tribes of kreno crackers, and builds up through familial
hierarchies like the d'zertanoj, and reaches its zenith of depravity behind
those strong walls. It is still absolute power that rules absolutely, each man
out for all that he can get, the only way to climb being over the bodies of
others, and all physical discoveries and inventions being treated as private
and personal secrets to be hidden and used only for personal gain. Never have
I seen human greed and selfishness carried to such extremes, and I admire Homo
sapiens' capacity to follow through on an idea, no matter how it hurts."
The ship lost way as it backed its sails, and Jason fell from his precarious
perch into the stinking bilge. "The descent of man," he muttered, and inched
his way out. -
Piles grated along the sides, and with much shouting and cursed orders the
ship came to a halt. The hatch above was slid back and the three captives were
rushed to the deck. The ship was tied up to a dock in a pool of water
surrounded by buildings and high walls. Behind them a large sea gate was just
swinging shut, through which the ship had entered from the canal. They could
see no more because they were pushed into a doorway and through halls and past
guards until they ended up in a large central room. It was unfurnished except
Page 55
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
for the dais at the far end on which stood a large rusty iron throne. The man
on the throne, undoubtedly the Hertug Persson, sported a magnificent white
beard and shoulder-length hair; his nose was round and red, his eyes blue and
watery. He nibbled at a kreno impaled delicately on a two-timed iron fork.
"Tell me," the Hertug shouted suddenly, "why you should not be killed at
once?"
"We are your slaves, Hertug, we are your slaves," everyone in the room shouted
in unison, at the same time waving their hands in the air. Jason missed the
first chorus, but came in on the second. Only Mikah did not join in the
chant-and-wave, speaking instead in a solitary voice after the pledge of
allegiance was completed.
"I am no man's slave."
The commander of the soldiers swung his thick bow in a short arc that
terminated on the top of Mikah's head: he dropped stunned to the floor.
"You have a new slave, oh Hertug," the commander said.
"Which is the one who knows the secrets of the caroj?" the Hertug asked, and
Snarbi pointed at Jason.
"Him there, oh Mightiness. He can make caroj and he can make the monster that
burns and moves them. I know because I watched him do it. He also made balls
of fire that burned the d'zertanoj, and many other things. I brought him to be
your slave so that he could make caroj for the Perssonoj. Here are the pieces
of the caro we traveled in, that were left after it was consumed by its own
fire." Snarbi shook the tools and burnt fragments out onto the floor, and the
Hertug curled his lip at them.
"What proof is this?" he asked, and turned to Jason. "These things mean
nothing. How can you prove to me, slave, that you can do the things he says?"
Jason entertained briefly the idea of denying all knowledge of the
matter, which would be a neat revenge against Snarbi, who would certainly meet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]