look she’d display on the pirate ship whenever Corroboc
appeared.
As soon as she recognized him she threw her arms
around him and started sobbing.
“Jon-Tom, Jon-Tom. And Mudge too. I thought you’d
forgotten me. I thought you’d go off and leave me here!”
“I didn’t forget you, Folly.” Acutely conscious of her
curves beneath the thin black nightdress, he gently pushed
her away. “What’s wrong?”
She looked around wildly. “You’ve got to get me out of
here! Quickly, before the night patrol shows up.”
“Night patrol? You mean, someone looks in on you?”
“No, I mean patrol. No one’s allowed out of bed after
dark. If they catch you, they beat you. Bad. Not like
Corroboc, but bad enough.”
“But we were here earlier, and we didn’t see any
indications of—”
“Don’t be a fool, mate,” said Mudge tightly. “D’you
think these servants o’ the downtrodden would be stupid
enough to hit their charges where it’d show?”
“No, I guess not. They beat you here?”
THE DAY or THK DISSONANCK
165
Folly spat on the floor. “Only out of love, of course.
Every time they beat you it’s out of love. They beat you if
you don’t learn your lessons, they beat you if you don’t
hold your knife right at mealtime, they beat you for not
saying yes sir and no ma’am, and sometimes I think they
beat you for the fun of it, to remind you how bad the
world outside is.” Her nails dug into his arms.
“You’ve got to get me out of here, Jon-Tom!” How
much truth there was to her accusations, he couldn’t tell,
but the desperation in her voice was genuine enough.
Mudge kept a paw on the hilt of his short sword. “Let’s