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"If it is your errand, sieur, it must"

"You are wasted on the scaffold" He s But if you are to serveof the position of the pieces on the board, and the goal of the game we play Call the sides white and black, and in honor of your garments - so that you shall knohere your interests lie - we shall be black No doubt you have been told that we blacks are mere bandits and traitors, but have you any notion of what it is we strive to do?"

"To checkmate the Autarch, sieur?"

"That would be well enough, but it is only a step and not our final goal You have co of your journeyings and history - that great fortress of bygone days, so youfor the past Has it never struck you that one than it is now?"

"Everyone knows," I said, "that we have fallen far from the brave days of the past"

"As it was then, so shall it be again Men of Urth, sailing between the stars, leaping frohters of the sun"

The Chatelaine Thea, who h she had showed no sign of it, looked across hi voice, "Do you kno our world was renamed, torturer? The dawnmen went to red Verthandi, as then naracious sound that would keep others fro it Present That was a jest in their tongue, for the same word meant Now and The Gift Or so one of our tutors once explained the uage could endure such confusion"

Vodalus listened to her as though he were impatient to speak himself, yet was too well mannered to interrupt her

"Then others - ould have drawn a people to the innerame as well, and called that world Skuld, the World of the Future Thus our own beca in that, I fear," Vodalus told her "I have it on good authority that this world of ours has been called by that name from the ut that I would rather have it that you are correct and I mistaken"

Thea sh it does not explain why Urth is called as she is, my dear Chatelaine's tale makes the vital point well, which is that in those times mankind traveled by his own ships from world to world, and mastered each, and built on thereat days of our race, when our fathers' fathers' fathers strove for the mastery of the universe"

He paused, and because he seemed to expect some comment from me, I said, "Sieur, we are e"

"Ah, now you strike to the heart Yet with all your perspicacity, you mistake it No, we are not diminished in wisdom We are diminished in power Study has advanced without letup, but even as th of the world has been exhausted We exist now, and precariously, upon the ruin of those who preceded us While soues in a day, we others creep upon the skin of Urth, unable to go from one horizon to the next before the westerno of check fool the Autarch I want you to conceive now of two autarchs - two great powers striving for s as they are, the black to set Man's foot on the road to doain I called it the black by chance, but it would be well to rely; they are reht of day Now, of those ters, which would you serve?"

The as stirring in the trees, and it seemed toto Vodalus and waiting for my reply I said, "The black, surely"

"Good! But as a man of sense you must understand that the way to reconquest cannot be easy Those ish no changeWe un to talk and eat again I lowered my voice until only Vodalus could hearI have not told you I dare not conceal it longer for fear you should think uer than I, and turned away before he answered, pretending to eat "What is it? Out with it"

"Sieur," I said, "I have a relic, the thing they say is the Claw of the Conciliator"

He was biting the roasted thigh of a fowl as I spoke I saw hih he did not move his head

"Do you wish to see it, sieur? It is very beautiful, and I have it in the top of my boot"

"No," he whispered "Yes, perhaps, but not hereNo, better not at all"

"To whoive it, then?"

Vodalus chewed and sed "I had heard froone So you have it You must keep it until you can dispose of it Do not try to sell it - it would be identified at once Hide it somewhere If you must, throw it into a pit"

"But surely, sieur, it is very valuable"

"It is beyond value, which means it is worthless You and I are e of fear in his voice "But the rabble believe it to be sacred, a performer of all manner of wonders If I were to possess it, they would think oumenon Our masters would think me turned traitor You must tell me - "

Just at thatup to the table with a look that indicated he bore urgent news Vodalus rose and walked a few paces aith hiht, like a handsoer's head was no higher than his shoulder

I ate, thinking he would soon return; but after a long questioning of thethe broad trunks of the trees One by one the others rose too, until no one remained but the beautiful Thea, Jonas and me, and one other man

"You are to join us," Thea said at last in her cooing voice "Yet you do not know our ways Have you need of money?"

I hesitated, but Jonas said, "That's so that's alelcome, Chatelaine, like the misfortunes of an older brother"

"Shares will be set aside for you, from this day, of all we take When you return to us, they will be given to you Meanwhile I have a purse for each of you to speed you on your way"

"We are going, then?" I asked

"Were you not told so? Vodalus will instruct you at the supper"