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he wondered what good it was supposed to do
The blindfold was removed in an open courtyard, lare Brutha blinked
Bow doards, but theirhorizontally could happen anyfor them Ephebe see sheets This one smiled, with his ht
"I trust you will excuse this minor inconvenience," said the skinny man "My name is Aristocrates I am secretary to the Tyrant Please ask your men to put down their weapons"
Vorbis drew hiht He was a head taller than the Ephebian Pale though his coone paler
"We are entitled to retain our arn land!"
"But not a barbarian one," said Aristocrates mildly "Weapons will not be required here"
"Barbarian?" said Vorbis "You burned our ships!"
Aristocrates held up a hand
"This is a discussion for later," he said "My pleasant task now is to show you to your quarters I am sure you would like to rest a little after your journey You are, of course, at liberty to wander anywhere you wish in the palace And if there is anywhere where we do not wish you to wander, the guards will be sure to inform you with speed and tact"
"And we can leave the palace?" said Vorbis coldly
Aristocrates shrugged
"We do not guard the gateway except in times of war," he said "If you can reue perambulations in the labyrinth are unwise, I must warn you Our ancestors were sadly very suspicious and put in reased and primed, of course, merely out of a respect for tradition And now, if you would care to follow ether as they followed Aristocrates through the palace There were fountains There were gardens Here and there groups of people sat around doing nothing veryThe Ephebians seerasp of the concepts of "inside" and "outside"-except for the palace's encircling labyrinth, which was very clear on the subject
"Danger attends us at every turn," said Vorbis quietly "Any man who breaks rank or fraternizes in any ill explain his conduct to the inquisitors At length"
Brutha looked at a wo from a well It did not look like a very e double feeling again On the surface there were the thoughts of Brutha, which were exactly the thoughts that the Citadel would have approved of This was a nest of infidels and unbelievers, its veryand heresy It ht, but in reality it was a place of shadows
But down beloere the thoughts of the Brutha that watched Brutha fro here Sharp and unpleasant And any city where potters didn't worry at all when naked, dripping wet old les on their walls was a place Brutha wanted to find outto do with so so to me?" he whispered
In his box, Om looked at the shape of Brutha's mind Then he tried to think quickly
"No," he said, and that at least was the truth Had this ever happened before?
Had it been like this back in the first days? It must have been It was all so hazy now He couldn't rehts Everything had been highly colored, everything had been growing every day-he had been growing every day; thoughts and theat the sas fro to re-he could re to Brutha Brutha was doing it to hiodly ways Brutha was starting to become a prophet
Om wished he had someone to talk to Someone who understood
This was Ephebe, wasn't it? Where peopleto understand?
The Omnians were to be housed in little rooms around a central courtyard There was a fountain in thepine trees The soldiers nudged one another People think that professional soldiers think a lot about fighting, but serious professional soldiers think a lot more about food and a warenerally hard to get, whereas fighting tends to turn up all the time
There was a bowl of fruit in Brutha's cell, and a plate of cold s first He fished the God out of the box
"There's fruit," he said "What're these berries?" "Grapes," said Om "Raw material for wine"
"You mentioned that word before What does it mean?"
There was a cry from outside
"Brutha! "
"That's Vorbis I'll have to go"
Vorbis was standing in the ?" he demanded
"No, lord"
"Fruit and meat, Brutha And this is a fast day They seek to insult us!"
"Um Perhaps they don't know that it is a fast day?" Brutha hazarded
"Ignorance is itself a sin," said Vorbis
"Ossory VII, verse 4," said Brutha automatically
Vorbis smiled and patted Brutha's shoulder