"I am no man's slave." The commander of the soldiers swung his thick bow in a short arc that terminated on the top of Mikah's head: he dropped stunned to the floor. "You have a new slave, oh Hertug," the commander said. "Which is the one who knows the secrets of the _caroj_?" the Hertug asked and Snarbi pointed at Jason. "Him there, oh mightiness. He can make _caroj_ and he can make the monster that burns and moves them, I know because I watched him do it. He also made balls of fire that burned the D'zertanoj and many other things. I brought him to be your slave so that he could make _caroj_ for the Perssonoj. Here are the pieces of the _caroj_ we traveled in, after it was consumed by its own fire." Snarbi shook the tools and burnt fragments out onto the floor and the Hertug curled his lip at them. "What proof is this?" he asked, and turned to Jason. "These things mean nothing. How can you prove to me, slave, that you can do the things he says?" Jason entertained briefly the idea to deny all knowledge of the matter, which would be a neat revenge against Snarbi who would certainly meet a sticky end for causing all this trouble for nothing, but he discarded the thought as fast as it came. Partly for humanitarian reasons, Snarbi could not help being what he was, but mostly because he had no particular desire to be put to the question. He knew nothing about the local torture methods, and he wanted to keep it that way. "Proof is easy, Hertug of all the Perssonoj, because I know everything about everything. I can build machines that walk, that talk, that run, fly, swim, bark like a dog and roll on their backs." "You will build a _caroj_ for me?" "It could be arranged, if you have the right kind of tools I could use. But I must first know what is the specialty of your clan, if you know what I mean. Like the Trozelligoj make _caroj_ and the D'zertanoj pump oil. What do your people do?" "You cannot know as much as you say if you do not know of the glories of the Perssonoj!" "I come from a distant land and as you know news travels slowly around these parts." "Not around the Perssonoj," the Hertug said scornfully and thumped his chest. "We can talk across the width of the country and always know where our enemies are. We can send magic on wires to kill, or magic to make light in a glass ball or magic that will pluck the sword from an enemy's hand and drive terror into his heart." "It sounds like your gang has the monopoly on electricity, which is good to hear. If you have some heavy forging equipment...." "Stop!" the Hertug ordered. "Leave! Out--everyone except the _sciuloj_. Not the new slave, he stays here," he shouted when the soldiers grabbed Jason. * * * * *