Free Nightwings by Robert Silverberg

went within; I was awed by the sumptuous luxury of the hangings, the draperies, the lights, the furnishings. I passed from room to room, coming at last to the royal bed, whose coverlet was the flesh of a colossal bivalve of the planet of another star, and as the shell yawned for me I touched the infinitely soft fabric under which the Prince of Roum had lain, and I recalled that Avluela too had lain here, and if I had been a younger man I would have wept.
    I left the palace and slowly crossed the plaza to begin my journey toward Perris.
    As I departed I had my first glimpse of our conquerors. A vehicle of alien design drew up at the plaza's rim and perhaps a dozen figures emerged. They might almost have been human. They were tall and broad, deep-chested, as Gormon had been, and only the extreme length of their arms marked them instantly as alien. Their skins were of

    strange texture, and if I had been closer I suspect I would have seen eyes and lips and nostrils that were not of a human design. Taking no notice of me, they crossed the plaza, walking in a curiously loose-jointed loping way that reminded me irresistibly of Gormon's stride, and entered the palace. They seemed neither swaggering nor belligerent.
    Sightseers. Majestic Roum once more exerted its magnetism upon strangers.
    Leaving our new masters to their amusement, I walked off, toward the outskirts of the city. The bleakness of eternal winter crept into my soul. I wondered: did I feel sorrow that Roum had fallen? Or did I mourn the loss of Avluela? Or was it only that I now had missed three successive Watchings, and like an addict I was experiencing the pangs of withdrawal?
    It was all of these that pained me, I decided. But mostly the last.
    No one was abroad in the city as I made for the gates. Fear of the new masters kept the Roumish in hiding, I supposed. From time to time one of the alien vehicles hummed past, but I was unmolested. I came to the city's western gate late in the afternoon. It was open, revealing to me a gently rising hill on whose breast rose trees with dark green crowns. I passed through and saw, a short distance beyond the gate, the figure of a Pilgrim who was shuffling slowly away from the city.
    I overtook him easily.
    His faltering, uncertain walk seemed strange to me, for not even his thick brown robes could hide the strength and youth of his body; he stood erect, his shoulders square and his back straight, and yet he walked with the hesitating, trembling step of an old man. When I drew abreast of him and peered under his hood I understood, for affixed to the bronze mask all Pilgrims wear was a reverberator, such as is used by blind men to warn them of obstacles and hazards. He became aware of me and said, Tama sightless Pilgrim. I pray you do not molest me."
    It was not a Pilgrim's voice. It was a strong and harsh and imperious voice.

    I replied, "I molest no one. I am a Watcher who has lost his occupation this night past."
    "Many occupations were lost this night past, Watcher."
    "Surely not a Pilgrim's."
    "No," he said. "Not a Pilgrim's."
    "Where are you bound?"
    "Away from Roum."
    "No particular destination?"
    "No," the Pilgrim said. "None. I will wander."
    "Perhaps we should wander together," I said, for it is accounted good luck to travel with a Pilgrim, and, shorn of my Flier and my Changeling, I would otherwise have traveled alone. "My destination is Penis. Will you comer
    "There as well as anywhere else," he said bitterly. "Yes. We will go to Penis together. But what business does a Watcher have there?"
    "A Watcher has no business anywhere. I go to Penis to offer myself in service to the Rememberers."
    "Ah," he said. "I was of that guild too, but it was only honorary."
    "With Earth fallen, I wish to learn more of Earth in its pride."
    "Is all Earth fallen, then, and not only Roum?"
    "I think it is so," I said.
    "Ah," replied the Pilgrim. "Ah!"
    He fell silent and we went onward. I gave him my arm, and now he shuffled no longer,