Free Burning Tower by Larry Niven Page A

finding Lordkin who wanted to be Firemen but wouldn’t use the position to steal, and would fight fires outside Serpent’s Walk, and…
    â€œFalcon Chief said he’s got men who want to be Firemen,” Sandry said casually.
    Wanshig nodded. “I know.”
    â€œEven says his people would work with yours,” Sandry said.
    â€œI’ll think on it, Lord.”
    And so will we, Sandry thought. There were advantages to having Lordkin bands work together, but too much cooperation among the bands might be dangerous too. Reggy would have leapt at the chance, but it’s too big a decision for me.
    â€œA favor, Lord,” Wanshig said suddenly.
    â€œYou’ve earned anything within reason.” Not something to say lightly, Sandry thought. He had learned to trust Wanshig as much as you could trust any Lordkin, but that wasn’t very far…
    â€œSecklers. He’s the man who used his shirt to help catch that bird. He’s got a kinless girl pregnant,” Wanshig said. “He still cares about her.” Wanshig said that with a note of disbelief. “I guess he does too, since he asked me to help. But I can’t. Her people will throw her out, and he can’t bring her home either. Maybe you could find her a job in Lordshills?”
    Sandry thought about that. It wasn’t an unusual situation, but that was the trouble—it happened often enough that there wasn’t room enough in Lordstown and Lordshills put together to hold all the careless progeny of the Lordkin. But this was an opportunity to have a powerful Lordkin leader in his debt. “Yes, I think that can be arranged,” Sandry said. “It won’t be easy.”
    â€œThank you, Lord.”
    It was impossible to read Wanshig’s expression. Sandry had learned that the Lordkin were good at playing games with the Lords Witness. They even had a term for it: messing with the lordheads.
    â€œWill there be more of those birds, Lord Sandry?”
    â€œI don’t know. The Wagonmaster says there have been more this year than in all his years before. So probably.”
    â€œCould cost us some,” Wanshig said.
    Sandry nodded.
    â€œAnyone in the wagon train know what those things are?”
    Sandry shook his head. “Not that they told me. But thanks to you and your man—Secklers?—we have a live one. Maybe a wizard can tell us something about it. Or the wagon train shaman, the woman who…” He stalled.
    â€œLord?”
    His mouth had run away with him. “Claimed to have mated with a god.”
    Wanshig looked impressed. “Happens, sometimes. Outside.”
    And was Wanshig putting him on? The Lordkin looked serious. And he’d been outside the basin, two or three years at sea, before coming back to Tep’s Town, so he knew more about the world than Sandry. Gods didn’t mate with humans in Tep’s Town or Lordshills.
    â€œNot to change the subject, but when do we expect Lord Regapisk back?”
    â€œNever.”
    â€œAh?”
    â€œThe Lord Chief Witness has found other duties for Lord Regapisk,” Sandry said formally.
    â€œVanished him, did they? And what’s the blood price for a Lord?”
    â€œHigh, and I didn’t say what assignment they gave him,” Sandry said. “But it’s not likely you’ll ever meet him again.”
    Wanshig’s smile grew broader. “Manning an oar, then. His skills may be up to that.”
    â€œJust make sure none of your people try that on me,” Sandry said.
    Wanshig looked at him sharply. “Try what? Well, okay, but when the gold fever takes a man—”
    â€œGold fever be damned,” Sandry said. “There was no magic in that gold. How could there be? Every bit of manna was used up, by Morth to keep up his speed, by the water sprite chasing him, by Yangin-Atep himself! There’s no magic in it. It’s no more than precious dust.” Sandry