[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
free. At no great distance my daughter waits. She is suddenly impatient with
wild leeks and hence redundant to my household. It is fitting that by her
agency I am released." And Fabehi nodded with ponderous satisfaction.
"It will be interesting to watch your methods," Cugel remarked. "Precisely
where is she to be found and how* will she be summoned?"
Fabeln's expression became both cunning and rancorous. "I tell you nothing! If
you wish to tally items, devise the means yourself!"
Zaraides gestured to a board where lay strips of parchment. "I tie persuasive
messages to winged seeds, which are then liberated into the forest. The method
is of questionable utility, luring passersby to the mouth of the cave, but
enticing them no further. I fear that I have only five days to live. If only I
had my Hbrams, my folios, my work-books! What spells, what spells! I would
rive this warren end to end; I would convert each of these man-rodents into a
blaze of green fire.
I would punish Fabeln for cheating me. . . . Hmmm. The Gyrator? Lug-wiler's
Dismal Itch?"
"The Spell of Forlorn Encystment has its advocates," Cugel suggested.
Zaraides nodded. "The idea has much to recommend it ... But this is an idle
dream: my spells were snatched away and conveyed to some secret place."
Fabeln snorted and turned aside. From behind the grate came a shrill
admonition: "Regrets and excuses are poor substitutes for items upon your
score. Emulate Fa-163
The Eyes of the Overwortd beln! Already he boasts one item and plans a second
on the morrow! This is the sort we capture by choice!"
"I captured him!" asserted Cugel. "Have you no probity? I sent him into the
cave; he should be credited to my account!"
Zaraides cried out in vehement protest. "By ho means! Cugel distorts the case!
I£ pure justice were done, both Cugel and Fabeln should be tallied to my
score!"
"All is as before!" called out the shrill voice.
Zaraides threw up his hands and went to writing parchments with furious zeal,
Fabeln hunched himself on a stool and sat in placid reflection. Cugel, in
crawling past, kicked a leg from the stool and Fabeln fell to the floor. He
rose and sprang at Cugel, who threw the stool at him.
"Order!" called the shrill voice. "Order or penalties will be inflicted!"
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20Vance/JackVance-TheEyesofTheOverworldUC.txt (72 of 84)
[5/21/03 2:47:13 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20Vance/JackVance-TheEyesofTheOverworldUC.txt
"Cugel dislodged the stool, to send me sprawling," complained Fabeln. "Why is
he not punished?"
Page 96
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"The sheerest mischance." stated Cueel. "In my opinion the irascible Fabeln
should be placed incommunicado, for at least two, or more properly, three
weeks."
Fabeln began to sputter, but the shrill voice behind the grate enjoined an
impartial silence upon all.
Food was presently brought, a coarse porridge of offensive odor. After the
meal all were forced to crawl to a constricted burrow on a somewhat lower
level, where they were chained to the wall.
Cugel fell into a troubled sleep, to be awakened by a call through the door to
Fabeln: "The message has been delivered it was read with great attention."
"Good news!" came Fabeln's voice. "Tomorrow I shall walk the forest a free
man!"
"Silence," croaked Zaraides from'the dark. "Must I daily write parchments for
everyone's benefit but my own, only to lie awake by night to your vile
gloating?"
"Ha ha!" chortled Fabeln. "Hear the voice of the ineffectual wizard!"
"Alas for my lost librams!" groaned Zaraides. "You would sing a vastly
different tune!"
"In what quarter are they to be found?" inquired Cugel cautiously.
164
The Eyes of the Overworld
"As to that, you must ask these foul murids; they seized me unawares."
Fabeln raised his head to complain. "Do you intend to exchange reminiscences
the whole night through? I wish to sleep."
Zaraides, infuriated, began to upbraid Fabeln in so violent a manner that the
rat-folk ran into the burrow and dragged him away, leaving Cugel and Fabeln
alone.
In the morning Fabeln ate his porridge with great rapidity. "Now then," he
called to the grating, "detach this collar, that I may go forth to summon the
second of my tallies, Cugel being the first."
"Bah," muttered Cugel. "Infamous!"
The rat-folk, paying no heed to Fabeln's protests, adjusted the collar even
more tightly around his neck, affixed the chain and pulled him forth on hands
and knees, and Cugel was left alone.
He tried to sit erect, but the damp dirt pressed on his neck, and he slumped
back down on his elbows. "Cursed rat-creatures! Somehow I must evade them!
Unlike Fabeln, I have no household to draw from, and the efficacy of Zaraides'
parchments is questionable. . . . Conceivably, however, others may wander
close, in the fashion, of Fabeln and myself." He turned to the gate, behind
which sat the sharp-eyed monitor. "In order to recruit the required two items,
I wish to wait outside the cave."
"This is permitted," announced the monitor. "Supervision must of course be
rigid."
"Supervision is understandable," agreed Cugel. "I request however that the
chain and collar be removed from my neck. With a constraint so evident, even
the most credulous will turn away."
"There is something in what you say," admitted the monitor. "But what is there
to prevent you from taking to your heels?"
Cugel gave a somewhat labored laugh. "Do I seem one to betray a trust?
Further, why should I do so, when I can easily procure tally after tally for
my score?"
"We shall make certain adjustments." A moment later a number of the rat-folk
swarmed into the burrow. The collar was loosened from Cugel's neck, his right
leg was seized and a silver pin driven through his ankle, to which, while
Cugel called out in anguish, a chain was secured.
165
The Eyes of the Overworld
'The chain is now inconspicuous," stated one of his captors. "You may now
stand before the cave and attract passers-by as best you may."
Still groaning in pain, Cugel crawled up through the burrow and into the
Page 97
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
cave-mouth, where Fabeln sat, a chain about his neck, awaiting the arrival of
his daughter. "Where do you go?" he asked suspiciously.
"I go to pace before the cave, to attract passers-by and direct them within!"
Fabeln gave a sour grunt, and peered off through the trees.
Cugel went to stand before the cave-mouth. He looked in all directions, then
gave a melodious call. "Does anyone walk near?"
He received no reply, and began to pace back and forth, the chain jingling
along the ground.
Movement through the trees: the flutter of yellow and green cloth, and here
came Fabeln's daughter, carrying a basket and an axe. At the sight of Cugel
she paused, then hesitantly approached. "I seek Fabeln, who has requested
certain articles."
"I will take them," said Cugel, reaching for the axe, but the rat-folk were
alert and hauled him quickly back into the cave. "She must place the axe on
that far rock," they hissed into Cugel's
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]