Blade met his eye. «I will not betray your trust, Nob. But what you tell must be of your own free will. The future is what interests me, not your past.»

«Aye. I know that. But I will tell you nonetheless-I have been in Patmos before now. I served in the army, which is how I come to know how poor it is, and if I am recognized I will be branded a deserter.»

Blade was not too much surprised at this intelligence. «What is the penalty for desertion here? Certainly not a violent punishment?»

«Nay. But a miserable one, sire. They force feed you the penthe and exile you to an isle for the rest of your life.»

Nob, after a moment, and with a scowl and in a tone of horror, added, «An isle without women, sire!»

Blade nodded in sympathy. In this he and Nob were on the same level-it was an inhuman punishment.

They passed a group of elderly men sitting on the benches. They did not lift their eyes as Blade and Nob strolled past. Nob grimaced with his blackened stumps. «You see, master? Accept the drug and you become like that.»

Blade inclined his head. Nob was right. Such apathy and inertia served to make a man little better than a corpse. It was death in life.

Nob said, «No half measures with me, master. I have told you that I am a deserter from the army of Patmosso know also that I am likewise a deserter from the Samostan army.» Nob did not try to hide his fear, nor the shudder that ran through his big body.

«That is one reason why I lagged in the fighting, sire. I always had thought to escape, and if not that I had intent to kill myself. For I am known to many officers in the army of Samos, and the penalty there for desertion is to be bound to a wheel and have your bones slowly broken with iron bars.»

Blade halted and, chin in hand, regarded his newly acquired man. He was pleased with this latest information-even a private soldier could tell him things about the Samostan army that he did not know at present-but he nonetheless kept his expression grim.

«So, Nob, you are three times a deserter? You admit this-from Patmos, from Samos, and lastly from Thyrne. That is the truth of it?»

Nob gave him a hideous grim with his broken stubs, and scratched at his newly cut hair, but there was a glint of anxiety in his good right eye. «In the main, sire, if you say it. But about Thyrne there might be a dispute of minds. I was pressed into Thyrnian service. I never joined of my free will.»

«And yet you are a Thyrnian? Born there?»

«Aye, sire. Born there.» Nob thrust his jaw at Blade and his eye hardened. «I showed you the gutter, if you remember. My birth bed.»

They walked on toward the building where they were quartered. Blade kept silent. He began to see a little method in all this madness, to discern a thread of reason and logic, of cause and effect, running through the seemingly 'mindless tapestry of events. Or he thought he did.

They halted again in a deserted plaza of lawn and flowers. There was no music box nearby, nor any inmates or Gray People. Blade fixed his man with a hard stare.

«I care nothing what you have done or been, Nob. We must have an understanding there. As we must have about the future-if you cast your lot with me I will expect loyalty and good service. I will accept nothing less and will punish for lack of it. I, in my turn, will bind myself to you, to protect and aid you and see to your comfort and well being. Think well and hard before you make a bargain, Nob, for I am not an easy forgiver. And the way will be hard-I know little of Patmos and will make mistakes. A battle is coming and you know the odds against us, for surely our lives ride in the balance, and if they break your bones with iron they will do worse. to me. Know you of the priest, Ptol?»

Nob spat. That was answer enough.

Blade smiled coldly and went on, «I humiliated Ptol, snatched Juna from him, and cut off his hand into the bargain. Now he has gone over to Hectoris-not a far journey, I suspect-and I doubt that he sleeps much for pain and dreams of revenge. But enough of that-I tell you so you will know that my life is as much risked as your own. Now, when you came to Patmos, in your little boat, how was it that you were brought to this very same prison as I was? For I think we were meant to meet here.»

Nob rubbed his pocked face and looked stupidly at Blade for a moment. Obviously the thought had not occurred to him. At last he shook his head. «I do not know, sire. Your mind runs faster than mine. I had not thought that we met but by accident and-«

Blade was remembering various conversations that had taken place on his way through the salt marshes with

Edyrn and the little.party. He had not spoken much to Juna, who had been keeping herself to herself; he had. spoken a great deal to the boy, Edyrn. And Edym, as Blade now knew, was Juna's man.

Man, he thought a little wryly, was the word. He had made a mistake in taking Edyrn for a mere callow stripling. A mistake of which Edyrn had taken full advantage. Blade had spoken of Nob, more to pass the time than anything else, and to make the miserable wet camps more bearable. It had seemed natural enough at the time, Blade thought now, but he was still a fool. Prattling on about his narrow escape in Thyme, about his adventures, with Edyrn soaking in every word and reporting it to Juna later.

It only required confirmation and a moment later Blade had it. Nob- said that a young officer resembling Edyrn had indeed interviewed him soon after his arrest.

«Aye,» mumbled Nob, searching his memory. «A short and bandy legged young cock he were, with blue eyes and yellow hair. Had an honest look to him, though that means nothing.»

«How was he dressed? How did he act? Think, 'man! Was he in command? Did he show authority or was he only a courier?»

«Oh, aye, he was in command right enough.» Nob waggled his long jaw. «Had a file of soldiers to his back. Ummnim-that's queer, now that I recall-«

«What was queer, man? Stop your maundering and tell me clearly what happened.»

Blade had no doubt that it was Edym being described. An Edyrn not so young and guileless as he had posed. An officer in the army of Patmos. And Juna's man all the way-or was he?

«The soldiers!» Nob smote a great fist into his palm. «That was different-they looked like real soldiers, clad in old leather and iron, and they carried weapons like they knew what they were for. How could that have slipped my mind? They were real soldiers, not like these nambies we've to do with, or I would not have gone along so easily.,

Blade thought that over for a moment. «They brought you straight here? To the prison?»

«Aye. And in silence, too. It was forbidden to speak.»

«And they mentioned nothing of me? This young officer-he is a man called Edyrn-he said nothing to you of me? No hint that I would come and join you in this prison?»

Nob shook his head. «None, 'master. I was treated well enough, but they told me nothing.»

Blade kept after him. «How was this Edyrn dressed? What rank did he display?» Nob was like a sponge. The information was there but you had to squeeze him to get it.

Nob put a finger to his hairy nostrils. «Aye-that is something else comes back to me. This younker officer were dressed in battle armor, like I said, and wore rank of a captain in the Pearl's own guard. I am sure, now, though I have seen it but once before. On his shoulders he wore the insigne of the black Pearl of Patmos. Of Izmia herself. She who lives in the volcano.»

They were passing a last bench before the entrance to the building. Blade sat down abruptly. It was coming too fast. He held up a hand to silence Nob.

There was no great mystery as to how Edyrn had come to Patmos so much before Blade-he had left earlier and he must have made the trip many times before, he would have known the currents and winds and the most direct route. The men he commanded might have been waiting for him. He had carried out Juna's orders and had Blade met and taken to prison-no great mystery to that, either-but before that he had encountered Nob-a chance meeting? — and at that time he had been in the uniform of a guardsman of the Pearl. Just who did Edym serveJuna or the Pearl of Patmos? Or both? And what possible purpose could Edyrn serve in throwing Blade and Nob together? And on whose orders?