Barquan Blasdel the Apprise Intercessor, with his spouse and six daughters, occupied a pad to Ac north of the main float, somewhat isolated and apart. It was perhaps the choicest and most pleasant pad of the Apprise complex, situated where Blasdel could read the hoodwink towers of Apprise, of Quatrefoil and the Bandings to the east, of Granolt to the west.
The pad was delightfully overgrown with a hundred different plants and vines: some yielding resinous pods. others capsules of fragrant sap, others crisp tendrils and shoots. Certain shrubs produced stains and pigment; a purple-leaved epiphyte yielded a rich-flavored pith. Other growths were entirely ornamental-a situation not too usual along the floats, where space was at a premium and every growing object weighed for its utility. Along the entire line of floats few pads could compare to that of Barquan Blasdel for beauty, variety of plantings, isolation and calm.
In late afternoon of the second day after the turbulent convocation, Barquan Blasdel returned to his pad. He dropped the painter of his coracle over a stake of carved bone, gazed appreciatively into the west. The sun had only just departed the sky, which now glowed with effulgent greens, blues, and. at die zenith, a purple of exquisite purity. The ocean, shuddering to the first whispers of the evening breeze, reflected me sky, Blasdel felt surrounded, immersed in color. He aimed away, marched to his house, whistling a complacent time between his teeth. On the morrow the most troublesome elements of all the floats would depart on the morning breeze, and no more would be heard from them ever. And Blasdel's whistling became slow and thoughtful. Although life flowed smoothly and without contention, over the years a certain uneasiness and dissatisfaction had begun to make itself felt.
Dissident elements had begun to question the established order. The sudden outbreak of violence at the convocation perhaps had been inevitable: an explosion of suppressed or even unconscious tensions. But all was working out for the best. The affair could not have resolved itself more smoothly if he had personally arranged the entire sequence of events.
At one stroke all the skeptics, grumblers, ne'er-do-wells, the covertly insolent, the obstinate hardheads-at one stroke, all would disappear, never again to trouble the easy and orthodox way of life.
Almost jauntily Barquan Blasdel ambled up the path to his residence: a group of five semidetached huts. screened by the garden from the main float, and so providing a maximum of privacy for Blasdel, his spouse and his six daughters. Blasdel halted. On a bench beside the door sat a man. Twilight murk concealed his face. Blasdel frowned, peered. Intruders upon his private pad were not welcome. Blasdel marched forward.
The man rose from the bench and bowed: it was Phyral Berwick, the Apprise Arbiter. "Good evening," said Berwick. "I trust I did not startle you."
"By no means," said Blasdel shortly. With rank equal to his own Berwick could not be ignored, although after his unconventional actions at the convocation Blasdel could not bring himself to display more man a minimum of formal courtesy. He said, "Unfortunately I was not expecting callers and can offer you no refreshment."
"A circumstance of no moment," declared Berwick. "I desire neither food nor drink." He waved his hand around the pad. "You live on a pad of surpassing beauty, Barquan Blasdel. There are many who might envy you."
Blasdel shrugged. "Since my conduct is orthodox, I am armored against adverse opinion. But what urgency brings you here? I fear that 1 must be less than ceremonious; I am shortly due at the hoodwink tower to participate in a coded all-float conference."
Berwick made a gesture of polite acquiescence. "My business is of small moment. But I would not keep you standing out here in the dusk. Shall we enter?"
Blasdel grunted, opened the door. allowed Berwick to enter. From a cupboard he brought luminant fiber, which he set aglow and arranged in a holder. Turning a quick side glance toward Berwick he said. "In all candor I am somewhat surprised to see you. Apparently you were among the most vehement of those dissidents who planned to depart."
"I may well have given that impression," Berwick agreed.
"But you must realize that declarations uttered in the heat of emotion are occasionally amended in the light of sober reason."
Blasdel nodded curtly. "True enough. I suspect that many of the ingrates will think twice before joining this harebrained expedition."
"This is partly the reason for my presence here," said Berwick. He looked around the room. "An interesting chamber. You own dozens of valuable artifacts. But where are the others of your family?"
"In the domestic area. This is my sanctum, my workroom, my place of meditation."
"Indeed." Berwick inspected the walls. "Indeed, indeed!
I believe 1 notice certain relics of the forefathers'"
"True," said Blasdel. "This small flat object is of the substance called 'metal,' and is extremely hard. The best bone knife will not scratch it. The purpose of this particular object I cannot conjecture. It is an heirloom. These books are exact copies of the Dicta in the Hall of Archives, and present the memoirs of me Forefathers- Alas! 1 find them beyond my comprehension. There is nothing more of any great interest.
On the shelf-my ceremonial headdresses; you have seen them before. Here is my telescope. It is old; the case is warped, the gum of the lenses has bulged and cracked. It was poor gum, to begin with. But I have little need for a better instrument. My possessions are few. Unlike many Intercessors and certain Arbiters." here he cast a meaningful eye at Phyral Berwick, "I do not choose to surround myself with sybaritical cushions and baskets of sweetmeats."
Berwick laughed ruefully. "You have touched upon my weaknesses. Perhaps the fear of deprivation has occasioned second thoughts in me."
"Ha hah!" Blasdel became jovial. "I begin to understandThe scalawags who set off to wild new floats can expect nothing but hardship: wild fish, homy sponges, new varnish with little more body than water; in short they will be returning to the life of savages. They must expect to suffer the depredations of lesser kragen, who will swiftly gather. Perhaps in time…" His voice dwindled, his face took on a thoughtful look.
"What was it you were about to say?" prompted Phyral Bcwick.
Blasdel gave a noncommittal laugh. "An amusing, if farfetched, conceit crossed my mind- Perhaps in time one of these lesser kragen will vanquish the others, and drive them away. When this occurs, those who flee King Kragen will have a king of their own. who may eventually…" Again his voice paused.
"Who may eventually rival King Kragen in size and force?"
Berwick supplied. "The concept is not unreasonable-although King Kragen is already enormous from long feasting, and shows no signs of halting his growth." An almost imperceptible tremor moved the floor of the hut. Blasdel went to look out the door. "I thought I felt the arrival of a coracle."
"Conceivably a gust of wind," said Berwick. "Well, to my errand. As you have guessed I did not come to examine your relics or comment upon the comfort of your cottage. My business is this. I feel a certain sympathy for those who are leaving and I feel that no one, not even the most violently fanatic intercessor, would wish this group to meet King Kragen upon the ocean. King Kragen, as you are aware, disapproves of exploration, and becomes petulant, even wrathful, when he finds men venturing out upon the ocean- Perhaps he fears the possibility of the second King Kragen concerning which we speculated. Hence I came to inquire the whereabouts of King Kragen- In the morning the wind blows east, and the optimum location for King Kragen would be to the far west at Tranque or Thrasneck."
Blasdel nodded sagely- "The emigrants are putting their luck to the test. Should King Kragen chance to be waiting in the east tomorrow morning and should he spy the flotilla, his wrath might well be excited, to the detriment of the expedition.''
THE KStAGEN 165 "And where," inquired Berwick, "was King Kragen at last notification?"
Barquan Blasdel knit his brows. "I believe I noted a hoodwink message to the effect that he was seen cruising in a westerly direction to the south of Maudelinda Float, toward Bickle. 1 might well have misread the flicker, I only noted the configuration from the comer of my eye-but such was my understanding."
"Excellent," declared Berwick. "This is good news. The emigrants should make their departure safely and without interference."
"So we hope," said Blasdel. "King Kragen of course is subject to unpredictable whims and quirks."
Berwick made a confidential sign. "Sometimes-so it is rumored-he responds to signals transmitted in some mysterious manner by the Intercessors. Tell me, Barquan Blasdel, is mis the case? We are both notables and together share responsibility for the welfare of Apprise Hoat. Is it true then that the Intercessors communicate with King Kragen, as has been alleged?"
"Now then, Arbiter Berwick," said Blasdel. "this is hardly a pertinent question. Should I answer yes, then I would be divulging a craft secret. Should I answer no, then it would seem that we Intercessors boast of nonexistent capabilities.
So you must satisfy yourself with those hypotheses which seem the most profitable."
"Fairly answered," said Phyral Berwick. "However-and in the strictest confidence-I will report to you an amusing circumstance. As you know, at the convocation I declared myself for the party of Sklar Hast. Subsequently I was accepted into their most intimate counsels. I can inform you with authority-but first, you will assure me of your silence?
As under no circumstances would I betray Sklar Hast or compromise the expedition."
"Certainly, indeed; my lips are sealed as with fourteenyear-old varnish."
"Well then, I accept you at your word. This is Sklar Hast's amusing lactic: he has arranged that a group of influential Intercessors shall accompany the group. If all goes well, the Intercessors live. If not. like all the rest, they arc crushed in the mandibles of King Kragen.*' And Phyral Berwick, standing back, watched Barquan Blasdel with an attentive gaze.
"What do you make of that?"
Blasdel stood rigid, fingering his fringe of black beard. He darted a quick glance toward Berwick. "Which Intercessors are to be kidnapped?"
"Aha," said Berwick. "That, like the response of me question I put to you, is in the nature of a craft secret. I doubt if lesser men will be troubled, but if I were Intercessor for Aumerge, or Sumber, or Quatrefoil, or even Apprise, I believe that I might have cause for caution."
Blasdel stared at Berwick with mingled suspicion and uneasiness. "Do you take this means to warn me? If so, I would thank you to speak less ambiguously. Personally I fear no such attack. Within a hundred feet are three stalwarts, testing my daughters for marriage. A loud call would bring instant help from the float, which is scarcely a stone's throw beyond the garden."
Berwick nodded sagely. "It seems then that you are utterly secure."
"Still, I must hurry to the float," said Blasdel. "I am expected at a conference, and the evening grows no younger."
Berwick bowed and stood aside. "You will naturally remember to revea! nothing of what I told you, to vouchsafe no oblique warning, to hint nothing of the matter-in fact to make no reference to it whatever."
Blasdel considered. "I will say nothing beyond my original intention, to the effect that the villain Sklar Hast obviously knows no moderation, and that it behooves all notables and craft masters to guard thcmsleves against some form of final vegeance."
Berwick paused. "I hardly think you need go quite so farPerhaps you could phrase it somewhat differently. In this wise:
Sklar Hast and his sturdy band take their leave in the morning; now is me last chance for persons so inclined to cast in their lot with the group; however, you hope mat all Intercessors will remain at their posts."
"Pah," cried Barquan Blasde! indignantly. "That conveys no sense of imminence. I will say, Sklar Hast is desperate; should he decide to take hostages, his diseased mind would select Intercessors as the most appropriate persons."
Berwick made a Firm dissent. "This, I believe, transcends the line I have drawn. My honor is at stake and I can agree to no announcement which baldly states the certainty as a probability.If you choose to make a jocular reference, or perhaps urge that not too many Intercessors join the expedition, then all is well: a subtle germ of suspicion has been planted, you have done your duty and my honor has not been compromised.'' "Yes, yes." cried Bia amp;del, "I agree to anything. But I must hurry to the hoodwink tower. While we quibble Sklar Hast and his bandits are kidnaping Intercessors."
"And what is the harm there?" inquired Berwick mildly.
"You state that King Kragen has been observed from Maudelinda Float proceeding to the west; hence the Intercessors are in no danger, and presumably will be allowed to return once Sklar Hast is assured that King Kragen is no longer a danger. Conversely, if the Intercessors have betrayed Sklar Hast and given information to King Kragen so that he waits off Sciona Float, then they deserve to die with the rest.
It is justice of the most precise and exquisite balance."
"That is the difficulty," muttered Blasdel, trying to push past Berwick to the door. "I cannot answer for the silence of me other Intercessors. Suppose one among them has notified King Kragen? Then a great tragedy ensues."
"Interesting! So you can indeed summon King Kragen when you so desire?"
"Yes, yes, but, mind you, this is a secret. And now-"
"It follows then that you always know the whereabouts of King Kragen. How do you achieve mis?"
"There is no time to explain; suffice it to say that a means is at hand."
"Right here? In your workroom?"
"Yes indeed. Now stand aside. After I have broadcast me warning I will make all clear. Stand aside then!"
Berwick shrugged and allowed Blasdel to run from the cottage, through the garden to the edge of the pad. Blasdel stopped short 2t the water's edge. The coracle had disappeared. Where previously Apprise Float had raised its foliage and its great hoodwink tower against the dusk. there was now only blank water and blank sky. The pad floated free; urged by the west wind of evening it already had left Apprise Float behind.
Blasdel gave an inarticulate cry of fury and woe. He turned to find Berwick standing behind him. "What has happened?"
"It seems that while we talked, divers cut through the stem of your pad. At least this is my presumption."
"Yes, yes," grated Blasdel. "So much is obvious. What else?"
Berwick shrugged. "It appears that willy-nilly, whether we like it or not, we are part of the great emigration. Now that such is the case I am relieved to know that you have a means to determine the whereabouts of King Kragen. Come. Let us make use of this device and reassure ourselves."
Blasdel made a guttural sound deep in his throat. He crouched and for a moment appeared on the point of hurling himself at Phyral Berwick. From the shadows of the verdure appeared another man. Berwick pointed. "I believe Sklar Hast himself is at hand.'' "You tricked me," groaned Barquan Blasdel between clenched teeth. "You have performed an infamous act, which you shall regret."
"I have done no such deed, although it appears that you may well have misunderstood my position. Still, the time for recrimination is over. We share a similar problem, which is how to escape the malevolence of King Kragen. I suggest that you now proceed to locate him."
Without a word Blasdel turned, proceeded to his cottage.
He entered the main room, with Berwick and Sklar Hast close behind. He crossed to the wall, lifted a panel to reveal an inner room. He brought more lights; all entered. A hole had been cut in the floor, and through the pad. the spongy tissue having been painted with a black varnish to prevent its growing together. A tube fashioned from fine yellow stalk perhaps four inches in diameter led down into the water. "At the bottom," said Blasdel curtly, "is a carefully devised hom, of exact shape and quality. The end is four feet in diameter and covered with a diaphragm of seasoned and varnished padskin. King Kragen emits a sound to which this hom is sensitive."
He went to the tube, put down his ear, listened, slowly turned the tube around a vertical axis. He shook his head. "I hear nothing. This means that King Kragen is at least ten miles distant. If he is closer I can detect him- He passed to the east early today; presumably he swims somewhere near Sumber, or Adelvine."
Sklar Hast laughed quietly. "Urged there by the Intercessors?"
Blasdel shrugged sourly. "As to that I have nothing to say."
"How then do you summon King Kragen?"
Blasdel pointed to a rod rising from the floor, the top of which terminated in a crank. "In the water below is a drum.
Inside this drum fits a wheel. When the crank is turned, the wheel, working in resin, rubs against the drum and emits a signal- King Kragen can sense this sound from a great distance-once again about ten miles. When he is needed, at say Bickle Float, the Intercessor at Aumerge calls him, until the hom reveals him to be four or five miles distant, whereupon me Intercessor at Paisley calls him a few miles, then the Maudelinda Intercessor, and so forth until he is within range of the Intercessor at Bickle Float."
Sklar Hast nodded. "I see. In this fashion Semon Voidenvo called King Kragen to Tranque. Whereupon King Kragen destroyed Tranque Boat and killed forty-three persons."
"That is the case."
Sklar Hast turned away. Phyral Berwick told Blasdel, "I believe that Semon Voidenvo is one of the Intercessors who are accompanying the emigration. His lot may not be a happy one."
"This is unreasonable," Barquan Blasdel declared heatedly." He was as faithful to his convictions as Sklar Hast is to his own. After all, Voidenvo did not enjoy the devastation of Tranque Float. It is his home. Many of those killed were his friends. But he gives his faith and trust to King Kragen."
Sklar Hast swung around. "And you?"
Blasdel shook his head. "Not with such wholeheanedness."
Sklar Hast looked toward Berwick. "What should we do with this apparatus? Destroy it? Or preserve it?"
Berwick considered. "We might on some occasion wish to listen for King Kragen. I doubt if we ever will desire to summon him.'* Sklar Hast gave a sardonic jerk of the head. "Who knows?
To his death perhaps." He turned to Blasdel. "What persons are aboard the pad in addition to us?"
"My spouse-in the cottage two roofs along. Three young daughters who weave ornaments for the Star-cursing Festival.
Three older daughters are attempting to prove themselves to three stalwarts who test them for wives. All are unaware that their home floats out on the deep ocean. None wish to become emigrants to a strange line of floats."
Sklar Hast said, "No more were any of the rest of us- until we were forced to choose. I feel no pity for them, or for you. Undoubtedly there will be ample work for all hands.
Indeed, we may formulate a new guild: the Kragen-killers. If rumor is accurate, they infest the ocean." n He left the room, went out into the night. Blasdel cast a» wry look at Phyral Berwick, went to listen once more at the detecting hom. Then he likewise left the room. Berwick followed, and lowered the panel. Both joined Sklar Hast at the edge of the pad, where now several coracles were tied. A dozen men stood in the garden. Sklar Hast turned to Blasdel.
"Summon your spouse, your daughters and those who test them. Explain the circumstances, and gather your belongingsThe evening breeze will soon die and we cannot tow the pad.'* Blasdel departed, accompanied by Berwick. Sklar Hast and the others entered the workroom, carried everything of value or utility to the coracles, including the small metal relict, the Books of Dicta, the listening horn and the summoning drum.
Then all embarked in the coracles, and Barquan Blasdel's;" beautiful pad was left to drift solitary upon the ocean.