The Incompleat Nifft by Michael Shea Read Free Book Online

harm you not at all. Lurissil sends her pleas with mine—very pretty ones, I promise you, they'd charm you in a minute. Come then, I know you simply overlooked us!"
    Kramlod smiled with childlike wonder. "I'm baffled!" he said. "I'm nonplused. I'm robbed of speech. You and Lurissil, music lovers! For surely it's the orchestra on the raft—the prospect of waterborn music under the stars—that starts your saliva regarding our little evening! There you have it—one thinks one knows someone, only to have them reveal utterly unsuspected traits of character!"
    The drinks came. Kramlod took up his and looked blandly about the inn, as if the topic had been disposed of. Defalk smiled wryly and took a pull on his firewater, no doubt to take a certain taste out of his mouth. "You're like one's elder brother," he chuckled, shaking his head as if Kramlod indeed recalled to him some affectionate memory. "You hold the candy out of one's reach, just for the joy of being taller! Look here, this is really unconscionable, old man. And you know very well I'm no music lover! You rogue!" He smiled in relish of Kramlod's roguishness. The crinkles round his eyes looked more like pain than mirth, and Kramlod studied them avidly.
    "But really, Defalk. I'm absolutely adrift. What but the music could make you beg so hotly for an invitation to my little evening? I'm forced to think you're teasing, that you don't really want to come at all."
    Slowly Defalk shook his head, displaying further relish for his friend's humor. "Well, well, I see you'll insist on playing the fox, Kramlod. I don't hide my motive. It will give Lurissil the opportunity of inviting the Lady Squamash to her afternoon next week. Lord Squamash's fleets have the charter for the waters adjoining my father-in-law's. We have a negotiation in view. There. A man can't be plainer. You see I don't seek to minimize the indebtedness we'd feel for this little favor from you."
    "By the Crack I understand. I'm terribly thick, Defalk—ludicrously so. To make a mystery of a thing I might have seen in an instant if I'd put my mind to it. Lord Squamash! Of course! Darla swears I'm far too dim for public duties. I deny it, but in my heart I confess I think her right! This was delicious, Defalk. What was the name of it again?"
    "Red-posset punch."
    "Indeed. Well, I've had great amusement here, dear friend. I must get away now—Darla is hiring the music all day today, and wants my help. Convey my heartiest kisses to Lurissil."
    Kramlod stood up, beaming. Defalk looked up at him blankly—getting his gorge down, I suppose, so he could speak. Kramlod waited in obliging silence, giving him the time he needed. At last Defalk said: "And your evening, Kramlod—will you invite us to it?" His voice was flat, and he didn't manage or bother to get all the hate out of it. This apparently was the last treat Kramlod was waiting for. He smiled with a pleasure which it must have felt downright obscene to have given him. He gave a brightening start of recollection and thrust his hand into his doublet.
    "Now see the decay of this noble memory! Here we've been talking on and on about it, and all the time I had this for you from Darla! Here! Spare my dignity, Defalk—don't tell anyone else of this humiliating display . . . of my forgetfulness!" He tossed a little beribboned scroll on the table and left with a cheery wave.
    * * *
    Defalk sat still for a while, looking blank—looking like a man who was busy not thinking or feeling anything. I felt as embarrassed for him as if I'd been sharing the table with him during the brown-nosing. I was so ashamed of him I wanted to hit him. An odd thing that. I'd never have felt it, of course, if I hadn't known that Dalissem had died for this man. He picked up his drink and drained it, and sat still again. His eyes got meditative. He took on a rapt look of vengeful fantasy, and his lip's stirred, with triumphant rebukes, I guessed. At length he sighed, and ordered another drink.