"What do you mean?" Magnan gasped.
"We"ll slit all the throats at one time. Saves a lot of running around."
"What time will that be?"
"Just at dawn; and dawn comes early, this time of year. By full daylight the PAFFL will be in charge."
"You"ll never succeed," Magnan said. "A few servants with knives! You"ll all be caught and killed."
"By who, the Nenni?" the man laughed. "You Nenni are a caution."
"But we"re not Nenni--"
"We"ve watched you; you"re the same. You"re part of the same blood-sucking cla.s.s."
"There are better ways to, uh, adjust differences," Magnan said. "This killing won"t help you, I"ll personally see to it that your grievances are heard in the Corps Courts. I can a.s.sure you that the plight of the downtrodden workers will be alleviated. Equal rights for all--"
"These threats won"t work," the man said. "You don"t scare me."
"Threats? I"m promising _relief_ to the exploited cla.s.ses of Petreac!"
"You must be nuts," the man said. "You trying to upset the system or something?"
"Isn"t that the purpose of your revolution?"
"Look, Nenni, we"re tired of you Nenni getting all the graft. We want our turn. What good would it do us to run Petreac if there"s no loot?"
"You mean you intend to oppress the people? But they"re your own group."
"Group, schmoop. We"re taking all the chances; we"re doing the work. We deserve the payoff. You think we"re throwing up good jobs for the fun of it?"
"You"re basing a revolt on these cynical premises?"
"Wise up, Nenni. There"s never been a revolution for any other reason."
"Who"s in charge of this?" Retief said.
"Shoke, the head chef."
"I mean the big boss. Who tells Shoke what all to do?"
"Oh, that"s Zorn. Look out, here"s where we start down the slope. It"s slippery."
"Look," Magnan said. "You."
"My name"s Illy."
"Mr. Illy, this man showed you mercy when he could have had you beaten."
"Keep moving. Yeah, I said I was grateful."
"Yes," Magnan said, swallowing hard. "A n.o.ble emotion, grat.i.tude. You won"t regret it."
"I always try to pay back a good turn," Illy said. "Watch your step now on this sea-wall."
"You"ll never regret it," Magnan said.
"This is far enough," Illy motioned to one of the knife men. "Give me your knife, Vug."
The man pa.s.sed his knife to Illy. There was an odor of sea-mud and kelp.
Small waves slapped against the stones of the sea-wall. The wind was stronger here.
"I know a neat stroke," Illy said. "Practically painless. Who"s first?"
"What do you mean?" Magnan quavered.
"I _said_ I was grateful. I"ll do it myself, give you a nice clean job.
You know these amateurs; botch it up and have a guy floppin" around, yellin" and spatterin" everybody up."
"I"m first," Retief said. He pushed past Magnan, stopped suddenly, drove a straight punch at Illy"s mouth.
The long blade flicked harmlessly over Retief"s shoulder as Illy fell.
Retief whirled, leaped past Magnan, took the unarmed servant by the throat and belt, lifted him and slammed him against the third man. Both scrambled, yelped and fell from the sea-wall into the water.
Retief turned back to Illy. He pulled off the man"s belt and strapped his hands together.
Magnan found his voice.
"You.... we.... they...."
"I know," Retief said.
"We"ve got to get back," Magnan said, "Warn them!"
"We"d never get through the rebel cordon around the palace. And if we did, trying to give an alarm would only set the a.s.sa.s.sinations off early."
"We can"t just...."
"We"ve got to go to the source; this fellow Zorn. Get him to call it off."
"We"d be killed! At least we"re safe here."
Illy groaned and opened his eyes. He sat up.
"On your feet, Illy," Retief said.