And now the Prince no longer delayed a more practical expression of his gratitude. The chief beneficiary of this was of course Wen Chang, to whom al-Farabi promptly handed over his promised reward, in the form of a handful of sparkling, high-grade jewels.
Hardly was the Blue Temple launch out of easy hailing distance when in a small thunder of hoof beats the Hetman himself arrived at the dock, accompanied by a small mounted escort. How the ruler had learned of the confrontation taking place here was not apparent, but his vast relief at the sight of Stonecutter was. His first glance toward Wen Chang and Kasimir was by far the friendliest he had yet sent their way.
“Where did you find it?” the Hetman inquired eagerly.
The expression on the Prince’s face lost some of its happiness. “Hidden under the garments of the High Priest of the Blue Temple.”
There was no point in the Hetman’s trying to dispute this as unbelievable. Not when he saw confirmation of the unbelievable in every face before him.
“A mistake, on his part,” the ruler offered. “Some misunderstanding.”
“A mistake, certainly,” said the Prince. “To think that he could get away with such a theft.”
“A misunderstanding, I am sure,” the Hetman said. “I trust that Your Highness has no thought of pressing charges?”
“If you agree,” conceded the Prince magnanimously to his fellow ruler, “that no charges of any kind will be pressed against anyone else concerned in this matter-then I will consent to press none against Theodore, or his organization.”
“Agreed, with all my heart.” Then a slight frown dimmed the Hetman’s joy. “Except of course for the escaped prisoner Benjamin, who is already under sentence of death.”
“Agreed.”
And with that the gathering on the dock split up, the Prince and a few retainers going to a round of rejoicing at their host’s palace. The Magistrate most eloquently begged to be excused, and the Hetman did not press him to come along.
Once they were out of sight of the higher authorities, Wen Chang gave a choice jewel to Kasimir, and promptly made good on his promise to Almagro by sharing his reward generously.
“I can use it,” the Captain said. “I am very seriously considering retirement.”
CHAPTER 19
IT was about an hour after dawn on the second day of the Festival, which so far appeared to be making good progress despite the lack of a public execution. Wen Chang, after getting a good night’s rest at the inn, had expressed an urge to leave Eylau behind him as quickly as possible. Kasimir, feeling that he could hardly agree with any sentiment more, was going with him. Accordingly the two of them had arisen early, packed up their few belongings at the inn, and paid their bill in full-that was no problem, once a small portion of Wen Chang’s reward had been converted into ready cash. Prince al-Farabi had graciously offered, and the Magistrate had accepted, the continued escort of Lieutenant Komi and his small troop as far as the next city.
The Prince himself was not on hand for their departure, having agreed to accept another day or two of the Hetman’s grateful hospitality.
Kasimir and the Magistrate, riding their well-rested animals side by side this morning, enjoyed their first real opportunity to talk freely together since the Sword’s recovery. Certain hints dropped by Wen Chang had confirmed Kasimir in his opinion that the inn might no longer be a safe place for the frankest sort of conversations; the Blue Temple had been humiliated, if not wounded, and it was notoriously unforgiving of any kind of debt.
“I would like,” said Kasimir, after the first few minutes of the morning’s ride had passed in silence, “for you to tell me a story.”
Wen Chang threw back his head and gave vent to hearty mirth. It was a far more open laughter than any Kasimir had heard from him since their first meeting.
“I fully intend to do so,” replied the Magistrate when he had laughed his fill. “I was only wondering how best to begin.”
“To begin with, do you believe that the Hetman will ever recapture Benjamin of the Steppe?”
“I hope that he will not,” said Wen Chang frankly. “And as a matter of fact I consider the Hetman’s chances of success in the matter rather small.”
“Oh? I rejoice to hear it. But why is that?”
“Well, in the first place, whoever arranged the prisoner’s escape from his cell demonstrated considerable cleverness, and one must expect the same cleverness to be applied to the problem of removing the same prisoner from the city.”
“That is true. Well, I have no doubt as to who arranged the escape. And I am still thinking of Natalia. Do you know, in spite of all that has happened, in a way I could wish to see her again.”
“You should; were it not for her co-operation in loaning us the Sword for a few hours to trap Valamo, and then returning it honorably when it had served its purpose in the city, you would not have the Prince’s jewel in your pocket now. But she is busy, I assume, devoting herself to the survival of her lover. Or perhaps Benjamin is her husband; the rural folk tend to believe strongly in marriage, you know.”
“I should have guessed at the connection earlier,” Kasimir admitted. “She and Benjamin were even wearing similar clothing when I first saw them. And her hair was styled in the same way as that of those foolish women protesters.”
“Perhaps not so foolish. Whether or not they were aware of what part they were playing, they served admirably to distract the authorities from the real rescue effort.”
“And their partial destruction of the gallows-”
“Made its rebuilding necessary. And the hammering sounds occasioned by that covered the thudding sounds emitted by Stonecutter as the tunnel was dug up to the prisoner’s cell. Yes, all in all, a very well-organized escape.”
“You implied, earlier, that there was a second reason why the escape might very well succeed?”
“There is. I doubt that the Hetman will push his search for Benjamin as hard as he might, now that the escape is an accomplished fact, and he’s had a chance to think matters over.”
“And why is that?”
“Of course his pride was touched by the escape. But now that he has at least hints from the Prince that Benjamin’s continued survival pleases him, and pleases certain other powerful people as well, it is not an unmixed curse. Perhaps by now al-Farabi has even had time to suggest that allowing poor farmers to vote on matters that concern them greatly might render the task of the radical revolutionary more difficult.”
“I can see that this custom of voting might ultimately present a great threat to any ruler.”
“Indeed. I am not sure that either of the Princes has thought that far ahead himself … in any case, I expect the Hetman is still making a real effort to recapture his victim. He is just not pressing that effort as urgently as he possibly could.”
“Well, I repeat that I join you in hoping that he does not succeed .”
“We shall see.”
“And you are sure that Prince al-Farabi shares our hopes.”
“My dear Kasimir, I am very sure of that. Almost from the very beginning I suspected that might be his position. The Prince is a worthy man, though there are times when he displays a lamentable tendency to overact.” “Did you mean to say ‘overreact,’ Magistrate?” “I meant to say just what I said. I only wish that there were many other princes who had no worse faults.”
“The implication being, of course, that Prince al-Farabi has been taking a leading role in all this theatrical performance with Stonecutter.”
The Magistrate nodded. “Some days ago I became convinced-it was a gradual conviction-that the original theft of the Sword from your caravan’s encampment was only a deception, intended to prevent suspicion falling on the two good Princes, Mark and al-Farabi, when it became known that Stonecutter had been used to effect the escape of the prisoner Benjamin.”
“My own conviction on that point was much more sudden, but I fear that it took place much later than yours. Tell me, how did yours begin?”
“It began with an oddity. With an event that at first seemed not only inexplicable but meaningless-I refer, of course, to the cutting of the double slit in your tent wail.” “Ah.”
“Yes. From the moment you reported that puzzling detail, I suspected that all was not as it seemed regarding the theft of the Sword. Yet the more I talked to you, the more firmly I was convinced that you were telling me the truth as you saw it.”
“Indeed I was. I see now that I had been recruited and used without my knowledge; that it was arranged from the start that I should be a witness to the supposed crime.”