The Heirs of Babylon by Glen Cook Read Free Book Online

passed the word. Soon sounds of axes, of
    spades at the bank, and, later, of sledges hitting wedges,
    splitting logs, racketed along the riverside. Jager added
    the sounds of chipping hammers and an occasional shout
    as someone hailed a friend ashore. The work was hard,
    but the sailors enjoyed themselves. Chatter, snatches of
    song, high spirits filled the meadow.

    But there was always an island of silence, always in
    motion, following Beck. The Political Officer prowled con-
    stantly, watching, listening. No one remained cheerful in
    his presence—Kurt wondered if the power-feeling this
    must give Beck, and the sense of alienation which would
    attend the silence, might not reinforce the man's cold
    aloofness and make him even more of what he was.
    Something was bothering Beck, he saw as he surreptitious-
    ly studied the man, though he felt it was not connected
    with alienation—in his own alienation from friends he
    thought should be closer, Kurt felt he could touch Beck's
    being at congruent points (and here he also achieved
    insight into Hans's growing friendliness, for he, Kurt, was the only person aboard with whom Hans had a standing
    relationship, albeit based in lengthy enmity). The Political Officer had come ashore accompanied by two armed men,
    whose weapons the crew were certain were for use against
    deserters. The guns, Kurt decided, were bad tactics on
    Beck's part. They undermined an already decaying mo-
    rale. If flights to Telemark were what Beck feared, his
    mere presence ashore should have been ample deterrent.

    Otto was one of Beck's riflemen. Kurt collared him
    while the Political Officer was at the nether end of the
    work area. "What's Beck up to, Ott? Why the guns?"

    Kapp checked Beck's location, then said, "I think he's hoping somebody'll run. He wants to kill somebody. He
    doesn't say it right out, but you can feel it there, like a maggot in his soul. It's like he has to get somebody quick, before the thing in him turns and destroys him. Kurt, I've
    never met anyone like that. He's like ... like a devil inside
    ... an eater of souls. But he's human, too. It keeps trying to get out, tries to make contact, like this morning when
    we were getting ready to come over. Out of the blue he

38
    asked me about Frieda, and, before I knew it, he was
    telling me all about his wife at Gibraltar. A slut and a
    dragon, to hear him tell it. Cruel . . . oh-oh. Better move on. Pass the word to be careful."

    Beck was looking their way, wearing a calculating ex-
    pression. Otto departed, leaving Kurt with a hundred
    questions about Beck. Had his wife beaten him into his
    present distorted shape? Did he hate all humanity because
    of her, especially women? Certainly he had had nothing to
    do with them in Kiel, where liberties were a byword.
    Might he be a man who thought he was complete unto
    himself? Kurt pounced on the notion, remembering a
    similar person met aboard a Danish boat, a man much
    like Beck outwardly. And, as Otto had suggested about
    Beck, that fisherman had proved an emotional time bomb.
    A small incident—the tearing of a net, as Kurt remem-
    bered—had triggered him one day; he had gone berserk,
    and had distributed injuries liberally before being subdued.

    He was jerked from his speculations by Jager's
    screaming general alarm. Men ran for the boats. Kurt
    looked around confusedly. A hundred meters downstream,
    just watching, were a dozen shaggy men clad in the skins
    of equally shaggy animals. Norwegians of the semi-nomad-
    ic variety Kurt had often seen at the Danish trading posts, men who farmed the high valleys of the mountains and
    hunted, and, someday, might fall into the savage raiding
    habits of their ancestors a millennium gone. These men
    were armed, as their sort invariably were, but their bows
    were unstrung, slung over their shoulders. Why the panic?
    he wondered.

    The alarm ceased. Bells rang in the ensuing stillness as
    Jager's after gunmounts swung around toward the