A fool, Strongpincer decides. But possibly a useful one. If this landowner likes to waste his wealth learning things, maybe he knows what Strongpincer is trying to discover. “Where does he live?”
“He has the Great Stone property—but he’s not there now. Nobody but apprentices running the place.”
“Well where is he, then?”
“He’s on a journey A friend of his called Longpincer has a big property downcurrent from here about a thousand cables. Spinylegs visits him to talk about animals and plants and old things.”
“Downcurrent along the rift?”
“Yes. If you plan to go there, be sure to mention I’m sending you.”
“I intend to.” Perfect! Strongpincer imagines that he and Shellcrusher are capable of bullying a couple of foolish landowners into telling what he needs to know. And if they have some valuable items lying around, so much the better.
Broadtail is helping some of Longpincer’s tenants put guy lines on a standing net when an apprentice pings him. “Excuse me, Broadtail, sir, but the boss wants you.”
“Very well. Here—hold on to this post, and when it’s just leaning into the current tell them to tie off the line.”
He swims back to the house, where a clutch of adults are gathered. There’s a strange towfin with a large cargo bundle beneath it, and an adult giving some kind of commercial pitch.
“Cable absolutely unbreakable by any pull! Netting so fine even the tiniest swimmers can’t pass through!”
Longpincer swims up to intercept Broadtail and takes him aside. “You hear them?”
“I do. A pair of traveling merchants. What of it?”
“Listen to the talk some more.”
The merchant booms, “I challenge any adult—any pair of adults—to sever this cord. You can use any tool you wish, but you cannot cut it! Anyone care to try?”
“Absurd,” says Broadtail to Longpincer. “Borrow one of Builder 1’s tools and snip it in half!”
“I have felt and tasted this merchant’s wares, Broadtail. They are very like some of the Builder tools and gear.”
“But how?”
“I am not sure. Possibly another group of Builders, selling their gear to a merchant in exchange for help? Possibly some cache of theirs, now in the grip of scavengers? Or—possibly Builder 1 is not telling us everything.”
“Builder 1 speaks of strangers unlike him, occupying his home and driving him into the wilderness.”
“Could these things be theirs?” Longpincer asks.
“That captures a netful of other questions,” says Broadtail. “Is this merchant a thief selling stolen goods of those other strangers, or are they his by trade, or is he their servant?”
“Let us speak with him.”
The two scientists approach the merchant. He is selling a length of un-cuttable cord to one of Longpincer’s tenants, and the landowner waits courteously until the trade is done.
“Come aside with me,” says Longpincer. “I have matters of importance to discuss.”
The merchant scuttles over, and as he approaches, Broadtail catches a familiar tang in the water. He knows this adult. Who is he? The memory of Onepincer’s school comes to mind. The bandit! He risks seeming rude and pings the fellow to make sure—a little larger and not quite so smooth-shelled, but it’s unmistakably the same adult. Strongpincer is his name. Broadtail says nothing, not wishing to open his pincer yet.
“Sir, your wares are extraordinary,” says Longpincer. “Can you tell me where they are made?”
“Far away. Very far indeed.”
“How far? I own craftwork from beyond the shallows and even from the deep basins. None of it resembles this at all. Let me put you at ease—I am only curious because I am a scholar. I have no wish to trespass on your trade.”
“Oh, surely not,” says Strongpincer. “But others may, and a secret makes many echoes when it’s spoken.”
“Yet I suspect I know the origin of these things,” says Longpincer casually. “I offer you one of my beads if you will answer a single question: are the makers adults like ourselves?”
There is a long silence before Strongpincer speaks. “No.”
“Two beads for a second answer. How many limbs do the makers have?”
“I cannot answer,” Strongpincer replies promptly.
Broadtail taps quietly on Longpincer’s tail. “Leave him. Must talk privately.”
“I must beg your pardon,” says Longpincer. “I must determine how much of your goods I need—and what I can afford to trade. Please excuse me.”
Strongpincer turns back to the throng of tenants while Longpincer and Broadtail hurry off to the entryway of the house.
“He is a bandit. I remember him robbing a schoolmaster, and I suspect him of attacking my exploring party. He calls himself Strongpincer.”
“His refusal to answer my second question is significant,” says Longpincer. “He knows there are two kinds of strangers with differing numbers of limbs. And I suspect he knows they are in conflict.”
Once again Broadtail is startled by Longpincer’s thinking. “True!”
“But we do not know where his loyalty stands.”
“That I can answer,” says Broadtail. “He is a bandit and his loyalty is to himself.”
“We can also deduce that he is not allied with the stranger you call Builder 1.”
“I believe his goods are stolen,” says Broadtail. “It makes perfect sense: this bandit comes across the other strangers—the ones I call Squatters. Perhaps he overcomes one in an ambush, or perhaps he simply takes a cache of goods left unguarded. He wishes to conceal this, so he answers you evasively when you ask about the origin of the items.”
Longpincer considers this. “But how does he know of Builder 1’s people, then?”
“I cannot explain that,” Broadtail admits. “It is extremely unlikely for one bandit to come across two sets of strangers by chance.”
“Then there are three possible sources of his knowledge: the Builders, the Squatters, and—ourselves,” says Longpincer.
“I recall Builder 1 being entirely ignorant of how to tap out words at our first meeting. That rules out his people.”
“And this bandit is a stranger here, which rules out any of us. A good thing, too—I should hate to think any of the Company were trying to gain knowledge secretly, hoarding it like scarce roe instead of passing it around generously.”
“Which leaves the Squatters,” says Broadtail. “This bandit is their hired worker. But doing what? If the Squatters hold Builder 1’s home, why send someone to search for him? Surely no creature could be so evil as to harry poor Builder 1 from shelter to shelter.”
“Spying,” says Longpincer. “They fear Builder 1, and wish to know if he plans revenge against them. Anyone would, in such a situation. So they hire this bandit to seek him out and report on what he is doing.”
“I suggest that I wait with some of the Company just outside your boundaries and kill this spy as he leaves. I promise you a share of his goods,” says Broadtail.
“I wish to know more before planning action,” says Longpincer. “I propose serving this merchant, or bandit, a very large meal and giving him as many stings as he wants. The food makes him content, the stings make him irresponsible—I imagine him telling us much he might otherwise keep secret.”
“But what do you intend when the dinner is done?”
“I think it best to let him go.”
“I imagine him telling the Squatters! Isn’t it better for him to simply disappear into your trash midden?”
“I do not have the reputation of a landowner who kills and robs passing merchants, Broadtail. Bitterwater is remote and I worry about traders avoiding my place if they fear being robbed. Besides, we have no way to know if he suspects the Builders are here.”