BRIGHT TORCHLIGHT FLICKERED ON the faces of the seven men seated around the oak table. A nearly-empty brandy bottle and a litter of used clay pipes gave testimony to the length of the conference, and one or two of the men were obviously stifling yawns.
“However you argue it,” said one of them, obviously not for the first time, “you can’t hold the palace. You might just be able to take it, as you suggest, with an army of thieves and evicted farmers. But without a prince of the royal blood to set on the throne, you’d be thrown out within the week and your army would be cut to bits and driven into the hills to starve.”
“I guess you’re right, Hodges,” said the man at the head of the table. “We… shelve that idea, then. But you haven’t given me a reason why you oppose the idea of night raids on the Transport shipment between Barclay and the palace.”
“Well,” said Hodges doubtfully, scratching his chin, “I guess I don’t really oppose it… but there are two reasons why I don’t entirely like it. First, you’re saying we should make a direct raid on the Transport, which is bigger meat than the Companions usually go for. Second, it would be on the surface, and our boys aren’t used to working without a roof overhead and a sewer or two to scuttle down if things get tight.”
“Well, our boys are going to have to get used to it,” growled the leader. “You know as well as I do what that Transport last week whispered before he died. Their home base, their system headquarters, is what they plan to make of this planet. And do you think they’ll allow our little thieves’ union to continue when Octavio is nothing but a Transport office and parking lot? Not likely. We’ve got to impede them, as seriously as we can, or we’ll all be shipped off to some prison planet within the year.”
Hodges shrugged, frowning uncertainly. “That’s true,” he said. “But the morale won’t be good among those who have to go on the raids.”
The leader stood up and laid his smoking pipe on the table. The scar of a sword-cut showed paler against his pale cheek, and a glittering bronze ear hung on the side of his head. Quite a piratical character he looks, thought Hodges, but I wish he’d be more realistic about policy. “Would they feel better about it,” the leader asked, “if the man who led the raid was their king?”
“You can’t,” said Hodges.
“Would they?”
“Sure. They’d feel even better if God led them in a glowing chariot. But neither one is possible.”
“Don’t be so… hidebound, Hodges. I can lead them, and I will. The next shipment of supplies will be this Thursday night. I’ll take ten of our best men and capture the shipment; then we’ll all have a late dinner and be in bed before one o’clock. No trouble at all.”
“It’s a very bad idea,” Hodges insisted.
“Most good ideas look like bad ones at first,” Frank informed him.
The moon was a shaving of silver in the sky, and Cromlech Road lay in total darkness. Crickets chirped a monotonous litany in the shrubbery beside the paved road, and frogs chuckled gutturally to each other in the swamps a mile to the east. The only motion came with the night breeze that swept among the treetops from time to time.
Frank crouched on a thick branch that hung out over the middle of the road, about twenty feet above the asphalt. He wore a knitted wool cap pulled low and a scarf wrapped around his face just under the eyes, and his sweater and pants were of black wool. His rapier hung scabbarded from his belt on one side; a long knife was tucked into the other. He was as motionless as the branch; even in daylight he’d have been hard to see.
Five men, also armed, hidden and silent, waited in the shrubbery on the east side of the road, and five more crouched on the west. None of them had moved or spoken for the last hour, and crickets and spiders had begun to build nests around their boots.
Frank stared at the empty stretch of the road south, only dimly visible to him, and tried to figure out what time it was. We’ve been out here about an hour, he thought, which would make it roughly nine o’clock now. About a half hour, then, until they come by.
Ten minutes later he tensed—a quiet, distant rattling and whirring was audible and growing momentarily louder. He curled his fingers around his sword hilt and waited, scanning the road more carefully now. The sound, punctuated now and then by coughing or an interval of muted metallic rattling, eventually became recognizable: it was that of a man riding a bicycle.
A moment later Frank saw the dim glow of the bike’s headlight; he could hear the man puffing now as he pedaled the thing along, and he heard also, very faintly, the long scratch of a sword being drawn. Don’t do it, Frank thought furiously. Can’t you idiots see that he’s a scout, running ahead of the shipment to make sure the way is clear? Frank held his breath, but the bicyclist passed on by the ambush without even changing the rhythm of his breathing. When the sound had dwindled away behind him, Frank let out a soft sigh of relief.
The shipment ought to be along promptly now, he thought; and sure enough, he saw, dimly in the distance, twin pinpricks of light that could only be the headlights of a Transport truck. He took a chance and gave a low whistle to alert his men. They send their scouts damned far ahead, Frank thought. We could have killed that bicyclist easily, and even if he’d yelled the truck is too far behind him to have heard it. Or maybe the bicycle was wired with flares; if we’d knocked it over, a dozen skyrockets would have pinpointed the ambush and likely set us all afire.
The truck was closer now, and he could hear its knocking motor labor up a slight rise. Well, Frank thought, it’s all in the lap of the gods now.
Nearer and nearer it came, until, when it was fifty feet in front of him, two steel-headed crossbow quarrels flashed out of the shrubbery, both slanted to the south, and tore into the truck’s front tires. The vehicle was doing perhaps fifty miles per hour, so the stop, after the explosive loss of the tires, was a screeching, grinding, sparking slide.
Frank had hoped the truck would stop directly below him—it didn’t, quite, so he dropped out of the tree into the downward-slanting, dust-clouded headlight beams and with two blows of his dagger-hilt smashed the bulbs. The driver and two guards leaped out of the cab, brandishing swords at Frank, and were cut down by arrow-fire from the bushes.
Frank whipped out his sword, leaped to the hood and then to the top of the cab. Wooden boxes covered with a tarpaulin filled the truck bed; stretched across several of them was the limp body of another guard—apparently knocked unconscious when the truck was stopped. Even as Frank watched, one of the ambushers sank a dagger into the uniformed body.
Frank’s men now dragged the four bodies into the shrubbery while Frank climbed into the cab. He put the gear shift lever into neutral, and his well-trained crew pushed the crippled truck while Frank steered it off the road. The massive vehicle was carried by its own weight several yards into the bushes. Frank’s ten men cut branches from nearby trees and draped the truck with them, and aside from the cuts in the asphalt from the tire rims, there were no signs that anything had happened here.
“All right,” Frank whispered. “Quick, now, there might be a scout behind them, too. Everybody take one of these boxes and follow me. Forget the rest of them—this time we’ll take only what we can carry.”
Each of the eleven men shouldered one of the boxes from the truck bed and filed away eastward. After about a hundred and fifty yards, they came to a wider dirt road. Turning right, the party followed it south for a quarter of a mile. Once Frank thought he heard shouts behind them, but it was very faint. The boxes were getting heavy and awkward, but no one spoke or even slackened the pace.
They finally reached the clearing where the eleven sleepy horses were tied. Frank and his men stowed their boxes in the saddlebags, mounted, and galloped away east—a bit awkwardly and unsteadily, for none of them were really competent horsemen.
When the last of the brigands had left the room, Frank turned to Hodges and the four other men at the table.
“Hand me that crowbar, will you, Hodges?” he asked. Hodges passed it to him. Frank pried up the nailed-down lid of the first box and lifted it off. In the box, wrapped in many sheets of waxed paper, were twelve .45 calibre semi-automatic pistols, glistening with oil. In the next box lay a thousand rounds of ammunition and twelve clips.
“Good God!” muttered Hodges. “Open the rest of them!”
Frank quickly opened the next box and found twenty rectangular sponges, rough on one side for scouring. The next box Frank pried apart held flat cans of saddle soap, as did the next two. Six metal bottles of kerosene lay in the next one, and the eighth box was filled with more saddle soap. The last four boxes held, respectively, hand-soap, pamphlets on diabetes, a hundred fountain pens (but no ink) and more saddle soap.
Frank opened a drawer in the table and pulled out his pipe and tobacco pouch. “Well,” he said, stuffing the pipe, “the guns and ammunition will be handy. Hell, all of it’s handy in one way or another. These scouring sponges, now…”
Hodges, who had been looking strangled, now exploded in helpless laughter. “Yeah,” he gasped. “These scouring sponges, now.” He picked one of them up. “Nothing but the best. Duke’s choice!” He picked up two more and began juggling them.
“For God’s sake, man,” said Frank. “Pull yourself together.”
“Sorry, sire,” sniffled Hodges, wiping tears out of his eyes. “It’s been a long evening.”
“For all of us,” Frank agreed. “Now listen. We picked them off easily tonight, because they weren’t expecting anything—their precautions were minimal and the four guards we ran into were just tokens. Also, the shipment itself seems to have been a… fairly minor one. It won’t ever be this easy again.”
“Right,” agreed Hodges. “Next time they’ll have a lot of alert, heavily armed guards riding along. So why continue? To corner the market in sponges and saddle soap?”
Frank held a lit match over his pipe-bowl and puffed rapidly on it. “No,” he said, tamping it now. “Maybe you’ve forgotten those twelve pistols. And there are two purposes to these raids—to scavenge things for ourselves and to impede the Transports. And of the two the second is more important.
“Maybe you’ve also forgotten all those reports of construction going on in the Goriot Valley. They’re building offices, barracks, factories for all we know! And when they’re finished, more Transports will move in than any of you dreamed existed! How many times do I have to point this out? The Subterranean Companions will be a forgotten joke inside of a year. In the meantime, though, their supplies are being landed at the Barclay Depot and driven up the Cromlech Road to the palace or the valley. If we interfere with those shipments, we put off the day the Transports take complete charge of this planet.”
“He’s right, Hodges,” spoke up one of the previously silent councilors. “It’s the least we can do.”
“Right!” agreed Frank eagerly, his bronze ear glittering in the torchlight. “It is the least, a mere… temporary cure. We have to, eventually, get rid of the Transport entirely, which means, of course, getting rid of Costa as well.” He puffed on his pipe for a moment, sending thick smoke-coils curling to the ceiling. “We’ve got to find an heir—a prince.”
“There aren’t any, besides Costa himself, who has no children,” said Hodges with some exasperation. “And you can’t simply come up with a likely-looking pretender—you’d have to have documents, proof, things no forger could counterfeit.”
“I can’t help that,” Frank shrugged. “That’s what we need.”
Tom Strand jogged up the steps of the Transport General Offices’ building and grinned at his reflection in the front window as he straightened his tie. Ah, you’re a bright-looking lad, Tommie, he told himself. He pulled open the door and approached the stern-faced woman behind the receptionist’s desk.
“Uh, hello,” said Tom shyly. “I was asked to come… that is, I have an appointment with Captain Duprey.”
The woman pursed her lips and flipped through her appointment book. “You’re Thomas Strand?”
“That’s right.”
“He’s expecting you. Second floor, room two-twelve.”
“Thank you.” Tom found the stairs after a few wrong turns and soon was knocking on the door of Room 212. He was told to come in, did so, and found himself in a pleasant, sunlit office, facing a smiling man with gray temples and laughter lines around his eyes.
“Tom Strand? I’m Captain Duprey.” The officer half-stood and warmly shook Tom’s hand. “Sit down, Tom. Will you have some brandy?”
“Yes, thank you.” Tom was gratified and profoundly flattered to be on such friendly terms with a Transport officer. I hope I’m equal to whatever job they have for me, he thought.
“Well, Tom,” said Duprey, pouring two glasses, “you’re in a position to do the Transport a big favor. And”—he looked up—“the Transport is not ungrateful to people who do it favors.”
“I’ll be… glad to be of service, sir.”
“Good! I knew you were a smart lad when I saw you. I can certainly see we’ve picked the right man! Here, drink up.”
“Thank you, sir.” For a moment they both simply savored the brandy.
“Are you loyal to your Duke, Tom?” asked Duprey with a sharp look.
“Oh, yes sir!” Tom had, to be sure, his private doubts and dissatisfactions, but knew when to keep them to himself. “Absolutely,” he added with fervor.
“Good man!” Duprey looked ready to burst with his admiration for Tom. “Now,” he said, lowering his voice solemnly, “you were, I believe, a close friend of Francisco de Goya Rovzar?”
“Yes,” said Tom, mystified by this turn. “He and his father disappeared about a year ago. I heard they were sent to the Orestes mines.”
“I’ll tell you what happened, Tom. They were in the palace when Costa overthrew Topo’s decadent rule, and they resisted arrest. The father was killed and young Francisco escaped into Munson. You’ve heard of the Subterranean Companions?”
“Yes. They’re the ones who’ve been raiding your supply shipments, aren’t they?”
“That’s right, Tom. Well, Francisco has become their king and is the instigator of these raids!”
“He’s the king?” asked Tom in amazement. “Are you sure? How did he get to become king?”
“I understand he murdered the previous king, which is how succession works with these killers and thieves. Barbaric.”
“It certainly is,” Tom agreed. “I can see how he’d do well at it, though. My father is a fencing instructor, and Frankie was always his star pupil.”
“Is that right? Yes, that explains a lot of things.” Duprey flipped open a wooden box on his desk. “Have a cigar, Tom,” he said. “Genuine Havanas, all the way from Earth.”
Tom took a cigar, glorying in his apparent equality with this space-wise, experienced old soldier. Duprey lit it for him, and Tom puffed at it with an expression of determined enjoyment.
“This brings us right to the point,” Duprey went on. “I won’t mince words, for I see you’re a man who likes to know straight-out what’s what. Frank Rovzar is a criminal and a leader of other criminals. He is almost certainly responsible for the deaths of… let’s see… eighteen Transport soldiers, several of them officers, and his raids on our shipments are becoming more costly all the time. You see the position he puts us in?”
“I certainly do, sir.”
“Good. Now what I… what the Transport asks of you is that you enlist in the Subterranean Companions. We’ll provide you with a credible story, of course. Then you can pretend to re-establish your friendship with him; get close to him; and then, quickly and mercifully, execute him. You’ll be acting as a representative of the state, naturally, and when you return from this valuable mission you’ll be given a high position in our company—as well as a cash reward for Rovzar’s death. It’s a fairly dangerous adventure, I know, and many men would fear to take opportunity’s somewhat bloody hand. But, unless I’m mistaken, you’re made of sterner stuff.”
Tom gulped his brandy, trying hard to mask the uncertainty inside him. Even for a high position in the Transport, he thought, can I coldly kill old Frank? Still, if I turn Duprey down I’ll likely wind up in jail myself.
“I’m always ready to do my country’s bidding,” Tom said with a pious look. “I’ll do my best, sir.”
“I knew you were our man!” said Duprey with the sort of smile one saves for a true comrade.
Unlike Blanchard, Frank made it a point to attend as many meetings of the Subterranean Companions as he could. He liked to keep up on the news and to learn as much as possible about the workings of the organization he’d become king of. Generally he sat to the side, smoking thoughtfully, only occasionally speaking up to add something or ask a question of Hodges.
Tonight he squinted curiously through a haze of latakia smoke at Hodges, who had just claimed to have an announcement to make about “the deceased king, Tolley Christensen.”
“After the duel in which Tolley Christensen was killed,” Hodges read from his notes, “his sword was picked up, together with the sword of King Blanchard. The two swords were observed to cling to each other. Upon investigation, Tolley’s sword proved to be magnetized. This is a trick expressly forbidden in the bylaws, and therefore I declare that Tolley’s admittedly brief reign was won by unfair means, and is, because of that, invalidated. Henceforth, then, our present King Francisco Rovzar is to be remembered as the successor to King Blanchard, with none between.”
Frank felt a quick panic. That means that Tolley wasn’t king when I killed him, he thought. Therefore, technically, I’m not really the king now. Damn it, Hodges, I wish you’d cleared this with me before announcing it.
Oh hell, he thought. Even if they do appoint someone else, I can always pull the ius gladii out of the hat again. And they’ll know I will, so they won’t try it even if they think of it.
A magnetized sword, eh, Tolley? Were you that scared of Blanchard? In the legendry and superstition of the understreet thieves, a magnetized sword was reputed to be much deadlier than an ordinary one; but Frank couldn’t see that it would make any difference. It just might, he thought, make getting a bind a little easier, and it might make your parries a little quicker—but it would do the same for your opponent, too.
Frank suddenly snapped out of his reverie. Hodges was now reading the names of newly-bonded apprentices. “What was that last name, Hodges?”
“Uh… Thomas Strand.”
“Thank you.”
Thomas Strand! Could it be my old buddy? Frank wondered. I’ll have to check the lists after the meeting and see where this Strand is staying. It would be great to have Tom down here. Since Orcrist was killed, I don’t have a really close friend in this understreet antfarm—only George Tyler, I guess; and maybe Beardo Jackson.
Eventually Hodges declared the meeting adjourned, and the crowd broke up into departing groups arguing about where to go for beer. Hodges was shuffling his papers together and a handful of young apprentices were waiting for the nod to drag out the ladders and snuff the lights.
“Hodges,” Frank said. “I think I know one of the new apprentices. Let me—”
“Frank!” came a voice from below him. “Your majesty, I mean.”
Frank looked down and grinned to see Tom Strand standing in front of the first-row seats. Frank jumped down from the marble block and slapped him on the back. “When the hell did you fall into the sewer world, Tom?”
“A couple of days ago. I saw you kind of blink when the emcee read my name. But Frank, you look ten years older! You’ve got a metal ear! And how did you cut your face? Shaving?”
“We’ve both got long stories to tell, I’m sure. I’m taking off, Hodges. Oh, and I’d like to see you tomorrow at ten in the council room; there’s a detail or two of protocol I want to check with you on.”
“Right, sire.” Hodges leaped down from the platform and ambled into the sacristy.
“Come on,” Frank said. “I know where we can get some beer.” As they walked out he waved to the boys, who trudged off to the closet where the ladders were kept.
“Tolley killed Orcrist and Blanchard, both of them friends of mine, so I killed him. Afterward I found that that had made me the new king. And here I am. So how is it that you’ve become one of my subjects?”
Tom mentally ran through the story Duprey had provided him with. “Well, Frank, my old girlfriend, Bonnie—remember her? Of course you do—Bonnie and I were out getting drunk one night, and a Transport cop came over and said to her, “Drop creepo, here, baby, and try a real man.” Well, I told him to, you know, buzz off, and he punched me in the face, so I hit him with a bottle and he fell right over, like he was dead.”
He’s lying, Frank thought—or at least exaggerating. Oh well, if he wants to look brave, I won’t hinder him.
“There were about six other Transports there, and they went for me, swords out. I’ve never been scared by swords, you know that, but I figured six of ’em were too many, so I headed out the door.”
“What about Bonnie?”
“Hm?”
“Bonnie. You left her there?”
“Oh… no, no. I knew the guy that owned the place, see, and I knew he’d look after her. Anyway, I ran out of there and headed for Munson. I didn’t have any place to stay, and Munson in the winter isn’t the right town for sidewalk-sleeping, so I crawled into a sewer, followed it along, and found a whole city down here.”
“You were lucky you did. Munson on the surface is a Transport nest. Who’s your sponsor?”
“An old guy named Jack Plant. Know him?”
“Slightly.” Frank frowned inwardly. Plant was a perpetual whiner and complainer, and had in the past been vaguely suspected of having made deals with the surface police. “I’ll get you a good position so you can pay off your bond quickly.”
“Thanks, Frank. But I don’t want you doing me favors just because I’m your friend.”
“Don’t worry. I never let personal feelings interfere with what’s got to be done. Never. But getting you a job isn’t any trouble. Finish your beer, now, and I’ll show you the way back to Plant’s.”
After Frank had left, Tom sat drinking weak coffee in Plant’s front room. I can’t kill old Frank, Tom thought, even if he is a criminal. The poor devil’s had a horrible time and has to live his whole life underground in a sewer. Of course it isn’t that bad—and he’s living high, by sewer standards.
Maybe, Tom thought, I could pretend to kill him. I could buy a slave of roughly Frank’s build, and then cut the slave’s head off and dress him in Frank’s clothes and tell Duprey that it was Frank. Then I’d have to do something with Frank… maybe I could sell him into slavery in the Tamarisk Isles. I’d have to cut out his tongue, I suppose, but that’s better than being killed. I guess it would probably be best to blind him, too—can’t have him coming back, after all—but that’s still better than being killed.
Yes sir, Tom smiled to himself, that’s what I’ll do. That way I get the Transport post Duprey promised me, and I don’t have to kill Frank. Hell, he’ll probably be happier, dumb and blind in the sunny Tamarisk Isles.
“Okay, Hodges, that wasn’t it. Send in the next one.” Frank leaned back in his chair and wished he had his pipe.
The door opened and a thin, well-dressed man entered the room. His suit was clean and meticulously pressed, but looked a bit threadbare around the cuffs. He had apparently combed his hair recently with some kind of oil.
“Please sit down,” said Frank. “You are related to the royal family, I believe?”
“That’s right,” the man nodded.
“What is your connection?”
“My father was the rightful duke, and Topo had him killed so he could marry my mother.”
“Your father was Duke Ovidi?” Frank asked.
“That’s right. Topo had him killed.”
“How?” Frank had always understood that Ovidi had died after falling, drunk, down a flight of stairs, thus leaving the dukedom to his brother Topo.
“My father was sleeping, and two scoundrels that Topo had hired snuck up and poured poison in his ear. Then Topo married my mother and took the title of Duke. But now I think it’s time that I claimed my kinship and threw Topo out. I’ve been having visions—”
“Yes, yes,” said Frank hastily. “Visions. I see. Well, thank you for your time. If anything develops, we’ll get in touch with you.”
The man stood up uncertainly and ambled out of the room. A moment later Hodges leaned in. “Another blank?” he asked.
Frank nodded.
“Nut or fortune-hunter?”
“Nut, for sure,” said Frank. “The guy doesn’t know Topo’s dead, even.”
“Well, I’ve got six more out here. You want ’em now or save ’em to see tomorrow?”
“Oh, tomorrow, I guess. We’ve got to find an heir, Hodges.”
“If you say so, sire.”
Frank waited until Hodges had got rid of the six other pretenders to the throne, and then went downstairs and put on his coat and sword.
“Going somewhere, sire?” Hodges asked.
“Yeah; I’m meeting a couple of friends on the boat.”
“Be careful.”
“Always, Hodges.”
Cochran Street was empty as Frank closed the door behind him. The air was chilly, and foul with fumes that were filtering up from some low-level swamp or stagnant branch of the Leethee. He pulled his coat tighter about him and strode off rapidly toward his dock. After insisting that his boatman and two guards remain where they were, Frank untied a small rowboat and took off down the Leethee. The river was flowing quick and smooth, but the choppy water and erratic evening wind of the harbor slowed him down. When he reached the anchored boat another rowboat was already moored to it.
“Frank!” someone called from the deck. “Get up here with the key, for God’s sake!”
Frank tied his rowboat to a mooring ring and climbed aboard the larger vessel. George Tyler stood shivering on the afterdeck, clutching a wine bottle as if it were a threatened baby. Frank unlocked the cabin and they both hurried inside.
“Get the heater lit,” gasped Tyler. “I’ve been out there for an hour.”
“You have not.”
“Well, nearly. Who’s this friend I’ve got to meet?”
“His name’s Tom Strand. He was my best friend before I came understreet.”
“Oh.” Tyler struck a match and lit the lamps. “Say, Frank, I’m sorry about what happened at my party.”
“Forget it, George. I’d say Kathrin and that Matthews dimwit are made for each other.”
“I guess so. They certainly see a lot of each other, anyway.” Tyler slumped into a chair. “Say,” he said, “where is Sam’s grave? I never thought to ask, but now I’d like to go and… pour some wine on his last resting place, or something.”
“He doesn’t have a grave,” Frank told him.
“You didn’t bury him?”
Frank pulled the cork out of George’s wine bottle. “Not exactly. I dragged his body back to our boat and then went on to that meeting we’d been heading for. Afterward I rowed out past the jetty and tied a heavy chain around him and let him sink in the outer sea.” He handed Tyler a glass of wine.
Tyler frowned for a moment, and then nodded. “You did the right thing, Frank. Bodies buried understreet always pop out sooner or later on a lower level. Here’s to his shade!” He tossed off the wine.
Frank drained his, too, and flung the glass hard at the narrow starboard window, which shattered explosively outward, spraying the deck with tinkling glass. Tyler flung his through the jagged hole into the sea.
“Hey, take it easy!” someone called from outside. “Frank, is that you?”
“That must be Tom,” Frank said, walking to the door. “I was beginning to worry about him.”
Frank went out on deck and showed Tom where to tie his boat, then helped him aboard and opened the cabin door for him.
(Two hundred yards away a tall, blond man in the harbor patrol uniform lowered his binoculars. He looked pleased as he took up the oars and began pulling toward the south.)
“This is George Tyler, Tom, one of the great poets of our age,” Frank said. “George, this is Tom Strand. Will you have some wine, Tom?”
“Sure. I can never afford any on an apprentice’s wages.”
“Maybe you can do better than that,” said Frank, pouring two new glasses for Tyler and himself. “I have a position for you.”
“Oh?” Tom took his glass and sat down. “Doing what?”
“Training my troops in fencing. They—”
“Troops?” Tom asked incredulously.
“That’s right. I’ve been organizing these thieves and a lot of the homeless Goriot farmers into an army. I’m beginning to get them into some kind of shape, but they know nothing about real fighting. I’ve been giving groups of them some basic lessons in stance and parrying and all, but I need someone who can be a full-time instructor. You’re probably as good a fencer as I am; why don’t you take the job? You’ll have your bond paid off in no time.”
Tom stared into his wine. An underground army, he thought. Duprey will be damned grateful when I tell him. “Sure,” he answered, looking up. “It sounds fine to me.”
“Terrific. You can start the day after tomorrow. I’ll have Hodges get a group of the best ones together in the meeting hall.”
They soon finished the wine and opened a bottle of Tamarisk brandy; the sight brought tears to Tom’s eyes.
“Easy, Tom,” Frank said jovially. “I guess it’s been a long time since you’ve had good brandy. Relax. Real soon you’ll be able to buy all the fine brandy you want.”
“I know,” said Tom.