"I hide from the police," Sallina said to the Chief Custodian of Cloghlogan City in her best Latin.
"Why are they chasing you?"
The old man spoke slowly and clearly. Sallina had to think sometimes after he spoke, but she was always able to figure out what he had said, or at least she thought she figured it out. Maybe she was wrong now and then, but he did not complain.
"My friend fights outside the city," she said, "He cuts someone."
The old man nodded. He scratched his big nose. "Did your friend start the fight?"
Sallina shook her head. "No. My enemy starts the fight."
"You have an enemy?"
"Yes."
The old man nodded. He folded his arms across his broad chest and blew air out of his mouth. "So, running from the police." He looked into her eyes over his bushy gray beard. "And you want to find Margaret, do you?"
"Yes."
"Does she want you to find her?"
"She does not know me. I have a message from her husband. He is..." Sallina tried to remember the word for injured in Latin. The old man had used it earlier. But she could not remember. "He is hurt badly."
The old man frowned at the floor. Sallina waited for him to say something. Her tummy grumbled. She put her hand upon it and grimaced.
"Where is he?" the old man said.
"On our ship, the Reliant. He wants Margaret to come and see him. He says he dies."
The old man put his hands upon his knees. Sallina waited. He said nothing. She looked around at the strange machines on the floor. Beneath a stone table there was something with a thick belt made of dusty, greasy fur. She rose from her seat and knelt beside the belt. She touched the fur. It was mink. When she touched it, the fur fell away from the pelt.
"That's my old electrostatic machine," the old man said. "I was one of the first to make one here."
Sallina had no idea what 'electrostatic' meant. "This is like my fur," she said. She took her piece of mink fur from her pocket. It was covered with blood.
"I hope not," the old man said. "Only grease and dust on mine."
"Do people buying fur here in city?"
The old man stared at her. He did not answer her question. Perhaps he did not understand her. He stood up.
"You'll need a helmet and a light."
He walked to a shelf full of helmets, chose one, and put it on a table next to a metal machine. He pumped a lever on the machine and dropped a small ball into a hole in the top. He pumped the lever some more. The machine hummed. The ball rolled out the bottom, glowing. He put the ball in a hole in the helmet and it stayed there. He gave the helmet to Sallina.
Sallina put the helmet on her head. It was a bit too big for her.
"Tighten the strap," he said.
She took hold of the two straps that hung down from the sides of the helmet. She could not tie them together. After watching her for a while, the old man came forward and reached under her neck. His fingers moved quickly. He tugged on the helmet and the strap was tight. While he was close to her, Sallina looked at his eyes and teeth. Some of his teeth were whiter than others. Some, on the left side, had yellow stains on them like Otis's. Now that he was close, she could smell him. Apart from the smell of garbage and grease, he smelled of garlic, curry powder, and tobacco smoke.
She wanted to ask him if he smoked, and if so, how he could when the laws of the city said no smoking, but she did not know the Latin word for tobacco.
"Why you are hide me?" Sallina said.
The old man smiled. "I'm a friend of Margaret's."
Sallina stood up. "You know her?"
He looked up at her. He was small, but he was wide and solid, and he stood with his arms crossed. He smiled.
"Do you know where is she?" Sallina said.
"I do. Follow me."
The Chief Custodian of Cloghlogan City led Sallina out of his office, along a winding tunnel, past roaring side-passages, over a stinking pool of water, and through a cavern filled with steaming copper pipes. With the light in her helmet, Sallina had no trouble walking behind him.
He turned into a narrow tunnel and opened an iron door. They stepped into a wide passage. The sound of clattering, hammering, and yelling in the passage was so loud, Sallina held her hands over her ears. She looked up and down. Dim luminous stones hung from the ceiling. The passage sloped downwards slightly. Dwarves walked with carts full of rock down the slope, and others pulled empty carts the other way. She could not see where all the noise was coming from.
"This way," the old man said.
She followed him down the passage. The floor was uneven in most places, but there were tracks of flat paving stones for the cart wheels.
The old man turned down a side tunnel. It was dark. Her helmet bumped against the roof. The walls were uneven and jagged. But the tunnel was still wide enough for a cart, and after twenty paces, a plain, metal cart stood in their way. On the other side of the cart, the tunnel ended. A dwarf woman stood there. She swung a sledge hammer at the rock wall. Sallina could tell it was a woman by the shape of her bottom.
"Margaret!" the old man called.
The woman turned around. She put the head of her sledgehammer on the ground and leaned against the shaft. She had a helmet and a head-lamp on too. She lifted the helmet and wiped sweat from her face. When she saw the old man she smiled.
"Argle Frood!"
Sallina looked at the old man. Was that his name, Argle Frood?
"Someone to see you," the old man said. He pointed to Sallina.
The woman looked at Sallina. Without saying another word, the old man turned and walked back down the tunnel. As he and his light disappeared around a bend, Sallina shouted after him.
"Thank you Argle Frood!"
The old man raised his hand and waved, then he was gone. Sallina and the woman were alone at the end of the tunnel. The light of their head-lamps cast moving shadows on the walls. They stood facing one another, with the cart between them. The woman had white dust all over her face. The dust covered her canvass overalls, her gloves, and it was clinging to the hair that stuck out from the sides of her helmet. On her face, the dust was mixed with her sweat, so that it looked as if her face was caked with mud.
"You are Margaret MacLoghanlogh," Sallina said.
The woman nodded. She breathed hard and leaned upon her sledgehammer. She stared up at Sallina.
"Your..." Sallina could not think of the Latin word for husband.
"My what?" Margaret said.
"Dan Milatos on the good ship Reliant," Sallina said. "He is hurt bad. He wants to see you."
Margaret raised her hands slowly to her mouth. The handle of her sledgehammer fell sideways and struck the floor.
"He's here?" she said.
"By the sea," Sallina said.
Margaret picked up the sledgehammer and put it in the cart, on top of a pile of rocks. There was a pick-axe there too, and a toolbox. She climbed over the cart and stood between the cart handles. She took the handles and lifted. She shook her head and put the cart down. She turned and looked at the rocks and her tools.
"Oh," she said, and held her hand to her mouth.
Sallina leaned forward. Was there something unusual in the cart?
"I'll just leave it," Margaret said. She pushed her way past Sallina and into the tunnel. "Come on, follow me."
Sallina smiled. She had done her job. Now the police could catch her if they wanted. She followed Margaret out of the jagged tunnel. Margaret led her down the big, noisy passage, through a side door, down a narrow tunnel, down a flight of steps, through another door, and back into an avenue. The floor of the avenue was smooth, with a stream flowing down the center.
"Is this Cloghlogan Avenue?" Sallina said.
Even though Margaret was more than a head shorter than Sallina, her legs moved fast, and Sallina had to run to catch up at times.
Without looking back, Margaret said, "No."
They hurried on. People in the street watched Sallina go by. A sapien man standing talking to three dwarves waved to her. She did not recognize him. Why was he waving at her? Did he know who she was? She smiled and waved back.
Margaret turned right into a spiral staircase. She ran up the steps. Sallina had to take the steps two at a time to keep up with her. They came out into another avenue.
"This is Cloghlogan Avenue," Margaret said.
They went down the avenue, in the direction of the stream in center. They hopped over the stream and walked past a street on the left. Sallina saw in front of her, on the left side of the avenue, the exposed copper pipes and the crew of dwarves working upon them. Two were on their knees in the channel beside the pipes, with clouds of steam around them.
One of the crew looked up. "Hello Margaret."
"Hi," Margaret said. She pushed through them and into Cinnabar Street.
"Excuse me," Sallina said.
"Hello again," one of them said.
As she entered the street, Sallina heard the crew talking behind her. She heard the word "police", but could not understand the rest. Oh well, if they told the police, she would not mind. Margaret stopped at the door of Number Six. So this was her house after all, Sallina thought. But she was glad she had found Margaret herself.
Margaret reached up above her front door and took a key from a ledge. She opened the lock and put the key in her pocket. She went inside, saw the letters, bent down, and picked them up. She looked at the writing on the letters and tore open the letter from Dan.
Margaret stood and read the letter. It was a short letter. Sallina could see that from the amount of writing on the page. Margaret folded the letter and put it on her side table. She opened the letter from the Captain. This letter was longer. It took her half a minute to finish reading it. She folded the letter and put it on top of Dan's letter. She held her hands to her face and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. She pushed aside the curtain that led into her house, and disappeared inside.
Sallina stood outside the door. Margaret pulled aside the curtain. "Come inside."
Sallina walked through the door and pushed aside the curtain. There was a step up behind the curtain, and another curtain after that. She pushed the second curtain aside. By the light of her helmet lamp, and that of Margaret's also, Sallina saw a room six paces square. Most of the floor was covered with a bright carpet. The ceiling was a head higher than Sallina. Garibaldi's hair would probably brush against it if he were with her. There was a couch in the corner on her left, and a low table with stools. On the far wall was a wooden table with tools and boxes on it.
Margaret sat on one of the stools and began to unlace her boots. She tugged at the first boot, but couldn't get it off. She took her helmet off and shook her head. Long, curly red hair fell down over her shoulders. She put the helmet on the floor and pulled again at her boot.
Sallina came forward, knelt down, and said, "I help you."
"No!" Margaret said, and looked straight at Sallina. Her eyebrows were drawn together. Her mouth was frowning. The caked mud on her face was cracking, and one piece fell on the floor. Margaret said something to Sallina in a harsh voice, but Sallina did not understand her.
Sallina stood up and moved away. She held up her hands, palms towards Margaret. "I am sorry."
"What language do you speak?" Margaret said. "I mean, speak properly?"
"Weilandic."
"Don't treat me like a baby just because I'm small," she said in Weilandic. She had hardly any accent, and she spoke quickly and clearly. Sallina put one hand in her pocket and felt her piece of bloodied mink fur.
"I am sorry."
Margaret pulled her boot, but it would not come off. "Damn!" she said, also in Weilandic. She looked up at Sallina, "Okay, pull the stupid boot of, go on." She held her leg out straight.
Sallina knelt down and pulled Margaret's boot off. Margaret was wearing a red sock on her foot. Margaret unlaced the other boot and held her foot out. Sallina pulled the boot off. Margaret's other sock was blue.
Margaret picked up her helmet. She took her head-lamp out of its holder. She stood up, holding the stone between her fingers. "I'm going to take a shower."
Sallina nodded.
Margaret walked through an opening in the wall to another room. Her light stopped moving. Sallina sat on one of the stools and looked about her. A violin leaned against the wall to her left. There was an opening in the far wall, and a small door also.
Margaret came back without her light. She put her hands on her cheeks. She lowered them and rested them upon her hips. "Maybe I should just go right away." She looked at Sallina. "How bad is he?" She frowned. "Is he dying?"
Sallina's head-lamp shone upon Margaret's face. The dwarf woman's eyes were big and round, with green irises. A tear dripped out of one eye and soaked into the dust upon her face. She stomped her foot upon the stone floor.
"Tell me if he's dying!"
Sallina stood up and shook her head. "I don't know. The Endeavor's surgeon says he's just unhappy. But Dan thinks his liver is pierced and he's going to die."
Margaret walked towards her boots. "Let's go right away."
"He's not going to die today," Sallina said, "I'm pretty sure of that. He looked okay when he gave me his letter this morning."
Margaret stopped and stared down at her boots. She touched her face. "I can't go to him like this. He won't recognize me."
"He told me you were the prettiest dwarf woman he ever saw," Sallina said.
Margaret looked up and stroked her hair. "Did he?" She frowned and waved her arms. "Well I'm not so pretty now am I? I haven't seen him in six months!" She stepped up to Sallina and took Sallina's shirt in one hand. "Where has he been? Where has he been!?"
She let go of Sallina's shirt, turned around, and took three steps towards the other room. She put her head in her hands and started to cry. Sallina watched her. She would have been happy to put her arm around Margaret to comfort her, but she did not want to be shouted at again.
"I missed him so much," Margaret said, "And now he's back, and I'm angry at him. And he's hurt, too."
Margaret sat on the floor and leaned against the wall with her head down and her face hidden behind her hands. She sobbed loudly and sniffed. Sallina frowned. Was there something wrong with this woman? How old was she? Was she a young dwarf? Maybe a teenage dwarf? Was this really the woman that Dan loved?
"I suggest," Sallina said, "That you have a shower, compose yourself, and we'll go. I'll wait here."
Margaret took a few slow, deep breaths. She looked up and nodded. "Okay."
She stood up and went into the other room. Sallina saw her shadow on the wall and heard her taking off her clothes and dropping them on the floor. A door opened and closed. Sallina heard running water. She tried to undo the strap on her helmet, but her fingers could not figure out how the clasp worked. She gave up.
She stood and walked to the wooden table. A metal arm with a joint in the middle was clamped to one end. The arm held a circular window. Sallina looked through the window. It was a large magnifying glass. On the bench were small, metal boxes with glass covers. Hanging from hooks on the wall were files, screwdrivers, little hammers, tweezers, and many other shiny tools Sallina had never seen before. A clock stood in the center of the table. It had stopped. Four small, open boxes made of wood held tiny springs, gears, and watch faces. Another box contained the parts of what looked like a large and complicated lock.
Margaret really was a watchmaker, and a locksmith. But her name was not really MacLockanlock. It was MacLoghanlogh. Sallina said the name to herself several times and smiled. She had liked the Chief Custodian very much. But she was not sure that she liked the Watchmaker.
When Margaret returned, she was wearing a tight blue shirt and a baggy pair of yellow trousers. Her red hair was tied up in a towel. She held her light stone in one hand and a hair brush in the other. Her skin was snow white. Her cheeks were round. Her nose was straight and smooth. Her lips were red. Her hips were full and her waist narrow.
Sallina smiled. She was sure Dan would be glad to see Margaret, no matter how crazy she might be.
"Will you brush my hair?" Margaret said.
"Yes, I will."
Margaret put her light stone in a holder on the low table. Sallina sat on the couch and Margaret sat on a stool in front of her. Sallina took the brush. She brushed Margaret's long red hair, and while she brushed Margaret's hair, Margaret asked her questions. How old was she? Was she married? Did she love Garibaldi? Was the Captain still fat? Did Dan sleep with other women? Did Sallina get seasick? Was Dan happy on the Reliant?
Sallina answered the questions as best she could.
"There," Sallina said, "I'm finished."
Margaret stood up and stroked her hair with her fingers.
"Thank you," she said.
She went into the other room and came back with a ribbon. She tied her hair behind her head.
"Do you have a toilet?" Sallina said.
"Of course I have a toilet," Margaret said. She pointed to the door beside the work bench. "Through there. Mind your head."
Sallina took her piece of fur out of her pocket. "May I wash this in the sink?"
Margaret reached out her hand and took the piece of fur from Sallina. She looked at it and handed it back. "What is it?"
"It's mink fur. It has blood on it."
Margaret nodded. "Sure, wash it."
"I have mink fur to sell," Sallina said. "Do you know if anyone will buy it here?"
Margaret frowned. "My husband is dying, and you're trying to sell me furs?"
Sallina clenched her piece of fur in her hand.
"Um," she said.
"No, I don't want to buy anything right now," Margaret said. She pointed to the small door. "Go and do your thing and let's go."
Sallina walked to the small door and opened it. She bent down and stepped into Margaret's bathroom. She closed the door behind her. The air was hot and steamy. The walls and floor were pink tile. The bathroom was two paces deep and six paces wide. Another door led to what must be Margaret's bedroom. Between the doors was a sink made of polished, pink granite. The taps were shiny brass. She turned both taps at the same time. Hot water came out of one and cold water out of the other. She cleaned the blood out of her piece of fur, squeezed it dry, and set it on the edge of the sink.
On the wall opposite the door was a white toilet like the ones on the Reliant, but slightly smaller. There were pieces of tissue paper in a box on the floor.
Sallina sat down and did a pee. When she was done, she looked for a bucket of water to flush the toilet with, but she could not find one. She ran her fingers through her hair and scratched her head. She did not want to leave the toilet un-flushed.
She opened the door. "Where's the bucket?"
"What bucket?" Margaret said. "What under the mountain are you doing in there?"
"How do I flush the toilet?"
"Push the silver lever at the back."
There was a silver lever behind the toilet. She had paid no attention to it, because the dwarf city seemed to be full of strange things with levers and buttons on them, and she had no idea what any of them were for. She pressed the lever. Water rushed into the toilet with a roar. She jumped back and bumped into the sink.
"Oh!" she cried.
Margaret laughed.
When the toilet finished flushing itself, Sallina washed her hands in the granite sink and dried them upon a fluffy towel hanging on a ring in the wall. She stepped back into the main room.
"You have a very nice bathroom," she said.
Margaret stood by the front curtain. In one hand she held her light stone. She had green shoes on her feet and a wide-brimmed, yellow, hat on her head.
"Thank you," Margaret said. "Let's go."
Margaret ran most of the way to the city entrance. Sallina followed her. At any moment she expected the police to see her and arrest her. But she saw no policemen at all. She and Margaret passed through the caverns without stopping. When they reached the entrance chamber, where the Laws of the City were carved on the walls, the first set of iron doors was open. Margaret and Sallina walked right in. There were ten or fifteen dwarves there, most of them with carts full of crushed rock, and all of them talking to one another.
One said, "Hello Margaret."
She did not answer him. She walked straight to the other side of the entrance hall and put her hand upon the desk at which Sallina had signed her visitors papers earlier that day. Joseph MacIntyre was still on duty, standing behind the desk and looking at some forms. Sallina followed Margaret and stood with her.
Joseph looked up. He smiled. "Margaret!"
"When are you opening the doors?" Margaret said.
Joseph looked at the clock on the wall. It said ten minutes past one in the afternoon.
"In a few minutes," Joseph said.
Sallina had been in the dwarf city for only three hours. As soon as Joseph recognized her, she thought, she would be arrested. How long would it be until she was able to leave?
Joseph pointed to Sallina. Here we go, Sallina said to herself.
"I have a summons for you," he said in Weilandic.
"What's this?" Margaret said.
Sallina blinked. "A summons? Is that the same as being arrested?"
"No," Joseph said. He opened a draw in the desk and took out a folded letter with a wax seal and a ribbon. He held it out for Sallina. She stepped forward and took it. Joseph put a piece of paper on the desk top and pushed it towards her. "Sign here. It says you have received the summons."
Sallina chose a pen and signed on the line.
"You must appear here tomorrow at nine in the morning," Joseph said. He pointed towards the inner doors. "In that hallway off the avenue. That's the visitor's court. It's in session in the morning."
"I understand," Sallina said. She was not going to be arrested. How could that be? She had run away from the police, hadn't she?
"Your young friend with the sword has been summoned also," Joseph said.
"I thought he would be," Sallina said.
Joseph turned to Margaret and smiled at her. "Your look lovely," he said in Latin. "How about dinner this week?"
Margaret frowned. She said something in a low voice. Joseph smiled and held up his hands. "Hey, just asking."
Margaret turned and walked to the passage that led to the outer doors. Sallina went with her.
"You have been summoned?" Margaret said.
"We went to some trouble to find you," Sallina said. She smiled, because she was pleased with herself for saying something so grown up and calm.
"I guess you did," Margaret said.
They waited. The voices of the dwarves behind them echoed in the entrance cavern.
"Why do they have two sets of doors?" Sallina said. "Isn't one enough? This seems like a lot of trouble just to stop people coming in an out."
"I'll explain it to you another day," Margaret said, "But right now, if I tried, you probably wouldn't understand, and I'd get frustrated with you."
Sallina frowned.
Joseph walked past them and stood in front of the outer doors. They began to move inwards towards him. Air rushed through the gap between the doors. Sunlight shone upon the passage floor. Sallina blinked and held her hand over her eyes.
"You may pass," Joseph said.
Margaret walked down the passage and out into the sunlight. Sallina followed her. They stood in the open space at the top of the valley of the fountains. Sallina smiled. The fountains were spraying water high into the air. The breeze blowing up from the sea was fresh and warm.
"What a lovely day!" she said.
Margaret blinked. "If you say so. I forgot my sunglasses."
Sallina looked down the valley to Cloghlogan harbor. The water sparkled in the sun. It looked warm and clear. She would love to go for a swim.
"Look!" she said. "There are the Reliant's top-masts sticking up above the white building by the dock. And look!" She jumped in the air hoping to see better, but it made no difference. "That's the Endeavor's main top-mast. The Endeavor has arrived!"
"That's great," Margaret said. She walked down the steps towards the first fountain.
Sallina stared at the masts and ran after Margaret. When she caught up with her, she was struck by how bright the colors of Margaret clothes were. Sallina did not wear bright colors. Her mother had always told her, "A pretty woman wears plain cloths. That way, women who are not pretty can have something special to make them look good." Sallina thought Margaret was beautiful. Margaret did not need to wear bright clothes. The bright colors made fun of her pretty face and her fine figure. The colors were okay inside the city, where the light was dim. Out here in the sunlight, they were too bright. But Sallina was sure that this was not the time to start telling Margaret what she thought of her clothes.
When they were crossing the black stones beside the lower fountain, Margaret said, "There are many marvelous things in our city. But you walked right over one of the most marvelous things of all, and didn't even notice it."
"Oh," Sallina said. "What was it?"
Margaret pointed behind her with her thumb. "Those windows in the floor back there."
"I noticed them when I came in," Sallina said, "Joseph told me he'd cover them up if it was up to him."
Margaret laughed. "He would."
Sallina put her hand in her pocket. She felt for her piece of mink fur. It was not there. She stopped walking. Where had she left it? The last time she had seen it was when she set it on the side of Margaret's sink. But it had not been on the side of the sink when she washed her hands. What had happened to it?
Margaret stopped and turned around. She pointed to Sallina's head. "When are you going to take that helmet off?"