"What's that?"
"A kind of fairy."
"D'you mean the kind that flits through the woods on gauzy wings, or the kind that swishes along on Piccadilly?''
"The former," said Alicia, adding severely: "You shouldn't ridicule the handicapped, Cyril."
"Sorry. What beats me is that we still have 'em, when I'm told they can easily be cured nowadays."
Alicia shrugged. "It's like Jack's gambling; some people don't want to be cured."
"Ah, well," said Ordway, "at least I've never had to worry about it myself. I'd gladly show you my capabilities—"
"I saw them in the bathhouse at Avord," said Alicia dryly, "and they looked much like other men's. Just keep your mind above my belt!"
Ordway sighed. "Easier said than done, with a bonzer bird like you."
After dinner, Ordway fell into halting conversation with the innkeeper's daughter, who spoke a little English. Reith and Alicia strolled down a muddy street to the rickety ferry pier. The overcast had rolled away, leaving a clear sky ruled by all three Krishnan moons: big Karrim, middle-sized Golnaz, and little Sheb. Their radiance cast pyramidal shadows that turned the shabby village into a tenebrous fairyland. Above, the satin sky was diamonded with shimmering stars, faint in the overwhelming moonlight.
"What a night for love!" breathed Alicia as she stood with chin up, gazing at the celestial display.
Reith gave a faint grunt, forced by the inner turmoil that intimate converse with Alicia aroused. "Poor Cyril's suffering from unrequited lust. He's even asked me when we'll end our tango, so he can make passes at you again."
"Fergus, are you trying to tell me to give him my all?"
"Gods, no! I'm just gossiping."
"Well, that's a relief. I really don't like him, you know."
"I'm glad of that. It wouldn't commend your taste in men."
"I once showed excellent ta—" She stopped in confusion. To cover an awkward pause, Reith said: "You know, Lish, I look back with pleasure on a tour I guided about five years ago."
"Why?"
"Because that was my one group with no sexual complications for anyone. No falling in or out of love; no domestic quarrels, infidelities, deviations, or involvement with Krishnans."
Alicia, who had been holding Reith's arm, released it and stiffened. "Do you mean I'm just a sexual complication?"
"Eh? No—of course—I don't—you're just—oh, hell!" He gathered her in for a long, fervent kiss. As they resumed their walk, Reith explained. "I was thinking of a tour of the other land, with a highly visible case of adultery and an outraged husband brandishing a souvenir sword. I saved that Don Juan's gore at the cost of a cut on the arm, but relations were pretty strained all around for the rest of the trip. The etiquette books don't cover situations like that." He smothered a yawn. "Time to turn in; we have a long drive tomorrow."
Alicia looked wistfully up at the triple moons. "But it's so nice ..."
Reith regarded her classic features, heartbreakingly beautiful in the moonlight. "Listen, girl, you'd better do as I say if you don't want splinters in your backsidel"
"Oh." She glanced down at the rough planking of the pier and giggled. "I see the point—or points. Besides it is getting chilly. I'll race you to the inn!"
Alicia won the race. As they flung open the door and staggered in, laughing, the taverner cried in alarm: "What is't? Are the wild Koloftuma attacking?"
It took some minutes to convince the apprehensive innkeeper that foot-racing was just a zany Terran form of amusement.
At Alicia's door, Reith prolonged the good-night kiss. Then they were embracing with the intensity of mutual passion. He was sure that if he stepped into her room ...
A hideous scream tore them apart. Down the hall galloped Cyril Ordway in his underwear, eyes staring and short legs pumping.
"Help!" he shrieked as he raced past. "It's got me!"
After him scuttled the bozmaj, the pet of the innkeeper's son, hissing angrily. It was a scaly animal, as long as a man is tall but mostly neck and tail. From time to time the lizardlike jaws on the end of its serpentine neck snapped a centimeter from Ordway's rear.
As the beast passed, Reith shot out a hand, caught it just behind the head, and hoisted it into the air. He held it away from his body so that the claws of the six thrashing legs could not gouge him as he bellowed: "Master Fangchu!"
As Reith stood holding the bozmaj, Ordway clattered down the stair. Reith heard him pounding on the locked front door, shouting: "Let me out! Let me out!"
Down the hallway whence Ordway had come, Reith glimpsed the innkeeper's daughter, leaning out of her door and staring like one bewitched. Then the innkeeper's son appeared at the head of the stairs crying: "Master Terran, that is my pet! I pray you, give it me!"
"Gladly," said Reith, handing over the bozmaj. The boy embraced the creature, which wound its neck and tail around him and flicked out a forked tongue to lick his ear.
Reith and Alicia hurried down to the entranceway, where Ordway stood frantically trying to push open the door.
"Calm down, Cyril!" said Reith. "The kid has his lizard back. What happened?"
"Well—all—I'd rather not discuss it in front of Alicia."
Reith grinned. "Go to bed, Lish, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."
"Huh!" she said. "As if I didn't know already!" But she went.
"Well," said Ordway, "you saw me passing the time of night with Fangchu's gel. After you left the inn, we sort of wandered into her room. She wanted to practice her English, and she soon made it plain that she'd entertain a proposition. So we were sitting on her bed, and I was demonstrating the earthly custom of kissing, which she'd asked me about. Then this junior nightmare stuck its long neck out from under the bed and stared me in the eye. Never did like snakes."
"This isn't a snake," said Reith. "It has legs."
"It's a cross between a snake and a centipede, which is worse. It scared the hell out of me, so I jumped up and threw a shoe at it. That tore it. Look at my arm!"
Ordway's arm bore a dozen parallel scratches, oozing tiny ruby droplets. Reith said, "Alicia has the first-aid kit. Come on up."
"Damn!" growled Ordway. "That bloody beast spoiled a perfectly good firkin o' luck before it even got started."
You're not the only one, thought Reith. Ordway continued mournfully, "Why do these things keep happening to a nice, warm-hearted chap like me?"
"Because you don't seem to learn from experience," said Reith.
Ordway grunted. After a pause, he said: "Fergus, I should like an agreement. I won't make any more passes at Alicia, if you'll keep quiet about this lizard episode. I shouldn't care to have the shooting crew learn of it when they arrive."
"Okay," said Reith. "It's a deal."
Three days later, Reith's ayas clopped towards the huge, buff-gray wall of sprawling Mishé. From a distance, upthrust above the scowling wall, the Earthlings could see the central Citadel, a mesalike acropolis whose vertical sides were revetted with massive stone blocks. Over the Citadel's parapet loomed the upper stories of huge, boxlike, elephant-gray buildings, where the Guardians, the knightly ruling caste, dwelt and ruled.
During the journey, White, using a traveler's phrase book, had begun to learn spoken Mikardandou. Reith drilled him in simple phrases. When Reith suggested that Ordway do likewise, the Londoner said: "No, Fergus. Let the bloody wogs learn to speak English, like civilized people, if they want to talk to me."
Near the city gates, the carriage rumbled past an exercise field. There, knights and men-at-arms practiced martial arts. Afoot, they chopped at pells with swords and axes; mounted, they charged with leveled lances at a suspended ring.
Passing a rack of spikes decorated with the rotting heads of malefactors, the carriage drew up at the sentry box outside the gate. The travelers showed their papers to armored guards, who waved them through. Soon their vehicle was rattling over the cobblestones of the main thoroughfare. Ordway asked: "Are you taking us to another inn, Fergus?"