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idea who would have known what the man had said except another alector and
that was a frightening thought indeed. It just wasn t something that an
alector would do, and Dainyl doubted that there had even been any alectors in
Dramur during the time the prisoner had been in the compound or afterward. The
more he learned, though, the less he liked what he was finding out.
18
i
At the ninth glass on Londi morning, Dainyl walked into the council building.
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Sturwart and an angular blond man waited in the director s study. Both stood
as Dainyl entered.
Colonel, this is Bleamyr, offered Sturwart. He s the head of the crafters
guild. Tulcuyt will be here shortly, but he was out on his boat this morning,
and had some trouble with his nets. Can t see as I d be adding much. So I ll
leave you two and let you know when Tulcuyt comes in. With a smile and a nod,
the council director departed, closing the door behind him.
Colonel, we don t see Myrmidons often, said Bleamyr, a puzzled tone to his
words.
Dainyl sat down on Sturwart s desk, then gestured to the chairs. Please sit
down. The chairs are a bit small for me.
I can see that. Bleamyr smiled. Sturwart said you might have some
questions.
I have a few, because of the mine. Have any alectors been here recently,
besides me?
Not for a few years, leastwise, replied Bleamyr. I don t think we ve seen
an alector here since, well& after the big storm that bashed up the harbor,
and that was a good six years ago. We send our reports every quint, and that s
been it.
Dainyl nodded, catching the feel of truth in the crafter s words. What is
your craft?
Me? I m an ironworker. In the old days, I d have been called a smith, but
things like nails, bolts, all that, they come out of Faitel and arrive here in
boxes and crates. Most of what I do is decorative ironwork, grillwork, or
locks and bars for strong rooms, that sort of thing.
Do you do work for the mining compound?
Just when something needs repairing. Probably been a half year since I ve
been there.
I d heard that more young men were being sentenced to the mines. What do you
think?
Bleamyr squinted, although the chamber was dark, with the light-torches off,
and the sole light coming through the two high windows. Finally, he answered,
Every few years, . someone says that. We started keeping track of the ones
who were in the guild. Year in, year out, it doesn t change. It s mostly those
who drink too much, or those who think they re fitted for better tasks.
Did you ever know someone named Devoryn?
Bleamyr snorted. He s in the mines now, unless something fell on him. He was
one of the troublemakers. Used to be a laborer for Asadahl, the plumber. Must
have smelled too much lead. Kept telling everyone that Asadahl stole the
plumbery from his uncle. Asadahl gave him the job out of charity. Devoryn was
always wandering off. Said he needed time to himself, up in the hills. People
would ask him why, but he never said. That was one thing he d close his mouth
about, and it was always open. Anyway, it must have been two years ago,
Devoryn went out of his head and tried to brain Asadahl with a lead ingot.
Busted his arm. Justicer then, that was Goeryt, sent him to the mine. Bleamyr
paused. Why did you want to know, Colonel?
He was one of the miners who escaped who we know survived.
Well& he spent enough time in the hills and in the rugged places south of the
mine. I suppose he could have made it, if anyone did. How did you know he
survived?
He tried to shoot someone, and the Cadmians caught him. He took poison.
Sounds like Devoryn. Never did have much sense. Him and his wild ideas.
What were those ideas?
You know, I don t know. Never paid any attention. No one with any sense did.
They might not have, reflected Dainyl, but he wished they had. There s been
talk of the escaped miners trying to take over the town, even all of
Dramuria.
That s Majer Herryf again. Not that I have anything against the majer, but
he s talked to us at least three times in the past season about that. Says
there could be a hundred miners up there, and if they got the shamblers and
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the plantation workers together, they d outnumber his Cadmians. Bleamyr shook
his head. That d never work. Even if they did overrun the Cadmian compound,
one company of your Myrmidons would fry them in moments.
That s what s puzzling about the talk, Dainyl replied.
The only thing I can figure is that there have been more miners getting away
than the majer realized, and he figures he s got to do something. There s
nothing to live on up in the higher hills, not for more than a handful of men.
They re already raiding and stealing stuff from the outlying plantations. The
majer told the growers that guarding the fields wasn t the Cadmians task.
I ve heard that some of the plantations have been using dogs at night. That s
here in the east. The big western growers, they don t have to worry.
Have you heard anything else? Do these men have weapons?
Some say they do. Some say they don t. I don t know&
Dainyl kept asking questions, but learned nothing significantly new, either
about the mines, the so-called rebels, the guilds, or about Bleamyr.
The door opened. Colonel& Sturwart s voice was apologetic. Tulcuyt s here.
I ll be with him in just a moment. Dainyl stood and looked at Bleamyr.
Thank you very much. You ve given me a much better idea of what we re
facing.
I don t know that it changes things much, but anything you want, I ll try to
help with.
Bleamyr left, and Tulcuyt a man with a weathered and leathery face walked in
and half bowed to the colonel.
In the next glass, Dainyl learned almost nothing new or different from
Tulcuyt, except that the boatmen had seen a number of fast schooners the kind
used by smugglers off-loading in a sheltered cove some thirty vingts north of
Dramuria several times over the summer. What they were off-loading, Tulcuyt
didn t know, because no fisherman would tangle with armed smugglers, except
there were crates being passed to the flatboats receiving the smuggled goods.
In the end, Dainyl thanked the head of the fishers guild, as well as
Sturwart, and left the council building. Rhasyr and the two Cadmians were
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