Blade grunted. «I will share the room, 610.» And added with a leer, «I do not wish to become a problem for you.»

610 patted his hands in approval. «There-there. That is better. I did think for a few minutes, sire, that you were going to be a problem. I was, in fact, warned that you might be. I am glad to see that you are not going to be much of a problem. As for eating-you will come to it when you are hungry enough.»

«No doubt,» Blade admitted. He had no wish to rile the little man further. «We will see.» He would not, he thought, be around long enough to go starving. When darkness came he might just be on his way. Surely, in a city the size of Cybar, or in the countryside around, he could find something to eat. Something that was not loaded with penthe.

610 had been trotting alongside, trying to keep up with Blade's long stride. Now he dashed ahead and threw open an unlocked door. Blade could not, in fact, see a lock and guessed that the door was to afford privacy more than to contain him. 610 had mentioned women-was it possible that his roommate, for you could hardly call it 4 cell, was a-

It was not possible. In fact it was quite impossible. Blade stared at the man on one of the two large beds and did not believe it: The man was nearly as large as Blade himself and was wearing the same white uniform and red sandals. He had been clipped and shorn and shaven and now, with the dirt missing, Blade could see the myriad scars. And the eye patch. That was the same.

The man stared back at Blade. He let out a bellow. «By Juna's golden ass! It's the master Blade himself. I will choke on one of Juna's tits if it ain't- Sire! I thought you. was dead and gone in that sewer-«

Blade gave him an enormous grin. He felt better already. Nob, as coarse and rough as he was, an admitted thief and murderer-as Blade had seen-and a son of the gutter, was yet like a breath of icy air in this cloying land of Patmos.

«Nob,» cried Blade. «Nob, you ruffianl I thought you were dead. I saw you fall beneath the horses, more afraid for your treasure than for your life. Nob-you welcome scum of the earth. It is good to see you.»

As he crossed to shake the man's hand he saw 610 backing out of the room. 610 was wringing his hands and smirking a bit. Blade knew then that this was no accidental meeting, no coincidence. He and Nob had been thrown together intentionally. But why? And by whom?

Juna?

They shook hands and in that moment Blade reasserted his strength and his authority. Nob did not give up easily, but after a moment he grimaced and pulled his hand away.

— «Enough, master, enough! Crush my paw and I cannot serve you with it. Have done-I acknowledge you strongest.»

The door closed softly behind them. Nob leaned close to Blade, grinning and rubbing his hand, and nodded toward the music box high on one wall.

«Take care,» he whispered. «It looks innocent enough and I like the music, but they use it to listen as well. I know not how it is done, but air currents carry our voices to them. But 'tis safe enough if you whisper.»

Blade nodded that he understood. He gazed deep into Nob's one good eye and saw that it was clear and alert and as full of mischief as ever. They had not yet gotten to Nob with the penthe.

Nob must have guessed his thought, for he whispered, «Did you bring aught to eat, Sire Blade?» He rubbed his belly and cursed when Blade shook his head.

«I,» said Nob, «could eat-«And mentioned Juna in a most indelicate manner.

The prison room was provided with a desk and ample writing materials and for a moment Blade thought the problem of communication was solved. Nob soon dashed that hope.

«I never learned my letters, sire. Old Nob never had time for that nonsense-he was too busy trying to keep his belly full.»

Blade glanced at the music box. They could not go on whispering forever. The very fact itself would make them suspect. Then he remembered the unlocked door and cursed himself for a fool. This was such an upside-down, topsy-turvy prison that a man could not think straight in it. He prodded Nob toward the door. It was as simple as taking a stroll.

No effort was made to stop them as they left the building and strolled about the well-kempt grounds. As soon as they were away from any possible listener Blade commanded Nob to talk. That worthy, with his brokentoothed grin, was only too ready. He adjusted his eye patch with a flair and stroked his jutting smooth-shaven jaw. His rugged features, now shorn of facial hair, re-

vealed many old scars and craters the latter attributed by Nob to a bad. case of pox in his childhood:

His right eye glinting with surly amusement, Nob said, x «I caught a hoof on the back of the sconce, master, and it ° must have made me look like a deader for sure-when I '' come to the Samostans was all gone and I had the square to myself.»

Nob screwed up his ugly visage and shrugged. «That were a odd feeling, master. You was gone into the sewer and me all alone there with the dead.»

Blade shook his head. «All of them? Every Thyrnian soldier died?»

«Aye. Unless, mind you, there was others playing dead lice me. But old Nob didn't stay to see. I found a few of me jewels and gold pieces, not all, for those thieving Samostans had taken them, and I crawled my way through the piles of corpses and out the gate into the salt marshes. There was naught to do but make for the coast, and that I '~ did. I fell in with a party of riff-raff like meself, you might say, and together we made the coast in three days. Once there-«

They stopped to watch some men tossing an oblong bladder about. Blade gave the man a sharp glance. «And then?»

«Well, sire, we had what amounted to a falling out.» Nob did not meet Blade's eye. «There was some difference of mind, sire, on how to divide up the treasure and arms we had, er, acquired, and about how many could go in the little boat.»

«You had a boat?»

«In a way, sire. One of the other-other rogues knew g where one was hid. I think he must have been a smuggler, sire.» Nob sounded so virtuous that Blade had trouble suppressing a grin. He studied Nob for a moment, then nodded. «You say you had a quarrel?» Blade looked away lest he smile. «What came of it?»

Nob stroked his lantern jaw. «You might say, sire, that I came of it. I tried to reason with them, sire, but they would have naught of it. In the end-well, master, I swear that I buried them decently and said proper prayers over them. By Juna's blonde fleece I did! I seen them off all right and proper.»

Blade believed him. And dismissed it with a nod. «And you came to Patmos in the little boat? And how to prison?»

Nob muttered gloomily. «Aye, straight to, prison. I had no chance at all, sire. The coast was alive with troops and watchers. At first I thought to fight, for you have seen what the soldiers are like, sire, and I could have eaten a score for breakfast-which reminds me, 'master, when are you going to find us something to eat?»

Blade, if he had acquired a good right hand and a servant, had also acquired a responsibility. As they circled a fountain and headed back toward the buildings he said, «Why did you not eat the meal in prison, Nob?»

The man's good right eye glittered and he smote a horny fist into his palm. «For the same reason you did not, master. My brains are not much, but they are mine and so far are not addled. I would keep them so. They put the drug penthe in the food here, to keep men happy and from thinking, like the salt they use in Thyrnian prisons to keep a man's cock limp. In the end it is the same-a man is. not a man!»

They strode a few paces in silence. Blade said, «How did you chance to know of the drug, Nob? You have been in Patmos before?»

For a long time Nob did not answer. Blade began to think that he was not going to answer when he finally cleared his throat and growled: «I have a feeling, master; now that we are twice met, that we are cast to each other for worse or better. So I must trust you, it seems.»