The Jewels of Aptor

wooden walls of the ship's forecastle

ake this one. Little wriggly arms, you look like you have a strong stomach, so you take the middle. And Geo, sling yourself down in the bottom there." He clumped

e pins of light struck yellow dots in his dark ey

fast if you're up near the ceiling and not used to it," Urson expanded, dropping hi

and seemed to exam

hing him from against one wall. Urson's

A good sailor does that first thing-unless he's too drunk. But that lets the captain and the mate know he's got a

n," interrupte

. This sudden silence is a bilgy way to treat somebody who's sworn himself to s

ill a man?" Geo

it was a year ago," he said softly. "And maybe it was a year, two months, and five days, on a Thursday mo

ut it, and then admit it to a stranger just like that? You were my friend, we've slept

seven pieces if ..." he heaved in a breadth. "If I hadn't promised I'd make no trouble.

away, and spat on the floor. Then he

ake. The boy's black eyes darted under twin spots o

the word Help, only it was no sound, but like the fading hu

... came the words once more, indis

n said, "is

... angry ...

," Geo said. "Wh

he words that seemed to g

nk is that if everyone can

t ... you ... You ... think ... I ... hear ... c

on said. "It's just l

"He means he hears what we think just

. think ... lou

thinking," Urson said. "And if I thought some

the apology, but asked again,

help do you wa

are you in that you need h

have ... good ...

inds are as good as any in Leptar. You heard the wa

we don't hear ve

e no

en you'll just have to go s

t ... so ... loud. Suddenly he went over to the bunks.

," Urson said, rubbing his be

ted. "Can't you tel

Snake

inary human being?" suggested U

peak, Snak

speak once?" asked

pened his mout

his hand and examined the face and peered in

it?" Ur

frown. "His tongue has been hacked out," he

continents did a thing like tha

hook hi

ike that from friends and expect them to rescue you from

you ... kill ..

e more. "But if you can hear thoughts, you know the man already. And you know the rea

... the ... m

exchanged pu

nake. You ...

and hoisted himself onto the upper berth, dangling his feet against the wooden support. "It's going to be a long time bef

Great Fire. The Great Fire was back before the purges, the ones I spo

boiled, great birds spat fire from the sky, and beasts rose up from the

d into the temple practices. All references to them were destroyed also, and with them, much of Leptar's history. Stories have it that

the Great Fire

sand years aft

ealthy women." He looked down at Snake. "Is it true that a drop of your blood in vinegar will

e are only tal

top all day. It was an idiot, though. But the dwarfs and the legless ones that wh

too. How many men do you know who reach

shrugged. "Well anyway, I never heard of one who could hear what you thought. It would make me unco

ack, but then suddenly looked over the edge of the berth toward Geo. "Hey

ough." He looked up over the bunk bottom between himself and

t the thong a

ked. "Oh, never mind. I guess we

d three others sprang around it. "I wasn't going t

te was silhouetted against the brighter light behind him. "

, and then swung off the berth, made

ed, a door before him opened and a blade o

rced faintly but cleanly into his nostrils like knives. Light lashed the polished wooden newels of a great bed on which sat swirls of silk, damasked satin, brocade. A huge desk, cornered with wooden eagles, was spread with papers, meticulous instruments of cartography, sextants, rules, compasses, and

ed the priestess.

ob

d her hands in front of her veiled face. "What

water, some land, an

riend, Urson? He is a traveled man and shou

f beasts that no one has ever seen, of lands for whic

m all my priests. You, on the docks there, this evening, have been the only man to give me another scrap of the puzzle

ing,

possess another; and if you had one, you would probably exchange it

of no su

ons of the white goddess Argo, you do not even know the name

ing,

and blind, wise poet, you will laugh, and probably he will, too. But I will tell you: his tales, his legends, and his fan

am ..." G

up, having been abo

e me what information you have, and I will be able to render mine in full. I am familiar with many sailors' tales. True, none of Aptor, or Hama, but I may be able to collate fragments. I have learned the

lish-and a poet. I hope the first and last will wipe out the middle one in ti

you know as much about it as any ordinary person in Leptar might. Aptor is a barbaric land, uncivilized. Yet

e from the sea and destroyed the world's har

thing evil, but these stories still give you some idea. Chronicles, which only three or four people have had access to, tell me that once five hundred years ago, the forces of Aptor actually attempted to invade Leptar. The references to it are vague. I do not

y awake, once launched, it will be irrevocable. Tendrils have reached into us for the past few years, probed, and then withdrawn before they were recognized. Sometimes they dealt catastrophic blows to the center

e a god of Aptor under whom these forces are being mar

h are not true enough,"

years ago? It was five hundred years ago that the religion of Argo in Leptar purged all her r

ll be the reason that we are still a free nation today. Since then it has been guarded carefully in the temple of the Goddess Argo, its secrets well protected, along with those few chronicles which mention the invasion, which ended, incidenta

ncarnate? The hi

. Her youngest daughter, when she dies, becomes Argo. At any rate, she was kidnaped. One of the assailants was hacked down; instantly it decayed, rotted on the floor of the convent corridor. But from the putrescent mass of fle

to help save Leptar and to discover the

aughter of the last Argo: that is why this task fell to me. And until she is found dead, or r

t we captured one, and very soon unlocked its secrets. I have no guards with me. With this jewel I need none. I am as safe as I would be with an army, and capable of nearly as much destruction. When they came to kidnap my sister a year ago, I am convinced they carried both of their remaining jewels, thinking that we had either lost, or did not know the power of the first. Anyway, they reasoned, they had two to our one. But n

this third jew

f the dark god Hama that sits in the guarded palace somewhere in the center of t

so," answ

, or her remains. You are to find them, and

will you show us their power so that we may

er pale fingernail. The map suddenly blackened at one edge, and then flared. Argo walked to a brazier and deposited the flaming paper. Then she turned again to

, "I think we have a fair chance

ly gone. "Do you think," she said, "that I would put such temptation in your hands? You

we would be s

rescue her, then she will know how to employ its power to manipulate your escape. However, if you and your friends do not accomplish all these things, the trip will be useless; and so

d not

arship. Don't you believe in their power? Go back to your berth, and send the thief to me.