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"No, mysire At shadeup we close, but soon et"

"Most people here don't say shadeup anymore," I told hihs, reat relief "The old place I do not forget Back I cannot go, but remember I do Old as me you are, mysire Why come you did?"

For a moment I could not decide whether to tell him that I was told to (as I was by Silk) or that I was made to (as I was by Hari Mau and his friends); in the end I decided to change the subject and said, "For the same reasons as et it I'll pay for it, as I said"

"No, mysire In my house sometimes, but here never I drink For my trade ruin it is Fro voyage it is, but last night another from New Viron to my tavern comes For you it is he searches?"

"I doubt it What was his naotten I have, ain he comes"

I smiled and told him, "Horn it is, mysire To him this you say Mysire Horn for your company asks Your townsman he is With Beroep he is to be found Help you he will"

The shopkeeper laughed "Better talking you are, mysire"

"But not perfectly? Hoould you say it?"

" `For' not you say"

As I sipped froled to recall just what I had said "Mysire Horn your coht way it is Also must you say, with Beroep to be found he is"

"I see, and I appreciate your instruction I'll wait a bit before I try again"

"A good man where we are Beroep is" The shopkeeper winked and pretended to drink, then turned gloomy "Soon ruined he is Destroyed he is His boats they want, er man joined us "Strik already ruined is"

The shopkeeper introduced him "My son, mysire Wapen he is"

Wapen said, "Strik tried will be Everything they take"

"For what tried?"

Wapen shrugged "If not wanted it is, too heavy it is"

His father told me, "They us destroy, mysire One man and another"

"My father's tavern soon they take" The younger h; and as he leaned toward me I saw a scar that must have been made by a knife or a broken bottle across one pitted cheek

"Soon, not now, it is," the shopkeeper said

"Better the tavern we sell and a boat buy Back not co those ould destroy you, you are"

The shopkeeper looked around fearfully, but his son spat on the floor, saying, "What more to us they will do?"

Soon after that the shopkeeper left for home, and Wapen excused himself to wait on another patron

"They're y'are"

I looked around at the swaying woman behind me and said, "Chenille?"

"Tha' lady on Green? No, 's me" Jahlee dropped onto Auk's stool and leaned across the table her chin on her hands "Guesh ood, huh?"

"Don't sry I foun' thish woman in a alley"

"Not so loud, please"

"I drank 'n drank, 'n I fell down 'n I knew I better shtop"

"Did you kill her, Jahlee?"

"Don' thin' sho She'sh big wo and see to sink into her face "Never wash sho drunk D'you like it, Rashan?"

I shookit would be before she was sober again It could be a matter of minutes, I decided; it was also possible that ere interpreting as drunkenness was perry," she repeated

"A part of the blood you drink becomes your own blood Surely you must know that"

"Washn't thinkin', Rashan It'sh jush like th' cow" She waited, expecting (as I saw) to be scolded "Sho then I shed go back to tha' big housh, only I'sh locked up there"

I nodded

"An' I can' find it but I shaw you"

"Basically you're right," I told her "We ht, and it would probably be unwise to return to Cijfer's"

"My hair'sh crooked?" Her hands went up to it

"No But I wouldn't touch it if I were you" Seeing a face I recognized, I called, "Hoof, come over and sit with us"

He came to the table and offered me his hand "I'm afraid I don't remember you, sir Are you from New Viron?"

I orried about Oreb and hing, just as I was to laugh a few minutes later when Hide cary and eager to fight "Yes, I am," I told Hoof "I'm your father, and this is your sister, Jahlee"

Chapter 8 SAD EXPERIENCE TEACHES ME

"Horn!" As he stu, into the cavernous rooled

"Bucky?" Pig's blind face looked not quite at him "That yer, bucky?" Donkeysears to hear the moist scuffle of his shoes on the scarred and stained parquet floor

"Yes, it'swater froly wet"

"Bird too!"

"Yes Dry your feathers But not on ht"

"A godling had you" Hound sounded as if he did not believe it hi say?"

"Prayed fer yer, bucky"

He glanced at Pig, then laid a shivering hand on one of Pig's enormous knees "You're wet, too"

"Aye, bucky Been rainin' h'out there? H'it has!"

He turned to study Hound "So are you"

Hound did not reply

"It's raining outside, Pig, exactly as you said But not in here There's a tile roof, and tile lasts if it isn't broken"

"H'in through ther winders, bucky"

"Bird too," Oreb remarked