Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (113 page)

He
suspected
Hal
recognized
his
victory;
and
forced
himself
to meet
the
other
man's
eyes,
as
if
denying
any
such
result.

"As
one
of
my
tutors
would
have
said,"
Hal
answered,
"that's
a foolish
question."

Bleys
went
cold
once
more
...
had
the
boy
somehow
been
close enough
to
that
terrace
to
overhear
his
conversation
with
the
boy's tutors?
Those
were
the
exact
words
the
ancient
Exotic
had
said— no,
that
was
impossible.

"Ah,"
said
Bleys.
The
syllable
felt
lame
even
to
his
own
ears.

He
turned
and
began
moving
toward
the
door,
feeling
loss
and pain
rising
up
in
him.
Somehow,
this
man
had
been
too
clever
for him,
had
beaten
him
back
at
every
turn.
It
was
his
own
fault;
he
had gone
into
this
insufficiently
prepared.

At
that
moment,
Hal's
voice
came
once
more
from
behind
him. And
the
voice
was
vastly
different—younger,
somehow.

"How
did
it
happen?"

Bleys
stopped
and
looked
back
over
his
shoulder;
then
turned.

"Of
course,"
he
said.
He
felt,
suddenly,
a
desire
to
reach
out
to the
younger
man
before
him;
a
desire
that
had
not
been
in
him
only a
moment
before,
and
which
was
followed
almost
immediately
by
a determination
to
quell
the
stir
of
sympathy
within
him
...
in
the same
moment
he
recognized
he
might
have
been
presented
with
a way
to
penetrate
Hal's
armor.

"You'd
like
to
know
more,
would
you?
I
should
have
seen
to
your being
informed
before.
Well,
I'll
tell
you
now,
then."
He
paused, collecting
his
thoughts
and
planning
how
his
next
words
could
carry the
connotations
he
wanted.

"The
men
we
normally
use
to
go
before
us
in
situations
like
that had
found
two
of
your
tutors
already
on
that
terrace,
and
the
third
was brought
to
join
them
a
minute
or
two
after
I
stepped
out
onto
the
terrace
myself.
It
was
the
Friendly
they
brought.
The
Dorsai
and
your Walter
the
InTeacher
were
already
there.
Like
you,
he
seemed
to
be fond
of
poetry,
and
as
I
came
out
of
the
library
window,
he
was
quoting
from
that
verse
drama
of
Alfred
Noyes,
Sherwood.
The
lines
he was
repeating
were
those
about
how
Robin
Hood
had
saved
one
of the
fairies
from
what
Noyes
called
The
Dark
Old
Mystery.
I
quoted him
Blondin's
song,
from
the
same
piece
of
writing,
as
a
stronger piece
of
poetry.
Then
I
asked
him
where
you
were;
and
he
told
me
he didn't
know—but
of
course
he
did.
They
all
knew,
didn't
they?" "Yes,"
said
Hal.
"They
knew."

"It
was
that
which
first
raised
my
interest
in
you
above
the
ordinary,"
Bleys
said.
There
was
no
point
in
letting
the
man
know
that Bleys
had
researched
him.
"It
intrigued
me.
Why
should
they
be
so concerned
to
hide
you?
I'd
told
them
no
one
would
be
hurt;
and they
would
have
known
my
reputation
for
keeping
my
word."

He
paused
for
a
second.

"They
were
quite
right
not
to
speak,
of
course,"
he
added
softly. The
admission
burned
in
him,
but
he
felt
compelled
to
make
it
...
he
knew
now
he
betrayed
nothing
by
telling
the
truth,
this
time.

Hal
Mayne
gave
him
no
sign.

"At
any
rate,"
Bleys
continued,
"I
tried
to
bring
them
to
like
me, but
of
course
they
were
all
of
the
old
breed—and
I
failed.
That
intrigued
me
even
more,
that
they
should
be
so
firmly
recalcitrant;
and I
was
just
about
to
make
further
efforts,
which
might
have
worked, to
find
out
from
them
about
you,
when
your
Walter
the
InTeacher physically
attacked
me—a
strange
thing
for
an
Exotic
to
do."

"Not—under
the
circumstances,"
Hal
said,
a
peculiar
emphasis in
his
voice.

"Of
course,
that
triggered
off
the
Dorsai
and
the
Friendly,"
Bleys went
on,
watching
closely
now
for
the
reactions
that
might
come with
the
climax
of
his
report.

"Together,
they
accounted
for
all
but
one
of
the
men
I
had watching
them;
but
of
course,
all
three
of
them
were
killed
in
the process.
Since
there
was
no
hope
of
questioning
them,
then,
I
went back
into
the
house.
Dahno
had
just
arrived;
and
I
didn't
have
the leisure
to
order
a
search
of
the
grounds
for
you,
after
all."