"You wish Ar to escape the yoke of Cos?" I asked the fellow.
"Certainly," he said.
"What we have in mind may help to bring that about," I said.
"Speak," he said.
"You know that Ar refused to support Ar's Station in the north and that her loyalty to the state of Ar cost her her walls and her Home Stone?"
"Yes," he said. "I know that, but I am not supposed to know that."
"Ar owes fidelity and courage of Ar's Station much," I said.
"Granted," he said.
"Would you like to pay back a part of the debt which Ar owes Ar's Station?" I asked.
"Certainly," he said.
"And would you like to take a trip to the north with your troupe, a trip which might eventually bring you to the town of Port Cos, on the northern bank of the Vosk?"
"They are staunch supporters of the theater there, are they not?" he asked. "It is a rich town," I said.
"Staunch enough," he said.
"In which, if you accomplish this task, you will be hailed as heroes," I said. "We are already heroes," he said. "It is only that we have not been hailed as such."
"If you undertake this task," I said, "you will be indeed a hero."
"Port Cos?" he said.
"Yes," I said.
"That is where the survivors of Ar's Station are, is it not?" he asked.
"Many of them," I said.
"What do you have in mind?" he asked.
"The Delta Brigade," I said, "is restoring courage and pride to Ar. The governance of the city, under the hegemony of Cos, wishes to discredit the Brigade by associating it in the popular mind with Ar's Station, which the folks of Ar have been taught to despise and hate."
"That has been clear to me for some time," said the fellow, "at least since noon yesterday."
"Do you think most folks in Ar believe, at least now, that Ar's Station is behind the Delta Brigade?" I asked.
"No," he said. "It is supposed almost universally that it is an organization of delta veterans."
"What do you think would happen," I asked, "if the Home Stone of Ar's Station would disappear, from beneath the very noses of the authorities?"
"I do not know," he said, "but I suspect it would be thought that the Delta Brigade, the veterans, rescued it, and this might give the lie to the official propaganda on the subject, and even vindicate Ar's Station in the eyes of the citizenry, that the Delta Brigade chose to act on her behalf. At the least, the disappearance of the stone would embarrass the governance of the city, and Cos, and cast doubt on their security and efficiency. Its loss could thus undermine their grasp on the city."
"I think so, too," I said.
"You wish me to obtain the Home Stone of Ar's Station for you?" he asked. "For Ar," I said, "for Ar's Station, for the citzenry of Ar's Station, for Marcus."
"No," he said.
"Very well," I said. I stepped back. I had not wish to urge him. Nor had Marcus. "You misled me," he said.
"I am sorry," I said.
"You told me that the task was difficult, that it was dangerous," he said, scornfully.
I was puzzled.
"Do you not know that the stone is now on public display," he asked, "for Ahn a day?"
"Yes," I said. "We know that."
"It is in the open!" he said.
"In a way," I said.
"It is not locked in a tower, encircled with a moat of sharks, behind ten doors of iron, ringed by deadly osts, circled by maddened sleen, surrounded by ravening larls."
"No," I said. "Not to my knowledge."
"I shall not do it!" he said.
"I do not blame you," I said.
"Do you hold me in such contempt?" he asked.
"Not at all," I said, puzzled.
"Do you ask me, me, to do such a thing?"
"We had hoped you might consider it," I said.
"Never!" he said.
"Very well," I said.
"What slandering scoundrels you are, both of you," he said, angrily.
"How so?" I asked.
"It is too easy!" he said, angrily.
"What?" I asked.
"It is too easy," he said. "It is unworthy of me! It is beneath my attention. It would be an insult to my skills! There is no challenge!"
"It is too easy?" I asked.
"Would you come to a master surgeon to have a boil lanced, a wart removed?" he asked.
"No," I admitted.
"To a scribe to read the public boards!"
"No," said Marcus. I myself was silent. I sometimes had difficulty with the public boards, particularly when cursive script was used.
"Let me understand this clearly," I said. "You think the task would be too easy?"
"Certainly," he said. "It requires only a simple substitution."
"Do you think you could manage it?" asked Marcus, eagerly.
"Anyone could do it," he said, angrily. "I know of at least one, in Turia."
"But that is in the southern hemisphere," I pointed out.
"True," he said.
"Then you will do it?" I said.
"I will need to get a good look at the stone," he said. "But that is easily accomplished. I will go and revile it tomorrow."
Marcus stiffened.
"It is necessary," I said to Marcus. "He will not mean it."
"Then," he said, "once I have every detail of the stone carefully in mind I shall see to the construction of a duplicate."
"You can remember all the details?" I asked.
"Taken in in an glance," he assured me.
"Remarkable," I said.
"A mind such as mine," he said, "occurs only once or twice in a century."
Marcus had hardly been able to speak, so overcome he was.
"Do you, lad, know the stone fairly well?" he was asked by the paunchy fellow. "Yes!" said Marcus.
"Good," said the paunchy fellow.
"Why do you ask that?" I asked.
"In case I forget the color of it, or something," he said.
"You do realize, do you not," I asked, "that the stone is under constant surveillance."
"It will not be under surveillance for the necessary quarter of an Ihn or so," he said.
"You will use misdirection?" I asked.
"Unless you have a better idea, or seventy armed men, or something."
"No," I said.
"There will be many guards about," said Marcus.
"I work best with an audience," said the ponderous fellow.
I did not doubt it. On the other hand he did make me a bit nervous. I trusted he would not try to make too much of a show of it. The important thing was to get the stone and get it out of the city, and, if possible, to Port Cos.
"Sir!" said Marcus.
"Lad?" asked the ponderous fellow.
"Even though you should fail in this enterprise and die a horrible death, I want you to know that you have the gratitude of Ar's Station!"
"Thank you," said the fellow. "The sentiment touches me."
"It is nothing," Marcus assured him.
"No, no!" said the fellow. "On the rack, and under the fiery irons and burning pincers, should such be my fate, I shall derive much comfort from it."
"I think you are the most courageous man I have ever known," said Marcus. "Twice this evening," said the fellow, turning to me, "it seems my well-wrought sham of craven timidity, carefully constructed over the period of a lifetime, has been penetrated."
"Do you plan to seize the Home Stone by trickery or magic?" asked Marcus. "I haven't decided," said the fellow. "Which would you prefer?"
"If it does not the more endanger you," said Marcus, grimly, "I would prefer trickery, human trickery."
"My sentiments, exactly," said the fellow. "What do you think?"
"Whatever you wish," I said.
"By using trickery," said Marcus, earnestly, "we are outwitting Ar, making fools of them, accomplishing our objective within the rules, winning the game honestly."
"True," said the fellow. "I have nothing but contempt for those magicians who stay safe in the towers of their castles, consulting their texts, uttering their spells and waving their magic wands about, spiriting away valuable objects. There is no risk there, no glory! That is not fair. Indeed, it is cheating."