"Oh, yes," Corun grinned without humor. After a moment he went on: "They wanted to know more of the outside world. That was why they spared our lives. When we knew the language well enough, they began to question us. _How_ they questioned us! It got to be torture, those unending days of answering the things that hissed and gabbled at us in those shadowy rooms. It was like a nightmare, where mad happenings go on without ever ending. Politics, science, philosophy, art, geography--they wanted to know it all. They pumped us dry of knowledge. When we came to something they didn't understand, such as--love, say--they went back and forth over the same ground, over and over again, until we thought we'd go crazy. And at last they'd give up in bafflement. I think they believe humans to be mad. "I made my offer, of course: the loot of Achaera in exchange for the freedom of Conahur. They--I might almost say they laughed. Finally they answered in scorn that they could take whatever they wanted, the whole world if need be, without my help." Shorzon's eyes glittered. "Did you find out anything of their powers?" he asked eagerly. "A little. They put any human magician to shame, of course. I saw them charm sea monsters to death just to eat them. I saw them working on a new building on the island--they planted a little package somewhere, and set fire to it, and great stones leaped into the air with a bang like thunder. I saw their cetaraea cavalry, their tamed war-snakes--oh, yes, they have more powers than I could name. And their numbers must be immense. They live on the sea bottom, you know--that is, their commoners do. The leaders have strongholds on land as well. They farm both sea and land, and have great smithies on the islands. "Well, in the end they let us go. They were going to put us to death for our trespass, I think, but I did some fast talking. I told them that we could carry word of their strength back to humans and overawe our race with it, so that if they ever wanted to collect tribute or something of the sort, they'd never have to fight for it. Probably that carried less weight than the fact that we had, after all, done no harm and been of some use. They had no logical reason to kill us--so they didn't." Corun smiled grimly. "We were a pretty tough crew, prepared to take a few Xanthi to death with us even if we were disarmed. Their killing-charms seem to work only on animals. That was another reason to spare us.