THE MAGIC LABYRINTH

But Burton brought up his fort and turned the blade and drove de Bergerac's down and then crossed over and up to run him through his left shoulder. De Bergerac's face and body turned gray where the powder smoke did not cover it, but he still did not drop his sword. Burton could have killed him then.

Swaying, in shock, de Bergerac yet managed a smile. "The first blood is yours, monsieur. You have won. I acknowledge you as the victor. Nor am I ashamed..."

Burton said, "Let me help you," and then someone shot off a pistol from the doorway.

De Bergerac pitched forward and fell heavily on his face. A wound in his back close to the lower spine showed where the bullet had entered.

Burton looked at the doorway.

Alice was standing in it, a smoking pistol in her hand.

"My God!" he cried. "You shouldn't have done that, Alice!"

She came ru

Burton knelt down and turned the Frenchman over and then got down on his knees and put the man's head in his lap.

Alice stopped by him. "What's the matter? He is an enemy, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he had just surrendered. Do you know who he is? He's Cyrano de Bergerac!"

"Oh, my God!"

De Bergerac opened his eyes. He looked up at Alice. "You should have waited to find out the true situation, madame. But then... scarcely anyone ever does."

The water was rising swiftly, and the deck was rapidly tilting at an angle. At this rate, the water would soon be above de Bergerac's head.

He closed his eyes, then opened them again.

"Burton?"

Burton said, "Yes."

"Now I remember. What a... what fools... we've been. You must be the Burton whom Clemens spoke of... you ... the Ethical picked you?"

"Yes," Burton said.

"Then... why did we fight? I... didn't remember... too late ... we ... should have gone to the tower ... the tower... together. Now ... I ..."

Burton bent down to hear the fading voice. "What did you say?"

"... hated war... stupidity..."

Burton thought that de Bergerac had died after that. But a moment later, the Frenchman murmured, "Constance!"

He sighed, and he was gone.

Burton wept.

SECTION 12

The Last 20,000 Miles

39

BURTON AND HARGREAVES, ALONG WITH THE OTHER SURVIvors, had to face the wrath of La Viro. The tall dark man with the big nose raved and ranted for an hour while he strode back and forth before the assembled "criminals." They stood in front of the smoke-blackened temple, a huge stone structure with incongruous architecture: a Greek portico and Ionian columns with an onion-shaped roof topped by a gigantic carved stone spiral. These features were symbols in the Church of the Second Chance, but, nevertheless, Burton and others thought that the temple was ugly and ludicrous-looki.ng. Oddly enough, the bad taste of La Viro, its designer, helped them endure his tirade. He was right in much of what he said, but much else seemed foolish. However, they were dependent upon him for grails, clothes, and housing. So they did not defend themselves but got some relief from their anger by silently laughing at the hideous temple and the man who'd built it.

At last, La Viro tired of pointing out in vivid detail and imagery how stupid, callous, brutal, murderous, and selfish they were. He threw up his hands and said he was sick of the sight of them. He would retire to the sanctum in the temple and pray for the has of the Virolanders they'd killed. And also, though they didn't deserve it, for the living and the dead culprits. He turned the survivors over to Frato Fenikso, Brother Phoenix, once.known as Herma

Goring said, "You look like deservedly chastened children, and I hope you feel like it. But I don't have, at this moment, anyway, much hope for you. That's because of my anger at you. I'll get over it, and then I'll do my best to help you change for the better."

He led them to the rear of the temple where he gave each of them a free grail and enough cloths to keep them warm in the coldest temperatures.

"Anything else you need or want will be up to you to get it," Goring said. He dismissed them, but he called Burton aside.

"Have you heard that Samuel Clemens died of a heart attack?"

Burton nodded.

"Apparently, he thought that Frato Eriko still intended to settle an old score. After all he'd gone through during the battle, this was just too much, the straw that broke the camel's back or, in his case, broke his heart."

"I heard the story from Joe Miller this morning," Burton said.

"Yes. Well, unless somebody does something for the titanthrop, he's going to die of a broken heart, too. He really loved Clemens."

Goring asked Burton if he intended to go on to the headwaters. Burton replied that he had not come this far just to quit. He was going to set out for the tower as soon as possible.

"You'll have to build a sailboat. Certainly, Clemens' men won't allow you to go with them in the Post No Bills."

"I don't know about that," Burton said.

"And I suppose that if they refuse, you'll hijack the launch?"

Burton didn't answer.

"Is there no end to your violence?"

"I didn't say I would use force," Burton said. "I intend to talk to Anderson about the trip as soon as possible."

"Anderson was killed. I warn you, Burton, don't shed any more blood here!"

"I'll do all I can to avoid it. I don't like it any more than you do, really. Only, I am a realist."

The smaller launch, the After You, Gascon, had disappeared with all of its crew. No one knew what had happened to it, though some Virolando witnesses thought they'd seen it explode.

"If you really push it, you could get to the headwaters in about thirty days in the launch," Goring said. "But the agents of the Ethicals will get there before you do."

Burton was shocked.

"You know about them?"

"Yes. I talked to both Frigate and Miller last night^ trying to help them through their grief. I knew more than you'd think and suspected even more. Correctly, as it turned out. Neither saw any reason to keep silent about the renegade Ethical. I told La Viro, and he's thinking hard about the whole business. It's been a great shock to him, though it hasn't affected his faith any."

"What about you?"

"I see no reason to change my faith. I never thought that the people responsible for this world were angels or demons. There are, though, many puzzling things about the two stories I've heard. What intrigues me the most, and also upsets me the most, is the mystery of what happened to the nonhuman on Clemens' boat, Monat I think was his name."

Burton said, "What? I haven't heard about that!"

Goring described what Miller had told him, and added, "And you say that his companion, the man called Frigate, also disappeared?"

"That Peter Jairus Frigate was an agent," Burton said. "He wasn't an exact double of the Frigate you talked to, but he resembled him closely. He may have been Frigate's brother."

"Perhaps when—or—if you get into the tower, you'll find-out," Goring said.

"I'll find out sooner than that if I catch up with those agents in the launch," Burton said grimly.

After some more discussion, Burton left Goring. He had not told the German what the news about Monat and the pseudo-Frigate meant. The Ethical X, the Mysterious Stranger, the renegade, had been on the Not For Hire. And he had gotten rid of Monat about eight hours after they'd boarded the vessel. Why? Because Monat would recognize him. He would have been in disguise, but Monat would have known him sooner or later. Probably sooner. So he'd had to work fast, and he had done so. How, Burton didn't know.

X had been on Clemens' boat.