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At this the man on the merychip (whose na your pardon, opti what you said I can enlighten you further, if you wish"

Dr Talos glanced at"Why that would be pleasant, but we must make one proviso We will speak only of the Wall, and those ell in it Which is to say, ill ask you no questions concerning yourself And you, likewise, will return that courtesy to us"

The stranger pushed back his battered hat, and I saw that in place of his right hand he wore a jointed contrivance of steel "You have understood me better than I wanted, as the man said when he looked in the mirror I admit I'd hoped to ask you why you traveled with the carnifex, and why this lady, the loveliest I've ever seen, is walking in the dust"

Jolenta released his stirrup strap and said, "You're poor, good It hardly suits you to inquire of ate, I saw the flush of blood creep into the stranger's cheeks All she had said was true His clothes orn and travel-stained, though not so dirty as Hethor's His face had been lined and coarsened by the wind For perhaps a dozen steps he did not reply, but at last he began His voice was flat and neither high nor deep, but possessed of a dry humor

"In the old times, the lords of this world feared no one but their own people, and to defend thereat fortress on a hilltop to the north of the city It was not called Nessus then, for the river was unpoisoned"

"Many of the people were angry at the building of that citadel, holding it to be their right to slay their lords without hindrance if they so desired But others went out in the ships that ply between the stars, returning with treasure and knowledge In ti them but a handful of black beans"

"Ah," said Dr Talos "You are a professional tale-teller I wish you had infor, for we, as youthe same"

Jonas shook his head "No, this is the only tale I know - or nearly so" He looked down at Jolenta "May I continue, most marvelous of woht of daylight ahead of us, and by the disturbance aht to turn back, flailing their tea to clear a path with their whips

" - she displayed the beans to the lords of men, and told them that unless she were obeyed she would cast them into the sea and so put an end to the world They had her seized and torn to bits, for they were a hundred times more complete in their domination than our Autarch"

"May he endure to see the New Sun," Jolenta rip on htened?" Then screamed and buried her face in her hands as the iron tip of a lash flicked her cheek I pressed past the oneer who had struck her, and pulled hi with bawling and swearing, and the cries of the injured, and the bellowings of frightened anier continued his tale I could not hear it

The driver I pulled down must have died at once Because I had wished to impress Dorcas, I had hoped to perform the excruciation we call two apricots; but he had fallen under the feet of the travelers and the heavy wheels of the carts Even his screa carried you, reader, froate of our necropolis to this gate with its curling wisps of sest in existence, perhaps the largest ever to exist It was by entering that first gate that I set ate And surely when I entered this second gate, I began again to walk a new road Fro ti the forests and grasslands, les of the north

Here I pause If you wish to walk no farther with me, reader, I cannot blame you It is no easy road