to say I am. More important, I am free-bom and I do not
accept Federation rule. No right-thinking man does.” He
bent close. “You don’t accept it yourself now, do you? Admit
it.”
“Hardly,” Coil answered defensively. “But I question
whether the outlaws are any better.”
‘ ‘Harsh words, lad!” the other exclaimed. ‘ ‘A good thing for
you I do not take ofiense easily.” He grinned roguishly.
“What is it you want?” Par interrupted quickly, his mind
clear again. He had been thinking of Rimmer Dall. He knew
the man’s reputation and he was frightened of the prospect
of being hunted by him. “You want us to join you, is that
it?”
The stranger nodded. “You would find it worth your time, I
think.”
But Par shook his head. It was one thing to accept the strang-
er’s help in fleeing the Seekers. It was another to join the Move-
ment. The matter needed a great deal more thought. “I think
we had better decline for now,” he said evenly. “That is, if
we’re being given a choice.”
“Of course you are being given a choice!” The stranger
seemed offended.
“Then we have to say no. But we thank you for the offer and
especially for your help back there.”
The stranger studied him a moment, solemn again. “You are
quite welcome, believe me. I wish only the best for you. Par
Ohmsford. Here, take this.” He removed from one hand a ring
that was cast in silver and bore the insigne of a hawk. “My
friends know me by this. If you need a favor-or if you change
your mind-take this to Kiltan Forge at Reaver’s End at the north
edge of the city and ask for the Archer. Can you remember
that?”
Par hesitated, then took the ring, nodding. “Butwhy. . . ?”
“Because there is much between us, lad,” the other said
softly, anticipating his question. One hand reached out to rest
on his shoulder. The eyes took in Coil as well. “There is
history that binds us, a bond of such strength that it requires
I be there for you if I can. More, it requires that we stand
together against what is threatening this land. Remember that,
too. One day, we will do so, I think-if we all manage to
stay alive until then.”
He grinned at the brothers and they stared back silently. The
stranger’s hand dropped away. “Time to go now. Quickly, too.
The street runs east to the river. You can go where you wish
from there. But watch yourselves. Keep your backs well guarded.
This matter isn’t finished.”
‘ ‘I know,” Par said and extended his hand. ‘ ‘Are you certain
you will not tell us your name?”
The stranger hesitated. “Another day,” he said.
He gripped Par’s hand tightly, then Coil’s, then whistled his
companions to him. He waved once, then melted into the shad-
ows and was gone.
Par stared down momentarily at the ring, then glanced
questioningly at Coll. Somewhere close at hand, the sound of
shouting started up.
“I think the questions will have to wait,” said Coil.
Par jammed the ring into his pocket. Wordlessly, they dis-
appeared into the night.
It was nearing midnight by the time Par and Coil reached
the waterfront section of Varfleet, and it was there that they
first realized how ill-prepared they were to make their es-
cape from Rimmer Dall and his Federation Seekers. Neither
had expected that flight would prove necessary, so neither had
brought anything that a lengthy journey might require. They had
no food, no blankets, no weapons save for the standard long
knives all Valemen wore, no camping gear or foul-weather
equipment, and worst of all, no money. The ale house keeper
hadn’t paid them in a month. What money they had managed to
save from the month before had been lost in the fire along with
everything else they owned. They had only the clothes on their
backs and a growing fear that perhaps they should have stuck
with the nameless stranger a bit longer.
The waterfront was a ramshackle mass of boathouses, piers,
mending shops, and storage sheds. Lights burned along its
length, and dockworkers and fishermen drank and joked in the