by L. Itram and Ben Yackley Main * Story * Setting * Cast * Illustrations * About * Comment

Chapter 18: (untitled) (Posted on 6/12/03 )

The carriage coasted down the Great Highway, away from the docks and into the vast spreading plains of Ertset. It was to be a long journey through narrow canyons and past the mesas that marked the landscape of the southern part of the continent. Seven days and nights would carry them through stopovers and endless stretches of terrain to the land of Kai's birth - a longer stretch of time than the mages had ever been travelling together, made all the more wearying by the total lack of interesting terrain. After a while, one plain looks pretty much like another, and the odd stairstepped mountains in the distance - no more than stacks of mesas, really - blended into one another. The three mages were settled back in an unoccupied corner of the large steam-carriage, attempting to enjoy the ride.

"Hey, look!" exclaimed Kinto, leaning out the window as far as he could, oblivious to the stares of the other passengers, most of them native Ertseti. "They painted th'road t'make it smoother."

"That's not paint," Luen corrected. "It's an artificial stone called concrete. It's pretty new," he added in a kinder tone, "so I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it."

"Oh, we've had concrete for nearly sixty years," Kai chimed in. "Not as much in this area because they have to cart the volcanic dirt from the southeastern shore. That's probably why you don't see it around anywhere else."

"Volcanic dirt?"

"Uh-huh. It's one of the ingredients. Volcanic lime and..." Kai waved his hands vaguely, "...other stuff that volcanoes do stuff to." His ears drooped at the bewildered expressions of his companions. "I'm not an engineer; I never really paid attention to the details."

"Well whatever 't is," said Kinto. "It makes f'r good roads."

The first hint of trouble on the journey came that evening at the first roadside inn, where the travelers had stopped for dinner.

"Vegetarian? Everyone here... is vegetarian!?" exclaimed Luen.

"Well, yeah. You've been eating my cooking for how long, Luen?"

"I jus' figured y'couldn't catch anythin' so y'let us do it," commented Kinto, chewing on a wooden skewer which, at one point, had been full of small fried potatoes. His comment went largely ignored.

"But, but - fish isn't meat," protested Luen.

"Yes it is," argued Kai.

"No it's not!"

"You have to catch them, kill them, cook them and take out the bones! They're meat."

"You have to kill plants, too!"

"Not all plants."

"Some plants," Luen conceded. "So are they meat?"

"Of course not."

"Why not."

Kai folded his arms. "Plants don't have bones."

"Yeah they do!"

"Don' argue with tha botanist, Luen. Yer not gonna win an' ye still willnae get yer fish."

"I should think you'd understand, Viola."

"I understand that one should try tha local cuisine when travelling," responded Viola. "Have a mushroom."

After a week on the road, the "concrete" lost its novelty, the mushrooms and porridge for dinner had become an ordeal, and Kai's descriptions of their destination only partly made up for the monotonous landscape.

"So yer hometown, Rugalasik --"

"Rugayetzik," corrected Kai.

"Aye. That. So... it has a market fair every week?"

"No, no, there wouldn't be room for one! The market is at Ruga - that's the central town, where the castle is."

Kinto sat up. "Y'mean we get t'see a real castle?"

"Well, yeah," said Kai with a grin. "All the towns pack up their goods and meet there. It's not just a produce market; there are games and parades and - well, you'll see when we get there. The driver says we should get to Ruga on market day."

Kinto grinned, glad to exchange the dreary company and scenery for something more vibrant. "Hoi, Luen! Y'aven't said anythin' all day. Y'r not gettin' motion-sick, are ya?"

Luen stopped gazing blankly out the window to stare blankly at Kinto. "What? I'm fine. I just don't have anything to say."

"Ye always have somethin' ta say, Luen. What's botherin' ye this time? We're supposed ta be on vacation."

"Nothing, okay? Will you please just --"

"Is it Clorin?" interrupted Kai.

"No! It's --" Luen stopped and shook his head. "It's more than just Clorin," he said quietly.

"Well?"

Luen looked around at his now-silent companions. "Look," he said finally. "I'm a summoner, right? I summon maginaria - that's what summoners do, right?"

"Aye..."

"Wrong!" He slammed a fist into the seat cushion. "Any fool mage can summon a maginaria -- why the hell do you think they're called mages? That's all spellcasting is! You sacrifice some of your chroma to lure in a maginaria and your spell traps it until it does the trick you want. Don't look at me like that, you all know this stuff!"

"So why are ye tellin' us?" asked Viola patiently.

"Because summoners are different, that's why. We bring maginaria into the physical realm and they stay there. And you know why they stay there?"

"Why?" asked Kai on cue.

"Because we tell them to."

"And y'r mad 'cuz Clorin didn't?" asked Kinto.

"Forget it. You wouldn't understand."

"Try us," said Kai.

"Clorin ... that was an exception. It would've been cruel to treat her like a pet after -- after what happened. You know that."

They nodded.

"The point isn't Clorin," he continued. "The point is -- maginaria listen to summoners. That's our job, to make 'em listen. Either we convince them or we train them or we intimidate them. Training's the safest because you know you can count on them afterwards."

There was a pause. Nobody mentioned Clorin this time.

"And...?" said Viola finally.

"And what? I'm a summoner without anything to summon. I lost Nhaal, I lost Clorin, I even lost that little puppy thing that Nhaal turned into. "

"But y'know how t'do other stuff, right?"

"Well, sure," said Luen quickly. "But that's not the point. Imagine if Kai had lost his bag of herbs."

Kai winced at the thought. "And you haven't been able to find a replacement?"

"I haven't had time!" Luen shouted. He lowered his voice, noticing the stares of the other passengers. "We've been travelling, remember?"

And keeping an eye on us took priority, thought Viola, glancing at Kinto. He looked back and nodded slightly, obviously thinking the same thing.

"You'll have time once we get to Rugayetzik," said Kai. "We're on vacation, remember? No more running after Shards or criminals. You can disappear into the hills all day if you want."

"I suppose..."

"And try and enjoy the fair in the meantime. Think of it as a break from homework."

As if on cue, the carriage crested the top of a hill, and entered a broad valley which seemed to sag under the weight of the blocky stone edifice in its center. Around the castle, which was a cube of flat gray stone with a crenellated roof and a square watchtower at each color, sat a cluster of smaller buildings, all squarish with stone walls and shingled roofs. Brightly colored banners and pennants hung from every available surface, turning what might have been a grey and gloomy structure into a festive, if chaotic, salad of colors.

"Castle Ruga!" shouted the driver.

"An' jus' in time f'r lunch," added Kinto. "Let's go!"

True to Kai's description, the weekly market was more than simply a handful of farmers selling their vegetables. The streets of the town were full of booths and stalls, each one proudly displaying an assortment of crops and covered in an ornately woven carpet that, according to Kai, indicated which of the many villages of Ruga the vendor hailed from. There were jugglers and fire-dancers, musicians and games of chance and skill, jewelers and woodworkers, painters and sculptors, all vying for the attention of the fairgoers. Even Featherglass seldom got this crowded, but then, Featherglass never had to deal with a sudden influx of thousands of people all attempting to sell things to one another.

Suddenly, there was a distant boom, followed by another.

"What's that?" Kinto grabbed his staff and looked around.

"You've been with Zeph too long," Kai laughed, "it's just drums. C'mon."

"Where're we going?" mumbled Luen around a mouthful of fried mushroom as the taller mage herded them toward the line of stalls.

"Out of the street. The Duke's coming."

"Why're we hidin' from th'duke?"

"We're not. We're getting out of the way."

The street cleared as the drumbeats became louder. Within minutes the beginning of the procession marched into view: a trio of four-legged knights, large even for Ertseti, wearing gleaming armor that had been clearly custom-built to accommodate a shape that required joints in odd places and four metal-shod hooves. A pattern of linked circles had been engraved into the chestplates.

"The elite guard," whispered Kai. Technically speaking, he was forced to shout to be heard by his friends over the sound of drums and babbling voices around them, but his tone suggested that he would have been whispering if that had been at all possible. "They go everywhere with him. Those circles are Ruga's emblem."

Balanced atop the center guard in the formation, standing straight up without any apparent effort, was an older Ertseti woman in a black robe that contrasted sharply with her brilliant white pelt and the crimson sash around her waist. A trio of horns emerged from her head - one directly between the eyes, the others behind and above, all three perfectly straight and conical with slight grooves on the side. Viola couldn't help but notice a certain resemblance - surely coincidental - to the old engravings of Lady Nyzia, the last ruler of Kashenda before its fall. A nudge in the ribs from Luen brought Viola back to the present just in time to see the Duke himself.

Behind the guards was an open palanquin - a brightly painted wooden bench draped with silk banners in crimson and white. A cloth canopy shielded its occupants from the sun, but otherwise left them visible to the public. Where an ordinarily palanquin would have handles for the bearers, however, this one had four metal spheres that glowed with a golden light that was not entirely reflected from the sun. The Duke and Duchess Ruga sat inside, both of them in elegant silk outfits - crimson and white, matching the banners. They were clearly older than most of the merchants, and well-respected; a cheer went up from the crowd as they floated into view.

"So that's a Duke?" asked Kinto.

"That's right."

It seemed for a moment that the Duke himself noticed the foreign visitors to his marketplace and gave them a placid smile, welcoming them to the city. It wasn't often, after all, that an out-of-the-way castle, days from any port, would receive such visitors.

"Does he do that every week?" asked Luen after last of the rear guards had passed and the crowd had resumed their usual bustle, closing behind the procession like a shirt being buttoned.

"Well, yes. This is his hometown. That was just a little procession - you should see the parades he puts on at the new year festival."

"There's somethin' odd I noticed..." Viola began, as the mages started to wander around the fair once more.

"Besides the food?"

"Ye'll get plenty o' fish once we're back in Featherglass," she responded dryly. "I was referrin' ta tha procession."

"What 'bout it?" asked Kinto.

"Did ye notice all tha magic he was usin'? Seven Instilled guards and a flyin' chair. Tha man's showin' off."

"Of course he's showing off," explained Kai patiently. "He's the Duke. You've got royalty in Levend, right?"

"Aye, but if tha Queen went around wastin' good magic on frivolities she wouldnae be Queen fer very long."

Kai shrugged. "If the Duke didn't show off his magic he wouldn't look like much of a Duke. People like to see things like that."

Kinto looked confused. "Th'duke's a mage?"

"No, no. But the mages are his. Look, let's go find my parents' booth and I'll explain on the way."

On Ertset, Kai explained, only the nobility had access to magic. They hired the mages and commissioned the craftsmen who built magical devices like the palanquin and, in the case of Duke Ruga, even paid for the Instilling of their best soldiers.

"So commoners are nae allowed any magic?" asked Viola.

"No, it's not that - I just doubt any commoner could afford it," Kai responded. "Mages are expensive, even in other places. Imagine what it must be like if you're competing with a duke for one."

"There aren't any -- whassaword, people who don't work for other people?" Kinto asked.

"Bums?" asked Luen.

"No!" said Kinto.

"Freelancers? Not really, no. If you've got a Featherglass education you're not going to settle for doing parlor tricks for porridge the rest of your life."

"But what happens if a reg'lar person needs a mage?"

"Usually we don't. And if there's no other solution, we can always petition the Duke to send one."

"He'd do that?"

"Well, yes. He sent out all the weatherworkers he could find when we had that drought ten years ago. I don't see why that's so surprising - we pay him our taxes, he's supposed to take care of us."

"But yer not of tha Duke's family, are ye?"

"Me? My folks are vintners for ten generations back. They sent me to Featherglass in the hopes that I would return to Ruga and become a knight."

"A knight?" asked Luen.

"With a sword?" added Viola, smirking inwardly at the mental image of the ungainly Kai waving a sword around.

"Not all knights carry swords, you know. I'd be a mage in service to the Duke. I think my mother was secretly hoping for Chief Physician until I switched to botany."

"And y'r folks won' mind you goin' off to th'castle?"

"Mind? They'd consider it an honor to the family name! And speaking of family, there they are."

The four mages threaded their way toward one of the booths - really nothing more than an awning on poles in front of a small cart. An young Ertseti girl, barely a teenager, sat on top of a large keg holding a lapful of wooden mugs while her two companions haggled with a customer, a short but distinguished-looking woman wearing the linked-circles emblem on a sash.

Making a "wait here" gesture at his friends, Kai ducked under the awning and tweaked the tail of the girl with the mugs. She spun around to give him a glare.

"Zarel, if you don't leave me alone I'll - eeeee!" The girl launched herself at Kai, oblivious to the mugs that were now flying from her lap and onto the cobblestones. "Pappi, look who's ditching!"

"Oof - I'm not ditching, Nati, I'm researching!"

The older of the pair, and obviously the senior merchant, beaming as he recognized Kai. "Researching your old man's grapes, are you?"

Kinto made a grab for a pair of mugs that threatened to escape into the street and crashed into the wine buyer.

"Oh, dear, careful there! Are you with Haliddi's son?" she nodded in the direction of the small family crowd which had swallowed Kai.

"Wha? Yeah, we're... classmates."

"A group vacation - how nice. Make sure he gives you the grand tour..." The woman turned back to face the young woman who had been assisting in the negotiations. "No, on second thought, two extra bottles. We're expecting an entourage from Tselek or someplace. Bill as usual; I'll send the boy to pick them up before you leave." She turned back to Kinto with a shrug, leaving him with the words, "A little wine goes a long way in politics."

"So why are you here, anyway?" asked the wine merchant - who looked quite a bit like Kai, only slightly taller and with a sturdier build. "You're not having trouble in school, are you?"

"No, school's great. We just finished a special, uh, project so I thought why not drop in on the family on the way back to Featherglass."

"We?" asked the assistant.

"Yeah, they were -- c'mon over here! These are my classmates - Luen, Viola and Kinto."

"Er, y'dropped these." Kinto held out the mugs.

"And this is my father, Khorem Haliddi, and my little sisters Zarel and Natevi."

"I'm not little," said the younger, Natevi, "I grew two inches!"

Khorem beamed. "Any friend of Kaibatzik's is welcome!"

The other mages stared. "Is that what Kai's short fer?" asked Viola finally.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, I thought I told you."

"Kaibatzik Rugayetzian Haliddi is a perfectly respectable name," said his father with a frown.

"Except if you only speak Levendish," added Kai. "That's why I shortened it."

"Aye, I can see why."

"But a Haliddi is a Haliddi no matter what else he may call himself," said Khorem. "Let me give you a taste of what else Haliddi means. Zarel, could you -- oh, thanks." He took the full mugs from his daughters and passed them to the mages.

"We knew that was coming," said Natevi with a grin. "Pappi wouldn't let you out of Ruga without trying the Haliddi wine."

Kinto, Viola and Luen spent the remainder of the day exploring the fair, Kinto winning a small basket of assorted bread for knocking over a stack of bottles with a ball made of cork, while Kai caught up on the latest family gossip and news. The other mages returned at sundown to help the Haliddis pack up the remainder of the wine, just as Zarel staggered in under a double-armful of groceries for which room had to be found.

"Back to Rugayetzik!" announced Khorem as they joined one of several lines of vehicles heading toward the town gates.

Once outside Ruga, the line broke up into caravans bound for the various towns. Their own little procession, composed mainly of white and brown-pelted Ertseti who all seemed to the foreigners to resemble Kai to some degree, eventually found its way down a series of switchbacks into another valley. The village was distinguished mainly by the fact that it was neither trees nor fields, but rather a dozen buildings of various sizes in a rough circle around a central plaza. Behind and to either side stretched a green checkerboard of little fields and beyond that was the opposite side of the valley and the beginnings of a broad forest.

"Used to be a lake, you know," said Khorem.

"Really?" asked Viola politely.

"Oh, we dammed it up centuries ago, and redirected the river, but that's where all our water comes from."

"How interesting," droned Viola.

As late as it was, a crowd was waiting for them. Khorem Haliddi let his wagon toward a large two-story house within the village itself, where his wife and two sons helped to unload the packages amidst much chatter and greetings.

"Did you get the preserves I asked for?"

"Yes, Mami."

"Big brother! Didn't flunk out of school already, didja?"

"Don't even joke about it!"

"So who're the strays?" called out a neighbor. There was a sudden silence, followed by a rush of noise.

"Saw them at the fair --"

"-- mages, says my daughter!"

"She thinks every foreigner is a mage!"

"These are friends of Kaibatzik," announced Khorem. "From Featherglass."

The murmuring increased. Mages? Staying in Rugayetzik? Not that there was anything wrong with mages, not at all! Haliddi would always be welcome in his family village, even if he became the right hand to the Duke himself. But what did these foreigners want with --

"They will be staying at my house since they are my son's friends. If there are any problems with this, I am the one to talk to."

"I thought mages were s'posed t'be high class or somethin'," whispered Kinto to Viola as they were ushered into the house. "But they don't seem t'like us."

"Aye, nobody ever trusts tha upper class."

The next morning...

"Nrgh - what's goin' on? I didn' set an alarm spell!" Kinto buried his head under the blanket.

Luen sloshed out of the washtub he had borrowed. "That's not an alarm, that's a fanfare. Does the Duke go visiting the surrounding towns on weekdays?"

"Tell 'im I'm not here."

"C'mon, we have to find out."

They got dressed as best they could in the dim pre-dawn light and staggered out toward the stairs, nearly running into Viola.

"Where's tha fire? Kai's sisters are gone."

"Sounds too cheerful to be an emergency. Let's go downstairs." Luen led the way.

"Sounds f'miliar, though," mused Kinto, yawning.

"There you are!" Kai beamed at them from the far end of the kitchen. "Go ahead and grab bowls; breakfast isn't very formal." He gestured in the direction of the table, which held several loaves of brown bread, an enormous half-wheel of soft cheese and a bowl of fruit, and was also surrounded by busy Haliddis grabbing a morning meal and a lunch for later.

"What was all tha noise about?" asked Viola, helping herself to porridge from the caldron in the kitchen hearth. Porridge didn't seem too popular among the adults; presumably they didn't have the time to eat it.

"Sorry, I thought Kinto would've warned you. That was the morning fanfare."

"Nhm?" Kinto gave Kai a blank look, mouth full of bread. He swallowed. "Oh yeah. They're all Samselites here. They play music at th'sun. That's why it sounded familiar - was the same song I heard b'fore."

"So you wake up at sunrise every day?"

"'Up with the sun and home with the sun'" quoted Kai. "Which makes perfect sense on a busy farm."

"Makes sense t'me," said Kinto. "So what're we doin' today?"

"Well, I'm going to the baker," responded Kai, dropping his bowl into a tub of soapy water. "I was just waiting to make sure you got your breakfast before it disappeared. If you want something to keep busy, just ask around."

"What are ye doin' at tha baker's?"

Kai paused in the doorway. "Got a new idea I want to run past him. Magical biscuits!"

"Magical --" Luen started to say, but Kai was gone. "Never mind. I'm sure we'll find out when he gets back. I'm going to the woods for some maginaria hunting."

"Good idea, and ye certainly won't have any competition around here. When do we leave?"

"'We'? I'm going alone. I don't want any neophytes scaring the wildlife."

"Neophytes! We're nae such thing. Kinto is an experienced hunter, ye know."

"We've done maginaria trappin' t'gether before. And Viola used to be a -- you know," Kinto lowered his voice, not wanting to mention Viola's shady past around Kai's relatives.

"Aye, and I'm still more silent than anyone ye'll find."

"Yeah, yeah, you have great credentials," said Luen. "But I'm still going solo."

"But why?" Viola's voice dropped from querulous to all-too-sweet. "With us as backup ye'll trap a much more powerful maginaria. We're a team, Luen, it only makes sense we'd want ta help ye."

"Sense or not, I don't want your help." Luen squished a piece of cheese between two hunks of bread. "I'll be back before sunset. Try to keep out of trouble in the meantime." He brushed past one of the little Haliddi siblings (or were they cousins? Introductions had been scanty at best) before his friends could think up another argument.

"Keep out o' trouble indeed," grumbled Viola. "That was his real job, nae?"

"He's worked with people before, dunno why he's so set against it now," Kinto reached for another loaf and tore off a piece.

"Especially if tha stakes are so high; ye'd think he'd want ta take advantage o' every ... advantage," she finished lamely.

"'Less he's got other plans."

"Ye think his job isnae over yet, Kinto?"

"I'm just thinkin' - what's more important than a new maginaria?"

"Aye..."

"Hey, mister mage?"

"Wha?" Kinto peered down at the little boy tugging on his tail.

"You gonna eat that or not?"

He tossed the loaf over. "Nah, I'm done. Let's go, Viola."

Viola wandered around the lot behind the large house, trying to remember which of the second-story windows corresponded to the room she'd slept in the previous night. She hadn't planned on sneaking into Luen's room to look through his belongings, but she hadn't planned on his going into the woods alone, either. Admit it, Viola, you didn't plan, period. If --

"Miss?"

Viola spun around guiltily and found herself staring at a bright green dress. "Aye?"

"I'm sorry, dear, I've forgotten your name."

She looked up, past the dress and the shawl into the face of a dark Ertseti woman who she vaguely remembered being introduced as Kai's mother. "Viola, ma'am."

"Viola, then. You're looking a bit out of sorts, why don't you come around to the porch and help the girls with the mending. It'll be a great chance for us to get to know you." She tried not to stare at the mage's arms. "And I'm sure you'll be a great help to us as well."

"Mending what?"

The woman gave her a bewildered look. "Clothes, dear."

"I'm sorry, I don't sew."

"Don't sew? You can't be serious!" She took Viola's upper right arm in an iron grip and led her around the side of the house. "Come, I'll teach you myself. Every proper woman must know how to sew; how did you survive at school?"

"A cosmopolitan place such Featherglass has no shortage of tailors." Viola attempted to look dignified, a difficult feat while being dragged by the arm by a woman nearly twice her size.

"Cosmopolitan, indeed! That's all very well and good for young reckless souls who care nothing of propriety, but what will you do after? Surely you don't expect your future husband to mend your clothes?"

Viola, not having much other choice, let herself be led to the porch, her hostess clucking all the while about how men, while excellent creatures in many regards, can't possibly be expected to master such skills, and that Featherglass, while no doubt a fine school and an excellent place to study magic, was obviously not yet enlightened enough to provide the proper courses for its female pupils. "But we'll fix that, dear," she concluded. "Sit down next to Zarel and I'll start you from the beginning."

Young and reckless indeed, fumed Viola silently. We'll see who's a "proper woman" here. She took the needle and cloth handed to her and fixed a smile on her face as her hostess proceeded to explain the basics of this "vital skill."

Kinto cut across an empty field, headed toward the woods and - presumably - Luen. Villagers tended the crops in the adjoining fields. The one behind him, he'd heard, grew squash, while the one to his left was full of something green. Cabbage or spinach or kelp or one of those leafy things. Kinto's plant knowledge, which allowed him to live for weeks at a time in the Tximisti savannah without discomfort, failed when confronted with Ertseti agriculture. He could not, for instance, figure out why this current patch of ground was left empty. Growing food is a great idea, I'm sure, but what's the point of leaving the dirt around to do nothing?

At the other end of the field the ground sloped up toward the forest; standing at the foot of this hill, leaning against one of several boulders, were two farmers engaged in an argument.

"Two weeks, I tell you!" said the tall one, slamming an open palm against the boulder. "No less!"

"And I say four days. Get Reziek and his boys out here and --"

"They're taking care of the oats, remember? Can't count on them until the irrigation system's fixed and at this rate -- why're you elbowing me?"

His friend nodded in Kinto's direction.

Kinto stopped. "Uh, hi?"

"Hey, you're one of the mages at Haliddi's house, aren'cha?" asked the tall one.

"Yeah. Why're you hittin' th'rock?"

The short one laughed. "He's observant at least." He grinned at Kinto. "He was hitting the rock because it didn't want to move."

Kinto grinned back. "I c'n move it for ya."

"It's not that easy, kid." The tall one shook his head. "We want to expand the field, but first we have to get all the boulders out of the way," he gestured behind him. "And we're short-handed because the irrigation system for the oats is more important than a fallow field."

"Oh. So th'rocks are why y'r not growin' anythin' here?"

They looked at each other, then at Kinto. "Observant, but .... you don't know much about agriculture, do you?" asked the short one.

"Nah. But I know about gettin' rid 'f rocks."

"Granted, he is a mage..." said the tall one. He turned to Kinto. "You can make those rocks vanish, son?"

"Nah, can't do that. But I c'n blow 'em up - will that do?"

They exchanged looks again, then turned to them with a bit more respect. "That would be most helpful indeed."

I hope Viola doesn't mind, thought Kinto. Luen will probably be out there all day; I'll have plenty of time to track him down afterwards.

Luen paused in a small natural clearing, surrounded by trees. It was sunny and peaceful and, save for the distant sound of birds and an occasional rumbling like thunder, completely silent. Most importantly, it was deep within the Ruga forest, far from any paths or trails. The chance of a traveler blundering in and interrupting him was next to none.

He sat down in the shade of a large evergreen and opened his beltpouch. This will do perfectly. I just hope I'm not too late.