The Skies Discrowned (13 page)

“What was the purpose of it? Just to nail some Transport cops?”

“No, Frank, not at all. What we did was … set a precedent. We’ve got to make it clear to the Transports that they are free to lord it topside, but have no jurisdiction understreet. If we can make sure that no Transport who comes down here ever returns topside, after a while they’ll stop coming down.”

“Maybe so.” Frank sipped his brandy. “Is it inevitable that they lord it in Munson?”

“As far as I can see. Are you still thinking of overthrowing the palace?”

“Sure.”

“Oh well. A mans reach should exceed his grasp, and so forth. Would you like a wig? I’m sure I could get one somewhere.”

“No, that’s … well, yes maybe I would.”

During dinner there was a knock at the door, and George Tyler wandered in, grinning, leading by the hand a woman Frank had never seen. She was blond and slightly overweight; her eyelids were painted a delicate blue.

“Good evening, Sam, Frank,” Tyler said. “This is Bobbie Sterne. We were just ambling past, so I thought we’d stop in.”

“Sit down and have something to eat,” said Orcrist. “Pons, could we have two more plates and glasses?”

“Oh, uh, look at this, Sam,” said Tyler shyly, handing Orcrist a small book bound in limp leather. Bobbie smiled and stroked Tyler’s arm.

“Poems,” Orcrist read, “by George Tyler. Well, I’ll be damned. Congratulations, George, published at last! This calls for a drink. Pons! Some of the Tamarisk brandy! Sit down, Bobbie, and Frank, get a chair for George.” Frank fetched a chair from the sitting room and took the opportunity to make sure his hat was firmly on.

“Frank,” said Tyler when he re-entered. “You’re limping. And you’ve got a cut over your eye. Did one of your students get vicious?”

“It’s the lot of a fencing master, George,” said Orcrist. “Be glad you’ve got a more peaceful craft.”

“Oh, I am.”

Pons had, zombie-like, served the brandy, and Bobbie was tossing it down like beer. Tyler took a long sip and smiled beatifically.

“Ah, that’s the stuff,” he said. “I’ll try to publish books more often, at this rate. Say, what do you think of that depth charge last night?”

“Depth charge?” Orcrist asked.

“Don’t play the dummy with me, Sam. The Transport used some kind of depth charge to blow out ten levels in the northwest area.”

“George, it was four levels, not ten, and it was a regular bomb. They dropped it on the surface to break up a riot. The only reason it did so much damage is that we’ve dug so many tunnels under Munson that it’s like a honeycomb down here.” Frank could see that Orcrist was controlling his impatience. “I think if anybody
stomped
really hard on any sidewalk in Munson a couple of levels would go.”

“Well, maybe so,” said Tyler, not quite sure of what was being discussed. “If I ever claim my kingdom I’ll do something about it.”

“That’s a comfort,” said Orcrist wearily.

“You think I’ll forget? Just because I’ll be living at the palace again? I won’t forget old friends, Sam. I’ll see to it that nobody steps on any sidewalks over your place.”

“Is this a limited edition, George?” asked Orcrist, thumbing through Tyler’s book. “It’s very handsomely printed.”

“Oh, yeah, nothing but the best. It’s limited to five hundred copies, and you can have that one. Here, I’ll sign it. I’m not the one to say it, but it’s likely to be very valuable in years to come.”

“I expect it will,” said Orcrist. “Thank you.”

For a few minutes everyone occupied themselves with the dinner.

“You look tired, Sam,” said Tyler, munching on a celery stick. “Been keeping long hours?”

“No longer than usual, George. I must just be—” he was interrupted by a crash from the kitchen. “Would you go see what that was, Frank?”

“Sure.” Frank stood up and walked into the kitchen. Pons lay on the floor, unconscious, bright arterial blood gushing from a long slash that ran from his elbow to his wrist. Blood, spattered on the counter and wall, was pooling on the floor.

“Sam!” Frank shouted. He ripped his shirt off and quickly knotted it around Pons’s upper arm. Then he thrust the handle of a butter knife under the fabric and began twisting it to tighten the tourniquet. At the third twist the blood stopped jetting from the arm.

Orcrist ran in, stared at Pons for a moment, and ran out again. He was back in five seconds with a needle, fishing line, and the bottle of brandy. He poured the liquor all over the wounded arm, and rinsed his own hands in it. He then threaded the needle with the fishing line and began working in the gaping cut. “Got to try to repair the artery, you see, Frank,” he said through clenched teeth. “There it is. Hold the skin there, will you?”

Frank held the wound open while Orcrist sewed shut the cut artery. Everything was slippery with blood and Frank didn’t see how Orcrist could tell what he was doing.

“Okay, let’s sew the slash closed now,” said Orcrist, cutting off the line that dangled from the knot. Frank pressed the edges of the wound together and Orcrist sewed it up as neatly as a seam in a pair of pants. He released the tourniquet, and though blood began to seep out around the stitches, he declared that all was well. He used Frank’s torn shirt as a bandage to wrap Pons’s arm.

“Will that do?” asked Frank.

“Actually, I don’t know,” Orcrist answered. “It looks right to me.”

Frank looked up. Tyler and Bobbie were standing in the doorway, looking pale and queasy.

“How did it happen?” Tyler asked.

“He cut himself, it appears, with that knife over there,” Orcrist said, pointing to a long knife lying next to the stove. “When he fell he knocked over this cart.”

“Good Lord. Should I get a doctor?”

“No, George, I don’t think so.” Orcrist went to the sink and began washing his hands. “I don’t really think there’s anything you can do here, so if you’ll excuse us, Frank and I have a bit of work to do.”

“Oh, sure, Sam. Come on, Bobbie.”

Frank washed his hands; then he and Orcrist lifted Pons and carried him into his room, laying him on the bed. They heard the front door close as Tyler and Bobbie left.

Orcrist, looking eighty years old, Frank thought, sank into a chair. “This has been a day to try men’s souls,” Orcrist said. “You and I seem to have survived. I’m going to bed. We can clean everything up in the morning.”

Frank stumbled to his own room, fell into bed and was plagued all night by monstrous dreams.

After the grisly mopping up was finished next morning, Orcrist left the house for an hour. Frank spent the time reading Housman’s poetry and drinking cup after cup of black coffee. When Orcrist returned he handed Frank a book-sized package. Frank opened it and lifted out the furry object it held.

“What the devil is it?” he asked. “A guinea-pig skin?”

“It’s a wig, and you know it,” Orcrist said. “Try it on.”

Feeling like a fool, Frank pulled the thing over his patchy, bandaged scalp. “How’s it look?” he asked.

“Pull it to the left more,” said Orcrist. “There, that’s good. Hows your ear?”

“It doesn’t hurt as much today. And I think the swelling’s going down. Wait a minute, I’ve got to see how my brass ear fits with this wig.”

Frank went to his room and took his strung metal ear off the bedside table. He put it on over the wig and it fit as well as ever, with the carved ear hanging exactly over the spot where his right ear used to be.

“It’s a perfect fit, Mr. Orcrist,” he said, returning to the sitting room.

“Yeah, you look like your old self. And I guess you can call me Sam, since you’re not a kitchen boy anymore.”

“All right.” Frank sipped his coffee and wondered how one scratched one’s head in a wig. “How’s Pons?”

“He was conscious this morning and I gave him some potato soup.”

“Is that what they give to people who’ve lost a lot of blood?”

“I don’t know. It’s what
I
give them.”

“Say, Sam,” Frank said, “was it a suicide attempt?”

“I think so. I wouldn’t have sewed him up if I was
sure
it was.”

“Ah.” Frank stood up. “Well, I’d better be off to the school. I’ve got to start working this stiffness out of me before that appointment with Blanchard day after tomorrow.”

“Okay. I may drop in later. I want some practice on that parry in prime you’ve been trying to teach me.”

“Sure. You can even take over the lessons if I find I get too exhausted.” Frank put on his coat and shoes, and left.

Frank’s first pupil of the day was waiting in the street in front of the school when he arrived.

“Good morning, Lord Emsley,” nodded Frank as he unlocked the door. “Sorry I’m late.”

“My time is money, Rovzar.” Emsley was a short, surly man with a bristly black moustache and bad teeth.

Once inside, Frank lit the lamps and opened the streetside windows; the window that faced the river he left closed, since there were still a few refugees floating down the Leethee.

“Okay, my lord, take an épée and let me see your lunge.”

Emsley selected a sword and crouched into an awkward on guard; then he kicked forward with his sword up.

“Extend your arm
before
your lead leg goes,” Frank told him. “Otherwise he sees it coming. Do it again.”

Emsley did it again.

“Arm first, my lord, arm first. And keep your rear leg straight. Do it again. And again. And again. Good. And again. And—”

“Damn
you, Rovzar!” Emsley roared. “This is insane! There’s no value in all these …
calisthenics
. Do you think it matters in a fight whether my leg is straight or my arm moves first? I’ll tell you what matters: speed! Listen—I’ll lay a wager with you. These ten malories say I can beat you, your style against mine.”

The lord flung ten one-malory notes onto the floor.

“Okay,” said Frank, picking them up and putting them on the table. “You’re on.” Damn it, Frank thought. I can’t fence today. Every muscle in me is tight as a guitar string. But I’ve got to show this blustering idiot where he stands. Let me see, what are his weakest points? He doesn’t parry well in sixte, when I come in over his sword arm. Let’s see if I can do something with that.

“Here,” he said, tossing Emsley a mask. He put one on himself and picked up one of the left-handed epees. God help me, he thought as he pulled on a leather glove. “On guard,” he said. Emsley lunged
immediately, and Frank parried it; but his riposte was slow, and the lord parried it without difficulty. Don’t be lured into attacking, Frank told himself. Wait for another one of his stupid lunges.

A heavy knock sounded at the door. “Just a minute,” Frank said, turning and raising his mask. Emsley drove his sword at Frank’s back, and the blade flexed like a fishing pole as the padded tip struck a rib. The breath hissed painfully through Frank’s teeth.

“You owe me ten malories, Rovzar!” crowed Emsley.

“Shut up, you ass,” Frank said. He crossed to the door and opened it, and his heart froze. Three Transport policemen stood on the doorstep, and one of them, a captain, wore an automatic pistol in a shoulder holster.

“Yes, officers?” Frank said.

“Are you Francisco Rovzar?” asked the one with the pistol.

“Yes. Why?” Can I kill all three? he wondered. I don’t like that gun. Emsley will be no help, that’s certain, and I’m not in top-notch shape anyway. Better talk to them.

“Can we come in?” They were already walking in, so Frank nodded and bowed. “We stopped by yesterday, but you weren’t here. We want to ask you about an incident that took place in the street two days ago. Did you see or hear or … do anything out of the ordinary on that day?”

“Friends of yours, Rovzar?” sneered Emsley.

“Who are you?” asked the captain sharply.

“Christopher Marlowe.”

“Write that name down,” barked the captain to one of the other officers. The man whipped out a small pad and scribbled in it. “Now get out of here, Marlowe. Rovzar, maybe you can explain how it is that four Transport policemen were found killed in the street two days ago.”

“No,” said Frank. “I didn’t hear about it.”

“Well, let me fill you in. They were killed in a swordfight. Your fencing school is less than a hundred yards from the spot, so you’re implicated. We’ve come to take you topside for interrogation. Any objections?”

The captain stood a good distance away, with his hand near his pistol.

“Not at all,” Frank said with a smile. “I assume you’ll provide lunch?” He hung up the sword and mask casually. I could dive through the river window, he thought, but that would be a pretty clear admission of guilt; I’d never dare come back here. I guess I’ll have to kill all three. If they get me topside they’re likely to see my tattoo and remember that Francisco Rovzar who escaped from Barclay six months ago. How long, though, can I keep killing every Transport who wants to question me?

He turned to the officers cheerfully. “Lead the way, gentlemen,” he said. The captain strode out while the other two officers seized Frank by
the arms and frog-marched him through the door.

“Take it easy, for God’s sake,” snapped Frank, wincing at the pain in his arm sockets. Four more Transports waited outside in the street, and fell in behind the two who held Frank.

“Only one thing really puzzles me, Rovzar,” remarked the captain over his shoulder as the grim procession set off down the street. “Why didn’t you change your name?”

“Change my name?” panted Frank.

“Yeah. Did you think we wouldn’t check? That we don’t keep records? When you jumped over the fence at Barclay and killed those two patrolmen, it was assumed that you’d drowned in the Malachi; but we didn’t throw away your file.”

Frank didn’t answer but cursed inwardly at his foolhardiness. I’ve had it. They’ll ship me off to the Orestes mines, and it will be as if I’d never set foot in Munson Understreet.

A heavy sense of final doom settled over him, and he felt close to tears. He had to forcibly strangle an impulse to beg the captain to let him go.

They turned onto Harvey Way, and Frank knew they must be planning to ascend to the surface by way of the Baldwin sewer. His arms had become numb from his captors’ tight grip, and he realized that the time to make a break for it, if there ever was one, had passed.