I wondered if Samos himself might be tired. It seemed to me he was saying very little now.
"And," Samos went on, "it should preferably be one who is not well known to Cos and Tyros, one who has not angered them, nor proven himself to them as blood enemy upon gleaming Thassa."
Suddenly I seemed awake, quite, and apprehensive. And then I smiled. Samos was no fool. He was senior captain of the Council of Captains. He had marked me, and would be done with me.
"Aand such a one," said Samos, "is Bosk — he who came from the marshes. Let it be he who carries peace on behalf of the council to Cos and Tyros. Let it be Bosk!"
There was silence.
I was pleased at the silence. I had not realized until then that I was valued in the council of captains.
Antisthenes spoke, who had been first on the roll of captains. "I do not think it should be a captain," he said. "To send a captain is equivalent to sentencing him to the bench of a slave on the round ships of Cos or Tyros."
There was some muttered assent to this.
"Further," said Antisthenes, "I would recommend that we do not even send one who wears the twin ropes of Port Kar. There are merchants of other cites, voyagers and captains, known to us, who will, for their fees, gladly conduct this business."
"Let it be so," said various voices throughout the chamber of the council. Then all looked at me.
I smiled. "I am, of course, highly honored," I began, "that Noble Samos should think me, that he should nominate me, doubtless the lowliest of the captains here assembled, for a post of such distinction, that of bearing the peace of Port Kar to her hereditary enemies Cos and Tyros."
The captains looked at one another, grinning.
"Then you decline?" asked Samos.
"It only seems to me," said I, "that so signal an honor, and a role so weighty, ought to be reserved for one more august than I, indeed, for he who is most prominent among us, one who could truly negotiate on equal footing with the Ubars of powers so mighty as those of Cos and Tyros."
"Do you have a nomination?" asked the scribe at the center table.
"Samos," I said.
There was laughter among the chairs.
"I am grateful for your nomination," said Samos, "but I scarcely think, in these troubled times, it behooves he who is senior captain of the council to leave the city, voyaging abroad in search of peace when war itself looms at home." "He is right," said Bejar.
"Then you decline?" I asked Samos.
"Yes," said Samos, "I decline."
"Let us not send a captain," said Antisthenes. "Let us send one who is from Ar or Thentis, who can speak for us."
"Antisthenes is wise," I said, "and understands the risks involved, but many of the words Samos has addresssed to us seem to me sound and true, and chief among them his aassertion that it should be a captain who conducts this mission, for how else could we so easily prove the seriousness of our intentions, if not to Cos and Tyros, then to their allies and to undeclared port and cites on the islands and coasts of gleaming Thassa, and to those communites inland as well, with whom we might well improve our trade?"
"But," said Bejar, "who among us will go?"
There was laughter in the council.
When it was silent, I said, "I, Bosk, might go."
The captains regared one another.
"Did you not decline?" asked Samos.
"No," I smiled, "I only suggested that one more worthy than myself undertake so weighty a task."
"Do not go," said Antisthenes.
"What is your price?" asked Samos.
"A galley," I said, "a ram-ship, heavy class."
I had no such ship.
"It will be yours," said Samos.
"— if you can return to claim it," muttered a captain, darkly.
"Do not go," said Antisthenes.
"He will have, of course," said Samos, "the immunity of the herald." The captains said nothing.
I smiled.
"Do not go, Bosk, Captain," said Antisthenes.
I already had a plan. Had I not had one, I should not have volunteered. The possibility of peace on Thassa was an attractive one to me, a merchant. If Cos and Tyros could be convinced to make peace, and it could be held, my fortunes would considerably increase. Cos and Tyros themselves are important markets, not to mention their allies, and the ports and cities either affiliated with Cos and Tyros, or favorable to them. Further, even if my mission failed, I would be richer by a galley, and that a ram-ship of heavy class, the most redoubtalbe naval weapon on gleaming Thassa. There were risks, of course, but I had taken them into account. I would not go as a fool to Cos and Tyros.
"And," I said, "as escort, I will require five ram-ships from the arsenal, of medium or heavy class, to be captained and crewed by men selected by myself." "Whic ships," asked Samos, "are returned to the arsenal upon the completion of your mission?"
"Of course," I said.
"You shall have them," said Samos.
We looked at one another. I asked myself if Samos throught he was so easily rid of me, one who might challenge him, senior captain, in the council of captains of Port Kar. Yes, I said to myself, he thinks he is so easily rid of me. I smiled to myself. I myself did not believe he was.
"Do not go, Bosk, Captain," pleaded Antisthenes.
I rose to my feet. "Antisthenes, Captain, " I said, "I am grateful for your concern." I shook my head, and stretched. And then I turned to the captains of the tiers. "You may continue your business now without me," I said. "I am going to return to my holding. The night has been long, and I have lost much sleep." I gathered up my cloak, and my helmet, it was the captain's crest of sleen hair, and left the chamber.
Outside I was joined by Thurnock and Clitus, and many of my men.
12 I Fish in the Canal
It was late at night, two nights after the unsuccessful coup of Henrius Sevarius.
I was waiting for my ships, and those of the arsenal, to be made ready for my trip, my mission of peace, to Cos and Tyros.
In my role as captain I was often about the city, accompanied by Thurnock, and Clitus, and a squad of my men.
Until the formation of the council guard, the captains and their men would have for their responsiblity the maintaining of watches throughout the city. Even before the emergency session of the council, the night of the unsuccessful coup, had concluded, slaves, instructed by men of the arsenal, were raising walls about the various holdings of Henrius Sevarius. His wharves, moreover, were, with arsenal ships, almost immediately blockaded by sea.
Now, from the height of one of the investing walls, some hundred yards from the high bleak wall of one of the holdings of Sevarius, said to be his palace, I, with Thurock, Clitus, and others, by the light of Gor's three moons, observed the opening of a postern gate. At the base of the wall, extending for some twenty yards, tehre was a tiled expanse, which suddenly dropped off, sheer, into a canal, where it might give access to the city or sea, by sea gates. We observed, in the light of the three Gorean moons, some five men emerging from the tiny iron gate. They were carrying something in a large, tied sack. Slowly they made their way toward the edge of the canal.
"Stop, men of Henrius Sevarius!" I shouted. "Stop, Traitors!"
"Hurry!" cried one of them. I recognized his voice, and his frame. It was Lysias, friend of the regent Claudius, client of the Ubar Henrius Sevarius. I saw another man look up in alarm. It was Henrak, he who had betrayed the rencers.
"Hurry!" I said to my men.
I, followd by Clitus and Thurnock, and others, leaped over the wall and ran toward the edge of the canal.
The men were now hastening forward, to hurl the sack into the dark waters. Thurnock stopped long enough to draw his great bow. One of the men, hit by the arrow, spun away, rolling across the tiles, snapping the shaft.