"Can't we do anything on our own? Must the King meddle in everything?"
"You wouldn't want us to take a chance and have to shed _blood_, would
you?" breathed Archambaud.
"What are you carrying those swords for? As a decoration?" Rastignac
snarled.
"_Seelahs, m'fweh_," warned Mapfarity. "If you alarm the other guards,
you will embarrass them. They will be forced to do their duty and
recapture you. And the Jail-breaker would be reprimanded because he
had fallen down on his job. He might even get a demotion."
Rastignac was so upset that his Skin, reacting to the negative fields
racing over the Skin and the hormone imbalance of his blood, writhed
away from his back.
"What are we, a bunch children playing war?"
Mapfarity growled, "We are all God's children, and we mustn't hurt
anyone if we can help it."
"Mapfarity, you eat meat!"
"_Voo zavf w'zaw m'fweh_," admitted the Giant. "But it is the flesh of
unintelligent creatures. I have not yet shed the blood of any being
that can talk with the tongue of Man."
Rastignac snorted and said, "If you stick with me you will some day do
that, _m'fweh_ Mapfarity. There is no other course. It is inevitable."
"Nature spare me the day! But if it comes it will find Mapfarity
unafraid. They do not call me Giant for nothing."
Rastignac sighed and walked ahead. Sometimes he wondered if the
members of his underground--or anybody else for that matter--ever
realized the grim conclusions formed by the Philosophy of Violence.
The Amphibians, he was sure, did. And they were doing something
positive about it. But it was the Amphibians who had driven Rastignac
to adopt a Philosophy of Violence.
"_Law_," he said again. "Let's go."
The three of them walked out of the huge courtyard and through the
open gate. Nearby stood a short man whose Skin gleamed black-red in
the light shed by the two glowworms attached to his shoulders. The
Skin was oversized and hung to the ground.
The King's man, however, did not think he was a comic figure. He
sputtered, and the red of his face matched the color of the skin on
his back.
"You took long enough," he said accusingly and then, when Rastignac
opened his mouth to protest, the Jail-breaker said, "Never mind, never
mind. _Sa n'apawt_. The thing is that we get you away fast. The
Minister of Ill-Will has doubtless by now received word that an
official jail-break is planned for tonight. He will send a company of
his mucketeers to intercept you. By coming in advance of the appointed
time we shall have time to escape before the official rescue party
arrives."
"How much time do we have?" asked Rastignac.
The King's man said, "Let's see. After I escort you through the rooms
of the Duke, the King's foster-brother--he is most favorable to the
Violent Philosophy, you know, and has petitioned the King to become
your official patron, which petition will be considered at the next
meeting of the Chamber of Deputies in three months--let's see, where
was I? Ah, yes, I escort you through the rooms of the King's brother.
You will be disguised as His Majesty's mucketeers, ostensibly looking
for the escaped prisoners. From the rooms of the Duke you will be let
out through a small door in the wall of the palace itself. A car will
be waiting.
"From then on it will be up to you. I suggest, however, that you make
a dash for Mapfarity's castle. Follow the _Rue des Nues_; that is your
best chance. The mucketeers have been pulled off that boulevard.
However, it is possible that Auverpin, the Ill-Will Minister, may see
that order and will rescind it, realizing what it means. If he does, I
suppose I will see you back in your cell, Rastignac."
He bowed to the Ssassaror and Archambaud and said, "And you two
gentlemen will then be with him."
"And then what?" rumbled Mapfarity.
"According to the law, you will be allowed one more jail-break. Any
more after that will, of course, be illegal. That is, unthinkable."
Rastignac unsheathed his epee and slashed it at the air. "Let the
mucketeers stand in my way," he said fiercely. "I will cut them down
with this!"
The Jail-breaker staggered back, hands outthrust.
"Please, Monsieur Rastignac! Please! Don't even talk about it! You
know that your philosophy is, as yet, illegal. The shedding of blood
is an act that will be regarded with horror throughout the sentient
planet. People would think you are an Amphibian!"
"The Amphibians know what they're doing far better than we do,"
answered Rastignac. "Why do you think they're winning against us
Humans?"
Suddenly, before anybody could answer, the sound of blaring horns came
from somewhere on the ramparts. Shouts went up; drums began to beat,
calling the mucketeers to alert.
And above it all came the roar of a giant Ssassaror voice: "_An
Earthship has landed in the sea! And the pilot of the ship is in the
hands of the Amphibians!_"
As the meaning of the words seeped into Rastignac's consciousness he
made a sudden violent movement--and began to tear the Skin from his
body!