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"They could be working on her in there right now!" he growled. "I don't think
so," said Hal. "My guess is Liu just stepped inside with her long enough to
see if she'd answer him, but not really expecting her to. When she didn't, he
left her tied up; or however she's restrained, in there, for now. " "That's
your guess," said Calas mutinously. "I know the kind of shithouse sweepings
they've got in that outfit!" "I believe you do," said Hal, "but I also believe
they won't dare do anything they aren't ordered to do by that commanding
officer, from the way you've described him. And he won't want any of them
touching Cee-just yet, anyway." "Another guess?" Calas said. "No. Look down
there for yourself," said Hal. "If he'd wanted to question Cee physically, the
obvious place for it would have been back at his base, in Porphyry. They've
undoubtedly got the equipment for it back there-" "That's true enough," said
Calas, under his breath. "But back there, he'd have superiors who might take
not only control away from him," said Hal, "but whatever glory there might be
in catching the famous little wild girl. It just might be, too, that Liu has a
pretty low opinion of the officers over him."
Calas nodded. "You mean, he's right in feeling that way?- asked Hal. "Unless
they've got some brighter ones in since I was around," said Calas. "Right up
to the Commander, the rest are all the sort that want to get to their desk at
eleven in the morning, sign half a dozen papers, then go to lunch and take the
rest of the day off. You're right, as long as he stays out here, he's the one
in charge. " "Yes," said Hal, "and he stands to gain more credit; which none
of his superiors can take away from him, if he comes in, not orily with the
girl, but with as many more strays and outlaws
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as he can pick up and bring back. As I say, take a look down there. Don't
those two tents and the cut-down trees make it look like he's planning to stay
a day or two, at least?" "Yes," said Calas, somewhat grudgingly, looking at
them. "It's a good guess, then," said Hal, "he's been lookin@_, beyond Cee's
capture all along. He'll be pretty sure she knows who else lives around here,
and he'll want her help in finding them. "
His eyes met Calas's brown ones. "You mean he knows about the Chantry Guild?"
"Guesses, at least," said Hal. "He may have picked up bits of information from
townspeople he's questioned, and gotten enough out of them to at least suspect
there's some kind of' community of free Exotics up here. That's why he'll be
in no hurry to get his men back to barracks; and that's why he won't hurt Cee,
to begin with at least. He may even try to make friends with her." , ,Lots of
luck!" Calas cleared his throat, and spat, deliberately, over the edge of the
cliff before them. "If she wouldn't answer when Artur tried to talk to her and
she'd barely answer Onete, Liu's chances of making friends with her .
Calas ran out of figures of speech, into silence. "But it's still all just
your guesses, all the same," he said, at last, to Hal. "Old Man," said Hal,
turning to the silent figure beside them, "what do you think?" "I think you're
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probably right," said Old Man softly. Calas turned to stare at the
white-bearded, thin face. "He'll need the child in good physical shape to lead
them to whoever else is hem and if he's got any experience at all with
managing prisoners, he'll know she'll be more willing to help him if she
believes he doesn't plan to hurt them when he gets them. So I'd think he'll
begin, at least, by making ier as comfortable as possible; while at the same
time makinf, sure she doesn't run away. Also, he'll try to give the impression
that it's just a matter of time before he finds the other people, whether she
helps or not, and a leisurely attitude to the situation is going to help along
that illusion."
As usual, when Old Man talked at any length at all, the Guild members had a
tendency to listen attentively. Calas listened. When Old Man fell silent
again, he nodded, slowly.
THE CHANTRY GUILD
271
"Right," he said. "it makes sense. But what happens if she still doesn't
answer him? He's going to run out of patience sooner or later." "We'll have to
watch, wait, and hope some kind of opportunity comes up for us to do something
about the situation, without risking discovery of the Guild," said Hal. "I
don't know what other option we've got. Do you?"
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