Read The Honorable Barbarian for Free Online

nought of these things. It is a matter of utmost secrecy; my lips are sealed."
    Kerin thought that either the wizard Ghulam or the King of Kings must be out of his mind, to entrust such a mission to one rattlebrained youth, whom a couple of drinks opened up as a fishmonger opens an oyster. But then he remembered how indiscreet he himself had been on his first night aboard. He said nothing of these thoughts, and the talk wandered off into other matters, such as the proper garb for the colder parts of the Kuromonian Empire. The steward brought dinner.
    The Dragonet had been rolling gently; but the motion increased. Halfway through his repast, Rao, looking paler than his usual nut-brown wont, clapped a hand to his mouth, scrambled up, and bolted out the door.
    "Use the lee rail!" Captain Huvraka shouted after him.

    Before retiring, Kerin looked in on his fellow passenger. He found the young Mulvani lying pale and wan in his bunk. When he asked Rao how he was feeling, the Mulvani groaned and replied:
    "I shall die on this accursed ship."
    "Hast never been to sea before?"
    "Nay. Amongst the stricter sectarians, seagoing is   deemed immoral because the mariner inevitably befouls the waters with his waste. That angers the sea gods. If I survive, I will never, never . . ."
    A spell of retching shook him, but Rao had nothing left to bring up. When the spell passed, Rao seized Kerin's hand, saying:
    "My mission is of great moment and must be completed; the fate of nations may hinge upon it."
    "Yes?" said Kerin.
    "Aye, I mean that. So, if I perish of this damnable seasickness, I beseech you to make me a promise."
    Kerin sympathized, but he was wary. "What promise?"
    "If I die, you shall carry out my mission. It will not take you out of your way, since you, too, are bound for Kuromon."
    Kerin made an impatient gesture. "Yes, yes, but what is it? What would you that I did?"
    Rao thrust back the bedclothes, revealing that next to his skin he wore, hung round his neck by a slender chain, a package of oiled silk. He broke the waxen seal, unwrapped the package, and produced a long strip of paper of a notably thin, silky texture. The strip was covered with lines of tiny writing in the script of Mulvan, wherein all the letters hung down from a row of short horizontal lines. Rao refolded the paper and gathered a taper, a stick of wax, and a brazen seal to replace the original waxen seal. He said:
    "Here is that which I am charged to give the Emperor's officials. If I perish, promise you will essay to deliver it!"
    "But I have no introductions to the Imperial Court. . . ."
    "Oh, you will find a way. Besides, he who turns in this precious document will be lavishly rewarded."
    "Well," said Kerin hesitantly, "all right. I promise at least to try. But this will never happen. I know a bit of seagoing, and never have I heard of anyone's dying of seasickness. You may wish yourself dead; but as soon as you're back on land you'll feel as fit as ever."
    "I hope so," said Rao lugubriously.
    When Kerin returned to his own cabin and prepared for bed, Belinka appeared, gossiping:
    "The witch's bir hints that his mistress have some subtle plan anent you, but he will not tell me more."
    "What sort of plan? I like not for others unbeknownst to make plans for me."
    "He will not say; but I fear she means you no good."
    "Couldst wheedle it out of him?" Kerin slid beneath the blanket.
    "Belike. He takes more than a passing fancy to me."
    "What looks he like? I've not seen him."
    "He favors invisibility; but he can take a form like unto mine, albeit male."
    "Well, report aught interesting you can get. Goodnight!"

    They stopped at Halgir, on the Mulvanian side of the strait called the Fangs of Halgir. Kerin found the slatternly little town hardly worth going ashore for. It consisted of rotting houses and streets of black mud, peopled by underfed-looking Mulvanians clad in lengths of dirty cotton. Eventually Kerin tired of saying "No" in Mulvani to small brown locals,