Moreover, just to the north of Iyeyasujo was Kleomanujo. This was governed by Cleomenes, a king of Sparta and half-brother to that Leonidas who held the pass at Thermoplyae. Cleomenes had met three times with Iyeyasu and Arthur.
Just south of Parolando was an eleven-mile stretch called Publia, after its king, Publius Crassus. Publius had been an officer in Caesar’s cavalry during the Gallic campaigns. He was inclined to be friendly, although he extracted a big price for letting Sam cut down his timber.
South of Publia was Tifonujo, ruled by Tai Fung, one of Kublai Khan’s captains, killed on Earth when he fell drunk off a horse.
And south of Tifonujo was Soul City, headed by Elwood Hacking and Milton Firebrass.
Sam stopped and glared from under bushy brows at Grevel. “The hell of it, Bill, is there isn’t much I can do. If I tell John I know about his trying to murder Arthur, who may deserve murder, for all I know, then John knows that I’ve got spies inside the house. And he’ll just deny everything, ask that I bring his accusers forth—and you know what would happen to them, to you.” Grevel paled.
Sam said, “Start your blood running again, I won’t do it. No. The only thing to do is to keep quiet and watch for developments. But I’m choking up to here with keeping quiet. That man is the most despicable I ever met—and if you knew my vast range of acquaintances, including publishers, you would feel the depth of my words.”
“John could be a tax-collector,” Grevel said, as if he had plumbed the depths of insult. And he had, for him.
“It was a bad day when I had to agree to take John on as a partner,” Sam muttered, blowing out smoke as he turned toward Grevel. “But if I hadn’t taken him in, I’d have been robbed of my chance at the iron.”
He dismissed Grevel after thanking him. The skies just above the mountains across The River were red. Soon the entire vault would be rosy on the edges and blue above, but it would be some tune before the sun cleared the mountain. Before then, the grailstones would be discharging
He washed his face in a basin, combed his thick bush of reddish hair straight back, applied the toothpaste with the tip of his finger to his teeth and gums, and spat. Then he fastened a belt with four sheaths and a bag dangling from a strap and put it around his waist. He placed a long towel around his shoulders as a cape, picked up a cane of oak shod with iron and, with the other hand, picked up the grail. He went down the stairs. The grass was still wet. It rained every night at three o’clock for a half hour, and the valley did not dry until after the sun came up. If it were not for the absence of disease germs and viruses, half the valley’s humans would have died of pneumonia and flu long ago.
Sam was young and vigorous again, but he still did not like to exercise. As he walked, he thought of the little railway he would like to build from his house to the edge of The River. But that would be too restrictive. Why not build an automobile with a motor that burned wood alcohol?
People began joining him: he was kept busy with “Saluton!” and “Bonan Matenon!” At the end of his walk, he gave his grail to a man to put on a depression on the top of the gray granite mushrooms-shaped rock. About six hundred of the gray cylinders were placed in the depression, and the crowd retreated to a respectful distance. Fifteen minutes later, the rock erupted with a roar. Blue flames soared twenty-five feet high and thunder echoed from the mountain. The appointed grail keepers for the day got onto the rock and passed the cylinders around. Sam took his back to the pilothouse, wondering on the way why he did not delegate someone to carry his grail down for him. The truth was, a man was so dependent on the grail, he just could not trust it out of his sight.