He paused to draw breath. "I said I'd have to describe conditions in New Viron, and now I have. There is no unity and no sanity, or at least very little; but there is enough for five of our most powerful citizens to ask that you send Silk to us. The people will welcome him, and all five have sworn to support him."

Hound coughed apologetically. "He… From what you say. The others will still be stronger than Calde Silk, won't they?"

"No. In the first place, they could never oppose him as a block, and each would fear the others' treachery at least as much as the calde. In the second, thousands who are committed to no one at present would flock to him. His supporters will be united, and far more numerous than theirs."

He turned back to Bison. "That is to say, they will be if you'll let us have him. That's why I'm here. I'm hoping you'll tell me where he is, and help me persuade him to go."

"You'll want a lander, too. Or do you have one?"

Oreb added his own inquiry. "Thing fly?"

"That's right, the thing that flies between whorls. No, I haven't got one, and we'll have to have one. Surely-"

Bison raised a hand. "Surely I have a dozen I'm not using at the moment. Is that what you were going to say? Well, I don't. When Silk himself was calde, he sent off everyone who could be persuaded to go. It used to be that when a man was convicted, he was thrown into the pits." Bison laughed. "I used to think it was going to happen to me eventually. But when Silk took over they were given their choice, the landers or execution. I can't remember any choosing execution."

"If"

Bison's hand went up again. "Just a moment. You've asked for this, and I'm not through.

"The convicts were only a small part of what we sent. Most were manual laborers of one sort or another. Laborers and their families. Carpenters and masons, and small farmers and farm laborers. Something was said a while ago about me being calde over ruins. That's an exaggeration, but there's truth in it, and the truth is there because Silk sent out every lander he could patch up enough to fly. Not many came back, and when they they did he filled them up and sent them off again."

Bison leaned back, red-faced and scowling, then chuckled. "Well, I've got that off my chest, and I've been wanting to for a long time."

Hound ventured, "If there's no lander, Silk and Horn can't go to Blue, can they?"

Bison consulted a slim gold watch. "If they go, they'll have to get one someplace else, that's all. I may be able to help with that. Or they can wait until I have one, though I don't know when that may be."

"You'll tell me where Silk is, and help me persuade him?"

Bison stood. "Maybe, and maybe not. I haven't decided. It's lunchtime, gentlemen, and you're invited to lunch at my palace. Will you do me the honor of dining with my wife and me? We can talk about all this some more while we eat."

Bison and Pig sat on the wide rear seat of Bison's floater, the others on jump seats facing them. "I go home for lunch just about every day," Bison told them as the floater glided forward. "Generally I tell people it's because I like my cook's food."

He paused, fingering his beard. "That's true, I do. But that's not really why I go home to eat. It's because I want to talk to my wife about whatever has come up that morning. Now I want to talk to her about this. For one thing, she knows Silk better than I do."

He said, "You must mean Maytera Mint. In a book we wrote, we-my wife Nettle and I-tried to imply that you and Maytera Mint might marry; but we couldn't be certain that such a marriage would actually take place."

"Good girl!"

Bison laughed. "Don't call her Maytera, please. She isn't a sibyl anymore and doesn't like to be reminded of it. Call her General, or just Mint. She doesn't mind either one of those."

When no one else spoke, Pig muttered, "Bonny ride, bucky. Traveled far, aye, an' h'every way but flyin'. This's best. Feel a' h'it."

"I had almost forgotten about these, but I rode in the calde's once or twice before we left." He was looking out at the city through the transparent dome. "Willet was the driver, and he promised to teach me to drive, too. That was the day before we went up to the airship, and I've wondered sometimes whether he-well, never mind. It doesn't matter."

"Ter yer, bucky."

Bison told his own driver to go slower, then spoke to Pig, first touching his knee. "Do you know about my wife?"

"Nae had ther honor."

"Then I should tell you. She's in a wheelchair. It's not that she can't walk. She can, but it's painful. So she uses the chair, mostly. I thought you ought to know. Horn does already, I'm sure."

He turned from the contemplation of empty shops. "No, I didn't. What happened?"

"Someone tried to kill her."

Hound said, "I remember people talking about it."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He was killed himself a few seconds after he fired." Bison lifted his shoulders and let them fall. "If it weren't for your friend here, I wouldn't have mentioned it."

"Poor man," Oreb muttered. It was not clear whether he intended Bison or the assassin. "Poor girl."

Their floater, already moving slowly, slowed more, then settled to the wide, smooth paving stones before the Calde's Palace. With the whisper of one who betrays a secret, its transparent dome vanished into its gleaming sides. The driver sprang from his seat to open one side for them; from his green uniform, he was a hoppy, a member of the Calde's Guard.

Two more Guardsmen threw back the wide front doors of the Calde's Palace.

Pig had taken his arm. "Braw place, bucky? Feels sae."

"Handsome? Is that what brave means? It is indeed, with a door you won't have to duck through. Mind the steps, though."

The questing tip of Pig's sheathed sword found the first.

"I kept you waiting outside my office," Bison explained as he went up, "because I wanted to get my wife on the glass and ask about inviting you. She doesn't always feel up to entertaining, and it seemed better to find out how she was today in private. Frankly, I was amazed. She's eager to see you."

Hound was already wide-eyed. "I just wish Tansy were here. That's my own wife. She would be so thrilled…"

"If you live near here-" Bison began.

"Oh, no. It's-we live in Endroad. And she'd have to dress and everything. To tell you the truth, she probably wouldn't come, because she doesn't have a dress good enough."

Bison's wife Mint was waiting for them in the big dining room in which Silk had once entertained Generalissimo Siyuf. Bison hurried over to her. "My dear, I would like to present Horn, a visitor from Blue, and his friends Hound and Pig."

"Know girl!" Oreb proclaimed.

Mint smiled at all four; and although her face was pale and drawn, her smile was bright. "Welcome. Welcome, all of you. Horn, you can't have forgotten me. You used to be my runner."

He smiled and saluted. "Of course not, General."

"It's good to see you again. No, it's better than good. Wonderful, in fact. Have we been feeding you here in Viron?"

"Bountifully."

Hound said, "We breakfasted at our inn, just down the street. There was lots of very good food, but he kept giving his to Pig."

"Bird eat!"

"And to Oreb, though Oreb didn't eat as much."

"We have plenty for him here." She gestured toward the table. "For all of you. Sit down, please. I'm seated already, and we don't stand on ceremony here, or not till shadelow. My dear, would you push me?"

Bison did.

"There, that's better." From one end of the long table, Mint regarded the silver serving dishes with satisfaction. "I've put you all on one side because I had to. We can't pass, unless there are at least three on a side. The calde and I have to sit at a corner when we eat in here by ourselves."