>From some muttered remarks among other prisoners who were getting a drink nearby, Kasimir understood that any injuries perceived as seriously and permanently disabling were treated on the spot with execution. There would be no malingering tolerated in this gang, and no benefit to be derived from self-inflicted wounds. Here, a crippling wound was a ticket to the next world, not back to a shaded prison cell in Eylau.
Meanwhile Wen Chang had accepted the hospitality of the foreman’s own square of shade. Seated there in the foreman’s own rude chair, sipping at a cup of cool water, he had also engaged the man in casual-sounding conversation.
“Unfortunately,” Kasimir heard the Magistrate say when he was able to join him again, “we cannot wait for the completion of this road, however efficiently you may be able to accomplish it.”
“Then what can I do for Your Excellency?” Lednik seemed to be doing an imitation of a certain kind of shopkeeper, all anxiety to please.
“You can,” said the Magistrate in a soft voice, “tell me all about the man who brought the magic Sword here to your camp a few days ago.”
“Sir?”
“I assure you, Lednik, that trying to look like a fish and pretending ignorance will not gain you anything.” Wen Chang pointed with a firm gesture. “Those marks on the walls of the cut through the ridge back there testify far too loudly to the presence of a certain magic Sword in which I have an intense interest. I rather imagine that before the Sword showed up you were stymied for some days by that ridge-a piece of rock too long to get around, too steep to readily go over. And much too hard to dig straight through, in any reasonable amount of time-if you had been digging with ordinary tools, that is. So the arrival of the man with the magical Sword was very opportune, was it not? Tell me what agreement you reached with him, and where he has gone now. Come, Lednik, I bear you no ill-will, and if you tell me the truth you need not fear me.”
Lednik was now sweating more intensely in the shade than he had been a few minutes ago out in the sun. “Magic Sword? Is that what you said just now, Excellency? Alas, I am only a poor man, and have never heard of such-”
“You will be a much happier poor man in the end, Foreman Lednik, if you do not try to treat me as an idiot. It is true that in this territory I have no official standing as an investigator. But I can go from this spot directly to the Hetman himself, and inform him of the suddenly improved technology of road-building in this portion of his domain. He will, I am sure, be interested to hear of it. And to hear the reasons why you, his trusted foreman Lednik, neglected to inform him of the presence in his domain of one of the Twelve Swords that-”
“I want no trouble, sir!” Lednik was beginning to turn pale under his tan and sweat and road dust.
“Then tell me, from the beginning, the truth about this visitor you had.” Wen Chang turned his head to glance at Lieutenant Komi. The officer, Kasimir noticed, was moving closer to the others, to stand inside the square of shade, from which vantage point he was better able to follow the progress of the interrogation.
And now Lednik’s story came out. Yes, a man, a complete stranger to Lednik, had indeed appeared at the work site only yesterday. And this man had worn at his side a black-hilted Sword of marvelous workmanship.
“Was there a device upon the hilt?” Wen Chang interrupted.
“A device?”
“A special marking.”
“A device. Yes sir, there was such a thing. It was a little shape in white, the image of a wedge splitting a block. I did observe that much.”
“Excellent. Continue.”
Lednik continued in a halting voice with frequent hesitations, describing how the stranger had been willing to demonstrate the power that he claimed for the weapon, cutting away the rocky ridge as if he were digging in soft clay, or wood.
“No, not even like wood, sir. Like butter is more like it. Like melting butter, yes. And that thing, that tool, that must have come somehow from the gods, why it made a dull, heavy hammering noise all the time that it was working, even though it was just slicing along smoothly. My workers had to scramble to move the chunks of rock away as fast as he could cut them out. He demonstrated the power of his Sword beyond all argument, and then he took it away with him again. I did nothing to interfere with him. No, you may bet that I did not. Who am I to try to interfere with a wizard of such power?”
“His name?”
Lednik looked blank for a few seconds. “Why, he gave none. And I wasn’t going to ask him.”
“What did he look like?”
Lednik appeared genuinely at a loss. “His clothing was undistinguished. Such as everyone wears in the desert. He was thirty years of age, perhaps. Almost as dark as you are, sir. Middle height, spare of frame. I did not pay that much attention to his looks. I feared his power too much.”
“No doubt. Well, be assured that my own powers are formidable too, Foreman Lednik. And they tell me that you have not yet revealed the whole truth. What was the nature of the bargain that you struck with this stranger?”
Eventually the full story, or what sounded to Kasimir like the full story, did come out. As payment for the stranger’s help, Lednik had agreed to release to him a certain one of his prisoners.
Wen Chang squinted suspiciously when he heard this answer. “And what were you going to say to your superiors when they asked you about the missing man?”
“It’s unlikely that anyone would ever notice, sir, that one of them was missing. They are all minor criminals here, and no one cares. If someone should notice, it would be easy enough for me to say that the man died, and no one would question it. A good many do die in this work.”
“And if someone should question it? And ask to see his grave?”
“Bless you, sir, we keep no record of the burials out here. No markers are put up. They go into the sand when they die, and the sand keeps them. How could we ever be expected to find one of them again?”
“I see.” The Magistrate ruminated upon that answer, which had sounded reasonable enough to Kasimir. Then Wen Chang resumed the questioning. “And what was the name of the prisoner that you released, in return for getting your ridge cut through?”
The foreman gestured helplessly. “Sir, I do not know his name. They have only numbers when they come to me.”
“I see. Well, had this man been with you long? What did he look like? Who were his workmates?”
“His number was nine-nine-six-seven-seven … I do remember that because I looked it up, wondering if it was an especially lucky number, which would be worth remembering next time I visited the House of Chance. But I don’t see how that will be of any use to you. He had been here for several months, I think. Yes, he was young and strong, and might have endured a long time yet, so for that reason I was sorry to see him go. And as for workmates, he had no special ones. None of the men do, I see to that. It helps immeasurably, I assure you, sir, in cutting down on escape plots and other nonsense of that kind.”
“Young and strong, you say. What else can you remember of his appearance?”
“I’m trying, sir, but there really isn’t much I can tell you. Hundreds of prisoners come and go. I believe-yes, he tended to be fair instead of dark. Beyond that there isn’t anything I can say. Oh, he and the man who rescued him were well acquainted with each other. They were real friends, I could see that from their greeting when they met.”
“But, during the course of this joyous demonstration, neither of them ever called the other one by name?”
“That’s right, sir, they were very careful.”
“And presumably they left together yesterday, the stranger and his rescued friend?”
“Yes sir, exactly. They didn’t want to hang around. Cutting through the ridge with that Sword took that strange wizard no more than an hour, while my workers scrambled to carry away the chunks of rock as fast as he could carve them free. He had brought a spare riding-beast with him, and he and his friend took three filled water-bottles from our supply. They headed out into the desert, sir, that way.” Lednik gestured in the direction away from Eylau. “Have mercy upon me, Your Excellency, for I am only a poor man!”